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This story was recently in the Uk newspapers. Apparently this 11lb 14oz fish was caught and released on the River Avon near Christchurch in Dorset miles from the sea, the angler was fishing for Pike at the time. My family know this stretch of river well as my Father lived in Christchurch during World War II and the River Avon was the play area of him and his chums. Another reason this story's of interest to me is that I caught my first (Much smaller) Bass as a boy in freshwater from the adjacent River Stour just a few miles away. Bass are known to move up rivers especially large solitary fish, I remember being told a similar story about a big fish being caught well up a river in Wexford, on a dead bait intended for Pike, over Christmas a few years ago.
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It suddenly struck me the other day that the internet “Favourites” or links to sites I find of interest are actually something I’ve come to view as quite valuable or even as possessions of sorts. Having had a quick count up I find I have around 30 Folders containing about 200 links and the list grows on a daily basis! I don’t do as much research as I used to but I still like to find new information and resources.
I would credit the internet a great deal with my development as a Bass angler, no way would I have gained as quickly what I have in terms of knowledge, equipment , contacts not to mention live weather & tidal information webcams and so on. The web allows us all to communicate and learn from others via quality Forums like The Lure Forum (Not a huge user) email and even the dreaded Facebook (Again I’m not a big user).
Having said all this it means nothing without hours of focused effort with rod in hand especially when the fishing is tough, when it comes to learning, and I’ve been very lucky to have the time for both the web research and the fishing!
I don’t want to be a keyboard warrior who lives half his fishing life on the web. I will never be, and don’t want to be a “Super poster” on any of the forums but there are some very clued up posts amongst the nonsense.
This blog has been a rewarding experience and has added greatly to my fishing life as have the wonderful blogs of many others, the digital photography with editing software and the ability to post photos, with text, in seconds for anybody in the world to read, even from small hand held devices, is quite simply amazing and so easy to take for granted. It will also be funny to look back at what is a marvel now and compare it to what becomes the norm in the future, as with all things.
The digital age has been an incredible assest to all Anglers and will continue to be going forward, it will fascinating to see, and hopefully be a tiny part of, it’s continued evolution going forward......will it be something similar to classic futuristic Sci-Fi films “The Matrix”? Hopefully not! Anyway don’t worry about all that for now just concentrate on having a
HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!
