How to Fish cont......

We have already established that it’s highly unlikely from the equipment and bait you will be using to land yourself a colossal record breaker, but hey, that’s okay. As you can see from the photo (and the deranged grin on my face) there’s just as much pleasure to be found from catching small silver fish such as roach, perch, skimmer bream etc, as there is in any other and the benefits for a new angler far outweigh the negatives (if there are any). Why???
Firstly, as a novice, any fish is a bonus and the smaller ones tend to travel in groups which means that if there’s one in your swim there are potentially a lot more. As long as you keep up a steady supply of bait to keep them there you are more likely to catch a higher volume fish. Secondly, practice makes perfect and on one of my first fishing trips, both myself and my two boys had a fantastic time by pulling one small fish after the next whilst we left my boyfriend to the more technical art of carp fishing. Not only was it fun but it gave us the chance to get used to putting maggots on hooks, feeding the swim, casting out and reeling in which are all essential skills. Basically, why run before you can walk? Fishing is intended to be enjoyable and if like me you are happy simply to catch, float fishing is ideal.
Another consideration to bear in mind is that the very small fish don’t require landing via a net which keeps things nice and simple for a beginner (after all, we only have one pair of hands). Thirdly, although I was in the capable hands of my experienced angler partner, should I have caught anything bigger than a small perch, I would probably have panicked, possibly putting me off the sport and causing unnecessary damage to a larger fish that requires a certain amount of expertise to land. I truly believe that to be a responsible angler one should start from the bottom and work upwards, this way your confidence grows at a steady rate and you are never out of your depth (pardon the pun). However, there are some skills that you will need to master pretty swiftly:


HOW TO SET UP YOUR ROD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBFDFKt-j94&NR=1 (how to video).


YOUR FLOAT RIG
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=matt+hayes+float+&docid=1187156001154&mid=5C0F04FBB86F1ECF04EA5C0F04FBB86F1ECF04EA&FORM=LKVR# (Matt Hayes…float rig)

Plumbing the depth (using a plummet)
Plumbing your line to the correct depth is essential if you wish to maximize the number of bites you detect via your float tip. It’s a pretty tricky thing to do when you are new to fishing (as I have found) and takes plenty of practice.
Here’s a fantastic link that demonstrates all you need to know on this subject:
http://pleasurefishing.com/html/plumbingdepth.htm

Striking
The strike is a skill that you will need to master as soon as possible for any size fish. This is to ensure that the hook is set correctly in the mouth of the fish and ultimately that you will not lose the catch whilst bringing in.
http://www.5min.com/Video/Ledgering---Bite-indication-and-striking-8776


Disgorgers: An absolute must
One of the most challenging aspects of fishing for small silver fish would be that of getting to grips with using a disgorger. This skill, as with most things, improves with continued hands-on practice. Being a bit of a softie, I was worried that I would harm the fish but this is actually the correct way to safely and effectively remove hooks as they don’t often set on the lip and are virtually impossible to remove without.
Using a disgorger is easy once you know how and ensures that you are doing your utmost to respect the health and condition of each fish that you catch. Once you know how it’s easy. Here’s a link to a website I found explaining in simplistic terms how to use a disgorger:
http://www.totalfishinggear.co.uk/TFG_J08_VideoClips_Main.cfm?ID=201

So that’s some of the basics covered. You also need to know about baits (please see relevant section).