chub_on_the_block
Well-known member
Due to some intense boredom on my part and with a good excuse not to work today i have been reading back through old fishing reports i have kept since the late 1970s. A couple of years back i went so far as to enter basic info - hours fished, venue, date and catch weight onto a spreadsheet. I have about 620 sessions recorded in this way.
Once in a spreadsheet i can sort by catch weight - i see i blanked 90 odd times, and to date my top weight is 62Ib 8oz (estimated) of Bream and Tench. Other notables include nearly 60Ib of Rudd in 5 hours and some memorable days at Witley Park catching 50Ib of Crucians. Best river session to date was a cuple of years back on Wye - almost 50Ib of barbel & chub. Carp baggin has featured lightly - I have only a few sessions where i have got stuck into carp in the 5-10Ib range as seems more often the rage these days. I had a near 50Ib bag from Broadwater Lake near Godalming in the early 80s, which was a water ahead of its time in that respect (a mate fishing 3 yards away had over 100Ib). As for F1s, i can count on one hand the number of times i have come across them (best about a 30Ib bag).
A red letter day could just as easily be a 10Ib bag of Roach on the stick, a brace of nice chub or tench, or even a single fish. It could be doing well in a hard winter league match with bits when all else failed.
I dont have an answer to my question, but i have tended to regard any session where i get 10Ib of fish out as a measure of success. I might need to land that third tench or chub rather than a brace to do it, so be it. In my reports the catch weight then gets written in red ink and thats always been my rule. I have achieved that mark about 100 times, which is probably OK for the waters i have generally fished - but maybe i have been missing something avoiding commercials?!
Once in a spreadsheet i can sort by catch weight - i see i blanked 90 odd times, and to date my top weight is 62Ib 8oz (estimated) of Bream and Tench. Other notables include nearly 60Ib of Rudd in 5 hours and some memorable days at Witley Park catching 50Ib of Crucians. Best river session to date was a cuple of years back on Wye - almost 50Ib of barbel & chub. Carp baggin has featured lightly - I have only a few sessions where i have got stuck into carp in the 5-10Ib range as seems more often the rage these days. I had a near 50Ib bag from Broadwater Lake near Godalming in the early 80s, which was a water ahead of its time in that respect (a mate fishing 3 yards away had over 100Ib). As for F1s, i can count on one hand the number of times i have come across them (best about a 30Ib bag).
A red letter day could just as easily be a 10Ib bag of Roach on the stick, a brace of nice chub or tench, or even a single fish. It could be doing well in a hard winter league match with bits when all else failed.
I dont have an answer to my question, but i have tended to regard any session where i get 10Ib of fish out as a measure of success. I might need to land that third tench or chub rather than a brace to do it, so be it. In my reports the catch weight then gets written in red ink and thats always been my rule. I have achieved that mark about 100 times, which is probably OK for the waters i have generally fished - but maybe i have been missing something avoiding commercials?!