Stewart Bloor
The Reverend Stewart Bloor, perhaps better known as Sedge in the pages of FISHINGmagic, is an ordained Minister and Director of the Sedgley International Christian Ministries.

He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.

Pilgrim’s Progress – read it everyThursday!

Specimen Fish…Is Size Important?

We hear so much about specimen fish. In fact many of us reading this right now spend most of our time, if not pursuing them, then certainly thinking about them. And I’m definitely included in that bracket. As a self-confessed specimen angler, I’m certainly interested in quality rather than quantity as far as individual fish are concerned.

But what exactly constitutes a specimen fish? Pose the question to most anglers and I’m sure a reply will be forthcoming. ‘A two pound roach…three pound perch…ten pound barbel…twenty pound carp…’ are all answers we can expect to hear. And, of course I’m not going to argue with any of those statements that qualify what a specimen fish is.
This carp made me a very happy man
But what I want to suggest in this article is that a specimen should not necessarily be decided by weight alone. But rather, by taking into account factors such as the venue, difficulty of the water, etc, there should be flexibility in actually labelling a fish a specimen. We certainly live in a society where ‘big is best’, but in angling terms, I’m not sure that is necessarily the case.

Planned Angling and Canal Carp

I plan my angling very carefully and tend to fish one venue and target one particular species for as long as the campaign lasts. Some campaigns last for a season, others for a few months. March of 2000 saw the canals stay open for the first time and so I decided to concentrate for a three month spell after carp on my local canal, the Staffs/Worcs.

It is certainly not a noted specimen water and you are far more likely to see a pole on the venue rather than a bivvy, a maggot more than a boily. Stuffed with vast shoals of gudgeon it is a match angler’s paradise. However, my thinking was that there must be something decent lurking beneath the murky waters. A carefully planned campaign led me to a spot on the canal that was feature packed. The canal widened, had overhanging trees, dense reed beds on the far bank and an inlet feeding the waterway. Surely, if there were carp in this stretch, this is where I would find them.

In order to eliminate the small fish I went for a boily approach, fishing tactics more akin to a carp lake rather than the local canal. Still, I was confident that there was something in there, and sooner or later I would connect with it. I do set myself targets so decided if I could catch a double figure carp I would be a very happy man indeed. It certainly was an encouragement on my first ever trip when I caught a fin-perfect 6lb 6 oz common carp. It wasn’t a monster, but at least I knew there were carp in that stretch, and that gave me hope for the double.

The Staffs/Worcs Canal is not noted for specimen fish
Over the next three months I gradually began to edge closer to the target I had set. A 7lb fish was quickly followed by an ‘8’ and then a ‘9’. But still the double proved elusive. Then it came. Seventeen sessions of patience and perseverance produced the fish I had set out to catch, a lovely mirror carp of 10-8-12. Mission accomplished. But I had invested seventeen sessions for just five fish. It was a lesson in patience and perseverance, but well worth it to slip the net under that fish.

The fish may not make ‘This week’s whackers’ or whatever the latest catchy title is given to the big fish galleries that regularly appear in the angling press. Now, please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not being critical or making a snide comment in any way. But the point I’m trying to make is that even though the Staffs/Worcs mirror carp may not make national headlines, in my opinion it is on a par with a ’20’ from a recognised big fish water.

Stour Chub

Another example to illustrate the point I am trying to make about what constitutes a specimen fish can be found in my winter campaign a couple of years ago. On that occasion I was targeting the River Stour. Not the crystal clear Dorset variety, but the rather murky namesake that flows through the West Midlands before emptying itself into its big sister, the Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire. As I live fairly close to the middle reaches of the Stour it’s a great place to have a short session. As someone who fishes three times a week, I do a lot of short, local sessions.

A 2 lb chub from the Stour is a very good fish
Again, like the Staffs/Worcs Canal, the Stour is a small fish water. Affected over the years by pollution, you wouldn’t describe it as a particularly attractive venue to fish. But it wasn’t what was above the water that interested me, more a case of what lay beneath it. I knew there were small chub in there and so it was that species I decided to concentrate on.

Using big baits and suitable tactics to deter the small fish, again like the campaign on the canal, the fish weren’t exactly coming thick and fast. The reality is, that in both instances I was probably fishing for less than 1% of the fish in the respective venues. However, as I started to catch chub above the one pound mark on a fairly regular basis, the idea of a ‘2’ seemed more attractive as the winter wore on.

I actually caught two fish above the 2lb mark (biggest 2.4). Again, not likely to make the national angling press, but when you take into account the venue and so on, in my book definitely a specimen fish. Twenty four cold, windy, not to mention fishless (many of them) sessions on the Stour for two fish which, had they came from other rivers I fish, I wouldn’t even give a mention in despatches. But, to determine a specimen, as I’ve pointed out, is not simply to refer to a fish of a certain weight. We have to take into account the water that we are fishing.

The River Mease
A 3 lb + chub from the Mease in Leicestershire
Regular readers of Pilgrim’s Progress will know that I’ve recently been fishing the River Mease, and in particular I’ve spent a lot of time on the upper reaches in Leicestershire, where the river is no more than a brook. The chub here go bigger than the previously mentioned Stour, but again, wouldn’t make the national news as far as monster size specimens are concerned.

But catching chub of 4 lb-plus is, in my book, a real achievement from the stretch I’ve been fishing. I would dearly love to catch a ‘5’ from there. Now, that would make me a very happy man indeed. For sure, there are other venues where a fish of that size is a distinct possibility every time you go fishing. But remember what the underlying thread of this article is about. The actual weight of the fish itself is not the be-all and end-all. What really matters is the venue and the weight of the fish compared to the average in that stretch.

The Staffs/Worcs Canal

Recently, I’ve also been back on the Staffs/Worcs Canal, which is my back-up venue for the winter when the rivers are not fishable. I’m targeting roach and perch, so check out forthcoming Pilgrim’s Progress articles to see how I get on. But suffice it to say, that again, we’re not talking about record breaking fish. In reality, fish over 1 lb are decent specimens. A 2 lb roach or perch caught by the end of March will not only make me a very happy man, it will also make me a pleasantly surprised one as well.

I could use many other examples of fish that I would categorise as a specimen, not by weight alone, but by bringing other factors into the equation. But my plea to fellow anglers is not to get caught up in the trap of chasing the biggest, purely and simply because it’s the biggest. Let’s enjoy our fishing, and above all recognise that a specimen need not necessarily be ‘big’.

Well this time next week, it willall be over. You’ll never want to see another mince pie again,believe me. And as for turkey, say no more….But as surely as thesun rises every morning, Pilgrim’s Progress will be back nextThursday. What have I been up to on the run in to Christmas? After mybrace of 4’s it was hard to stay away from the chub on the Sow. Butas the first part of the title of next week’s Pilgrim’s Progresssuggests, I haven’t emulated my previous catch. Still, as the rest ofthe article suggests, there’s plenty more to write about. If you’reintrigued as to what it’s all about, drag yourself away from watchingthe Wizard of Oz for the twentieth time, switch on your computer andtune in to FISHINGmagic. Oh, and by the way, Pilgrim’s Progress nextweek is called ”Slow On The Sow….The M6…..Meisje AndBeitje…..Roadkills….Swimming Bull…..And FatherChristmas”

The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org

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