Greatest Angling Achievements

So what are your greatest achievments in angling?

After thinking long and hard, I think the achievement I am most proud is this:

When I was 16 I moved away from home to college in Aberdeen. Being starved of course fishing I decided to do some sea fishing. I started off fishing the estury of the River Don with course tackle ledgering for flatties and caught loads. Soon I wanted a bigger challenge and in the sea fishing magazines I read about the cod fishing in the area - the seed was sown. After one visit home I returnes to Aberdeen on the train with my Dad's old Abu Atlantic 464 beachcaster and and old fixed spool reel. I soon bought some other bits and bobs from the fishing shop and including some 'rotten bottom clips' which took me a while to get my head round! I asked around and settled on Stonehaven Pier for my fishing trips. It was close to Aberdeen, produced Cod in the right conditions and was a lot safer than fishing off rock marks, which were also hard to find. I taught myself how to tie up a suitable rig and settled on a pennel rig baited with either Lug or Rag and tipped with Squid. I spent a lot of time fishng that pier without sucess. teaching myself gradually how to cast further and further to get to the require rocky area that I had been told was best to fish.

One Sunday I decided to fish another session from twelve midday to twelve midnight. These were very cold nights! As I sat there in my fishing chair at about 10pm contemplating another blank night the unbelieveable happened. This great big, 'stiff as a brom handle' beachcaster sprang to life and bet right over indicating a bite. Grabbing the rod I began to reel in as quickly as possible and I could feel the fish straight away kicking on the end. The most electic feeling ever. Then the line went tight, the lead was snagged, oh no not now, I pulled and then it freed, the lead had snapped off thanks to the rotten bottom link, and yes the fih was still there! I brought it to the side and walked it round to the steps where I lifted my prize out, a cod of about 5lbs! I was buzzing for the next week! That is my best achivement because its the one I have had to work hardest for, teaching myself new techneques and rigs. And all those long cold nights were suddenly worth it.

It beats the 49lbs of bream in 7 fish for the reasons I have metioned, there was more work put into that fish.

Whats your proudest angling achievment?

To have fished for over 55 years of my life and to still feel as enthusiastic about it now as I did when I was 10.

falling from a 12 ft railway bridge into the canal at the grand old age of 13, retrieving my rod and living to tell the tale!

Catching my first fish when I was 6 (dont even know what it was)

Catching 16 gudgeon on my own, on the Shropshire Union canal, to win my first match, on my first attempt when I was 6.

Been hooked ever since...

After years of angling the Barbel was one fish that eluded me so i made it my mission to catch one,after what seemed so many fruitless trips to the Ouse i finally landed my 1st it weighed 8lb.6oz,,i was thrilled to bits,all that hard work and countless 80mile round trips paid off...so that fish i suppose stands out just because of my will not to give up!!!!.

I'm with Ron, just going fishing is all the achievement I need. I'm not a specimen hunter and not even sure if I have the dedication for it but I just love going fishing and being there. The sight, the sound and the smell of a river is like a drug and I can never do without it.

Cracking a first is always the hardest.

I still get a kick out of beating a duck on a new water.

Went to Ladybower yesterday where I have not fished since 1987. On that day I blanked.

Yesterday I got two fish and lost a third.

I got a kick out of that.

Crikey, Gary was winning fish-ins at 6!

What chance do we mere mortals have?

The greatest achievement doesn't have to be the biggest fish which can often come from chance & whilst enjoyable & exciting, can be undeserved.

Like Paul,I would say that setting out after a new species, formulating a plan & seeing that plan work is the most satisfying.

My one and only 2lb roach from the Hants.Avon would be in that category a couple of seasons ago.Unfortunately the plan has resolutely failed to work since then :-(

PS Good thread Paul.

One fish stands out for me.

I was 6 years old, my dad made me a cane rod with cut off safety pins for eyes and the smallest centre pin reel you have ever seen.

I remember it so clearly, which is rare of me. We were fishing a local lake and there was a guy baggin up on tench quite near to me. As the female bailiff walked around to us I hooked a fish. After a long hard fought battle my dad helped me land my prize, a three and a half pound tench, honest! The lady told me it was bigger than any of the fish the guy who was baggin had caught. Can you imagine the smile on my face?

Thirty three years later it still puts a smile on my face and tench have a very special place in my heart.

Steve

I went to a commerical pool late last year with a friend, we didn't get a bite for six hours each. Then I found a dead worm stuck to the bottom of my boot, put it on the hook and caught 3 perch one after another, and saved the blank.
It was a great result and my friend still goes on about how bloody lucky I was

My other greatest achievement was that while I was fishing I saw a giant bug on a branch at the side of me, I put it on the hook and caught a twenty pound chub







I didnt really, but I`ve always fantasized about doing that since I read Mr Crabtree back in the 50s and since then I`ve spent most of my life looking for giant bugs on branches near where I have been fishing??

A twenty pound chub, Monk.

Glad to see you're not setting your sights to high !!

A 4-5oz chub from a little stretch of the Ouse that only used to produce 2-3 pounders about 16 years ago.
I'd had numerous fish from between 3-8oz and 3-15oz but hadn't caught anything bigger in about 5 years of fishing it.

That fish is more special than any of the 5 and 6lb chub I've caught since, and there's been lots !!

actually Bill, I think my copy of Mr Crabtree may have had a few typos in the text??

greatest achievement......managing to get out of my bed,washed and dressed and picking up me mate on time for a days sport.
other than that i suppose it would have to be passing on the stuff my dad taught me about angling etc... to my eldest lad.then seeing the biggest cheesiest grin on his face when he was reeling in his fist carp.he took fish to 9lbs on that day and whooped everyones backsides on the lake that day.

catching fish,
anyone else who like me specialises in quite spectacular feets of angling stupidity and blanking in style will know what i mean.

Dropping a peace of breadflake to four carp two feet away from me in three feet of water and catching a 26lb common after it had run around a scaffold pole 4 feet away and came out the right way ,or was it plain jammy ?

you should work for hartleys mate.

Just taking up fishing for me.

I love it and after a couple years the more experience I have gained I love it even more.

What was it someone once said, A bad days fishing is better then a good day at work.

Indeed it is.