DES TAYLOR
Fishing is so much more fun when you take your time
Take your time starting fishing
IMAGINE inventing a dart that can hit the treble twenty every time, or a cue that pots every pool ball you line up. Would you sell many? No way! It would take all the skill out of these two classic pub sports.
So why take a new angler to a commercial, put a whip into their hand and get them a bite-a-chuck in a water that’s like fish soup? I reckon that making fishing too easy is the main reason why it’s not as popular as it used to be.
Let’s get this sport of ours back to the days when it was about enjoying time on the bank, forgetting all about the pressures of life and just sitting there enjoying the surroundings and maybe the company of a fellow angler.
Teach beginners the very basics of fishing – what species there are, where they live and what they eat – then show them a rod and reel. If they don’t succeed straight away it’s because they don’t deserve to just yet… but then, when they do finally catch a fish, it will mean something.
Recently I guided a young Welsh lad called Osian who had never coarse fished before. For the first few hours he was too busy learning how to cast, undo tangles and bait up to
get anywhere near a fish, but eventually he was casting to the same spot every time and firing in maggots accurately.
He felt a huge sense of pride on catching his first fish, but while he was waiting for that to happen, he had time to see and hear the wildlife around him. I firmly believe we have a new angler in our ranks.
Had I set him up right from the start with whip and pellet he’d have caught shedloads more fish, but where’s the achievement in that?