What would you really, really love to catch?

[Bourney]

I'd love to catch my first golden tench.

[Dales]

A 4lb + Perch caught on float fished worm tight to a reed bed.

 

It would be magical to see a stripey of that size break the surface of the water, as if I felt that much weight on my rod I think I would be expecting some thing else.

 

Maybe one day....

Edited October 8, 2009 by Dales

[Steve Walker]

I'd like to catch a really big roach - and to have my scales on me this time! I don't know what my biggest roach weighed - it was caught on trotted maggot from my favourite swim on the River Etherow at the time when it had a stonking head of good roach. Could have been 2lb+. I'll never know.

[Janet]

I'd really love to catch a 90 yr old brewery owning millionaire with a degenerative heart condition and no immediate family!

 

Failing that, it would have to be a 3lb perch from my local canal. Mist just rising off the water, sun peeping over the horizon and that lovely sense of calm when I have the place to myself before the cyclists, boaters and dog walkers appear....

 

Not much to ask for, is it?

 

Janet

[Sportsman]

When I have been staring at an unmoving float for 8 hours and have tried everything I know, then just about anything

Failing that a really big Tench for the water it came from.

[ayjay]

If you want big Roach just go Barbel fishing more often, I've lost count of the "twos" I've caught on big baits and heavy tackle from the H.Avon & D.Stour, (biggest went 3.5). Sorry.

 

I know it's not the same as fishing for them, but you would be wouldn't you?

 

A big Mahseer for me, over the ton preferably, there may still be the odd one around.

[lutra]

If you want big Roach just go Barbel fishing more often, I've lost count of the "twos" I've caught on big baits and heavy tackle from the H.Avon & D.Stour, (biggest went 3.5). Sorry.

 

I know it's not the same as fishing for them, but you would be wouldn't you?

 

A big Mahseer for me, over the ton preferably, there may still be the odd one around.

3.5 is an impressive roach no matter how you caught it, well done.

 

I had a pic of a 2lb 7oz roach shown me the other day that had been caught by a chap barbel fishing. It had come off my local bit of river that I've spent lots of time on trotting and only done half that weight.

 

A 2lb roach and a 6lb chub are both very doable locally for me and high on my list of most wanted fish. I doubt trotting is the most effective method for either, but i will still be spending a lot of time trotting this winter.

[Emma two]

I must have been lucky, at least so far as roach go. I have spent little time fishing for them, yet have had quite a few over 2lbs. They turned up in matches on large German rivers where the target species, purley for the weight advantage was bream. We fished remarkable small ponds in West Lancashire and took both roach and rudd well over 2 lbs. That was back in the 80s. The summer before last I took my biggest roach. Just after dark it went for a large popped up lob on a size 4 intended for perch. My reaction when I saw what it was being 'how did you get that lot down?'. I'm not bragging, I probably didn't deserve those big roach, maybe just a case of right time. right place an' all that. The species doesn't hold especial fascination for me, indeed I tend to think of them in the 'bait' category (not the 2 lb'ers, but the usual 4-6" ones).

 

Love to catch?... ahh! now your talking, a fantasy, fantastic...mine is like this, it's a summer evening, going on for 11 and still comfortable to be in t shirt. Position the boat so that the small hardly discernible breeze takes me into the weed fringed bay in a slow drift. the braid shoots through the rod rings as the 6" surface popper arcs out and then hits the water with a rattling splash. Wait, let the ripple rings spread and fade... Wind, twitch, wind jerk...anticipation, that feeling which only comes now and then, that sixth sense certianty that something is about to happen, electricity in the air...dace dimpling...wind twitch, wind jerk..pause...fry scatter somewhere off in the extreme left of vision, traffic nose distant, distant in miles, distant in worlds, it has no place here. Focused, willing, expectant, yet knowing if...no tonight, when it happens it will be heart stopping. Wind, pause, wind, twitch....Craaaaaash, ooooh!, the head breaks the oily surface from right to left, a fleeting comparison of a croc taking a zebra at a water hole. That fraction of a second pause looking at the surface turmoil, has it? has it?

...yes the line is tight, the rod bends...first few seconds slower than expected...then it's moving fast, kites and then out, all but tail clear of the lake...it's a 20, no bigger, can't be, imagination, wishful, the setting sun distorts scale and distance. Turn it from the weedbed....was that really a worn part on the braid? should have changed it. glance at the reel, how much braid is left on it. It can't go deep the bay is shallow, the boils are 30 yerds away, speeds up, line rushing to the surface, it's out, twists like a gymnast tail walking, red gill flare, how many hook holds? when were they sharpened, home made trace, do I really trust myself? Slower now, gaining line, pump and wind, pump and wind, than she is away again, all that line off the reel again, tug or war, I get some, she takes some...here she comes head down, tail paddling the surface. 3 feet from the boat...a 20? no this thing would eat a 20...under the boat reel singing again rod buckled. pump draw wind...she is on her side, net? no how will I lift that with one hand, get her in the net then drop the rod, no dare not...c'mon have to do something... make a decision, reach for the gill cover splash and thrash....steady now, deep breath, firm resolve..heave stagger back fall on the deck..hold her hold her!

54lbs, (come on it is a wish/fantasy so no need for 'realistic targets' ) prime condition, fin perfect, will all of life be an anticlimax after this?

[wayne baker]

I must have been lucky, at least so far as roach go. I have spent little time fishing for them, yet have had quite a few over 2lbs. They turned up in matches on large German rivers where the target species, purley for the weight advantage was bream. We fished remarkable small ponds in West Lancashire and took both roach and rudd well over 2 lbs. That was back in the 80s. The summer before last I took my biggest roach. Just after dark it went for a large popped up lob on a size 4 intended for perch. My reaction when I saw what it was being 'how did you get that lot down?'. I'm not bragging, I probably didn't deserve those big roach, maybe just a case of right time. right place an' all that. The species doesn't hold especial fascination for me, indeed I tend to think of them in the 'bait' category (not the 2 lb'ers, but the usual 4-6" ones).

 

Love to catch?... ahh! now your talking, a fantasy, fantastic...mine is like this, it's a summer evening, going on for 11 and still comfortable to be in t shirt. Position the boat so that the small hardly discernible breeze takes me into the weed fringed bay in a slow drift. the braid shoots through the rod rings as the 6" surface popper arcs out and then hits the water with a rattling splash. Wait, let the ripple rings spread and fade... Wind, twitch, wind jerk...anticipation, that feeling which only comes now and then, that sixth sense certianty that something is about to happen, electricity in the air...dace dimpling...wind twitch, wind jerk..pause...fry scatter somewhere off in the extreme left of vision, traffic nose distant, distant in miles, distant in worlds, it has no place here. Focused, willing, expectant, yet knowing if...no tonight, when it happens it will be heart stopping. Wind, pause, wind, twitch....Craaaaaash, ooooh!, the head breaks the oily surface from right to left, a fleeting comparison of a croc taking a zebra at a water hole. That fraction of a second pause looking at the surface turmoil, has it? has it?

...yes the line is tight, the rod bends...first few seconds slower than expected...then it's moving fast, kites and then out, all but tail clear of the lake...it's a 20, no bigger, can't be, imagination, wishful, the setting sun distorts scale and distance. Turn it from the weedbed....was that really a worn part on the braid? should have changed it. glance at the reel, how much braid is left on it. It can't go deep the bay is shallow, the boils are 30 yerds away, speeds up, line rushing to the surface, it's out, twists like a gymnast tail walking, red gill flare, how many hook holds? when were they sharpened, home made trace, do I really trust myself? Slower now, gaining line, pump and wind, pump and wind, than she is away again, all that line off the reel again, tug or war, I get some, she takes some...here she comes head down, tail paddling the surface. 3 feet from the boat...a 20? no this thing would eat a 20...under the boat reel singing again rod buckled. pump draw wind...she is on her side, net? no how will I lift that with one hand, get her in the net then drop the rod, no dare not...c'mon have to do something... make a decision, reach for the gill cover splash and thrash....steady now, deep breath, firm resolve..heave stagger back fall on the deck..hold her hold her!

54lbs, (come on it is a wish/fantasy so no need for 'realistic targets' ) prime condition, fin perfect, will all of life be an anticlimax after this?

I got out of breath just reading that lol

[Slickfish]

I've always wanted a 20lb plus carp and I can't think of a nicer way to catch them than freelining floating baits on a nice summers evening.

 

20lb has been my target for a good few years but as I dont go to the large carp waters, I like the smaller ponds, stalking carp with minimal tackle.

 

Afew years back I almost realised the dream with a 19.5lb mirror, I was gutted when I saw the scales . Managed acouple of 14lb's this summer. The 20 is out there somewhere, and I will find it!! .