What Specimen Fish will AN Members catch this year?

[chesters1]

Love the positive attitude

simply the lake i usually fish isn't by any standards a specimen holding lake

Edited March 29, 2011 by chesters1

[tony tinca]

But there is always the chance you might get the biggest

 

your right , thinking like that youd have to feel a tad unlucky to catch the smallest bream.

Theres a 1 in 40 chance of hooking the smallest or the biggest ( i think theres only 40 bream there) exciting stuff the unknown

[Dales]

simply the lake i usually fish isn't by any standards a specimen holding lake

 

Oh I thought you meant that no AN members would catch any specimen fish this year.

[Mat Hillman]

I'm thinking of having a bit of a go for silver bream this spring, I know a local water that holds them, have had a few small ones, but not sure if they go to any size!

 

Mat

[Vagabond]

A 6lb eel would be the fish of a life time

 

I briefly belonged to a group, two of whom reported 6lb-plus eels caught almost every month from April to October. No photos, just the one witness in every case (each other).

 

When it was suggested that length and girth measurements would be useful in comparing growth rates with eels from other waters, the reports stopped.

 

Call me an old cynic, but I thought it might be because neither of them had the slightest idea how long a 6 lb eel was supposed to be!!

[Ken L]

Actually, I do intend to do a little more traditional angling this summer and a 2lb roach and/or a 10lb barbel and/or a 3lb perch would be nice. Perhaps not huge fish but the perch especially would be a monster for my local rivers which have yet to see the signal crayfish explosion that has taken place in other parts of the country. The roach and the barbel are definatly doable without to much difficulty if I choose to target them at the right time of year.

A 30lb pike would be nice too but realistically, that's not going to happen whilst river fishing and I don't have the patience for the sort of bait and wait approach needed to tempt one from a large stillwater.

[Andy_1984]

im going after everything this year, trying to get as varied as possible

[Dales]

Call me an old cynic, but I thought it might be because neither of them had the slightest idea how long a 6 lb eel was supposed to be!!

 

 

I think they are one of the hardest species to estimate, well for me anyway. I caught a lot of them last year and in my mind I was sure they would weigh alot more then they actualy did when weighed. I got lucky and had one of 4.09 lb but before weighing my mind was racing a head thinking it must be well over 5 lb maybe even 6lb or 7lb. I had no reference point to make any kind of decent guess.

 

Alot of places claim to hold monster eels and they may well have them, but the information on to what size they go may well come from estimated weights from accidental captures that went unweighed but looked a good 6 to 8lb from anglers not used to catching them.

Edited March 29, 2011 by Dales

[Dick Dastardly]

Exactly a lot of "big" eels are caught unintentionally by anglers fishing for other species.They are often not weighed as the captor is either scared or doesn't want his weigh sling covered in slime! And the "guesstimations are WAY off!

 

Incidentally fishery owners NEVER query the claimed weights of fish! The bigger the better.

 

Another strange thing about eels is that you never seem to get/hear of recaptures of proper big ones so you can often be chasing ghosts.

[RUDD]

Exactly a lot of "big" eels are caught unintentionally by anglers fishing for other species.They are often not weighed as the captor is either scared or doesn't want his weigh sling covered in slime! And the "guesstimations are WAY off!

 

Incidentally fishery owners NEVER query the claimed weights of fish! The bigger the better.

 

Another strange thing about eels is that you never seem to get/hear of recaptures of proper big ones so you can often be chasing ghosts.

In 20 old years I have fished Ladywood I have only ever seen one EEL landed and it went 4.5lb in a match about ten years ago and only know of one other landed.

Last year a member who does our books (ex accountant) landed a monster of around 5 pounds witnest by several other anglers.

Two years before the fisheries manager found the head of an EEL with what he decribed " the girth of a cricket ball".

I belive the EELS (much the same as the big chub (6lbers) and Perch (possible 5lbers) survive on the massive shouls of fry and small fish that we naturaly get every year.

Having landed a 41lb conger I know how much power an EEL has when swimming in either direction and they do like a snag or two - makes me wonder how many lost fish (Carp get the blame) over the years have been big EELS?