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River Magic
In every angler there is that special quality of
common camaraderie and a togetherness fighting for the good of all
anglers unlike any other sport that I can think of, it was once
remarked upon many years ago that an angler sitting on a river bank
no matter what his social status may be equal to another and this
today is still apparent although I fear the worst when it comes to
the match fishing fraternity because I see all to often the need for
match anglers to keep things close to ones chest as it were in
respects of methods and baits or of certain techniques that may
score on certain venues, however this is to my mind a poor attitude
indeed especially for the young or not quite clued up angler for a
few pushes in the right direction from an angler that may be more
proficient will in turn make that angler better.
There is one thing that has happened over the last ten years that in
my mind has been good yet bad to angling on a whole and that is the
birth and reproduction of the commercial Stillwater whilst on one
hand this is a good thing giving every angler the ability to catch
lots of fish of all species in one well managed place often with
many facility’s on site, comfortable pegs and no walks to speak of
the down side is a sorrowful one of many anglers spending every year
at the same type of venue doing the same sort of thing and although
they must enjoy this they are missing the whole essence of angling
and what it can bring to those whom may search for something a
little more challenging.
The birth of the commercial Stillwater was certainly born from
necessity rather than anything else although there is that certain
concern about the amount of then carp being introduced into this
country at that time to the now apparent determent of many general
silver fish Stillwater’s and even though many Stillwater’s and
rivers have no records of them being stocked there are still plenty
of carp in them and how they got there is anyone’s guess? But I do
not entirely agree in the theory of the decline in our once prolific
rivers because after all who now would listen to an old vinyl LP
when they have a CD player if you can see where I am coming from!
And this in turn makes it all more difficult to catch on our now
deserted rivers because any fishery owner will tell you that the
more bait that goes in the more you will catch for a fish will
become accustom to it’s staple diet from which it feeds throughout
the year whatever it may be and anything else is looked upon with
great suspicion with it not being something that it accustom to
feeding upon so here you have the ever present catch 22 for if
anglers stay away from our rivers in favour of the softer commercial
option it will remain more difficult to catch on these rivers until
the anglers revisit it’s banks on a regular basis however it is not
all doom and gloom time just yet as I have seen a definite increase
in the anglers fishing last year or at least thinking of fishing at
the start of the new season on our rivers, who knows it may be time
for a great river fishing revival? , or at least to take the time to
visit even if it is to walk the bank for once you have fished or
seen an angler catching wild river fish you will be hooked as it
were forever, The river Don or Trent are great places to visit if
not to fish just to walk and take in there natural beauty along with
the abundance of wildlife that you may see nowhere else I consider
myself to be honoured to have seen such things as otters, owls,
stoats, weasels, hares boxing, many birds of prey and even a seal
that popped it’s head out of the water to look as surprised as I was
when we shared a vacant stare and I still marvel at the King fishers
skills whenever I may come across one for the anglers relationship
with nature is unlike no other the eyes and ears of keen
conservationists whom care about our environment especially that
which lives on and beneath the water.
I do not think that many old hand anglers do us any favours when
they speak to the younger generation of anglers that may not even
have cast a line on a river saying such things as “the Trent’s dead”
or that “the Don’s polluted” and believe me I have heard it all in
my time from novice to England team member it does not give them any
incentive to drag themselves away from what they are doing to go and
have a chuck at these places and my personal view is that we need to
show these young anglers all aspects of our great sport not just the
easy answers but something to give them a chance to think about how
to catch a few more fish or even how to get a few more bites so that
they may begin to work things out for themselves in all areas of
angling not just catching carp on heavy lines or pellet fishing for
the ton but Roach, fishing on the stick and no I don’t mean hitting
them with it for those or you whom have never ran a stick down a
river or feeder fishing for barbell the king of all river fish’ if I
thought that I would never grace a river bank again in my lifetime I
would surely never pick up a rod again’ it is however true that our
great rivers do not fish like they used to ‘ or is it?’ look at the
River Don a once desolate barren waste pit of effluent supposedly
devoid of fish has sprang to life and is now full to the gunnels
with them and fishing it’s head off, so I don’t think it is that
they are in decline at all just that they are not in favour with the
majority of anglers unlike the drive to your peg and bag up
commercials are but if you fancy a change, want to learn or just
want to do your bit for purist fishing have a go I know you won’t be
disappointed, "see you there" .
Tomo.
Theirs nothing quite like a river Barbel
A big Trent Chub caught on the stick |