Taking your dogs along when you are fishing obviously reveals new sides of the nobel art.

The other day I was fishing a tiny river, along with our two labradors. Both dogs are trained and works as shootingdogs, but they have never experienced fishing before. Especially the youngest one (a two year old bitch) showed interest when I hooked a couple of fish, and it took great efforts to hold her back from jumping the river.

At some point I got into a school of perch. I instantly got one and seeing it was deep hooked I thought what the heck, and allowed the dog to go. She fumbled and struggled a bit with the fish, but managed to get hold of the dorsal fin and landed the fish. She dumped it to the ground, where she inspected the new and surprising catch. The fish was unharmed and I released it.

New cast, new fish and this time she brought the fish without hesitation. I made four cast, got four nice perch around the pound, and all four of them were correctly retrieved to my hand. I bagged the fish for a nice family dinner, and both me and the dog had a big smile on our faces, when we walked home through the meadows.

Let us hear other stories about fish-retrieving dogs.

Hans Jacob

Martin,

Had a close one with one of my dogs on the river this weekend. You've not met her yet, shes a cocker spaniel with long floppy ears, who just loves the water. I was walking the bank and she was hunting the bushes along the rivers edge.

I realised I couldn't hear her and went to investigate by forcing myself through the bushes where I last heard her, only to find her hanging by her ears, tangled in the thorns of an overhanging a bramble bush, totally submerged in the current, and not moving a muscle.

I jumped in, ripped her off the brambles and threw her up onto the bank. Where she remained completley still. However, picking her up by her back legs and a good thump on her back did the trick.

After throwing up half of the Usk river and a bit of whining and coughing she seems none the worse for the experience. Though Im not sure she appreciated the rough treatment!

I wish I could the same about my black lab.
She's been fir hooked, tail hooked and more often than not, spooked by a passing fly.

My lab Karmen, will quietly enter the water without warning and many times I have been wading, she's swam by or swam in circles in front of me as if nothing was wrong!

Lately she's taken to resting on the shore until I hook a fish, then all hell breaks loose!!!

Rip

What a good dog. Be more careful. Will ya?