Would you publish, and why?

If you were to nail a large bag of fish, or a single specimen, would you wish it to be published in the Angling press, or on the internet.

Having succumbed to the press with pictures on a couple of occasions and suffered the repercussions. My answer would be a definate no.

But what about you, would you, and why?

I don't fish one or two venues regularly, but fish many over a season, with some involving a lot of travelling.
Some of the places I wouldn't have thought about fishing had it not been for someone giving it a mention, so I don't feel I shouldn't share it for others to enjoy too

A definite no from me, I have seen the results of fisheries, fish and even swims that were recognisable from photographs.

I once had a few very good years on the Trent after stumbling on a method/bait that caught me a lot of big fish, I told a friend after 2 years what I was doing (after being pestered for 2 years) what a mistake he told all and sundry and Billy Smarts descended, he not a friend any longer.

I am told that if a photograph is taken with a smart phone the exact location can be tracked if you have the correct computer stuff to do it, I wonder how many publicising their catches in this way know they can be tracked?

Derek Gibson said:

But what about you, would you, and why?

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Over the years I have landed some pretty large or impressive fish of different species and yet have never, ever, been tempted to see my name in the comics and worse still seeing the venue location plastered for all and sundry to see.

I well remember some years ago when an angler took 2 terrific 3 pound Roach from the Hampshire Avon close to Ringwood and for the next 3 mnoths you couldn't see the banks for anglers and a forest of rods, and the local raods became ruddy car parks.

No, for me I am happy to know that I caught the fish and even happier that it continues to live in peace and relative quiet and not continually hounded by trophy hunting anglers . . . . . .

Years ago, before I lived in Dorset, I took a holiday here, at Warmwell. There were two lakes, one containing a known near record / possible record carp, Basil.

It was solid with rods, not a swim to be had. I had the other lake to myself for the whole week.

I learned a lot from that

dorsetandchub said:

Years ago, before I lived in Dorset, I took a holiday here, at Warmwell. There were two lakes, one containing a known near record / possible record carp, Basil.

It was solid with rods, not a swim to be had. I had the other lake to myself for the whole week.

I learned a lot from that

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Wasn't it 'Herman' and Warmwell?

Never have - never will...........

Craig Hunt said:

Wasn't it 'Herman' and Warmwell?

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Might have been, mate - have absolutely no interest in giving a fish a name. All I remember is that it was a known fish, with a name and that what I witnessing was not angling but hunting!!

For me it is a somewhat unlikely occurrence, but should it ever happen I would not want to ruin the peace and quiet that I and other club members enjoy as that is worth so much more! Just the knowledge of capture and the careful return is enough for me.

Definately not and cannot understand those who do.

Over the years I have been very fortunate to have fished some special waters and I have been very lucky to have caught some special fish - why on earth would I want to publicise either the water or the fish? Let others enjoy their fame not for me.

Difficult one this for several reasons, which I’ll come to further on. I have over the 20 years of this site written a few articles for it. Usually they’re a retrospective from a few years before I wrote them. I only write them if I think I’ve got something different to say on the method of fishing, type of water and so on. Quality over quantity, if you like!
In such pieces you have to include a few pictures of fish, as that’s what's wanted by the editor, words of description are not these days enough. Dumb, dumb and dumber down I guess?
By doing this, it could be argued you’re publishing your catches and indulging in a penis measuring game, biggin’ yourself up, blah, blah, blah!

I can see no way around this if you feel you have something different to say and want to share it with others. It’s simply a fact of life we all learn from one another and the way we do that is by reading what others put out there! It’s why you’re reading this!

So guilty as charge on that account!

The flip side of that is, if you put it out there for what you believe are altruistic reasons, the more you’re talked or known about, the potential is there to stuff your own fishing and friends you may be fishing with on a particular water(s).

And that did happen on one water I was fishing where I’d had a big tench from, which was an open club water. I told a friend via email about it, It got out on here I’d had the big fish using the same tactics I wrote about some months before and the clamour on here was for me to tell all about it. I agreed I would (much as I didn’t really want to at that time) with the then editor but some things need to happen to the picture. Those being the picture was mirrored, put the other way round, the background was blurred out and only me and the fish would appear on the site with the account of its capture.
All of this was done and the photo and account appeared.

Within days I got two anonymous emails from people, telling me which water it was caught on and which swim it came from. Neither me, or the mates I was fishing with at the time could get anywhere near the swim for the rest of the summer.

The moral I guess is, you write the article with pictures, you take the chances, as there’s some out there always trawling the net for information and shortcuts to big fish!!!

The whole world of celebrity and the sycophancy that goes with it just makes me want to puke.

My anonymity is my most treasured possession.

It's amazing how many celebrities want the trappings but go mean and nasty when people speak to them and the like.

Not for me, not ever.

If I caught a new UK record gudgeon I'd be sorely tempted to tell the world...
and I probably would....

Don't think this is a scenario I'll ever have to worry about:wh

Then again, picture the headline "Black Country angler catches 4oz Roach"

Celebrity ?

I have caught a few specimen fish in my time and I have publicised it, the fish were well known and for the most part hard to catch.

I have also caught some monsters from non publicity water and waters where my mates still fishing.

The irony of all this, is the people who have not got a cat in hells chance of catching anything worth while, who still buy the weeklies and come on websites to give it the biggie about how they would never do it !!

Well get real, for the most part you could not do it !!

It's the Pot Hunters who get me, who fish off other hard work and gain credence for what they have not achieved.

There are some well known anglers who do exactly that and they are the ones who should be chastised for taking the " Micheal !!

Bob

Bob Hornegold said:

Celebrity ?

I have caught a few specimen fish in my time and I have publicised it, the fish were well known and for the most part hard to catch.

I have also caught some monsters from non publicity water and waters where my mates still fishing.

The irony of all this, is the people who have not got a cat in hells chance of catching anything worth while, who still buy the weeklies and come on websites to give it the biggie about how they would never do it !!

Well get real, for the most part you could not do it !!

It's the Pot Hunters who get me, who fish off other hard work and gain credence for what they have not achieved.

There are some well known anglers who do exactly that and they are the ones who should be chastised for taking the " Micheal !!

Bob

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Having read your post over and over Bob I still fail to understand the point you are trying to make?

As well as occassional bouts of having to work, there's good reason why I go quiet on the "how did you get on?" thread. For the most part, anything I go public with is from club water (where we welcome all the publicity/members we can get) or well known day ticket waters. As the bulk of my spring/summer fishing is on zero publicity waters, it wouldn't matter if I caught anything to get excited about. Besides, the chances of me catching anything worthy of nationwide attention is pretty slim.

Ultimately, I rather suspect the point is moot, but I have no intention of ever going public on my meagre catches beyond an attempt to garner publicity for my club.

peter crabtree said:

If I caught a new UK record gudgeon I'd be sorely tempted to tell the world...
and I probably would....

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Well, every man has his price and a record gudgeon would be close to mine

I love gudgeon but, no, I think just knowing would be enough.

Is that GUGGI thingee still going? Looks like a lot of fun.

Going back to Derek's original question, i would certainly not go to the press or name the venue if i caught a special fish or bag of fish. To do so would mean game over for that fishery and my chances of ever repeating my catch - at least for the foreseeable future.

I remember finding a huge shoal of bream with a mate on the Thames at Shepperton in the mid 80s ( i can name it now as few care about Bream and they are everywhere in the Thames anyway!). It was a late September club match actually and one of the anglers just happened to bag a couple - but that was enough to get an idea where to look. So a week later at dawn i was greeted by the sight of 100 yards worth of topping Bream in the mist as i arrived on my bike. As a 17 year old this was quite a special sight in the days before "the only fish that matter are carp". I landed about five to about 4.5Ibs and also had 5 chub to 3.5Ib casting a heavily weighted feeder right across to overhanging trees. A red letter day at the time.

Within a week the Angling Times ran a centre page spread about the "enormous Bream bags" coming out at Shepperton. No idea how they knew but they had sent a photographer along to accompany some competent match/pleasure angler who bagged nearly 100Ibs of Bream. The swims were pictured and location was obvious. Needless to say, for the rest of that autumn every swim was taken with bivvies and long-stay anglers. By the time i got back on there some months later and in subsequent years the fish had all moved on.