are you haunted by a fish you didn't weigh/photograph?

I had been lure fishing on the oxford canal and didnt have a clue what i was doing. I was using a cheap, sh*t Chinese grub tailed lure and I hooked into what I now know to be a monster. I didnt even know it was a perch, at this point the largest perch I had caught was about half a pound.. I still to this day have not seen a perch this large and didnt weigh it or photograph it. Its fair to say its haunting me. I recall the spikes on the pectoral fins to be about the size of cocktail sausage sticks.

Oh yes! A chub from the Loddon. I’d recently moved from north Bucks to north Hampshire and was used to catching chub in the region of 4-5 lb, I took a chub on an exploratory session on the Loddon that gave me the shakes, it was the biggest chub I’d seen in or out of the water with a huge width across its back that I can still see in my mind’s eye. I put the fish in the net on the bank turned to get my scales and sling out of my rucksack only to turn back to see that great fish sliding back into the river, I dived after it and nearly followed it into the river.
But I did put a great fish on the bank and didn’t reduce it to a mere number, ( but it would have been nice to know).
....... I’m more haunted by the ones that got away!


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Me as well, what a cock-up! It happened two seasons ago, I still shake my head and think PRAT!

I was roach fishing after dark on the Kennet using legered bread just into a crease over a nice slack. The bobbin lifted slowly and I struck into what obviously felt a decent fish. I netted it, still sitting down, turned on my head torch, laid the net on the mat in front of me, unhooked it, turned it over and checked its fins and mouth. It was definitely a roach not a bream or a hybrid. It was definitely a 2lb plus! Then the bloody fish flapped back into the river - no photo and not weighed! My pb river roach is 2lbs 7oz - it might have beaten it? I will never know.

I caught a bream in the middle of the night and weighed it in at 11lb 6oz. Problem is I was on auto pilot as I was incredibly tired after a long day and can't remember if I zeroed the scales to the weight sling or not, I couldn't check the scales in the morning as I'd caught and weighed a tench later that same night. So I count it as 9lb 14oz

This could be rose tinted glasses as up to this point I'd only caught tiny roach and perch but..

As a 10 year old kid I was swing tipping a reservoir with a small maggot feeder. I was messing around trying to catch butterflies with my landing net as I'd caught nothing for hours and was bored. I glanced round to see my swing tip slowly rising, I struck into something and for the first time ever a fish pulled back. After a few minutes I netted a massive roach, not having a set of scales I just gazed in wonder, unhooked the roach and but it back. In my memory that roach is every ounce a 3lb roach but in reality I bet it wouldn't make a pound. Part of me would love to know the weight and part of me wouldn't.

Not so much haunted as niggled. Back in the days when the barbel record was only 13 odd pounds I had a 12 pounder but the flash on my camera failed so no photo. I also had what was clearly a big 2lb roach from the Cherwell when I was about half a mile from my scales/camera. That is still probably my best ever roach.

The ones that haunt me are the ones that either get off at the net or that return themselves prematurely. I will never, ever get over the huge sea trout that I landed and then skillfully bounced back into the river one very dark night in Wales about 3-4 years ago. That was a very, very big fish and I doubt I'll ever see [ let alone hook] its like again.

Had a 14lb 15oz Barbel on the Ivel and went to set up the camera and the batt was dead as a dodo, flipside was that dad was there with me so saw the positives of that, went on to catch a 6lb chub and 2lb 8oz perch on a real red letter day, the memories are there even if the photos aren't, these things happen

I remember years ago when I was a lot younger; a work colleague told me about a stretch of canal that he had fished that held a few very large Roach, and that he had not long ago had one of just over the magic 2lb mark, so we decided to give it a very early morning session to see if we could find one or two of these magic fish.

About an hour after we had started fishing my mate shouted up to me that there was a very large perch of around 5 or 6lb having a go at a coot in his swim, which I took with a pinch of salt; but I quickly assembled a small spinning rod with a tiny Mepps lure and went to have a look; and to my surprise the coot was drifting along with the biggest perch I’ve ever seen flashing in the water below it; and it occasionally seemed to be trying to grab the coots feet and drag it under.

I tried to catch the Perch with my spinner but to no avail, and the coot was attempting to fly off but couldn’t. We very quickly realised that the coot must have caught itself up in someone’s line with the perch hooked on the end and as hard as we tried we just couldn’t catch hold of the line to bring it in; and the coot had started to droop it’s head under the surface and it soon died; as it slowly disappeared downstream.

I only wish we had been able to help that coot, and possibly unhook the largest perch that we had ever seen.

We didn’t catch any 2lb Roach that day either.

Keith

YES… bream fishing the Shannon in the late 80s I hooking into and landed the biggest bream I have ever caught to this day. Unhooked the fish and holding it up to pose for the camera, click, snap, flash my friend had taken the picture.

Great return the fish back to the water.

on arrival back home a few days later the film was put into one of those true print bag that you posted to get you films developed 4 or 5 days later the prints was deliver by post every picture was fine apart from the big bream pose. My friend finger was covering ¾ off the lens!!

I don't think I've been haunted by a fish I didn't weight or photograph.

Maybe it is because I am basiclly an optimist and always think that the next fish will be as big if not bigger, so the overiding feeling is one of mild dispondancy than anything else.


Even that feeling tends to pale when the next fish is landed, regardless of its size.


To be totally honest, the worst of those feelings was when having lost a fish or two and then realising that I'd have won or framed in the match had those fish stayed on the hook. Even then it is just a fleeting annoyance . . . .

two incidents spring to mind. About ten years ago I caught easily my biggest chub to date from the weir at Appleford, quivertipping a golf ball of cheese paste. The tip went round slowly and at first I thought this must be a barbel, given its speed and strength. eventually got it into the net. I have caught two weighed chub at 6. 4 and 6.10-this one dwarfed both and If I had to guess for my life I would say 7.8. However I decided that day to omit either camera or weighing gear. The Emperor mong strikes again. The other fish i never even saw. Fishing for carp at Shillingford the buzzer goes and I lift into a slowly moving tank. After about five minutes the hooklink gives way-I would love to have even just had a glimpse of it.

Ok heres my sob story..

I was fishing the local river for Carp, it was the middle of a hot sunny afternoon and I noticed one of the rod tops banging. Sure it was a Bream I left it. For something like half an hour the rod top kept giving these intermittent knocks until eventually I decided to reel it in and on the end was a Roach that was simply enormous.

The Size 2 hook was right through both lips. My car was parked up on the road just behind me with my scales and Camera. Shaking I looked at the fish and decided that as it had obviously been on for ages and was so well hooked up I would just prop the rod in a rest and dangled it back in the water as I went to get the equipment.

I am literally cringing as I write that.

Well you can guess the rest. Off I ran to get the scales and camera, it took me literally less than 1 minute.
On lifting the rod it was gone. To this day I still don’t understand why I didn’t dangle it in the landing net. What a pratt.

That Roach was a whopper.

Should have named this thread "anglers woes". Glad i'm not the only one :ballchain: