The one that got away !!

Having worked all over the world building Golf Courses, I was lucky enough to fish in some very lovely places.

But for me it has always been the thrill of catching an absolute Monster from still or Running water in Britain that does it for me !!

I'm sure I'm not alone in hooking something that cannot be stopped ?

And I'm not talking Salmon hooked on Grayling tackle on a southern Salmon river.

It's happened a few times to me, once on a large exspance of water where I hooked something on my deadbait, it charged off and never stopped, taking me down the bottom of the spool, before I cut the line.

And another time on the Lea Navigation, whilst Perch Fishing with live bait, I had a take, wound down and what ever had taken my Roach, did not stop.

Fair enough I was only using a Harrison Avon Rod and 6lb line, but I have landed some big Barbel on that rod, but this time what ever was on the end, never stopped.

It was if it did not know it was hooked and just went down the canal and disappeared around the corner.

I'm guessing both times it was Large Wels Catfish that did me, but I'll never know !!

Bob

This sort of thing has happened to me on several occasions in my life, although not yet in the UK.

If there is one fish that is capable of running out all your line and then breaking it it is the catfish. On strong tackle I have been able to master catfish, no worries at all. It is on medium strength tackle, ie 10 to 15lb line and suitable rod about 2 lb testcurve, the sort of gear I wouldn't have a problem landing the biggest carp that swims is where I've had the problems.

And I wouldn't say that catfish are the greatest fighters either. They just swim, steady and inexorably, that's all.

Seems like catfish Bob.

Tidal Thames, in the '70s or '80s; maggot fishing for roach and dace. Hooked one, and it suddenly went heavy, and headed across the river.
There was a kid sitting on the steps behind me, chatting, and I asked him to set up my big net.
After a while it it became clear that one of the big pleasure boats was about to leave Richmond Landing stage, only a few feet away. I plunged the rod down till it tapped the botom, then up a bit, and the boat passed safely over my line.
All the while, the fish was either staying put or sidling across the river. I looked down and saw there were only about four turns left of a fairly new 100 metre line - if it went any further without changing course, it would run out of river. If it went upstream or down, I would run out of line, but the fish didn't know that, and stopped for a think. I don't think climbing out on the Twickenham side featured in its plans.
I put on a little more pressure, and started to ease a little more line back on the reel. I'd had four strokes of luck - the boy, the net, the boat, and the far bank - would it hold?
No, of course not, and with absolutely no more pressure (just you try breaking 3 lb line with a 14' Taperflash!) the line parted.

Moor Mill pits, circa 1987. I was float fishing with hemp and caster for roach (and hopefully a tench or two) when I hooked something on single caster that simply swam away steadily, going both out and down. It felt like I'd dislodged a garden roller perched at the top of a slope, down which it was now rolling unstoppably. After about twenty yards the line broke.

Grand Union Canal, Evans pound (Watford Piscators stretch) as a guest with two members, around the same time as the above story. We were set up in a line twenty yards apart on the towpath, with me at the upstream end. I hooked something (again, using single caster) which took off downstream at a rate of knots, going through both my friends swims before the hooklink gave way.

River Colne near Watford, mid nineties. Roving around after chub and perch with a Wallis Wizard, an Ambidex loaded with five pound line and a pocketful of terminal tackle. A friend was trotting maggots and building a net of dace, chub and roach. I'd had nothing of note, so returned to his swim for a chat. He'd been experiencing pike trouble around his keepnet, so I said "catch a small roach and I'll get it out." I tied a wire trace on the end of my line with a single size 6 hook, put a perch bob float on and waited for a bait. One duly appeared and I put it on, dropping it next to the reeds and just below his keepnet. The float shot under straight away, but I was a bit too quick on the strike and the pike got off.

Another bait was procured and I tried again. Less than a minute passed before the float went down; I paused for a couple of seconds, then struck. It was only a small one, but even a five pound pike is jolly good fun on a Wizard. A really collosal pike is less so; we saw a tremendous flash of greeny-gold in mid river as the little pike was engulfed by something very much larger. The rod swept round, line pouring from a squealing clutch. The line made a fizzing furrow in the surface as it sped downstream towards an overhanging willow at the tail of the run. It disappeared beneath the trailing branches and kept on going. I hung on, wondering what would happen, but before I could think much about it the line parted.

Royalty fishery, October 2008. I'd got sidetracked from the barbel by some small fish scattering in a slack just above the Railway Pool. I thought at first it might be due to perch feeding below, so set up my barbel rod (a Daiwa Kevlar Avon) with a livebait outfit, 15lb braided line with a hinged Alasticum wire trace and single size 6 fished as a running paternoster, and caught some bleak for bait. Two low doubles later and I was enjoying a bit of impromptu piking. A third bait went out, the rod was propped on a rest with the baitrunner engaged and I poured a coffee. I spilt most of it when the rod heaved over and I became attached to something that seemed intent on reaching the Compound weir. The rod was pointing almost straight down the line, which was zipping off the reel as this fish barged upstream through thick ranunculous. Eventually the line fell slack and I retrieved a swivel minus the trace.

And thinking back to the 50s, I was fishing with a group of West Essex Specimen and London Specimen hunter lads on the King George Reservior.

I was using a MkV1 Carp Rod, Ambidex 4, 11lb bs Sylcast, DK sliding float, pieced bullet, stop and snap tackle and a live bait.

My float slid away and a protracted battle commenced, I was only a kid of around 12 years old and it was not long before the older lads took over.

My rod was handed around to some very ( to become) famous anglers, who had no more effect on the stealer of my livebait than I did.

In the end, after the lads had another go at taming the Monster of the King George, my line parted.

Who knows what might have been it those Ressies ?

( Ron reminded me of this story this morning !!)

Bob

Never had a major "I might not get over this one..." loss with coarse fish, or foreign stuff, but the first three salmon I had fished countless hours to encounter, then hooked and played quite well but somehow eventually lost as a youngster still live in my mind's eye in unerasable clips of gut-wrenching grainy freeze frame...

On the other hand...

A couple of dear "old boys" on a club piece told me about the monster ("... a forty-pound carp...") they had encountered in a certain same-river swim, losing it (as in smashed to boogery or "... it went like a train and round a corner and was gone!") as they chub- and barbel-fished several years ago.

I thought: "Right. Let's sort this monster out...".

12ft 2lb TC rod, Speedia Wide Drum pin, 15lb mono, strong size-6 Drennan Boilie Continental hook on a bit of string, a decent homemade boilie dangling off a hair, a big landing net and me ready to jump in the river if the monster really went for broke...

It did, and was a good fish, a beautiful mahogany-brown-gold 18.25-pound common. A monster even, but a myth had been hooked, landed, returned and now become fact. Don't fish that water now, but very much hope that that fish is still about and scaring the pants off those old boys!

I did Hook one fish on a river that just kept going against a tight clutch...I was running out of line and it was nearing a snag a mile off so it was now or never...I clamped down....More than 100 meters of 0.38mm Big game line...the rod was bent to the butt and creaking the line was singing in the wind, it was going to snap but amazingly at max strain I felt it start to rise up from 18 foot of water... up and up it came, the line cutting skywards as it neared the surface and then it turned and started to come back up stream towards me ... I could not believe my luck and started to wind line back onto the spool like a madman, I knew the battle would now be mine. And then it fell off. Just like that. No real pressure it just came off. I was gutted.

I still wonder to this day what it was. It didnt feel like a Cat but I suspect thats probably what it was.

Ive been lucky enough to catch some very good perch with several over the 4Ib mark. One method i like to use is to troll small lures from a boat. Hooked a very good one one day and played it to the boat it was ready for the net an absolute beast of a perch easily a PB, and then in slow motion it quite casualy opened its mouth slowly and the lure just fell out, the perch hovered mid water right by the net for what seemed like an age, i could of swiped it up in the net but was to shocked, the fish then turned in the water and nonchantly swam away.

Ive had a jack pike take a livebait which was in turn grabbed by a big pike easily over 20Ib go on a mad run towards a reedbed, leap clear of the water and was gone, that can turn the legs to jelly

About 8 years ago I was fishing maggots and worm on very big gravel pit for tench, about 20 ft from the bank. A rising bobbin and a lift into what seemed a "deadweight" that then proceeded to move slowly along the margin about 20-25ft then the link parted. I could see the frayed edge of the braid which looked remarkably like what you'd get from an eel. Going back with slightly stouter tackle (1.75 barbel rod, 10lb line, thicker hooklink.....didn't own carp rods and heavier line back then) I hooked the same "thing" another two times in 10 days on the same spot with the same result each time.

I know that I never managed to get it up off the lake-bed (about 7-8ft deep), it just seemed to "plod" slowly along as though there was no recognition of a hook in its gob attached to line and pressure and I subsequently heard of reliable reports of at least one very large Wels in there.

I've fished that swim many times since with carp gear, but never repeated the episode and have been haunted by it ever since. Was it a really monstrous eel? Or the Big Cat?
I'll never know.