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Closed Season Controversy

I caught a barbel from the Trent very early season a few years back, on holding it up to the camera I realised it had release hundreds of eggs on the unhooking matt, no one can tell me this happening more often can be anything but detrimental to future fish stocks. Personally I think a move of a couple of weeks on the traditional close season is a great idea. Still protects most of the early spawning (pike perch ect) and should protect most of the late spawning chub and barbel. With all the other pressures on our rivers in today's world, imo we should be fighting to keep the close season not trying to abolish it.
 
Hi men,

I once walked the banks of a lake where someone was fishing for perch of potential record size , along with a few other well known all round anglers , who comented that the perch should be at their biggest weights , in what was the old closed season , they were river anglers as well ?.

Hatter
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men,

I once walked the banks of a lake where someone was fishing for perch of potential record size , along with a few other well known all round anglers , who comented that the perch should be at their biggest weights , in what was the old closed season , they were river anglers as well ?.

Hatter
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Yes , and Tench anglers target them prior to spawning so they are at their best weight. Most record fish have been caught with spawn in them..
 
Steve Shenfield said:
Just wondering how many anglers on here move on to stillwaters to fish for tench, bream or carp once the close season on rivers is upon us. Of course that would be hypocritical given some of the comments in this thread.
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Steve,

I suspect many will and won't regard it as hypocrisy because they are allowed to fish stillwaters all year round.... Personally, I don't fish in the close season apart from a single outing to a well known commercial fishery to accompany my fishing mate on a crucian expedition. Still haven't caught a decent one though. I never fish any of my local club lakes in the close season and have never had any inclination so to do since the close season was scrapped.

As a matter of interest, the abolitionists are pre-supposing that the owners of their river fisheries would permit fishing all year round. I think a significant minority may not and what about stretches in SSSIs or other conservation areas?


Dave
 
Neil Smart said:
So still no unity, targeting anglers who merely wish to fish, be it still water or rivers, we have to condemn .
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Well put , i still cant get my head round some anglers thinking we are custodians of nature ! Try telling that to a conservationist and explain the bit about using sharp bits of metal to penetrate a fishes mouth...Fishing is a form of hunting , and as far as I'm aware , all huntsmen have vested interests regarding their chosen quarry..I cant help but think that if some anglers are so concerned about fishes welfare , that maybe they are in the wrong sport...That's just my thoughts..
 
Craig Wood said:
Well put , i still cant get my head round some anglers thinking we are custodians of nature ! Try telling that to a conservationist and explain the bit about using sharp bits of metal to penetrate a fishes mouth...Fishing is a form of hunting , and as far as I'm aware , all huntsmen have vested interests regarding their chosen quarry..I cant help but think that if some anglers are so concerned about fishes welfare , that maybe they are in the wrong sport...That's just my thoughts..
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I’m a conservationist Craig, I’m also an angler, I don’t see any contradiction in that. Angling more than anything pushed me into a career in that direction. Lots of anglers I know are also conservationists, the two go hand in hand in my opinion.

As you say, we do have a vested interest in our quarry, we also have a vested interest in the overall health of rivers. And precisely because there are people who out there who don’t approve of angling is all the more reason for us to try our best to limit any potential adverse impacts on both the environment and the fish themselves.
 
David Clewer said:
Steve,

I suspect many will and won't regard it as hypocrisy because they are allowed to fish stillwaters all year round.... Personally, I don't fish in the close season apart from a single outing to a well known commercial fishery to accompany my fishing mate on a crucian expedition. Still haven't caught a decent one though. I never fish any of my local club lakes in the close season and have never had any inclination so to do since the close season was scrapped.

As a matter of interest, the abolitionists are pre-supposing that the owners of their river fisheries would permit fishing all year round. I think a significant minority may not and what about stretches in SSSIs or other conservation areas?


Dave
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Good point David,

I can’t see Natural England rushing to rewrite the consents for SSSI’s to allow increased angling pressure in the breeding bird season, so that’s most of the Wye, Kennet, Hampshire Avon and Wensum for starters.

I canvassed the views of a farmer yesterday who leases river fishing rights to a local club. He said he wasn’t keen on the idea of more angling pressure, more wear and tear on his gates and tracks etc, plus he didn’t like having people around during his April lambing season. Although he did say the if the money was right then he might consider it!
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I’m a conservationist Craig, I’m also an angler, I don’t see any contradiction in that. Angling more than anything pushed me into a career in that direction. Lots of anglers I know are also conservationists, the two go hand in hand in my opinion.

As you say, we do have a vested interest in our quarry, we also have a vested interest in the overall health of rivers. And precisely because there are people who out there who don’t approve of angling is all the more reason for us to try our best to limit any potential adverse impacts on both the environment and the fish themselves.
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To be honest Joe I couldn't care less if there are people out there that don't approve of angling, they are professional complainers who having tried to ruin someone's enjoyment and failed move on to something else, they are the sort that would think it was ok to liberate Mink.
 
Graham Young said:
To be honest Joe I couldn't care less if there are people out there that don't approve of angling, they are professional complainers who having tried to ruin someone's enjoyment and failed move on to something else, they are the sort that would think it was ok to liberate Mink.
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I'm sure a lot of fox hunters and hare coarser's in the 90's were of the same mindset Graham.

Thankfully angling isn't seen as being malign by the majority of the population, but let's try and keep it that way eh?
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I'm sure a lot of fox hunters and hare coarser's in the 90's were of the same mindset Graham.

Thankfully angling isn't seen as being malign by the majority of the population, but let's try and keep it that way eh?
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It has been my experience that the majority of the none angling public couldn't care less about anglers, they know nothing of the problems we have with pollution and predation and care even less, what answer do you think you would get if you asked someone not involved in angling what they thought bout the closed season?
 
I guess hunters have seasons to allow the creatures to breed in peace, increase the stock levels for the benefit of their sport.:)
 
On a completely different note..
Notwithstanding all the pro's & con's of a close season ( and I really do get most of them on both sides) , on a purely selfish level the close season is life's way of getting me to stop. I fish all season as I like my chubbing & pike fishing and by this time of year I'm normally cream-crackered. I have no doubt if I could, I would fish rivers all year round, but the close season forces me to take stock of the rest of my life. My dogs get walked more, the garden and all the jobs around the hose that had been neglected since June 16th get looked at, and some get sorted. And probably most importantly I spend time with my missus on weekends. This might sound really sad to some but she is good as gold and often has to postpone social events on a weekend to let me go fishing. So it's a bit of payback on my part.
Reels get stripped & serviced, gear gets sorted out, rod repairs get done, bait gets ordered, plans & strategies get hatched and I really do like the build up to the 16th .
I'll still wet a line on a few occasions but in my case, absence definitely makes the heart grow stronger with my river.
I still visit our stretch, play with the Deeper, do the working parties and walk the length on poacher patrol and still get a lot of enjoyment just being there in the Spring , buzzing in anticipation of a new season - a new challenge.
 
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