We specimen anglers are probably among the most privileged people on this planet when it comes to experiencing the four seasons in a particularly special and, compared to the average person, extraordinary and intense way. How many sunrises and sunsets I have consciously witnessed in a natural setting at the age of 33 is countless. I have seen the sun move in slow motion on the horizon in the east towards the celestial dome, and conversely in the west back towards the horizon. This everyday spectacle, when one engages with it consciously, remains a breathtaking moment for me to this day, despite its commonality.
Autumn – The Barbel
We specimen anglers know the red-violet play of colours during the colourful autumn season as we sit by the riverbank, watch our rod tip in the elevated tripod, and aim for the queen among the cyprinids – the barbel. It is a spectacle I will never tire of witnessing. These are the moments when I find myself. When a bite from the targeted specimen fish occurs, it evokes a profound sense of satisfaction within me. Satisfaction that I rarely feel in other situations.
At the time of writing this manuscript, I have successfully targeted Barbus barbus in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK at 14 different rivers. There are still a few more rivers on my personal “barbel bucket list”. From the narrow Swalm (a river in the Netherlands), where I aim for the notorious barbel with a good piece of lunchmeat through roving and stalking, to float-trotting on the beautiful “Lippe” in North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest federal state of Germany, to the several hundred metre wide “big father” Rhine, where a constant feeding trail of several litres of maggots and freshly cooked hemp must be created through clip casting over hours to experience true stellar moments, the barbel offers a broad portfolio of exciting and challenging river fishing methods.
The barbel is a force of nature, perfectly designed by our creator for life in the mainstream of our rivers. In my home country, Germany, it occurs in wild populations in many rivers. Since passing my fishing exam in Germany – yes, in Germany we must take an exam to be allowed to fish – I have wanted to dedicate myself to this species and catch this seemingly unattainable mainstream fish at all costs. The barbel will always belong to my “fantastic four” among the cyprinids and is the dominant target fish during autumn.
Winter – The Roach
We all know the cold, barren, often frosty and occasionally snowy landscape, where we can observe a robin sitting in the bare branches and feed it a few maggots while we wait for a timid bite from a quality roach with the finest tip we possess. Yes, in recent years, the roach has replaced the perch as my number one winter fish.
While I inadvertently caught a carp and a pike during my initial “trial runs” in the fishing world, the roach was the first species I specifically targeted while float fishing at a trout pond in my youth… the birth of a new target angler. I do not associate my entry into fishing with any other species as I do with the roach.
Now, as an adult, having caught several fish beyond the 3lb mark, I feel a sense of awe whenever I reminisce about the emotions of that catching moment. Seeing a huge roach in the net is a moment in which I feel the true and genuine love for what I have spent countless hours doing. Memories of past childhood and youth days resurface in those fleeting snapshots, combined with the joy of having perfected the art of roach angling as a seasoned and modern specimen angler. The journey from inexperienced novice to professional angler.
Fishing is, for me, the intense experience of the present combined with the long-term preservation of experiences from the past.
Spring – The Bream
We all love spring. A time when flora and fauna awaken from their winter slumber and a new cycle of our wonderful and fertile earth begins. The bud of life reveals itself more and more. The colourful garment gradually envelops our natural spaces.
It is a time when new weight records are reported in the specimen angler scene across Europe, and fishing for most species can be successful. Over the years, I have regularly changed my chosen target fish during this season. Tench, roach, ide, bream, chub, barbel (in NRW, Germany our close season is from 15th May to 15th June), and carp have now appeared on my spring agenda.
Recently, I have devoted this time to the large bream, exceeding the 5kg and 70cm mark, when the water temperature finally rises above 10 degrees Celsius after months of cold. If you had asked me a few years ago whether I would target bream, I would probably have answered “no”. Neglecting this fish as a specimen angler for many years was a significant mistake.
When I caught a fish weighing 6.2kg in 2024, I first realised the majestic aura that this creature radiates. Since that moment, I have not wished to miss the bream from my list of top 10 target species and dedicate at least one session to it each year.
Summer – The Tench
Yes, we love summer too. It represents the “high time” of life, where everything is in full swing. The full power of life’s energy surrounds us during this season. A time when one can still enjoy starry nights on the banks of one’s water even while night fishing in a T-shirt.
As much as I love the cosy and romantic winter, I yearn for those summer nights by the water. The transition from late spring to summer is the time when I prefer to pursue my dearly loved tench. The red eyes, the exceptionally small scales, and the rounded fins make Tinca tinca one of the most beautiful underwater creatures of our native fish fauna.
Whether at the wild, unboated canal, the urban ditch, the park pond, the old Rhine arm, or the gravel pit lake… the tench captivated me at the age of 13 and has not let me go since. It will surely remain a constant companion and a dominant target species until my death; I am certain of that.
Why Angling?
I have often asked myself what it is that still fascinates me about fishing to this day. As you might guess, the answer cannot be reduced to a single reason. The answer remains multifactorial. However, it is even more complicated, as the response to this question is subject to nuances of dynamic change.
Just as we as humans mature and hopefully become wiser through life experiences, so too do our personal and constantly reflected thoughts and attitudes towards fishing evolve.
Recently, I discovered that fishing fulfils an unconscious yearning for deceleration within me. With the advent of social media, attention thieves lurk around every corner. The rapid consumption of new information, images, and videos is tempting. So tempting that it often catches me in my daily life.
However, there is a place where the attention thieves hit a brick wall and suffer a crushing defeat. They always lose when I am out by the banks of the river or lake. Here, I keep my brain safe. Here, I manage to free my mind from the smog of everyday life.
At times, I become so “unattentive” to the digital reality that I even miss messages from my beloved partner… though I cannot recommend this level of inattentiveness to any reader for the sake of maintaining a healthy household (wink).
The passion for specimen fishing for a dozen+ different species caters to several appealing aspects. On the one hand, it is a passionate incentive for me to apply my knowledge about behaviour, habitats, feeding habits, and much more across a wide range of fish species in targeted specimen fishing.
Practising my “craft of fishing” using various methods and rigs with success, continuously developing my skills, and striving to be a better angler tomorrow than I am today… this is a fundamental aspect of my passion for angling.
Moreover, the underwater world and fish have fascinated me since childhood. I have always been a nature and animal enthusiast and, as a child, wanted to go into the woods to observe frogs, salamanders, beetle species, and other animals. To see and experience fish, these wonderful creatures that usually evade the everyday perception of humans due to their underwater habitat, is a crucial part of the fascination of fishing.
Furthermore, the spirit of discovery and adventure that lies deep within me can literally come to the surface and be expressed while fishing. The joy of fishing new waters and being able to dip a bait into the unknown is another essential component of my passion.
Which aquatic inhabitant will be the one to give me the first bite at this new spot, as part of my personal “Discovery Channel”? I might share this with you, dear readers, in a future report from the “Manuscripts” series.
Last but not least, fishing is also about community.
By this, I don’t only mean the many shared fishing experiences on the bank with good friends and acquaintances. Rather, it is also the exchange with like-minded individuals about fishing, in moments when we long to be by the water again. The discussions, the exchanges, the philosophising and comparing of experiences and theories about success and failure in fishing. The constant validating and falsifying of what feels like hundreds of variables during fishing itself.
Yes, even the content creation away from actual fishing, like writing these words for other like-minded individuals who might find a piece of themselves in this manuscript and momentarily dive back into the world of outdoor experiences, even if just for a brief moment. Far away from everyday life, constitutes what “specimen fishing” means to me; therefore, fishing is also creativity.
Specimen fishing is all of this and so much more.
The fantastic four seasons that we anglers are privileged to experience so intensely also metaphorically represent the life cycle of an individual person. All life has a beginning and an end. After the old and fading life, the new fruitful life awakens. Everything seems interconnected.
I am grateful to experience this cycle again and again in such intensity. I sincerely hope that I am granted a few more decades to do so.
Christian Kaspers June 2026