Magazine responsibility.

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Rob Brownfield

Guest
There have been several pictures recently in the "weeklies" that have caused me some concern.

One is a picture in both AT and AM of a guy holding what can only be described as the worst looking, most spawned out Sea Trout I have every seen. He is holding it by grasping into the gill area, not like a Pike angler would, but actually holding it with fingers going up into the lower part of the gills. AM mentioned that "he put it back alive as it was out of season." but AT did not.

Another picture in AM is of a guy holding a 22 pound pike by the tip of the jaw, standing, and holding the fish a couple of feet above the ground. Although they say that a fish should not be held in this way.

The last type of picture is the kind where an angler has several hundred pounds of carp laid out in a keepnet, dorsal fines all split, covered in grass, mud etc.

My question is this...Should the angling magazines reject photos that show bad fish handling, or should the pictures be included, but with a "you should not do it like this" caption, or is it ok to show pictures of any kind?
 
C

Cheese Paste

Guest
I know the pictures of pike and sea-trout you mention. Personally I don't think the pike shot should have been printed at all, but at least AM advised that this is not the way to handle them whatsoever. So at least a few people might learn from it.

The angler's handling of the sea trout looked very awkward and only got printed probably becuase it came out of the Severn and out came of season. Horrible looking fish though.

No more dodgy fish pictures please is what I say.
 
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Alan Fawcett

Guest
thank you both

I am glad i'm not the only one who see's these pictures for what they are.

Extreme bad publicity for angling.

I have a friend who is "involved" with the anti's & attends a few of their get togethers, at one last year they were told to look through the fishing magazines for pictures of fish bleeding or damaged & cut them out so it could be included in press releases etc.

I have said it till i'm blue in the face
Please Don't Send in Pictures with bloody or damaged fish as this gives them ammo against us.
 
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Jon Moores

Guest
Rob, Was it really a Sea Trout? They are extremely rare (though not entirely unknown) from the Severn, most likely I expect it was a Salmon kelt. Why they would want to publish a picture of a kelt as a trophy shot is beyond me.
 
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John Pleasance

Guest
I feel it should be obvious to magazine editors not to show anything which could be detrimental to the sport.Let's face it, if it should ever come to the day when angling is banned or so severely restricted as to not be worthwhile then they will have no outlets for their weekly rags.
On a similar subject I have noticed that Coarse Fisherman magazine has for the last few months included an advertisement displaying the wares of the Humberside angling Superstore which includes a selection of air guns and gas guns,I have been very surprised to see no comments from anyone about this. I don't believe there to be any good reason to advertise these weapons in a fishing magazine.
If they want to sell guns they should be in a gun magazine.
Certainly both the clubs that I am a member of do not allow anglers to take guns onto their fisheries I would hope that yours don't either, if only to prevent the less enlightened element amongst us from being tempted to do something we may all later regret..
 
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Cheese Paste

Guest
I think there are many tackle shops that sell guns too. For as long as I can remember there has always "guns and tackle" crossover in shops.

I don't think they would blatanly try to supply anglers on the banks with firearms, but probably associate anglers with other outdoor pursuits suited to shooting.
 
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Rob Brownfield

Guest
I must admit I found it suprising to see a spawned out sea-trout at this time of year. It probably is a salmon, but its impossible to tell from the picture.

I would certainly not have been proud of that fish...yuk.
 
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David Will

Guest
I think that positive images should always be shown or talked about. As for photos of fish being held incorrectly I am appalled that both the Pike angler (loosest term) and the accidental Salmon? angler will be paid for there efforts. If people need to know how to hold fish surely a weekly bombardment of the correct way is sufficient however you can bet your boots that the Pike angler only bought the Anglers Mail to firstly get an application form for fish of the week and secondly the copy he was in. There is a suprisingly large number of anglers who rarely buy any mags or fishing related papers.
 
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John McLaren

Guest
On a similar theme, it is noticeable that most illustrations in angling books and magazines these days, are of single fish. I have recently bought a copy of Barry Rickard and Ray Webb's book "Fishing for Big Tench" and found myself quite discomforted by photographs of huge hauls of fish. I know that the anglers concerned took considerable care with their catch, for starters they are always on a plastic groundsheet, but I wonder about the possible damage done in the keepnet. It just shows how my attitude has changed because back then I would have been delighted to have had a photo taken of me with such a catch.
 
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John McLaren

Guest
Just for the record Rickards & Webb's book was publishedin 1975
 
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John Pleasance

Guest
It's the thin end of the wedge Cheesepaste .It's bringing the easy availability by mail order to a wider audience who may not have considered the purchase of these items before seeing these adverts. I do appreciate that that is the purpose of advertising but I don't think it has any place in a supposedly serious fishing magazine.
 
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Keith Williams

Guest
Having seen the photo of the obviously spawned Salmon Kelt ( Not a Sea trout)
The appearence of this fish is certainly nothing to smile or be proud of and I am appalled at the angler in question having the face to claim a trophy shot even if it is claimed to have gone back alive.
The mere fact that the gill rakers on this poorly conditioned fish were handled in such a poor manner makes me wonder if Mike Walsh the so called angler would like his lungs trashed in a similar way.
A good number of salmon kelts do survive to return the following year as a more magnificent fish before spawning yet again, but it's odds on this fish was was rolling along the river bed not long after it bad handling.
Is the water a club water where this salmon was caught and if so what are the leasee's or the owners going to say about this incident
 
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Gary Knowles

Guest
Keith,

I agree its a salmon kelt and I've seen / caught a few of these on both the Ribble and the Severn. They are generally sickly looking things and I cant for the life of me see why someone would hold one up as a trophy shot. But, don't be too harsh on the guy. Not everyone realises the significance of what they catch. Perhaps he was inexperienced and was unsure how to hold a fish properly and couldn't identify his capture (I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't understand the various stages of a salmonoids life cycle).

Anyway, if he'd been watching Rex Hunt he would think holding a fish by the gills was a perfectly acceptablw ay to hold a fish !
 
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