[Simon L]

Ok gents, we've done the 'what do you do out in the real world' thread, which was frankly very interesting. So, having seen some cracking threads off people on here that have clearly done a lot more fishing than just the Bass fishing that we'd mainly discussed thus far . . . . . . i'd love to know a bit more about everyone's fishing background . . . . . . . . . .

So, i'll start:

Started fishing at a very young age. Father used to fish, as did my Grandfather. Caught my 1st fish unaided under the bridge over the canal in Llangynidr (a little village in Wales). It was a Gudgeon, and the bait was bread. I took it home in a bucket as i was so proud of it !! Went on to terrorise the Gudgeon under that bridge :lol: . Then, used to use both the 'bucket of soapy water in the garden' trick, and the 'wiggle a fork in the garden' trick to collect worms . . . . . used them to catch Perch either side of a lock on the canal. Then i migrated to the river Usk, where i used to fish off a road bridge for Trout. Spent hours & hours on that bridge, and caught a good few trout (particularly when the river was coloured), and also caught a few wriggly eels, that were a nightmare to unhook !!! Also did some fishing for Trout on Talybont Reservoir (once hooked a bat while casting !!)

Then moved back to the Swansea area around the age of 13, and started fly-fishing in the local lake (White Springs). Used to tie all my own flies, and was a dab-hand at designing my own flies that nailed Trout.

Lived in America for a short while, and spent about 4 months doing nothing but fishing. Was primarily in Minnesota, and fished the lakes for Wall-Eye, and some of the lakes & rivers for a whole host of other species. Wonderful!!

Then somehow, from late teens, somewhere along the line, i managed not to fish for years & years. I watched Rex Hunt without fail, but didnt start fishing again until early last year, when i discovered Sea Fishing. If i am to be honest, my initial interest was in catching & eating Sea Bass. I have since developed a love for the fish which sees me release almost all Bass i catch. I didnt really make a big breakthough until this season. Last year i caught lots of schoolies, but my pb was just 2lb 2oz. But this year has been very different, with a bait caught pb of 7lb 1oz, and a lure caught pb of 5lb 11oz. Quite a few others over 5lbs.

I have also targetted other species this year. Caught some nice Hounds, Golden Greys, Flounder & my first Pollack.

I plan to have a crack at the Freshwater predators this winter, and would like to get my first double-figure Bass (although i accept that that may never happen).

That's about it i think. If you made it this far without falling asleep. . . . . well done, and sorry for putting you through that.

Anybody else fancy sharing ?

 

[Steve Lewis]

I plan to have a crack at the Freshwater predators this winter, and would like to get my first double-figure Bass (although i accept that that may never happen).

That's about it i think. If you made it this far without falling asleep. . . . . well done, and sorry for putting you through that.

Anybody else fancy sharing ?[/quote]

Simon,

Started sleeping after i read the first 3 lines !!! Only joking mate, I will add to this thread in the morning at sometime, Cracker by the way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dai56]

I tried to put up a reply last night two hours [I had to rewrite it more than once] of working away hit the submit button the page had expired and it came up you have to be signed on to submit a post
So here I am giving it another go in last nights I seemed to be rambling a bit so here goes
1960’s
Well I started like many of us I suppose was given a spinning rod and a little centre pin reel fished in any water I could find ponds/streams around south east London even targeting stickle backs using a match stick for a float and size 24[I think] hooks with 1.5lb line
I used to fish with a group of lads only kids but we used to catch fish when we had the money we would travel further we learnt how to catch different fish and target them one day using floating bread crust for carp one of the lads mucked up a cast and was pulling the crust across the lilly’s he had cast onto as it came off the lilly’s it was taken like we had never seen before instead of taking off slowly and deep this thing went like a scolded cat and snapped his line we didn’t have a clue as to what had happened the same thing happened shortly after and this time the fish was landed it was a pike it looked like a monster from the deep to us we had never seen a fish with attitude before.
It was a turning point for us I used to dream about catching one of these monsters as I bet did a few of the lads that were there that day we all rushed out and found out all we could about pike fishing live baiting dead baiting we tried it all nothing worked the only way we could catch then was with the bread dragged across the lilly’s then we discovered plugs we all spent our pocket money on them cos they were for pike fishing so off we went armed with our new armoury of plugs I think we had one each you guessed it we lost them within the hour[trying to cast on to the lilly’s and drag them across the top wasn’t the best of idea’s] one of the lads tried again this time he took the treble hooks off and put a single hook on the back it worked and this was our introduction to lure fishing
A couple of years later I was staying with my grand parents in the lake district and packed in my bag unknown to me was a Mitchell 300 loaded with line [my dad had put it there] I was as happy as a dog with two dick’s then my grancha gave me a old hand built split cane spinning rod
I could wait no longer and walked to drigg[spelling] calling into the post office[remember them?] to get some hooks and some split shot thinking I would get bait by turning stones etc on the river bank a farmer showed me his muck heap covered with sacking at one end on lifting the sacking there were hundreds of little red worms I filled my pockets with them and headed for the river this resulted in me catching my first trout I was so happy I can still remember it now even happier when my nan cooked it for my tea that night
1970’s
Still with the same group of lads our horizons broadened a bit and we used to travel further often going to the south coast with our spinning and pike rods we used to spin for Mackerel and catch the odd Bass in the harbours/marina’s and from some rock marks a couple of years later my hand built rod was looking the worse for wear my dad had it rebuilt for me but would not let me use it in the salt anymore so it was back to my first solid glass rod for the salt work
The years passed then prison came and went fishing on and off then I ended up getting married I fished once or twice after that and that was it the seventies ended up with the move to wales the only place that I have felt like I was home my parents also moved to wales and settled for the first time anywhere in the uk
1980’s
What can I say about the 80’s I was earning decent money and got into beach fishing I didn’t get out often but enjoyed it when I did the lures took a back seat as I had discovered fishing light for Bass and the flatties that were around in abundance then
1990’s
All but gave up fishing marriage had gone bad and I was heavily involved with substances that I should have left well alone
2000’s
Started bad for me marriage in bit’s no money drinking heavily taking other substances managed to keep out of prison just suspended sentence that time
Things got worse burried a lot of good mate’s [11] one murdered, one cancer, one suicide rest bike accidents that put me over the top I went down badly with depression [the drink and drugs were not helping] then the wife walked out on me [buggered off with a so called mate] then I lost both parents all this in a six month period this led to a mental breakdown
I got through this with help from a few good friends which I will never be able to thank enough I was the violant gibbering wreck that most people will avoid any way got off the antidepressants drink and drugs my doctor says I’m left with scars not everything is 100% but near enough
He says it’s “like having a car with a missfire at certain revs you learn to drive around it”
Where was I right started fishing again got back into lure fishing met my Ann again [I have known her for a long time when we first met she was only 17]

Well you know the rest
Sorry if I have rambled on a bit [lot] but I feel I should have said this a long time ago and feel like a weight has been lifted from me
Cheers dai

 

[Simon L]

Nice one Dai !! A really interesting read. Could be worse . . . . . . . could have lived a boring life !!! Good to see you earlier, and great to see the Bikes - Luke was jabbering about them all the way home !!

 

[dai56]

Nice one Dai !! A really interesting read. Could be worse . . . . . . . could have lived a boring life !!! Good to see you earlier, and great to see the Bikes - Luke was jabbering about them all the way home !!

Been anything but boring i left a lot out only including the bits i thought relavent to give an idea why i may seem off at times to people that don't know my background

cheers dai

 

[Mike Kennard]

After Dai's my life has been quite ordinary so I will stick to the fishing.

I started at about age 11 when my cousin took me to a local river in Eastbourne. From that day on it has been more or less an obsession. I switched to sea fishing and spent every Saturday on Eastbourne pier with average results.
Then I moved to Shoreham and things moved on. My dad knew Mike McManus from Conoflex so I started using them. At age 15 I won my first beach match, the first one I had entered. Always experimenting, started tournament casting, experimented a lot with very light tackle for shore fishing and around Shoreham Harbour. I also experimented and caught my first bass on lures using weighted redgills. The sea match fishing grew to the point where I was a regular section and occasional match winner in the Sussex sea league winning my section twice in one season. The team I fished for qualified for AT Winter League Final in Wexford, won a south east of England final and numerous sea league matches. During this time, I also did some tournament casting. The rods were glass with aluminium butts and Paul Kerry was the master. The day came though when I had enough of it. I made the decision that if I ever had to fish for rockling deliberately in a match I would walk away. That day came and I did.
I still fished with lures for bass during this time and had my best catches. They were an individual fish of 9lb 4oz and a three fish catch of 2 1/2, 3 3/4 and 8 1/2 in THREE casts from Shoreham Harbour. These catches were just highlights of our time lure fishing in the dark in harbours and over 20 years ago.

Then I started freshwater fishing again, drifting into match fishing and a new obsession began. It took a few years but I went from pleasure angler to club angler to occasional match angler to team angler. Fished in Super Leagues, Div 1 Nationals, won numerous winter league matches both individually and as a team.

Then went to work into Oz for a year. I became obsessed with lure fishing for bream and anything else on light tackle. Sorted that out and caught quite a few out of Sydney Harbour.

Came home and packed in match fishing. There was no way I was going to carry a box, rod holdall, net bag etc around to matches after fishing in OZ with a rod that weighed 3 oz and small reel and bag of soft plastics!!!! My fishing now was for mackerel, gars and flounders mainly but anything else I could catch on very light gear was welcome.

Then a 'domestic failure', new girlfriend, new flat found me watching people catch bass from somewhere that had been completely dead a few years previous. Updated my gear, bought new lures and here I am.

There are two sides to my fishing: one side is the 'bumbler' - I don't care where I am or what I am fishing for provided I have a rod in my hand, the other is totally focussed (obsessed?) where I need to know everything and then some about my fishing. The obsessed side built a four piece spinning travel rod to take on my honeymoon..... the bumbler takes my kids catch crabs on holiday.....

 

[steve mullins]

Was taken fishing when i was in the womb,have asked for my favorite rods to be in my coffin when i pass on.I have been a very lucky angler & been fortunate enough to catch many species well into specimen size.I love fishing with a passion that hurts!& i hope to hurt till i die amen.

 

[Marc D...]

well my life has run the same sort of course as dai's, so like saltiga i'll stick with the fishing,

the old man used to drag my arse out in the freezing cold during the 60's, but all we ever caught were pin whiting, (probably a distance thing) and then in 1970 he bought me my own split cane beach rod, and fixed spool reel, we lived in Cardiff at that time so i only used the rod whenever the old man decided to fish with me,

then in 71, my Mam left the old man (due to the beatings she used to take off him) and we moved to Penarth which was right next to the sea, i continued to fish using my cane rod until one day whilst on the local pier, a bloke came over and offered me 2 quid and the "latest pier casting rod" and cos it was shorter than my rod and looked really new, i swapped it, but when the old man came to pick me up for the weekend and i proudly showed him what i'd swapped the beach rod for, it was my turn for a hammering, cos i'd been duped into buying a solid bright green fibreglass boat rod :lol: (never did tell the old man about the 2 quid though)

anyway, i didn't bother fishing again after that until the early 1980's, when a few of us all used to go fishing on our bikes, in all weathers, i did this until i had a bad bike smash in 1990, and i've only been back fishing for about 5 years,

i was doing really well at beach fishing and after entering just 3 (out of 9) of last years seamaster competitions i was 5th in the top 20 anglers who made it to the final, (in the 3 comps i entered, i came 3rd 4th and 9th) but all the time i was getting fed up with the petty jealousy of some anglers who i'd known for years, so i deciced that i would have a break from "normal" beach fishing, and at the end of july i bought myself a bushwhacker, and the rest is history..

 

[Retired]

I was born into a fishing family and was doomed from day one. I have been lucky to fish with some very keen sport anglers and commercial fishermen and learn a lot from them.

When I go to the bass festival in the sky I've asked my wife to scatter my ashes at my favourite spot at low water at the end of a gutter on the West of the Island on a big spring. I haven't told her that it takes about 40 minutes to get back and the tide turns 20 minutes before low water. :evil: :lol: I love her to bits really.

 

[Keith White]

Caught first fish aged 4

fished coarse for many years.

Was one the midland pioneer's on the long pole (got laughed at at first, how things change LOL)
Got my first sponsorship after Ian Heaps and Ivan Marks put in a word for me with the local tackle trade.

Then fished with Shakespeare Super Team (Trent Area Division) for years until I went semi pro.

Collected bloodworm and travelled the country with many top flight guys on the open circuit.
Fishing against guys like Bob Nudd maybe twice a week. Gravel Pits, Rivers and canals, we did it all and
supplied bait at £20 a pop to over 200 willing anglers a week too...ahh the good old days.

Life was good, £400 a week match earnings wasn't unrealistic until...

The market collapse after the closure of the mining communities around the whole general area.
It caused chaos for miles around and the lucrative money matches dried up.

Moved to Jersey, Caught my first Bass ( 10lb serious )
Fished allsorts of stuff as I have a fly fishing background too and did loads of freshwater predator
fishing both lure and bait. Sea Fishing wasn't a natural as I was used to fish coming to me, not me going to them

after what is about 18 years here, done World and European Freshwater champs, did ok too. Got 2nd and 4th in section
in Belgium 1997 and was 1 fish off a bronze individual medal. That just happened to be long pole and bloodworm. The old school
stopped laughing then but it still took 10 years..

Have done loads of stuff, bonefish, Tarpon, Seatrout, Stripers, Albies, etc etc in various world locations.
I love fishing and have had a number of years experience as a casting coach and long range tournament caster.

I hold all the CI records for casting bar 1 and Kev holds that. PB casting is 261 meters.
Done loads of rod development work with Century Composites and they are an awesome company who listen
to the people they consult with.

Also run the www.myfishcasting.com global tournament website.

Last 4 years, done loads of long distance bicycle riding and racing. PB 100 miles across Northern France 4 hr 21 min
and that was damn hilly too. It still hurts. Off season now but on season, try to ride at least 200 miles per week.

New passion is freediving. done over 60ft in freshwater and around 50ft in the salt. Have learned from this...

That fish can come to you in saltwater too so it's not too far a stretch from what i had 20 years ago. I just never realised.

 

[Mick Ward]

Dai I loved reading your post mate it was a fantastic read. Marc brilliant too, Keith fair play.

Simple really, born into a family of fishermen and ever since I have been able to hold a rod i have been trying to impress my big brother Doug.......that is still what I am trying to do because I respect him as the best fisherman (commercial) that I have ever met.

Started fishing when I was about 8yrs old but had been taken fishing with my big brothers from an earlier age. My mum had no money, and most of my mates I grew up with wre in the same boat so we would go to our local beach and dig bait then beg borrow and steal enough tackle from our bigger brother to manage to go fishing. I remember for xmas whe I was about 9 Doug got me my first rod that was mine, a brand new telescopic shakespeare. I got up early on boxing day morning and went to the harbour with the remains of xmas dinner for bait. I think after a few hour of catching nothing I decided to eat the rest of the bait and walk home, turkey when raw may be good for golden grey mullet but when its cooked its a bugger to get on a hook!!

Loved my fishing when I was young and have always had a rod out a few times a year even when I got into motorbikes, drinking, substances, women etc. When everything went tits up and I had to escape I would grab my rod and head out to clear my head. In my long relationship with the psyhco bitch from hell I swear fishing saved her life on many an occasion. It was because I needed to get away from certain guys I knew and stop raving and generally being a drug fused lunatic that my addictive nature got me addicted to my first passion again, fishing.

It went on to get me into club fishing til I achieved club champion in 1999. Coinsidencely that was when my relationship with the ex was at its worst so I thank her for that, I jst didnt want tio be at home!! Got into lure fishing in a big way. Our local tackle shop owner Eddie Read gave me a start, that I will always thank him for. After 8 years with Eddie my brother needed to get out of commercial fihing as he was getting too old for it all and the industry is getting harder even for the best skippers.

The rest you all know really.

Going back to what I said earlier though, I do love to see youngsters fishing, because if I had not had my fishing when I was younger I would never have had it to fall back on when times were bad.

 

[dai56]

Thank's Mick and others that have supported me in what i put up i was in two minds wether to put it up or not i would like to point out i have never done anything dishonest prison came about due to an assault abh [still feel i was set up] second time the suspended again nothing realy i ejected someone from a pub he went to police saying landlord was using unregistered door staff as i have worked the door in the past it was a hard one to prove either way i won't mention the coal board incident that ended up with a £30 fine and £50 costs that came about after i was stopped leaving a deserted pit with a pick up full of coal dust [used to sell it to the penshioners for £1 a hundred weight]
Talking about the bitch from hell that Mick was married to i think i was with her sister tried to stab me twice when awake once when i was sleeping i heard her get up but didn't hear the loo i did hear a drawer in the kitchen so was behind the door when she came back up stairs[the only time i've ever hit a woman]
about a week before she walked out on me she had set the upstairs of the house on fire while i was sleeping downstairs
I can see now the second best thing that ever happened to me was her going and i wish the fella she left me for all the luck going but if he ever tries to bring her back he better look out

Getting together with my Ann is without doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me
Just realised thats the rest of my life story and i'll never be able to sell it now
cheers dai
EDIT i should point out i'm probably not the easiest person in the world to live with and mental health issues were not unknown in her family