Welcome back Derek! I have missed your thought provoking posts and cannot really provide much comment as I have no experience of the " before" and just a little of the "after". Bearing in mind my relatively paltry catches and frequent blanks I would have to agree with you! Comments received from members of the clubs i am a member of, repeatedly say " this lake is not as good as it was 10, 15 years ago". Other members wisely advise me never to say where i had a good day at, certainly on a public forum for the obvious reasons.
I fished a lake last saturday with some success ( relative) using a swing tip for the first time and a new rod. The weather was lovely, the setting sublime, the coffee was good, the antics of the breeding and nesting birds was a joy to behold and I was all alone on my stretch of the lake. I really enjoyed myself.
I watched the carp anglers spodding, thankfully a good way from me. The lake at that point is perhaps 80 yards across with many pegs on the other side ( vacant on the day). They were launching their scuds 70 or so yards every few minutes accompanied by shouts and guffaws. I would have walked round to the other side of the lake, balled in all the GB considered necessary 10 yards out and then gently cast in from one of the nearby pegs. Little disturbance to fish and fellow anglers! As I do not fish for carp what do i know! Each to their own I suppose.
Just as i have a phobia about going to the loo when the entire line is occupied with all the resultant unpleasantries so i dislike sitting in a peg cheek by jowl with angler after angler! Give me a lovely setting, a few fish and plenty of space and I am happy. I can really relate to roving on a river miles from anywhere! Roll on June!
Absolutely Mike, hence why I luv me river roving so much
---------- Post added at 08:01 ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 ----------
I think it has become more difficult to keep a water quiet. imo there are a couple of reasons for this.
Not knocking carp anglers but it has grown beyond all proportion from years ago until now it possibly has the largest participation group of UK angling most only wanting to catch bigger and bigger fish, its inevitable that some of these anglers want recognition from other anglers and in their quest for that they publicise catches where anglers would never dream of doing such a thing years ago although I know of one well known predator angler that resorted to following others and watching them through binoculars from his 3 wheeler van.
The internet has made it much easier for anglers to trawl through for information about waters or even where particular fish were caught, I see lots of questions about where and on what a fish was caught some get answers which in turn leads to more anglers/pressure on a water, a prime example of publicity leading to the death of a fish was the 40lb pike from boddington res a few years ago.
The secretive world of the "specimen hunter" ( I hate that phrase) has gone cash prizes, tackle prizes, fame, sponsorship, celebrity wanting to tell all and sundry what where and how have all lead to pressure on waters and the resulting downturn of the quality of the fishing, its not just the fish that suffer though, banks become devoid of grass litter gets left human waste is left and in the end some waters are lost to anglers because of it.
Absolutely agree Crow, well said :thumbs:
---------- Post added at 08:08 ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 ----------
If I read your post right, I understand your point with regard to a down turn for the non carper is primarily made around commercials.
In my experience roach fishing has never been easier than it is at present. OK what I would call quality roach around the 2lb and above for some reason are far too allusive in my chosen fishery, may be it's the way I fish. Generally numbers in my case are vastly increased in the ounces to a pound fish to what I remember years ago.
From a personal point of view it's my belief that the only demise as I see it is with regard to carp, F1s even ide.
Indigenous species are thriving and mostly left alone to do what they do. Even anglers who do fish for roach and bream generally fish far too heavy in case they hook a carp, to my mind. Mostly to the detriment of catching roach.
Spot on, I couldn't agree more, well said, especially as far as roach fishing is concerned as big roach have never been what is classed as easy anywhere or anytime
---------- Post added at 08:34 ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 ----------
Mmm......premier waters, well to be fair all my fishing is virtually on premier waters,
In me earlier days when I carp fished back in the eighties and early nineties I fished waters like Darenth, Kent and as far field as Wrasbury, these were and still are premier waters basically for the size of fish they hold and in truth to me that is what premier waters are all about
For well over 30 years I've fished some of the very best rivers and particular club stretches in the south and southeast of England IE the Lea valley clubs, Kennet, Avon, test and Itchen to name a few,
On all of these mentioned rivers they all have premier sections, again there all reputed to throw up quality fish,
The river Lea at kings weir and Fishers green is a fine example, I've been a member here on and off for some 28 years now and have seen things come and go aswell as a lot of general changes, the river here is arguably one of the best if not the best chub river in the country along with some big barbel,
Because this section is so famous it's now had experienced anglers travel the whole entire country to fish the venue, this obviously has created a massive name for itself and is why it's classed as a premier fishery,
The river has been hit by the Black Death " cormorants " and nowadays you'd have a job in some areas to actually see any small fish, the river at present just seems to hold big fish with few small fish, I now worry what will happen in a few years time when a lot of these big girls ( fish ) all start to die off and then what, there's not a lot of small fish,
I can well remember about 20 years ago under Bailey bridge, Fishers green where there used to be a decent showl of quality roach to well over 2 lb but now all sadly long gone, it'll certainly take some time before we see another generation of big roach again on that section and not all the while those blasted cormorants are still hanging about
As I'm more of a river specialist in search of big roach, chub and dace I tend to find rivers that have a reputation for big fish and it seems that most of me fishing is what is regarded as premier waters........but I also love finding small rivers that are often neglected and hardly ever get fished because my belief is that all fish will thrive on neglect and these are my no:1 choice of little rivers :thumbs: