Right,

I don't mean to open any cans and spill worms all over the fishing hut floor but I have heard the term numerous times and I am still unclear as to what is meant by it.

The scenarios in which I have heard it include the following:

Using lures - many lures do not represent anything you would find on Mother Nature's rock and are generally the most obnoxious colours the Dulux dog has dug up but they are effective. I have been fishing with people using them, i have used them and I have often heard the use of the phrase related to these flies - "Let's get stockie bashing with a lure!". I guess they mean that freshly stocked fish will go for anything that might present a meal when they are first stocked and haven’t switched to naturals yet but we know trout are inquisitive by nature so you will no doubt pick up fish that have been in the puddle for months or years on these flies.

Using indicators - not wanting to get in the age old debate of is it or isn't it float fishing but there were a couple of guys pulling fish out as though they were using a net but they were using an egg fly under and indicator and a guy passing me said that they were just "Stockie bashing". The same has been said about fishermen using a buzzer under an indicator so although they fly in use is a natural representation of trout fodder was it the technique or the fact they were catching lots of fish (jealousy) the reason for the term being used?

Catching lots of fish - I was fishing with a GRHE in what you would term as a "Normal retrieve" i.e. not stripping the line in as though there was an emergency, a guy walked passed me after I had four fish in about 20mins and he asked "Doing a spot of stockie bashing lad?". Not that I was aware of. I thought I was fishing natural to be honest but i could be wrong.

Is it just a term used for someone that is catching lots of fish on a stocked water regardless of technique?

Is it a term to describe a specific technique?

Is it a term used out of jealousy?

Is it a term used for someone that is deemed to have less skill and can't catch using natural imitation patterns?

What is the definition of the term "Stockie Bashing"?

Over to you.

I don't think the term 'Stockie Bashing' relates to any particular angling technique.

I would say it relates to those instances where anglers deliberately target fish they know have been recently stocked with the view that they will be easier to catch.

This can happen during Competitions where time bonus is often a deciding factor, but I would say it's just as often that you will see regular bank anglers fishing an area that they know has been recently stocked.

It's not something that I particularly enjoy doing as I don't feel you get the same sense of achievement as when catching resident fish , but at the same time I have nothing against anyone who does it either.

Each to their own, I say.

Graham

Graham
you are spot on with your reply.

I see it that if someone has to thrash into newly stocked fishrather than giving them a chance to spread out is not angling but sheer desperation.Id rather give them them a fish if they need one that bad.

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Kevin

Hi', All. Stockie-bashing is the exploitation of the uninitiated babes of the put-and-take fishing world. A bit like playing 'Find the Lady' with a bunch of school kids, or like stealing their candy as opposed to arm-wrestling one of the big lads for a pint!!
When our local water, Blencarn Lake, opened up in 1982, I got to know its owner very well, and I used to ring up to see when and where he would be releasing the fish. I went the day before release. If I had already arranged to meet someone there, we fished as far away from the point of release as we could, and we fished imitative flies on floaters. Not much merit in catching fish that are not, at least, partially naturalised TerryC

Stockie bashing - fishing for rainbows, they are all stockies, not a natural occurrence in that water, not wild, Stockies. There you have it, problem solved .
Tight Lines
Trout Hunter

PS Just messing lads

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Trout,great to hunt,greater to release.

I think the term is used for a way of fishing where you pay a lot of money (relatively speaking) to be guarenteed to go home with a couple of fish for the table.

I would not pay day ticket prices to have a difficult days fishing as I can have a difficult days fishing on a club water in beautiful surroundings for a fraction of the cost.e.g.club card £50 p.a. day ticket £20.

Stockie bashing is very popular and will remain so as long as people think they are getting value for money and having fun.

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Theres more to fishing than just fish.

Hi Graham gots a great reply but how do you just target resident fish

Graham got it in one shot.

The reason why I think stockie bashing is bad for the sport is because it leaves anglers with an artificial sense of both achievement and entitlement.

The achievement part is obvious, stocked fish tend to be stocked to a density that would never almost never exist in the wild.

Then there's a that terrible irony when I see stocked anglers writing of catching "only a few small rainbows, 2-3 pounds each" in a session, with disappointment dripping from between the lines. Obviously they have no idea how long or hard, on average, one would have to fish to catch those numbers and that size of rainbow in the wild!

A 3 pound rainbow is a tremendous prize and there very few waters in the world that can put up that size of a fish as an average catch. And those waters aren't accessed easily or cheaply, either.

This size of rainbow only becomes a disappointment when it's a stocked fish that's easily caught. This, in turn, seems to feed the sense of entitlement for even more and bigger fish and so we've now stepped on the slippery slope where the fishing experience becomes more and more disconnected from that of real fishing for real fish.

Grouse

I think the biggest problem of all is the sense of expectation it can lead to. The possibility is there for more and more anglers to assume that fishing for freshly stocked fish is the norm. If people are expecting to catch bag loads of big fish easily, and then they try an unstocked wild fishery and catch little or nothing, they will assume something is wrong with the fishery, and in turn start wanting it to be stocked.

I've nothing against stocked fishing, I have done it and will do a lot more of it. Stocked reservoirs, artificial lakes etc are a great way of making fishing simple and accessible in places where it might not be possible otherwise. I'd just hate to see stocking pressure ruin wild natural fisheries.

Stockie Bashing is fishing smaller commercial and sometimes larger put and take fisheries with the sole intention of catching your limit and even then possibly carrying on with catch and release. In the main, the quarry will be Rainbow Trout.

The only skill involved is where a more experienced angler will have a variety of line densities and fly patterns in order to achieve the end result whereas on some fisheries, even this modicum of skill is not required.

As Robson would say " Woo Hoo, Bring it on man ........Get in there "

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Tight Lines. :)