Barrie Rickards' Angling - A couple of Whinges

That silly EU quota system Let's begin this time with a couple of whinges! No doubt you have seen the TV items covering the dreadful loss of fish life in the North Sea as a direct consequence of this silly EU quota system. Thousands of tons of perfectly edible fish are thrown back half dead, for the gulls to eat, because the catch is either over quota or undersize. It would make a deal more sense if the quota was a weight of fish, a total weight, rather than x tons of this species (of a certain size) and y tons of that species. Let's face it, the fish which are dumped back into the sea are a total waste - food only for seagulls. They should be kept for humans or use by humans. And did you see the reaction of the EU Fisheries Officer, Joe Borg? This dreadful hypocrite denounced it as terrible, although you could se that he was merely mouthing the words, telling people what he knew they wanted to hear because they'd all just seen the fiasco on TV. In fact, of course, it is the likes of Joe Borg who have caused the problems in the first place. EU fisheries people are interested in one thing and one thing only, namely plunder - as much and as long as they can get away with. For God's sake we're all anglers! Second whinge! Angling organisations have been struggling towards a unified body for many years. It has never happened and one can only really be pessimistic about it happening. I say that for two reasons. One is that some groups simply cannot accept that other groups are actually anglers! Recently I have heard some anglers condemning anglers in the Countryside Alliance, others wanting to have nothing to do with NUBA, whilst yet others look down their noses at the trade or fisheries businesses. For God's sake, they are all anglers, and I prefer the worst of them to non-anglers any day. Another sign of disunity encapsulates what I have just been saying, although in this case it's an article knocking carp anglers, by an American. It was published in the magazine Waterlog, which is an excellent read of course. The magazine did not support the article but published it in the spirit of free speech. Anyway, here is what our American friend, who rejoices under the name Sidney Du Broff, has to say: American blind prejudice “…is neither blind, nor unjustifiably prejudicial. We hate the buggers!” Er-an oxymoron there, surely? “The carp would be thrown up on to the banks, to rot away, providing conspicuous and, immensely satisfying evidence…” To the non-angling public, no doubt, and a health hazard to boot. He then confuses the match anglers' poles with carp fishermen whilst on an 'assignment' to the UK. Really. “It still does not make sense to me for anyone to sit there, waiting for nothing, to catch nothing, and then throw it back.” The man is mad. If you catch nothing you can't throw it back either. Clearly he doesn't practise catch and release with US trout! “I feel ill when I hear that this is supposed to be fishing. And I feel rally sick when I look at those ugly things, cradled in the arms of ……really pathetic guy who has deluded himself that he has done something rather special.” He goes on and on in this vein, in a very badly written article too. I was going to say that anglers like this do angling unity and the angling brotherhood no favours at all, but this Sidney Du Broff isn't an angler at all. He's an ignorant idiot who knows nothing at all of the history of carp fishing in the UK. It is that history which explains the British carp fisher and shows why the carp is held in high regard. I don't think, in my fifty plus years of angling, that I have ever read such a deeply offensive, ignorant, snooty, self-serving, prejudiced, load of crap. Unfortunately, he doesn't give us an e mail or other address, but I'll be sending him this piece via the editor of Waterlog. His article, for want of a better word, is in the Spring 2007 issue of Waterlog. Look it up - and then send him your thoughts. He deserves them. Four 20's in five casts In the meantime, I ain't been carp fishing (not being much good at it) but I have been piking. And so far it has been a better year than last. On one trip I had four twenties in five casts. I was hoping for a fifth to break my record of four in a day, but everything went dead after the fourth fish. All on smelt. I'll tell you more in due course, but it and several other recent trips have produced some interesting feeding patterns. Any angler that supports the RSPB is barking mad I see the RSPB has been at it again, banning angling from a just-purchased water. The water was created from nothing by Terry Knight, nurtured by anglers, became a good wildlife haven in consequence and what do the RSPB do as soon as they get their mawks on it? Close it to anglers, the very people who created the wildlife haven. One day the angling unified body will have to take on the RSPB - no politeness, no diplospeak, just sort them out. Any angling club which allows bird watchers on its waters is silly. Any angler who supports this body in any way is barking mad. Fred J Taylor MBE Wasn't it marvellous to see Fred J. Taylor honoured in the New Year's Honours list? I can only think of one thing wrong. He should have been knighted. If, as Angling Times so properly put it, “There are few men left alive who have contributed as much to angling as Fred J. Taylor” why wasn't the 88 year old knighted? No one could do more for angling. So what is wrong with these ignorant people. What does Fred have to do? Live until he is 176. And whilst we're on the subject what about Messrs Nudd, Scotthorne, Wilson and others? Its true they haven't scored a hat trick at Wembley in 1966, of course,… Would you given an honour to the committee which currently dispenses them?