Fishy Tales...

I had an interesting chat with a guy on a local lake this evening that tied something up with an experience I had a few months ago but couldn’t really explain it at the time and have never experienced it before yet it ties in perfectly with what came to light.

This chap’s a well respected carp angler who knows this particular water like the back of his hand (he’s been fishing continuously since April and won’t be packing up until the end of the year, very organised and does it year in, year out!) and by pure chance whilst sharing a freshly mashed brew and chatting away in the darkness the conversation turned to a catfish that was supposedly stocked in to the lake by mistake many years ago.

Anyway… stories of the occasional carp angler hitting something unstoppable along with sightings of something far too big to be a pike rocketing just below the surface along with the lack of tench, which were once commonplace, and ducklings which never make it to maturity were soon being discussed before the penny finally dropped.

What I witnessed earlier in the year was in the same, deep corner of the lake where these other stories originate from and I was jig fishing at the time with a really light, un-weighted jig and being very quiet whilst sat under a tree when something caught my attention just out of the corner of my eye.

As I looked around I saw what I originally thought was an upturned bottle that had just bobbed to the surface until it upended even more and I could see it was the tail fork of a reasonably well decayed bream of around two pounds in weight which I assumed had gassed up and I just happened to be in the area as it decided to put in an appearance.

The odd thing was that it then bobbed down and disappeared below the surface for a few moments before floating back up again and for a brief moment it remained there on its side before an almighty swirl, complete with a huge slurp, occurred before everything disappeared and all went extremely quiet.

It’s been nagging me ever since as I had put it down to a large pike but it never really seemed to fit on a water that was so abundant with small fish and such a decaying bream?

Now I know better... I think

Anyone had any similar experiences?

Misshapen big-bore industrial hoses with tentacles that'll have anything. When it comes to fish, size ain't always everything. Rather fish for gudgeon or bleak.

European Catfish Hunting, Eating Feathered Prey - YouTube

Just watching what looked like a decent good sized log floating down the Trent. Nothing remotely unusual until it started to move upstream.

I do think I hooked one on the Trent a few years back when fishing for barbel. If it wasn't a cat it must have been a damned good carp. The way it just stuck to the bottom and moved slowly but steadily downstream made me think cat rather than carp though. I doubt it even knew it was hooked. Either way, it decided that a day trip to Gainsbrough was the way to go. Nothing I could do was going to change its mind.

There's barely any catfish waters round my way, can't say that I'm too bothered by that.

I've never caught a catfish and never fished for them before. There is something 'monster in the water' ish about them that fascinates me. The stories of them are even more intriguing if there are no records of them being stocked in the lake/river before but they are suspected of lurking in the deep feasting on ducks/dogs/ bivvies full of carp anglers etc

They're sounding better by the minute. Carpies in Bivvies, you say...?

Here's one from years gone bye that I've cut and pasted from a 2012 thread....................

I’ve only been spooled once, on the Thames some years ago while barbel fishing. I’m not sure what the culprit was but I’ve landed river carp to 31.02 on barbel gear (1.5t/c 8/10lb line) without that much fuss. As I’ve never fished for, or landed, a Wells that would be my first guess.
Jerry
PS Two of my friends have had a similar experience – the jury’s still out.

Sounds like the inspiration for another overblown, overhyped Jeremy Wade River Monsters episode. All that Psycho-style, Son of Jaws music, murky, muddy, swirls in the water, Blair-Witch style whispered infra-red footage and a half-hour build-up to a crescendo and, and, and....oh, it's a fish!