The happy weight

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Blueavocet

The happy weight

Post by Blueavocet »

Last week I caught a 5lb 4oz Tench from Stockbridge Pond, one of the pleasure fishing venues of Farnham Angling Society. In many regards the fish isn't exceptional, in terms of weight. But I was fishing for Crucian Carp, with very light line and a size 16 hook and the capture was unexpected. This pond has tench but they generally run to 2-3lb. Its a venue bigger than a farm yard pond, but not quite an estate lake. The tench clearly thought itself a carp, because it led me a merry dance keeping it away from the lilly pads and winding fast enough on the old Ambidex to make sure I stayed in contact when it ran my way.

Now the club offers a prize for the best tench caught in this pond over the season. My fish is a contender. Only twice in 10 years has this weight been bettered. Most years the prize is won by a fish of around 4lb. So I am very excited! Not only did my tench give me the run around on light float tackle, but its a possible star in its own pond. So I am shaking and breathless as I persuade the good Mr Lovatt, another angler to verify the weight of the fish with me. Yes, it is 5lb 4oz on his new scales that were properly zeroed. My hands shake as I try to text myself his name, telephone number and club member number on my phone (like an oaf I didn't have pen and paper). The bloody buttons are so small and my pinkies too big! He wasn't so near either, no one responded to my call, so Tench and I have made a staged trip around to him, revival dips in the net completed regularly to preserve this lovely fish. We are as children again. The fish is huge!! It's magnificent! I am so concerned about the fish getting away safely and well, that i then forget to photograph the tench. I let it go without a photo taken on my mobile phone.

That's crazy I know. We all photograph bigger fish right? We aren't content with any other evidence. Seeing is believing, although I've seen a few specimens that didn't look as heavy as the angler claimed. Still, I have an independent verified weight and we shall see. Its a long wait for the weight…over the season to come.

The bigger point to me though links to something that my daughter said recently. Like some of you I've been trying to shed a few pounds. The clinical target weight seems quite…well….ambitious. My daughter said, 'oh I have another weight, not quite so demanding, I call it my happy weight!' And that is the point may be, just as the target weight in health may be too low for pleasure, the target fish weight in angling is sometimes too high for contentment. Its all relative to the water, the food available and the weight of stocked fish. My tench at a little over 5lb isn't my biggest Tench. It isn't anywhere near a club record. But I think it a happy weight fish. It made me intensely happy and the circumstances of capture were everything.

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Kevin
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Kevin »

A happy weight is a nice way of putting it.i don't bother weighing many fish the last two evenings ive caught Carp and not taken photos,the moment is lived and enjoyed for what it was.A good fish is a good fish regardless of how much it weighs.
Happy Angling.

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Mark_N
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Mark_N »

Weight is just a number at the end of the day.... you will remember that feeling long after you forget whether it was 5lb 4oz or 4lb 5oz.
There are 2 types of people in this world.... those that "get" fishing .... and those that don't

John Aston

Re: The happy weight

Post by John Aston »

Weight is still important to me - 5-4 is better than 4-5 because, well , it just is . Who'd honestly catch a 1-15 roach in preference to a 2-1 ?

Oddly though , photos are something I really cannot be arsed to do any more . If I need a pic to recall a day it wasn't that good and God how tedious are endless pictures of deadly serious anglers looking oh-so-reverently down at their catch in the weeklies...

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DaceAce
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Re: The happy weight

Post by DaceAce »

John Aston wrote:Weight is still important to me - 5-4 is better than 4-5 because, well , it just is . Who'd honestly catch a 1-15 roach in preference to a 2-1 ?

Oddly though , photos are something I really cannot be arsed to do any more . If I need a pic to recall a day it wasn't that good and God how tedious are endless pictures of deadly serious anglers looking oh-so-reverently down at their catch in the weeklies...
My thoughts exactly, John. PS; any chance of a third book......?

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Santiago
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Santiago »

If the tench was as great as your positivity then it would be a whopper, perhaps even of record weight. That counts much more than it's actual weight. Tench are the one fish I miss catching, since there's only a few in the Thames and I've not caught one for a few years now. Ironically, I'm currently living next to a lake where they grow to double figures but I choose not to fish it!
"....he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy"

Hemingway

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Mark_N
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Mark_N »

John Aston wrote:Weight is still important to me - 5-4 is better than 4-5 because, well , it just is . Who'd honestly catch a 1-15 roach in preference to a 2-1 ?

Oddly though , photos are something I really cannot be arsed to do any more . If I need a pic to recall a day it wasn't that good and God how tedious are endless pictures of deadly serious anglers looking oh-so-reverently down at their catch in the weeklies...
Fair points Sir.

I suppose that's what makes us all different :-)

I'm the opposite I take pics more than I weigh fish nowadays.
There are 2 types of people in this world.... those that "get" fishing .... and those that don't

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Wagtail
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Wagtail »

John Aston wrote:Weight is still important to me - 5-4 is better than 4-5 because, well , it just is . Who'd honestly catch a 1-15 roach in preference to a 2-1 ?

Oddly though , photos are something I really cannot be arsed to do any more . If I need a pic to recall a day it wasn't that good and God how tedious are endless pictures of deadly serious anglers looking oh-so-reverently down at their catch in the weeklies...
John, I understand your sentient about photos to a degree, but for me a photo helps to improve the memory. Also some things just don't sink in at the time. For example my biggest pike weighed 31lb and I was in such a state of shock at the capture most of the memory is a blur; having some photos reminds me of the whole event and I wouldn't want to be without them.
'The Chub is a very controversial fish. He has a strong army of supporters, but he has an almost equally strong army of detractors. The trouble is that the detractors do not know what they are talking about'. L. Vernon-Bates

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Chris Bettis
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Chris Bettis »

I like that expression The Happy Weight. Like a lot of anglers I seldom weigh fish these days although I carry Scales and Weight Net. I unhook fish in the landing net and return them from the net to make sure that they have the minimum of handling. The weight is just the weight and means little compared to the catching. With carp, unhooking mat zips up to form a bag. Having checked which was the fish is lying I unzip the side of the bag and let the fish slide down and out - no handling at all.

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Kevin
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Re: The happy weight

Post by Kevin »

DaceAce wrote:
John Aston wrote:Weight is still important to me - 5-4 is better than 4-5 because, well , it just is . Who'd honestly catch a 1-15 roach in preference to a 2-1 ?

Oddly though , photos are something I really cannot be arsed to do any more . If I need a pic to recall a day it wasn't that good and God how tedious are endless pictures of deadly serious anglers looking oh-so-reverently down at their catch in the weeklies...
My thoughts exactly, John. PS; any chance of a third book......?
Honestly it wouldn't bother me if it was 1-15 or 2-1
Lets say your watching this fish,the biggest fish in the pool,5-4 or 4-5 is irrelevant at that moment,you want the sucker.
Only when he is on the scales his star shines less.

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