What makes a fishing gift personal
A personal fishing gift is about a fish they actually caught, on a day they still talk about. Not fish in general. Their fish. That's the story they'll repeat for years, at the weight they can quote without thinking, so build the gift around it.
So the usual gift shelf misses. A "Gone Fishing" sign tells everyone you know they fish, and it says very little else about the person holding the rod. A drawn fish that isn't theirs? No better. Pick something that could only belong to them.
The PB print
PB means personal best: the heaviest fish of a species an angler has landed. Angling Times uses PB and personal best for the same fish in a catch report. Most anglers know theirs to the ounce.
The PB print needs no photo. You pick one of 17 Victorian natural-history species plates, then type the weight and species, who caught it and the date. There's room for an optional line of your own as well, and it prints as a poster, framed print, canvas or mug.
That line matters most. A nickname works. So does the bait they used, the hour it came at, or something their mate shouted from the next swim. Keep it short. Leave the venue off, too, because plenty of anglers fish quiet waters they'd rather keep that way.
Pounds and ounces, or kilos
Write the weight exactly as it was weighed on the bank, in whatever units their scales showed at the time. Plenty of British anglers still talk in pounds and ounces, and that's how you'll hear it when they tell the story. The British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee's 2025 ratified claims, published by the Angling Trust, use pounds, ounces and even drams. One tope went down at 86lb 13oz.
Scales differ, though. In 2019 the committee ratified a fish weighed on scales that read in grams. Those scales were then tested, and the figure was adjusted for a slight inaccuracy before the weight was agreed. If their scales read in kilos, use kilos. Don't convert and round. A PB print isn't a record claim, but it should match the number they give whenever anyone asks.
Their own catch photo
Get the photo if you can. Their fish, their hands, their grin. Print it as it is when it's sharp, well lit and taken close enough to show the fish properly. If it's a dark phone shot from a winter evening, try it in one of our four house styles first. The preview's free and watermarked.
Use the original file. Screenshots and copies saved from social media lose most of their detail, and it shows the moment they go to print. Our guide to getting their catch photo covers how to find it quietly, and fishing print sizes shows what fits where.
A personalised mug
A mug gets used every day. That counts for a lot. The PB print comes on a mug too, with the same species plate and the same details as the wall version. It suits an angler whose walls are already full of fish, or who'd rather keep their PB close to hand every morning. It also works as a smaller gift next to a framed print, or as something for the van, the shed or the office. For more ideas, browse our fishing mugs.
Finding out the details quietly
You need four things: species, weight, date and name. Asking outright gives the game away, and half the fun of a PB print is their face when they read their own numbers. Try these first.
- Look through their photos. Anglers nearly always photograph a PB, and the phone quietly dates the picture for you, right down to the day.
- Check their social posts. A PB usually gets posted somewhere, often with the weight, the species and a proud caption written underneath it.
- Ask a fishing mate. Their regular partner will likely know the weight, and may well have been on the bank that day.
- Get them talking. Ask about the biggest fish they've ever caught, then sit back, because few anglers give a short answer to that one.
Double-check the species, too. A mirror carp and a common carp aren't the same fish to the person who caught one.
For anglers who fish for different species
Most anglers have a fish they'd call their own, so start by picking the matching plate for a PB print. For a ready-made species plate or bankside scene, browse the shop or the range that fits what they fish for.
- Carp: see carp fishing gifts and carp prints. Unsure what they catch? Read up on the types of carp.
- Pike: pike prints.
- Barbel and other river fish: coarse fish prints.
- Trout and salmon: trout and salmon prints.
- Sea anglers: sea fishing prints.
For the women who fish too
A lot of fishing gift guides assume the angler is a dad, a husband or a grandad. Plenty of anglers aren't. Nothing on a PB print is gendered. It's a species, a weight, a name and a date, and that's all it needs to mean something. The same goes for a catch photo. Spell their name right. Get the weight exact. Skip the jokey slogans. Our guide to women's fishing is a good place to start if she's new to it. Shopping for a dad after all? Try fishing gifts for dad.
Christmas
PB prints make easy Christmas gifts. The details come from you, so there's no photo to sneak off their phone while they're not looking. Give yourself time to find the weight and date quietly, because a wrong ounce is the one thing they'll spot. That's the part you can't rush. For stocking fillers and other ideas, see our Christmas fishing gifts page and the wider fishing gift ideas guide.