Unattended Rods

[steph mckenzie]

What is classed as Acceptable, and why ?

Let me give you some examples.

Rod / Rods cast, mate walks to the next swim and starts to chat with his mate.

Rod / Rods cast out, guy in bivvy asleep.

Rod / Rods cast out, guy takes a walk around the venue to look for fish signs.

Fishing with more than one rod, Guy playing fish on one rod, has had to move a little to allow him to play the fish better or easier and the other rod gets a run.

Now this can and does happen on Both Stillwaters and on Rivers.

I have done some of the very same as above in my lesser expererienced fishing days (and i'm not much more experienced now) just wiser i'd like to think.

Personally i wouldn't fish with more than 1 rod at a time at any venue now, but that's through personal choice.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I agree with you.Like you I have fished multiple rods etc without problems and has obvious benefits but from choice I only fish one these days....a more relaxed approach I suppose...

As for leaving rods unattended; for me an absolute no-no unless its to water the horse and even them I'm not keen. I fish a lake which has,at the last count, 4 rods riding around the deeps because anglers have moved away without taking precautions-in fact one chap only turned to find something or open a flask and the rod took off never to be seen again!

Yes, I know carp anglers remove the risks with well setup tackle but IMHO if you're going for a walk to fish-spot then removing your bait from the water is a must but then when I used to night fish I always sat by my rods and wound in when I dozed off.....how things have changed...............

 

[Bob Hornegold]

What is classed as Acceptable, and why ?

Let me give you some examples.

Rod / Rods cast, mate walks to the next swim and starts to chat with his mate.

Rod / Rods cast out, guy in bivvy asleep.

Rod / Rods cast out, guy takes a walk around the venue to look for fish signs.

Fishing with more than one rod, Guy playing fish on one rod, has had to move a little to allow him to play the fish better or easier and the other rod gets a run.

Now this can and does happen on Both Stillwaters and on Rivers.

I have done some of the very same as above in my lesser expererienced fishing days (and i'm not much more experienced now) just wiser i'd like to think.

Personally i wouldn't fish with more than 1 rod at a time at any venue now, but that's through personal choice.

--------

Surely steph you are mainly preaching to the already converted ?

And anyone with a reasoned argument will be shot down by the B.P. who dominate this site.

As you know, two of the above are illegal and as long as you are within arms reach of your rods, whether in a bivvy asleep or awake it is legal ?

Personal choice on the other hand, dictates fishing safely in any given situation !!

Bob

 

[sagalout]

What bout watching underwater cameras on a screen a good distance from the rods? This must be OK because it was on a DVD about catching carps.

 

[Scott Whatmore]

" And anyone with a reasoned argument will be shot down by the B.P. who dominate this site."

What or who are the B.P. ?

That aside. My belief is, if not next to your rod(s). Don't put em in the water.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Personal choice on the other hand, dictates fishing safely in any given situation !!

Exactly right!

These days I bring the rods in a couple of hours after dark and get my head down for a few hours until a few hours before dawn. I find it safer and to be honest I've never had much happening inbetween those hours.

In daylight hours I use a good receiver for my carp or Tench fishing and don't have a problem in moving a few yards to have a chat with a friend in the next swim.

Bob, B.P? . . . . . . . ah, right, I get it lol


PS: Barbel Police

 

[steph mckenzie]

Which 2 are illegal ?

I take it the walking round the Venue is one of them, but is it actually illegal ?

If you are asleep in your bivvy and the alarms go off, your rods are still unattended. I would like to see how long someones arms are to be asleep in there bivvy and only be an arms length away from there Rods.

Surely steph you are mainly preaching to the already converted ?

I don't actually remember Preaching to anyone, i was asking what do we class as acceptable.

 

[mol]

If you are asleep in your bivvy and the alarms go off, your rods are still unattended.

Considering how many people night fish and use bivvies I'd guess you're wrong on this. The unattended rod byelaw doesn't state that you have to be awake

 

[steph mckenzie]

Considering how many people night fish and use bivvies I'd guess you're wrong on this. The unattended rod byelaw doesn't state that you have to be awake

Sorry i didn't mean that this was Illegal, i was just generalising on the quote of being an Arms Length away.

I didn't even know there was a by law for unattended rods and who would enforce such a law ??????? bizarre

 

[barbelboi]

I’ll never forget, some years ago, we made a dawn start at a still water. Soon after setting up an alarm, set high enough to wake the dead, went off on the other side. After about three minutes an angler a few swims down brought his rods in, ran down the bank and played the tethered carp in. If you thought the alarm was loud you should have heard this guy after he dragged ‘dopey’ from his bivy and all but threw him in the lake.

 

[Simon K]

Quote form EA:

"It is unlawful to leave a rod and line, that is unattended, in the water or over which sufficient control can not be effected."

Whether you fall asleep in your chair with your hand on the rod-butt, or are asleep in a bivvy, you are "in attendance" in the eyes of the regulation.

It's up to the angler to plan for the contingency of falling asleep.


And if you want to have a big debate over the semantics of what constitutes "sufficient control".................

good luck to you.

 

[S-Kippy]

Wish I'd seen that...the muppet.Its fishing not camping.

 

[flightliner]

Tell me i'm wrong but surely its ok to play five aside football in a field while your barbel rods are left to look after themselves? (five players and ten rods)I mean if the optonics are on full volume------got to be ok.

 

[Bob Hornegold]

Tell me i'm wrong but surely its ok to play five aside football in a field while your barbel rods are left to look after themselves? (five players and ten rods)I mean if the optonics are on full volume------got to be ok.

-----

Yep, thats the type of Post I was meaning ?

Bob

---------- Post added at 09:43 ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 ----------

And only on a site dominated by Barbel Type Police would a thread of this type be be given a second look !!

I put up a very similar thread to this on a Carp Site, they totally ignored it because it was so stupid.

As long as you are fishing within EA rules (and every angler should know those), and fish safely then the very thread said it all.

Asleep in a bivvy, with the rods within arms length is a not unsafe in the eyes of the vast majority of Carp anglers, who just happen to be the Biggest section of the Angling population !!

Now I expect posts about the Great Unwashed and the like, but believe me, this is a totally unrealistic Post-- solely for the perpose of putting attension on Specimen hunters who use this of fishing all the time and for the last 3yrs.

It's a pity more of the p[oster did not try it before making so many uninformed comments ?

Bob

 

[steph mckenzie]

In fact, the post was made after a member on another Forum had his Feeder Rod dragged in whilst his attention was else where.

However, if you want to make it purely about Specimen Hunters, feel free to do so

 

[Simon K]

Those of us who fish "specimen" style with baitrunners, don't lose our rods awake, asleep or when "watering the horse".

 

[The bad one]

I didn't even know there was a by law for unattended rods and who would enforce such a law ??????? bizarre

The EA and on my waters the club bailiffs will enforce it vigorously, which I am one. Leave your rods for a social with your mate(s). And I'll give you a copper bottomed guarantee, I'll take your card off you for doing it. At which point your membership is suspended, pending a disciplinary hearing. So you are no longer a member, because you are "suspended" from the club and will have to leave the water ASAP.

By the way it's the anglers responsibility to know both club and the EA rules and as with the common law ignorance is no excuse!

 

[Tee-Cee]

Bob Hornegold....unless I miss my guess I think Flightliner was trying to be funny-or at least I hope he was!

Simon K....'Specimen Style' with baitrunners-I like that!
However, some time ago I put a Thread up entitled 'Can a fish outrun a Baitrunner' and my reason for doing so was that my rod complete with baitrunner 'on' shot forward on the pod and was only stopped from entering the water through good luck.The baitrunner had sounded in the normal way.On checking afterwards to see what had happened I could find no reason why this should have occured-the line was not trapped and the reel continued to give line AFTER it had shot forward.................
Yes,it was probably a 'one off' occurance and its more than possible the' line lay' was not great causing the line to become temporarily trapped and then released itself but my point is that whilst baitrunners are great to use-and I do use them a great deal (I hate alarms!) they,as with anything else are not infallible...........................................human error will always be a factor IMHO

The bad one......guilty as charged I'm afraid! Be it through ignorance or failure to read my licence properly I have to admit I have never read the EA rules which, after 60 years of fishing is pretty poor..........my only saving grace is that I have read my club rules thoroughly!!!
I shall rectify this at once and although I haven't checked yet I assume said EA rules are on the licence??

Thanks for putting me straight though!!

 

[dezza]

This is one subject where The Bad One and me are in full agreement.

The worst I ever saw was in the nineties when I was fishing a very well known Oxon gravel pit. At about 9 in the evening the carp anglers on the opposite bank decided all to have a social and beer drink! By 11-pm a few were getting very well lubricated indeed.

Suddenly an alarm went off and the next thing I noticed were the heavy pounding of feet as the "angler" made off for his rods. Then came a scream, followed by an enormous splash. In his enibriated state the angler had run full tilt into the water and in doing so had apparently smashed two of his carp rods.

I couldn't stop laughing!

 

[steph mckenzie]

Yep, well i to have learnt something today ...... was never told about it before and Yes i never read all the info on my License.

So here's a link to the EA and Unattended Rods ........ Environment Agency - Unattended rods

Not really clear or explanative but i guess if you are in doubt then wind the rods in.