[philB]

Hi
I can now say, having spread my wings and attended the TU meet in April, that I have been to America and fished. I thought I would put down some of my fishing observations.

I love my Pike fishing here in the UK and have an interest naturally with Muskie, when a pike angler fishes in the UK he very rarely picks up a lure rod but will head out armed with natural baits some of which are not so natural. It is accepted here that if you wish to catch a real big fish then you will place a static bait on the bottom of the river or lake and wait this is because our big Northern pike are scavengers before predators. That bait can be a natural fish present in the water but can also be alien and sea fish are a popular choice amongst the pikers here especially oily sea fish such as Mackrel and Sardine (having said that the British record Northern Pike is a 46.5 lb fish caught on a Creek Chub Pikey Lure !!!). How many American anglers would consider this type of fishing for Muskie ???, has anyone tried static deadbaits for Muskie or is it just the accepted way that to fish for Muskie you use a lure ??.

Another thing struck me in a big way. A much larger percentage of Americans fish or hunt, it is a way of life in the States and everything seems to embrace these pastimes. You guys are privileged with access to these amazing places such as the Lake we fished, Pomme de Terre, if this water was here the authorities would do their utmost to keep folk away from it or impose too many restrictions. A 'for instance' is our Lake District, a lot of the lakes in Cumbria you cannot even take a powered craft on to them !! if you want to get to the other end which is maybe 4 miles you have to row there or haul the boat out and drive down to put it back in again. Public access is heavily restricted in the UK and you are more likley to see signs saying 'NO FISHING', 'TRESSPASERS WILL BE PROSECUTED' or 'PRIVATE KEEP OUT'.

In the UK we have to purchace every year a rod and line licence, this does not give you the right to fish only to use a rod and line for fishing and covers 2 rods, if you wish to use more than 2 rods then you have to buy a second licence the cost of these annualy is £ 25.00 ( around $ 48.00).

During our stay we visited Bass Pro in Springfield and had a great day out there I may add, but although there was more fishing tackle than I had ever seen in my life there, very little of it resembled the tackle you would see in an angling store here in the UK. I did not see a single high quality centrepin reel for instance, no 14' rods, no 'Poles' and no 0.5lb breaking strain monofilament line, the list could go on and on. What did suprise and delight me were the costs of equipment, I kid you not everything to me was half price and less, I could have bought a container full, shipped it across to the UK and doubled my investment easily.

I wish I could have made my trip 30 years ago then I would have had the time to fish in other locations in America but as it is I could not not at the time as family commitments prevented it and to be honest it never entered my head then. I am still hoping to wet a line in the USA again before too long and would love to try some of the UK methods of fishing just for the hell of it to see if it got any results.