Barrie Rickards' Angling - The Blundering Beeb

More about the RSPB saga

And so the RSPB saga goes on… now they are fighting the shooting lobby because the latter plan to kill lots of magpies. Or, to be more exact, the shooting magazine 'Sporting Shooter' is offering a big prize for the greatest number of magpies shot in a five-month period (Sunday Telegraph feature Feb 27th). What will be interesting to those watching the convolutions of the RSPB is that they now claim “…a lot of work done into the reasons (for song bird decline) and in no case are magpies cited as the main reason for the decline.” Well, well. Haven't I been saying that for years, and were not the RSPB singing a different tune only five or six years ago?

If they are opposed to the killing of magpies, one of the crow family, how do they explain their killing of the carrion crow? Is it really true that “…instead that the population (of songbirds) was determined by the availability of food and suitable nesting places.” Obviously there's a fundamental truth in that statement: no food and the birds die; no nesting sites and the bird fail to breed. It is naïve. Sparrows, starling and skylarks do have food and only the sparrows have suffered nesting site problems.

When are the RSPB going to have the nerve to mention the UK's 30 million cats? Does a lot of their funding come from cat owners? Angling can expect no quarter from bodies that think in this inexplicable and illogical and, presumably, prejudiced manner, so one day we shall have to take them on. It will, of course, be a David and Goliath battle, but do you recall the outcome of that battle?

The gloves are now off, it seems, with the anti-anglers

The Sunday Express (February 27th) had a strongly pro-angling editorial, and feature covering the recent plans of the anti-angling brigade. With hunting now considered down and out, it seems that the antis are turning to angling just as many of us said they would.

The feature by non-anglers Tim Shipman and Camilla Tominey is excellent, (even though, as so many, they think coarse anglers “throw the fish back alive”).

Apparently the NW Hunt Saboteurs plan disruption of angling. They have to keep themselves occupied I suppose! It seems they plan to target matches by erecting 'match cancelled' notices, and pleasure angling by erecting 'No fishing - contaminated water' notices. I do hope the anti-fly posting people will come down heavily on them. They plan to disturb angling by frightening away the fish. Just a second - isn't that what they accuse us of doing -frightening the fish? As Keith Arthur says on his TV programme “these people don't like to see people enjoying themselves - its got nothing to do with fish welfare”. Anymore than the anti fox hunting Labour MPs had anything against supposed cruelty. As has now been admitted by several of them, it was simple revenge against the defeat of the miner's strike. Somehow reality has gone out of the window. If I'm wrong about this why are the anti-hunt people now targeting drag hunting?

Now we learn that one of anglings favourite media programmes, 'Fish on Five' has been cancelled by the BBC. A BBC spokeswoman said the programme did not “offer value for money”. Hang on a second… hasn't this announcement been made just after angling TV man Keith Arthur was slagged off by James Whale, Talk Sport presenter?

Apparently he suggested angling should be banned. Or does the spokeswoman for the BBC, Helen Stiles, really expect us to believe that this is a coincidence? Then he goes on to say that “Its not a case of the BBC being anti angling” Well, we never get any good news from the BBC about angling and I doubt if we ever will whilst it is run by the left wing extremists that run it today.

There's something else too. The BBC have only just had their licence renewed -personally I deeply resent having to pay £121 and were they not supposed to stop chasing ratings? Isn't that what the deeply critical review of their activities demanded? So one of the first acts is to get rid of a programme that supposedly doesn't give value for money.

The BBC is a shambles, and a deeply prejudiced one at that. It simply does not deserve its unique and protected position in broadcasting. How can we protest? Well, in the past, many of us have written letters - usually ignored. By 'us' I include our angling bodies as well as individuals. But today protests on the net seem much more effective. In the recent row over 'Jerry Springer: the opera' 20,000 sign ups to a web site caused very rapid back peddling. Whilst this kind of pressuring has its reprehensible side perhaps anglers have to get real and use the power of new technology in focussed protests.

Another poor winter for piking

I don't know how you've been managing this winter but I've been struggling. I've fishing in what would best be described as a variety of conditions, mostly bad. Even so I have been catching steadily with pike up to 17 lbs. No big ones since November. Whilst big pike are coming out of some waters, in general pikers seem to have been suffering as much as last year. It's all very puzzling. My best waters have big fish in them, and plenty of them, but they are certainly keeping their heads down. I'm hoping that next year they are real whackers.

One of the odd things about a bad run of results is that you cannot get a feel for what baits are working. For example I normally rate sardine very highly, but this winter I've hardly had a run on them. Mackerel have continued to produce, as have smelt, but one of my best baits last year, pollan, has failed completely. Statistically none of this is sound. So I'll still fish with a big range of deadbaits next year. In the meantime I've leaving for a week in Egypt just as the season here ends. I hope things will go a bit better than the piking, although its more of a relaxing holiday than a serious effort after Nile Perch. I'll let you know how I got on.