Most Memorable Fish

[Wildfisher]

That is a great story!   

[otter]

The most memorable for me was a Salmon on the Owemore in North Mayo that my fishimng partner hooked and I was not even there.  The fish was a bar of silver and he estimated it at between 14 and 18lbs, several pounds heavier than anything he had caught over the previous twenty years. After a fight of some fifteen minutes (heavy water), twice he had the fish over the net but with one final lunge the leader touched a rock, ping, game over.

He sat on a rock, stared at the river and searched his pockets for his cigarettes, walked the bank searching for them and finally made to go to the car so that he could get a new packet in a shop. Halfway to the car it dawned on him that he had stopped smoking two years previous

[Wildfisher]

Norman, the poor man was obviously in deep shock. 

[Wildfisher]

I have a similar tale to Bushy Palmer's.

It was the tatttie holidays and me and my pal Bill skived off for a day to fish for pike at the Major's forbidden private pond  on a local estate we had discovered the previous summer that had produced a good few  2lb + perch many with deep scars on their flanks.

We were spinning and Bill quickly hooked ad landed a  pike about 6lb which of course was instantly chapped. No C+R in the 1960s.

Soon after I hooked a big fish that quickly broke my main line. Later that day I told my pal Bruce about our adventure.

A few days later I went round to Bruce's house. The bastard came to the door and said "Oh, I have something for you"  and handed me a spinner attached to a wire trace that looked suspiciously like the ones I had lost in the pike at the Major's forbidden private pond.

He led me round to the back of the house and there lay a pike, about 13lb as I remember. Yes, Bruce had been at the Major's forbidden private pond.

[Traditionalist]

Lots of fish stick in my mind and I often recall them, but my most memorable fish was one I lost.  It was the largest freshwater seatrout I have ever hooked, probably around 16 lbs or so. Such large fish are not all that seldom in certain places here but they are seldom caught, most such larger fish tend to ascend the river after the season closes.  This one wasn't caught either!   It took a size eight Mallard and Claret and fought like a demon for over fifteen minutes but without quite managing to leave the pool where I had hooked it.  My wife was with me on this occasion, sitting reading on an old stone wall not too far away.  She heard the commotion when the fish jumped a couple of times and made massive splashes falling back in, she thought I had fallen in at first. She stood on the bank watching as I played the fish which jumped once more and then went to the bottom and started head shaking in the fast water. Twice I managed to get the fish almost to hand at my feet, but each time it shot away again.  There was no way to beach it as I was standing on an undercut bank and could not go either up or downstream for  a better landing spot because of trees and bushes.  I knelt and transferred the rod to my left hand as the fish came alongside for the third time, hoping to tail it with my right hand, ( not really a good proposition with seatrout anyway), but before I could grasp it it shook it's head and sank slowly away into the deep water as my rod sprang straight.  The knot to the fly had pulled loose!  The tell tale squiggle of nylon was obvious.

I was not overly enthused at this turn of events, especially as it would have easily been my largest freshwater seatrout by a good margin.  My wife remarked that she had never seen a look like that on my face as I watched the fish sink slowly away and she was hard put to describe it at all!

I often think about that fish............

[Inchlaggan]

They are all memorable, oh yes I do have to look at my fishing diary for the details, but then the memories flood back.
The pre-dairy days are still remembered, first fish, first trout, first big trout and so on, all remain pretty clear.
My first evening with Dad on a boat on Watten. Dad was in the Merchant Navy, so shore leave was precious. That evening held my first real adult conversations with him. There was a fish.
The last morning with my Dad in a boat (he is still with us, but no longer boat-fit). We each had a fish.
Taking SWMBO out for the first time and she discovering that she enjoyed fly-fishing as much as I do.
Taking my boss out to show why I was turning down a lucrative move to London.
Important life moments all linked to fishing.
The most memorable?
With no kids of our own it will be the story I have told elsewhere of the young lad's ninth birthday treat of a fishing lesson from me. He caught his first fish and his pride in it will live with me forever. I hope he can still remember when he is my age.

[otter]

I recall one fish that I can still see, a nice clean salmon of about 8lbs, caught on shrimp. It was almost played out when it managed to get into some rushes about ten feet out from me and floated on top. If i pulled, it sunk , if I let line go it floated. the net could not reach it. My cousin took the net , i held his arm (deep water) while he reached for the fish. No matter what we tried we could not net the now fatigued half drowned salmon. Finally the hook came free and like Mike I canstill  see that salmon slowly sinking.

Taking the net from my cousin I started to re-attach the strap when I realised that he hadnt put the telescopic net to full extension - two gobshites and a lost fish.  :

[fergie]

I have a good few memorable fish ones i have caught and ones friends and family have caught Ive took mates out ferox fishing and seen them catch their first and become hopelessly hooked i remember those fish maybe better than my own.
I remember my first decent brownie a 1lb fish from the Allander on a lump of cheese during a spate My first tench which was 3lb and fought like hell.A large 6lb+ brownie from a hill loch that jumped and snapped my cheap  mullarkys line.A 4lb Charr which fought like a fish double its size.My dad catching a jumbo rainbow on Awe and totally freaking out at the size of it  :lol:
My fishing diarys are full of great memories.
When i thought about this the fish that comes to mind was my first double figure ferox.Id just started to catch them fairly regularly fish in the 4 to 8lb range but was still learning.It was a flat calm day on Loch Garry early season was always best up there we'd had some smaller fish and the usual pike we were thinking about heading in and up to the pub and we still had a boat booked for the next day.I had on my favorite rapala a 18cm floating in rainbow colour (Lost next day) My carp rod just doubled and this thing fought hard like nothing id hooked before the runs were amazing  and when it got near the boat it went nuts at one point it was turning the boat right round.Eventually i brought it to the net and thinking it was done i closed my eyes Then i heard OH FU%* etc etc etc And much splashing  :shock: :shock: My fishing partner had been rather sloppy in netting this beast and when he decided he didnt like the net he dived and nearly took the net right out his hands .Luckily it was a good deep net and i was able to weigh photograph and return my new pb which at 10lb stayed my pb for a few years.

[Allan Crawford]

This is a hard question, like others I've been lucky to have a few memorable fish over the years and have been thinking about this for a few weeks now until I've had the time to write a reply. The big ones lost have also been memorable, aren't they always, the one that stands out is also my biggest trout caught on a fly but this is not the only reason why it is my most memorable.


Two seasons ago it was nearly the end of August before I managed to get the boat into the water for the first time that year. As we launched the boat a couple of local anglers offered advice saying the fishing had been great in the spring but had now gone quiet. Being keen we were up the next morning and breakfasted by 05:00 ready for an early start, plan was to troll up the loch. Trolling in a flat calm as the hills were cloaked in a low muggy cloud base, though atmospheric wasn't producing much so by mid morning I decided to pull the rods in and motor up to pike bay and have ago for a Pike with the lure rod and a new Loz Harrop Darter, Jim was also keen to re-discover his diving minnow technique from a doggy past.  The Darter was casting well and the action looked good enough to jump in after, didn't take long to cover the deeper water of the bay, just when I started thinking I wasn't going to have any luck I decided to try a cast towards the shore beside a weed bed, three jerks later in about 2ft of water bang, I decent fish was on after a short but lively fight brought to the net. Cracking 20lbs of perfect highland pike, returned after a quick photo and that was my weekend made if I didn't catch another thing?
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As I re-settled myself, I noticed a good breeze had sprung from the west as the low clouds were blown away leaving a bright afternoon. Conditions were now perfect for fly fishing for trout so motored up to the Island to start a favourite drift. Fishing a three fly cast which included a Green Peter on the bob for no other reason than the fact that I was running out of suitable bob flies to use. No sooner had we started the drift when a decent trout rolled over the Green Peter from right to left as it was being dibbled before re-casting. As I struck I knew I was too quick, had it been a smaller fish I would have been ok and the flies were in the air and I knew I had missed a good fish. Instinctively I put the flies back in exactly the same place dibbling the Green Peter just as it had been seconds earlier. The fish had turned and as luck would have it came back for another go, again rolling over the fly from the right to the left, my heart (and also Jim's who was watching it all unfold) was in my mouth as I made the necessary delay in striking to get it right this time. Then everything went mad as the loose line disappeared luckily not catching up on anything, at least now I was on the reel but not for long as I'm looking at my backing, no sooner is the line back on the reel as the fish allows itself to be brought towards the boat when the reel screams even louder and we both nearly stand up to watch the bright green fly line disappearing into the depths underneath the rod tip as the fish dives, or that's what we thought until the trout came 5ft out of the water soaking us in the process, now I was in no doubt that this was would be my best ever trout on a fly if landed. I'm sure I saw my backing at least once more but the fight was less intense and I was glad to have my 30" net available.
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Once in the net we landed the boat to admire, photograph and try to weigh the trout, couldn't find any scales but its length was just under 27", great to watch it recover and swim off. Once I recovered it was back out and we enjoyed a perfect drift taking another 5 trout between 1 ½ and 2 ½ lbs ending the day with 3 each, though Jim lost a fourth estimated at over 3lb when it straightened his hook on a size 14 black spider. Back at the campsite enjoying a wee dram to celebrate Jim remarked that I only needed one trip a year!
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[Hoolet]

Tail on that looks like a salmon....what a bruiser!

Hoolet.