Today was my first real outing wild trout fishing for about 35 years - mostly due to all my trout gear being stolen just before I moved down into East Yorkshire from Co. Durham all those years ago. There is also a distinct lack of affordable wild trout fishing in this area but I've recently found that there are some free stretches of water which do contain quite sizeable fish if one is willing to work at it. I'd visited this particular stretch a couple of times on previous occasions and noted where the bigger fish were lying and how they were feeding.

Anyway, when I got there I set up my s/h bargain 10' Hardy Stillwater together with an old Condex reel complete with line which I'd also purchased from eBay, trying them both out for the fist time and on my second cast in I landed a decent Perch.
Two casts later and I was into a 19" trout which took several minutes to land. I had taken a friend down with me who was relatively new to trout fishing to give him some tips on worm fishing for trout and he offered to help land the trout with my landing net.

As he was lifting it out of the water and onto the bank, he lost his balance on the sloping bank and FELL heavily onto the poor unfortunate fish which was still in the landing net, crushing it and severely injuring it so much so that I had despatch it rather than set it free which quite frankly, really upset me as it was such a fine specimen that I wanted to return it to the water for another day.
Of course, they are beautiful eating fish which I love to eat and I'm sure this one would be no exception but, as it was such a fine specimen I would have been happy to forego the pleasure on this occasion and set it free and hopefully unharmed.

While it was certainly an exciting return debut to trout fishing after all those years, it was somewhat marred for me by having to kill the wild fish needlessly, even if it was accidental.
Maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age as I'd probably have killed and eaten it all those years ago with little remorse or feelings of guilt!

Funny how our attitudes change with time, don't you think?

Tony

Hi ey tony.

It sounds as if you had a good day it was the poor trout that had a bad day.

I know what you mean about respecting fish and returning them as you get older. I'm retired and hate having to kill trout. When I was in my early fishing years the thought never bothered me. You're right as you get older you appreciate things more.

BK

I think you should have a clear conscience !

But for your less than nimble footed friend it would still be swimming!

Is it in the freezer?

Hi BK,
You're right - the trout certainly had a worse day than me LOL.

You do however, echo my sentiments very well indeed! Back in the days when I last fished, it was normal to kill fish for the pan and fish of this size was something to be prized, not mourned.

Maybe I'm a little more enlightened these days - however, just to be on the safe side, I'll do my own landing and netting in future!

Tony

Yep... he was a bit clumsy but he felt as bad as me about it!
I'll gut it in in a few minutes time - it's 35 years since I last cleaned and gutted trout. I'm sure it will all come back to me.

Tony

STRONG candidate for Post of the Day.

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

A bad day on a trout stream is better than a good day in the office.....not that i work in an office but I am making an asumption based on heresay but maybe there isn't such a thing as a good day at the office, maybe slightly better than a worse day at the office then......