Completely new to fishing - gear

king_of_inismac

Hi guys,

Apologies if this has been asked a million times!

I fished a little as a kid but would really like to get back into it now.

I see Aldi have fishing gear in this week: http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/offers_week32Sunday12.htm

I'd be interested in river fishing, mostly as an excuse to get out in the fresh air in the evenings as to catch anything!

Can anyone advise me what to buy to get me started?

Thanks in advance!
M

Barry0

Hi, with river fishing, assuming you're not talking about fly fishing, you're probably going to be catching mostly small to medium-sized roach and perch.

For this sort of fishing I'd recommend a float / match rod at least 12ft in length (as light as you can find, you can be holding it for several hours at a time), and a reel filled with line of about 3 to 4lb breaking strain. I'd also recommend getting a spare spool of line of a lesser breaking strain, say 2 and a half lb, to use as "hook lengths" which are thinner pieces of line which attach to your main line and have your hook at the end. I generally attach these to my main line (the line on your reel) with a small swivel. For hooks you're best off with a size 18 or 20, and the angling bye-laws for many rivers prohibit using barbed hooks so you'll have to either flatten the barbs on the hooks with forceps or pliers like I do, or buy barbless ones.

You'll also need some floats (wagglers seem to work best) and some split shot (get a tub with various different sizes in it).

My "end tackle", then, looks like this:-

Size 20 hook----2 lb line----swivel---4lb line---split shot---waggler float---split shot

The split shot either side of the float allow you to move it up and down the line depending on the depth of the river you're fishing. Generally you'll want to have your bait on or just above the bottom. You can also put a small split shot on the hook length to help your bait sink faster. I find the little swivel serves the same purpose so I don't generally use a drop shot, just enough shot immediately below the float so that it sinks with only the tip visible above the water.

The 2lb hook length line, as well as being less visible to the fish, means that if you cast into a tree or get caught on weeds (and you will, everyone does) your hook length will snap before your main line and you'll only lose your hook not your float and everything else.

Basically that's it, attach a maggot to the hook and you're away. Red maggots seem to work best for perch and roach.

I picked up one of the Aldi carp rods on the spur of the moment this week when I was in there, I took it out for a test and it did it's job. They're not great rods but they serve their purpose and are fine to get you started and see if fishing is something you're interested in pursuing further.

I personally use and recommend Shimano and Daiwa rods. I got a very nice Daiwa 13ft match rod for under 50 Euros at the weekend which weighs next to nothing.

king_of_inismac

Thanks for the really comprehensive reply!

Its what's best about boards.ie.

Really appreciate the help/advice!

trotter_inc

I wouldn't recommend the Aldi rods, I bought a telescopic rod from them last year and it was really poor quality. Two of rings which the line goes through jammed and snapped off within a month. For the same price you'd get a better quality rod from most fishing/tackle shops.