Does size matter?

[Dick Dastardly]

One of my favourite stories (oh no here we go again I can here you all yawning!)

 

I was grabbing a few mins between customers and was sneaking about with a stalking rod (I very rarely fished the "accepted" style of 3lb+ rods with rowed out baits and boat recovered fish as I thought it was pants despite being very effective) In fact very rarely used a rod over 1 3/4lb.The rod I was using had a very thin blank (one of yours Steve!!) and full cork handle with a lot of rings (well compared to the normal half dozen on modern carp rods.)

 

Normally I used to just fish by sight but as there had been an explosion of skimmers the water had coloured a bit too much to do so so I was using my favourite "sunken float" approach. The reel was an old Leeds! great for this kind of thing.

 

To try and cut it short I had just landed a 50-60lbr and was going to get a weight and a picture.I was just positioning the landing net so I could retain it briefly before walking round to get the gear when I heard "Any good mate?" It was one of the group of three guys who were on the water that coming week.They had arrived early (as most did come to think of it!) so had been allowed to have a walk round.

 

I noticed he was looking at my set up very strangely. Before I could stop my self I came out with it "Not to bad mate but keep on getting pestered by bloomin nuisance fish",

"Oh what you after then?"

"Bream mate but these bloody carp keep picking up the bait"

At that I lifted the net and after letting him see the size of the fish let it swim over the spreader cord! Thought he was going to faint.Got the useual ****ing!

[Kappa]

One of my favourite stories (oh no here we go again I can here you all yawning!)

 

I was grabbing a few mins between customers and was sneaking about with a stalking rod (I very rarely fished the "accepted" style of 3lb+ rods with rowed out baits and boat recovered fish as I thought it was pants despite being very effective) In fact very rarely used a rod over 1 3/4lb.The rod I was using had a very thin blank (one of yours Steve!!) and full cork handle with a lot of rings (well compared to the normal half dozen on modern carp rods.)

 

Normally I used to just fish by sight but as there had been an explosion of skimmers the water had coloured a bit too much to do so so I was using my favourite "sunken float" approach. The reel was an old Leeds! great for this kind of thing.

 

To try and cut it short I had just landed a 50-60lbr and was going to get a weight and a picture.I was just positioning the landing net so I could retain it briefly before walking round to get the gear when I heard "Any good mate?" It was one of the group of three guys who were on the water that coming week.They had arrived early (as most did come to think of it!) so had been allowed to have a walk round.

 

I noticed he was looking at my set up very strangely. Before I could stop my self I came out with it "Not to bad mate but keep on getting pestered by bloomin nuisance fish",

"Oh what you after then?"

"Bream mate but these bloody carp keep picking up the bait"

At that I lifted the net and after letting him see the size of the fish let it swim over the spreader cord! Thought he was going to faint.Got the useual ****ing!

 

Classic!!!!

 

Rich

[bromley]

Your PB post got me thinking about this. That plus I was going through a pile of old mags that showed some distasteful photos of anglers holding up "prize weight trophy fish" Some of them had distorted bellys full of boilies. The fact that the fish no longer looked normal seemed of no consequence as long as the fish weighed X amount.

G

ood point.

 

While it’s each to their own, I think that anglers obsessed with size or weights are missing out. I know I was. Until around 15 years ago I was obsessed with big carp to the extent that my marriage, my job, and certainly my bank balance were under threat. I did catch a few twenties but on those (many) occasions I didn’t, or blanked, I would go home as miserable as sin.

 

Due to perfectly understandable pressure from the wife, I jacked it in for a year or two and re-discovered the simple pleasure of a few hours with match rod, fishing for whatever comes along. I still fish for carp now and gain, I just don’t try too hard! Yet the funny thing is, despite travelling with minimum kit, never spending more than six or seven hours on the bank and having a laid back approach, I seem to do as well, and sometimes better than when I was obsessed to (almost) the point of madness and spent days in a bivvy.

 

Moreover, I have learned to appreciate everything that’s good about our sport. The mist over a lily pad covered lake on a glorious summers dawn, walking down a frosty river bank on a crisp Autumn morning and flicking a lure into likely spots, a blood-red sunset on a January afternoon, a natter with the bloke in the next swim and looking forward to a pint in a local pub at packing up time.

 

These days a “good” day is not necessarily measured by the number or the size of fish caught, but on the quality of the day itself. By way of example a couple of weeks ago I was wobbling small dead bait for pike, with not a take all day. At packing up time I spied a kingfisher perched on a fallen log a few yards away, a picture in blue and orange on a grey afternoon. I put the rod down to take a better look. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the rod tip twitch, struck and was into a jack of around five pounds. At the net the pike shook its head and the mangled debit drifted away. Out of nowhere, a heron dived down, grabbed the dead bait and flew off, all within a few feet of the bank. Never seen anything like that before, I probably won’t again and I’ll count that as one of my best days fishing.

 

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but there is more to fishing than catching fish.

[Dales]

I noticed he was looking at my set up very strangely. Before I could stop my self I came out with it "Not to bad mate but keep on getting pestered by bloomin nuisance fish",

"Oh what you after then?"

"Bream mate but these bloody carp keep picking up the bait"

At that I lifted the net and after letting him see the size of the fish let it swim over the spreader cord! Thought he was going to faint.Got the useual ****ing!

 

The look on his face must have been priceless Great story.

[Dales]

These days a “good” day is not necessarily measured by the number or the size of fish caught, but on the quality of the day itself. By way of example a couple of weeks ago I was wobbling small dead bait for pike, with not a take all day. At packing up time I spied a kingfisher perched on a fallen log a few yards away, a picture in blue and orange on a grey afternoon. I put the rod down to take a better look. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the rod tip twitch, struck and was into a jack of around five pounds. At the net the pike shook its head and the mangled debit drifted away. Out of nowhere, a heron dived down, grabbed the dead bait and flew off, all within a few feet of the bank. Never seen anything like that before, I probably won’t again and I’ll count that as one of my best days fishing.

 

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but there is more to fishing than catching fish.

 

Well said, thats the nice thing about AN many others feel the same and it's the bit that non-anglers just don't seem to get. It's not just the mechanics of fishing we enjoy. As others have said it's the whole package, the places it takes as, the things we see and experience.

 

If it was only the catching of big fish, we could just sit around a small symmetrical water filled hole in the ground, packed with giant fishery bred Carp.

 

Oh yeah lots of anglers do that. Yep so it is the weight/size that counts. So all you anglers net hippies going on about sun sets, the breeze gently rustling through the grass, and other tree hugging nonsense STOP IT, as all my ex girlfreinds have said size does matter

[Sharkbyte]

Looks like an interesting topic.

 

I'll be honest and say that if I ever forgot my scales, or camera, I would turn around to go back and get them. However, in reply to "does size matter", I can only say no - quite the opposite in fact. If biggest was best, I would not unceremoniously tip 20lb odd Carp out of my landing net, after unhooking, without it ever leaving the water, cursing the blessed things for having spoiled a perfectly good Perch session. I would also have thrown a live in front of the mid double Pike that snatched a half pound fish I was bringing in on Sunday morning. It was there for the taking.

 

Like many other anglers, I do often get very focused on a particular species, and the relative sizes of the fish I am aiming to catch.

 

But, it is often much more complicated than that. To prove it, try to make sense of Sunday's efforts.

 

 

A last minute change of plans saw me revisiting a local river with a view to filming some reasonable size fish taking lives. Upon arrival, the water clarity was surprisingly good, so after some faffing around, and a few 'words' with a British Waterways gimp, out went the camera. I baited the swim up and had some Perch in the 2-2.5lb bracket feeding within half an hour. I rigged the pole up to snatch a few suitable lives for later on.......but it was not that easy. The truth is, the Roach and Skimmers were extremely finicky. Before I knew it, hours had passed, most of the fish that had made it into the bucket were on the big side, to say the least, and the Perch that I had been watching on the screen all day had mostly moved on. Did I care, not in the slightest. Whilst it's true that I was initially focusing on Perch of 3lb+, and was rather dismissive of the 'smaller' fish in the swim, I had found myself engaged in a one day 'battle' with the 3-4" Roach and Skimmers.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my day, not leaving until after dark, having no footage of any real interest, dismissing a very respectable Pike, pretty much ignoring some quality Perch, and completely failing in my attempts to lure more than a couple of 'sensible' lives.

 

 

The biggest bonus of the day was spending much of it chatting and fishing with a fella I had never met before. I'll be honest and state that I am not the most sociable of anglers, often preferring to spend the day in silence and intense concentration. He was there to catch a decent Perch on lures, and to cut a long story short, succeeded in his quest at last knockings.

 

I was made up for him, and selfishly grabbed the opportunity to take a few photos of him and his prize against a stunning sunset.

 

He sent me a lovely email back, after receiving his photos, pointing me towards the LAS website where he was getting some great comments.

 

If you are interested, here's the link. http://www.lureanglers.co.uk/forum/viewtop...asc&start=0

 

 

A perfect day's fishing in my book.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Sharkbyte

[JV44]

Sharkbyte good on you chap you certainly helped make his day and thats a stunning Photo proving there is more to it than just catching fish ,Out of interest what was the BW guys problem ?? steve.

[Sharkbyte]

JV, agreed. Much more to fishing than just catching fish..........well, most of time, anyway.

 

Without giving too much away (location wise), the BW staff around here will do anything to inflict maximum hassle upon anglers. On the morning in question, they were dishing out grief to anglers whilst completely ignoring a slick of stinking spilt fuel nearly 1/4 mile long, which one of their precious boat owners was responsible.

 

I made sure that I had the last laugh.

[Anderoo]

Beautiful photo, and a very happy angler - nice one

 

(Bet he wouldn't have wanted that amazing photo with a tiddler though )

[Dick Dastardly]

Yes great photo and fish.