Traditional Char Fishing

Trolling for Char in the English Lake District is a tradition dating back many hundreds of years. And while tactically speaking, things have changed little during that time, the materials used, Char population numbers, and finding people willing to keep the tradition alive most certainly have. Here trolling devotee's Jeff Carroll and Bill Gibson deminstrate the technique.

[@simonrowe5380]

In 1966, Harold Druce hired a row-boat from Bowness-on-Windermere. A 'bait kettle with minnows' was part of the deal. We anchored in a bay near the hotel we were staying - and we caught several beautiful Perch. Green with vertical bars and bright orange fins. A couple of Yorkshiremen told me they had caught eels by fishing "Wit ledger lead on't bottom'. We never tried that, but I did catch a trout from a brook with a free-lined worm. Half way home I checked the score of England vs W.Germany at Wembey. They had gone into 'extra time', I was told. 😊

[@craigatkinson4783]

Happy memories

[@fishing4truth91]

What an unique & interesting method; I really enjoyed watching your traditional way of catching Char. Thanks!

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

We've been thinking about creating habitats to realize larger char for fly fishing. Thanks for the great history lesson !

[@mikegrace8362]

Really grand filming, shows so many trade 'knacks' as the work of char fishing goes on. Well done guys!

[@vonstrapulator]

This is great for me to see as im a born and bred Char fisherman myself.. I never fished Coniston as t boat was on Windy-mere (y) Well done gentlemen. Dave Steel :-)

[@ciancopeland5790]

"The populations are lower" *clubs the bastard fish on the head* 😂

[@franticfisherman]

great video, thanks for sharing.

[@muhaahaloa941]

I remember doing this with my step dad along time ago was great fun allot of hard work rowing on windermeir..Well worth it restaurants pay big money for these fish :D..

[@paulcunningham9167]

If you have a electric outboard down at 2/3 when you row you don't get any row lagg between pulls and never get tired without using too much power

[@ABCD-yk1br]

Not very traditional chap

[@nj40100]

Lovely film there was another film /documentary about 'the old man of Coniston' in which an older chap showed how he made Char lures and fished and also caught rabbits. anyone know what happened to the film?

[@MichaelGibson-i2c]

The film was part of bbc2 series called the countrymen made around 1991 , one of the episodes about a water bailiff in Workington has been uploaded but haven't seen the one with Alan mason fishing for charr on any platform

[@kevinadamson5768]

Very interesting video, I'm a trout fisherman but never fished a lake for these fellers, is there anybody takes trips out I wonder.?

[@gouryella101]

Fantastic film

[@lukearmstrong3304]

Do you still fish for charr like this? Myself and a friend are attempting to catch all species of fresh water fish in 100 days to try and raise money for cancer research UK and we need a charr. We are planning on fishing coniston but have no idea how to go about it. If you have any spare time could I contact you to get abit of advise and pointers please? Cheers Luke

[@garrymcgauran4978]

Really intreresting

[@AhnkoCheeOutdoors]

Very interesting and educational, enjoyed this video very much. Lovely rowboat, what is this type of hull called? I do allot of row trolling from my 16' dory, very therapeutic and relaxing. Thank you for sharing.

[@moosehead68]

great video . Did i meet you with the boat at loch Garry / Arkaig years ago by any chance ?

[@phillipwilliams4448]

No, not me. But I have fished for Ferox on Loch Rannoch.

[@jeffcarroll3008]

You might have met Bill & I or maybe another fisherman from Winderemere who went on Arkaig

[@jackosurf]

How much for you to take us on a guided char trip for two experienced fishermen. Just need char barbel and Zander to finish the fish species list.

[@ianhowson6603]

Hi thanks for getting in touch wasn't sure if this was a deleted link was worth a shot thanks anyway

[@StealthCroft]

It's a typical traditional Lake District design. Don't know the name. Usually they are clinker built though this one was GRP. A very commonly used Cumbrian design.

[@mikeslee4794]

good video. Could you use a water snake trolling motor...a quiet one. I can't row for health reasons. Obviously concerned about spooking the fish

[@StealthCroft]

I've successfully trolled Char with both a Minkota electric outboard and a 4hp petrol outboard on low power.

[@vonstrapulator]

I used to build a metal basket around the propeller. Chip fryer basket, 70-80 / day back then

[@vonstrapulator]

are you Craigs Father ?

[@larsandersson4394]

Why dont you releas those small once?

[@aaronwilliamwallace]

Complains about fish stocks and talks about the climate and spawning beds while killing all the fish they catch.

[@potluckfishing]

Is this the same guy who fished with mick brown back in 2002 for the Greater Rod Race?

[@rokerlad49]

Intresting but now n again trout n pike must take spinners now that will be a scrap a big pike by hand ....

[@Rucker-t7y]

Yea we hook pike quite a lot but they usually shake themselves off. We catch more perch than any other species

[@joecitizen9180]

Do u keep everything?

[@kevinvella4585]

from the film it would seem you take all fish caught, is this the case? if so, it's not very sustainable way of fishing. would it not be more sporting to have a returns policy in your method. maybe take two fish each time and return the rest for next time fishing. just a thought.

[@StealthCroft]

Line fishing commercially for any species is about as sustainable as it gets. That said, commercial plumb lining for char is a thing of the past harking back to Victorian times. Jeff and Bill merely put on demonstrations to keep the art and its historical links alive. I don't think the local char populations need fear this type of fishing any more.

[@jeffcarroll3008]

Hi Kevin - this does show us catching a few fish, but there are a number of outings where we catch maybe one of two fish, and by no means do we catch a fish every time we get a bite. Additionally we return a good number of fish which are either not in good condition - mainly earlier in the year, or are smaller. The legal limit is 8" but generally we don't take fish less than 10" or so. We do try to fish as fairly as possible, recognising that we want there to be fish for many years to come. There are few boats fishing for char these days and hence generally angling pressure is quite low.

[@adamwade7306]

There's probably not that many of them now because you've been taking 20/30 a time, nobeds

[@ViolentyearsTV]

Still char left in the lake?

[@jeffcarroll3008]

There were last year!

[@awalt26439]

Hello! No doubt you know what's right to fish these lakes, however, I just looking in from the outside do wonder if it would not perhaps be better to let these fish get a bit larger before taking them home to eat. The food supply for the fish in this and adjacent lakes is likely much better than in arctic waters where fish do get to be quite fair sized. Your fish also are kind of pale looking, not at all as colourful as the arctic specimen. Still an interesting little movie, thanks for sharing.

[@StealthCroft]

Be nice if they would, but these are stunted populations, dwarfed by a number of natural factors linked to the latitude of their isolation. As for their colour, the red belly is is only present at breeding time which was clearly not the case here.

[@alexbowie6316]

+StealthCroft Interesting with the box and tackle. Also the boat is like a long Irish Fly fishing boat. Did you strike a mould from one of the Larch models? I have caught Char with the fly on Scottish Lochs. They come to the surface at certain times You would make more money cleaning windows but there is no comparison lol. I would venture a guess at increased size and lower numbers is Eutrophication ?

[@StealthCroft]

+Alex Bowie The boat is a GRP version of the traditional Cumbrian lake model, and yest you are right, the assumption is that eurtophication is responsible for same biomass switch from numbers to size.

[@juno_lake]

Poor charborg

[@simonpyza5270]

I like catching and eating fish. It's natural Law and I don't need any license for that!

[@michaelafrancis1361]

That is such a moronic comment it beggars any sort of answer that you could possibly understand. Presumably you think that "natural law" will save you after you've destroyed every last living thing in your environment.