It's a great expierence playing fish, big or small. Taking a photograph with a specimen is very satisfying. But, there is nothing in angling more exciting than a bite, the take from a fish. 

Watching (or hearing if you're using alarms) a bite develop is a nervous, anxious, and exiciting thing to witness. Whether you're using a float, quiver tip, or bite alarms, there is nothing quite like it. The moment your indicator starts twitching, your heart stops, you take a deep breath and you wait for whatever fish is going to take your bait (or in some cases not). When you strike into it you don't know what's going to emerge from the depths. Sometimes you don't get the nerve shattering build up, especially barbel fishing. My personal best barbel bite just pulled the rod off rest. Me and my dad were fishing a couple of nights after Chris got is brace of double figure barbel, I was very jealous and I had to catch a big one! We were there for hours. I'd gotten bored and started cutting the characters from spongebob squarepants out of my luncheon meat, out the corner of my eye my rod butt and lifted off the rest. I jumped up, grabbed the rod, and after a hard fight landed a 12lb barbel.

My dads camera skills are worse than mine!

I'm writing this now waiting for a bite, I've been here for hours and I've not even had a nudge! Still time yet though.