Fishing

The_MC · June 8, 2011

I've wanted to try my hand at fishing for a few years, so i convinced my mates to all buy rods and reels and everything and drive over to the lake district for camping and fishing at the end of last week. Anyway, after spending about an hour in the bait shop getting advice off the bloke who runs it and buying all the necessary gear we head over to Thirlmere reservoir in the Lakes. I got some advice through a lakedistrict fishing website i e-mailed suggesting we don't fish Thirlmere as it's a tough place to fish, especially for beginners. However, our camp site was right next to it so we gave it a go.

After a whole day of fishing non of us had caught anything, and we'd all lost gear (especially spinners) from getting snagged on rocks. I also managed to smash my shin in falling on a load of loose rocks. So all in not terribly successful but the weather was amazing and we got used to how to set up our rods.

Day two we tried fishing Ullswater, which is a far larger lake and much better stocked with fish (apparently). We found a nice spot and fished a few hours without any luck again. The fisherman and his son next to us caught a couple and gave us their tub of maggots when they left. We then took the spot they had been using, and the maggots got some interest but we didn't have much time left to really get into it and so left unsuccessful.

...so, back home now i decided to have another go. A couple of my friends who came with managed to pull out carp after carp at a pay-fishery on Mon so i wanted to get a fish myself. Went down to a free-pond near Burscough today, got some proper bait (maggots) and a bottom feeder. This is what i caught:

My mate had caught a small carp and i was sitting there in the rain under a tent, with my rod out alone propped on a rodrest made out of a large stick, starting to give up hope. Then i saw my rod twitch, ran over and grabbed it, set the line and reeled it in. It was only about 30cm but it put up a bit of a fight trying to escape till we got it in the net. Chuffed. Although we were kind of put to shame by the guy across the pond who pulled out a monster which was the size of his leg.

By the way, I released it. Used a single barbless hook so i could get it swiftly back in without doing too much damage.

** If anyone can ID the fish i'd appreciate it. I thought it may be a Chub but i'm unsure. My have to try the canal next time, possibly around Ormskirk area, although i don't know if there's anything much in there.

libero · June 8, 2011

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