markyboy PAC wrote on Jul 28^th, 2010 at 4:48pm:


I get where Kevin is coming from - and I don't doubt any of you in terms of what you've expereinced. Flow makes a hell of a difference. I had a 41 cat a few weeks back from a stillwater and that took me 15 minutes to land in open water. Add in some current and boy that would have been hard work - even on the heavy gear I was using.

I guess where I am coming from is where you get those tales from the (being polite here) less experienced anglers. That well known vessel of bullshit Kevin Day (who occasionally appears in P&P) often recounts his great tale of how he hooked something that was unstoppable and eventually snapped him up on the Ely Ouse (slow flow and it wasn't in flood). He tells everyone it must have been a big catfish, but then he's never even seen one, let alone caught one. This from the man who zander fishes in pike territory with braid for traces... stories like that tend to cloud matters when you do here from someone, such as a few of the chaps on this forum, who are experienced, and dare I say rational anglers. I only hope that one of those cats in the Ouse picks up my paternostered live bait as I am quite confident I'll land the thing, even with a bit of flow! All things being equal, most competant anglers can land cats to moderate sizes (up to mid 30 say) on standard pike set-ups, e.g. 15lb mono / 3lb TC rods. I guess that's why I struggle with some of the tales I here.