[Closed] Teach me about fishing/angling

Do you also need an EA licence up in Scotland? Do you actually own the riparian rights - I don't think this is a given purely based on land ownership?

re. fishing, probably worming/spinning is the easiest way to catch.

no license in Scotland, however how long do you want to spend sitting there... If it's open access then it could be a little over fished or busy so chances of catching may be lower (from doing my work experience as a river keeper many years ago)

How wide/fast/deep is it?

Little margin poles are very cheap and if you can reach the fish are as good as anything.

No faff with tangled line and simple to use.
About £30.00 these days?
Mine's a Pavero, I think, and is fine.

Really no expert, but easy to set up once someone has shown you how.

If you're ever in Dundee, Anglers Choice on the Kingsway is run by some very helpful and friendly people. I've also had dealings with Malloch in Perth and they were pretty good as well. IIRC both deal in second hand kit so a rod and reel won't set you back a fortune.
EDIT salmon a re bigger, stronger fish than trout so salmon fishing gear is more expensive. No odds to me as I prefer trout anyway, especially cold smoked.
EDIT again - you need rod, reel, line, flies. You don't need but high on the should have list - a method for dispatching the fish a fish knife to gut it, a keep net to keep them in if you plan staying out beyond catching one. Trout are normally fished from the bank so no waders, salmon are fished from the river, so waders are another need.

Trout - spinning or fly fishing is the way to go. Beyond that I've no idea as I'm a (very much part time) course angler.

First thing would be to check if there are any fish there!

Then you need to do is check the permit - it could be fly only.

If worm fishing is allowed it's probably the easiest way to catch a trout for a novice.

You need this book.

What stuartlangwilson says, worm on a float, or trotted along the bottom with a light weight. Forget poles, licences, this is Scotland.

Tbf though, catching trout from a river is not exactly easy.

Go to a local friendly shop and ask for some advice on kit, locations and methods. If its anything like my local shop, they will probably offer to hook you up with someone to take you out once or twice. They are usually glad to assist.

First thing would be to check if there are any fish there!

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I am a bad man as it took two attempts to see fishing and not fisting in the title!

Sandwich - surely the reference to 'angling' might have tipped you off? 😯

For minimum faff (floating with live bait will be tricky for someone without experience - getting the right weights/depth etc for presentation) I would suggest getting upstream (preferably somewhere overhanging or where you could wade in a bit) then spinning a lure, keeping it in the same position in the river but moving it [b]s l o w l y[/b] left to right. Trout like quite fast moving water but you would normally find them before or after 'rapids' (where you see water /rocks etc all swirling and breaking the surface).

You would also need a landing net (if you are wanting to catch something you are able to eat it will be too big to haul out) and some knowledge of how to handle a fish, disgorge it (although that is easier now that all hooks are barbless). So you need: 8/10 ft spinning rod, spinning reel, min 4lb break strain line (although the actual line depends on the size of fish you expect to catch) and a net. And some knowledge of how to dispatch your catch humanely...

One day, when I am too old to do anything else and I have the time on my hands I intend to return to my fishing...

I think the Tay is flies only. My licence (valid for a couple of tributaries of the Tay) is quite clear about that.
Ah-hah, the permits are being sold on behalf of [url= http://www.aberfeldyanglingclub.com/index.html ]Aberfeldy Angling Club[/url]. They might be worth contacting for general advice

Maggots are the best way I've found for trout, they will outfish worm because fish don't bite off the ends of the worm and miss the hook. So, as above, a shortish spinning rod, a 4000 size fixed spool, I'd go with 8-10lb line as you will get snagged on rushes and ferns etc and it helps get more gear back. A couple of large ssg shot, or a small pinch of lead as a weight about 2ft above a hook (size 10 or so). You can then drop the rig into little pools, just at the edge of the main flow of rivers. Keep the line 'tight', just not loose coils billowing in the wind, don't always strike at the first nibble...give them a chance to give a couple of tugs before you wind into them.

If the Tay is fly only I'd not bother...fly fishing is weird. And salmon rods aren't expensive because they're stronger...they're expensive because of the pomp that surrounds salmon fishing.

Look for some little hill lochs and try fishing for brownies there. You can often find lochs that aren't controlled, so free fishing, and nobody else about if you hike a distance to them.

And some knowledge of how to dispatch your catch humanely...

[imagines the scene from The Inbetweeners with Neil punching a fish to death]

One day, when I am too old to do anything else and I have the time on my hands I intend to return to my fishing...

I'll see you then mate!

Easiest way to kill a mackerel properly dead, avoiding the vibrofits that throw scales everywhere, is to put your thumb in it's mouth, against the roof, and snap that head back 90 degrees. Gut it right away to keep the meat clean, or leave it whole if it's going to be bait ?

Wives love nothing more than a man coming home stinking of fish guts.

Spent a few winters leaving home a couple times a week at midday to fish the cliffs between Arbroath and Aberdeen in storms and getting home at 2-4am. Couldn't muster the energy for that nonsense any more!

Canny see mackerel that far up the Tay Dan....

Depends how much wine you've had

Or how much hash the OP has smoked!

Mackerel don't have scales.

If it is fly only then you could use maggots and say that they are young flys

Mackerel don't have scales

Say wot now?

They do, but their very small .

And they get bloody everywhere.

Well you don't need to scale them anyway when cleaning

Mackerel don't have scales.

Well you don't need to scale them anyway when cleaning

Well I just googled it to check and it seems you don't need to scale them, but they do have slightly larger scales around their heads, which I personally don't eat.

If the Tay is fly only I'd not bother...fly fishing is [s]weird[/s] a science.

Well it can be.

Fly is proper fishing, constantly interacting, always watching, always on the move.

Only downside is that it takes years to get competent!

Mackerel have scales. And tiny pants.

Fly fishing is for people who like wearing rubber and tweed, eating quail and have a landrover despite living in a new estate in falkirk.

This is fishing
[img] [/img]

Or plopping a big crab bait over a kelp bed in 3ft of water for a double figure cod or jigging pollok on light gear. Getting keen again!

One of my most memorable sessions was a night cod session at arbroath. Everyone had gone home as the tide had left the prom, but I got the waders on and followed it out. Casting into what must have been 18" of water into a steady rolling wave I was getting lightning bites 30 seconds after the bait hitting the water, and landed 20 odd cod in 2 hours or so.

I've seen that pic before Dan, nice one too!

I've hardly been to the coast this year cos of Mrs EGF's illness but I'm itching!

I've got other photos, honest!

Fly fishing is great, it's the only kind of fishing I do now. Was catching bass a couple of weeks ago on the fly.

So, I bought a spinning rod set for 35 quid or so, just out some shop down in Killin, been out the back just learning how to cast basically, getting there, getting comfortable and starting to not tangle the line and understand how the rod works. I lost 3 flies and 2 floats in the process(should have bought more floats, I ended up using some crumpled up tinfoil as a float/weight for learning purposes), I'll fire back down the shop tomorrow and get some more lures and flies and floats, and probably some stronger line as well. Rods alright but the line seems a bit easy to snap, for smaller fish i think, so will get heavier just in case.

Quite good fun learning to cast for a bit there though, will try some more tomorrow, watch few more youtube videos. Rods portable so I can go cycling about.

Good stuff, enjoy.

Good way to kill or damage shark species that, holding it upside down by the tail.

These type of fish need to be supported under the belly due to no ribcage.

You might want to look at the legality of using bubble float and fly if that is what you are using. It will be banned outright most places.

It will be banned right enough, but a novice on a stretch of river with a permit will be given gentle direction if someone in the know notices, not flung off or anything.

Good way to kill or damage shark species that, holding it upside down by the tail.

These type of fish need to be supported under the belly due to no ribcage.

Sea fisherman are generally a bit dense sb, see Dan's daft nugget about fly fishing above for proof... 😉

Know all about holding sharks...this one was a wriggler and that was a grab just before it got chucked back as it didn't want to pose!

Sea fishing does attract some nuggets, but they know they're nuggets. Fly fishing attracts nuggets who don't even realise it!

Shore bass/hounds are probably my favourite game [img] [/img]

Great Bass that ^

I used to course fish and a bit of trout fishing at Llangollen (simply a worm drifted down the faster parts of the river) and then I stopped for decades.

Last year I started Bass fishing and I'm addicted now! There's many different ways to try and catch Bass (I'm a lure guy) although, infuriatingly, none of them are guaranteed - although I think this is the attraction!
Luckily there's a good spot just 300m from where we keep our boat in N Wales but I also regularly go 6-10 miles around the coast to other spots. Fishing from the boat is great as you can get to places you just can't get to on foot.
Had 4 one day last week - this was the nicest and at 44cm was a keeper but I put them all back.... it's more about the catching than the eating.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Know all about holding sharks...this one was a wriggler and that was a grab just before it got chucked back as it didn't want to pose!

I don't think you do! Go and google Tope or Spurdog photo's, you won't see a single person holding a fish like that. Main part of the body should be supported and horizontal. I have seen many spurdog floaters on my fishing trips to Skye from folk doing just what you did, quick photo holding the fish upside down, then 'chucked'(another thing i can't abide) back in to the sea to die. Every Tope, Spurdog, Smoothie etc i have ever caught has been a 'wriggler', as you put it. There is still a right way and wrong way to hold it whether it is wriggling or not. That photo is the wrong way, end of.

I lost 3 flies and 2 floats

Don't use flies for practice. When I started, the shop gave me a quick lesson in casting and tied a bit of cotton wool or something on the end of the line. Flies weigh nothing and the whatever it was on the line was there so I could see it.
Also, don't use floats, you need the fish not to be aware of you. Use floating line or gunk line float (£3 or so from fishing shops)

He's not fly fishing, he's using a spinning rod, so needs a float.

Fly fishing is for people who like wearing rubber and tweed, eating quail and have a landrover despite living in a new estate in falkirk.

Know all about holding sharks..

He's not fly fishing, he's using a spinning rod,

Only downside is that it takes years to get competent!

Still, might be in the Aberfeldy area in the next couple of weeks, so might check out these £5 day permits

I'm not sure that picture of a heavily bleeding upside down fish is a good advert for anything at all 😐

So, did we get any trout then Joe? 😀

Trout like quite fast moving water but you would normally find them before or after 'rapids' (where you see water /rocks etc all swirling and breaking the surface).

he's using a spinning rod, so needs a float.

Not nessecelery, mainly needs a lure, like a Devon Minnow, Toby or a Mepp.
Plus others.

You've not read that properly Essel, the guy was assuming the op was fly fishing, which he isn't, so if he's going to use a fly, he'd need to use a float. Or a weight, but that'd be daft.

Might be where you are, all of the trout I was looking at this afternoon were in relatively still pools in a fairly shallow river, just below a slightly faster moving shallower section, sitting fairly still just waiting for tit-bits to come drifting past.

You've not read that properly Essel, the guy was assuming the op was fly fishing, which he isn't, so if he's going to use a fly, he'd need to use a float. Or a weight, but that'd be daft.

Your'e right, I didn't read it properly. (I blame the McEwans Champion Ale) 😕

Nobeerinthefridge - Member
So, did we get any trout then Joe?

Complete and utter failure! 😆 But considering my base knowledge was zero, I wasn't really expecting to, would have been beginners luck if I did catch anything. Good fun trying though, and my rod handling skills are decent now and I can cast etc without tangling.. tbh i didn't know about hook setting or that you can tell a fish is biting from twitches on the line and stuff. So I think I may well have been getting some nibbles, but just didn't know what to do. There was fish there, I seem some jumping.

So going forward, I'm committed now, I'm not giving up till i catch something(which may or may not lead to this becoming a new hobby). So i've been arming myself with loads of useless info via youtube again this weekend. Don't ask me to repeat any of it mind you, more just getting a general gist a the moment, but I understand the difference of using lures, flies and bubbles now, a few decent knots and that essentially I probably need to have more of a hunter mentality rather than just standing at the side and casting roughly the same area all the time, and I've learned you need to change up the presentation etc, that wind in your face is a good thing, casting up stream as that's the way fish sit looking etc, about fish visibility in the water etc, It's all very involved I can see, interesting enough.. Loads of things to try out.

So my nearest river is the Clyde(though I've loads of options there reasonably local), I'll be heading up to one of the fishing stores in the east end to have a wee chat with someone that knows the local spots and what's what there, and stock up in new lures and flies etc(My next real goal is stop stop unnecessarily losing these bits!).

Regarding the Clyde, I can find info about the mid clyde and the upper clyde, which is fine. but what about the lower clyde, seems mid clyde stops at Dalmarnock bridge, does that mean essentially from dalmarnock bridge to the weir in glasgow green is free freshwater fishing? (not that I'll be shy in buying a license for the mid/upper if I get more into it, just don't really want to spend the £75/25 this time of the year for a mid license, when it seems I have a free spot to practice from a mile or so from my house.) I'm also guessing after the weir into the estuary is free fishing too, but that's tidal so getting into sal****er fish, which is possibly a different game?

And btw, would you eat anything you caught in the clyde? I'd imagine, when i do eventually catch something(It will happen!), I'll be very more a catch and release type! But just curious about that.

I did a bit of rowing last year, one night a week on the Glasgow green section, you wouldn't believe the wildlife there, must be a good sign, I would defo eat fish from the river.

Glasgow angling centre will tell you and sell you whichever permits you need.

Worth you spending a day at a fishery too, you'll catch there, and helps with striking, bringing in and handling fish.

Cool, aye I pass by there on the bike regularly, see people out all the time and it's a lot better looking that it used to be.

Is that the best store then? I see there are 4 basically, 2 in tollcross, one over govanhill way and the angling centre up in possil.

Noted on the fisheries I'll have a look into that.

You were saying supremebean........

[img] [/img]

All those shops will be decent, I used to use GAC when it was at the top of the gallowgate, as it had huge stock and all the guys in there fished, lots of shops don't have that experience.

If you have spinning gear, you can also have a go at pike or perch fishing too, lots of wee ponds about the city that will have those.

You were saying supremebean........

Yes, i was saying that's the wrong way to hold a fish like that.

What's your point?

Did you not notice all the other photos carrying the fish correctly?

ETA: Ok you found 1 photo on google images of a guy holding a spurdog incorrectly, well done.

perch fishing

😯 You monster!

You won't feel a thing PP!

haha 😆

If you fancy a session on the canal after roach, perch, tench sometime give me a buzz. There are some nice fish in there.

glasgowdan - Member
If you fancy a session on the canal after roach, perch, tench sometime give me a buzz. There are some nice fish in there.

Regarding the Clyde, I can find info about the mid clyde and the upper clyde, which is fine. but what about the lower clyde, seems mid clyde stops at Dalmarnock bridge, does that mean essentially from dalmarnock bridge to the weir in glasgow green is free freshwater fishing?

Regarding this point, no it's not free, found the info, from dalmarnock bridge on is basically the kelvin that control that, so you need the license from them to fish from down there. mind you the sewage works is just after the bridge as well, so stuff hanging about there, it can be right stinking!

perchypanther - Member
perch fishing
You monster!

Keep us posted Seosamh, love a fishing chat!.

will do. 🙂

Went a burl with the wife on the bikes today, parked at kilsyth marina, pedalled to the kelpies and back.

I've never seen so many fish as I did today, particularly the section around banknock. They were probably roach or perch, I reckon a wee 3 weight fly rod, gloating line and a short leader with maggots or whatever Dan reckons they eat, you'd have awesome sport!.

Should give me a shout next time you're up my way.

Lots of small roach on the surface. Ledger or deep float near evening gets the bigger fash. Need to get back oot ?

I'd be up for an evening fishing Dan, say the word...

Joe, you up for it?

Could be aye, never done anything this weekend, went a walk up the pentlands today, was going to turn my attention to next for getting out, but if youse are firing up, may well take advantage of your knowledge!

When you thinking?

I'd be up for an evening Joe, if that suits you n Dan? This or next Wednesday?.

Wednesday could work for me, either/or, up the canal? Dan what you thinking?
Weather looking changeable this week mind, not that that would put me off, bit of rain just adds atmosphere! 😆

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Greg have u got Joe on your Facebook messenger? Don't want all the creeps on here knowing where we might be. I've had trouble with stalkers you understand.

No, I don't use faceboak, aye I recall your stalker!

If you both drop me a pm with yer mobile numbers, we'll get a wee whatsapp chat going.