One of those days.

Spent the day in the garden cleaning up, and thought I'd check my worm patch ( small pile of rabbit cage waste) ended up with a decent box of worms so at 15:30 I grab a rod and head out for an hour.
Was heading for river but saw the local stillwater was empty and gate locked so thought I'd try for a perch or 2.
Found a nice swim with an old tree stump and dead reeds. Small stick float, quick change bead, size 10 hook with a nice fat worm in the margin. Had a couple of small bites then a very slow take. Struck lightly and it was away, took me completely by surprise, saw a silhouette and thought it was a decent bream. 10mins later it's still fighting. Finally get it in and it's a beautiful common. No gear with me scales etc.. Had a Frisk for phone to take some pics. Gutted no phone, no camera. Absolutely gutted and so angry. The best fish iv ever seen let alone caught. No pictures and no one around to witness or even take a pic for me. Packed up and went home, I could of cried.
Lesson learned the hard way :/

Will be back this afternoon *for perch*

Can you not give us some idea of size? Obviously weights vary tremendously with carp (long thin fish : short stubby fish), but some idea of length might offer a clue to weight(?)

It's Sod's Law, Tilly05, and I take on board the frustration found in your post.

Yes, a reasonable pic would've been nice to savour at a later date in the comfort of your home, BUT close your eyes and imagine those minutes of the take, the fight and the eventual landing of your fish. Not the same thing I know, but the best you can do......However, you DID make the effort to go, it was speculative, you made the 'right decision' as to where you might catch, the garden worms were a bonus and you caught a good fish, so lots of positives eh?

Good luck with the perch fishing (or even another, bigger, carp!!)




Now where did I put the charger for my camera? (Oh yes, I always carry a camera, BUT normally to be found in 'run down' mode.................................................groan..

Well done any common is always welcome. Shame you had no photo but I bet the image of that fish is burnt into your brain for ever.

Oh dear it's Sod's law! I have done the same years ago when we went fishing at some local ponds! We forgot scales and mobile phones!

Good luck with your Perch fishing!

Have to keep us posted how you get on!

Buy one of those disposable cameras if they still sell them and keep it in your tackle bag

Iv driven the wife crazy, it's all iv gone on about!
I Dnt like guessing weights, but an educated guys would be the 12lb mark. Iv scanned through Google images of loads of carp pictures and even watched some old fishing programmes too and it makes me more confident on my weight guess. But it's only a guess. It was a truly beautiful fish, colour, scales, I'm sure you can all remember the first big fish you hooked into.
I can remember every single part of the capture.

Re arranged my car boot last night, small tackle box, rod pod, camping chair, spare fully charged camera phone!!
Will be buying a camera soon as is possible.

I can sympathize. As well as being clumsy I too can be forgetful. My problems arise when I switch tackle for different venues or species. Solution. Secreted away in my boot there is a trout tele landing net, a couple of older reels, scales, rod rests. catapult, back of pellets, tin of corn and a tin of meat. Guess the items I have forgotten in the past??? mg: