April Fools
AH WELL, APRIL 1st comes round again and I can look forward to some fishing at my favourite time of the year. I really like being out in the countryside just as the flower buds are starting to open and trees are getting their spring dusting of blossom. The bankside paths are yet to be overgrown with the verdant thrust of summer, the water is just beginning to warm up enough for insect life to appear, and clusters of tadpoles mill round in the margins, easily visible as the weed growth hasn't got into its stride just yet.
The weather is slightly more clement too. Admittedly sometimes chilly first thing in the morning, maybe even misty, but if the sun gets a chance to break through around lunchtime, it can be quite pleasant to be out and about on the riverbanks. And yes, you did read that right, I will be out on the river, legally fishing from the start of April, and whilst it certainly isn't an April Fool's joke, it many ways, I'm horribly afraid it is.
Some may have already guessed I will be fishing for trout, some may not know that according to the regulations contained in the Fisheries Byelaws for the Thames Region -
- During the annual close season for coarse fish (15th March - 15th June inclusive), no person shall fish with a rod and line for salmon, trout or rainbow trout other than with an artificial fly or lure
And please note my underlining of the word lure, because I have checked with my good friends at the Environment Agency who assure me it is perfectly legal to use artificial baits to fish for trout or salmon during their season of April 1st - September 30th. So then, from the start of the trout season, off to the river I go, kitted out with every artificial bait I possess (and that is quite a few, I can tell you) and proceed to catch out of season pike, perch and chub to my heart's content, whilst I search for that elusive spotty quarry.
Now, I'm perfectly entitled to do so, I am acting entirely in accordance with the law, but is what I am doing right? Well, morally, perhaps not. Whilst a close season is still in force on rivers, no one with any sort of conscience relating to coarse fish welfare would deliberately set forth to catch fish out of season, would they?
But on the other hand, I have paid for a rod licence that covers me for a full twelve months of angling, and if I enjoy river fishing, why should I be denied access to that sport for 25% of the time? And given that predatory fish tend to spawn earlier in the year to give their fry a head start, the majority of them will have long finished with their amorous duties for the year by April and could therefore be mean, lean and hungry for any bait put in front of them, albeit artificial, why should we be denied that sport?
Address these loopholes
Anomalies of this sort really should be addressed as soon as possible. If loopholes like this are allowed to continue in tandem with the close season on rivers, then surely a few simple changes to the regulations are in order. If you are allowed to fish with lures for trout and salmon, then how about limiting the overall length of those 'lures' to something approximating a Devon minnow, say a 10cm maximum, or if a blade spinner of spoon, then that part to be no more than 7cm in length. At least that would deter these prospective 'trout' anglers from hurling 150cm Rapala's or similar sized Creek Chub Pikies across the river in search of their quarry.
How about combining pike, perch and chub together with trout and salmon under the title of 'sporting fish' and producing an April to September licence of say £20 in addition to the standard rod licence? Maybe a two-tier rod licence is in order, with those who want to observe the close season paying 25% less than an angler who wants all year-round fishing? How about restricting trout and salmon angling to fly only during the coarse close season and remove the 'lures' issue altogether? And finally, how about abolishing the close season altogether, so as to make these anomalies disappear?
I'm afraid that none of this is going to happen any time soon, so I'm off fishing on the river next week, after one of those elusive, almost legendary Thames trout. All the lures are packed ready to go, every shape and size, but just for the sake of tradition, I think I'll take the fly rod too, some of those huge pike flies I have might just tempt a big old brownie, and the truth is you just never what you might catch when you're using artificial baits……
Steven Hills
