During their lifetime, many thousands of the Midlands population will have no doubt spent many happy hours fishing in Birmingham and the surrounding area. Enjoying not only the thrill of the catch, but also the peace and tranquillity of the countryside, the birds and animals at the various venues they have fished.

A word of warning to those would be anglers, coarse fishing is not a cheap hobby and you would be well advised to borrow the necessary tackle to make sure it is the sport for you. There are many numbers of businesses selling everything you need for fishing and if you want to buy fishing accessories they will be happy to offer advice and also set you up with reasonably priced rods and reels.  The better anglers will visit the same angling business or dealer in an attempt to obtain discounts and for the crack match fishermen possible sponsorships. You will also find angling equipment on sale at market stalls and also car boot sites.

For those fishing in Birmingham, it is important to note that most of the local commercial fisheries,  for the purpose of attracting anglers, stock their pools with large quantities of fish, with carp being the number one attraction for the majority of fishermen. Some fisheries have specimen Carp pools containing fish weighing in excess of 20lbs.

In recent years most UK fishermen have followed many of their European counter parts by changing from rod, reel and line to pole fishing. Poles, although very expensive and carrying values in excess of £2500, are made of carbon fibre and linked together in sections of approximately 1.0 m in length, with some, when fully extended, being fished at distances of up to16.0 metres. The beauty of pole fishing is that you can place your hook, bait and floats exactly where you want it. The use of pre-prepared pole rigs also considerably reduces the time taken during the initial set up and following being broken by the resident 'King' of the pool. You can also feed your bait, by use of a cup feeder section, in exactly the same place, thus encouraging the fish to move in, feed from the cup fed bait and also, hopefully, pick up the piece of bait containing the hooks. The fight to land or escape by the angler or fish then begins.   

The one thing the UK is becoming drastically short of, are companies who actually produce angling equipment, most of them are now dependant on imports from China and other Asian countries, with delivery anything but good and angling businesses continually complaining about problems associated with the restocking of their shelves due to supplier let down and with the supposed UK producers then pointing the finger of blame towards Chinese manufacturers.

The Birmingham Anglers Association, perhaps one of the largest in the country, offers members, river, pool, lake and canal fishing at various venues throughout the Midlands and for the large number of affiliated angling clubs, the availability of numerous contest venues weekly.

Most commercial venues have their own web sites and provide information on how to fish, preferred baits, fishery rules which must be strictly adhered too, recent fishery news etc., plus phone contact numbers, address or addresses and how to get there. Some even allow opportunities to book on line. The majority of fisheries will also provide a map or maps of the venue within their web pages.

If you search you will also find fishery names and listings in the local telephone directory, Phillips telephone book, or even Yellow Pages.

Some of Birmingham and its surrounding towns angling equipment centres are:-

Foster's Fishing Unit K, Moor Lane, Birmingham, West Midlands. 0121 344 3333

West Midlands Angling Centre, 884 Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, West Midlands. 0121 327 4193

Fishermans Friend, 806 Alcester Road South, Birmingham, West Midlands. 0121 430 5177  

A.T Clissett Fishing Tackle, 1801 Pershore Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3DN

Reel Fishing, 15 Faraday Avenue, Birmingham, B32 1JP

Catmaster Tackle, 37 Marsh End, Birmingham, B38 9BB

Master Class Flies, 65 Marcot Road, Solihull, B92 7PT

Greenway's Fishing Tackle, 1004 Chester Road, Birmingham, B24 0LL

Clive Smith Fishing Tackle & Sports, 1692 Bristol Road South, Rednal, Birmingham, B45 9TZ

Ovation Leisure, Rovex Business Park, Unit 16, Kings Road, Birmingham, B11 2AF

And local fishing venues include:-

Edgbaston Reservoir, 115 Reservoir Road, Ladywood, Birmingham. 0121 454 1908

Lavender Hall Fishery, Lavender Hall Lane, Berkswell, Coventry. 01676 530299

Cuttle Mill Fishery, Cuttle Mill Lane, Sutton Coldfield. 01827 872 253

The Fishing Lodge, 1770 Coventry Road, Yardley, Birmingham. 0121 743 0448

Holt Hall Fisheries, Holt Hall Farm, Atherstone Road, Over Whitacre, Coleshill, Birmingham. 07957 975087

Alvechurch Fisheries, Barnt Green, Birmingham. 0121 445 4274

Packington Somers Fisheries, Meridon. 01676 523833

Woods Farm Fishery, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands. 07799 075727

Woodland View Fisheries, Hay Lane, Hagley, Droitwich, Worcestershire. 01905 620872

Astwood Fisheries, Astwood Lane, Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, 07773 347072

Some fisheries offer very adequate close to the pool parking and excellent fishing platforms for those disabled. For the angler requiring such facilities, please check before you travel or you may be disapointed. 

Birmingham also stands near to perhaps England's finest course fishing river, the Severn; with most anglers travelling from far and wide to experience a day's fishing on this most famous river, many of whom will return time and again, with some anglers even moving home to be near to it.

Before anyone can fish and at whatever venue, be they commercial pools, rivers or canals, they must first obtain a rod licence which can be purchased from Post Offices or online from the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/rodlicence and the prices vary according to age and the type of fishing one wish to participate in.

There is a local saying that you can't even fish in a puddle in the road without first obtaining a fishing licence as all water will eventually find its way into, via drains and land drainage, a water course, lake, pool or canal and so become the responsibility of the Environmental Agency to minimise pollution and carry out the regular checking of fish stocks and water removal by farmers for crop watering purposes.

To fish for non migratory trout, freshwater (course fish), smelts and eels you will require one of the following - Full Season (1 April - 31 March,) £27.00, Concessionary £18.00, juniors (12-16) £5.00, under 12 free, 8 day £10.00, 1 day £3.75

To fish for the above, plus salmon and migrating sea trout the prices under the same headings are £72.00, £48.00, £5.00, free, £23.00 & £8.00.

There is an official close season which some commercial pools and all rivers strictly adhere to and this operates from 15 March - 15 June annually. It allows the fish to spawn in peace without angler interference. 

There are various types of anglers, those who simply enjoy a day's pleasure fishing, those who are members of one the many Angling Clubs and match fishermen, the majority of which spend most of their time fishing one particular venue. The benefit being that they get to know the venue, the various pegs and the best approach to take in their attempts to catch fish and hopefully win cash prizes which are paid in as pool money by each angler. Obviously, depending on the amount of pool money paid, successful anglers can win many hundreds of pounds each season.

Fishing is also split into groups of fishermen, those who course fish for the likes of pike, carp, chub, barbell, roach, rudd, gudgeon, bream, perch, etc, which can be found in rivers, pools and canals. Such fish must always be returned to the water they were caught from, usually straight from landing nets, unless the venue fished allows the use of keep nets for storing fish until they are returned to the water at the end of the day. The fly fishing only anglers who fish for the likes of salmon, trout and grayling which, as long as the fishery rules allow can be killed and taken home for the table, and those who class themselves as specimen fish hunters. The specimen fishermen think nothing of fishing throughout both day and night. They have bivvy's, tents, shelters and umbrellas for sleeping in or just to keep dry during the day, all the gear for cooking, eating and keeping warm and relying on rod pods and bite alarms to wake them should a fish take their hook bait whilst they are asleep.

Anglers, like many other sporting activities can be split into a number of competency levels, e.g. excellent, very good, average, poor and very poor. Match anglers would normally occupy the first two levels with Club anglers generally occupying the very good down to very poor. Pleasure fishermen, who simply enjoy a day out fishing and like many other unknown sportsmen, can probably fill all the levels indicated.

Fishing and the tactics employed by some anglers are very interesting, with some of the regular winners keeping very much tight to their chests the feed and hook baits, through trial and error, they regularly use.

For anyone just commencing on the hook and line route, we at Activ Birmingham would wish you happy angling and just remember that sometimes the fish do win, especially when the conditions and weather are poor and the fish just aren't biting.