Right then, I’ve never been fishing, but recently have fancied having a go.

I know nothing about it, what sort of kit you need, where to go, what sort of fish to catch, nowt.

So what’s the best way to get started?

Sea, river or pond?

have this conversation in your local tackle shop.

or perhaps start by describing the scene in your mind that leads you to think you want to ‘fish’

river, stream, lake, reservoir, sea, boat, beach, fly fishing, trout, salmon, crab, shark, multi day bivvy carp session, pole/float on the canal……………….

Yeah, I figured the fishing shop would be good (I now know they’re called tackle shops 😉 ), but as I know nothing I thought I’d ask here first.

I don’t live by the sea, so canal, river or pond I guess.

do you want to catch something you can eat, or do you just want to catch a fish?

rod, reel, line, float, weights, hook, bread – bosh.

Judging from the fishermen I see locally, you’ll need roughly the same amount of equipment as would be required to invade and occupy a reasonable sized country.

And I think the motivation for most people taking it up seems to be the desire to be as far away as possible from their wife. How else would sitting by a canal in Salford, with a stick in your hand, drinking cans of Stella be appealing?

In my opinion, its one step away from homelessness

Most stocked trout fisheries will do lessons and usually supply kit

If you fancy your hand at a bit of fly fishing, just google fly fishing lessons and your area, I’d be surprised if there were none

Not especially bothered about eating whatever I catch, but not against it.

I like the idea of fly fishing as it looks a bit more “active”, but I think it’s expensive. And difficult. Not fussed about sitting by a lake all day.

Something reasonably portable (possibly by bike).

Like I said, I’ve got no idea about fishing.

In my opinion, its one step away from homelessness

+1

My mate goes carp fishing, he’s full on every weekend he goes and camps out, dandling his thing in the water and playing with his tackle.

I can’t think of a worse ‘hobby’. My Dad used to drag us of to the Severn fishing when we were kids. I now pathalogically hate it.

Have fun 😉

Something reasonably portable (possibly by bike).

A bit of spinning/lure fishing may be right up your street then

rod, reel, net and a box of lures/spinners – you need to move around a lot for best results though

Spinning sounds like the sort of thing I had in mind.

Sitting by the canal all day doesn’t sound great. Especially if I have to drink Stella.

bit of a PSA colonel wax

If you just want to try it out and see if its for you, check out ALDI this Sunday as they are doing a cheap fishing kit to start you off with.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/offers_week22Sunday11.htm

All-round Telescopic Fishing Rod might be a good starter, but if it was me, I would go for the Carp outfit & fish some local pools.

Phone a couple of your local tackle shops and ask which day fishing spots they recomend for a starter.

Fishing Licence,[edit] beer [edit] maggots, spam, sweetcorn & bread are all good starters.

I do a spot of fly fishing and really enjoy it. I fish a couple of rivers and sometimes don’t bother fishing just do walks or rides along the riverbank looking for likely places. The places I fish are really nice and relaxing so some proper get away from it all vibes are a big part of it. So is hunting and catching your own food. Cost isn’t too bad, with a second hand rod, lightweight lines and reel, you should be up and runing for under £150. My licence is around £20/yr, fishing on a loch will be around £20/day. Expensive but good place to start. Lessons might help, or a book and a bit of pracice in the garden.
Sitting by the side if a canal in the hope of catching a stickleback just doesn’t work for me. Neither does sea fishing which seems to me just chucking bait in the water and hoping something picks up on it. Fly fishing is about finding the fish, casting to it, trying to get it to take the bait. It’s a more active thing than canal or sea fishing.
Also, fly fishing is usually about trout, so invest in a smoker. Not only is cold smoked trout one of the most delicious things ever, when people ask where you got it, tell them you caught it.

Oh, and ask around like at fishing shops and see if there any fishing lochs/lakes where you can hire kit. Spend a couple of quid on a hire and you might find out it’s not for you at all.
IMHO – try googling any lochs you find out about to see if they hire, do lessons etc. Look for images as well, scenery’s a pleasant distraction

..or just

or even…

River fishing is ace, especially on quiet small rivers where you can move around checking out the various nooks and crannies of the river trying to work out where your quarry are 🙂

Colonel Wax, where do you live? I teach Fly Fishing and I am a registered coach with the Angling development board, my details are here Me
and I can put you in touch with people in your area if you want to try fly fishing

PS, I hope I haven’t broken any rules posting a link to me?

Get some kit cheap (eBay or to be fair, the stuff Argos knock out looks pretty decent these days) and head down to a local commercial carp puddle. Almost guaranteed to catch something to whet your appetite.

Then you can go and spend time in more pleasant surroundings – beautiful river banks in the middle of nowhere, secluded ponds full of lillies and monsters!

This is what its all about for me now… downsized loads when I virtually stopped fishing and got a couple of top end rods and reels and kit to catch whoppers on. Only really fish when I’m on holiday now but might get a license for the summer…

Warm evening, bottle of Golden Glory and something has just snaffled the piece of floating crust I’d chucked under that tree on the island opposite…

Nice little ghost carp…

Cheers all, looks like it’s worth a trip to my local tackle shop then.

Tango Man – I’m in North Oxfordshire.

North Oxfordshire.
Get down to Rolfs lake near the water perry gardens next Friday and I’ll give you some info and you might be able to get regular help from the locals and find out if commercial carp fishing is your thing. Either way you should see some big fish landed.

in the same boat myself, any recomended online retailers for fishing gear?

Mullarkeys