Anyway, under my proposals, fishing would be allowed until 11.30pm during BST and 8.30[pm during BWT. Plenty to keep everyone happy and protect the fish stocks./QUOTE]
Hi Lee,
I respect the fact that you are standing up and doing your bit to in an effort to bring about change, and doing so in the face of entrenched and stubborn dogmatism. However, do you not think you are in effect trying to do away with a restriction because it doesn't suit you....then replacing it with another, seemingly without considering how that new restriction suits others?
Your statement that 'Under my proposals, fishing would be allowed until 11.30pm during BST and 8.30[pm during BWT. Plenty to keep everyone happy and protect the fish stocks'.....assumes quite a lot, surely? Firstly, it assumes that 11.30 pm is 'plenty to keep everyone happy'....apparently because that is when you like to pack up? Then it also presumes that poachers don't fish after that time either....which would be very different to my stretch of river, if true.....
Surely, if you are going to campaign to change what you perceive as an archaic restriction, i.e, a ban on night fishing...then you should fight to get that ban lifted entirely, not just change the time when that restriction comes into operation to a time which suits you? I think you will find that a LOT of anglers would prefer to fish much later than that, quite a number in fact like to fish all night. You would probably be losing a lot of potential support from other anglers by doing things the way you are.
Also, if you are going to put forward the argument that the presence of legitimate anglers is vital to deter poachers/fish thieves....then surely that will only work if anglers are present all night? I would think the club will be bound to ask why you think it essential to have anglers present to deter these people...but apparently the importance of that presence switches off at 11.30 pm.
I have a sneaky feeling that telling them that it doesn't matter after that time, 'cos you will have gone home by then...will not really cut it
I don't fish your river Lee, so this does not directly affect me either way...it is just an observation from an interested....but puzzled outsider looking in
Cheers, Dave.
Anyway, under my proposals, fishing would be allowed until 11.30pm during BST and 8.30[pm during BWT. Plenty to keep everyone happy and protect the fish stocks./QUOTE]
Hi Lee,
I respect the fact that you are standing up and doing your bit to in an effort to bring about change, and doing so in the face of entrenched and stubborn dogmatism. However, do you not think you are in effect trying to do away with a restriction because it doesn't suit you....then replacing it with another, seemingly without considering how that new restriction suits others?
Your statement that 'Under my proposals, fishing would be allowed until 11.30pm during BST and 8.30[pm during BWT. Plenty to keep everyone happy and protect the fish stocks'.....assumes quite a lot, surely? Firstly, it assumes that 11.30 pm is 'plenty to keep everyone happy'....apparently because that is when you like to pack up? Then it also presumes that poachers don't fish after that time either....which would be very different to my stretch of river, if true.....
Surely, if you are going to campaign to change what you perceive as an archaic restriction, i.e, a ban on night fishing...then you should fight to get that ban lifted entirely, not just change the time when that restriction comes into operation to a time which suits you? I think you will find that a LOT of anglers would prefer to fish much later than that, quite a number in fact like to fish all night. You would probably be losing a lot of potential support from other anglers by doing things the way you are.
Also, if you are going to put forward the argument that the presence of legitimate anglers is vital to deter poachers/fish thieves....then surely that will only work if anglers are present all night? I would think the club will be bound to ask why you think it essential to have anglers present to deter these people...but apparently the importance of that presence switches off at 11.30 pm.
I have a sneaky feeling that telling them that it doesn't matter after that time, 'cos you will have gone home by then...will not really cut it
I don't fish your river Lee, so this does not directly affect me either way...it is just an observation from an interested....but puzzled outsider looking in
Cheers, Dave.
I actually think Lee's proposals are common sense Dave. As a few have mentioned on here already, match fishing is BAAs main interest. They dislike night fishing because of feed going in, pegs disturbed etc. the night before so any request for a total relaxation of the rule is doomed to failure. I think Lee has put forward a very sensible compromise proposal and feel you are being unduly harsh to suggest his comments are driven by self interest alone. If other people want to fish all night then they can approach John Williams themselves, just as Lee has done.
I understand your point on poachers but think the chance of BAA allowing all night fishing on those grounds is virtually nil. Trying to get them to meet halfway is a better bet.
You may be right Alex, but I would have thought the better bet would be the earlier proposal of banning night fishing prior to any matches. The major challenge, as I see it, is convincing them that banning night fishing altogether is wrong...full stop.
Look at the reality of the situation. It has already been stated that the BAA is but a shadow of it's former self, and the reason for that is that in it's heyday, match fishing on rivers was the be-all and end-all of fishing...virtually all anglers joined a club at that time because clubs owned or leased every stretch of river for miles around...and they ran all the matches. In a word, they WERE fishing, to the average city dweller! The tragedy for such massive organisations is that match fishing on rivers is no longer the 'in' thing....the majority of match anglers now fish the puddles, because they got fed up with winter leagues where six ounces was a decent weight for four or five hours hard graft. They now fish matches on commercials where thirty to fifty pounds is still on the cards in winter for the same effort....therefore the original reason for the ban has almost ceased to exist. I must admit that I am speculating slightly here...while the above is true, I obviously don't know the exact number of matches they still have on their calendar each year...but it is but a tiny fraction of yesteryear, that is for sure.
If you can make them see that, and that pleasure/specimen fishing is the only portion of their income that is actually growing (which it almost certainly is), then they may understand where you are coming from. If you reinforce that with an agreement that fishing will not be allowed on the nights before an increasingly rare river match, then they may just agree that it is a reasonable proposal.
As for my post being a bit harsh on Lee...again, on reading my post back, you have a point possibly. It was intended to be a tongue in cheek observation, rather than a criticism....hence the smilies. However, I guess depending how you read it, it may well not have come across that way. BUT.... I would remind you of Lee's statement in post number 8 (and I quote) "But would a hour or so into dark hurt? TBH I don't want to stay out all night, yet if I'm on the bank at 10pm I'm breaking the rules". In light of that, perhaps my post was not TOO far off the mark?
Whatever, no harm was meant, 'twas but my idea of adding my thoughts for Lee to consider. I have no reason whatsoever to upset Lee, as I say....just an interested but puzzled outsider looking in
Cheers, Dave.
And what if these habits are denied by predators?
Perhaps they will move to a safer environement?
Prey creatures will seek safety first, and then adapt as best they can.
Barbel are prey, and therefore probably will have the instict to 'Get the hell outta here'
All conjecture though, with you not being a fish
There really was no offence intended Lee, and good on you for at least trying.
