Clutch ?

When was the last time a fish took line from you against the clutch ( more than five yards ) ?

Here is my list that have managed it.

Sea Breams ,from any country.

Trigger fish

Bass ,ocasinoaly

Mullet

Mackerel I wished these got to 10lb

Stingrays Beachcaster

Smoothounds 15 lb plus beachcaster

Congerbeachcaster

Seatrout.

There aren't many fish out there that will strip yards of line against a clutch.All fish caught on float or feeder rod ,beachcaster.

Float fishing 3 feet from the bank in tight against reed bushes.

Hookbaitwas aJellet on a size 14 hook... the float buried, i didnt really need to strike, just had to hold on tight... rod (1.5lb TC) arched right thru and a massive vortex swirl appeared 5 feet away from me, it was almost like a parting of the water as a giant torpedo took off for the opposite side of the lake some 30 yards away, my clutch screamed for mercy, the rod bent yet further, the fish gradually eased off and10-12 mins later he was mine... only 9lb 7oz but he had eaten his shredded wheat, someone forgot to tell him he shouldnt do that /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Fishfor the record was a Mirror Carp but that seemed irrelevant at the time, and afterwards so did the weight, all that mattered was what happened in those 12 mins... it was pure madness, 1 very angry fish Vs 1 very trying angler... 0-1, an away win... nice result.

I was fishing Stanborough Lakes WGC.

MK 1V Walker Split cane rod, lump of meat on the hook free lined out.

I had a take, hooked it and off it went. It just kept going, after a few minutes there was a crowd of about 15 standing behind me. I turned the fish, off it went again. I wouldn't like to say just how long I was playing the fish, but in the end I landed it.

Was I shocked, it was a deformed common carp, i say deformed, all the fins were the size of a fish around the 30lb mark, it's tail was bigger than the fish was in length, and the fish had a bend in it's spine, as if it had been broken, but one hell of a fight. The fish was only around 12lb.

Jerry I usually set my clutch at a third of the line strength on the spool so most fish bigger than roach take some line but the barbel on the wye can snap 15lb line like thread if you set the clutch to high and I dont have problems with line twist from reeling in against a slipping clutch.

Chub angler my piont was there aren't a lot of fish that will take line against a well set clutch, there are a lot of fish that will put up dogged resistance to being caught ie Chub, but how many fish will strip line off every time ? there aren't many.

OK Jerry I see what you mean now.

Mahseer, over 100 yards gone in a matter of seconds from a clutch that you can barely pull line from by hand.
Redtail catfish also go pretty well, especially for their size.

In this country i usually only get large amounts of line taken when i hook a carp on my roach gear, although did have a 33 lb mirror a couple of years back on my tench gear (1.5 lb rod and 10 lb line) that stripped about 90 yards off me, bow-waving right out into the middle of the lake.

18LB Common tail hooked on light feeder rod in a match ,right old game getting it under control and even when beaten it just kept swimming out of the net,25 mins to land wrecking all my neighbouring anglers swims and for my efforts i was awarded 1 kilo under club match rules . To make things worse i was catching well on skimmers before hooking the "monster" and caught nowt after it for second place.