I think I've lost it

There are many obsessive and compulsive orders in fishing and most anglers have one or two and some have umpteen. Whether it be noting moon phases, temperatures and the rest or just simply hoarding thousands of lures with most never touching the water. I started this blog a couple of years ago to act as a kind of diary if only for myself but I feel it's grown a little from that initial idea. That diary thing is often something anglers do, make a note of as much information as possible in order too pinpoint good things in fishing so that you can replicate it and predict the good fishing. For me the diary was a way of keeping a tally of fish caught and the first year I put my results up for all to see.

The second year in fishing and blogging I decided to not post the stats as I felt I would always feel like I was trying to beat the previous year, and for me fishing isn't so much targets it's just catching fish, and mostly in the style I love most. Despite not publishing the stats, my obsession had me still keeping a running tally behind curtains and it even went a step further with me noting which lures caught most fish. If you're interested Squirrelly Burts caught most pike, Kopytos and rapala shad raps most perch, With the Burt I know that is because of two things, it's a great lure and I like to use it so two reasons why that lead the captures. For the perch, kopytos for jigging and getting to deep water and shad raps for trolling or coloured canals. Fish wise I did end up catching more pike than the first blogging year and perch wise I smashed it as I got in to light lure fishing more and more and the perch were no longer a bonus capture but a fish of target.

So this year do I keep a tally, try to beat my previous years achievements or what? We're in April and I have no idea the numbers of fish I have caught. I've not kept any record except a few photos or the bigger fish. I now go out and fish and have big trouble even remembering how many fish I had and a week later I have no idea what I had exactly. Have I finally shook the stato habit? I think I have you know.

The other day I went fishing, caught some perch and some chub. The only stats I can remember were the chub which I had to weigh as it was a lump and went five pounds, and that I had two chub in total also loosing another one off. Perch, well I had some. No lumps or I would have weighed them, though if this fellow below had stuck I would have been weighing it.

Enjoyment in fishing is the reason I go. I love being outside and the constant battle to try and tempt a fish with the reward of the capture what I like, but I can also take great joy out of missing a big fish as in the little video above. If I can pass on anything to anglers out there it's don't get caught up in big fish chasing, targets and silly competitions just go out and enjoy what you love.