Coarse Fishing, or Coarse Angling to use a more accurate term, is the practice of using a rod and line to catch ‘freshwater fish’, i.e. fish that live in ponds, lakes, rivers, streams and canals that are not regarded as ‘Game Fish’. For practical purposes, this means any fish that does not live in the sea, apart from Salmon and Trout.
There are many so called branches of coarse angling, and you have probably come across terms like Match Angler’ and ‘Specimen Angler’. These terms are generally used to differentiate Anglers who fish competitively and measure success by the total weight of fish they catch, irrespective of size or species, compared to Anglers who target ‘specimen’ or large fish, sometimes of one species alone.
In fact, some Anglers specialise in catching just one species, hence the terms ‘Carp Angler’, ‘Pike Angler’, ‘Barbel Angler’ and so on, each ‘branch’ having its own specialist groups and clubs made up of other Anglers of similar interest.
These days it is possible to go straight into one or other ‘branch’ of Angling, and be quite successful, if only for a time, by buying pre-made tackle, and following precise instructions on where, how and when to fish. This type of ‘instant angling’, while it may be enjoyable for a time, rarely leads to a lifelong hobby, its participants drifting away from angling, either because they think they have learned all there is to learn, and done all there is to do, or after a run of unsuccessful fishing trips when the ‘instructions’ hadn’t worked, and they had no ‘backup plan’.
The All-Rounder
A good way to develop angling as a lifelong hobby or interest is to be an ‘All Rounder’, an Angler who fishes many different waters and styles to catch a variety of different species of fish.
Apart from the obvious fact that they all catch fish, the one thing that Anglers who are successful over the long term in any branch of Angling have in common is that they have a solid grounding in the Angling craft. While they may have found that they prefer one branch of fishing over others, they are quite capable of catching fish in a variety of different circumstances. They can do this because they can call on a storehouse of knowledge built up over a long period of time. In this sense, although they may specialise on one type of fishing or one species of fish, they are ‘All Rounders’ by background and experience.
The intention of this guide is to give you the basic information you need to be an ‘All Rounder’ by covering many different styles of fishing for a wide variety of fish in different types of waters.
The free Coarse Fishing For Beginners ebook has been written specifically to give beginners to coarse fishing all of the information they need to be successful right from the start. You can download Coarse Fishing For Beginners by completing the form below.