As a Crabtree kid, and one that was fishing pretty much as soon as I could hold a rod, I cannot honestly remember my first fish. I was lucky enough to have a Dad that took me fishing from a very early age and that continued right through childhood and into my teens.
Dad was an avid angler who just liked catching fish and because of that, because he’s no longer around and because we rarely ever took photos back then, I have no real way of being entirely sure what my first fish was.
I can recall very early memories of bleak snatching and Bream on swing tip and of Perch on the float. I remember catching my first Carp of 8lb that for many years I believed I had caught unassisted but in fact dad had and I kind of held the rod for a bit. I have hundreds of first fish memories and many that are Crabtree, I remember my first 2lb Roach on bread flake, Rudd off the surface on Crust against the lilly pads, my first unassisted netful of Bream, my first double figure Pike on a sink and drawn spratt, a bag full of Perch on lobworms and my first Carp that i stalked with a floater rod.
I don’t remember my first fish but I know it was amazing and that I was hooked for life because still today I get that magic feeling that all anglers know when I am about to fish, when I see the water, fish moving, when the float dips or when a big fish runs off.
I was lucky as I had a Mr.C and learned to fish for and catch lots of different fish in lots of different ways and it was something I could share with my Dad. So I guess my earliest fishing memory is of me sitting next to him on a whicker basket just fishing and being a happy boy.