Best fish

[Steve Burke]

At first an angler wants to catch a fish,any fish!

 

Then he wants to catch the most!

 

Later he wants to catch the biggest!

 

Untill ultimately it is the hardest to catch that he wants!

 

I'd definitely go along with that. For me the fishing has got to be a challenge, which is why except for predators I rarely fish commercial day ticket waters.

 

The hardest fish are usually the biggest of their species, which means that I'm usually fishing for specimens. But not always.

 

For instance I've told the story before of the chub I called Oswald. Why Oswald? Well this was the name Dick Walker gave to a trout he wrote about in "Drop Me a Line". Both his trout and my chub were in very difficult positions.

 

In my case, despite approaching Oswald as carefully as I could, I always spooked him. After several weeks of this I finally worked out a solution, (Yes, I know I'm slow on the uptake!)

 

Having spooked him for the umpteenth time, I measured out the length of the cast from a position well back from the bank and totally out of sight. The following day I returned, aimed at a marker on the far bank and cast into the water totally blind.

 

Thirty seconds later Oswald was on the bank. All two pounds fourteen ounces of him!

 

He's far from being the heaviest chub I've caught. In fact, he wasn't even the heaviest that day.

 

But he is my most memorable fish!

 

BTW, I can't remember the name of the writer Budgie referred to. Dick Walker certainly quoted him in one of his books.

 

Does anyone know?

Edited March 25, 2007 by Steve Burke

[Peter Waller]

Hard one! The fish I would least like to catch is the carp, and that is no reflection on the carp, more my regard for the hype that surrounds the carp industry. At the other extreme, well, its down to the mood of the day, but at the moment it has to be the humble roach. A big roach is a huge fish!

[Amodoro]

My best fish - for me that means most memorable - was a 44 in. pike on a Mepps Lusox, from a tiny stream where I'd never caught anything over 10 lbs before. I didn't weigh it (no balance, no camera!), only estimated the length from the overlap on my 42 in. landing net. I was trembling after I landed it, and had to stop fishing cos I knew I couldn't top it.

[dav]

[The biggest frshwater fish ive caught is a 20lb pike ,on ledgered smelt from the river tees , The most satisfying fish ive had are a 3.5lb perch on spinner ,a 16lb pike on diving rapala,a 4lb chub on a countdown rapala and a 5.5lb seatrout on a mepps , had alot of other good sized fish from both saltwater and fresh water ,but the above fish are the ones i,m very pleased about all caught within the past two seasons since i started to take lure fishing seriously....all in summertime....

[jimmyh]

You caught a 20lb Pike from the Tees! thats impressive, i often fish the tees at Bowesfield and Yarm. Which stretch did you catch it on?

[Chris Plumb]

My best fish would have to be my PB Roach of 2lb 11oz, it rounded off a stupendous days winter fishing on the Upper Kennet - the best Red Letter day of my life. It started with a red fin of 1lb 15oz - I then found a pod of very large dace - and banked 7 over 13oz including a trio of pounders (and a PB of 1lb 2oz). But the iceing on an already ridiculously large cake came at dusk with the roach - I hooked it in quite fast water and when I saw it top some 20yards downstream I had my heart in my mouth - praying my size 18 hook would hold. I walked down to it and let it move downstream into quieter water before gingerly bringing it over the lip of the net. The image of that moment is now hardwired into my memory!

 

 

 

C.

[dav]

You caught a 20lb Pike from the Tees! thats impressive, i often fish the tees at Bowesfield and Yarm. Which stretch did you catch it on?

Alright jimmyh yeah i had a 20 from the tees ,at the free stretch in yarm ive seen them to 25lb from there and dont know if you seen the gazzette on sat ,there was two pics of a 25 and a 19 both from the tees, and looking at the background on the pics ,it looked like them were caught from the back of thornaby area , i had a 16lb on a rapala out of the leven , and that is only a small tributary of the tees as you will probably know, i think there will be even bigger pike in the tees ,wouldnt be suprised to see a 30 plus fish soon , maybe 40 ,,, cheers

[oneillbox]

important to answer the question correctly, best fish compared to biggest. ive had a few pike and carp in the 20's but the fish i have been most 'proud' of was a 2lb 9oz perch that i caught about 3 months ago....

 

or a 5lb common bream i caught on the norfolk broads when i was about 10 and was floatfishing a worm near some lilly pads on bridge broad.

[dav]

important to answer the question correctly, best fish compared to biggest. ive had a few pike and carp in the 20's but the fish i have been most 'proud' of was a 2lb 9oz perch that i caught about 3 months ago....

 

or a 5lb common bream i caught on the norfolk broads when i was about 10 and was floatfishing a worm near some lilly pads on bridge broad.

Thats correct , i dont think its all about the size ,well thats what i keep telling our lass ...

seriously though ide far rather catch a 6lb chub on u/l or seatrout above 5lb than any carp or the likes from a commercial fishery above 20lb ,theres wild and theres pondfish .....not dissing you carpers though ....with everything but the kitchen sink , well ok with the sink lol....

[GlennB]

A perch of just over 3lbs when actually targetting perch was one "best".

 

A pike of about 20lbs when luring with a small spinner for perch was a different kind of "best".

 

The first barbel at the age of 50 was another different kind of "best".

 

 

(p.s. probably the biggest thrill was the barbel, though it was only about 3lbs )