Ok I admit it. I’ve been guilty of holding a contentious opinion of the differences between northern and southern fishers – specifically those who fish freestone rivers and those who choose the chalk streams. This is an entirely ill-founded opinion, totally without the support of first-hand knowledge and experience and therefore open to considerable criticism.
But hey, we like a good discussion don’t we? So I’m going to set forth my assertion; lets hear what you lot think!

My argument in a nutshell is that we spate stream fishers face more challenges in being able to consistently extract fish from a water which varies in flow, height, colour, topography and so on. Competency in a wider range of techniques is required to cope with the ever changing demands put upon the angler and as a result, the north of England and Scotland continues to produce the cream of this island’s anglers.

Chalk stream fishing is the flowing water equivalent of a small stocked stillwater. Large amounts of money are paid to fish for oversized rainbows on neatly manicured banks with antiquated patterns such as the ‘tups’ and ‘wickhams’.

What do you all think? Ok I know I’ve grossly generalised, but do you fellow northerners agree? And what about you chalk stream anglers – what is your opinion on spate river fishing? Do you see us as a load of chuck and chance it wet fly chuckers?

Matt

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The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

Can't comment about freestone river fishing as I have never done it.

But;

...might be true of a few of the expensive middle Test beats and maybe a handful on the Kennet, but there's literally hundreds of miles of chalkstreams that have never seen a rainbow trout or a strimmer, and are all the better for it. See Accidental's book and some of his other posts on here.

And if an old pattern still works why on earth not continue using it The insects they represent or suggest certainly haven't suddenly mutated into totally different forms...

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

I think you are being intentionally provocotive with a view to bate people..

I fish chalkstream because i live in hampshire and thats what we have...

However i do not fish the gingerbeer beat style chalkstreams,nThe beats i fish are no less wild than anywhere you fish, no weed cutting, no bank trimming, no stocking, just wild fish in a wild river... wiley wild brownies, stunning grayling and a run of salmon and sea trout and the odd chub thrown in for measure.

When i return home i have a play on the Wharfe with my brother in law and enjoy it immensly, but dont consider it to be harder or easier... just different..

what you forget is that the chalkstreams are "gin clear" and if you can see and stalk a fish, then the fish can see you... in your world of spate surely the chocolate milk helps hide you from the fish ??

I am considering taking a rod an a small spate river in sussex next season... where does that leave me ?? spate river in the south of england, and i am a northerner...

At the end of the day fishing is fishing, the validity of one method over another or the superiority of one environment over the other is , quite frankly b0ll0cks... I dont fish stillwater for stockies quite simply because it doesnt float my boat, but that doesnt mean that i should feel superior to a stillwater fisherman because i dont dish an "artificial" environment or the fish i catch are wild...

i go fishing for pleasure, it is a bit of zen or headspace from the rat race... Dries is my thing... there is a feeling i get, that thrill at the moment the fish rises and takes my fly, bliss... then there is the fresh air, the wild life, passing the time of day with other anglers, walkers, then there is getting home, flopping in my favoirite armchair and having a cuddle with my youngest, relaxed and happy....

take your 'bating elsewhere...

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Hear Hear Icky. I, too fish southern Chalkstreams both wild and stocked, and love them all. I've fished the Houghton water and loved it, ive fished the South Esk and Loved it. I've fished Corrib and loved it, and i've fished chalk springs and loved it. fishing to me is about the pull on the line and the thrill of me vs the fish. i admit i love big fish, be they trout or salmon, but would be equally happy with a 6lb corrib brown as a 14lb chalk springs one.

chalk stream fish are different to those in spate rivers, which to be fair, can be utterly suicidal when the mood takes them. why is there any snobbery in fishing/??

All nicely put. I too hail from the North but live in Hampshire, so have little choice of freestone rivers. The chalkstreams I fish too are rarely (if ever in most cases) stocked. Some on the Itchen are, but are a world away from the Ginger Beer type ones, and the Meon most certainly isn't. It's proper challenging fishing, make no mistake. My dreadful catch rate proves it!

I'd love a go on freestone streams too at some point, and don't see there being a best or worst type of river. Surely you fish what you can, as we all can't spare the time and/or money to travel huge distances to fish. As I live near chalkstreams then guess what I fish? Is this thread trying to spark a North/South divide thing?

I don't know about freestone and chalk streams. Here in sunny Wolverhampton we have canals and mud I have to travel a bit for my trouting, sometimes not always that far, Shropshire's only down the road half an hour. But for spate rivers and chalk streams I have to go a fair way, and do, to both. To me it's trout fishing plain and simple. Sure tactics and conditions vary but it's still trout fishing to bn and I love it. Don't care where it is. So I'm with BB and Icky.................no snobbery for me.........birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

Icky,

No baiting intended....just the stimulation of lively discussion!

M

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The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

I too mainly fish the un-manicured southern chalkstreams and think you have the wrong idea of them being easy.
The only time I get into double figure bags (all C & R) are when I fish the rainfed freestone rivers or when the chalk streams are coloured up after days of heavy rain.
As was previously stated the chalkstream wild trout usually see you before you spot them so stealth is much more important.

...............Ian

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Seen anything rise?

Both freestone and chalk streams (un-stocked) have their merits and I like them both but give me a 6lb Corrib natural wild brown anytime over a 14lb Chalk Springs brown that may well have been stocked at that weight and been in the water for less than a week. Both admittedly magnificent fish but I'm afraid there is no comparison in their value to me as a potential captor.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

what does the humber class as

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