Catch Report

I was fishing for carp yesterday (June 8th 2008) on the Vale and, after a wait of approximately 20 minutes, hooked into a catfish!

The fish fought like a demon, going on an initial run that covered most of the lake, before being drawn reluctantly over the landing net to weigh in at 12lb. It fought harder than a mirror carp I caught a few years ago of over double the weight and is the first catfish I've ever been fortunate enough to catch.

Bizarrely, I had left my house yesterday afternoon hoping to catch my first catfish from Debdale Reservoir, but decided against it due to the extremely low water level there and elected to fish the Vale for, hopefully, a few carp! It seems that fate played its part! Anyway, here are a selection of photographs that my girlfriend took of the fight and eventual capture of the catfish. The fish fell to a huge lobworm, legered near the staging that splits the lake in half. Needless to say, I'll be returning to the Vale soon, with a view to catching its Daddy!