The chattering classes

Barrie Rickards, as usual,
is spot on when it comes to assessing the attitude to our sport by the various political parties.

Avoid like the plague the Lib Dems, The Greens, and even The Labour Party.

I do not trust the likes of Blair, Blunkett, Brown and others when it comes to the protection of our sport. The only party that will not meddle with angling is the Tories, no matter how much some of you might hate them.

I know I am right.

Oh no your not ........

Its just a ploy ......

UKIP FOR ME.

Barry is a person whome I regard as one of natures true gentleman, with a brain! An entirely nice person, so disagreeing with him, to a degree, gives me no great pleasure whatsoever. But with regards to the close season I do disagree, and with a passion!

I am looking at the matter entirely as a pike angler. I am told that there is scientific report that pike do not gain weight if caught during the summer. There is a great deal of condemnation of summer piking within piking circles. I don't entirely support that view but that is another issue. The point being that very many 'named' pikers appear to oppose summer piking, which includes the close season period. That many of 'em nip over to Ireland or up to Scotland is besides the point! But on an English perspective they are, I think, right.

Over the last three years my local fishery has been totally destroyed as a pike fishery. Up to that point Oulton Broad was an excellent pike fishery. It was able to sustain the intense attention of the dedicated few. But the recent explosian of piking interest has hit it hard. It is now a shadow of its former self. Why? Too many pikers! Not only too many pikers but too many pikers fishing it throughout the season.

I have pike fished the broad for almost fifty years, but the balance has now been destroyed. There are now too many of us. The Broad, and other popular English waters, cannot sustain the unremitting demands placed upon them.

Ask yourselves, would 12/12 angling pressure help? Would anglers hitting the spawning areas at a sensitive time help? Don't you think that the pike benefit from three months of feeding without the risk of being hooked? Ask yourselves, why do we need 12/12 piking? Who benefits? You, or the pike? Do you really think our pike fishing will improve with 12/12 attention?

As for the Tories being good for angling!! Does anyone seriously think that they give a tuppeny toss for angling, unless they can squeeze every last selfish penny out of it!

Peter, if you feel that strongly about your pike, get the club or the owners to close it to pike fishing from 15th March until 30th September inclusively. If you really think this will help I would support you wholeheartedly.

However, when it comes to my part of the Thames I don't want that close season. I still haven't fished the river because I want to give the fish from the 1st May until 1st July (just days away now). If someone knowledgeable came up and said with a little evidence and enough conviction that any close season is a waste of time I'd even give up that.

As for canoeists, what about other boat owners? Why not put slipways where the secure car parks are or car parks where the slipways are? Lots of anglers have small boats, perhaps more would have them if the facilities were better.

C.Monkey, it is a public water. This afternoon was heart breaking. For whatever reason pike migrate towards the North East corner of a fishery, and on Oulton Broad the pavement & road run directly beside the water. There were atleast 18 rods out there today, not one had a float or bite indicator. All had slack lines and all were relying on the rod tips for bite indication, ala sea fishing. Some of the anglers were just kids who didn't know any better, they were just copying the adults around them. At one time, except for a few cut down match rods, the only anglers with pike rods were pike anglers. Now most anglers have a carp rod that can be used for pike. The kids will listen to sense, especially after they have landed a gut hooked jack. But the adults know it all, Eff off & mind your own business!! The only answer is an October start as it used to be, rather than no close season at all. Unfortunately deadbaiting has made it all too easy. Atleast with lure and livebaiting some effort is required. At one time there were three known thirties on Oulton Broad, all seem to have gone, none caught in the last two seasons. What was a brillient fishery is effectively no more.

RMC have a no pike fishing rule until 1st October.

I seem to remember that the Buckingham club also has a similar rule. My club USED to have a rule to kill all pike, and I know that some clubs with water on the river Tees, and at least one on the Swale, still kill all pike.
But why does Ron have a downer on Labour politicians?
It is the ONLY party to actively support angling. My MP has helped several local clubs and I also know that Tony Blair has helped clubs in his constituency.

Surely you all don't put your vote in on the back of ' How the party view angling',!!


I vote Labour at the mo cos I,

1. Like the idea of a working NHS.
2. Full employment would be nice.
3. Retired workers should be able to do it easily and enjoy their twi-light, so to speak!!!
4. Immegration needs looking at.
5. Water, Gas, Electricity and FUEL, should be dirt cheap, along with Fags and Booze and Fish and Chips (on Friday).

Whats wrong with giving us all an affordable lifestyle at it's basic level!!!!


VOTE LABOUR NEXT TIME ROUND, cos if the Dipstick Howard ever gets in we are sunk.

Howard is worse than IDS and Can't hold a candle to Haig, so why vote him now???????


I'd have voted for William Haig if he hadn't played on the keep the pound nonsense.

Murray, no I don't. I would still vote labour if had in its manifesto to ban angling. I would fight against it through the proper channels, but I believe that having a Labour administration outweighs the alternatives. No matter what the other parties promise.

Join tyhe Labour Party, the CSG, and just for Matthew Black the SAA, and by associatin, support the NAA.

By joining the Labour Party and the SAA you have a voice in the future of the country and angling, the CSG - well there a good bunch of lads.

My feeling exactly!

Labour's ok in many respects and their jack cunningham is an fanatical angler himself.

what happened to matthew black? I was enjoying that and then it disappeared.

Bit like a crafty old chub, he aint taking the bait.

Yeh, whatever did happen to him? Must send out a search party....
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eventually.

3 clubs in somerset have a no deadbaiting rule from march 15th till sept or october 1st,but allow lure fishing.these 3 clubs just happen to have the best piking in somerset.wessex own a 70 acre reservoir,they used to have a close season for pike from end of may till end of august,they now allow all year round pike fishing,the water has gone from a brilliant pike water to a crap one.

Wrong thread !!!

I would have none of them. The only thing I can say for certainty is that health, education, policing/law and order, and immigration have got worse in the last 10 years, not better.......and I pay a shit load more tax for the "benefit".

I agree Stu.

I pay stupid amounts of tax and NI now, just so we can prop up a failing NHS, house more immigrants and give ficticious jobs to overweight black lesbians.

Labour have always been tax and spend and always will be.

It's cliche time on FM. "Overweight black lesbians"? Purlease!!! The NHS is not failing. It just needs proper funding - something successive Governments OF ALL COLOURS have failed to address. We're a bunch of cheapskates in this country. We want decent public services, but we don't want to put our hands in our pockets. Howard was banging on last week about the Danish and Swedish health services being godd. They sure are. We could have the same, but would he, or anyone else, want to pay around 50% tax to fund it. Quality costs.