Back in Action After 10 Years

[poddy]

I have just started fishing again this year after quite a long abscence (full teenage years) and i am so glad that i decided to get back into it. No more of those boring weekends sat around with the mates wondering what to do with ourselves and peeing all our money up the walls. Now its all about Fighting the forces of nature to do battle with the beasts that lay beneath. We started off in the summer by scouting around a few local commercial fisheries and paying a few long delayed visits to old friends who own private little ponds on their farmland. The season started a little slowly because we were a bit rusty and had to come to grips with our new rods and tackle. i think it would be fair to say we had the odd tangles and snags in trees from overenthusiastic casting, but after a little patience and a lot of foul language we were getting the hang of it and started to pull our first catches out in around 10 years. Often small roach and perch but that was just the thinig that we needed to build up our confidence and get us totally hooked on the sport once again.
We continued to scout around untill we heard of a fishery not too far away from us were there were 2 lakes supposedly stuffed with bream, tench, and lovely crucian, so we decided it would definitely be worht the trip down to drown a few maggots. Oh and it definitely was worth it.
We fish the lakes quite frequently now and have been very happy with the results every single time we go. So i figured i would stick a few piccies up on here and maybe they can influence 1 or 2 more people to try a spot of fishing or maybe try a new venue that u may have heard of. U could be very pleasently surprised.

Bream around 4lb caught on the maggot feeder and tip rod


Another Bream around 3lb caught using the same method




Nice Roach on the Float


Reasonable size Perch on the float with red maggots


Lovely little Crucian caught on the cage feeder and tip rod with Scopex Pellet




Gudgeon on the float. Just though i'd throw this in as its the only 1 ive ever caught and i was shocked that it even managed to eat the size 14 hook and 3 maggots.


Another Little Crucian. Close up the colours in these fish are stunning.


Tench 3.5lb Caught on the Float with Red maggots


And to top it off my Biggest fish of the year so far
a whopping 5lb tench caught at dusk with the same method as above



its a shame my camera wouldnt work for that 1. no bloody flash tut tut.
but i was over the moon with that beauty.

Tight Lines Peoples

[BoldBear]

Hi Poddy,

Welcome to the Forum.

Great to hear that you have once again taken up the sport.

Shame your flash wasn't working, your Tench looks like it was a stunner.
Nice Bream and a decent sized Roach too.

Look forward to seeing your catch reports.

There are lots of experienced anglers on this forum that can help you if you need any help.

tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[poddy]

hi thanks for the reply keith. and the warm welcome

good to know there are plenty of helpful and talented anglers out there who are willing to help and share information and experiences. im sure i will get along just fine here and hopefully pick up a few decent tips along the way

[poddy]

oh by the way that barbel in ur avatar is an absolute beauty keith.
ive gotta go find me 1 of those bad boys
quite tricky to get to any decent rivers from my location that may hold some nice barbel but hopefully next spring i will find a way.

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by poddy

oh by the way that barbel in ur avatar is an absolute beauty keith.
ive gotta go find me 1 of those bad boys
quite tricky to get to any decent rivers from my location that may hold some nice barbel but hopefully next spring i will find a way.

Poddy,
I found <this thread> which mentions Barbel near Bolton, I don't know if it will help you. Best of luck.

It mentions Barbel in the croal, roch, irwell, ribble and goyt. I havent fished any of these rivers so I don't know how good this info is.

[poddy]

cheers for the advice keith. i honestly didnt know there were so many accessible stretches of river so close. however i dont have a drivers liscence so i think i will wait till spring so i dont have to travel in wet windy conditions. im allready exited now though. more research into nearby rivers should help me locate some good fishing spots.

[northern eye]

Lovely fish there...great to have you on the forum and back into the sport. I fished throughout my childhood but in the late teens/early 20's the usual distractions, booze and birds took me away for a while but returning to fishing was the best choice I ever made - much better way to spend the weekends.

[Bluesbro]

Hi poddy, welcome to the forum fella, nice haul of fish you got there. Look forward to reading more of your reports

Joe

[Bungz]

Happened to me too.

From around 18 through to 28 I more or less gave it up. Started again this year and am utterly addicted. All it takes it one fish and all your free time and money is gone :)

[northern eye]

Strange thing this fishing lark. I was going through a bit of a bad patch back in me 20's, lost me job, girlfriend etc. My dad took me away for a weeks fishing near York. I hadn't picked up a rod for years. On the first day I caught Tench, Golden Tench, Carp and Bream and had the best weeks fishing of my life. Never looked back. Me and the old man still go there, same time every year. Brilliant.