First visit to the dark side

[gareth1234]

Well it finally happened, due to the desperate sea fishing in South Wales at the moment, I had an invitation for today from Fishy Fingers to try some river fishing. Being a complete novice at the game I felt like a child trying to ride a bike without stabilizers for the first time. Using maggots in a feeder with a size 16 hook ( which I could barely see) and 5lb line, a feeder rod I was good to go. River was a little high with quite a bit of flow to it, so conditions were apparently not perfect. But an hour into the session I caught this
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/gareth4321/26-01-08_1520.jpg


Had a couple more bites and hook ups but lost them due to poor finessing with strange gear but just before packing up I caught this little beauty, a sea trout, estimated at somewhere approaching the 2lb mark. What a bloody fight it put up, took 5 mins to land, it really didn't like the look of the net at all. I'm now completely addicted to this kind of fishing, sooo much more fun than watching a stationary rod tip on some lonely beach.
here's the big one.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/gareth4321/26-01-08_1648.jpg

[wooky114]

You can still blank tho gareth ;)

[lin]

Mike and I tried a bit of river fishing just over a year ago lol when we were a bit fed up with not catching much off the beach. It was ok caught a few small fish, and Mike has had some nice carp. But theres still nothing like being near the ocean and never knowing whats gonna come out of it :fish:
If we had carried on doing it would have worked out damm expensive though, dont mind paying for the licence, but its havin to pay the escessive fees to fish small stretches of river. Just a small section of river here was gonna be £160 each for a season, let alone fishing different places.
So we went back to the beach and the conger hunt continues, and hopefully fishing on the yaks will produce some good fish and fun times this year as well

Lin

[gareth1234]

fortunately there are a few free stretches of water near to me, the yearly ticket is £60, so again, not too bad.
don't know about "not knowing whats gonna come out" though, i felt the same way here today. i actually preferred it to sitting on a miserable beach for a couple of pin whiting on heavy gear.

[FISHY FINGERS]

Gareth You've forgotten the other brownie. The one than didn't know you hooked it til it saw the net.
Lin, if you have the anticipation of not knowing what fish you are going to take out of the sea next then you are lucky, just read the s/w wales forum. Either undersized Whiting or undersized Cod.:wallbash:
The river we fished today is full of natural (not stocked) brownies and grayling, along with chub dace roach rudd carp pike perch and a few barbel to boot!! Nothing predictable about that.:wiggle: Plus it's a free water too!!!!:yahoo::yahoo:

[SuperBassMaster]

cant knock it lads, love all fishing myself, not just sea, its really nice to cahnge things about, and i find that it helps with all kinds of sea fishing aspects too, presentation being the main 1

[gareth1234]

see what i mean!!! i caught that many i even forgot one, now thats 3 trout today.

[Rob]

When I first tried coarse fishing I was so used to bending hard into a fish from sea fishing that when I had a bite I struck so hard that I pulled the fish clean out the water, and a six ounce roach ended up in a bush behind me! :D

[SuperBassMaster]

When I first tried coarse fishing I was so used to bending hard into a fish from sea fishing that when I had a bite I struck so hard that I pulled the fish clean out the water, and a six ounce roach ended up in a bush behind me! :D

thats incredible finnese rob fair play lmao

[wooky114]

When I first tried coarse fishing I was so used to bending hard into a fish from sea fishing that when I had a bite I struck so hard that I pulled the fish clean out the water, and a six ounce roach ended up in a bush behind me! :D

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: That's what happen's when you use a Penn Copperhead for roach Rob ;)

[blankerman]

welcome to the dark side gareth.we have a few free stretches round here,plus my job allows me to collect worms for nothing,so works out pretty cheap.if across this way,come and fish a session,you may even get a double figure fish as well,wish i could say the same about the sea.:roll1:

[gareth1234]

now thats an invitation Al. i''m going to take you up on that. (as soon as all my new course fishing gear arrives from e-bay)

[blankerman]

hope to get a few sessions before the close season kicks in.not sure what kit you are getting,but you don't really want to go softer than a medium feeder on the severn.barbel gear is a good compromise.float fishing can be a bit difficult in most places.did'nt fish that much last year,mainly because of the floods,but had 5 carp between 9 1/4 and 13 1/4 lb,and lost 2,3 barbel to 8lb 6oz and lost 2 and loads of bream up to about 8lb.none of these are exceptional and can be caught quite readily.there are carp to double that,barbel well into double figures with bream almost as big,plus some big pike and zander as well as salmon which are targetted by the weir.there is probably catfish as well as many people have been smashed up on heavy gear,including 30lb braid and trebles meant for pike.shame it has a close season