Keeping a sense of proportion.

[dezza]

I couldn't help but notice of the recent Drennan award winners, how many came from the same area of England, that is the southern gravel pits. Let's face it if you want to catch many outsize coarse fish, you must go to a southern pit, or nothing.

Yet fly fishers don't think like this. Most are happy to catch small wild brown trout of moorland streams along with the big trout of some stillwaters and reservoirs. A 1 pound wild brown trout is often regarded as a more creditable capture than a reservoir 10 pounder.

But the vast majority of coarse fishers would not rate a 5 pound canal tench against a 10 pound pit fish. Many would not even bother to attempt to catch a 5 pound canal or drain tench, or even a 10 pound river bream when 20 pound pit bream are being caught.

But how do you rate your catches. Is it weight at all costs or do you have a sense of proportion like many of the fly fishermen?

 

[Tee-Cee]

Perhaps the awards should be regional Ron!

Lets draw a line-say Watford Gap Services-to split the country in half and have seperate awards north and south of this line.Wales and Scotland could have seperate awards as well!!
I can just imagine a big fish caught south of the line being carried to a fishery north of the line just to win the prize which will be yet another rod......and I bet it would happen!

Personally IMHO I think awards are pointless......you've caught the fish of a lifetime so just enjoy it.................... why do you need to be awarded for it as well?

Its all marketing I suppose..

Thinks:must polish the fishing trophies when I have time.............

 

[Alan Tyler]

I'd be a very sad and bitter chap if I let the size of fish I catch worry me!

The obsession with weight is plain daft - it mattered when you were fishing for food, and it matters in match fishing, because it's the only convenient way (that I can think of, at any rate) to compare a haul of bleak to a brace of chub; but for big fish, LENGTH should be the "respect" factor - it increases with age, not condition, so does not tempt people to target spawning fish, and is a better general indicator of how old and experienced the fish is.
Plus, tape measures don't go wrong as easily as balances!
And they weigh less and pack small.

Mind you, I was happy enough to stop fishing to LAA size limits, and have to measure almost everything - and release most, unweighed.

Another factor is that you were looking at a competition, judged primarily by weight. That's bound to load the system in favour of a few waters per species. The competition should only be seen as a bit of fun for those who are conveniently sited or can afford huge petrol bills; the rest of us have no chance and needn't even bother to read the results. I've felt a lot less piscatorially inadequate since I stopped buying the papers and mags!

 

[richiekelly]

not only kept in proportion regarding north or south [im in the middle] but fish should be judged in proportion to the waters you are fishing in your area,there are waters in my area where a 1lb roach is a big fish there are others where it is not,keep things in perspective to the water you are fishing.

 

[barbelboi]

Being born in the Colne valley I have fished many of the ‘big fish’ pits over the years, also Yateley, Frimley, Burghfield Lake etc. Many of the pits have the potential of holding a record breaker and definitely hold specimens of many species. Of course, like most people, I enjoy catching specimen fish. A 2lb+ river roach always brings a smile to my face. Catching roach to 1lb 9oz on the drop from a local field pond last Tuesday was one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had this year.

How do I rate my catches? I get a bigger buzz catching a 8oz wild trout than a 5lb Chub.

 

[guest61]

Having been brought up fishing on the Canals near my home. To this day, if I catch three fish (of any size or species) I'm happy.

Or am I sad?

Mark

 

[Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)]

Since we're clearly from the same region......sad you are not....3 fish...in one session....eee...I dream of days like that!!!

The 5 FMers who were at one stage together on a certain water last Thursday (3 "fishing" and two more sensibly come down for an hour or so to talk!!) would have been grateful for 1 fish between us by the end!!mg:

 

[Alan Tyler]

Doesn't that ring a bell!
A four mile bike ride each way for a blank was standard; a gudgeon was a result; a roach was a triumph. Two fish - cloud nine.
And yet the bloody thing was stuffed with fish -I just couldn't work out how to catch them. (No anglers in the family).
Most of the time, I still can't, and I still tend to waste "proper" fishing time "scratching" to save the blank, before I can get my serious head on.

 

[cg74]

I couldn't help but notice of the recent Drennan award winners, how many came from the same area of England, that is the southern gravel pits. Let's face it if you want to catch many outsize coarse fish, you must go to a southern pit, or nothing.

Yet fly fishers don't think like this. Most are happy to catch small wild brown trout of moorland streams along with the big trout of some stillwaters and reservoirs. A 1 pound wild brown trout is often regarded as a more creditable capture than a reservoir 10 pounder.

But the vast majority of coarse fishers would not rate a 5 pound canal tench against a 10 pound pit fish. Many would not even bother to attempt to catch a 5 pound canal or drain tench, or even a 10 pound river bream when 20 pound pit bream are being caught.

But how do you rate your catches. Is it weight at all costs or do you have a sense of proportion like many of the fly fishermen?

I refer you to post #18, found here:
http://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/general-fishing/208425-do-you-fish-weight-2.html



Hmm, I wonder what Mr R Walker would have made of it all.... trips to Redmire back then, trips to southern pits now, no difference is there?

 

[sam vimes]

I couldn't help but notice of the recent Drennan award winners, how many came from the same area of England, that is the southern gravel pits. Let's face it if you want to catch many outsize coarse fish, you must go to a southern pit, or nothing.

Yet fly fishers don't think like this. Most are happy to catch small wild brown trout of moorland streams along with the big trout of some stillwaters and reservoirs. A 1 pound wild brown trout is often regarded as a more creditable capture than a reservoir 10 pounder.

But the vast majority of coarse fishers would not rate a 5 pound canal tench against a 10 pound pit fish. Many would not even bother to attempt to catch a 5 pound canal or drain tench, or even a 10 pound river bream when 20 pound pit bream are being caught.

But how do you rate your catches. Is it weight at all costs or do you have a sense of proportion like many of the fly fishermen?

I take very little notice of what's being caught outside of the waters/area that I fish. The rest of the world may well disagree, but I'd be far more impressed with a barbel of 10lb+, carp of 25lb+, roach of 2lb+, bream of 5lb+ or tench of 5lb+ from my corner of North Yorkshire than I would with barbel of 15lb+, carp of 40lb+, roach of 3lb+, bream of 12lb+ and tench of 12lb+ from many areas down South. They may as well have been caught in another country for all the relevance such Southern fish have to me. If you are a serious Northern Specimen hunter, chances are that you will have to travel if you want to trouble national record lists, Drennan Cups and the like. The only type of fishing that seem to manage to compete with is on the out and out commercial match fisheries. In this case it's not all about the maximum possible weight of individual fish, bloody good job too!

I'm sure that plenty would scorn such small fish as we have to go at this far North but it's simply not comparable to fishing down South. I suspect that there is only one species of fish that has ever, or will ever, trouble the record lists from the North East, that's the chub. We also get respectable sized Grayling on occasion but they won't trouble the best fish from a Southern chalk stream.

I see no acknowledgement that this situation exists in either the angling press or on various websites. I doubt that I'll ever see a 13lb Swale barbel get a weekly award despite it being a fish of a lifetime. Truth be told, I'll thank my lucky stars if I ever see a 13lb Swale barbel! Hell, I know folks that have fished the Yorkshire rivers for barbel all their life and never even seen a double.

 

[guest61]

Since we're clearly from the same region......sad you are not....3 fish...in one session....eee...I dream of days like that!!!

The 5 FMers who were at one stage together on a certain water last Thursday (3 "fishing" and two more sensibly come down for an hour or so to talk!!) would have been grateful for 1 fish between us by the end!!mg:

I fished the same Canal for the first time in 30 years last year - To my surprise I found that it is full of quality fish and I caught many of them - Still I was happy at the third.

Mark

 

[Merv Harrison]

Are we in the North lucky in that we appreciate 'anything' that we catch, a 'big fish' being a bonus. Where as, being down South, if you don't catch a 'big fish' you're classed as a failure.


I'm now in the cupboard under the stairs with a tin helmet on............

 

[dezza]

One thing we do have in the north, or in the north midlands is the River Trent.

I have fished this river from barely a child, until 1965. Then I fished it intensively from 1999 to 2008. In these periods I caught some wonderful fish. Today we have a river that can equal, if not, beat any river in the south of England. A barbel record of over 19 lbs and a chub record of goodness knows what, and make no mistake the southerners are starting to look north. I see that when I see the tax discs on cars parked by the river, and when I hear the accents.

I say to you southerners: "Welcome!" You have come to one of Englands great classical rivers.

But for goodness sake treat England's biggest river with some respect. This is where barbel fishing was invented.

 

[Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)]

Now just to put things in perspective...before I was sent on this life sentence North of Watford...cultural exchange my bottom part....I learned to fish on the fine waters of Kent....and as a kid...three gudgeon was a field day....I saw some great hauls come out the Medway..but never by me!! Mote Park was the place where I first consistently got a "netful" ...e.g. more than 3.

And whilst I in no way disagree that the waters in the generally warmer South are more conducive to fish growth..it ain't all plain sailing.

And Ron's right about the Trent...indeed as we have read on here the potential for huge fish on the Trent is probably as good, if not better, than many Southern waters..it's just such a big river in so many ways.

 

[904_cannon]

I suspect that there is only one species of fish that has ever, or will ever, trouble the record lists from the North East, that's the chub. We also get respectable sized Grayling on occasion but they won't trouble the best fish from a Southern chalk stream.

Not forgetting the Wear dace (B.C.)

Although I've had big chub from from southern rivers, I'll be able to die happy with a fish over 6 from the Wear - time is running out though

As for 'The North East' this doesn't start 'till you reach Scotch Corner.

 

[sam vimes]

One thing we do have in the north, or in the north midlands is the River Trent.

It's certainly well north of Watford gap but I'll bet that the Trent is closer to an awful lot of our southern bretheren than it is to me. I suppose that many down south would consider it a northern river. I very firmly view it as the midlands. Hell, Rotherham is pushing the boundaries of "north". If it wasn't for it being part of Yorkshire you'd be firmly in the midlands.
Doesn't stop me taking the trip to the Trent once in a while though. I've had good numbers of fish from the Trent but don't recall breaking my PB for any species, yet.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Well it's not all about big fish here in the south. Fish some of the waters and if you get a bite in the first season, that can be a result.

I know anglers who have fished waters for a few seasons, and only had one fish in all that time, and maybe only a couple of bites. The fish may also only have been a few pounds, but the result was getting a fish from a very hard water.

Last week an angler had a 40lb carp from a water I have fished for many years, this fish hasn't been caught before as far as anyone knows, no reports of it, and another angler had two Tench, 11lb 2ozs and 10lb 14ozs, you should see the look on his face, thats what fishing is all about.

The problem here in the south with some waters is simple, they don't hold small fish, the small fish could be Carp from 20lb up, and Tench 7 lb up, so it's not the anglers fault the fish are big, and when your fishing these waters, if your catching the smaller fish, you will want to be catching the bigger ones.

Don't all anglers want to catch bigger fish, other than the smaller one's you catch day in day out. ?????

 

[Neil Maidment]

Ah! The fabled Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon (to name but two).... mile upon mile upon mile totally devoid of fish (or so it seems)!

Yes, there are so many fine specimens to be had down here, that everyone has them crawling up the rod and leaping into the landing net (large size of course). It's all so easy!

Even the well known and easily available to anyone venues take a bit of "fishing" to be in with any sort of chance to reap the benefits.

Yes, I can go and buy some specimen catches, particularly of the trout variety, and frequently do so, but I get equal pleasure and satisfaction from targeting Gudgeon (giant of course) from my local little river.

Each to their own, take advantage of what's on offer where you are and enjoy angling for what it is..... and as Ron says, a sense of proportion is essential.

 

[stikflote]

HEllo,Ron,
i would have said the Trent is in the East midlands not the north considering i only need to go about 5 mile from derby to be on the river trent

 

[Garry Procter]

"The 5 FMers who were at one stage together on a certain water last Thursday (3 "fishing" and two more sensibly come down for an hour or so to talk!!) would have been grateful for 1 fish between us by the end!!"

I don't wish to appear pedantic, but at one stage (after I arrived) there were 4 FM members 'fishing'. But I as I mainly lurk, perhaps it could be argued that I don't 'count'. I certainly don't catch...