Reserving swims?!

[Dan Whitelock]

Just been skimming through the Facebook page of a club I was a member of last season, only a small club with a couple of miles of river but some fantastic fishing. One of the members enquired if swims can be booked in advance for June 16th and the head bailiff says this is fine!
I'm not sure how I feel about this, it's a very carp orientated club so no doubt the bivvy brigade and those who are ''in'' will be out in force on the 15th anyway, but if I rocked up on the bank at dawn on the 16th, full of anticipation and excitement for the new season only to find my chosen swim taped off with a 'reserved' sign hanging off it then I'd be somewhat unhappy.
I don't know if the club are charging a fee in order to reserve swims or how they're going about it, the whole thing stinks a bit. What happened to simply going somewhere else if somebody beat you to a particular swim?

I wasn't intending on fishing this stretch anyway on the 16th, I just wondered what other people's thoughts are on this? It's put me off renewing my ticket for this club now despite the lovely weirpool and backwater they have..... I think I'll just go elsewhere.

 

[Graham Young]

On Carp syndicates (still water) I have belonged to some have had an unwritten rule that if a swim has been prebaited by an angler its left alone for that angler to fish first. Never heard of it on rivers before and to be honest it doesn't seem right, why the different feeling about rivers and still water I have no idea it just feels wrong.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Ridiculous idea whether on still or running water , I can see no reason why reserving swims can be justified . I would question it with the club

 

[Howard Cooke]

Unless it's within the club's rules/constitution then I can't believe its in anyway valid and the normal first come/first served basis should apply? If you arrived at the swim first and ignored any reserved sign and started fishing, I wonder on what basis you would be asked to move. Anyway, you could always say that you thought the "reserved" sign was there simply to indicate the general character and personality of the fish in that part of the river. Further along the stretch there could be another sign saying "eccentric". Tactics could then be adjusted accordingly.

 

[Stuart Brookes]

I remember reading about a situation at Asenby on the Swale a few years ago where an angler turned up at 07:00 as per club rules at his desired swim to find someone's tackle had been placed there the night before and the owner was asleep in his car. The guy in the car was very angry and stated he had "reserved" the swim, I'd have adopted the position of possession is 9/10th's and tough luck sleepy head.

 

[Graham Young]

Ridiculous idea whether on still or running water , I can see no reason why reserving swims can be justified . I would question it with the club

On the syndicates where I knew of swim reserving it was just good manners that prevented others from climbing onto the back of work done by another member, there were never any arguments about who got there first or who should fish the swim from the off, if it achieved that and was accepted by all members it worked well, I wouldn't think that it was ridiculous.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

Climbing on to the back of work done by others?
Flipping hell! The first one down the river with his bucket of boilies has the monopoly?

 

[Graham Young]

Climbing on to the back of work done by others?
Flipping hell! The first one down the river with his bucket of boilies has the monopoly?

Try reading ALL of the posts I have made on this thread then you might see that I have NOT posted anything of the sort about rivers, if you wish to make a comment on my posts fine but please do not quote me out of context.

 

[Gary Cream]

Ive always found that interesting think its more of a problem nowadays with volume of anglers etc

On club lakes that I fish (20yrs ago upto present) there has always been a draw for swims on the previous day before the season starts at 3pm all members wishing to fish put their club card in a bag
You could walk around the lake before the draw but no one was allowed on the lake until 12am that day.
The club has a large picture of the lake with swims numbered
Cards are then pulled out of the bag by a nominated angler and you are then asked to choose your swim.
This is done untill all cards are pulled out
You then can go around and set up at your leisure ready to cast in at 12pm
Always worked really well and no complaints from anyone

On rivers when I used to fish (30 years ago) on club outings /matches etc they would have numbered balls in a bag each member would take a number out of a bag and then march off, in numerical order you would not be allowed to overtake the person in front of you until he had chosen a swim or passed one that you wanted to fish which you could then put your tackle in...again never saw any problems with this

Agree don't think people should reserve swims on rivers or lakes but if that's what the club lets people do I would join another club with more like minded people in

 

[Joe Winstanley]

On Carp syndicates (still water) I have belonged to some have had an unwritten rule that if a swim has been prebaited by an angler its left alone for that angler to fish first. Never heard of it on rivers before and to be honest it doesn't seem right, why the different feeling about rivers and still water I have no idea it just feels wrong.

Exactly the same unwritten rule applies in the stillwater syndicate I'm a member of and it never causes any problems. This is because everyone respects everyone else's fishing and also because nobody abuses the privilege and outstays their time in a swim.

I wouldn't have a problem with a similar rule being applied to a river syndicate - but I could never see it working on a club water (still or river).

 

[Dan Whitelock]

I think that on a syndicate, or lake syndicate, it is indeed a slightly different situation: I'd like to think all the anglers are serious and reasonably competent given the price paid for membership, therefore all having a mutual respect for one another.

On this club water though 90% of the membership are there for the big river carp.... I hardly see another angler in the weir or backwater so it'd unlikely effect me if I chose to fish there again. It just seems a bit off to me that on an open to all, small club stretch of river, the bailiffs consider it fine for members to reserve swims. I've not seen anything in the club book to say this is the 'norm', or how to go about doing so if you're that way inclined.
I'd never have the cheek to prebait a swim for a couple of weeks and then rope it off. I've prebaited swims in the past only to turn up and find somebody in it, yeah so it's annoying but not the end of the world, I simply wish the angler good luck, let him know it's already full of bait and look for somewhere else. It's only fishing.
If anyone was casually walking the banks with their gear, saw a swim stuffed full of fish feeding hard - be it barbel, chub, carp, tench or whatever - and a sign next to it saying ''swim reserved'' I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't ignore that little part of the brain us anglers have that says ''see fish, must catch fish''. The sign would be pulled out and a line cast!

 

[Graham Young]

Exactly the same unwritten rule applies in the stillwater syndicate I'm a member of and it never causes any problems. This is because everyone respects everyone else's fishing and also because nobody abuses the privilege and outstays their time in a swim.

I wouldn't have a problem with a similar rule being applied to a river syndicate - but I could never see it working on a club water (still or river).

Nor could I Joe, I have known anglers make round trips of over 100 miles 3/4 times a week to prebait (I did it myself years ago) if that respect for other anglers did not exist I can just imagine the scene on the bank.

Why anyone would want to "reserve" a swim on a river at the beginning of the season escapes me, they are invariably in poor condition, some fish will still be spawning other having spawned will be in poor condition, just being back on the river after 3 months should be enough.

 

[Phil Adams]

Manners are one thing, but I believe that you bait a swim at your own risk.

 

[Graham Young]

I think that on a syndicate, or lake syndicate, it is indeed a slightly different situation: I'd like to think all the anglers are serious and reasonably competent given the price paid for membership, therefore all having a mutual respect for one another.

On this club water though 90% of the membership are there for the big river carp.... I hardly see another angler in the weir or backwater so it'd unlikely effect me if I chose to fish there again. It just seems a bit off to me that on an open to all, small club stretch of river, the bailiffs consider it fine for members to reserve swims. I've not seen anything in the club book to say this is the 'norm', or how to go about doing so if you're that way inclined.
I'd never have the cheek to prebait a swim for a couple of weeks and then rope it off. I've prebaited swims in the past only to turn up and find somebody in it, yeah so it's annoying but not the end of the world, I simply wish the angler good luck, let him know it's already full of bait and look for somewhere else. It's only fishing.
If anyone was casually walking the banks with their gear, saw a swim stuffed full of fish feeding hard - be it barbel, chub, carp, tench or whatever - and a sign next to it saying ''swim reserved'' I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't ignore that little part of the brain us anglers have that says ''see fish, must catch fish''. The sign would be pulled out and a line cast!

Been done before on rivers Dan, last time I saw it was a few years ago on a day ticket stretch where the " going swim" was roped off and baited up for a "star" to fish while doing a piece for one of the weeklies.

 

[Dan Whitelock]

Been done before on rivers Dan, last time I saw it was a few years ago on a day ticket stretch where the " going swim" was roped off and baited up for a "star" to fish while doing a piece for one of the weeklies.

Consider my flabber well and truly gasted!!
Since I got back into my fishing I'd love to know what occurred between 2008-2014 that meant catching a Barbel, big Carp or Pike was the true meaning of life, it must be done at all costs no matter what and all human morals, ethics, manners and principles disappeared. Am I way behind the times now in that my rod is quite old now, I often use luncheon meat and 15 year old John Baker recipes and if I don't catch I just try again another day but still cherish and enjoy every moment on the river?:confused:

 

[Alex Gowney]

If it's not in the club rules it can't be imposed. If you arrive at the river on the 16th just ignore any "reserved" signs if it's not something agreed by club membership/committee. What gives a club official the right to make the rules up as he goes along? It will obviously pee off the angler who's done the pre-baiting but that's hard luck. Syndicate waters, as has been mentioned, are a bit different and some sort of system could indeed work if all were in agreement.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Nor could I Joe, I have known anglers make round trips of over 100 miles 3/4 times a week to prebait (I did it myself years ago) if that respect for other anglers did not exist I can just imagine the scene on the bank.

Why anyone would want to "reserve" a swim on a river at the beginning of the season escapes me, they are invariably in poor condition, some fish will still be spawning other having spawned will be in poor condition, just being back on the river after 3 months should be enough.

I couldn't agree more - personally I seldom venture back onto to the rivers until August or September anyway. June still see's me chasing tinca's.

 

[Graham Young]

Consider my flabber well and truly gasted!!
Since I got back into my fishing I'd love to know what occurred between 2008-2014 that meant catching a Barbel, big Carp or Pike was the true meaning of life, it must be done at all costs no matter what and all human morals, ethics, manners and principles disappeared. Am I way behind the times now in that my rod is quite old now, I often use luncheon meat and 15 year old John Baker recipes and if I don't catch I just try again another day but still cherish and enjoy every moment on the river?:confused:

My own rod is quite old, in fact it is no longer up to the job IMO your last sentence sums up what fishing is about.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

I wasn't having a pop Graham, just cannot abide the mentality that drives such rubbish!

 

[Graham Young]

I wasn't having a pop Graham, just cannot abide the mentality that drives such rubbish!

Thing is I would agree when talking about rivers (although I remember the stampede on the royalty each morning) on syndicate still waters that I have fished things have been more laid back at the start of the season with anglers knowing that any work/expense they have put in will be waiting for them for whenever they turn up.