Welcome to the Angling UK Beginners Guide

It is always our aim to encourage youngsters and beginners to try our hobby, and we have tried here to give you some suggestions for a sensible set of angling equipment i.e. rods, reels, poles and tackle in varying price bands for the different fishing styles. Whatever style of fishing you are involved in, be it carp fishing, match fishing, general coarse, fly or sea fishing, the secret to catching fish is to use balanced tackle, aimed at the species that you are trying to catch. Too often we see youngsters fishing with tackle bought from a general mail order catalogue or department store that is totally unsuited to the style of fishing being attempted.

Although we would obviously like you to buy from our online tackle shop, we really can't emphasise enough the message that you MUST buy from a fishing tackle shop, they are the people who will set you out on a lifelong addiction to this fabulous hobby. If you get it wrong in the beginning you might never understand the magnetic
attraction of a pursuit that allows you to be at one with nature, and to appreciate this wonderful world that we are so privileged to be a part of.

You must bear in mind that the tackle suggestions are for junior / beginner anglers. Once you are hooked (on the sport, not in the head, finger, ear etc) you will want to specialise more on one aspect of fishing, and will look back in years to come and wonder how you ever caught a fish on such 'primitive' gear. When that time comes, and the tackle that you bought in the year 2000 is gathering dust in a corner, don't 'bin' it. Wander down to the local park lake or club lake, find the lad fishing with the Woolworths 5ft rod and 20lb line, and give him your original gear, in the hope that he too might find happiness in the gentle art. You will feel good in the knowledge that you have given back to the sport just a tiny morsel of the satisfaction that it has given to you.

Coarse Fishing
Here in the south of England, the most popular style of fishing is coarse or freshwater fishing. We don't have any freshwater fish that are noted for their eating qualities, so we return ALL of the fish that we catch back to the water (ALIVE of course !).

We have many rivers in this part of the country, ranging from the mighty River Thames to the much more intimate tributaries such as the Rivers Mole and Wey, but many of these rivers are just shadows of their former self. The predation of cormorants which have moved inland now that our seas have been almost emptied by a fishing industry seemingly intent on self destruction, plus the ravages of abstraction and pollution means that we will never again see the days when the banks of rivers such as the Trent and Thames were lined with anglers each and every weekend.

Thankfully, what we do have now are some superb stillwaters, some run by angling clubs, others run as commercial ventures, and a few offering free fishing to all and sundry. Many of the day ticket waters (the commercial fisheries) are stocked with small, fast growing, hard fighting, hardy carp, and these waters are now immensely popular with both the match and pleasure anglers. It is this branch of the sport that is attracting many newcomers, and with good reason, since fishing is about catching fish, and these commercial fisheries hold many tons of them. We have written about some of these fisheries in our part of the world in our venues section, but the place to find such fisheries is once again your local tackle shop. They will also know of local clubs that control waters, together with any local rivers that are worth fishing, together with details of ticket prices, rules and regulations, and will be able to give you the very latest information on what's being caught where, with what bait etc.

Fly Fishing
Although some of the finest chalk stream fly fishing is to be found on the Rivers Test, Kennet and Itchen, such fishing is extremely sought after and very expensive. Once again, the more popular trout fishing is found in the reservoirs and commercial fisheries. Although I don't have any figures to back up the theory, I have a feeling that this branch of the sport is in a state of decline, especially since the coarse fishing closed season has been removed from stillwaters. Many of us used to have a couple of days trouting during the old closed season, but I now see more and more of the trout lakes going over to coarse fishing. It's a great shame really, for there can be no more exciting fishing than watching a trout take a dry fly on one of the crystal clear lakes found here in the South. Nowadays it seems that only the dedicated trout angler is fly fishing, there are less 'all-rounders' on the banks.

Sea Fishing
I really didn't feel qualified to write this section. I'm a real country boy, the sea holds no attractions, in fact it scares me to death. What I suggest is that you click on this sea fishing site. I know that it's titled Sea Angling Ireland but it's absolutely perfect as an introduction to sea fishing, and they do have the same species over there....just more of them !!.

That's a quick round-up of the various styles of fishing, follow the links below to see what we recommend for each of them.

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