The following notes comprise our suggestions for fishing tackle for beginners who are mainly going to fish lakes for roach, bream, perch, tench etc.
All
of the items are available from the discount fishing
tackle shop on our site, and the staff at the shops will be pleased to help.
Just explain that you've been reading the beginners pages
on the web site, and that you need a bit of help.
Much of the advice for fishing lakes will be similar to our suggestions for river fishing , so we suggest that you read that first. We can then identify any differences between the two styles.
Rods
- again we would advise a 12ft match rod. You are looking for a 'through' action
whereas float fishing rods for river use are ideally 'tip' actioned. A through
action rod has a gradual
bend from the tip right down the section to the butt, whereas the tip action
has stiffer middle and butt joints, leaving only the tip to bend. The tip actioned
rod is ideal when fishing for roach
and dace in the rivers, where you need to be able to pick up lots of loose line
that is laying on the surface between the rod and the float. When we're fishing
lakes, we tend to use 'waggler'
type float, with the line fixed only at the bottom of the float, giving us a
sunken line and a more direct contact to a biting fish. We would recommend something
like the Shakespeare Odessa 12ft (£34.95 at Swifty's).
Reels
- exactly the same as for river fishing, but this time we can load all of the
spools with varying breaking strains of Maxima, since we have no use for floating
lines when lake fishing.
Maxima is a strong line, I know that all of the lines have breaking strains
and a 3lb line of any make should break at about 3lbs, but ask any experienced
angler and they will all tell you that Maxima is strong, maybe it breaks at
above its stated B.S. Anyhow, because Maxima is 'strong' our suggested loadings
would be 2lb for light waggler, roach, perch, skimmers etc,
3lb for bigger bream, tench and small carp, and 6lb for 'proper' carp, tench
in snaggy swims etc.
Floats - that's easy, a selection of wagglers, all will be fished bottom end only i.e. the line is put through the ring at the bottom of the float, and the depth is fixed by placing split shot either side of the float, leaving just a few small shot down the line nearer to the hook. The line will be always be sunk (place the rod tip under the water and give the reel a couple of quick turns until all floating line has disappeared).
Keep
Nets - many stillwaters ban the use of keep nets. This is done purely to protect
the fish stocks. Beginners and occasional anglers have in the past been guilty
of putting large numbers
of big fish into inadequate nets for long periods, causing misery and even death
to the captured fish especially since many of these huge captures have taken
place during the summer months when oxygen levels are at their lowest, and many
fish are still recovering from the stresses of spawning. Keep nets are still
used in matches, but they are always made from fish friendly meshes, the nets
are very large, and the fish are only kept in them for a maximum of five hours.
Hooks
- many of the commercial fisheries insist that you use barbless hooks on their
fisheries. Once again this is a measure aimed at protecting valuable fish stocks.
It can be very difficult
for a novice angler to remove a barbed hook from a flapping, squirming fish,
and damage to the mouth of the fish can easily result. Barbless hooks are much
easier to remove, and provided
that you keep a tight line to a hooked fish, you are no more likely to lose
the fish than when fishing with a barbed hook. In fact, a barbless hook doesn't
have to be struck so hard, resulting in more fish landed. Don't be afraid of
using barbless hooks, the vast majority of match anglers use nothing else, and
use them from choice even where barbed hooks are allowed.
A final word on stilwater fisheries, especially the commercial fisheries that have sprung up all over the country. Make sure that you are aware of the fishery rules. Many of them ban certain baits such as trout pellet or bloodworm, most ban the use of keep nets except in matches, most ban barbed hooks, and many limit the amount of groundbait that can be used. Ask what the rules are before you start fishing, I'd hate to see any of our readers banned from a fishery just because they were unaware of the fishery rules.
Finally let me recommend a perfect resource for the improving angler. It's an online fishing club simply packed with information on all styles of fishing. With a lively forum where you can ask all of those tricky questions it is simply the best fishing site around. Why not take a look around (click on the Free Tour link at the top of the total-fishingclub.com homepage)