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Close season.

N

Nick Anderson

No Longer a Member
With the rivers closed due to spawning, what are people's thoughts on this. Is it outdated? The season has changed constantly the last few years.
The true meaning of the closed season was to give a break for the spawning fish. All waters were closed. But why should one water be closed when another is open.
How many perch or tench anglers look forward to the closed season as the fish are at there top weight.

So should we move with the times? Or stay in a set way?

Your thoughts please.
 
With the greatest respect I believe that the closed season needs to be maintained. It gives an opportunity for the riverbanks, flora and fauna to recover.

Barbel normally spawn during the close season, does one really want to cast at spawning fish, even if they were interested in our baits?

Just imagine how life would be without the excitement of June 16th!

As ever

Hugo


 
Hugo thats an old school view imho. Times have changed. Barbel used to spawn in the closed. The last two years I've noticed that they weren't 100% after spawning but food was in there mind. The year before it was two weeks plus. I believe that we need to move with the times and new seasons.
 
Have to agree with Ian. I would be devastated if we lost the close. Apart from all the usual reasons to keep the close season on running water, who actually needs to fish for 12 months of the year always on the rivers anyway?

Nick, your comment about Perch and tench being at their top weights is surely irrelevant as you can bag as many of both species as you want from lakes, pits and ponds.
 
The 'Traditional Closed' season was put in place to stop us commoners fishing for the posh peoples Trout and Salmon on maggots and worms............ It just so happens to coincide with what was deemed to be the spawning time for many coarse species..........
Outdated maybe, but I happen to like the closed season. Could it be moved ?? Quite possibly..............
Do I fish canals and lakes during this period ? Sometimes yes, but I would never purposely target spawning fish.........
 
Julian I can catch barbel in still waters!!!

And on the Severn with the right hook and bait fishing for eels I may catch barbel! So what's the point?
 
On busy rivers that see heavy angling pressure I can understand the argument for giving the rivers and banks a break. At the same time though the fish on these venues must rely more on anglers bait, so is it a good idea to take a major food source away at a time when they're using more energy. On my local river wharfe it wouldn't make any difference if there were a closed season or not, no one fishes it anyway!
 
Paul Matthews said:
The 'Traditional Closed' season was put in place to stop us commoners fishing for the posh peoples Trout and Salmon on maggots and worms............ It just so happens to coincide with what was deemed to be the spawning time for many coarse species..........
Outdated maybe, but I happen to like the closed season. Could it be moved ?? Quite possibly..............
Do I fish canals and lakes during this period ? Sometimes yes, but I would never purposely target spawning fish.........
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You got it in one Paul. This spiel about lack of scientific study hence a 'precautionary approach' is a load of bow locks.
 
Julian Peacock said:
Have to agree with Ian. I would be devastated if we lost the close. Apart from all the usual reasons to keep the close season on running water, who actually needs to fish for 12 months of the year always on the rivers anyway?

Nick, your comment about Perch and tench being at their top weights is surely irrelevant as you can bag as many of both species as you want from lakes, pits and ponds.
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It wouldn't be compulsory for you to attend Julian :rolleyes:

I want to fish on the rivers all year around - Please :)
 
Why can i fish for a heavily pregnant fish and get my name in the tabloids. But if I cast too far im in a river! It doesn't make sense.
 
I'd never get time to decorate, or do any DIY, if the rivers were open all year round. It's a personal view, but I prefer the status quo; June 16th is still something to get excited about. Not an 'old skool' philosophy but perhaps a traditional one. And there's nothing wrong with that in this ever-changing fast-paced world we inhabit. :)
 
I like the close season I do and I might very well apply a self imposed one if the law changed and we could fish all year round. I find it a fruitful period in which I can focus on other hobbies and reintroduce myself to my family and friends. Then there is the car. It stinks. Like, really, really, totally stinks. I am pretty sure a pot of Elixir 6 glug has split somewhere in the deepest recesses of the boot and I am becoming more than a little alarmed by the amount of flies that are appearing in the cabin and not remotely interested in vacating it when I open the windows. So there is two weeks gone right there.

I also have a number of half finished toy cars made almost entirely from sea shells which need completing so I can start selling them at craft fairs. And for that I will need to spend some time growing a beard and nasal hair. That's another couple of weeks.

Then there is my annual pension statement. This piece of paper needs to be turned upside down, from side to side, about 27 times before exasperation takes hold and I ram the thing back into the "draw of shame".

I also need to spend time pacing up and down and side to side in the general proximity of the draw of shame. After a day of this, the draw will be opened one inch until its papery contents stubbornly and successfully prevent any further release until more force is applied which is accompanied by the sound of credit card and pension statements falling out the back into the draw below. All of that is another week at least.

Then there is the back wax, the yoga classes and shoe shopping.

I mean, there is simply loads of stuff to do.
 
Howard Cooke said:
I like the close season I do and I might very well apply a self imposed one if the law changed and we could fish all year round. I find it a fruitful period in which I can focus on other hobbies and reintroduce myself to my family and friends. Then there is the car. It stinks. Like, really, really, totally stinks. I am pretty sure a pot of Elixir 6 glug has split somewhere in the deepest recesses of the boot and I am becoming more than a little alarmed by the amount of flies that are appearing in the cabin and not remotely interested in vacating it when I open the windows. So there is two weeks gone right there.

I also have a number of half finished toy cars made almost entirely from sea shells which need completing so I can start selling them at craft fairs. And for that I will need to spend some time growing a beard and nasal hair. That's another couple of weeks.

Then there is my annual pension statement. This piece of paper needs to be turned upside down, from side to side, about 27 times before exasperation takes hold and I ram the thing back into the "draw of shame".

I also need to spend time pacing up and down and side to side in the general proximity of the draw of shame. After a day of this, the draw will be opened one inch until its papery contents stubbornly and successfully prevent any further release until more force is applied which is accompanied by the sound of credit card and pension statements falling out the back into the draw below. All of that is another week at least.

Then there is the back wax, the yoga classes and shoe shopping.

I mean, there is simply loads of stuff to do.
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No time for staring then Howard :D
 
The closed season for coarse anglers on rivers needs a serious review in my opinion. Last season was a slow start as the Barbel were still spawning well into July due to the cold spring in the north west. This year looks like being the same. An ideal situation would be to close a stretch when the fish were observed to be spawning as is the case on many carp lakes - as we all know this is almost impossible to police on the many miles of rivers we fish so it's a case of self discipline for me - keep the rivers open all year and let the anglers decide when to back off a stretch due to fish spawning activity
 
Robert Buttress said:
Two words which are frequently used in an environmental context are ‘responsible’ and ‘sustainable’. Doing away with a statutory lay-off period for coarse fishing on rivers would be neither responsible nor sustainable.


It would adversely affect the fish themselves as the quarry we depend on for our sport and enjoyment; it would certainly tarnish the image of angling, and hand over ammunition to the antis, who would dearly love to ban angling altogether. All-year-round river coarse fishing would, make no mistake, hand them a considerable weapon to be used against us. I can just imagine PETA and the like lining up their arguments when the legislation went through (if they have not begun to line them up already, that is): ‘UK coarse anglers target spawning fish; rivers turn into killing fields, etc, etc’
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So why can stillwater anglers murder heavily pregnant fish then. That is what im trying to get at but people are so blatantly ignorant its unreal.
 
If I fish a half inch gape hook for eels with lobworm on the Severn and catch a barbel which is loaded with roe what then? I'm not breaking any rules.

So salmon angler's, what are they doing? Salmon dont feed in rivers apparently so if they're in there to breed why are we allowed to fish for them.??
 
Robert Buttress said:
Two words which are frequently used in an environmental context are ‘responsible’ and ‘sustainable’. Doing away with a statutory lay-off period for coarse fishing on rivers would be neither responsible nor sustainable.


It would adversely affect the fish themselves as the quarry we depend on for our sport and enjoyment; it would certainly tarnish the image of angling, and hand over ammunition to the antis, who would dearly love to ban angling altogether. All-year-round river coarse fishing would, make no mistake, hand them a considerable weapon to be used against us. I can just imagine PETA and the like lining up their arguments when the legislation went through (if they have not begun to line them up already, that is): ‘UK coarse anglers target spawning fish; rivers turn into killing fields, etc, etc’
Click to expand...

Sorry, but what you say is Dribble, Who really listens to these Antis, nothing more than a bunch of Nutters and PETA have become nothing more than narcissistic trendy celebs looking for a photo shoot.
You said, It would adversely affect the fish themselves as the quarry we depend on for our sport and enjoyment,
I would really like to see some evidence of this, the Only evidence you can go by is the lifting of the close season on lakes, canals and that has proved to have No adverse effects.
 
Last edited:
[QUOTE=Paul Matthews;151589]The 'Traditional Closed' season was put in place to stop us commoners fishing for the posh peoples Trout and Salmon on maggots and worms............ It just so happens to coincide with what was deemed to be the spawning time for many coarse species..........
Outdated maybe, but I happen to like the closed season. Could it be moved ?? Quite possibly..............
Do I fish canals and lakes during this period ? Sometimes yes, but I would never purposely target spawning fish.........[/QUOTE]




Sorry Paul but I must disagree with that. The closed season was introduced around 1879, a time before keepnets were about, all fish caught during matches including gravid females were killed and retained for weighing, it was in effect an early conservation ( albeit selfish) measure to maintain fish stocks.

I was a supporter of the closed season until it was removed from canals and still waters, now I am not. There is no study or scientific evidence to support the closed season as it is now, all species do not spawn during the closed season ( its not all about Barbel ) in some areas they might during some years in other geographical locations they might not.

There may be a case if its about protecting spawning fish that it would need to be moved or even extended to cover all areas and all species, I cant see an extension going down to well but if studies were carried out and that was the findings then those that say it is about protecting spawning fish and conservation would have to accept it wouldn't they?

Until someone pays for and carries out a scientific study of stretches of river where the closed season has been lifted for the purpose of the study nobody will know if there have been any detrimental changes and even then other changeable things such as weather, pollution, (seen or unseen) fish species present and probably lots of other things have to be taken into account.
 
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