Coarse fishing is one of the most popular sports in the United Kingdom and has been gaining in popularity in the United States in recent years. Coarse fishing itself is defined as fishing for any species of freshwater fish that are not considered game fish, like trout, salmon. Popular coarse fish include carp, pike, chub, perch, catfish, and bream. These fish can be caught and released or kept for bait for other fish because they do not make a very good meal.
At this point you may be thinking, why should I even bother fishing for these fish if I can’t even keep them? Well, there are several reasons that people keep coming back to coarse fishing again and again. First, the goal may not be to catch a fish to take home and eat for dinner, but you do still get the excitement of hopefully catching a fish big enough to warrant a picture with you or take home and put on a wall.
This is not as easy as it sounds, even though they will eat most anything, these fish are also tend to be very smart. This is especially true for carp, which learn which bait looks suspicious and can even see fishermen on the bank and know not to grab any bait nearby. As they get older they get smarter as well, making the bigger fish harder and harder to catch. In fact, this is such a challenging sport there are many different coarse fishing tournaments you can enter to see if you can match other great fishermen. If you go to a larger fishing hole, some of the fish even have nicknames because of their size or markings they have been around so long.
Whatever type of fish your are stalking, you will need at the very least a basic set of coarse fishing tackle.
Basic Coarse Fishing Tackle
Most people stalking coarse fish will use a rod and reel, however many people are also using poles. Pole fishing involves having a long pole with the string tied to the end and no reel. This allows the angler greater control over where the bait is floated, but at the expense of making reeling a fish back in much harder. The size of the rod that you need to use will depend on what fish you are going after as well as the size of the fish. If you are just starting out however, a basic rod and reel will do just fine in most circumstances.
Hooks are another essential piece of your tackle. Barbless circle hooks are the best for humane catch and release. They do not injure the fish nearly as much as normal hooks to. Whatever fish you are going after, if you are planning on catch and release, you should at a minimum use barbless hooks, which will not injure the fish when you remove them. Other equipment you need includes a landing net, an unhooking mat, floats, split shot, and a disgorger. Landing nets are essential because it damages the fish much less than landing it by the hook lodged in its mouth. Disgorgers and unhooking mats also help treat the fish better as you release it back into the water. Disgorgers remove the hooks from the fish quickly and easily and unhooking mats minimize the damage to the fish that placing it on the ground might do. More advanced anglers can also invest in bite alarms to let you know when a fish has taken your bait.
Coarse Fishing Techniques
There are three basic techniques for fishing for coarse fish and these all have different baits to be used for them. The first, easiest, and most popular technique is float fishing. Float fishing is using a float that has bait suspended below it at a certain depth to attract fish. The second technique is legering, which uses split shot to keep the bait on the bottom of the fishing hole. Both of these methods can use a wide variety of bait, and you can even find most of it in your home. Coarse fish will eat corn, breadcrumbs, lunch meat, worms, waxworms, silkworms, kidney beans and many other types of bait that you can put on a hook.
The third fishing technique for coarse fish is spinning. This is the use of a brightly colored, lifelike lure that is moved through the water to resemble prey to the fish. This works mostly with carnivorous fish such as pike the best. For this method to work, you need to have the proper lures in your possession.
Of all the different coarse fish, there are three that receive the most attention, carp, pike, and catfish.
Carp Fishing Tackle
A Huge Mirror Carp
Carp are mostly found in backwater areas. This can be in a lake or pond or on the bottom of a river. They are widely regarded as the biggest and smartest of all the coarse fish. This means that if you are going after carp, you need to pack a slightly stronger and stiffer rod than you would for smaller fish. You can use much of the same bait you would for other coarse fish however. Carp especially like dough balls, bread crumbs, corn, night crawlers, and other worms.
Pike Fishing Tackle
Pike are the strongest fighters of all the coarse fish, which is why they are highly sought after. So, for pike you will also need a stronger and stiffer rod than one you would use for trout. You should also aim for a longer rod with a baitcasting reel. This will give you more accuracy and allow you to put your bait right next to underwater obstructions and weeds where pike like to hide in ambush. Longer rods also give you more hook setting power. Finally for pike you need to have a leader attached to your line. This ensures that the pike doesn’t bite through your line with its razor sharp teeth.
Catfish Fishing Tackle
Catfish are another very popular type of coarse fish. However, unlike almost every other species of these fish, catfish are eaten, especially in the southern United States. If you don’t have any tackle, you could always noodle for the catfish, which is walking through a river and finding the banks and holes where catfish like to hide, and grabbing the fish and throwing them up onto the bank. Unfortunately, water moccasins also like to hide out in these areas and the catfish and their sharp teeth and whiskers don’t take very kindly to being thrown around and are also liable to bite you.
If you decide this isn’t for you and go after the catfish with a regular rod and reel, be away that you need a six and a half to seven foot rod with medium to heavy action and eight to ten pound test line. Catfish eat almost any bait, so you should be able to catch them on a wide variety of food. Make sure you fish during the night though, this is when the catfish come out of their daytime hiding areas.
If you want to start coarse fishing tackle is one of the first things you have to sort out. Fortunately, it is very easy to get into the sport and a basic rod and reel set should be adequate enough in most circumstances. However if you really want to catch trophy fish and take your fishing to the next level you will need to invest in some more advanced tackle such as better reels and longer and stronger rods.
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