Totally agree about the stress in carp fishing. I know friends of mine who've fallen out of love with it who say the thought of carp fishing is better than the reality. There are times when I have to agree with them, but I've never felt that way about fishing the rivers in the winter. The reality of trotting and touch legering is always so much better, and I think it's because you're fully immersed while only needing 3-4 hours for a good day's sport.
Not that it's evidence of much, but I wear a Garmin watch which tracks stress and heart rate variability through the day and it's at its worst for me while carp fishing even compared to work and exercise. It's really noticeable how much night fishing takes it toll.
Not that it's evidence of much, but I wear a Garmin watch which tracks stress and heart rate variability through the day and it's at its worst for me while carp fishing even compared to work and exercise. It's really noticeable how much night fishing takes it toll.
I tried predator fishing last year. quite by accident really, i was in the local tackle shop last year and he had some ready to go perch set ups abu rod reel ready spooled with braid and a hand full of lures for about £85. rocked up at the local park lake. and had a great time and caught a very nice perch. no sitting around
I think I mentioned on a previous thread that I have my carp fishing end of life fishing pre planned.
I am what I would like to think an ‘old school' not ‘Old Skool' angler.
I started in the early 70's as a ‘ spezzie' angler. I targeted the biggest fish on waters available to me at the time so a 3lb perch from a small brick pit was as important as a 2lb roach from a lake or a 7lb barbel from a local river. Obviously at some stage carp became a quarry as they were bigger and surprisingly in most venues which had “ no big carp in here young lad”
I enjoyed the 70's, the secret squirrel, home made tackle ( still do it today), making do and adapting.
So fast forward to now 2025. I am left totally cold and unmoved by blogs, vlogs. Instant media etc etc. In my mind it is just noise and clutter that is turning my hobby into a multi million pound sport, in which only a few will prosper. I have no part in that life so continue to plow my lonely furlough in carp life.
It's been many years since I looked at the last ‘Mike Cavanach' rig in Carpworld - now defunct. Likewise although it's virtually impossible to escape the influence of Korda et al in carp fishing, I occasionally glance but not fully immerse, so to my younger contemporaries, seem Ill informed by comparison. My go to rig for the last 15 - 20 years is a Merlin/Amnesia multi rig ( black or clear depending on venue) simple blow back semi shrunk shrink tube ring and horror of horror a modern ( ish) Ronnie rig which is just a more friendlier update to the 360* of yesteryear.
But time marches on. I'm now 68 years old. I can't continue this for years as the punishment on the body is too much. I now fish my old syndicate of 15 years, a proper syndicate lake rented from a farmer and run by us, not a glorified commercial concern with ‘membership. But the future of how longer I can continue has started to become apparent.
In stark contrast to everyone else and their advice, I fish for a week at a time. With the dog ( 2 stops for walks, water and a wazz) it takes 4 hours to get there, so a quick overnighter isn't viable. Also out of 15 swims only 8 are accesable by land the rest require a boat. So I go for the week with the dog and kitchen sink. During the week 99% of the time I have the lake to myself and view the initial setup location as ‘ base camp. If fish are showing then I'm on them if not then a swim based on experience, previous knowledge will be picked. If I see fish elsewhere on the lake I will move on them, leaving the ‘base camp' stuff in the swim and taking a small brolley. In the unlikely event of another member being on I would check first 👍
I love my time on the lake and left to it my fishing is as exciting as the 70's, I just ignore the other crap that carping brings. However, the realities of life can't be ignored and stiff limbs for days afterwards, plus the potential problems of a bad fall on a remote lake ( happened in France last year but had mates with me) have to be taken into account.
So a few years ago I started a hobby within the hobby and got interested in vintage gear. I now make my own rods and as much tackle as I can ( did a thread on here but got lost in the big Forum glitch). I make carp rods amongst other gear and when it gets too much for carping on the lakes I will hunt for all sorts of species in ponds, lakes and rivers. I plan to sell my car and get a small van with bed in the back so I can visit and sleep in comfort many venues such as the Severn in Wales for big barbel, not that I'm averse with later life and a lift in disposable income to stretching to hotels and B&B's as I ‘downscale my angling'. Add to this taking my grandchildren fishing, I will probably end up doing more time on the bank, more ‘true' fishing and exploring the rivers which has always for me been the missing bit of carp fishing.
Bring it on .
I am what I would like to think an ‘old school' not ‘Old Skool' angler.
I started in the early 70's as a ‘ spezzie' angler. I targeted the biggest fish on waters available to me at the time so a 3lb perch from a small brick pit was as important as a 2lb roach from a lake or a 7lb barbel from a local river. Obviously at some stage carp became a quarry as they were bigger and surprisingly in most venues which had “ no big carp in here young lad”
I enjoyed the 70's, the secret squirrel, home made tackle ( still do it today), making do and adapting.
So fast forward to now 2025. I am left totally cold and unmoved by blogs, vlogs. Instant media etc etc. In my mind it is just noise and clutter that is turning my hobby into a multi million pound sport, in which only a few will prosper. I have no part in that life so continue to plow my lonely furlough in carp life.
It's been many years since I looked at the last ‘Mike Cavanach' rig in Carpworld - now defunct. Likewise although it's virtually impossible to escape the influence of Korda et al in carp fishing, I occasionally glance but not fully immerse, so to my younger contemporaries, seem Ill informed by comparison. My go to rig for the last 15 - 20 years is a Merlin/Amnesia multi rig ( black or clear depending on venue) simple blow back semi shrunk shrink tube ring and horror of horror a modern ( ish) Ronnie rig which is just a more friendlier update to the 360* of yesteryear.
But time marches on. I'm now 68 years old. I can't continue this for years as the punishment on the body is too much. I now fish my old syndicate of 15 years, a proper syndicate lake rented from a farmer and run by us, not a glorified commercial concern with ‘membership. But the future of how longer I can continue has started to become apparent.
In stark contrast to everyone else and their advice, I fish for a week at a time. With the dog ( 2 stops for walks, water and a wazz) it takes 4 hours to get there, so a quick overnighter isn't viable. Also out of 15 swims only 8 are accesable by land the rest require a boat. So I go for the week with the dog and kitchen sink. During the week 99% of the time I have the lake to myself and view the initial setup location as ‘ base camp. If fish are showing then I'm on them if not then a swim based on experience, previous knowledge will be picked. If I see fish elsewhere on the lake I will move on them, leaving the ‘base camp' stuff in the swim and taking a small brolley. In the unlikely event of another member being on I would check first 👍
I love my time on the lake and left to it my fishing is as exciting as the 70's, I just ignore the other crap that carping brings. However, the realities of life can't be ignored and stiff limbs for days afterwards, plus the potential problems of a bad fall on a remote lake ( happened in France last year but had mates with me) have to be taken into account.
So a few years ago I started a hobby within the hobby and got interested in vintage gear. I now make my own rods and as much tackle as I can ( did a thread on here but got lost in the big Forum glitch). I make carp rods amongst other gear and when it gets too much for carping on the lakes I will hunt for all sorts of species in ponds, lakes and rivers. I plan to sell my car and get a small van with bed in the back so I can visit and sleep in comfort many venues such as the Severn in Wales for big barbel, not that I'm averse with later life and a lift in disposable income to stretching to hotels and B&B's as I ‘downscale my angling'. Add to this taking my grandchildren fishing, I will probably end up doing more time on the bank, more ‘true' fishing and exploring the rivers which has always for me been the missing bit of carp fishing.
Bring it on .
In reply to Post #48
Love it, enjoy your fishing Neil
Love it, enjoy your fishing Neil
In reply to Post #48
What a lovely thought provoking and being true to one's self that is ..
I'm a little younger than Neil,but in many ways I'm similar in thoughts and approach ..The last year or so has found me avoiding many places that I once enjoyed, perhaps I subconsciously see the shift in angling towards overt commercialism..I detest it,I want no part of it at all,but also I find myself fishing places that have little human intervention ,run down ,ottered ,no big fish of note ,anything that's wild or possibly hardly fished ,I'm on it.
I mentioned before ,years ago ...I had a list ,a list of waters that remained quiet ,now they are horrid commercial venues,so my list is small ,and decreasing quickly ..so my retirement, waters are less..
Similarly, the actual people that angle have changed, brainwashed by Danny ,YouTube,dont get me started on what I think of short arse , the one from OMC, and a lack of apprenticeship and appreciation of the smaller,and often more viable species than carp.I find those that I do cross paths with ,should be nowhere near a lake ,river or whatever,the trail of litter,fag ends and stinking of weed backs up my theory tenfold .
My local tackle shop,well I should be happy ,that I have a shop ,but you go in and it's wall to wall of plastic packaging ,some products have nothing to even do with carping or indeed angling as a whole...All the different companies, selling the same crap ,of which it is overpriced..
So what am I doing about it?
Firstly I've long been a minimalist, but I'm getting my carp kit down to the absolute basics,so that I can do nights ,but no frills,no silly or stupid ,gadgets,gizmos and absolute no cheating tech toys...I don't need ever ,to buy another expensive carp rod etc..My plan is to get a general course set up ,which I've now done ,so I can go proper angling more regularly than I do now.
The other thing is the countryside its being damaged and destroyed at a fast pace,where I live ,many from towns ,londistan etc have moved in ,this in my view has destroyed my peaceful way of living ,I detest them ,and their way of thought processes,the way they view nature and the people in rural areas..
I'll carry on angling until I physically cannot ,or until some stupid woke political party does something untoward to my way of life,you see...fishing, angling has been my chosen way of life since I was young ..same for grandfather ,uncles ,father and now my son and me..
So in many ways ,although I too sometimes is very unhappy with how angling is going it's not the actual fishing,its people ,yes ..the people within angling ,they are the ones who I point at ..money ,greed and social media ...
What a lovely thought provoking and being true to one's self that is ..
I'm a little younger than Neil,but in many ways I'm similar in thoughts and approach ..The last year or so has found me avoiding many places that I once enjoyed, perhaps I subconsciously see the shift in angling towards overt commercialism..I detest it,I want no part of it at all,but also I find myself fishing places that have little human intervention ,run down ,ottered ,no big fish of note ,anything that's wild or possibly hardly fished ,I'm on it.
I mentioned before ,years ago ...I had a list ,a list of waters that remained quiet ,now they are horrid commercial venues,so my list is small ,and decreasing quickly ..so my retirement, waters are less..
Similarly, the actual people that angle have changed, brainwashed by Danny ,YouTube,dont get me started on what I think of short arse , the one from OMC, and a lack of apprenticeship and appreciation of the smaller,and often more viable species than carp.I find those that I do cross paths with ,should be nowhere near a lake ,river or whatever,the trail of litter,fag ends and stinking of weed backs up my theory tenfold .
My local tackle shop,well I should be happy ,that I have a shop ,but you go in and it's wall to wall of plastic packaging ,some products have nothing to even do with carping or indeed angling as a whole...All the different companies, selling the same crap ,of which it is overpriced..
So what am I doing about it?
Firstly I've long been a minimalist, but I'm getting my carp kit down to the absolute basics,so that I can do nights ,but no frills,no silly or stupid ,gadgets,gizmos and absolute no cheating tech toys...I don't need ever ,to buy another expensive carp rod etc..My plan is to get a general course set up ,which I've now done ,so I can go proper angling more regularly than I do now.
The other thing is the countryside its being damaged and destroyed at a fast pace,where I live ,many from towns ,londistan etc have moved in ,this in my view has destroyed my peaceful way of living ,I detest them ,and their way of thought processes,the way they view nature and the people in rural areas..
I'll carry on angling until I physically cannot ,or until some stupid woke political party does something untoward to my way of life,you see...fishing, angling has been my chosen way of life since I was young ..same for grandfather ,uncles ,father and now my son and me..
So in many ways ,although I too sometimes is very unhappy with how angling is going it's not the actual fishing,its people ,yes ..the people within angling ,they are the ones who I point at ..money ,greed and social media ...
In reply to Post #50
Great post, a lot of resonance there for me.
Great post, a lot of resonance there for me.