How it all started for me
My fishing started out from the very early age of eight years old, it was the old man that got me into it, he was a very keen match angler at the time & we used to travel all over the country fishing most weekends, venues such as the Trent, Notts canal, the Severn at Ironbridge, Higham farm at Alfreton & the national watersports centre, to name a few, it was great.
Then came my turn to learn to have a go, that started out with my dad teaching me how to fish canals with the pole, i found it hard work to begin fishing with 12.5 metres of pole stretched over a canal, shipping it out over to the far bank, catching chub, roach, skimmer bream & perch, but began to enjoy it, so my fishing took off from there on.
I started going fishing with a few friends & my two younger brothers, fishing some local gravel pits, catching roach, bream, rudd, perch & i'll never forget the first time i started catching tench, all on the waggler this was awe inspiring as my fishing was progressing very fast, then came the time to learn river fishing, which i now much prefer, started out on the Trent with chub, gudgeon, skimmer bream & perch all on the swimfeeder & stick float tactics.
As time moved on i started fishing by myself on the river & ocassionally with my old man, mainly fishing the feeder through the summer, autumn & ocassionally winter time, in fact my fishing took off in a big way i had become obsessed & could'nt keep away from the river, i would be down there every other day from one week to the next, until i got older & the dreaded work commitments put a stop to it.
Then came the barbel fishing
Whilst still learning about river fishing & the all manner of fish i was catching, one particular weekend i hooked a barbel, i did'nt know what it was at the time but jesus this fish took off like a rocket downstream stripping 25 to 30yds of line off the reel in seconds, until it came to a stop, i managed to turn it round & it came back upstream, i was still playing this fish for a good 15 minutes before it surfaced under the rod tip & turned onto it's side & into my landing net, i was excited to say the least, but very happy knowing i'd achieved something more within my fishing, the barbel weighed 4lbs & looked immaculate, has if it had never been caught before. Barbel fishing took off for me there on, becoming an ambition/passion that i still enjoy to this day, in fact that much so that i spent a lot of my time & money investing in upgrading my coarse fishing equiptment to suitable barbel fishing equiptment.
Also i enjoy lure fishing
This is second to my passion for barbel fishing, i once gave lure fishing a go with a friend & got hooked into some nice looking jack pike from a local gravel pit all caught on spinners & spoons, i found it very interesting as i had learnt something new, which i am very greatfull to my friend for taking the time out to show me this other side of angling.
Now i have a small collection of lures & lure rods, along with coarse fishing equiptment & barbel fishing tackle, it's a good job i have a spare room at home to store it all.
William