Close Season Blues

[Alec Hague]

I am tied up today AND collecting the aspire ultra tonight but tomorrow and Thursday are good but have strongish easterlies, but hooray Friday is ok but it's wet. 3 half days is all I have had this year!

 

[Alec Hague]

Had half a day last Saturday on a club water. Still cold north easterly but at least the sun shone,, couldn't raise a smile let alone a bite, when a carp swam past on the surface. So much for the guys who say, its deep so still too cold for them to stir!

 

[Julian Marshall]

My mind wanders to the small river Isbourne a unique little river that rises on Cleeve Hill and enters the Warks Avon at Evesham. I would rather catch a little solitary Dace from this river than a netfull of Carp from a commercial. This river is typical of the demise in our rivers walking the banks recently it was devoid of all.life seemingly, it should be brim full of everything.
I might dabble a worm just in case .

I'm really sorry to hear that about the Isbourne. I used to cycle to various spots along it & catch chub & dace when I was a kid - about 60 years ago... I dread to think how many tons of fertiliser have been applied along those fields since. I do hope you find a few fish - you could always rely on a few whopping minnows! PS I was always told it was one of very few English rivers that flowed pretty much norh for all it's length.

 

[Alex Dalton]

Still making use of the outstanding cod fishing in my back yard and a lot fresher than the high priced super market fodder , don't think i will pick up a course rod till the river season opens again still blooming cold at the moment not long to go now though .

 

[Kevin Siddle]

I think that reading through this thread there is a fairly common denominator. I definitely fall into the old fart category as by the sounds of it do a large number of the respondents. We are lucky enough to remember some of our rivers before they either dried up went into decline or were generally neglected, days when they were fished by more anglers and fewer predators. That being said, the fishing was not always that great but the surroundings were yet to be ravaged by environmental engineers… in the main.
Younger anglers did not all benefit from that and some started their fishing on commercials catching far more than we ever did and enjoying themselves doing it just as much. For their sake I hope that continues and also that some discover the magic and the challenges of running water. My real fear for all of us is that those younger anglers in years to come will walk round or drive past their commercial fisheries and find them abandoned, polluted and devoid of fish life. If that happens though many of us will probably not see it we’ll all be screwed.

 

[Alec Hague]

Still making use of the outstanding cod fishing in my back yard and a lot fresher than the high priced super market fodder , don't think i will pick up a course rod till the river season opens again still blooming cold at the moment not long to go now though .

Many years ago, certainly 40+ I was at Dungeness power station. Afterwards I went to the parking area by the beach, used by fisherman. A guy with a morris 1100 estate , has so many cod, he couldn't put them all in his car because they were too heavy. That was the freshest cod I ever took home! Happy memories.

 

[Kevin Brown]

I keep watching my short video I took last year , reminds me what I’m missing

 

[Alec Hague]

I keep watching my short video I took last year , reminds me what I’m missing

that's a magnificent spot! Congratulations.

 

[Richard Isaacs]

I keep watching my short video I took last year , reminds me what I’m missing

Thank goodness for that ….. I thought it was just my rod tip that never moved

 

[Neil Smart]

I'm really sorry to hear that about the Isbourne. I used to cycle to various spots along it & catch chub & dace when I was a kid - about 60 years ago... I dread to think how many tons of fertiliser have been applied along those fields since. I do hope you find a few fish - you could always rely on a few whopping minnows! PS I was always told it was one of very few English rivers that flowed pretty much norh for all it's length.

Hi Julian. Yes it does flow due north for all its length. Às you realise I am sure it is the sort of river that is quintessentially English countryside and should be buzzing with life. I too blame farming for its demise the idea that farming practises are concerned with environment protection is from what I observe is a myth.
Crops such as rape are back and sheep are increasing in 10 folds the sustainable farming ideals that we are force fed by the BBC is sadly just B.S . Fields where I live are crammed with sheep, the pastures stink and there is just too many per acre and last Autumn the sheep were dying from a virus, I called Defra apparently the tenant farmer was not at all concerned.
Of course it all comes down to subsidies and stack "em high is the way for some..
What the farmers use on their crops is evidently destroying our rivers, but nothing will be done untill all the Otters have nothing left to prey on.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Hi Julian. Yes it does flow due north for all its length. Às you realise I am sure it is the sort of river that is quintessentially English countryside and should be buzzing with life. I too blame farming for its demise the idea that farming practises are concerned with environment protection is from what I observe is a myth.
Crops such as rape are back and sheep are increasing in 10 folds the sustainable farming ideals that we are force fed by the BBC is sadly just B.S . Fields where I live are crammed with sheep, the pastures stink and there is just too many per acre and last Autumn the sheep were dying from a virus, I called Defra apparently the tenant farmer was not at all concerned.
Of course it all comes down to subsidies and stack "em high is the way for some..
What the farmers use on their crops is evidently destroying our rivers, but nothing will be done untill all the Otters have nothing left to prey on.

Nothing to do with subsidies these days. Headage payments ceased nearly 20 years ago..since then farms receive a subsidy based on the area of land they farm, with no obligation to produce anything on it. This payment has been incrementally reduced the last 4 years and is being phased out from next year. With the only subsidies available in future are for environmental measures.

Sheep - complete pain the arse imo.

 

[Alec Hague]

Nothing to do with subsidies these days. Headage payments ceased nearly 20 years ago..since then farms receive a subsidy based on the area of land they farm, with no obligation to produce anything on it. This payment has been incrementally reduced the last 4 years and is being phased out from next year. With the only subsidies available in future are for environmental measures.

Sheep - complete pain the arse imo.

4 years is about what I have left hopefully but must confess thought I would join the great majority due to ill health not starvation. Still it's all the same in the end! Got to laugh.

 

[Neil Smart]

Nothing to do with subsidies these days. Headage payments ceased nearly 20 years ago..since then farms receive a subsidy based on the area of land they farm, with no obligation to produce anything on it. This payment has been incrementally reduced the last 4 years and is being phased out from next year. With the only subsidies available in future are for environmental measures.

Sheep - complete pain the arse imo.

Directly or indirectly livestock farming receives 1.5 billion of the Kings pound per annum. That in any language is subsidy.
But I take your point, its all about yield and the countryside is being squeezed dry like I have never before witnessed. What is apparent something is entering our rivers at an alarming rate from farming that is killing everything.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Directly or indirectly livestock farming receives 1.5 billion of the Kings pound per annum. That in any language is subsidy.
But I take your point, its all about yield and the countryside is being squeezed dry like I have never before witnessed. What is apparent something is entering our rivers at an alarming rate from farming that is killing everything.

About £2.4 billion currently is spent on agricultural subsidies in England, it's hard to put an amount on how much of that ends up in the pockets of livestock farms.

Intensive livestock farms, particularly in the dairy sector can operate profitably without them. A big fear is that the withdrawal of direct subsidies is going to encourage the consolidation of bigger agri-businesses that operate at scale. Bad news for the smaller family run farms.

For decades now the biggest influence on how farms operate is the power of the supermarkets. They are in constant competition with each other and are always trying to drive down prices without reducing their own margins. The result is that the suppliers are constantly being pushed to reduce their costs, and often many of them scale-up in order to achieve this.

Effectively UK consumers tend to pay 3-times for their food. Initially in the subsidies that are paid by their taxes, secondly at the supermarket/shop till and thirdly in years of the cost to society of ameolorating water pollution, flooding, air quality etc, what economists call externalised costs.

It doesn't have to be this way, and many farmers are adopting regenerative farming techniques and proving that farming can be productive and environmentally sustainable. Although they are still up against the supermarkets who care about nothing other than their own bottom line.

 

[Julian Marshall]

Hi Julian. Yes it does flow due north for all its length. Às you realise I am sure it is the sort of river that is quintessentially English countryside and should be buzzing with life. I too blame farming for its demise the idea that farming practises are concerned with environment protection is from what I observe is a myth.
Crops such as rape are back and sheep are increasing in 10 folds the sustainable farming ideals that we are force fed by the BBC is sadly just B.S . Fields where I live are crammed with sheep, the pastures stink and there is just too many per acre and last Autumn the sheep were dying from a virus, I called Defra apparently the tenant farmer was not at all concerned.
Of course it all comes down to subsidies and stack "em high is the way for some..
What the farmers use on their crops is evidently destroying our rivers, but nothing will be done untill all the Otters have nothing left to prey on.

All that time ago it was largely market gardening - sheep were up on Bredon & the hills though. I'm in North Yorkshire now & chicken farms seem to be the choice for profit. They smell dreadful & I'm not sure many people who buy the product are very clear about the conditions the birds are raised in. A local turkey farm had to slaughter thousands when the whole lot got some grim infection. Masses of rape locally & it seemed to have a spray of something weekly - it's all pretty depressing. Fortunately the Swale wasn't badly affected by a recent pollution incident where thousands of gallons of `digestate` - pig sh*t - was released into a beck. The beck wasn't so lucky & is noe devoid of life for a long stretch.
I do hope you still have some good fishing to aim for locally - I used to stand on Evesham weir & catch some decent roach on silkweed.
Wet a line at the Fish & Anchor for me!

 

[Chris Guy]

There is plenty of challenging, but rewarding stillwater fishing across the country that doesn't involve visiting a commercial, or an over-stocked club lake.

There are hardly any in my neck of the woods (South Cambs, Bedfordshire, North Herts). Even my local clubs pile in the carp, into what were great mixed fisheries.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

I've fished from the age of 7. I'm now 71. Strangely I am missing my river fishing more acutely this Close Season than ever before. There are no canals in Norfolk so I can't even fish them unless I travel.
In desperation for a bit of "rod action" I visited a local "commercial" and caught some nice stocked carp in the 4lb - 10lb range.
But here's the strange thing. I would actually have preferred catching small dace and roach trotting my local river.
Is there something wrong with me? A 10lb carp is quite a nice fish, but knowing its been put in the lake to be caught kind of takes the shine off a bit.
Am I alone in thinking this?

Morning Paul.

I've joined this conversation a bit late....
I share the same sort of outlook on my fishing as you. I can never bring myself to fish commercial venues, and am a flowing water sort of guy! I just find rivers to be more interesting to look at, than commercial holes Stuffed with carp & stunted fish with bruised lips torn mouths etc.

The only reason someone would see me on a commercial, would be for the neglected perch that may be swimming around, but then I wouldn't be all that happy as the perch then turn out to be washed out in colours

So it's horses for courses I guess, and your not in the wrong in the way you choose & like to fish.... However your location dictates that you will have to adapt to the venues your given as simply there's nothing else locally available, and giving up angling isn't an option

 

[Alec Hague]

Morning Paul.

I've joined this conversation a bit late....
I share the same sort of outlook on my fishing as you. I can never bring myself to fish commercial venues, and am a flowing water sort of guy! I just find rivers to be more interesting to look at, than commercial holes Stuffed with carp & stunted fish with bruised lips torn mouths etc.

The only reason someone would see me on a commercial, would be for the neglected perch that may be swimming around, but then I wouldn't be all that happy as the perch then turn out to be washed out in colours

So it's horses for courses I guess, and your not in the wrong in the way you choose & like to fish.... However your location dictates that you will have to adapt to the venues your given as simply there's nothing else locally available, and giving up angling isn't an option

My only serious river fishing was when a guest of Roger on the Wye. My abiding memory though was in one moment seeing 9 kingfishers in flight on the opposite bank over a stretch of 100 plus yards. May have been more but that's all I counted. Here is Essex perhaps it's me but I don't see any enticing running water. 300 yards from homeI have the cripsey brook. I have fished it, caught a chub even but it's so overgrown as to be farcical. Myhome club has a section but perhaps I am spoilt but since the ra stoped clearing it's a mess. Currently out of season it's lovely, ha!

 

[Neil Smart]

I think that reading through this thread there is a fairly common denominator. I definitely fall into the old fart category as by the sounds of it do a large number of the respondents. We are lucky enough to remember some of our rivers before they either dried up went into decline or were generally neglected, days when they were fished by more anglers and fewer predators. That being said, the fishing was not always that great but the surroundings were yet to be ravaged by environmental engineers… in the main.
Younger anglers did not all benefit from that and some started their fishing on commercials catching far more than we ever did and enjoying themselves doing it just as much. For their sake I hope that continues and also that some discover the magic and the challenges of running water. My real fear for all of us is that those younger anglers in years to come will

walk round or drive past their commercial fisheries and find them abandoned, polluted and devoid of fish life. If that happens though many of us will probably not see it we’ll all be screwed.

All that time ago it was largely market gardening - sheep were up on Bredon & the hills though. I'm in North Yorkshire now & chicken farms seem to be the choice for profit. They smell dreadful & I'm not sure many people who buy the product are very clear about the conditions the birds are raised in. A local turkey farm had to slaughter thousands when the whole lot got some grim infection. Masses of rape locally & it seemed to have a spray of something weekly - it's all pretty depressing. Fortunately the Swale wasn't badly affected by a recent pollution incident where thousands of gallons of `digestate` - pig sh*t - was released into a beck. The beck wasn't so lucky & is noe devoid of life for a long stretch.
I do hope you still have some good fishing to aim for locally - I used to stand on Evesham weir & catch some decent roach on silkweed.
Wet a line at the Fish & Anchor for me!

Ha yes I too when as a kid we used to catch qualty roach standing on Saltford weir on the Bristol Avon. You had to drag your hooklength up the silkweed on the weir cill to trap some bait. I believe the roach were targeting the shrimp in the concoction. If you touched it by hand it wouldn't work.
Your memories are still very much of here and now sadly, but we live in hope and perhaps one day there will be stiffer legislation to protect our beautiful rivers.
You have some fine rivers up there, my kind of thing, I will keep at it and look at the Fish and Anchor too ...sounds Good.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

All that time ago it was largely market gardening - sheep were up on Bredon & the hills though. I'm in North Yorkshire now & chicken farms seem to be the choice for profit. They smell dreadful & I'm not sure many people who buy the product are very clear about the conditions the birds are raised in. A local turkey farm had to slaughter thousands when the whole lot got some grim infection. Masses of rape locally & it seemed to have a spray of something weekly - it's all pretty depressing. Fortunately the Swale wasn't badly affected by a recent pollution incident where thousands of gallons of `digestate` - pig sh*t - was released into a beck. The beck wasn't so lucky & is noe devoid of life for a long stretch.

I wonder how much pig slurry gets produced by intensively farmed pigs which end up as Spam?