An Introduction

It is a fine line between fishing and sitting on the river bank like an idiot.......
 
So says a picture  that hangs above my loo!
 
Such a statement certainly rings true when you are huddled under your brolly in the pouring rain debating as to whether to leave your haven and face the elements  to extract your swimfeeder from a tree for the 4th time that day.
 
By contrast, those still, lazy summer evenings float fishing on the edge of a patch of lillys is for me one of the best ways to spend one's time.
 
I am not an accomplished fisherman by any stretch of the imagination.  My patience is as fragile as my concentration and  my casting accuracy is more blunderbuss than sniper rifle.   However I do love fishing. 
 
As the title suggests I am not the Complete Angler, indeed I am barely a few spares and an Ikea-esk sheet of barely legible instructions but like so many of us what I lack in skills I more than make up for in enthusiasm.
 

The purpose of this blog is to document the adventures the common all garden pleasure angler.  That guy who gets a couple of weekends a month to get down the lake or river and catch what ever he can.
 
That is not to say that as a pleasure angler I lack ambition.  I certain do not and set myself targets every year.  Generally however  it is the act of angling itself that gives me pleasure as opposed to the content (or lack thereof) of my net.
 
I don't propose to go in to rigs and tactics in too much detail as there are better sources than me on the internet for this information.  Really this is to give you a guide to my sessions which on days when you have blanked, you can read and think. " well at least it isn't just me".
 
To give you an idea as to my experience thus far   -  I first went fishing when I was 9 or 10 loved it straight away.  I continued to fish until I was about 16 when I discovered girls and beer and that was it for the next 25 years.   I had always promised myself I would return to it but girlfriends and nights out turned to wife, child and house and the time never arrived.
 
Inevitably, my wife then traded me in for a far superior model and I found myself with every other weekend free when I did not have my 5 year old lad.     This I soon realised was a fantastic opportunity to take up that passtime that I had previously thought I would have to wait to retirement to return to.
 
So I have spent the last 2 or 3 years fishing every other weekend, I fly fish occasionally, float fish on lakes and ponds, ledger on rivers and I  have recently taken up predator fishing with lures and spinners.
 
Mr record fish is a 12lb Carp, I have yet to catch a Barbel, Chub of more than a few ounces and my favourite fish is probably the Perch.  I recently started lure fishing and my very first Pike was of around 8lb which was one of my most enjoyable experiences and which I will post about shortly.
 
I tend to avoid commercial fisheries and fish the rivers and lakes of Bradford City Angling Club and Leeds and District ASA to which I am a member.  I also fish the free stretches of the River Aire and the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
 
I hope you enjoy my posts which I will try and get up every couple of weeks, please follow me on twitter at @Roundhead1642 and on Roundhead1642 on Instagram where I will post pictures of my trips and hopefully the odd witticism.