Updated Wednesday July 28th 2010
The opinions of perhaps the strangest creatures on the planet
are ignored at our peril . . . . .
Lets go
Fishing Ladies!
Why don’t more women go fishing?
More often than not it’s probably because they never get asked.
It’s not something most women would even think about doing on their own,
angling has always been a male orientated sport.
If ‘grandad’ or ‘dad’ ever took anyone, it would be the boys, it is
simply accepted that girls wouldn’t like it.
On this page I intend to tell you about my own experience of fishing and
hopefully encourage at least some of you to give it a go yourself, allow your
relatives to take your daughters as well as your sons, or both.
With any luck it could become a family affair which I believe can be a
real bonding experience for everyone involved but more importantly a whole lot
of fun!
My first experience of fishing was well over 20 years ago. It
was in Norfolk where the abundance of rivers and drains meant that no-one had to
travel too far to throw a rod in the water.
Luckily for us we were on the edge of the Great Ouse and Pike, Zander,
Eels and even the odd Salmon could be caught as well as many smaller silver fish.
All we had was an old rod and reel with a handful of tackle.
No flash pods, no alarms or specially designed clothing, not much at all
really. We just sat on the bank with
a wonky rod rest and probably spent more time talking about what fish might be
around and how to entice them onto the hook rather than actually doing anything.
I guess that was the appeal, sitting in the fresh air with your family
and friends around, talking about fishing but also any other subject that
cropped up and generally putting the world to rights.
I admit that back then it was handy to be so close to home, with a young
baby on the bank, being able to go home whenever necessary to feed, change etc
was an advantage and I was much more of an onlooker than an angler.
I can still remember taking the rod when offered though and enjoyed
bringing in the odd fish. At night,
with baby asleep, the Eel catching came into its own.
There would be mad, frantic half hours where the Eels would be running
and it was all hands on deck, naturally I always landed the biggest or at least
that’s how I recall it and when we’d had enough of being ‘busy’ we could lay on
the bank and drink our cans of White Lightning until it got too cold or we ran
out of things to talk about. Either way
it was a nice way to spend an evening.
I really started to get more interested in what was actually
going on when my daughter got a little older and hence not so demanding and
needed less attention that she wasn’t going to kill herself by walking straight
into whichever river or lake we happened to find ourselves beside or eating the
bait! We had moved to Devon and
access was not as readily available as Norfolk but we still found a lovely
reservoir only 10 minutes away. The
lake was and still is run by South West Lakes Trust and very poorly looked
after. It’s such a shame as the
actual lake is in a beautiful spot.
We could go there on a sunny weekend afternoon and would be the only people
there. A forest is at the back of
the lake and there is a small car park but as far as facilities go that���s it!
Not so much as a portaloo!
Now I know men don’t mind wandering off into the bushes when nature calls but I
would prefer not to and in all honesty I’m sure the men would also prefer not to
if given a choice. Anyhow, it was
here that I began to catch fish on my own.
I would only have one rod but learnt to tackle it up myself.
Mainly using Sweetcorn (I’m such a wimp, don’t like those wriggly
maggots) I learnt how to place the rod in just the right place to catch a few
little ones. There were plenty of
Roach, Rudd, Perch etc to keep me busy.
I don’t want to be bringing the rod in every 5 seconds, that’s too much
like hard work and I just want to relax.
Catching a fish of any size is fun, you just never know what is going to
be on the end when you bring it in, it’s exciting.
Of course I got tangled all the time and my poor husband spent more time
looking after me than watching his own rods, but believe it or not ladies, if
you try, you’ll find your husbands are quite willing to show you how to do
things. In fact, they enjoy it if
you give them a chance. I’m not
saying you have to learn everything or get better at it than he is but if you at
least show an interest then fishing can be a family sport.
Personally I get just as much pleasure
from watching my husband bring in a fish as I do catching one myself.
He has spent so many years at it that you just know it’s going to be a
nice fish, just how nice, is the question or rather how big!
It was mainly from watching him bring in Carp that I wanted to catch them
as well. They are such beautiful fish.
They fight to stay in open water, the stronger they are the longer they
fight and strength does not necessarily mean bigger.
More important is the general health of the fish which relates to how
well the whole environment is looked after and whether or not the water is
regularly fished and hence produces boilie buckets which are so used to being
caught, you could almost whistle them into the landing net.
My most rewarding time with Carp was early one morning on a
very small lake/pond that was known to hold several Carp of various sizes.
My husband was after the Tench, another gorgeous fish that feels like
velvet to the touch, so he was on one bank while I went to the other.
By this time I had my own set of three rods but this area was so small I
only took one, and once I had decided where I was going to place it, I put it
all together myself, attached the reels, threaded the line through and set up
the end tackle. I was using a
boilie on a hair rig and had picked a spot where I only needed to do an
underarm flick to place the bait where I wanted it.
It was a beautiful early morning in autumn and the mist was still laying
on the water and the reeds where my bait was were only 10-15ft away.
It had only been 20 minutes or so until the line began to stream off.
It was wonderful. I struck
and felt the fish immediately, then it was just a matter of not losing the
tension while I brought in a gorgeous clean mirror carp.
It’s so exciting when the rod first goes and then when you strike and
know you actually have one on the hook, I just can’t wait to get it on the bank
and see what it is. All the time you
have to keep concentrating on everything you’re doing to make sure you don’t
lose it, it’s brilliant. Thankfully the Carp there were not too big and it
didn’t take too long to bring it in, unhook it and put it in the keep net.
This particular morning I managed to catch another two in fairly quick
succession which made the whole thing all the more enjoyable.
My husband came over every time to make sure I didn’t have any problems
unhooking and after the three we took a photo and put them all back so as not to
stress them too much by being kept in the net.
Since then I have caught several Carp of all different sizes and I get
the same excitement every time. I
get so annoyed with myself if I do something wrong and lose one.
So why is it that I hardly ever see another female on the
bank? Well it does take a lot of
tolerance from whoever you are going with.
They need to be willing to show you everything to start with but it
really is good fun. The lack of
facilities can make it difficult, but the more you get into it the more
equipment you get hold of. It’s not
hard to take a stove so you can have a brew-up and chairs, tents even can be
taken if you get hooked enough to want to stay for a long time.
To start with though just a flask, a sandwich and a blanket, there’s
nothing like sitting out in the open and enjoying the peace and quiet.
No computers, no telephones, (put your mobile on silent), just your own
thoughts and the wildlife if your lucky.
If you do some local research you will soon find a spot which provides
the facilities you need. Most venues
now do provide toilets of some description.
I don’t like getting cold or wet, so pick the right time to go and watch
the forecast. Take the right
clothing, it doesn’t have to be designer, just appropriate for the conditions.
Try just going and watching to start with.
Your partners will feel it’s their domain and want to look after you if
you let them. Take the kids, they
will love it, boys and girls. If we
don’t start encouraging youngsters again, then before too long no-one will be
left fishing at all. Use the
opportunity of being away from anything electrical to talk and appreciate the
wonderful countryside we have in the UK.
Show your kids there is more to life than 'playstations' and ‘facebook’.
I hope I’ve encourage at least one person to give it a go,
you never know you might actually like it!
I hope so.
If you would like
to ask me anything please email me at
jean@diobas.com and good luck!
Jean
Marriot.
