''How important are your fishing pictures''

[Derek Gibson]

In my own case for nigh on fifty years they were most important, both for myself, and to share with other specimen group members.'' Well at least the trusted ones.''And I appreciate that some will still value them highly.

But in my own case then several years ago for some inexplicable reason that all changed. Why that was so I'm not entirely sure, perhaps it was in part due to the wifes comments of, ''how many pictures of big pike do you need''. Combined with the fact that lugging around camera gear became a chore, or could it be that mobile lure fishing, being on the move in all weathers highlights the need to pare down excess baggage, especially as one gets older.

I don't really have a diffinative answer, other than I can't really be arsed with it anymore.

 

[binka]

I take lots of pictures not necessarily because it's important to me but because it's now so easy, pre-digital days I hardly ever took any and doubt that I would now if it meant lugging additional kit around and faffing to get them developed.

I do enjoy looking back through them and often come across sessions and fish that I would have long forgotten about had it not been for the pictures.

More of an added pleasure than a thing of importance for me, although it's always nice to have that pic of a good fish or a particularly stunning sunrise/sunset

 

[Harvey]

They are very important. I always bring my camera. My specimen club has a private forum, and every single fishingtrip has to be reported. A picture always brings a little extra to the report. I also document every fish that is out of the ordinary, to post on the club forum.

Doing this, we have managed to assemble a large database, covering venues and hotspots in our area. Which we all benefit from.

 

[dann]

I like to take a picture of anything out of the ordinary, just a camera phone picture so nothing fancy and I always have my phone with me anyway so nothing extra to lug around.

 

[arthur2sheds]

with the advent of good cameras on mobile phones and free picture hosting websites, it's easy... I know you can't do a selfie holding a fish (well I can't anway) but it's so easy to keep a pictorial record of my captures...!

 

[The bad one]

For me they’re important as they tell a life Story, ‘my life story!’ Self-indulgent, vanity may be, but it is my life story! One I’ve got immense pleasure from living and the people I’ve met, become good friends with and sadly lost contact with or through death.
I have very few pictures of myself other than fishing ones, as I don’t like being in photos in any other setting. Even the ones I have as a kid, you can see the reluctant subject I was when it was taken. Therefore, given half a chance it will be me behind the camera taking them, not in them.

There’s also a standing joke in our family, the only time you see me in a photo, unless it was taken unbeknown to me, I’ve got a fish held in it somewhere.

In a 100+ years, time if anyone’s looking up my history in pictorial form, they be left in no doubt that I fished and was an angler, as that more than likely will be the only photographic record left behind.

 

[darren7478]

I have only recently started to take pictures whilst fishing, not only of my catches, but anything that catches the eye. There isn't much better setting than on the bank, and it's nice to look back and share the images and memory's

Here's one of my most recent pics

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[tincatim]

I love to take photos of the fish I catch, the swims I fish and the nature I encounter. They might not be award winning images of beauty but to me it means I can look back after a session and remember in more detail. My memory works fine, just about, but even the most vivid memory can't replace a photo.

This has just prompted me to have a look through the designated 'Fishing' folder on my iPhone. There's photos going back to 2012, some beautiful swims and lovely fish. I just think it's brilliant nowadays how you can access this from your pocket anytime and in ten years time these photos will still be there.

 

[terry m]

Not really important to be truthful.

The only fish I would photograph are typically specimens, but the truth is after the fight, and the trauma of weighing I always feel a little guilty at the thought of setting up a camera for a self take and all the ar$ing about that goes with it so more often than not I slip the fish back, thankful that it has visited my mat. Cliché sounding? Perhaps, but the reality is that pictures I may have taken in the past are rarely if ever perused anyway.

On rare occasions when fishing with others I may get someone else to take a shot.

 

[S-Kippy]

I like the odd trophy shot but I've never been a great one for taking pictures. Funnily enough I was sorting through some old photos the other day with the kids howling with laughter at my hair back in the day and what me and Mrs S used to wear.

In amongst this lot were some fishing pics and they really did bring some great memories back. There was one in particular of me with a dace off the Royalty circa 1971 which I distinctly remember. We didn't have any scales with us that day so we guessed this at 12-14 ozs. Looking at it now I'm bloody certain that dace was 1lb plus. Still the biggest dace I've ever caught or am ever likely to catch.

And no.....it was not a little chublet. It was a bloody great kipper of a dace.

So...for me they are important for the memories they rekindle but I couldn't get excited about endless trophy shots and I very rarely take pics now. If I'm honest a bit of the magic has gone out of fishing. It seemed a whole lot more exciting back then...it can be a bit too clinical nowadays at times.

 

[binka]

the kids howling with laughter at my hair back in the day

C'mon Skip get scanning 'em in...

 

[robtherake]

I have only recently started to take pictures whilst fishing, not only of my catches, but anything that catches the eye. There isn't much better setting than on the bank, and it's nice to look back and share the images and memory's

Here's one of my most recent pics

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Beautiful shot, Darren. Robins are such affable characters, aren't they?

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 ----------

Know exactly what you mean about the magic, Skip; it's the main reason why my approach is simpler now in many respects.

Photography adds another complexity, although I've recently taken a shot or two on my phone to add colour to the odd post on here. I'm too bloody clumsy by far to be faffing on with photos; it just invites disaster. Binka will tell you what I mean.

Having said that, I rue the fact that I haven't recorded some of the better catches for posterity.

---------- Post added at 12:40 ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 ----------

C'mon Skip get scanning 'em in...

Can't be worse than my curly 80s mega-mullet with the obligatory tache. mg:

 

[Tee-Cee]

Yes, I always take a camera with me and photograph any decent fish that come my way, but this more for club websites than anything else....
I think as one gets older, recording captures becomes less important - almost irrelevant in a way....Far more important is the ability to reach the bank in the first place !

I will admit to proving some folk wrong when they suggest, in a roundabout way that they doubt the capture of a certain fish ( " Nothing of that size ever been caught in this water " etc etc )

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I think Ild agree wioth Tee-Cee inasmuch as when you grow older then the piccies of the actual fish are not so important.

That said it is really good to have record shots of people you have fished with, match groups etc.

 

[Bob Hornegold]

The last editor of FM reckoned I was the worse photographer ever and I rarely if ever got a decent picture of my captures.

But that all changed with digital camera's and it's now easy to take a good picture whilst on your own ?

I like looking at the pictures of my past captures, if only to remind me that getting older does not stop you catching a few fish.

There are of course those who feel no need to take picture of their captures, good luck to them, every one to their own.

Lastly I have a reminder of long lost fish, now in the big pond in the sky, the likes of which we are never likely to see again !!

Bob

 

[Derek Gibson]

One thing that has emerged from this thread has been the deviation of my own particular motive for the amassing of over two thousand prints and slides of all aspects of fishing and surroundings.

Originally the sole purpose was to record the capture of notable fish, along with weight, length and girth. With no attempt to conceal swims or surroundings, since there was no intent to publish, so there was no need.

In hindsight how was I to know that I would be capturing scenes that would dramatically change over the next fifty years, or even cease to exist. Or be reminded of long gone friends that were so dear who contributed so much to my fishing, and far more important to me than any fish. Suffice it to say that I have enjoyed my fishing journey immensely, and still do to a much reduced level.

Like Skippy, I still derive much amusement from watching the Grandkids, all adults now, going through my photo albums with puzzled expressions and comments like, ''Nan, is that really Grandad''.

In the unlikely event I catch a fish bigger than any previous ones, my remaining mate, (last of the old team) does carry a camera phone should the need arise.

 

[no-one in particular]

I have only recently started to take pictures whilst fishing, not only of my catches, but anything that catches the eye. There isn't much better setting than on the bank, and it's nice to look back and share the images and memory's

Here's one of my most recent pics

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

That deserves more than a like, one of the best pictures I have ever seen, you should enter that in a competition.

 

[wa1115]

That deserves more than a like, one of the best pictures I have ever seen, you should enter that in a competition.

I agree!! That's a fantastic picture.

 

[hyperdrive]

I like to have a few pictures but I don't take the camera every time I go. I take pictures of notable catches, not only when I catch a big fish (for me) but if it is a fish in particularly good condition or one I haven't caught before. I also have pictures of people I have fished with, some just pleasant surroundings on a small river.

 

[S-Kippy]

C'mon Skip get scanning 'em in...

Not a chance, mate. Way too scary !