What scares you when night fishing?

[starlight]

i spent some time at an old estate lake that was haunted. the family that had lived in the estate house that had long ago burnt down were reputed to have been cursed with dying young in tragic circumstances. some anglers were blase about it and had no problems there, whilst others would never night it there. i found it very spooky there with a real nasty presence. every time i fished it something would go wrong. rods snapping, wires somehow coming off in bait boats. i never nighted it there. one night a friend of mine had hes brolly ripped clean out of the ground as if by a gale force wind. he was wide awake and swears that it was a dead calm night with out a breath of wind. he spent the rest of the night kacking it there and the next day found out that hes girl friend had a horrid vivid nightmare that night in which he was lying face down in the lake, eerie!. my old dog was a proper fishing mutt, always came with me but he would never settle there. he would always go and lay at the start of the path back to the car and just look at me, not a good sign. late one evening whilst walking up the path to the car park, something wacked me across the back of the calves. i looked around expecting to see my dog behind me with a stick in hes gob but he was 20 yards behind me! i searched around for any bit of branch that i might of kicked up but the path was totally clear! not a nice place!

[dapper64]

i spent some time at an old estate lake that was haunted. the family that had lived in the estate house that had long ago burnt down were reputed to have been cursed with dying young in tragic circumstances. some anglers were blase about it and had no problems there, whilst others would never night it there. i found it very spooky there with a real nasty presence. every time i fished it something would go wrong. rods snapping, wires somehow coming off in bait boats. i never nighted it there. one night a friend of mine had hes brolly ripped clean out of the ground as if by a gale force wind. he was wide awake and swears that it was a dead calm night with out a breath of wind. he spent the rest of the night kacking it there and the next day found out that hes girl friend had a horrid vivid nightmare that night in which he was lying face down in the lake, eerie!. my old dog was a proper fishing mutt, always came with me but he would never settle there. he would always go and lay at the start of the path back to the car and just look at me, not a good sign. late one evening whilst walking up the path to the car park, something wacked me across the back of the calves. i looked around expecting to see my dog behind me with a stick in hes gob but he was 20 yards behind me! i searched around for any bit of branch that i might of kicked up but the path was totally clear! not a nice place!

there must be some cracking fish in that lake.

[BoldBear]

BoldBear @ Oct 30 2007, 12:07 PM)

I fish an estate lake which has had loads of Ghostly happenings over the years. it is situated near an old roman road between London and St. Albans. and two pubs either side of our lake appeared in the Most Haunted programs.

 

I remember a joke we played on the club chairman (Terry). One dark night when we were on our own night fishing for carp, another mate of mine (Gino) appeared, taking his red setter for a walk. He whispered, "where's Terry?" I said about five swims further on.

 

He whispered “try and keep a straight face." He then went into the woods behind Terry and let out a frightening scream.

 

"Keith? Is that you?" Asked Terry nervously. "No" I replied, trying to sound a bit agitated.

 

"Have you got your mallet?" he asked; and at that moment Terry heard another scream and could make out a shadow bounding towards him out of the trees and it leaped up at him and…….. put its paws on Terry's shoulder and started licking his face.

 

Of course it was Gino's dog and we laughed and laughed. Terry walked a bit strange for the rest of the night after that.

 

The lake was built originally by prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars. They widened a stream to make the lake, then it was further enlarged by prisoners of war during the second world war.

When the lake was dredged we found an old half rotten carved hull of a sailing ship that had sunk deep into the old silt, which could have been there for many years. and could have been carved by one of the prisoners.

 

However; there are some strange things that can be explained

 

Sometimes in the middle of the night we heard footsteps on the hard ground outside of our bivvies and when we poked our heads out there was nothing there. This worried us at first until another member told us that he saw a hare stamping its feet one evening. Or possibly it may have been been one of the small Munjac deer that roam in the area.

 

Another example was when we heard something scratching down the outside of our bivvies on clear windless nights, this happened on a few nights. It turned out to be small owls landing on our bivvies and sliding down (after seeing their shapes through the bivvie) which explained why we heard no sounds from their wings.

[starlight]

bombarded by little owls!

[nzangler]

bombarded by little owls!

Here in NZ the biggest fear is a giant eel. For us this means in excess of 20 lbs. The bite can be as delicate as a crucian carp or the violent pullround from a specimen barbel; the end result is total chaos, any normal fish is bad enough in the dark but a big eel is unbelivably bad. Nightmares are made from encounters such as this.

[Ollie2376]

I night fished at a local lake, the place was a run down s**t hole! it had a rat infestation. It was a quite warm night so i thought i would spend the night under the stars on my chair. I dropped off only to wake up to find a large rat curled up asleep on my lap, one next to the chair leg and one in my holdall! suprisingly I have never night fished there again hahahadid catch two 6lb'ish tench tho! haha

[Chubstar]

I love night fishing... We have 3 lakes that are very secluded but do have a lot of rats, but I take my 2 Springers with me, one of them has turned into a brilliant rat catcher!! Having the dogs with me probably helps with the confidence side of things though... But I love the dark, always have

[rooney888]

I only night fish the one pool and i hate noises while im in my bivvie. The main problem is the coots on the pool, One particular it has a red beek and every time i night fish there one runs round the back of my bivvie in the trees and scares me sh**less some times.

 

Another thing in my area is crime and a while 2 people were stabbed by someone. And i didnt know i went the night after th fisrt stabbing happened which really shook me up. I never went back till a month later when the person was caught.

 

But one thing and this aint a joke, the main thing that im scared of is PUMAS. On the opposite corner of the pool i fish is a factory just behind some woodland and in the past years theyve had quite alot of sightings of pumas caught on cctv going round the building at night and also numerous sightings of it going round the pool by dog walkers. I thought it was a joke at first, but few years back while my grandad still working there he showed me a cctv footage from during the night while he was working showing one hang around for a few hours.

 

I never walk round the pool at night and make sure im in me bivvie after certain time and make sure i zip up my bivvie wen i go and make sure i leave nothing out that might attract one. Hopefully ill never see one, i hope

[Chubstar]

A Puma with actual solid proof would probably make sure I never fished there again, despite the fact that they do not like going too close to humans

[saskcarp]

I have been discussing what scares us when doing nights with my mate. All sorts of silly things came up including: Ghosts ghost , people, satan demon , rabbits, panthers,lions, tigers, gypsys, murderers :mad: , thieves, tramps alsorts!

 

However none of these bother me, what does it for me is ........................ RATS!

 

I am terrified of them! It has affected my 25 years of Carping, it really has. I would love to fish certain waters and fish under my brolly for ease of moving onto fish but i cant, i have to completeley block any gap in my bivvy, i zip up completeley at night, again affecting my fishing. I go to france a couple of times a year but the first thing i ask is "have ya got rats?" If they have I dont go there!(Not that they would tell me when they have!)Bizzareley enough Coypu dont bother me whatso ever!

I always have a radio on at night so i cant here the evil creatures outside and if i do i up and leave doesnt matter what time it is!

 

If i get a run in the night i rattle the bivvy first and then run out stomping and shouting! Bad or what? My dad thinks it goes back to a time when he was pulling an old chicken coup down on our small holding (I was 7) and there was a nest underneath, they scattred and one run up my leg squeeling, i was hysterical and never recovered from my fear.

 

I need a shrink! It never stops me going though, i just endure the terror of darkness every night! And as I said i choose venues wiseley, not easy as most have RATS! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

 

Anyone else share a fear of rats?

 

Rats i bloody hate them!

Mate, I have feared rats for as long as I can remember. Don't know why but thier ropey tails and long teeth and the eyes and the germs and diseases they carry just freaks me out. I'm shivering as I write this. My Sister's ex told me, after reading Herberts' "The Rats", said they can climb up the drain pipe and enter the house through the toilet. I used to shudder at the thought of me sitting on the can when one comes up. I also hate that Rambo scene where those rats are climbing all over him. Uhhh,shiver at the thought. You're not alone Mate! Edited December 13, 2007 by saskcarp