What Counts

[MaNick]

Yes they should, because the idea of angling is to entice a fish to eat your bait.

People who jangle hooks to foul hook fish, for example are not fisherman....

Sorry, but a tail hooked fish, for example, is not a justified catch, again, it's up to the angler, but thasts my opinion...

 

[Bill Maitland]

I agree that it has to be hooked in the mouth to justify it as a proper catch.
As for catching different species when fishing for one, I often hedge my bets when fishing, especially if there are other good fish to be caught.

 

[Baz]

Is a fish already hooked in the mouth when you strike?
And when has a fish already hooked its self when you strike?

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Where is this mythical book that says you must hook fish in the mouth or they don't count?

Can I order it from the library or is it still being written?

 

[Baz]

No mythical book Graham,
I allways wonder how long the fish has had the bait in it's mouth for before I strike.
When I do strike, was the fish already hooked?

 

[Bill Maitland]

Graham,
Everybody has there opinion but I believe that a fish has to take your bait for it to count as a legitimate catch,

If you catch a fish by foul hooking it, then surely it is an accidental capture!!

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Don't agree with that at all Bill sorry.

You get a bite, you strike, at the same time you strike the fish blows it out. Result? The fish gets foul hooked.

Perhaps you think you foul hook fish because they run into the hook or touch it in some way. Well maybe they do very occasionally, just as occasionally you snag a fish on the retrieve, but its rarer than the proverbial rocking horse stuff. Most foul hooked fish in my experience are snagged because they blow the bait out at that precise moment you strike.

Fair catch in my opinion.

 

[THE PHOENIX]

Also, as I believe happened in my case, one fish probably blew the bait, I struck and on the way up I hit another fish feeding above it. When you get a shoal of carp feeding avidly it's almost impossible to miss one if you strike a loose hook.

Or should we place red tape around the line and flashing orange lamps on the float to warn other feeding fish to keep clear? Alright I am being facetious, but you tell me a way of avoiding it.

It still happens that at the time you strike you believe you have fairly hooked a fish and fight it accordingly. And enjoy it or do you really think you are cheating?

 

[Baz]

I don't think that I am cheating on the odd occasion it has happened to me, more that I shouldn't have caught it.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

I liked you better when you was cheeky, this phoenix thing confuses me.

 

[John Hepworth]

What counts:
'lost soldier in the desert thinks he is going mad hearing voices, opens up his packet of fags and sees the message
"Its the tobacco that counts"

It's one my old dad told me.

 

[Matt Brown]

Here's a situation that happened a month or so back while I was Barbel fishing on the Trent, on my own.

I'd had a few out already, but the action had died down and I'd not had a liner for a couple of hours.

Suddenly one of the rods goes and I'm in. I get the fish near the net but then the other rod goes and the baitrunner is screaming away.

Luckily another angler is nearby, watching, so I ask him if he can grab the other rod for me.

I land my fish and quickly unhook it but leave it in the landing net. The other angler brings the fish over the net.

I certainly didn't count the fish the other angler landed, but should the other angler claim the second fish as one he's caught?

Personally I wouldn't count it. What do you reckon? Was if it had been a 15lb'er?

Incidentally, mine went 9lb 2oz and the other was 8lb 10oz. Would have been a nice brace had the second fish just waited another minute or two!

 

[Baz]

I see what you mean Mat, if it did turn out to be a P.B. I think I would be a bit gutted.

And what about if your bait doesn't seem to be working, and your mate gives you some of his different bait. Then you go and catch on it.
Sounds silly I know, but it does put a bit of a damper on things don't you think? (mixed feelings)

 

[Nigel Moors 2]

Graham - I have had Tench in the way you describe. I know that I've several inches of line on the bottom and where I hooked the fish it could not have reasonably done it by grubbing about. What I did was enjoy the scrap just as Jeff says but then after unhooking it it didn't quite feel as if I'd caught it. Yet I'd baited the swim and enticed it to pick up my bait so....

Matt - difficult question that. The second rod was baited by you and placed in the bed of feed you'd laid down so it is yours I suppose. I've seen guys on TV shark fishing and it's taken a few hours to land the fish that's been hooked. Chap playing fish is knackered so couple of his mates take over while he has a rest. He then has the rod back and shark eventually beaten, unhooked and released. He is credited with the catch, not the other two.

 

[Bill Maitland]

As I said we are all entitled to our opinion but I still believe any fish foul hooked is an accident, if it managed to blow out the bait then you didn't catch it fair & square.
Each to our own but I don't count foul hooked fish!!

 

[Bill Maitland]

Matt, this happend to me a couple of weeks back while carping.
The second fish landed by a mate was an upper double, the fish I landed was only a single, I decided to share the second fish.

 

[Wolfman Woody]

I really can't work some of you out at all. What counts? It's as if you're going in for some prize or other. What happens if you have a really crap day and the only fish you hooked, struck and played fairly until you found that the hook was in it pelvic fin.

You get home and wifie asks, "Did you catch anything dear?" Do you say yes, you caught one but it was foul hooked or do you say "Nothing at all dear."? Like I said, you cannot undo an event.

My mate often gives me a report on his carp fishing - "I had 3, but two came off." Well, it's true at least, but in reality he only caught and landed 1. It doesn't bloody well matter a damn, so long as you enjoy yourself and foul hooking only becomes a problem if it is a PB or new record.

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

You never really lose fish. Those that get off you never had in the first place so how can you lose them.

 

[Bill Eborn]

What about if you are out chubbing and get two fish from different swims.

The first one is really straightforward. All it takes is a gentle lob to get the bait in the right spot. You cast out and wham your in.

The second is a really awkward one with all sorts of obstacles that you really need to think about. There might be a tree in a difficult place and lots of bankside foliage that you have to negotiate your way round and you have to get your bait in exactly the right spot with exactly the right amount of weight in order to get the current to position your bait in the place you want it. You cast out, get the bait in the right spot and get your reward.

Now, the first fish is bigger than the first but does the second count more?

 

[Bill Eborn]

Sorry I should have said the first fish is bigger than the second - failed proof reading yet again.