Only 2 fish reported to me this week. One UK visitor had a nice grilse and a regular rod, known for his preference for traditional equipment, had very exciting evenings fishing. Given the height of the water and the chance of a grilse he had swapped his (grandfathers?) usual 9ft cane rod for (his fathers) early 1950s 11’6″ “light grilse” cane double hander. He thought he saw the tip of a fin break the water beside a well known lie and 30 seconds later a fish took his Connemara black.
After 20 mins he got the fish, a red cock estimated at around 17lbs, into his net and lifted it up, whereupon both sides of the net sheared off and the hook came out! He lowered the remains of the net (also circa 1950s) back into the pool and the fish swam off unharmed. All of which proves you don’t need the latest equipment to hook a great fish and there is more than one way of practicing C&R.
