Are you a closed season observer?

dezza · Mar 20, 2012

At this time of the year I am mindful of those who refuse to fish because they think there is a closed season, even when there isn't.

Many years ago I entertained a business contact in South Africa who was quite a keen angler. It was April and when I suggested we have a go for some carp, he replied by saying he couldn't do that - it was the closed season!

Now can you work that one out?

It appears that there are those who think that the closed season was ordained by a deity and must never be contravened on pain of spending eternity in the fires of hell!

Well I have news for such people. The closed season for coarse fish was set out by a bunch of politicians who knew little about the spawning activities and times of what we now call coarse fish (we called them "freshwater fish at the time"). It was called "The Mundella Act" and took place in 1878.

Yes all that time ago.

And it's time it was abolished.

And certainly I, as well as many others would like to know the difference between a roach say that lives in a canal, and a roach that lives in a river. And why is tench fishing allowed when they are invariably spawning?

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 20, 2012

it's so the great unwashed can catch a few trout

Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC) · Mar 20, 2012

Oh Yes, the close (no d) season was put there by the toff salmon anglers to keep the scruffy course anglers off the river while they (the fluff chucking toffs) put a few salmon on the bank in peace.

---------- Post added at 14:10 ---------- Previous post was at 14:08 ----------

oh BTW - a club not so far away from me once put salmon in its premier tench water (a gravel pit) along with rainbows and grayling.

murv · Mar 20, 2012

I'm a close season idiot.

My main passion is the rivers so (obviously) I can't fish those but I never enjoyed fishing lakes when the close season was lifted on stillwaters, it just never felt "right."

I do have the odd dabble, and will fish a bit more in May this Year as I've been told that the Tench fishing on a club lake is far better in May than it is in June when I usually target them.

But, in the main, I'm an idiot

Chris

Paul Boote · Mar 20, 2012

Fish for everything - coarse, spotties, sea - and you don't have a close season, just fishing days and nights with longer or shorter hours and slightly better or poorer weather...

cg74 · Mar 20, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
At this time of the year I am mindful of those who refuse to fish because they think there is a closed season, even when there isn't.

Maybe they just don't wish to catch gravid fish, as not all anglers purposely target individual species. On the basis that perch can spawn as early as the beginning of April, roach and rudd often spawn in late April through to late May, then its the Bream's turn, followed by carp and lastly tench.

That by my reckoning means on a mixed fishery, there is the potential to hook a gravid fish from the end of March through until the end of June; a practice YOU have drawn scorn on in the not to distant past....

So perhaps that makes you the close ('d' not required) season "idiot" and the "fool" and I guess that also makes you a blatant hypocrite.

Jeff Woodhouse · Mar 20, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
I am mindful of those fools who refuse to fish because they think there is a closed season

I'm going to pull you up now on your spelling, it's 'close season' NOT 'closed ....'

Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC) said:
Oh Yes, the close (no e) season

Even Corky got it wrong - no 'd', not no 'e'.

I once remember one famous angler/writer and fervent supporter of the close season going to Ireland and confessing quite happily that he enjoyed a bit of piking on ....... St Paddy's Day - March 17th, 3 days into the close season.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Mar 20, 2012

Nice on Ron

only been back a couple of days and you've got them biting already - welcome back mate

mark brailsford 2 · Mar 20, 2012

Love the thread Ron, I like someone who speaks their mind on this silly (out of date) law!
Its not just the toffy nosed salmon anglers that quiver at the mere mention of abolishing the close season, the toffy nosed barbel anglers get pretty wound up at the mere mention of subject too, well the ones that are members of a certain specialist society do anyway!
There, that's gone and done it!

Mark

Harvey · Mar 20, 2012

..........

peterjg · Mar 20, 2012

Well said Ron Clay.

sam vimes · Mar 20, 2012

I've been fishing at least three times since the last day of the season. So you can safely say that I don't observe a self imposed close season. However, I wouldn't dream of fishing illegally. I won't join the many on Yorkshire rivers that fish worms for trout, even in parts of the river where you might stand greater than an evens chance of catching trout.

The close season has always left me bemused. Watching carp, tench, bream, chub, dace, barbel, roach and rudd spawn in June, July and August leaves you feeling that it's all a bit pointless. The only coarse fish that I fully expect to spawn in the close season are pike and perch. The pike are starting to pair up now.

terry m · Mar 20, 2012

Aside from the imposed close season on rivers and the debate about spawning - which of course is weather dependent and therefore not totally predictable - I actually enjoy a few weeks break before I get my kit out again.

I fish pretty intensely throughout the winter so there is a strange contentment as March 14th passes.

This year it is a week in Moscow, then two weeks in Sydney, returning just after Easter at which point I may dust my bivvy down.

themyth · Mar 20, 2012

i find the barbel bite really hard in april and may on the rivers.peacefull banks,with the exception of the odd eastern european chub cooker.

Fred Bonney · Mar 20, 2012

As many of the long term members know I fish still waters in the river Close Season , in fact I shall probably meet some of them at Clattercote in May for an annual fish-in, in the usual conditions of wind and hopefully rain!!

Peter Jacobs · Mar 21, 2012

Fred Bonney said:
in fact I shall probably meet some of them at Clattercote in May for an annual fish-in, in the usual conditions of wind and hopefully rain!!

. . . . . . Fred, you little tinker you.

Beaker · Mar 21, 2012

I also fish during the close season, even though my main stillwater is closed it being a site of special scientific interest.
I think that it is right that wildlife are given a chance to do what comes naturally in peace and quiet.
I mean would youlike it if had to do the deed with your,wife/partner/lover/mistress in front of Ron the hat clay and Lord Paul of Sheffield.

Peter Jacobs · Mar 21, 2012

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Peter Jacobs · Mar 21, 2012

Beaker said:
if had to do the deed with your,wife/partner/lover/mistress

Which reminds me:

A Jewish husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a big open mouthed kiss, then says she'll see him later and walks away.

The wife glares at her husband and says, "Who was that?"

"Oh," replies the husband, "she's my mistress."

"Well, that's the last straw," says the wife. "I've had enough, I want a divorce!"

"I can understand that," replies her husband, "but remember, if we get a divorce it will mean no more shopping trips to Paris , no more wintering in Barbados , no more summers in Tuscany , no more Jaguar in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours."

Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous babe on his arm.

"Who's that woman with Moishe?" asks the wife.

"That's his mistress," says her husband.

To which the wife replies:

"Ours is prettier,"

dezza · Mar 21, 2012

cg74 said:
Maybe they just don't wish to catch gravid fish,

A few words about what is meant by a "gravid" fish.

It is a fish that is carrying ova or milt.

I've done enough fishing and caught enough fish that I have killed and gutted (trout mainly) to know that the majority of fish carry spawn or milt at most times throughout the year. Therefore in the vast majority of cases you are catching gravid fish no matter what time of the year you catch them. This does not apply to triploid trout of course.

In addition I am all in favour of a closed season on wild trout waters where trout are caught and eaten.

But coarse fish, no way. The presence of anglers on coarse rivers in springtime will probably help protect the fish against predators and poachers if you ask me.

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