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The river closed season debate

Lee Poultney

Lee Poultney

Senior Member
Not sure if this has been posted as I've been skiing for the last week, but thought it's worth posting anyway for your thoughts. I'm against it for what it's worth. I also posted this in the Severn thread so I don't mind if Mods want to get rid of one of the threads.

Angling club threatens to continue fishing rivers during closed season - HAVE YOUR SAY
By Angling Times

General News

29 March 2011 20:47


A fishing club has announced it will be staging an illegal river fishing match in protest against what it sees as the ‘out-dated’ laws of the closed season.

Willow Creek Angling Club, based around Bewdley in Worcestershire, is currently organising the contest to take place on the River Severn next month – a date and location which will see all the anglers involved breaking current Environment Agency byelaws.

Club officials have vowed that all the event’s competitors are prepared to take any punishment that follows – which could include fines, prosecution and the confiscation of tackle – in the hope that the demonstration will force the EA to review the closed season on rivers nationwide.

Once the club has finalised a date for the match it will openly invite the EA to attend, with match organiser Jason Ford telling Angling Times that the illegal contest is for all other struggling river clubs who also believe the current closed season is both out-dated and that detailed research into its validity is now needed.

“We’ll pay the fines and have our day in court if we have to because everyone who fishes this match will be prepared to take the punishment in order to stand up for what we believe in,†said Jason.

“This match is a protest and we want the EA to turn up and see how strongly we feel about this issue.

“Someone has to stand up and fight for river clubs that are now losing up to five months of fishing every year if you also take the weather into account. A review of the current closed season is long overdue and the laws around it are now pointless.â€

Angling Times contacted the Environment Agency regarding the intended actions of WCAC and how the agency would deal with the situation, receiving this statement in response: “The closed season is in place to protect spawning wild fish in our rivers. If people are found fishing in the closed season they could face action – including fines, prosecution or having their equipment seized.

“We are always happy to speak with any body of anglers and listen to their views on how the sport is regulated and explain the laws that are in place.â€

SOURCE: ANGLING TIMES 29.03.2011
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http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Angling-...continue-fishing-rivers-during-closed-season/
 
Ah, we're into "Big Pete, Llandyfriog" territory now. Big Pete, a 1970s Welsh biker of legend - Nortons (including a Bonneville), Triumphs, Tritons, Enfields and all the new Jap 750 - 900cc super bikes ("Sound like effin' hairdryers but they go like sh*t, man") personally imported before anyone in Britain had them...

Big Pete lived by one Rule and one Rule alone: "Double the signed or unsigned speed limit at all times and for as long as possible" - 120mph down a Welsh valley road designated "A" road, 60mph through all villages and towns, airborne after cresting any hill or bridge...

Lovely fella if you didn't catch him towards the end of a 12-pint night, great biker, but........
 
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In the mid naughties i felt a tinge of sadness when the closed season was lifted from still waters. The old magical 16th......blah blah. I soon got over this as spring carp have voracious appetites and everyone else was fishing. I would be outraged though if the running water closed season was abolished. There is absolutely no need for it to go. The only remotely valid points i have seen raised to back up a call for it to be lifted are poaching and pollution. Well, i see it like this; if someone is fishing on a river for coarse fish during the closed season, prosecute them with a heavy fine - simples! I do not care for the day ticket stretches and tackle shops that want it lifted for profit.

KEEP THE SEASON!

Or there is no season at all!
 
I think it would be a sad day for the close season to be abolished on the rivers . What are peoples motives for wanting an end to it . Can they put a logical reason to ending it or is it purely for selfish reasons ,
 
Playing 'devils advocate' here but can you put a logical reason to having it?
Spawning will be the obvious response, but this seems to be happening at irregular times now.

As a disclaimer though, I don't know enough about it to have an informed opinion, but would like to learn more.....
 
Is it just about fishing? Vegetation, bird life, etc should all be considered. I like the break and the anticipation of the wait.
 
Stuart Prescott said:
good on them i say

its a shockingly antiquated law that no longer belongs in a modern society
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Stuart, what has a modern society got to do with the subject - one way or the other ? thats a serious question by the way i'm not having a poke !
Just interested to know why you think it has a bearing on the issue.

Regards
Ian.
 
I support the closed season, but its stupid anyone can drive a few miles to a commercial and fish for the same species out of season. If theres going to be a closed season for coarse fish it should be a completely closed season.
 
The club in question probably percieves that they are losing members to clubs that can offer still water fishing in their porfolio during the closed river period, but personally i doubt that a river open all year season would improve their lot much, people either want to fish their waters or not, save for the people who cannot afford to fish on two club books.

The club i'm head bailiff for are largely a river club too, we do have 2 still waters, but during the close season i don't see droves of river anglers rushing to fish them, a few maybe, but not that many. It is a bonus for us that it does bring in membership from stillwater anglers we otherwisae would not attract, and therin lies Willow Creek AC's problem i think, the close season may have an effect on their membership, but i doubt they would see the massive improvement they obviously wish for.

If there is anything i'd like changed it would be the timing and period of the close season.
It seems to me that most fish are not spawning before mid may, possibly with the exception of pike, and are certainly spawning well into the first few weeks of the opening.
I would think therefore that a close season starting in mid may, and being shortened in duration until mid July would be a more sensible positioning in the year, and duration of the close.
There may be an argument i think for a separate pike season, which would start say at the beginning of march through till the end of may, after which time fishing with non coarse deadbaits only could allowed be on rivers until the start of the open in mid July.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

Ian.
 
Ian Grant said:
Stuart, what has a modern society got to do with the subject - one way or the other ? thats a serious question by the way i'm not having a poke !
Just interested to know why you think it has a bearing on the issue.

Regards
Ian.
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no problem

what was the original reason for the close ??

was it to keep the working man off the rivers at prime times so the land lords could come and go as they please ?

next point ...banskide vegetation etc .. ok , close the footpaths totally , stop the fly angler , dog walker , bird watcher

spawning fish ? really ?
do most fish not carry eggs for most of the season anyway ?
have you tried catching fish that are in the process ???

just a few of my reasons
 
Just because you don't like a law you can't just ignore it, good chance for the EA to make their own statement by prosecutions and confiscation of tackle.............there are other avenues to go down without breaking laws.
 
Hi lads,

An interesting topic this one and bound to cause a lot of debate.

Personally, i'm for a closed season but the dates seem a bit arbitrary at the moment and Ian has some good points to make on this. The water birds are nesting at this time of year and, i believe, need the peace and quiet plus, the regeneration of plant life is always quoted when discussing these things. all very good. But................................there are still people fishing, both legally (salmon and trout) and illegally (our eastern european brothers and the idiot fraternity who don't give a ****). The EA don't seem to care about those though? So I can clearly understand why people get miffed as do I.
With regard to spawning, and considering myself to be mainly barbel oriented, I've often wondered what the barbel think on 15th March? the weather is warming quite quickly, their metabolism is getting into full flow then all of a sudden, the bait dissappears!
Just coming up to spawning when they are at their most hungry and desperate to feed and we stop feeding them!!! On the other hand, I've seen people fishing for carp and tench when they are quite clearly spawning. As a group of people, we have some issues with self policing and i think most would agree?

Regards,
Jeff
 
does a river roach need more protection than its stillwater brother ? infact the entire stillwater range of fish ?

do stillwater birds not need the peace to nest ?

is stillwater vegetation a genetically modified strain that resists the footfalls and the river variety the weaker runt of the family

face it people , its an antiquated nonesense of a law , how can you have one rule for stillwaters and another for rivers , ridiculous

close them all or open them all , just because something has allways 'been' doesnt make it right
 
Stuart Prescott said:
does a river roach need more protection than its stillwater brother ? infact the entire stillwater range of fish ?

do stillwater birds not need the peace to nest ?

is stillwater vegetation a genetically modified strain that resists the footfalls and the river variety the weaker runt of the family

face it people , its an antiquated nonesense of a law , how can you have one rule for stillwaters and another for rivers , ridiculous

close them all or open them all , just because something has allways 'been' doesnt make it right
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Spot on Stuart, couldn't agree more. The only reason the close season exhists on rivers is beacause Salmon don't run up lakes and canals. ( as a general rule, i am aware of exceptions! :rolleyes: )

Those in persuit of the spring run of silver tourists don't want a load of coarse anglers on the prime pools firing pellets in here, there and everywhere. It would be nice if it worked both ways as i don't particularly want salmon anglers wading through my barbel swim come the 16th.

The whole argument of protecting bankside vegetation, nesting birds and spawning fish is nul and void if Trout and Salmon anglers are allowed to fish -and they are! I understand anglers that fish rivers without a decent Salmon run or head of Brown Trout may not appreciate my view, but on the Ribble at least, there is often more anglers on the banks during the coarse close season than there is during it.
 
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Julian Peacock said:
In the mid naughties i felt a tinge of sadness when the closed season was lifted from still waters. The old magical 16th......blah blah. I soon got over this as spring carp have voracious appetites and everyone else was fishing. I would be outraged though if the running water closed season was abolished. There is absolutely no need for it to go. The only remotely valid points i have seen raised to back up a call for it to be lifted are poaching and pollution. Well, i see it like this; if someone is fishing on a river for coarse fish during the closed season, prosecute them with a heavy fine - simples! I do not care for the day ticket stretches and tackle shops that want it lifted for profit.

KEEP THE SEASON!

Or there is no season at all!
Click to expand...
Surely with any ban, it has to be the other way round: there don't have to be reasons to lift the ban, there have to be reasons to keep it. But I've yet to read convincing reasons for the ban to be in place and indeed you haven't given any in your post.

If you do want to have a reason for lifting the ban, then it is freedom ... freedom to pursue your chosen pastime or activity unhindered by the state. To me that's one of the founding priciples of democracy. The state must have good reason to stop your going about your business; there may be all kinds of social, economic, environmental reasons why the state can justify inhibiting your freedoms but those reasons have to be valid and significant. Now I'm not saying that the current reasons for stopping me river fishing in the spring are definitely not valid and significant — but I've yet to be convinced by the arguments I've heard.
 
Lets keep it, keep the anticipation, magic, tradition and beauty of the Dawn on June 16th. A special day for me as its my birthday, 40 this year, a new torrix on order and a top stretch of the Wye booked for two days. Counting down the days!
 
Jeff Edisbury said:
Hi lads,

An interesting topic this one and bound to cause a lot of debate.

Personally, i'm for a closed season but the dates seem a bit arbitrary at the moment and Ian has some good points to make on this. The water birds are nesting at this time of year and, i believe, need the peace and quiet plus, the regeneration of plant life is always quoted when discussing these things. all very good. But................................there are still people fishing, both legally (salmon and trout) and illegally (our eastern european brothers and the idiot fraternity who don't give a ****). The EA don't seem to care about those though? So I can clearly understand why people get miffed as do I.
With regard to spawning, and considering myself to be mainly barbel oriented, I've often wondered what the barbel think on 15th March? the weather is warming quite quickly, their metabolism is getting into full flow then all of a sudden, the bait dissappears!
Just coming up to spawning when they are at their most hungry and desperate to feed and we stop feeding them!!! On the other hand, I've seen people fishing for carp and tench when they are quite clearly spawning. As a group of people, we have some issues with self policing and i think most would agree?

Regards,
Jeff
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i see no evidence of any closed season, go and take a walk on a day like today or any hot weekend.
 
The Chairman on Tuesday


As I observed to my P.A. Olga little earlier "How bored, desperate and selfish some chaps must be as to so much as consider fishing when the creatures they so profess to respect and love are

3720526-macro-picture-of-a-screw-driver-screwing-down-a-galvanized-screw-in-the-wood.jpg


But it takes all types, I suppose...."


As ever,

B.B.
 
Pete Dalton said:
Lets keep it, keep the anticipation, magic, tradition and beauty of the Dawn on June 16th. A special day for me as its my birthday, 40 this year, a new torrix on order and a top stretch of the Wye booked for two days. Counting down the days!
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sounds magical pete

im sure you could carry that anticipation through the spring with a self imposed closed season while i fish

lets face it . as river anglers we get the short end of the stick , how much of the year (fishing wise) is lost due to other factors

heres another group that could be added to the list , canoes

do they have a closed season ??? or do they not disturb the wildlife either ?
 
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