I respect the anglers on this forum ,so ask for an honest reply to this.

When you go out fishing be it wild or stocked ,How many fish are you happy to catch to say ,yes I have had a good day?

Taking into account that attitudes from beginners to the many years of fishing angler will be different.As I believe anglers go through a big circle ,like life ,in angling.

__________________
Kevin

If the scenery and company are spot on MF , and the craic does it matter , one is always nice anymore is a bonus

__________________
[SIZE="4"]BRITISH BY BIRTH , SCOTTISH BY THE GRACE OF GOD..[/SIZE]

I know that it's said that there's more to fishing than catching fish, and yes there's some truth in that, but I must be honest and say that I do like to catch fish when I'm out. Assuming a full day on the river (perhaps the Usk for example), I think of a "successful day" as being in double figures for reasonably sized trout. That said, I had a day on the Upper Usk in high water recently when it was quite tough for most of the day and I managed a few small ones and then in the last hour got two cracking wild fish of 1.5lbs and 1.75lbs and felt that it was a great day. If I'm out for grayling, I expect to catch more and must admit, get a little impatient if I'm not catching a lot. As I don't live near a river, I always feel that every day I can get out to be a blessing so I try to make the most of it and spend the day really trying hard. I think that in truth, there's no hard and fast numercial definition of a successful day and a lot depends on the river and the conditions. Bottom line though is that I always really enjoy it whenever I can get on the river.

Any days fishing is a good day for me but if i am being honest then i would say that if i am having a day out on a fishery where i have paid to keep some of the fish that i catch then i would expect to catch at least one.

If however i am river fishing then i can quite happily go for days on end without catching any and be just as gleeful

I'm happy to fish and it has nothing to do with if I catch anything or how many I catch. I've had a lot of days where I caught few if any fish, but I've never had a bad day of fishing.

At the same time, I fish because I like to fish and I like to catch fish, so there is no magic number after which I call it a good day and hang it up. I've gone over 50 on many days, but in my view those days are just the yin and there's always the 2 fish yang days in the book as well.

Everything comes and goes, so when the catching is good, I'm happy to catch because that's why I fish. And when it's not, well that's just the way it goes, but that doesn't make it a bad day.

Grouse

Don't like blanking but that quote kinda sums it up for me.

__________________
Tight Lines. :)

Id second that.

There is always a lot of comment on the merits of wild v stocked. I have no easy access to 'wild' waters, and i realise there are some fisherys that are given the name puddles or ponds because they are small and stock large fish and are seen as being 'easy'.

I fish Rutland, because its less than 5 miles from my front door. Most weeks they stock 1000 to 1500 fish. I cant remember how many times ive been there and blanked, yet when you hook a fish of about a 1 1/2lb to 2lb, they put up a hell of a fight. Where do large fisherys like Rutland/ Grafham etc fit into the wild v stocked debate?

I'll also agree with StevieJ

Also, as with White Goatie, as much as I love fishing rivers for wild brownies (on a day ticket), and I do that for a week every year up in Cumbria, round my way its basically stocked small waters or big ressies, and I much prefer the big ressies as they're more of a challenge and feel a bit wilder, plus the fish are in cracking nick at the likes of Draycote and Carsington. I do fish rivers near where I live, but stalking chub mainly.

So numbers of fish to make a good day just depends where I'm fishing and what the conditions are. One fish on a hard day/challenging water can be hugely rewarding, lots of fish on an easy water without even having to think too much doesn't really teach you much.

__________________

a day onn the river is a day on the river.. thats a treat in my book... i am happy with one fish, i find thai i am often keen to get the first one out of the way, then i can chill and enjoy the rest of the day.. i havebeen lucky this year and not had a blank

__________________

I'm a very lucky angler and get to fish a lot.I agree with many sentiment's on this thread, I regularly blank,and sometimes have a great day with 1 (salmon) but sometimes 5 is to many and other times 5 is not enough.It's all to do with the vibe.

jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.