Beginning of a decline do you think?

[oscsha]

I don't buy the there's more anglers on the banks these days .

Trout/fly fishing is almost non existent , sea fishing doesn't get the numbers it used to Beaches used to be lined up with anglers when the cod where in just doesn't happen any more . The match scene has died , very few general anglers about .

Take a walk down your local river or canal at the weekend and you'll be lucky to see anyone fishing , now think back to the 70's , 80's .

Even the lakes used to have more anglers , a small lake I fish used to have about 18 swims and would get busy now its mainly carp it's down to 6 swims due to needing more room.

Some swims used to have 3 or 4 different general anglers in one day i.e the morning angler , the afternoon and then the evening now that swim may look busier today but the same angler is in there for 48hrs .

We fall ourselves that carp angling is big but I don't think its ever hit the numbers that the match and general scene did in the 70's , 80's .

Around here most club memberships are down .

Must get on  ' need to earn money ' 

 

 

[snowmanstevo]

47 minutes ago, Ginger9991 said:

oh yeah your 100% right but you know lego will get used more then once.

I see what your saying but if your child didn’t like angling chuck the stuff on eBay and take a £40 loss. 

I was just trying to compare angling to other hobbies/pastimes mate. A local commercial will charge around £8 for a full days ticket,I wouldn’t have a clue how much a round of golf is but I’m thinking around the £20/25 mark for a few hrs (any golfers on here who can put me straight)

Footy is even worse...... £45 for 90mins 🙄🙄

My point being after an initial outlay basic angling for a dad and lad is cheap as chips.

 

[greekskii]

I feel like there’s been an increase in carpyness recently. I think we should take it back to the old school, dodgy banksticks, makeshift brollies, etc. That’ll get rid of the instant carper. 

I can see the next daiwa reel now, comes with taped on handle knobs and a cracked reel seat as standard. 

[B.C.]

2 hours ago, greekskii said:

cracked reel seat as standard. 

That made me laugh mate...…. My mates dad was an electrician, we were always nicking roles of leccy tape from his shed, he used to go nuts about it...…. Our kit was so bashed up, we would use it to tape our reels to the butts of our rods and tape the occasional eye back on the blank...… All different colours too, lol.....Whatever we could get our hands on from his shed...…. I can still picture us two denying this petty theft, his dad fuming and us two standing there, rods in hand, with different coloured leccy tape up and down the rods for our eyes and reels, ready for a session of minnow bashing...…...🤣.

[greekskii]

1 hour ago, B.C. said:

That made me laugh mate...…. My mates dad was an electrician, we were always nicking roles of leccy tape from his shed, he used to go nuts about it...…. Our kit was so bashed up, we would use it to tape our reels to the butts of our rods and tape the occasional eye back on the blank...… All different colours too, lol.....Whatever we could get our hands on from his shed...…. I can still picture us two denying this petty theft, his dad fuming and us two standing there, rods in hand, with different coloured leccy tape up and down the rods for our eyes and reels, ready for a session of minnow bashing...…...🤣.

Only reason I mentioned it is because I accidently cut a groove in to the plastic connecting the bail arm to the line roller and I’ve got it leccy taped up to stop the line catching. Carpy yellow and green too!! 

[gjc1]

15 hours ago, smufter said:

When I started fishing 50 or more years ago, I was "naturally" drawn to it. No video's to watch, maybe Jack Hargreaves on the telly showing you the basics, but that was about it. 

We learnt how to make do with the tackle we had, starting off catching minnows and gudgeon, and progressing on to bigger (hopefully) fish. If you were lucky, you'd catch a 5lb Tench!!

Carp fishing was almost unheard of as a "branch" of fishing, and the guys that used to fish solely for them were looked on as some kind of "weirdo", moving in the shadows or only seen at night. You imagined them carrying out some form of satanic ritual using baits that were completely foreign to us lads.
No internet in those days, you'd spend your spare time trawling around your local tackle shops buying bits and pieces as you could afford them, collecting a variety of floats as you went along, with always one becoming your favourite and you'd almost be in tears if you lost it.

Fast forward 50 years and anybody with a few bob to spare can become an instant carper. You can go onto ebay, and buy a "complete" carp kit for less than £50.00. Add a £3.00 bag of boilies from Decathlon, and you're away.  Tip up at your local hole in the ground, pay your money and pull out a 20lb Mirror that looks like it's just landed from the planet fugly.  Now you consider yourself an expert in the field, not knowing (or caring) that some old boy, years ago, spent his fishing lifetime trying to catch a fish that big,

There are more people on the bank fishing today thanks to the carp industry. But there are a lot less "anglers" than there used to be.

 

very well put on all points !

      its maybe an age thing lol ,im also of the same age group and fished for the last 51 years ,starting as a pleasure angler at 6 years of age then under the wing of an uncle match fishing then  moving to carp in the mid to late seventies in the midlands,a change of area then found me game fishing ! up to this point there was no internet or social media so as has been said other than the odd magazine and caa meetings it was down to info gleaned from tackle shops or on the bank then along came the internet and things seemed to change very quickly ! info everywhere ,cheap imports ease  of access to bigger then bigger fish and better then better venues driven by price ! were victims of our own success ! personally i can see why people drop out of fishing as quick as they drop into it ,theres no need to put in the ground work to catch a large fish so theres  a lesser sense of achievement , it took me years to catch a a carp of 20+ wading through hundreds of smaller fish first ,its the same with other species ! would i change owt ?? NOT A CHANCE 

 licence checks in this time ! once during the coarse fishing closes season in wales "i was probably about 17 at the time as id just started driving" yup once in 51 years !!!!! 

[cyborx]

my opinion? for what its worth,

1) tackle companies are ripping people off, why? cos they can.

2) carp anglers are nowhere near as friendly as the old guys, they are more likely to be rude, ignorant or just sarky, or even know it all (which is worse imo) and

3) most millennials  and their offspring have lost the hunter gatherer Gene and are too money shy as they need to pay for a house first.

*****the above statement is the opinion of the author and in no way reflect the policies/religion of the site owners*****

Edited September 28, 2018 by cyborx

[B.C.]

On ‎27‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 18:59, framey said:

but to be fair most of my fishing is on club waters

They used to do the odd swoop on my club waters in October when the 3 rod rule came in on the clubs  waters.... Quite a few were caught out fishing 3 rods with a 2 rod license...… I never see an EA bailiff these days.

[B.C.]

On ‎27‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 18:49, salokcinnodrog said:

Is that licence sales or licence money?

Apparrantly  over £2m down in revenue, and 130,000 fewer anglers, ie, names and addresses

[greekskii]

8 hours ago, B.C. said:

Apparrantly  over £2m down in revenue, and 130,000 fewer anglers, ie, names and addresses

Do you think they were sensible enough to realise loads of anglers used to buy two? I.e. I always got two reminders in the post and two emails. So I was doubled registered. If every 3 rod angler was then angler numbers have actually been artificially higher anyway. Then again, there’s more than 130,000 carp anglers. 

I don’t see why they dropped the price anyway. I’d rather they increased it so they could find more enforcement officers as one per region is obviously not enough. 

[chillfactor]

Otters,  could well be a reason for a drop in sales . When we have discussed the subject on here quite a few of you could see a future with far less anglers on the banks due to the impact there having. 

[Gazlaaar]

45 minutes ago, chillfactor said:

Otters,  could well be a reason for a drop in sales . When we have discussed the subject on here quite a few of you could see a future with far less anglers on the banks due to the impact there having. 

I think every aspect has had an impact including predation, if there's nothing to fish for, waters won't attract anglers. 

I was talking with the lads in the tackle shop yesterday, who all said the local canals and council waters just aren't safe enough anymore, some give up, some move onto more commercial waters purely because they can fish without having to look over their shoulder's. 

Your only safe if you fish in numbers, some have had their boxes kicked in and bags stolen, some have actually been challenged by groups of lads whilst fishing alone.

I think fishing for the younger generations has lost it appeal. Like I said before, the decline in people participating in fishing has been in decline for years, it's not a sudden drop.

[chillfactor]

No doubt there won't be 1 single reason Gaz , safety on the banks like you mention is probably adding to it . 

Maybe just like I have found the last year & more " finding the time "  , then add in all the different factors mentioned on this thread & you can easily see big fluctuations year to year. 

But like mentioned it's been in decline since we were kids .

[B.C.]

There have been some serious drug issues on a few lakes round my way, too, club lakes, To the point where the local police have been given a corporate tickets, enabling them to fish for free and keep an eye out...….. This definitely puts parents off of getting their kids involved in fishing... When they get to that impressionable age 12-13, and still being accompanied to and from lakes by their parents, and the parents can get a whiff of it as they walk their kids to a safe swim. I know that a little bit of smoking herbal remedies has gone on forever in the fishing world, but most hippiy types I've come across have always been very descreet about it...….. Yet again, imo, certain companies, advertising in certain ways, to attract certain mind sets to the bank.... Some lakes have become a gathering area for teenagers to meet up at the weekend, out of sight of their parents and just do what teenagers do, with the excuse that they are fishing...…. Bailiffs should really sort that one out...…. But if you are getting your youngster into fishing, there will come a time when he/she will want to go on their own or with similar aged friends, instead of frumpy old dad...…….. I know of one lad who's parents won't allow him to by a night permit, for this very reason...…….. For those that have fished on private syndicates exclusively for a while now, you may not see this to such an extent,,,, But on public lakes or club waters it is rife, not just a bit of smoke either, harder stuff being delivered to the lakes, easy prey for local dealers..... Some places really have become "Uban Banx"...

[salokcinnodrog]

3 minutes ago, B.C. said:

There have been some serious drug issues on a few lakes round my way, too, club lakes, To the point where the local police have been given a corporate tickets, enabling them to fish for free and keep an eye out...….. This definitely puts parents off of getting their kids involved in fishing... When they get to that impressionable age 12-13, and still being accompanied to and from lakes by their parents, and the parents can get a whiff of it as they walk their kids to a safe swim. I know that a little bit of smoking herbal remedies has gone on forever in the fishing world, but most hippiy types I've come across have always been very descreet about it...….. Yet again, imo, certain companies, advertising in certain ways, to attract certain mind sets to the bank.... Some lakes have become a gathering area for teenagers to meet up at the weekend, out of sight of their parents and just do what teenagers do, with the excuse that they are fishing...…. Bailiffs should really sort that one out...…. But if you are getting your youngster into fishing, there will come a time when he/she will want to go on their own or with similar aged friends, instead of frumpy old dad...…….. I know of one lad who's parents won't allow him to by a night permit, for this very reason...…….. For those that have fished on private syndicates exclusively for a while now, you may not see this to such an extent,,,, But on public lakes or club waters it is rife, not just a bit of smoke either, harder stuff being delivered to the lakes, easy prey for local dealers..... Some places really have become "Uban Banx"...

A day ticket water local to me got to the stage of one of the bailiffs being a local dealer, and some anglers who weren't involved being robbed for their tackle. Police were regularly at the lake sorting issues out!

 

I know a lot of anglers on my season ticket lakes like a little puff, and again now the Lea Valley rangers are stamping down on it, along with Eastern Europeans using the venue as a picnic and swimming site, leaving their litter behind.

 

My local park lake, it used to be a place where I could let my kids fish by themselves, then the 'puffers' started turning up and kids had tackle stolen. Now on both the Lea Valley and the park I would not fish without my dog. I would not let my children go on their own.

 

Greekski mentioned bailiffs. In East Anglia, it was one full time bailiff covering Suffolk and Norfolk, then he retired. I have not yet seen his replacement. I say Norfolk, you consider the Western edge of Norfolk is fenland, butting onto Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, then you have the Suffolk and Norfolk Broads many of which are boat access only.

I used to get two reminders for my licence, now it is just one, and I saved the cost of two licences with the three rod job.

 

Clubs are also in decline; waters being lost to day tickets or syndicates, lack of membership numbers. That puts children off, not all can afford day ticket money every week. I used to buy my son his club ticket once a year, not a problem, yet paying £10 every week for what was £50 a season...

 

The waters themselves, my local club had specimen roach, tench, bream and perch. Now those fish are few and far between. 

Another issue is travel to waters. I used to walk or cycle to my waters, 7mile cycle ride at times, a walk of a couple of miles. You can't do that with carp gear, and due to my ex and my estrangement, or even work I could not take my children every weekend.

 

 

Saying all that, Alton Water has started fishing well again, for roach and other fish, including the occasional carp.

[B.C.]

30 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

travel to waters

That's a really valid point..... Carp gear means transport needed most of the time...…. Starting off on smaller species, meant, as kids, we could walk to the local little river with a rod and a bucket and share a little pan landing net.. (although rarely needed)….

[Roland]

I have been fishing for just over a year and have had my licence checked once and this morning whilst walking round Baden Hall eight people were done for not having a licence.

 

One guy had booked on for a week paying around £200 and probably had around £1500-£2000 of kit but wouldn't shell out £30 odd quid for a licence, I just don't get it!

[cyborx]

10 hours ago, Roland said:

around £1500-£2000 of kit but wouldn't shell out £30 odd quid for a licence, I just don't get it!

its the yobbo mentality bud, have you seen the kid driving a BMW but wont pay for insurance or pass his test? same family

Welcome to the forum btw

[Ginger9991]

11 hours ago, Roland said:

I have been fishing for just over a year and have had my licence checked once and this morning whilst walking round Baden Hall eight people were done for not having a licence.

 

One guy had booked on for a week paying around £200 and probably had around £1500-£2000 of kit but wouldn't shell out £30 odd quid for a licence, I just don't get it!

I have been fishing since i was 5, Im now 31, I have never had my rod licence checked. I always buy it, because you know that i will be having the session of my life when they turn up and kick me off!

[yonny]

8 minutes ago, Ginger9991 said:

I have been fishing since i was 5, Im now 31, I have never had my rod licence checked. I always buy it, because you know that i will be having the session of my life when they turn up and kick me off!

I have been checked once. It was April 1st a few years ago, which I hadn't realised, and it was the only day in more than 20 years I hadn't actually bought one!!!!!! I literally rang up an bought one in front of the EA bailiff, and I got a letter a few weeks later saying that they checked my history and saw that I'd always been licensed, therefore no further action was to be taken. Phew!

[salokcinnodrog]

3 hours ago, Ginger9991 said:

I have been fishing since i was 5, Im now 31, I have never had my rod licence checked. I always buy it, because you know that i will be having the session of my life when they turn up and kick me off!

I used to fish Hellesdon Mill in Norfolk. Almost every trip I got my licence checked!

 

I reckon I have probably been checked about half my age over the years, so around 24 times😮😆

[cyborx]

3 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

I reckon I have probably been checked about half my age over the years, so around 24 times😮😆

Soooo!! you in your 30s then Nick?

[dayvid]

LOL , I think Ginger991 is 31 and a stab in the dark here , Nicks 48.

As regards to being checked whilst Carp fishing I think the last time was probably in the 90s , but have been checked several times during matches on match/pleasure commercial fisheries .

The higher the volume of people on a venue regularly ,the more chance of being checked.

[Pete Springate's Guns]

In terms of license checks, twice for me in well over 40 years on the bank. Last time was around 20 years ago on a Cheshire club water.

I was on a hush hush midlands syndicate a few years ago when 2 EA employees walked towards me and stopped for a chat. I asked if they wanted to see my rod licences. They didn’t bother, just wanted to check the state of some trees on the adjoing dam; a quick glance and they were off, ‘inspection’ complete. Nice work if you can get it.....