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An individual, of no great importance, who is unable to see the natural world as a place for competition. I catch fish, watch birds, derive immense pleasure from simply looking at butterflies, moths, bumble-bees, etc - without the need for rules! I am Dylan and this is my blog - if my opinions offend? Don't bother logging on again - simple!

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Thursday, 24 August 2017

Stranger on my unhooking mat

It's been a really testing past few weeks as Bev and I attempt to adapt our lives to Ron & Denise (Bev's parents) also living in our bungalow. Never going to be easy for any of us, but needs must and that's all there is to it! As for fishing? Hardly number one priority at present yet, when the opportunity arose, Wednesday afternoon, I went down to the club water armed with just a single rod, landing net, two boxes of dog biscuits, a couple of slices of bread crust and very little else. Conditions were perfect, with heavy cloud and a muggy feel, the carp were easily located swimming around in the upper layers - spot on for surface fishing!
An 11 ft 6 ins, 1 lbs 2 oz t/c Tring Tench Rod, my Match Aerial centre-pin, 5.2 lbs b.s. Drennan line and a barbless size 10 "Animal" hook was all I required. No floats, leads or other such stuff - free lined bread crust (cut into small cubes) being all that was required. I ended the session having landed seven and lost three carp, I missed more than I hooked! Quite simply, I smashed it and enjoyed myself immensely - just what the doctor ordered. I was only there under three hours and have to say the session provided a massive boost to my flagging morale. The lake (rather a grandiose description of a small man-made hole in the ground) is little more than a match angling carp puddle and, as such, the biggest fish I am likely to catch is a low/mid double? With this in my thinking, I didn't carry any scales or weigh sling, with me. Big error, no; I didn't catch a monster carp but, I did land the biggest Ide I've ever seen. If I'd had some scales it would now be my PB - instead it's just a wet fish on my unhooking mat! Happy daze.

A lovely fish which will never make my PB list because guesstimation  has no place in
my angling. If I want a weight, then I use a set of scales. It's not such a difficult concept to grasp?
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2 comments:

  1. The Essex Scribbler26 August 2017 at 07:46

    Well, it's your biggest ide, you just don't know what it weighed !

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    Replies
    1. Dylan Wrathall26 August 2017 at 18:49

      I have made no secret of my contempt for the celebrity driven "it's a mid twenty, thirty, whatever" crap of modern day carp angling. I believe that every fish deserves the respect to be put on a set of scales, should the angler feel it worthy, because that's why we go fishing. I'm not starving, so don't have any need to feed my family. thus catching fish is a fun activity. It is my belief, that if you wish to make a statement about the size of your captures, then you have the decency to place them in a weigh sling and, to the best of your ability, get a statistic. Modern day guesstimate has taken angling down a dodgy side road where dreams become reality because social media decrees it so. If it looks big - it is! Photoshop and digital cameras rule - OK. Who needs scales?

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