Catch and release....

[Ron Clay]

I would love to see you say that to some of the midlands reservior experts on Rutland or Grafham on a hard day. As for fighting power, well I have fished in many countries of the world and caught all sorts of species and I would rate an English overwintered reservoir rainbow in top condition at about 4 lbs as one of the hardest fighters in freshwater. Rather than being easy to catch, reservoir rainbows can at times prove extremely difficult to tempt, being very selective in their feeding.

Any trout whether brown or rainbow in good condiiton is a worthy adversary indeed. Unfortunately in this part of the world we do get some awful fish stocked in terrible waters.

 

[Rob Brownfield]

I did actually mention that I could not comment on reservoir rainbows as I had never fished for them.

As for the fight, I am not sure on that one. I think its because they are caught on fly tackle that they fight so hard. Having accidently caught large rainbows on dead baits (Browns for that matter too, to 11+ pounds)on pike gear, pound for pound, the pike were stronger fighters. Bear in mind I am talking wild highland pike.

I fly fish for all sorts of fish, ans chub put up an amazing fight on fly gear, as do pike.

But anyway, I would never dictate to anyone what they can and can't fish for, each branch of the sport has its followers, and good luck to them all.

 

[Andy Rooke]

sorry to bring this up again, but on the farm where i work at the momn,t we have a small pond where you can come and catch your own trout, we enforce a strict catch and take policy, for exapmle we had a fishing party of about 8 people who had come for a days fishing i said to them that its a strict catch and take as not to cause stress and trout ( rainbow but esepically brown) are very stressfull fish. i caught them putting a few fish back so i told the manager to have a word whilst i carried on working the next morning i had to collect about 20 fish dead because of bad handling and stress caused ny putting the fish back cheers
andy

 

[Rob Brownfield]

Andy, this is interesting. Yesterday I was fishing at a famous trout loch called Loch Fitty. They have recently built a coarse lake, and i was there after the Carp. Well, what can I say...the two carp I caught had serious damage to the flanks. Why?...Well..its because of extreme bad handling. Many of the guys fishing the pond were trout anglers. When they caught a fish (carp manily) it was dragged up the rocks, left to flap around, the hook removed and ..in one case, kicked back into the water. Now, this behaviour was also going on in the Trout bait pond.

No fish will survive this, let alone Trout. The Americans and Canadians have proved that catch and release DOES work. This cannot be argued. Yes, because a Trout fights hard, the odd one may die, and I do appriciate what you are saying, but surely angler education is what is needed.

 

[Leon Foreman]

I really do feel it is a personal choice of any angler. C&R is almost unheard of in SA and alltough there has been many improvements it is still practise ammongs most fisherman to take their catch home. What is worrying for tough is that even if some anglers decide not to take all of their catch home IE "chuck em back the lil un's", they have allready been in a keepnet for a couple of days. As for course and game fishing my personal view of game fishing is rolling over the waves while batteling a big Marlin and anything else is just course. If I cast a sweetcorn and Carp pick am I course fisherman or Carp Angler? If a Catfish or Barbel take it would that make me a Game Fisherman? Carp have also been known to take the occasional fly of the surface thus wouldn't that make the Fly Fisherman a course Fisherman. In my humble oppinion I must agree with most that distinguising between the type of fish you are aiming fore is totally wrong. It is from this that terms such as "Nusance fish" are born. Isnt the only true differance the actual method we use.

 

[Rob Brownfield]

In the UK, Game fish are Trout, Salmon and Grayling, anything else in freshwater is classed as Coarse.
I have Big Game fished for Tuna etc..

I do not distinguish between fish, but I do between anglers. There can be snobbery when it comes to Salmon and Trout anglers here in Scotland. As far as "some" are concerned, no other fish is worthy. This to me is utter crap, and to tell the truth, there is no skill in catching farmed trout in a paddling pool at all. I think the Europe is rather different in its classification of Game and Coarse fish

 

[John Spink]

Rob,
Come doon aff yer highhorse man!!....Everybody to their own....Who kills the deadbaits you buy from Tesco's then??? Is it Ok as long as it is by someone elses hand? What about fish and chips??
I agree that unneccesary killing is a waste and I myself practice C+R most of the time.As for the fish I don't think they make any value judgements as to whether an Osprey,Otter or human kills them..Once yer deid yer deid as they say up here!! I do agree totally with you when it comes to fish handling/care....If you are going to release the beast - do the job properly I say..I myself have witnessed scenes like you describe...
P.S I don't differentiate between Coarse and Game fish....I eat both on my European travels..And (sorry Rob) I do like a bit of Pike (I find Carp a bit tasteless)
Yours yummily
John

 

[Rob Brownfield]

John...ya cheeky bugger!! Only reason u don't differentiate is coz u can't tell a trout from a kipper!...lol...and thats with a Marine biology degree!!

Heard u were out at Skene last night...I've told u before...."Keep orf moi lannnnnnnd"

Goos to hear from u again!

 

[John Spink]

Nah wasn't me at Skene though I did pass on Monday going out to Dunecht to get the Brakes done on the Shogun.....Maybe I can't tell a trout from a Kipper but I can tell a big Ferox when I see it and they do go back!!! I must confess to being partial to their smaller brethren,either cooked in oatmeal at the lochside or on a wobble rig!! By the way them bloody pike things are a pain in the butt....Cannae get any decent ferox for them...Who said pike fishing is hard???
By the way I return them gently but I have just been given a new fish cook book with a pike recipe...Hmm! Fancy coming round for dinner???

 

[Rob Brownfield]

lol....get back to your job of protecting the sea from those nasty oil spills!

U got Scots number yet?

I was in Perth this morning and just had to have an hout on Forfar on the way back...thick green soup just now...looks terrible!!