What Is A Catch?

I took the past few weeks off of writing any posts.  Work had gotten a little busy and it was easier to let the blog go for a while.  And along with being too busy to write I was also too busy to do any fishing, either.


I did finally get to go fishing a couple of weekends ago.  My brother, Guy, and I went to Westover Farms in Steelville for a few hours on a Saturday morning.  I was nice to get away and spend some time fishing.  It was also nice to hook my biggest trout to date.  My brother claims it was 2 ft long.  I've been trying to be modest and say 20 inches while still saying my brother called it 2 feet.  Either way is was thrilling to see a monster at the end of my line.



Notice I mentioned seeing the "monster at the end of my line."  And I said "hook" and not "catch."  To be honest I don't know if I caught the fish or not.  I was fishing in the garden, a small, curving stream with nice trees and brush on the edges.  I was using a dry fly as an indicator with a dropper.   I would toss it upstream of a pool at a bend in the stream and let it drift through the pool.  On my fifth or sixth cast, as the flies drifted into the pool I saw a huge fish slowly swim up and take the dropper in his mouth.  I set the hook and got excited about catching the biggest fish of my short fly fishing career.  Guy was about 20 yards away so I called over to him for some help.  I took my time reeling in the fish.  Every ten seconds my brother would alternate between saying what a nice fish I had on the line and telling me to "Keep your stick up!" When the fish got close enought to shore Guy reached for the line with one hand and stretched out the net with his other hand.  His hand grabbed my line and...pfft.  The fish was gone.


I think it goes without saying that I was disappointed.  My trophy fish was gone.  But then, in the midst of my disappointment, Guy declared that the fish had been caught.  His hand had been on the line when it got away, it was a catch.  He even made sure to tell other anglers we ran into that I had caught a two foot trout.  I wasn't saying anything to contradict him.  Part of me really wanted to think that I had caught that fish.  And honestly, part of me was enjoying my brother brag about the fish I had "caught."  I played it off by joking that Guy let it go on purpose so the he would caught the biggest fish of the day himself.  But deep down, I didn't really consider that fish caught.


What are the "rules" about whether a fish has been caught?  Does it have to be in your net?  On dry land?  If the fish gets away while someone else is helping you does it count as a catch?  Out of the water can't count, because if a fish jumps on the end of your line, technically it is out of the water.

The 2nd Biggest Fish of the Day
or
The One That Didn't Get Away

As for me, I tend to see things in black and white.  My monster fish never left the water.  It never made it into the net.  I didn't get the chance to hold it in my hands so that Guy could take a picture of my trophy catch.  I didn't catch the fish.


Please don't think I'm saying all of this to vent or make my brother feel bad.  I know it was an accident.  He truly felt horrible that he had let the fish get away.  When the situation comes up again I won't hesitate to call him over to him for help.  And when he calls over for my help I would never "accidentally" let one get away.  


Fishing is full of fish tales.  There are countless jokes about "I caught a fish this big!"  And there are countless stories of the one that got away!  So, I didn't catch my first monster fish that day.  But I did come away with my first really good story of "The One That Got Away."