Anglers discuss the 'old school' tactics of angling

JOE FARRELL WITH THE LATEST FROM THE ANGLING SCENE JOE FARRELL 14:59, 29 May 2025 In a conversation with some angling acquaintances last week, our discussion covered much of the methods

within angling and of course the traditional ‘old school’ tactics that some of today’s anglers will probably never have even experienced. On this, our conversation raised the new season

which will be shortly coming upon us and this naturally surrounded the art of stick float fishing. A topic and as a tactic that was put on the table that day, it actually saw the younger

ones admitting to never experiencing it. Some may find that bizarre. But think about it, our youngsters today, especially within our locality, have never had to travel to have a day’s

fishing to a river and of course have more fisheries available. Any said number of anglers travelling to rivers from our region is admittedly pretty rare, although I do know a few that do

so. On this, with the coarse fishing season on rivers and streams within the UK only a fortnight away, the actual depth of our conversation within our party that day described much more

about the art itself and something that is very often described by many observers as ‘poetry in motion’. Article continues below READ MORE: Superb run for Liverpool Angling Society's

John Easton To watch a good stick float angler, you’ll see it. The constant rhythm of feeding, cast, the trot, the strike, retrieve, baiting up and to feed again, is something that is simply

awesome to watch, never mind conduct. With nothing complicated about the bait to be used for a session on a river, for many, the simple maggot, caster and hemp loose fed by hand or catapult

within a swim is nothing more than what is to be expected for a day’s stick float fishing. Uncomplicated as that may sound, the craft can only be mastered by having a perfectly balanced rod

and line and of course a sound knowledge of how a river works and of course the fish within it. Try it, you won’t look back. The national river season opens on Sunday, June 15. On the bank

Sunday, at Warrington’s Partridge Lakes, the Alliance’s John Watson took the clubs top points with 50.10.0 weight shallow using caster. Reigning club champion Colin Pellow kept his hand in

second place with 39.4.0. Bream made their presence known on the Liverpool & District open on Sunday as Wigan’s Mark Rimmer took the honours from Shop Lane in a close one with St Helens’

Arthur Cunnliffe. With conditions difficult for the whole field which stretched from Westway bridge back to the legion length in the hope to avoid the strong high winds, this one found

Rimmer opting for a caster approach to successfully take bream for 9.11.0. With a difference, Cunnliffe favoured offering corn for his similar stamp fish which went 9.4.0. Article continues

belowREAD MORE: John Brogden claims the top spot and the Fred Moss Memorial TrophyREAD MORE: More than 100 Easter Eggs donated by anglers at the Liverpool & District Angling Association

Good Friday Open