thinking on jacking in

topbanana

topbanana

Well-known member
I've took up fluff chucking this year and I'm seriously enjoying it. So much so that I've myself woundering on jacking in the sea fishing game. Usually at this time of year I'm getting geared up for the summer codling, chasing plaice and the usual light gear stuff, spinning float fishing etc. But it just doesn't seem as appealing as it once did and after putting some hours in last winter season and had fish, nowt brilliant though.

I like the fact I can go fly fishing when I can and not have to worry about tides, the sea being away or flat and obtaining bait. All of which can be a problem at times, the usual case is having everything right and not being able to get out for having the kids etc.

Anyways, its just a thought :)
 
topbanana said:
I've took up fluff chucking this year and I'm seriously enjoying it. So much so that I've myself woundering on jacking in the sea fishing game. Usually at this time of year I'm getting geared up for the summer codling, chasing plaice and the usual light gear stuff, spinning float fishing etc. But it just doesn't seem as appealing as it once did and after putting some hours in last winter season and had fish, nowt brilliant though.

I like the fact I can go fly fishing when I can and not have to worry about tides, the sea being away or flat and obtaining bait. All of which can be a problem at times, the usual case is having everything right and not being able to get out for having the kids etc.

Anyways, its just a thought :)
Click to expand...
i can see where your coming from mate some of the crap what happens in winter fishing trying to get things right is a rite stress test do what you enjoy m8 whatever you do enjoy it thats the way its supposed to happen,atb plum
 
topbanana said:
I've took up fluff chucking this year and I'm seriously enjoying it. So much so that I've myself woundering on jacking in the sea fishing game. Usually at this time of year I'm getting geared up for the summer codling, chasing plaice and the usual light gear stuff, spinning float fishing etc. But it just doesn't seem as appealing as it once did and after putting some hours in last winter season and had fish, nowt brilliant though.

I like the fact I can go fly fishing when I can and not have to worry about tides, the sea being away or flat and obtaining bait. All of which can be a problem at times, the usual case is having everything right and not being able to get out for having the kids etc.

Anyways, its just a thought :)
Click to expand...

sounds like you need a brilliant cod sesh to realign you mate.
anyways good luck with the fluff chucking.
 
I have considered this myself about 3 years ago the appeal of fishing when you want no long hikes no stinking bait and normally no blanks was appealing. Then I considered fluff chucking summer then winter fishing the sea. But now the smooth hound bug bit me. Wouldn't sell all your gear keep a basic kelp set up for when Phil texts you to say he has bagged up lol
 
Fly fishing can be very addictive but after a couple of years of catching the same stockie trout the novelty can wear off and you will crave some sea fishing. After all your only going to catch rainbow after rainbow and you soon tire of eating them.
If you can do both sea and fly then great, fly fishing is generally better when its warmer anyway.

If you take up competition fly fishing be warned its like a drug and just as expensive!!

If you do get the chance to fish the bigger reservoirs, rutland, grafham etc it's a world away from the puddles up here and well worth the journey.
 
Or best of both worlds
Fly fishing in the sea with a big lure or salmon/sea trout fly
Iv had some cracking fish years back & even a 1lb mackerel will have you wanting more
 
also, if you are doing the real fluff chucking, ie rivers, yev got to watch for water levels and what stage there at, can be a nightmare:)
 
Don't do It Nicky we all go through the lows of sea fishing kids jobs all play a part but if you don't need the money from the sale of your gear mate just put it all away for that "just in case" moment the lure of the sea always drags you back good luck with the fluff
 
I bit the built and sold up I loved sea fish still like it but I came to the conclusion that there nowt left out there very little any the seas off our coast should be teaming with fish but unfortunately its not the case to spend fortunes on all the wich I did and to reap no reward was beging to dawn on me is this actually worth it. And I decide with no its no. So I sold up and now just concentrate on freshwater fishing carp wich I love I was dead against it when I was a sea fisherman but its great well I think. Dont get me wrong sea fishin is still a great hobbie and get to go to nice plces around north east and scotland. But I was mainly winter fishsea fish and stand out in the freezing cold for hoursnon end to catch a tiny colding buying bait and spending good money on it all kinds of differnt ones soon mount up. So hey mate I understand your situation it wasnt easy for me to see my gear go but I made a choice that I agree with. Pros and cons of sea fishing hmmmmm. Just my situation opion and view :)
 
fluff chucking

fluff chucking

you can fish all the year the only thing that puts me off is strong wind
 
To answer a few questions, I'm enjoying fishing stillwater at the minute, whether I do it 'properly' and fish rivers who knows I might.

I dont eat trout so thats not an issue for me I enjoy the sport and spirited fight you get as oppose to just skull dragging them in lol.

As for it getting boring, hmm, I am now starting think that way about just winching fish in sea fishing. I think a good sesh or two in weed is in order to get the feeling back for sea fishing. Then go from there.
 
I still consider myself a novice shore angler but had spent many years catching mackerel, flatties, small codling etc from our coastline. I have also spent enough time on boats to know what it's about. My uncle ( Fred who often skippers the Famous) and my dad were always keen sea fishermen going to Whithorn every year and other places plus Roker pier etc etc.
I hadn't done much fishing for a few years as I was hunting all the time and my dad and brother had started carp fishing and were well and truly hooked on it. My dad won't even consider sea fishing now although he says he might think about it if we are to target conger or something that fights back.

Now that's the key thing I think about fishing, the fight. I enjoy my days out at sea but even the bigger cod and ling I catch give no fight they are just to haul up. I've only caught them up to 15lb but have seen bigger ones landed and it looked just the same. Your average sea fish especially on heavy gear cannot do much. Now carp even at small sizes go mental and have to be played carefully or they will be lost. Then there's the tactics etc which sends a fishermen crazy and he ends up with can only be called carp fever.

However this year I want to spend more time on the shore because of the challenge, the scenery and the chance to catch species that I haven't caught before. I like to catch new things regardless of size, I'm currently on 82 types of fish. I like all types of fishing and don't like to see fishermen from the different forms slagging each other off or saying something is easy or whatever. From what I've seen and caught myself sea fishing is a challenge in a natural environment, things like carp are stocked and fed but few fish can fight harder or for as long, they are something special and if I only wanted to catch fish that can bend a rod double they are all I would target. I caught an eight pound carp the other day which took an age to get out of the reeds and snags, longer than it has taken me to land tuna, shark and rays off a boat and fairly hard fighting bream and snapper from the shore.
I have mates who cannot understand why I spend my holidays abroad trying to catch a new mini species or messing about with small LRF jigs when I could go out on the boats and try and catch big stuff. It's hard for me to answer I guess I just like to try a bit of everything, fishing is addictive.
 
I started my sport while in the army down south and fished the likes of Dungeness and the Kent coat. Bait was easily dug up, fish were plenty and the weather all seemed better then. It was in the 60's and early 70's though.

Then I was posted to Ripon. I took up (well resuscitated) my river fishing. I had always river fished from a very young age, mainly trout in the Wear at Bishop Auckland.

The Ure at Ripon was incredible. Loads on offer there from barbel to pike, roach and grayling etc.

Every Wednesday we had a sports afternoon. We all had to parade and the Sgt Major would walk along the line, point at people as he went past. Football, rugby, athletics he'd say as he went past us. I was really miffed at that. I had a sport. Fishing.

This guy was a dumbskull of the most remarkable magnitude. He even had his wife walk behind him while they were out shopping and he put a squaddie on a charge for being idle as they back-pedalled on a bike as he went past. He also had another stand guard on a grass verge every night between 6 and 9 for a week to guard the grass. He caught him walking on it and just gave him that as a punishment. He was called the Pig......

Anyway, I got enough courage to take matters up with him one Wednesday. I went on parade with my fishing rod in hand. The only person who wasn't standing there in PE kit.

"What the Kin-ell you think you're doing Robson" he screamed.
"Going fishing sir" I said. "It's my sport sir and I know you want us all to follow our chosen sport so we can excel in our own way".

You know what?
He says "F off out of my sight then. Off to the river you go and I don't want to see you on parade here anymore. You can go fishing as soon as you finish work in the mornings."

Christ I was shaking in my boots expecting to be marched straight to the guardroom. So that was my re-entry back into river fishing. 2 of my mates did the same thing the week after and we went out fishing every week after that.

This Sgt Major was so mean. We had women soldiers (WRAC) in the camp and I watched him drill them one morning. They were nowhere as near co-ordinated as us guys in drilling. With the regular lads if he shouted "Attention" you'd hear a single slap of feet as they all hit the ground at the same time. The lasses didn't get that though. You heard them all hit the ground in a ripple effect.
The Sgt major was getting really angry at them. He tried over and over again. Attention he'd shout. Rippllllle as their feet came in. Stand at Ease.... Rippllllleeee as they did the same again. Attention.... same again.

The next thing I heard was him shouting "When I shout Attention I want it done with speed. I want to hear forty fannies sucking in air"..........

For what it's worth I much prefer fly and lure fishing on a river. It's a skill. You aren't just humping a damned great bit of lead and a couple of hooks into the sea hoping some dumb tommy cod will find the bait. Fishing with a fly or lure is one where you stalk the prey. You seek out the lies where they are likely to be and cast to them deliberately. You choose a fly based on a recent hatch or river critters being active.

The thrill of seeing a fish rise to take a fly you made yourself is unbelievable. I made some pretty gruesome ones myself, little better than belly button fluff but caught on them just the same. The rod bends. You're into a fish that fights for its life. It shakes and runs at every inch you try and gain on it and if you lose it that's fine too. It's a battle you don't have to win, to win.

The first sea trout - or salmon I hooked at Durham was on a day when I shouldn't have been there. It was baking hot, the river was low and there'd been no rain for ages. There was literally nowt being caught and the weed was overunning the slow stretches.

I threw a large silver and blue Toby to the tail end of a pool under my bank side. It was actually just over the shingles where the pool flattened out and ran over a shallow area. I just bumped the lure along on the bottom hardly reeling it but letting it drift round in the water. Then WHAM.

Frightened the $hit out of me. This creature just hurled itself up out of the water and splashed back down with the lure firmly in the mouth. I didn't get full sight of it due to the overhanging tree but it was BIG.

It took off like a rocket straight upstream. I was using a good heavy rod I remember, and it bent it like a twig. I slowed it down and it came hammering back down river so fast I couldn't wind in quick enough to keep up with it. Then when the line finally tightened it was in the pool under my feet, which also happened to be full of roots of a willow.

I got it up a little and could see its face in the gloom and that was it. A shake of the head and it was gone.

But you know what? I didn't care all that much. It was the catching of it that mattered more to me. SO fluff-chukkers, go for it. Get on and do something that has more skill, more excitement, more potential and mostly in lovely surroundings in weather that suits you and not at the mercy of tides and crappy French Trawlers purging almost anything edible from our seas. And those bloody crabs eating all your bait.........

Am getting my own river rods out this week by the way.
 
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Try the light gear mate... A flattie on a light lrf set up and it's great fun!! It can relight the spirit for sea fishing mate. I sold all my gear a few years back, took up fly fishing and regretted it and had to fork out again haha. Still have the odd fluff chuck but its nice to have the option if doing what you want coz you still have the basic gear
 
I have been fly fishing for a very long time, sold all of my sea gear then got some more the sold it again my m8 told me I have made more come backs than frank Sinatra. :D
started back sea fishing again last year and enjoyed my days out with my mate but I also enjoy my fly fishing, my advice best just to put your sea gear away for the start of the winter you can start sea fishing again best of both worlds.
both fly gear and sea gear can be very expensive to replace once you get rid of it think about it.
any tight lines with the fly fishing enjoy
 
I know exactly where your coming from, I gave up sea fishing 20 year ago (approx) & back then there was loads of fish to be caught & most of places wernt overfished even back then a few people knew bout silloth for crab now everyone knows & places like mull of Galloway have that many people going to fish it's hard to get a decent spot.

I took up freshwater fishing mainly fly... But once I got used to it I tried sal****er fly fishing with a double hand salmon fly rod in Cornwall & got my 1st ever bass of 8lb (if I remember right) & it was an unbelievable fight.
I tried for mackerel on a trout fly rod & again it was an unreal battle
I've heard of people catching sal****er fish on a dry fly floating line & I can imagine nothing better.
Even pollock on light spinning gear or float fishing with sandeel for pollock & I reckon pound for pound the pollock will put a bigger smile on your face than a stockie trout especially when you look at the size of the tail fin on them bad boys.

Wild trout fishing in chalk stream Cornwall areas is in my opinion the next best thing to pollock on light gear.

My advice is keep your gear & do the freshwater thing pike, carp, salmon trout etc then once your casting is good enough with the fly rod get yourself a cheap rod & reel & try it st abbs. Eyemouth. You'll love it.
Or even Scottish highlands fly fishing for pike get one of them on & there up tail walking,

But when you think bout it a stockie fish in a reservoir is nowt special to catch compared to a wild fish in perfect condition wether it be pollock pike barbel salmon etc etc.
Just because the cod aren't around in numbers doesn't mean the sal****er fishing will be boring..... Target different fish in different areas & you'll love it again.
Iv just returned to sea fishing & can't get enough of it, can't wait till another month so I can target smoothies,
Stick with it but try out other stuff
Nothing more thrilling than catching trout on a fly you've tied yourself!!!
 

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