Field guide
Fishing trip
A good fishing trip is mostly decided before you cast: which water, which hours, what is in the bag. Here is the day from the plan to the last cast, and what to do with the spot once you are standing in it.
What makes a trip good
None of the points below is a catch. A trip measured in fish is a trip that fails on most of the days anybody actually fishes.
You knew what applied
Licence bought, minimum size and quota checked, the closed season read. A day you come home from unsure whether you broke a rule was not a good day, however many fish you caught.
You fished the hours that mattered
Two hours at dusk beat eight random ones in the middle of the day, for much of the season. A short trip at the right time is a better plan than a long one at the wrong time.
You lasted long enough
Clothes and food decide how long you are willing to stay, and how long you stay decides whether you are there for the half hour the fish feed. Trips rarely end because the fishing is bad.
You know the water a little better
Where it shallows, where the fish were, what did not work. One water fished ten times gives more than ten waters fished once, and the next trip starts where this one ends.
You want to go back
That is the whole measure. The fish are a bonus, and a blank trip can still be the one you plan the next one from.
Before you go
Everything that cannot be fixed once you are standing there gets done at home.
- Rules and licence firstLicence, minimum and maximum sizes, daily quota, closed season and permitted tackle differ from water to water, and two neighbouring lakes can have entirely different rules. Buy the licence at home: signal is worst where the fishing is best.
- One water, not fivePick one place and fish it properly. A day spent driving between four waters is a day you barely fished.
- Cloud and windSay more about the bite than the temperature does. Overcast with a ripple on the water beats bright sun and a mirror surface.
- Set the hour by the lightFirst light and dusk are the peaks for much of the season. In cold water, under heavy cloud, deep down and on the ice, midday is often best.
- Say where you are goingA message saying which water you are going to and when you will be back costs nothing, and is the only thing that helps if you end up unable to move.
- Maps on the phoneDownload the map for the area while you still have signal. With no signal you have no map, no licence to show and no way to look up the rules.
- A plan BThe river can be brown with flood and the lake drawn down. Have an alternative twenty minutes away, and a reason to stay even if the fishing is dead: a fire, a swim, coffee.
Pack the bag
This is the bag for one day, not the tackle you should own. Rods, reels and line are in the gear guide.
- The licenceOn the phone, plus a screenshot. The warden tends to ask exactly where you have no signal to download it again.
- Pliers and knifeThe unhooking pliers do more for the fish than anything else you carry. Keep them and the knife where one hand can reach them.
- Net with a rubber meshA shorter fight, less damage, and a fish you mean to release never reaches dry ground or gravel.
- Spare line and swivelsA reel full of tangles ends the trip if you have nothing to spool on. Bring enough to replace the whole leader.
- Polarised glassesYou see structure, drop-offs and fish through the surface, and they stop the hook that comes back at your face.
- One wool layer more than you thinkWool inside, windproof outside, a dry hat and spare socks. Someone fishing stands nearly still, and gets cold far faster than someone walking.
- Food, and something warmMore than you plan to eat. A thermos adds two hours to the trip, and those two hours are often the best ones.
- Head torchThe best fishing ends in the dark, and the path back is longer and wetter than you remember it.
- A bag for rubbishYour own line, and some of what you find. Line and hooks in the margin kill birds long after you have gone home.
- Plasters and a cutterA hook through a finger is the commonest fishing injury. Pliers that cut the hook solve it where you stand.
The first half hour
The half hour that decides the day is mostly spent not casting.
Look before you cast
Two minutes with your hands in your pockets. Where the water comes in and where it leaves, where the shallows end, where the rocks sit, which side the wind pushes the food towards, and whether anything is rising.
Walk the bank quietly
A fish in the margin feels your footsteps through the water before you see it. The first three metres are often the best, and they are gone if you tramp through them first.
Cast short before long
Cover the water nearest you first, then reach further. A long first cast drags the line through the near zone and spooks the fish you could have had without moving.
Wade last
Wading ruins the spot you are standing in. Fish it from the bank, and step in only to reach something you cannot reach dry.
Working the spot
When you should be there is a guide of its own. This is what you do with the hours you have.
- Fan it, then moveThree to five casts in a fan cover the spot. Then walk ten metres. A spot is fished out in five minutes, not fifty.
- Whoever walks, catchesA kilometre along the river beats four hours on the same rock. The exception is a place you know holds fish, where you are only waiting for it to start feeding.
- Change one thing at a timeColour, weight, depth or speed. Change everything at once and catch something, and you still know nothing about why.
- Speed before lureMost people fish too fast. A slower retrieve, with a pause in it, produces more often than a new lure does.
- Fish the take againWhere you got a take there are usually more fish. Mark the place, rest it a couple of minutes, and fish it again from another angle.
- The last twenty minutesDusk is often the whole trip. Do not spend it packing: pack while it is still light, and fish until you cannot see the lure.
Closing it out
Decide before it is in the net
If it is to be eaten, kill it at once with a firm blow. If it goes back, keep it in the water and let it go quickly. It is the hesitation between the two that costs the fish its life.
Leave the spot clean
Line, hooks, bottle tops and snus tins, including the ones that are not yours. Leave it cleaner than you found it, or before long nobody is allowed to fish there.
Dry the gear before the next water
Empty boots and net, and dry everything. Alien species and disease travel in the water you carry, and fish or water must never go from one water to another.
Three lines in a note
Water level, temperature, which lure, which hour and where you got the takes. This is what makes the next trip start where this one ended, and it is forgotten within two weeks.
Tell someone
A photo of the fish, the species and the length, and who you were there with. A trip you have told someone about is a trip you remember, and it becomes one you want to repeat.
Common questions
What should I bring on a fishing trip?
- A rod, a reel with line you trust, a handful of lures, unhooking pliers, a knife, a net and the licence on your phone with a screenshot as backup. Add one more wool layer than you think you need, food, a head torch and a bag for rubbish. If you are unsure about the tackle itself, the gear guide lists all of it.The full kit list
What time of day is best for a fishing trip?
- First light and dusk are the peaks for much of the season, because the light changes and the fish move shallower. But in cold water early and late in the season, under heavy cloud, deep down and on the ice, midday is often best. Cloud and wind say more about the bite than the clock does.Bite times, hour by hour
How long should a fishing trip be?
- Longer than you think it takes to find the fish, and shorter than you think you can stand still. Two hours around dusk produce more often than eight random ones in the middle of the day. If you only have an hour, take the last one before dark, and pick a water you can reach in twenty minutes.Find a water near you