First catch!

[fishplate42]

Today I went fishing and caught some fish on my first time out!

here is a picture of just one of them. I was not expecting to catch anything larger than a sardine!



I think it is a carp but I don't know what type - I am still trying to familiarise my self with what is what.

If you want to read the full account of the day and see a lot more photographs you can catch it all on our blog.

 

[hunters moon]

sir you say that you are new to angling-then it's nice to-see that you are using a mat to lay your fish on, a great start if only all anglers would do the same.
tight lines to you.

 

[bennygesserit]

Well done ! Excellent blog.
Again its all part of the learning curve but I have to , poitely , say its not the done thing , for many of us , to stand up holding carp , as you have found out they are slippery and may wriggle out of your hands, the drop from that height may kill or disfigure them. Photograph them kneeling down over an unhooking mat. That should be easier than holding them over the water.
Personally I rarely photograph mine and mostly unhook them directly in the landing net which I hold between my knees.

Its lovely to see your enthusiasm though it is a great feeling to have that float plunge and to have something substantial on the line.

---------- Post added at 06:58 ---------- Previous post was at 06:56 ----------

sir you say that you are new to angling-then it's nice to-see that you are using a mat to lay your fish on, a great start if only all anglers would do the same.
tight lines to you.

i agree but also I would run my hands doen the underside of the fish to allign its fins.

 

[fishplate42]

sir you say that you are new to angling-then it's nice to-see that you are using a mat to lay your fish on, a great start if only all anglers would do the same.
tight lines to you.

It was one of the first things the tackle shop said we needed. At that point I had no idea what it was. Also the venue states in its rules they must be used but they also said I probably would not need one straight away!

...Again its all part of the learning curve but I have to, poitely , say its not the done thing, for many of us, to stand up holding carp...

Thank you! Yes, I realise that now . In my defence it was the first fish I had managed to hold on to. As you can see in the blog, by the time I caught the next one I was not trying to pick it up.

Please do tell me if I am doing something wrong. The very last thing I want to do is to hurt the fish. I doubt I will photograph all my fish, I was just so surprised that I caught anything at all - even the guy in the venue's tackle shop was impressed (or being polite!).

Catching fish on the first outing is one sure-fire way of enthusing a beginner. Can't wait to have another go now...

Ralph

 

[bennygesserit]

I had to learn the same way , I hope I didn't sound too teacherish I just thought you would like to know. Its a great fish and , from your blog , it sounds like you had a lovely day out.

 

[fishplate42]

...I hope I didn't sound too teacherish I just thought you would like to know. Its a great fish and , from your blog , it sounds like you had a lovely day out.

Not at all, I really want to know if I have done something wrong. Please don't hold back, what you said about standing up makes perfect sense now. I was wondering if it was me not holding the fish correctly - and that still may be the case - but I can see now when I look at all the other photographs of people holding fish the the great majority of them are not standing.

We had a very nice day out. It was not too sunny or too cold and we spent a long time watching the wide life. Thousands of Starlings on the power-lines, some moorhens having a discussion over territory on the pond and a huge dragon flies that was hovering about.

Ralph

 

[greenie62]

Glad you enjoyed it Ralph,
Well done on the carp(s), that's a nice size to catch to give you a taste for a bit of a fight! - without smashing your tackle up!
A word of caution, don't expect it to be so easy next time!
Good blog btw.
You may find you want to get some more "explicit" eek: - NO, not like that!) piccies of fish - in the future to aid in identification - particularly if you catch roach/rudd/hybrids, crucians, silver bream, where you need to count the scales along the lateral line, rays in the fins, etc. to confirm true v. hybridised species - particularly if your stellar start continues and you get into 'records' territory!
Tight Lines!

PS: Has Sue mentioned divorce yet - or didn't you bring the maggots home? mg:

 

[fishplate42]

...Has Sue mentioned divorce yet - or didn't you bring the maggots home? mg:

I am pleased you like our blog, it is meant to be a light-hearted record of our fishing story from day one - good and bad

Sue is a bit iffy about maggots, her face looked like how I would assume a bulldog chewing a wasp would look, when she looked in the box. Half way through the day she did go back to the shop and buy me some more so that's a start.

Sue is not keen about storing maggots in the kitchen fridge (can't understand why ). At the moment, that is not a problem as we only bought what we needed for the day. If I do get to the stage where I need to store bait, I will put a small fridge in the corner of our workshop.

Ralph

 

[greenie62]

Maggots and domestic bliss -

not a problem as we only bought what we needed for the day.

You were lucky to be able to do this - most of us aren't sufficiently prescient to know how many maggots we'll need when the nearest tackle shop to a fishery is at least 10 miles away!

As you will discover IF you are foolish enough to take maggots home - they are brilliant escape artists and can 'flatten' themselves to crawl under the lid of a sealed bait box and find their way into your salad drawer! - and that's before you start to get onto using 'squats' or 'pinkies' (even smaller and more adept at escaping!).

If you put them in a small bait box inside a larger bait box then the additional 'maggot wall' can deter their efforts - a bit! Best bet is to stick them in the freezer - this sends them into a state of dormancy from which the majority of them will recover on the way to your next session - don't worry if they don't though - plenty of anglers swear to the efficacy of 'dead' maggots since they don't wriggle their way into the silt at the bottom of the lake!

Whatever you do - DON'T leave the bait box around at home ('til later!) without refrigeration. The missus mightn't like maggots escaping but she sure as hell won't like the swarm of bluebottles released when you next peep in that bait box you 'forgot' to put in the freezer! mg:

Yes - you guessed - the voice of experience there! "The Pinkies Incident" is not mentioned unless as a prelude to WWIII. mg:
Tight Lines and marital harmony!:thumbs: