Closed Season

Here's me thinking I am giong to have to go very commercial fisheries if I want to wet a line during the closed season, when lo and behold my friend informs me that canals are fishable during the close.

Is this true or am I being led up the towpath?

Answered my own question. Found the info on EA website. Typical isn't it, open your keyboard before you put your brain into gear.

When are we going to see the rivers open all year?

If it was open for 12 months I might be able to fish it when it's not either stupidly low or flooded and I might actually be able to fish it for longer than 2 months a year.

Come on then, nail me to the nearest tree.......

Why? I agree with you.

I presume fish spawn as much in rivers as they do in stillwaters so therefore it makes sense.

Dare you to start up a petition........!!!

When fish want to spawn they spawn! bait dangled in there face or not.
Doesn't the fact that there isn't too many problem's on stillwater's with fish spawning say something!
I noticed last year at a local carp fishery that whilst the larger fish were spawning the smaller fish still feed. Could it be that a closed season can be counter productive in the fact the smaller fish don't get as much food for the occasinal prick in the mouth!?

Well, this isn't going to plan at all.

Where is the barrage of poorly structured and ill thought out abuse?

Every close season we have this debate on the forum and every year we see over emotive outbursts, with no clinical data to back it up.

Tradition, spawning, re-growth and public perception were all arguments used before stillwaters and canals were bought into the 21st century.
These arguments are just as useless when put forward for the river close season.
Leisure time is precious, throw away the cane rod, believe the earth is round and lets abolish this outdated obsolescence.

yo carp angler.there are no spawning areas on the trent.environmentally friendly people have cleaner water pumped in and the river bed is regularly dredged,alas no shallow gravel runs

What about the wider view? The closed season doesn't exist merely to protect spawning fish. The entire countryside is vulnerable in spring -new plant growth, birds nesting and rearing young, etc., etc. However careful we are, we can't avoid creating disturbance. Outdated obsolescence, CA? We exist as a very small part of a big world. It doesn't revolve around our selfish desire to do whatever we like with our "precious leisure time".

Vunerable in the spring??????

Alot of birdies have more than one hatch! New plant growth - If you clear your garden in the spring does it not grow back in a month or so?

We dont cause that much damage to the environment, but obviously you think we do! Disturbance is not always a bad thing, nature aint tidy quiet. A spring frost or a flood will cause more damage on the rivers than a few anglers. Get with the times!

Laurie,
I used to share your views...still do in an ideal world but the truth of the matter is that a huge percentage of rivers go unfished anyway so plant growth is not an issue....most birds raise two or three clutchs so there is always going to be some overlap, and fish about to spawn are a bugger to catch!......the time has come to talk and thrash this out in a friendly manner, we can be both thoughtful of our enviroment and enjoying our hobby at the same time....those who would do most damage carry on fishing anyway.....just take a walk along the middle Severn in April/May there are a hell of a lot of "eelers" about......we need to get some interest back in river fishing, otherwise they will be allowed to be turned into huge drains whose purpose is to move floodwater as fast as possible....we can be the watchers all of the time!
Mind you....i still think it's a great idea to nail CA to the nearest tree!

I think you need to take a much wider view of this matter than the simple ?don?t tread on the grass? issue. I suggest you read these two pieces by Barrie Rickards which, while I don?t agree with everything he says, I do agree with him that misguided sentiment, without logical foundation, is not an argument.

Like Rik says, all the arguments put forward for having a closed season have been shot down by the fact that the absence of a closed season on stillwaters has produced none of the ill effects predicted.

In fact, on the vast majority of waters the fish and other wildlife are growing bigger and thriving better than ever.

We anglers feed and nurture fish and the wildlife around waters. Why rob them of that for the three months every year when they need it most?

I'm not saying there is absolutely no price to pay for not having a closed season, but the benefits to everything and everybody far outweigh the negative side.

<a href=http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=1&UAN=583>?The River?s Closed Season?</A>

<a href=http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&v=1&UAN=931>?The Real World?</A>

Both of those articles should be read before comenting on this message! Very informative.

Didnt know though that most pike spawn before the 15th of march but thinking about it how else would they have food when they hatch?

The bit about the pike eating or feeding well up to an hour before they spawn made me think!

Boy pike meets girl pike, Bloke 'so fancy going for drink and a meal? I know a place where the water is quiet and all the roach you can for a fiver?'

Female 'dunno have to be in by dark'

Male 'male well you can swim in my slipstream! wink wink nudge nudge!'

Female 'how can i resist an offer like that? Its a date!'

Male 'RESULT'after a good feed its off to bed! The gravel bed!!!!!!

I'm happy with the present compromise, although I'd like to see the closed season extended to canals except for the few disused ones that are completely isolated from a river.

On stillwaters I believe it should be up to the fishery manager rather than be subject to a national law.

For instance, I run my gravel pits at Wingham as a nature reserve, this being another of my interests. When the law changed I at first kept the closed season but subsequently moved it to the winter on one of the lakes. This had no discernable effect on either the fishing or the wildlife. Eventually I abolished the closed season on both lakes altogether, and again no adverse effects.

However, Wingham is extremely lightly fished. On other more pressured waters I believe a closed season is desirable.

OTOH, the fish in rivers are deemed to be wild as they're free to travel to other stretches. These, plus the opposite bank, may be owned by someone else, who may prefer to observe the closed season. Thus I don't believe it's practical to abolish the closed reason on rivers. Imagine the potential rows!

Additionally, river fish tend to spawn in the same place year after year and these fish often travel miles from stretches controlled by others. I believe in many cases extra protection is required in this situation.

I also used to run several stretches of small rivers, and although it was frustrating to have to stop fishing the streams at one of the nicest times of the year I was happy to do so.

The only thing I'm not happy about is that some who want the romance of an opening day try to impose their views on me.

I believe the current situation of a compulsory closed season on rivers and the fishery manager deciding on stillwaters is a reasonable compromise. The romantics have their rivers and a few stillwaters to look forward to. Others like me can fish can choose to fish all year round.

It certainly seems daft that you can fish stillwaters and some canals, but not rivers and most drains (man-made rivers...).

There's clearly no scientific rationale behind this.

I wonder what would happen if a test case went to court - say if one of Paul's "eel anglers" got prosecuted and fought it, for example.

It's certainly true that the close season robs you of one of the best times to be on the river.

Now this may sound stupid (so it probably is) and no doubt someone will shoot me for this but here's my two penneth:

Wouldn't it be more sensible to remove the closed season persay, and instead

1: Increase the rod licence to say ?25 to cover extra bailifing for March to June.

2: For the EA to provide a list with their reminders (or as an attatchment to the rod licence which informs and educates people as to when it would not be advisable to target certain species. With a little information as to why,

It normally isn't worth it anyway, (from what I've seen of Carp when sex is on their mind, little else can tempt them, but then who can blame them for that?

I must admit myself at not being over knowlageable at exactly when every species breeds (and thus found Barrie's article of interest) but I do know that come early April, (okay sometimes May) the weather picks up, the rivers are looking at their best and I stand on the bank with tears of frustration at not being able to fish them until mid June, by which time they are often sluggish and already covered in algea and weed. Meanwhile, hordes of Twitchers, Dogwalkers, Hikers and worst of all Mountainbikers steam around the countryside just the same.

I know there is the argument, that some people would still target these fish regardless and that that kind of guideline would not be enforceable, but does it need to be?

The ones that would break these guildlines are probably the ones that don't buy licences anyway (and hide their Sainsburies bags with all their rubbish hidden in a bush) and should be being targeted themselves anyway for those reasons.

The rest? I think it can sometimes be suprisising what people will do if they are asked and educated rather than ordered.

Rik - You never cease to amaze me !

Only a carp angler would start banging on about lifting the close season again on rivers. All this would do is ensure more rivers were polluted with stockie carp to give the likes of you something to fish for all year round (when the puddles are frozen over).

Or perhaps you wish to extend the season because its noticable that for you 9 months isn't enough for you to manage to catch a Hampshire Avon roach ! ! !

If only they took boilies eh, mate ?

Paul - Bring the nails and I'll get the lump hammer (Dunno who's gonna hold him in position though !)

Oh Hells Teeth!!!! who's raised this old cherry again??
We did this one to death this time last year and I thought had given it a decent burial.
Doubtless none of us have changed our basic belifs in the intervening 12 months for those of you that are even remotely interested my views and responses are clearly laid out in a positive fashion on the previous long thread on this issue and sad to say Rick they are well thought out and non abusive!!

Isn't it funny though ....You never hear game anglers who have the longest close season of all campaigning for an end to their close season.
No it's always gobby semi literate and frequently abusive coarse anglers 'yelling we want more'
Then again it was never the fish that where being described when angling for non salmonoids the term coarse applied to those who fished for them!!!

"Sire.... The peasants are revolting"......"You can say that again"!!!!

;-)

Maybe the game anglers would mount a campaign if they were anywhere near as passionate about their sport as the majority of coarse anglers...........-)

Game anglers are vastly more passionate in all ways...!

That is why they understand that there has to be periods of abstainance to make the flames of passion burn brighter.

Understand that abstainance maketh the heart grow fonder...

For the way of the coarse types leadeth unto too much of a good thing and thence to familiarity leading to contempt.....

What mistress then will pleaseth the coarse soul when angling canst no longer savour his pleasure???

Nay verilly I say unto thee o coarse ones we doeth thou a great favour when thou art lobbed off the rivers for three months whislt we game fellows are about our business....
Thou merely lack the vision of mind to understand it....

But for this minor discipline we give you ( as we are no longer allowed to use whips on the peasantry) Your hearts and minds would become ever more coarsened and once satiated with anglings pleasures you would abandon it for ...........Golf!!!

Dunno about all that, but I?m off fishing on the river now. I?ll think about you wielding your quill and your whip as I strive to slip a chavender into my net.

Nice words though Alan, I enjoyed them!