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Pressured Barbel?

R

Richard Hamlyn

No Longer a Member
The thread about Bob James fishing in the closed season sparked off an interesting discussion about the penalty dished out to Bob and the closed season in general. This inevitably was hijacked by people more interested in sniping at the poster rather than responding in an informed way to the content of the post, but what can you do. Some people read the Sun and some read the Times.

Anyway my request for reasons to keep the closed season that could stand up to scrutiny did not deliver a single reasoned response other than to call me an idiot and to talk about papering the spare bedroom. However one thing was posted that caused me to think, and that was that the close season was a good thing because it gave pressured Barbel a chance to rest. We have a tendency to think that pressured fish are living in a state of permanent paranoia due to 24/7 angling, hiding away and scared to put a fin outside their lairs under fallen trees and in undercuts for fear of having a hook stuck in them. I’m not so sure this is the case.

I am a Swim Wild Swim Free Barbel and I live in a river that has little angling pressure from the Air Breathers. However life for me is a daily struggle of eat or be eaten. I have to spend long hours out of my safe areas in order to get enough food and as a result I am one of several fish that are not particularly large. If I see a morsel of food then I have to grab it pretty damn quickly because if I don’t my peers will. The Air Breathers catch us quite easily as a result of this. Long periods of time spent foraging for food makes us more likely to be predated upon from our natural enemies and although life is as nature intended it is far from a natural idyll. To make matters worse for some reason that we cannot understand the Air Breathers dessert us for several moons in late Spring every year and we do not even have their food. We have to rely on eating bugs just when we need good food the most when we are getting ready for the razzle on the gravel.

I am a Pressured Barbel and I have never has it so good. There are Air Breathers everywhere both night and day and they are constantly throwing food into the river. Not any old food either, OK we get more than our fair share of pellets but we get some really exotic stuff as well. They are little round balls and whatever is in them they are really good for us and as a result we are healthier and much bigger than our SWSF brothers. The fact that we are bigger seems to please the Air Breathers and the bigger we get the more food they seem to throw in. As such we do not compete with each other for food much; I mean there is no point really as there is a load to go round. This means that we do not get caught very often as the Air Breathers are very considerate in identifying the danger foods for us. 90% of the time they make sure the danger food is a short distance away from the hooky thing and if that were not enough there is nearly always an easily recognisable clip thing holding a heavy blob that really stands out from the other rocks to make sure we see it and keep our distance. All this is joined to a long string which can be hard to see but most of the Air People keep it well off the bottom where bits of weed get stuck on it so we can pick it out more easily. As a result we don’t often get caught. The exception to this is a few Air Breathers who play dirty and use baits that move with the flow and hide the hooky thing inside. Some of them come up with ingenious ways to get the moving bait into places where we feel really safe and this fools even the older smarter fish. However not many of the Air Breathers are inventive, possibly only 10%, so it’s not much of a problem. The only thing we have in common with our SWSF brothers is the period of famine in the late spring. The wiser fish have spent many hours discussing this but we have still not been able to come up with any logical explanation.
 
Richard said.

"However not many of the Air Breathers are inventive, possibly only 10%, so it’s not much of a problem."

I would say it's nearer 20%.

Graham
 
good read richard, but he knows the law,and he chose to ignore it, al ot of anglers are annoyed that his punishment was very lite,
 
Hmmmm.....yes....I see. Your post explains a lot Richard, certainly does, yes sireee.

So, tell me......have you had these multiple personalities for long? Are there other personalities you may reveal later? Are you sometimes an otter, or prince Charles possibly? If that last were true, it also would explain a lot. Being reminded first thing every morning what a tw@t you have been is enough to make anyone angry all day.

Most importantly....do the voices ever tell you to do any bad things? Reveal all dear chap, we will try to help :)

Cheers, Dave
 
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Hi men,

I have said this before . My local canals are as good if not better than ever . My worries over poaching in the close season has gone , although I still don't trust any foreign angler , that's just me . That might be my fault, but fish taking was rife , with notices being put up to explain the way it works in this country . The bird life ( much used on here as a excuse ) has not suffered , and I dig and watch them all day . The banks ?, what a lot of tosh , I often have to make swims even on a busy towpath, and on lots of the bits of rivers we fish we are still doing this in the winter !. My local club were dead against it ( they held a special members meeting to vote on it ) but now have said that its the best thing they done . Security is easier , balifed by members through our the year , and fishing has deff not suffered as the new season rush does not happen , and pressure has sort of spred out .

This only leaves one thing then , would this be replicated on rivers ?. Well I'm sure it would , with perhaps just the fact that some stretches would have " noticeable " swims all year round . So its down to the fish then , would they suffer ?, anymore than the canal fish ?.

One august was sitting on the banks of the Teme one day ,me and sue stalking / fishing for a few barbel in lovely clear water . It was hard going , they feed in short bursts , then showed signs of spawning as the day got hotter . My phone rang and it was Dave Mason who was sitting well upstream on his bit with the same thing happening . We all packed up and wandered across the fields for a pub lunch . I do the same on the canal / lakes when they show the same signs , but this was during the season , and happens a lot more than people realise .

Given the option , with a change in the law to match lakes and canals ,I would fish year round , because I'm not hypercritical , as many are who think the close season should stay , then fly fish rivers , or fish for carp bream and tench at their heaviest weights carrying spawn , or target perch when spawny . But until it legal I will carry on lakes and canals like most of us now !.


Hatter
 
'Some people read the Sun and some read the Times'
What did you mean by that Richard? I hope you didn't mean to suggest that these newspapers gave different opinions as both are owned by News Corporation under the control of the same person - i.e Rupert Murdoch YUK!
 
An interesting read Richard, don't agree about the close season though!:eek:



I don't read ANY newspapers, prefer to get it wrong myself!

Never did understand why so much credibility is given to the opinions of newspaper people, after all, all they are interested in selling papers and absolutely nothing else, in fact if they can possibly ensure loss of:- reputation, property, money or life, then they will do their utmost to write whatever they need to, to create the sensation they want.

As an example look at what that pillar of society Kelvin MacKenzie wrote in the sun about Hillsborough, then he has the cheek to justify his deluded ramblings by bleating that “The Police lied to me!â€!

I suspect he is quite good at seeing liars, after all he sees one real close every day!
 
So, tell me......have you had these multiple personalities for long? Are there other personalities you may reveal later? Are you sometimes an otter, or prince Charles possibly? If that last were true, it also would explain a lot. Being reminded first thing every morning what a tw@t you have been is enough to make anyone angry all day.

....He lives in Devon Dave. That in itself probably explains a lot :D
 
I think people should stop giving Richard a hard time and recognise the talent he clearly possesses. We should be befriending not vilifying him. Lets face it, there aren't many of his kind and he certainly sits amongst some pretty impressive company. Robert Redford, Cesar Millan and of course, the legendary Dr Doolittle. Haven't we sometimes yearned for that missing link between human and fish? Something more than a newt, something or someone that understands both human, but mainly fish behaviour and psychology? Think of all the things you have wanted to ask a fish? Rather than become preoccupied with how much hemp and loose feed might be enough, just go "say when" (but in fish speak). Richard could earn a fortune travelling about giving presentations and seminars and in doing so we could start to unlock the mystery of fish. It could solve so many arguments and avoid the need for hypothesis and conjecture and sniping etc. if only we listened to Richard more.

Of course, Richard would make a rubbish thief as we would keep getting caught.
 
Oh dont:rolleyes:, I thought I had chucked Westy's annual barbel conference chapter to the furthest reaches of my limited memory.
 
I picked up a very odd book the other day Ade, but it didn't contain the information you mentioned :D

The sowing/reaping thing will settle down soon Ade, as you know. It is all in good heart, with no malice intended :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Adrian Williams said:
If any of you lot actually bothered to pick up the odd book you would know where this idea came from.
Click to expand...

I have mentioned this in a previous post, The Merchant of Venice.

I enjoy Richard's posts immensely as he brings a different perspective. However, I do take offence at Richard's reference to Sun and Times readers implying that some of us are Times readers. I have the Sun delivered daily and I find it an excellent source of topical information. How anyone can find any useful snippets in the Times defeats me, there's just so much irrelevant bunkum. To be labelled a Times reader is an insult. That paper is only fit for wrapping fish and chips. I suspect theat Richard and me are devoted Sun readers and share that common bond.
 
Back in the day, I remember stopping off at Macks cafe, on my way to the Kennet. I still do now but, back then, all they sold was the Daily Sport or the Sun. They also sold fags. It was Benson & Hedges or nothing.

That was also when you could bag 25 unpressured barbel in a day!

Sadly, I'm still living off those memories 25 years on :(

The upside, of course, is that I now have plenty of time to ogle the lovely boobies in the Daily Sport whilst waiting the 10 hours it requires to get a bite.

Pure class, I am.
 
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Adrian - I assume you mean Trefor West? Very enjoyable read.

Richard - I would venture to suggest that The Times is very much like The Sun, but with fewer pictures..... Not a very enlightening comparison, I must say.
 
Richard Parsons said:
Adrian - I assume you mean Trefor West? Very enjoyable read.

Richard - I would venture to suggest that The Times is very much like The Sun, but with fewer pictures..... Not a very enlightening comparison, I must say.
Click to expand...

Richard,

Mmmmm....I'll put you down as a Daily Mail reader then.
 
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