The Close Season isn't there for OUR benefit. We've managed to cope with weather conditions, weed, etc, for years - do we really want everything in our favour to the extent that the fish are given no peace? And as for seeing the difference between a river and a lake, that's irrelevant - fish are just as vulnerable in the spawning season, no matter what sort of water they inhabit; they don't need the extra stress of being captured.
The catch-big-fish-at-all costs brigade really are getting worse. I've seen articles/chapters by well-known big-fish anglers who deliberately target spawning or spawn-filled bream in May to give themselves more chance of a PB, a record, etc. Don't they realise how unethical this looks? It's effectively tearing up the record books to allow spawn-filled bream/tench/carp, etc, to be recognised as 'records'.
And if they don't care about ethics, what about the fish? I see big old bream turn over and die every year on my local waters after spawning, but how much worse is it for them if they're deliberately caught while they're trying to reproduce? And how many monster carp have died after being caught full of spawn? The first so-called 'record' caught in the former Close Season, for one, plus a 40 from Savay...Carp anglers in particular spend a fortune on unhooking mats, carp antiseptic, etc, but when it comes down to a spawn-filled 'PB'...it's glory first, fish welfare second.
And of course the catch-at-all-costs merchants would love to get on the rivers while the barbel are spawning...all the fish nicely shoaled up, heavy with spawn, or exhausted and hungry after spawning...never mind the odd fish floating downstream belly-up, I've got my big fish!
Makes me seethe! What in heaven's name is the world coming to?