[Fred]

How do you decide which is your best catch. Is it weight, is it quality,eg I would consider a 10lb bass better than a 15lb cod, or is it the circumstances behind the catch, eg how or where you caught it. In the case of Swelleyman it might be which club you were using. The replies might make interesting reading.

Fred

 

[ChrisP]

I was live baiting for bass, Uglystick Ultra Lite spinning rod, Shimano Exage with 6lb fluro, a 1/0 hook and a live launce. Got a take that took off and I couldn't stop it. My son fired up the engine and kept up with the fish, not an easy job as we were in Caernarfon Bar and he had to keep to the channels between the banks. I really thought it was that magical 20lb bass. After 40 minutes we tailed an 18lb tope. A quick weigh and it was returned.

Of all the fish I have had that one was the biggest kick I ever had, not just the sport I had but the way my son handled the boat in a very tricky bit of water.

I think the size of the fish is unimportant to me, it is the circumstances of the catch that give me a buzz. I was out in Florida and had a day on a charter catching 40lb mackerel, 60lb grouper and 500lb+ shark. In the evening I had a walk down the pier with my float rod and a bucket of live prawn. I hooked and landed a baby hammerhead of about 40lb that night and got a bigger buzz than any from the fish on the charter that day.

 

[big_spence]

Personally i think its when you target a certain species and then you catch a specimen of that species, or if you set you sights on say a double then you get it, for years mine was any species off the shore over 10lb then on the same day i managed two Small eyed rays over that weight, so then it went to 20lb and earlier this year i managed a shore caught 20lb Blonde Ray, will i break the 30lb barrier???????

 

[kentangler]

I agree about targeting a species. It is satisfying to catch just what you went after. If you go fishing for Sole one night, and actually get some, it's a great feeling. I used to see Bass swimming in a couple of feet of water in my local Estuary. I couldn't catch them bottom fishing, and they were shy. One morning, I crept onto the little jetty, with just a hook, loaded with fresh mussel, and dangled it over the jetty. Within a few seconds, the Bass I had been watching took the bait. It was a four and a half pounder. It was the most exciting fishing, because my plan had worked. Two weeks late I did the same thing, and caught a five pounder! Brilliant.
It doesn't work every time, but that makes it all the more exciting when I do catch one.

 

[Woodster]

Fred,

Anything i catch is a good catch.

Woodster

 

[swelleyman]

Best catch? My first Bass obviously, and the last big Bass (10lb) I had (Prince Charles' first wedding day - freelined crab almost under my feet on a spinning rod (no. 3 wood) fished after the spinning suddenly went dead and I worked out that the tide had risen too much and the sand eel shoals had more water to spread out?! Thus the Bass COULD be back on the bottom under the weed! I felt that i'd earned/hunted that fish! Similarly when the fishing suddenly goes quiet and I have to change/adapt my methods. (by the way I never had a thing on his second wedding day!)

Oh, and those really quiet (TOTALLY SILENT!!) days when you try until your brain bleeds and, the startegies work! As my wife says, "size does not matter" then!

I really admired one of our posters who told of catching a decent sized Bass on a live baited rockling caught deliberately the next day, after he'd seen a bass 'cough one up' the day before. This was intelligent hunting rather than 'cast-and-hope' which typifies most of my fishing!!

Think we've missed the point of the thread which sort to average out specimen weights I think. There is a formula I think which is applied to 'prize-winning specimens'.

 

[Codfather2]

i deffinately think its the curcumstances that decide the best fish! for example i was fishing for sole at west bexington (chesil beach) and hooked a poor cod of around 4oz, as soon as i started the retrive it felt like i was caught on the bottom so i started pulling quite hard to free the line and it went loose for a few seconds, then my line started to moving away from me down tide. this is when i realised it was a fish which turned out to be a cod of 15lb 12oz complete with live poor cod in its mouth and the size 3 hook only just in the corner of its mouth! im still buzzing now! oh and about 1 hour after that i managed to land my first sole of the year (in december) which topped it off a treat!

 

[sultzer]

every catch to me is the best.

 

[doors1978]

i reckon the catch that you've been the happiest making since you started fishing is your "best catch", be it a monster, or the 1lb codling that you've waited all day for in the rain or snow etc...

 

[Marcus]

my first ever fishing trip...i nagged my brother to take me,,as i had just got back in contact with him after 18 years or so...

he lent me a rod and reel(Which i destroyed!lol)

i caught 3 congers in 15 mins off ogmore beach..

Rod started to bend all over the place,,,,not knowing,i asked my brother "is this a bite"?

he laffed his ass off,,and told me i better strike it...

did so,,and started reeling in...Nothing!!!..i said he was talking rubbish,,then,,,

I nearly lost my right arm,as the rod pulled down so violently..my first fish..a huge conger...(reel got destroyed as i was using it as a winch..lol)first of three that night..in 15Mins!!!!!!

great times..thanx bro

 

[Barrie_G]

Best catch, that would have to be the Mrs

Best fish I would have thought that it's whatever fish you start telling people about when you start telling your fishermans tales

 

[Vlad]

My Best catch is this 23lb2oz Stingray from the Black Sea - Varna, last September, with which I broke the national record of Bulgaria for this species caught from the shore:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v649/HarryPHotter/mk1.jpg

 

[BECKS]

GOOD THREAD THIS, GETS THE MEMORY BANK WORKING. LOTS OF GREAT DAYS OUT, LOTS OF AWFUL ONES. A FEW YEARS AGO I WAS WALKING TO MY LOCAL PUB ON A SATURDAY MORNING VIA THE SLIPWAY WHEN A GOOD MATE BEACHED HIS BOAT. THE BASS WERE FEEDING HE SAID, HE HAD RETURNED FOR MORE BAIT AND DID I FANCY A COUPLE OF HOURS? NO RODS,TACKLE,AND IN MY FINERY I SAID WHY NOT. AN HOUR LATER I CAUGHT A 11lb BASS THAT SURFACED 50mts BEHIND THE BOAT AND SCRAPPED LIKE A BIG SMOOTHHOUND FOR MINUTES. ONE BITE, ONE SPECIMIN FISH, DOES LIFE GET ANY BETTER? P.S. WE MADE LAST ORDERS IN THE PUB! BECKS

 

[geordie hustler]

My best catch is still just a codling to 5lb.
every winter i go for the bigger species trying to break the double figure mark.
yet year after year i get a number of codling between the 3-5lb mark. Why cant i catch anything over the 5lb mark?
any suggestions

 

[thepike]

Surely it is whatever you, i, or, anybody ,considers to be the best . No more ,no less. It is completely subjective.