Tuesday 4 September 2012

Another Double!


Short evening session with Dan and just one proper bite between us - my turn this time - a fantastic fight among the streamer weed, another hairy net job and a great looking double. Great photo - thanks Dan.

It's my biggest fish on a centerpin reel so far. I'm hoping to do some centerpin piking later in the year - and if this fight is anything to go on it's going to be a lot of fun.

Another Double? Unfortunately No! I checked the tail in the net. I know I wanted to track the weight of this fish but this isn't exactly what I had in mind. Same fish as Friday, same weight, 10lb 1oz, different swim and bait though.


For the Barbel Challenge purposes we're going to count her as a third double, but in reality it's my PB caught a second time... Still pretty chuffed though!

She swam away strongly and I hope to see her again - hopefully not until March when she's put on a pound or two..!

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Edit: Double Barbel Weight Variation Graph (So Far)


Many thanks to James and Bill. It will be interesting to see when the pre-spawning weight gain starts and if she's at the bottom of the curve now... But she probably won't reappear again for months!

13 comments:

  1. Brian , had her at the bigger weight end of june and as a ten end of july (post spawning I would think). The latter capture was from where you seem to fish most of the time looking at your photos. The earlier capture was from about half a mile upstream of there. Do yourself a favour and stop holding the fish out at arms length . It looks daft
    Bill

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    1. Thanks Bill, that's weights in Feb, Jun, Jul, Aug & Sept. Pretty interesting picture - looks like the extra weight is spawning weight.

      Sorry about the photo.

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    2. Be interesting to see when the pre-spawning weight gain starts and if she's at the bottom of the curve now.

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  2. Is that some sort of pet Barbel you carry around with you to prevent blanking? LOl

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    1. Last season I had a pet pike at Penton Hook (got her on three occasions), don't want to do the same with a barbel this year... Time to hit some new stretches...

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  3. Nice fish, again. I like picture, a big fish looks like a big fish regardless of how it's held.
    Paulos

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    1. Cheers Paulos.

      I like this photo and photos like this, for me the 'trophy' shot (one where the angler is holding a fish) is all about the fish. I like the photos where the fish fills most of the frame.

      The photos on here are cropped just in front on the fish's head and just behind the tail, the angler comes second - I just fit him in the best I can. I know what 99.9% of anglers look like anyway, it's going to be a scruffy white male, probably wearing a hat!

      But fashions change, photos where perspective is used to make the fish look bigger (the main focus) are out, it's about angler and fish now. Jeff Hatt of Idlers Quest did an interesting article on his blog about it.

      Both techniques can't be used together, fish and angler on the same plain & cropped to fish equals anglers head at top edge of photo, fish along the bottom.

      Will I bend to the excepted blogger style? Probably. Until it comes to pike photos, then stand back - that fish is going to be against the lens!

      While I'm banging on, another much more worrying fashion that's starting to creep into fishing is not stating the weight of the fish - fair enough if you didn't weigh the fish but - "I'm such a fishing purist, mentioning the weight is beneath me" WTF? I hope this fashion doesn't catch on!

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    2. Link to Idlers Quest didn't work, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows where it is!

      Blog post:
      http://idlersquest.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/elvis-magnets-cock-feathers-specks.html

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  4. Too right. The angler is secondary to the fish. I often don't measure sharks if they fall into the usual size category and haven't weighed a fish over here in years. If I claimed them all as 6 or 8 footers there would only be one person I was lying to really.
    For me fishing is a personal thing and I'm gonna get the best pictures I can that please me, if others enjoy them great, if not, oh well.
    Paulos

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    1. The only reason I weigh every fish is the Challenge, I'd probably only weigh the ones I thought were over five or six pounds otherwise. I remember a couple of years ago when we were desperately trying to catch a three plus!

      When I look back on these photos over the tough months ahead I'll be looking at the fish (I'll remember the smile:). But I do see the other viewpoint. As long as I state the weight I'm not conning anyone - and that'll do for me.

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  5. "never had it so good" ?! We Jack's Pike readers hope this fantastic angling success is not getting you too distracted from your cartoon challenge: vol. 3. All the best! ;-)

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    1. The Cartoon Challenge? I like the thinking!

      Lots drawn up, but lots being scrapped/re-written, it was getting too far from the 'could happen' and far too stupid. I think the term is 'Jump the shark'.

      Don't worry, I'll soon be back to my old ways; a string of blanks, then it's back to the drawing board - literally!

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