Now I'm a bit of an unsociable bugger and fishing for me is a largely solitary experience. I have a wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs and a mother and father nearby. I work in a shop so speak to customers and colleagues all day long. Fishing is a chance for me to get away from it all and concentrate on one thing, fishing.

Don't get me wrong, I've fished with mates in the past and will do in the future, but even though we chat, there's also long spells of comfortable silence.

Most of my river fishing is done away from footpaths and tourist spots and I quite often don't see another soul all day.

What I've found from my brief time sea fishing is that a rod pointing in the air is like a belisha beacon in the dark! It attracts all and sundry from miles around!

I not to bothered about fellow anglers asking how I'm getting on. They seem to know that after a few questions they should move on and leave me to my fishing. It's the dogs walkers and locals who've never fished in their life, but feel expert enough to tell me what I'm doing wrong and that their aunties, dogs, uncles, friend once caught a 10lb Bass!

I know when I'm on a pier I'm just asking for it, but when I've purposely walked for 20 minutes down the beach to get away from the crowds, why don't they just leave me alone!:mad2:

Agree totally about preferring to be a long way from everyone.
What's even worse about those who disturb the solitude is when their dogs pee all over your gear, or your bait, or even eat your bait. If I see one coming with a dog that is completely not under control, I get everything as much out of the way as possible and then stand guard in front of it (and occasionally whisper obscenities to the mutt if the owner is not quite in earshot! And then point out to the owner that there may well be hooks in amongst the gear.

 

I find up here it tends to be a family from glasgow who gravitate to where you are no matter how far or near to the car you are. A whole 3 mile of beach and they park right next to you.

 

Agreed.

Anglers know the deal, "how's it going", "big bass out of here last week", "used to be more fish 30 years ago" then move on.

Dog walkers love a long natter though, especially when it's an old boy being dragged around by his Mrs, takes the opportunity to get away by stopping and chatting as long as possible. One chap talked my ear off about fishing for 20 minutes then asked what other hobbies I have, then talked my ear off about motorbikes for another 20... I now pretend to be on the phone when I see him about lol.

Best bet if you are feeling unsociable is to wear over the head headphones, don't even need to be plugged in haha.

 

take up kayak fishing, the buggers cant get to you then, just have to keep a wary eye out for d1ckheads on jet skis instead

 

That's one of the reasons I fish Chesil and generally walk for at least half an hour , Im an un sociable sod at the best of times and I go fishing to get away from people and don't appreciate being asked if ive caught anything every five minutes. I don't mind chatting to people when im walking along the beach but once ive cast out id rather be left alone. I also don't turn my mobile phone on as I don't want to be disturbed. I probably sound like a right misery but im not, I just like my space when im fishing on my own.

 

Agreed. I don’t mind chatting for a bit, but it’s the ones who don’t take the hint when you turn your back on them and start cutting up bait and fingering your knife blade that annoy me.

you walk 100 yards away from them to cast ie ‘p1ss off I’m getting on with my fishing now’ and they’re still waiting for you when you get back :veryconfused:

I’ve taken to stroking the knife and crooning ‘they never did find her head’.
That usually does the trick

 

Comfortable silence between friends when fishing, that's where it's at :thumbsup: chat in the pub, fishing is quiet time

I purposely seek out those spots off the beatin track so I don't have to talk to people I don't know. If it's another angler I meet then aye I'll have a chat for a small amount of time then off I go. Luckily since I fish west coast of Ireland the majority of the time I rarely see an angler or even the remnants of an person trapzing through.

Fish a few spots in summer where there tend to be lots of people, for mackeral obviously...

 

This scarf with a massive pair of headphones should do the trick.

 

They do it to me when I am mulleting, though it distracts me for a while it is good to know people are interested in what you are doing. There are some really nice people out there other than anglers and you never know you might encourage one of them to try it.

What does really wind me up is when I am fishing the river mullet fishing, all set up, swim has been fed periodically, I 'm fully concentrated, can see the mullet feeding and some dog walker comes over with his/her dogs, says hello and throws a ball into the water right next to the rods and all the dogs jump in. I look up in shock, then one of their dogs comes over and start eating the bread mix groundbait from the bucket. The owner laughs and pulls the dogs away and walks off, I find that rather annoying to say the least.

 

Its the same all over. Was out early last saturday.dog walker after dog walker had to stop and chat .... now i just walk back to van and sit till they gone.... but can anyone answer this one. Why do dog walkers have to drive the dogs to a place to walk! Most dogs seem overweight! And the owners unfit. ....
One owner turned up, let the dog out while she sat there with a flask of tea.after 5 mins dog came back ..... sh-- beside car door.she opened door and dog got in and drove off..... mmmm not good.

Or, the family of 5 on holiday asking if ya shark fishing...... and its the dad asks that haha !

 

Obviously read the reports of great Whites off Hayling Island.

 

I was after some mullet in a harbour, have to climb down a ledge to reach the water at low tide so there is a footpath a good 20 ft up behind you.

Someone starts shouting something to me, ignored him for a bit as I couldn't hear him anyway. After a while I decided to climb up and ask him what he wanted as there was an outside chance I shouldn't be down there anyway.

"Mullet have soft mouths mate, you can't catch them"

Thanks...

 

I had something similar years back when Bream fishing on the Tees. An old guy stood behind me as I played a fish to the net. "Take it easy young in, Bream have soft mouths, you'll never land one playing them that hard" he said as I netted my 16th Bream of the day:cool2:

 

Ha...glad others feel the same as I do. People who don't fish just do not understand the sport. The endless 'what are you trying to catch ?' and 'are you going to eat that' is infuriating. I generally fish at locations way out of the comfort zone of the average dog walker, but on my occasional prom sessions in the waking hours, its headphones and a scowl....

 

"what you trying to catch?", I must have heard that a dozen times last Saturday on Saltburn Pier. I'm tempted to reply with "fish!".

 

 

Goes with the territory, if you want peace and quite don't fish on busy footpaths, or at least fish on days where the weather puts people off walking those locations.

 

Goes with the territory, if you want peace and quite don't fish on busy footpaths, or at least fish on days where the weather puts people off walking those locations.

Personally I’ll avoid busy footpaths like the plague but quite often on chesil you get walkers two miles from the car park.
Thankfully my local rock and estuary marks are unlikely to contain anyone apart from anglers, who usually keep the talking fairly brief as they want to fish as well

 

Couldn’t agree more. I like fishing with friends and family. But sometimes i just to be left alone. Take in the scenery and enjoy time to myself.

I walk a fair old way to get away from people. But there’s always that one person. :gtfo: I’m here on my own for a reason.

 

Couldn’t agree more. I like fishing with friends and family. But sometimes i just to be left alone. Take in the scenery and enjoy time to myself.

I walk a fair old way to get away from people. But there’s always that one person. :gtfo: I’m here on my own for a reason.

Me too.

Goona invest in some dummy claymores keep em at bay haha:ughdance:

 

Me too.

Goona invest in some dummy claymores keep em at bay haha:ughdance:

Real ones would be better. Lol

 

Be grateful there are still people in this world that want to chat or just say hello. I’d wager the majority are of an older generation, the younger are easily spotted, head down reading something on a phone.

 

Yep, most are older. Too much time on their hands:wink:

Tbf the best chat I've had was with a little girl of about 8. She walked up beside me and as I baited up I could feel eyes on me. I turned to look at her, she had a massive smile on her face and said "do you like fishing?", Which I thought was quite cute.

Anyway she talked to me for about 10 minutes, asking questions and giving me "advice" until her grandmother pulled her away saying "the man's come here for a bit of peace, not to have his ear talked off" :BigGrin:

I probably have a bit more patience with kids asking stupid questions than I do with the older generation who should know better.

 

Pendulum casting over grass a few years back and some wag, with their family, shouted 'you'll not catch fish there, mate'.

Told him I wasn't after fish, I was catching moles because it was dangerous for the horses (it was by a racecourse).

Well, his face dropped and he very seriously had to ask if that was how we caught them!
LOL

 

Obviously with a big lob worm bait.

 

It's better than talking to yourself you might get sectioned then you won't be able to fish lol

 

Its the silly stuff they say.

Do u use tin tuna! As bait.

Have you caught a dolphin by mistake!

Is there any white shark out there!

Do you catch many colds!

Its a bit wet that sea!

If you know anymore ,post it. Haha.

 

If you fish Hebburn all you get is some compo looking kid asking ( do you have a tab mate) lol