Suppose that the EA did extensive scientific work which proved that the close season for coarse fish in river was unnecessary. If the close season was then abolished I would fish for coarse fish in rivers all year round.
I don't think the EA has the money to carry out the research. I believe they did do some research before deciding to abolish the close season for coarse fish on stillwaters.
I'm not sure why some anglers are so anti the close season on rivers when you can still fish stillwaters for coarse fish, and go trout fishing.
Thanks for that keora.....I think the point I am trying to establish is that I notice a lot of anglers have very strong opinions on keeping the Close Season and vice versa. I just wondered if those strong opinions would stay in place should the Close Season be lifted.
When the Close Season covered all waters...the very same strong opinions existed between anglers.....but it appears that the opinions on why we should keep the Close Season seemed to go out of the window as soon as the go ahead was given...all their moralistic views about spawning and plantlife and wildlife didn't seem to matter anymore....Off they toddled to every stillwater in the land seemingly without a care in the world about what they were so against just a few months earlier.
I know that people will hide behind the fact that the EA did some tests and discovered it was no longer necessary and all that so it was OK to go fishing stillwaters.
Take Yorkshire....not so long ago, the season in Yorkshire started on the 1st of June......now it doesn't. Why was it OK to fish the rivers on the 1st June then and not now?...surely the same issues existed then as they do now. Just goes to show that the EA can get it wrong...and they often do with this issue.
Then there is canals and lakes....don't fish spawn in canals or lakes then?
I reckon that during the Close Season....fish are more disturbed by bank walkers, dog swimming, stone throwing, canoeing, poaching, barbeques, swimming and many more bankside activities....than anglers could ever cause in a season of fishing.
Like I said the whole issue has more holes in it than a seive.
Maverick
---------- Post added at 01:29 ---------- Previous post was at 01:20 ----------
The short answer is no, I would not, which will come as no surprise to the regular contributors here on FM.
I have never fished in the coarse close season for anything other than Trout on the fly, other than a couple of one day memorial matches, and to be honest even on those days it just felt all wrong.
Like someone else so rightly said, give the rivers and the bankside a good rest as they have served us very well for 9 months.
For those who simply have to fish all the year around, well you have commercial stillwaters, or better still buy a fly rod, reel, line and a few flies and learn a whole new aspect to your fishing.
Thanks Peter.....but it's not true that the rivers serve us well for 9 months is it?
You can deduct 3 months of year from it for a start....due to heavy flooding that we get every single year which makes fishing virtually impossible. That means we get 6 months for our money and not 12 months like everyone else....unless we fish the commercials of course...which I loathe to have to do.
...although I must admit, the fly fishing sounds tempting.
BTW Peter.....you have made a mistake on your avatar bar.......God's County isn't Wiltshire....EVERYBODY knows it's Yorkshire!!
Maverick