Do you try to catch every fish you can?

[nottskev]

The big rivers around here can be very poor midwinter, and I've been fishing local brooks and small rivers last few times out.

The fish, mostly chub, are quite scarce; the habitat is not great, with a lot of threats and a chequered history.

The places are a pleasure to fish, if you like that miniature kind of thing, and it can be amazing to see what's managing to live in them.

Stuck for somewhere to fish for a couple of hours today, I considered going again, but I felt I should give these fish a break - I'd probably catch the same ones from the same swims.

Are there any fish you could catch, but decide not to, for whatever reasons?

 

[chrissh]

The only fish I do not like catching are eels, trying the Dove tomorrow for chub & grayling if there playing

 

[tigger]

If the weathers anything like round here Kev, i'd give it a miss bud .

Regarding the fish being the same ones, Maybe one or two will be but there'll most likely be a lot more there that you have never seen so I wouldn't let that bother you .

 

[stillwater blue]

I fish a smallish river for chub and barbel and one swim in particularly seems to have a few resident barbel, that are very recognisable, that don't seem to stray very far from the swim and every time I fish the swim I catch the same fish so I don't often fish the swim as it doesn't seem very fair.

I tend to avoid certain species in warm weather.

 

[108831]

I don't normally fish for pike and zander,mainly because I don't enjoy them much,I don't target eels,but don't mind catching the odd one of two,I don't target dace,but they are lovely fish...

 

[Keith M]

I’ve occasionally just stopped fishing on my local stream after catching a couple of Barbel, and just sat back and soaked up a pleasant evening and the wildlife around me, or had a wander along the stream observing fish in the clear stream even though I knew I could catch more if I had carried on fishing.

I’ve also done the same on my local estate lake a couple of times. There is often a lot more to fishing than just catching fish.

And I dislike catching lots of tiddlers almost as much as I hate catching small snotty bream and I would rather just sit and watch paint dry than spend a day catching stunted silvers; unless there was the occasional much larger fish amongst them to keep my interest going or I was fishing in a match.

Keith

 

[john step]

I think your reference to repeat captures is interesting. My main club lake has a few good pike from time to time. I have 3 from there this winter with a 4th which was a repeat. I am not going to fish there for pike for a while as it doesn't seem fair.
I know carpers seem not to worry about repeats having pet names for them but I would personally rather not know how many times Fred and Mable have been out.

 

[mikench]

I am happy to catch any fish! For some reason I haven't caught many Abyssinian Tench in the last 12 months but those I have have often been a good size!

 

[nottskev]

Thanks for the replies. It may be illogical, but I don't have any qualms about how often I fish swims on bigger waters. But on these little streams and brooks, I have the feeling that only one or two fish live in the limited swims, and I'd feel vaguely bad about having them out on a regular basis! They're often in quite poor habitats with very limited space, and I'm half inclined to go and feed them and not fish for them more than occasionally. I wondered if anyone else knows of fish they could catch but choose not to.

 

[tigger]

Thanks for the replies. It may be illogical, but I don't have any qualms about how often I fish swims on bigger waters. But on these little streams and brooks, I have the feeling that only one or two fish live in the limited swims, and I'd feel vaguely bad about having them out on a regular basis! They're often in quite poor habitats with very limited space, and I'm half inclined to go and feed them and not fish for them more than occasionally. I wondered if anyone else knows of fish they could catch but choose not to.

Kev, I would imagine the fish in those stocked ponds you fish now and then get caught far more often than the ones in your local small rivers?
If fishing the same swims in those rivers bothers you, can't you try other stretches?
If the small rivers are tib's of your large locaal river they wil have lots of fish traffic roaming back and forth in search of food.

 

[nottskev]

Kev, I would imagine the fish in those stocked ponds you fish now and then get caught far more often than the ones in your local small rivers?
If fishing the same swims in those rivers bothers you, can't you try other stretches?
If the small rivers are tib's of your large locaal river they wil have lots of fish traffic roaming back and forth in search of food.

You're probably right about the commercial I fish now and then - although it's both heavily stocked and lightly fished in winter, so a lot of the fish may go uncaught.

As far as the little rivers and brooks go, the one I posted about lately reaches the river having gone through a chain of big pits, and the only fish that come up the river appear to be some roach from the pits which occasionally and seasonally occupy one lower stretch. The chub I aim to catch are residents, and there really are very few which live in the viable places. I say this based on the observations and catches of myself and friends who fish the river. I only wish there were more resident fish, or a stream of travelling migrants.

Why don't I bother how often the commie fish re caught? Fair point. I tend to think they were put there to be caught, and can be replaced, and their environment is a generally safe one for them. This river has a chequered history, is trying to recover, and while, like any angler, I like to catch the chub, there's a bit of me that thinks I should leave the few there alone and hope they thrive and increase. Or at least not hammer them. As to other stretches, it's funny you should ask - I have spent 2 days lately tracking down all the access points and viable stretches I could find, and I've fished 3 different stretches rather than the same one 3 times. Wherever you go on it, it's much the same story, though.

If I don't mind driving 20/30 mins further, there's some good upper river chub fishing on a river that hasn't had the problems of running through a densely populated and industrial area, and supports a lot more fish. I'm thinking that's a better bet.

 

[nottskev]

Kev, I would imagine the fish in those stocked ponds you fish now and then get caught far more often than the ones in your local small rivers?
If fishing the same swims in those rivers bothers you, can't you try other stretches?
If the small rivers are tib's of your large locaal river they wil have lots of fish traffic roaming back and forth in search of food.

You're probably right about the commercial I fish now and then - although it's both heavily stocked and lightly fished in winter, so a lot of the fish may go uncaught.

As far as the little rivers and brooks go, the one I posted about lately reaches the river having gone through a chain of big pits, and the only fish that come up the river appear to be some roach from the pits which occasionally and seasonally occupy one lower stretch. The chub I aim to catch are residents, and there really are very few which live in the viable places. I say this based on the observations and catches of myself and friends who fish the river. I only wish there were more resident fish, or a stream of travelling migrants.

Why don't I bother how often the commie fish re caught? Fair point. I tend to think they were put there to be caught, and can be replaced, and their environment is a generally safe one for them. This river has a chequered history, is trying to recover, and while, like any angler, I like to catch the chub, there's a bit of me that thinks I should leave the few there alone and hope they thrive and increase. Or at least not hammer them. As to other stretches, it's funny you should ask - I have spent 2 days lately tracking down all the access points and viable stretches I could find, and I've fished 3 different stretches rather than the same one 3 times. Wherever you go on it, it's much the same story, though.

If I don't mind driving 20/30 mins further, there's some good upper river chub fishing on a river that hasn't had the problems of running through a densely populated and industrial area, and supports a lot more fish. I'm thinking that's a better bet.

 

[Philip]

Are there any fish you could catch, but decide not to, for whatever reasons?

The anwser to this for me would be yes frequently although I am not sure its really in the context of what your driving at. I'll try to explain...

Your question seems geared towards the aspect of resting swims and fish and in that respect I have done this quite allot in the past when prebaiting. What I would do is prebait several swims on the rivers and then fish them in rotation, so for example if I baited 3 swims and fished them in rotation each would get at least 2 days rest. I am convinced this prolonged the life of the swims and kept them productive for longer. Its interesting you started this thread now because also just recently I have started to fish a warm water inlet into a main river. I fish it for short periods of time maybe an hour or so. Its been very productive and I am pretty confident I will catch each time but I made the decision to try and rest it as well so I am giving it a couple of days between each session.

The other times I pass up on very catchable fish is when I have my specimen head on …the aspect of trying to avoid some fish with an eye to trying to catch the big one. Obvious example would be avoiding Bream when trying to catch Carp, or Chub when your
trying to catch Barbel but it also applies when trying to catch one particularly large fish in a shoal of smaller ones of the same species.

This is not easy especially when you have a large head of fish. Fishing by sight probably offers your best chance and it can be very exciting fishing but its very hit and miss and more often than not one of the smaller mouths will get there first. I recall on one occasion trying to tempt a large Chub in a shoal of smaller ones and having to yank my bread bait away from several suicidal fish before the big one finally got bored of the little ones cocking it up and slurped it down.

Some of the most difficult fishing of all is fishing blind in a high stock venue for one particular target fish. Using baits and fishing known swims at times the big one comes out can help to tip the odds in your favor but sometimes the only way is to do the exact opposite of avoiding fish & simply wade through the numbers till the big one slips up.

 

[sam vimes]

In similar circumstances to those described, I've stopped fishing waters or deliberately stopped targeting a specific species. One was quite similar to your small tributary. It was a decent sized beck that holds grayling and trout. It can only be fished with bait once the trout season has ended. A couple of years ago it became quite obvious that there were just a handful of decent sized grayling in several hundred yards of water. Once it became apparent that I was starting to get repeat captures, I stopped fishing. I didn't fish it at all last winter and I'm yet to fish it this winter, though I'm tempted.

In a similar vein, I used to fish a local gravel pit for carp (full on bivvy and bite alarms stuff). However, once it became apparent that I'd had the majority of the bigger fish, and the biggest three times, I decided to stop carping on it. Given time, and some decent growth, I may well have another go at them. For the moment, I'm quite happy chasing the tench and, to a lesser extent, bream and bits.

 

[nottskev]

In similar circumstances to those described, I've stopped fishing waters or deliberately stopped targeting a specific species. One was quite similar to your small tributary. It was a decent sized beck that holds grayling and trout. It can only be fished with bait once the trout season has ended. A couple of years ago it became quite obvious that there were just a handful of decent sized grayling in several hundred yards of water. Once it became apparent that I was starting to get repeat captures, I stopped fishing. I didn't fish it at all last winter and I'm yet to fish it this winter, though I'm tempted.

In a similar vein, I used to fish a local gravel pit for carp (full on bivvy and bite alarms stuff). However, once it became apparent that I'd had the majority of the bigger fish, and the biggest three times, I decided to stop carping on it. Given time, and some decent growth, I may well have another go at them. For the moment, I'm quite happy chasing the tench and, to a lesser extent, bream and bits.

Yes - I can see you've got my point when you talk about resisting temptation. I found myself thinking these few fish, destined to eke out their living in pretty obvious and known swims in a poor habitat, don't really need me to come and have them out regularly. Some will find that sentimental, but I'd guess I'm not the only one to make such a calculation. It wasn't so much a matter of resting the swim in order to catch better, as has been suggested; more a case of giving them a rest and leaving them in peace for a bit!

I'm not saying I won't fish these swims again ever. I've had a good scout around the last 10 miles of the river, and there are other places to try, and, given the sparse stock and poor access, fish to be caught that don't get fished for regularly.

 

[Another Dave]

It comes down to what you think is sporting. I've had the same trout 3 times, and seen someone else catch it from the same stretch. The 3rd time i caught it on a lure so i reckon that makes it ok.

In a different vein, when i restarted fishing in the summer of 2017, i had one session where the consecutive casts went: nice chub, chunky perch, missed strike, chunky perch, chunky perch and i basically hit a point where i didn't know how to deal with such amazing luck and hung up my hook until my mate - who should have been there by now - showed up.

 

[tigger]

Yes - I can see you've got my point when you talk about resisting temptation. I found myself thinking these few fish, destined to eke out their living in pretty obvious and known swims in a poor habitat, don't really need me to come and have them out regularly. Some will find that sentimental, but I'd guess I'm not the only one to make such a calculation. It wasn't so much a matter of resting the swim in order to catch better, as has been suggested; more a case of giving them a rest and leaving them in peace for a bit!

I'm not saying I won't fish these swims again ever. I've had a good scout around the last 10 miles of the river, and there are other places to try, and, given the sparse stock and poor access, fish to be caught that don't get fished for regularly.

The fish won't stay fixed in the swims Kev, they will deff'o move about. I wouldn't worry about catching the same fish too often as daft as they are they're not that daft.
Sometimes you might catch the same fish but it won't carry on being caught day in day out. Might be worth you trying fishing the same swim for several days on the trot and see what happens just out of curiosity?

 

[rayner]

I've been tied to commercials since July 1999. I feel though the waters have had to change for me my fishing mentality has never wandered.
My sole reason to fish is to catch, I don't get this just being there notion. If I'm not catching I give up for the day, there's always another day.
I've never considered that I've caught the same fish during a session before. I can't say I waste any time looking at the fish I catch. I'd sooner get back in for another.
Even if a repeat capture has happened I can't say I've ever noticed or even been bothered.
When I was fishing the Trent or now commercials my mentality has never altered, that is to catch numbers.
Commercials now with the heavy give me the opportunity to catch all day without too much effort.

 

[Philip]

My sole reason to fish is to catch, I don't get this just being there notion. If I'm not catching I give up for the day, there's always another day.
I've never considered that I've caught the same fish during a session before. I can't say I waste any time looking at the fish I catch. I'd sooner get back in for another.

Refreshing to hear someone say that.

I do get a bit fed up with all the "catching is not important" comments that get reeled out like the angler has somehow moved on from just catching and has attained some sort of higher spiritual plane above the rest of the carbon swishing rabble where "just being there" is enough for them. .....in which case I always wonder why they bother lugging all the tackle. They could make theirs lives allot easier by leaving it all at home & just sit on the bank rodless for 8 hours.

Although its not my only objective, like you my primary one when I go fishing is to catch fish. :thumbs: