What would you do

[Rob Brownfield]

Me..on the wind-up...never..lol!

Hey....I had two twenties from Suffolk, stalked in the margins.....and nobody said well done (....except for the barman in The Plough at Blunderstone...who was just back from Canada....with hundreds of pic of the carp he caught!..lol

 

[Martin Wright]

As a general rule I don't think publicity of record/large fish does much harm - provided people are sensible. Redmire didn't suffer because it was well managed for many years by people who cared. The Dorset Stour didn't suffer overly when it produced the record Roach - at that time a species which was very popular indeed.

The problem comes in situations like the Gt Ouse. Artificially fed whoppers 'trapped' within a few swims. Fair play to the pioneering anglers who first found them, but I think it's shameful the way they've been mercilessly exploited since.

Give me a fish like Rons' 10lber from the Trent any day.

 

[Martin Wright]

Sorry, didn't intend to get so cross.

 

[Geoff Palmer]

If I could a big fish I would .....panic.
I must be honest, I don't set out to catch specimen fish. Keith Arthur said that his best fish was the last one he caught. Its just a pleasure getting to the water and fishing.

 

[Alan John Degville]

i agree withyou geoff same ideal's, ihaven't the dedication to sit hour's,day's on end without catching anything i read somewhere one carp angler in the hope catching a record fish had fished 65 times for up to3 day's at time over a 3 year period and caught 11 fish none was the record carp. if i was lucky enough to catch a record fish i would shout it from the roof top's.

 

[Stewart Moss]

If I caught a record fish I would definitely try to make a claim; but is this possible without revealing the exact location? eg would say, River Thames near Oxford be sufficient?
The reason being, one of my local waters I have fished for years recently saw the arrival of "the circus", and its appalling. You couldn't get a swim as they're all full of anglers (from miles away), mostly fulltime fishermen, often rowing out to their swim, to drop 40 gallons of bait and 5 rigs (double hook versions) over the side, whilst they wait for up to 2 weeks for the run from a poss record fish.
Is that really fishing?

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

Me catch a big fish He, He He.... Go on say it again, He He He.

Rob said "Hey....I had two twenties from Suffolk, stalked in the margins.....and nobody said well done",

Well done Rob,

Clink,..............GLUG, GLUG, GLUG.........FFFFFFFFIIIIIIISSSSS.

Here, have a pint on me . ;-}~

 

[Kevan Farmer]

Ok, I'll be perfectly honest here. When I first started reading this thread I was of the mind that I wouldn't breath a word to anybody other than my family if I did catch a record. But, I am swayed. I would allow some details. Whether I would claim the fish I do not know. I would seriously have to think about it. I have caught a number of decent sized perch over the years from different venues. All by sheer luck. All the venues have also been the sort that would not normally get a 2nd look.

A side issue of this is the photographing of fish. It seems that many 'names' are decrying the photographing of fish unless they are near record weight. Why? They have no doubt taken many trophy shots in the past so why should they deny lesser mortals their small claim to fame?

Kevan

 

[Wendy Perry]

Rodney you are one crazy person LOL )

 

[Geoff Palmer]

But the thing is we are lesser mortals - or perhaps its just me that's lesser.
I really haven't got either the time to spend sitting for hours on days on end just to catch a big fish, or the inclination.
I can't afford to fish without working, and even after earning my pittance I certainly couldn't afford to get on a syndicate water I really believe in a few years time only syndicates will be able to claim record. I must stop whinging. I'm getting to sound like the Welsh I'm supposed to be educating.

 

[Cakey]

Graham
I know deep down your right but I have seen it from the other side of the pond . A lake near me plodding slowly through life with several 30lb carp and a couple of anglers at any given time suddenly threw out a spawned up 42lb carp.within days every swim was taken .litter everywhere.fights over swims.top names getting prefference over season ticket holders then after a spawning and a couple months all went back to normal.
you cant blame the few ticket holders keeping mum after that !!!!!
CAKEY

 

[Stewart Moss]

On the other side of the coin; a lot of clubs could do with the circus coming to town on their waters, esp if a surprise record or near record could occur on one of our desperately underfished rivers! My club is terribly down on numbers, which have been declining for a few years...

 

[Andy Nellist]

I stopped putting my catches in the papers in 93 when I realised that the cost of massaging my ego was to have to put up with the circus arriving in town. Now I enjoy my catches for what they are and I concentrate more on the welfare of the fish than on getting shots good enough to go in the papers.Silence is golden!

 

[Mike Fidler]

Nail em to the nearest tree, thats what I say! Seriously I would enjoy sharing a big fish with my freinds and if it was really exceptional of course you would publicise it. I would still keep the venue a closly guarded secret though, you never know when certain desperate anglers from the weeklies looking for a story will discend on to a water catch a few fish, lie wildly about the weight and then publicise the venue to all and sundry!

 

[GrahamM]

Andy and Cakey, I really do understand that side of the debate, but do you see the other side of it? Let's take just one aspect of angling secrecy to its extreme, just for illustration purposes, and imagine that all anglers for all time had maintained a 'golden silence' and never told anyone what they had caught.

It would mean that you could be fishing your local pond for tench, catching fish averaging 3lb when, one day, you caught a 4-pounder, an absolutely enormous fish that you were convinced must be the biggest tench ever caught in the UK, maybe even the world!

Well, it's true isn't it? Keep things to yourself too much and you have only your own yardstick to go by.

Okay, you might say that you could be happy with such a scenario, indeed, that you ARE happy with just using your own yardstick right now.

But don't forget that you're only happy with it because you've been able to set your own yardstick to measure fish according to the publicised catches caught by those good and generous anglers who do share their good fortune with their fellow anglers.

As I've said before, if we all clam up then in years to come we won't know a good catch from a poor one.

I say publicise your significant catches, be proud of them, tell the world how good angling is. Shout it from the rooftops.

Just don't say where you caught it from if there is a danger of the water being invaded by the masses.

That's simple enough, surely, isn't it?

 

[Wendy Perry]

oooooooooooooh Graham you do look lovely and mike well what can i say the pic is just sooooooo you LOL

 

[Lee Foulkes]

Graham
Some interesting points. If everyone did keep to a golden silence, would it really be that bad?

Going to your local water and catching a netful of 3lb tench then a 4 comes along and you are absolutely over the moon, maybe it is the biggest ever, you don’t know, and you don’t care because it is a big fish (compared to your normal catches)
You’re happier with this scenario, because you haven’t measured yourself against some national yardstick, which says that if it isn’t a 9lb’er it isn’t a big tench.
You would still know a good catch, but it would only be judged against your own previous catches on the waters you fish. Is that any less a catch? I think not.

It would certainly do away with all the problems caused by people judging their catches against others which can lead to a situation I have come across where young anglers only fish for double figure barbel and 20lb carp and get disillusioned if they cant catch them as anything else doesn’t count.

Anyway, I’m going to head down to my local river, there is a massive 6oz roach I have been after for some time.

 

[GrahamM]

I agree that it wouldn't be all bad.

I'm off for some barbel fishing on Friday, had them to 32lb so far. Maybe I'll get a big one this week.

 

[Wendy Perry]

Graham where do u go barbel fishing ??? and is there anywhere nr me u think i'm going fishing somewhere fri don't know where yet but fancy a change.

 

[GrahamM]

Wendy, I'm not sure yet. I'm keeping my eye on the water levels because some rivers are better than others when the level is up.