Something topical. I have an intense dislike for politics and I absolutely loathe the free loading scumbags that are supposed to represent us in parliament. I cannot believe more people can't see through our political system. Every few years we get leaflets through our doors from over dressed twats that we haven't seen or heard from since the last election. We have a load of overfed, over paid tossers making promises that they have no intention of keeping. We know they won't keep the promises, they know we know but still the charade goes on. Politicians are so busy being seen to do the right thing and say the right words they fail to actually do anything constructive. None have the guts to make brave, bold decisions for fear of alienating a section of potential voters. The only ambition they have is to upset as few people as possible and get re-elected. It doesn't matter who we vote for NOTHING will change. None of the political parties represent me so I won't support them. Vote : “None of the above”. Unfortunately my limited experience of “Angling politics” pretty much mirrors the real thing.
The Angling Trust was formed in January 2009 as an amalgamation of several existing organisations with the aim of uniting Coarse, Game and Sea anglers under one political banner. There is no doubt that this is a good idea and such an organisation was long over do. I support all parts of the Trust's mission statement so I why didn't I join from day one? It all goes back to my dislike and distrust of politicians, at any level. As I said above, they have to be seen to be doing and saying the right things and they are afraid of pissing off one faction or another. At the beginning I didn't believe that the Angling trust supported me as an angler who fishes predominantly for predatory fish. The case in point here is livebaiting. If angling is to unite then the Trust has to come out and support this traditional method of catching Pike, Perch, Trout, Eels, Zander, Catfish and a host of marine fish. Recently the Birmingham Anglers Association imposed a livebait ban on its members without consultation. Here was an opportunity for the Angling Trust to front up, make a statement supporting livebaiting and gain the support of predator anglers. The trust, afraid to upset various factions within angling, chickened out.
Instead of muttering and grumbling to myself I felt the need to express my disappointment to people within the Angling Trust itself so entered into a long email dialogue lasting a couple of weeks. Evidently I wasn't alone in this as eventually I received a reply that promised me that the Angling Trust WILL come out in support of livebaiting within the next week or so. If this doesn't happen I'll make the relevant emails public so people know who the politician making false promises is. Anyway, taking this promise at face value should I join the Angling Trust? Eventually I decided I should, not just because of the livebaiting issue, the decider for me was the Trust's involvement in the Broadland dredging nightmare I wrote about last time. People who are closer to the situation than I, assure me the Trust's involvement is a big help for those of us who want to see this madness stopped.
So yes I've put my money where my mouth is and joined the Angling Trust, for one year at least. I sincerely hope that my opinion of politicians is proved wrong. I hope that I'm not disappointed by the organisation and I'm still a member this time next year, once again time will tell. Anyway, that's more than enough politics for now...
When the traditional fishing season closes the “Jobs” season commences. This period of purgatory includes torturous activities such as decorating, spring cleaning, garden tidying and other forms of masochism that I have been putting off since last June. I'm told there are people in the world who spend their free time doing such things for pleasure...but I don't believe it. Anyway I've kept my promises and 95% of my work is done, so now I am able to think about fishing once again, just in time to save my sanity.
Although I've never been terribly successful when it comes to Tench fishing, last season was a new low as I cannot remember banking a single fish. Most of this was down to my own ineptitude but it wasn't helped by me not being comfortable in my surroundings. Where I fish is as important to me as what I catch and being surrounded by cloned chavs failing to catch carp was uninspiring to say the least. This experience was actually a positive thing which fired me up to find somewhere else to fish this spring and summer. Half way through last winter, while freezing my nuts off waiting for a Pike an idea formed in my mind.
The water in question is one I've fished for Pike a few times but that was years ago and it had slipped off my radar. It occurred to me that this place might well tick the boxes, I know it holds Tench as well as the inevitable Carp and it used to hold good shoals of Bream. The water is around six acres in size, in a hollow and surrounded by trees, visually in the green colours of spring and summer it's a lovely spot. It's a syndicate water so not cheap but I don't mind paying a few quid to have peace and quiet while I'm fishing. That's another thing, the swims are well spaced out so no nosey neighbours. Yes I am an anti social git when fishing! I know what species the lake holds but I'm not too sure of the sizes they go up too. In years gone by the Bream were present in quantity with no reputation for quality, nowadays I have no idea. I asked around and the consensus tells me the Carp are few in number but grow quite large. On the Tench opinion is split, some say the place is full of huge fish, others say they are only small. I simply don't know but look forward to finding out.
So I paid my money and now I'll take my chances. The other evening I went round for a look around and took a lure rod with me, not really for catching Pike (honest!) more for checking depths and finding out a bit about the weed beds and the lake bed. The place is deeper than I remember, lilies seem prevalent close in and the bottom didn't seem as silty as I'd been told. There are beds of Norfolk reeds and fallen trees, all in all lots of character and features, the latter mostly in the margins. I'm already pondering what methods to try and where but more of that in the coming weeks. The banks are very overgrown in places and the vegetation will only get thicker as time passes. It's also very damp and boggy which gives the place a name which I will use on here; “The Marsh”. So far, so good. I like it and look forward to trying to find out a little bit about the Tench population and if the Carp, Bream or anything else pick up my baits then so be it. Watch this space...
The Angling Trust was formed in January 2009 as an amalgamation of several existing organisations with the aim of uniting Coarse, Game and Sea anglers under one political banner. There is no doubt that this is a good idea and such an organisation was long over do. I support all parts of the Trust's mission statement so I why didn't I join from day one? It all goes back to my dislike and distrust of politicians, at any level. As I said above, they have to be seen to be doing and saying the right things and they are afraid of pissing off one faction or another. At the beginning I didn't believe that the Angling trust supported me as an angler who fishes predominantly for predatory fish. The case in point here is livebaiting. If angling is to unite then the Trust has to come out and support this traditional method of catching Pike, Perch, Trout, Eels, Zander, Catfish and a host of marine fish. Recently the Birmingham Anglers Association imposed a livebait ban on its members without consultation. Here was an opportunity for the Angling Trust to front up, make a statement supporting livebaiting and gain the support of predator anglers. The trust, afraid to upset various factions within angling, chickened out.
Instead of muttering and grumbling to myself I felt the need to express my disappointment to people within the Angling Trust itself so entered into a long email dialogue lasting a couple of weeks. Evidently I wasn't alone in this as eventually I received a reply that promised me that the Angling Trust WILL come out in support of livebaiting within the next week or so. If this doesn't happen I'll make the relevant emails public so people know who the politician making false promises is. Anyway, taking this promise at face value should I join the Angling Trust? Eventually I decided I should, not just because of the livebaiting issue, the decider for me was the Trust's involvement in the Broadland dredging nightmare I wrote about last time. People who are closer to the situation than I, assure me the Trust's involvement is a big help for those of us who want to see this madness stopped.
So yes I've put my money where my mouth is and joined the Angling Trust, for one year at least. I sincerely hope that my opinion of politicians is proved wrong. I hope that I'm not disappointed by the organisation and I'm still a member this time next year, once again time will tell. Anyway, that's more than enough politics for now...
When the traditional fishing season closes the “Jobs” season commences. This period of purgatory includes torturous activities such as decorating, spring cleaning, garden tidying and other forms of masochism that I have been putting off since last June. I'm told there are people in the world who spend their free time doing such things for pleasure...but I don't believe it. Anyway I've kept my promises and 95% of my work is done, so now I am able to think about fishing once again, just in time to save my sanity.
Although I've never been terribly successful when it comes to Tench fishing, last season was a new low as I cannot remember banking a single fish. Most of this was down to my own ineptitude but it wasn't helped by me not being comfortable in my surroundings. Where I fish is as important to me as what I catch and being surrounded by cloned chavs failing to catch carp was uninspiring to say the least. This experience was actually a positive thing which fired me up to find somewhere else to fish this spring and summer. Half way through last winter, while freezing my nuts off waiting for a Pike an idea formed in my mind.
The water in question is one I've fished for Pike a few times but that was years ago and it had slipped off my radar. It occurred to me that this place might well tick the boxes, I know it holds Tench as well as the inevitable Carp and it used to hold good shoals of Bream. The water is around six acres in size, in a hollow and surrounded by trees, visually in the green colours of spring and summer it's a lovely spot. It's a syndicate water so not cheap but I don't mind paying a few quid to have peace and quiet while I'm fishing. That's another thing, the swims are well spaced out so no nosey neighbours. Yes I am an anti social git when fishing! I know what species the lake holds but I'm not too sure of the sizes they go up too. In years gone by the Bream were present in quantity with no reputation for quality, nowadays I have no idea. I asked around and the consensus tells me the Carp are few in number but grow quite large. On the Tench opinion is split, some say the place is full of huge fish, others say they are only small. I simply don't know but look forward to finding out.
So I paid my money and now I'll take my chances. The other evening I went round for a look around and took a lure rod with me, not really for catching Pike (honest!) more for checking depths and finding out a bit about the weed beds and the lake bed. The place is deeper than I remember, lilies seem prevalent close in and the bottom didn't seem as silty as I'd been told. There are beds of Norfolk reeds and fallen trees, all in all lots of character and features, the latter mostly in the margins. I'm already pondering what methods to try and where but more of that in the coming weeks. The banks are very overgrown in places and the vegetation will only get thicker as time passes. It's also very damp and boggy which gives the place a name which I will use on here; “The Marsh”. So far, so good. I like it and look forward to trying to find out a little bit about the Tench population and if the Carp, Bream or anything else pick up my baits then so be it. Watch this space...
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