Fishing banns, and credibility.

Have you come across any?

Here's one example, I have noted on more than one occasion references to braid being banned on certain waters with no explanation as to why.

And another, on two local waters , both large Reservoirs the use of groundbait has been prohibited for as long as I can remember. And this despite the fact that they are both compensation waters, so there is no question as regards souring or polluting the water source.

Then there is the question of the ban on lure fishing on certain waters. I could go on but will content myself with the above examples.

Can anyone shed light on the above, or add to my list from your own perspective?

Is that to allow marriages between species! Sorry for being obtuse Derek!

On all the stillwaters i fish, or to be more exact have the right to fish, there is an absolute ban on braid either as a main line or hook link, no hooks larger than a 12 and no floating bait, dog biscuits or cat/dog meat.

On 90% of them no keep nets are allowed and on a fair few there are limitations on amounts of ground bait and , where carp are prevalent, bans on boilies other than as a hook bait!

One could open many a discussion/argument on the plethora of rules and their justification but i keep to mono, smaller hooks and no keepnet and thus do not need to refer to the handbook constantly. Checking and enforcement however, is another matter entirely. I am often the only one at some waters all day! The rule books make no attempt at any reasoning or justification!

If i am still as keen in another 12 months and have more credibility as an angler I just might raise the odd rule at the AGM's!

what I find annoying is when there is a list of rules and no one bothers to enforce them

such as no boilies and half those fishing are using boiles and have a tub of boilies in plain view and the bailiff just walks past and collects the day ticket money

I find that a lot of the seemingly daft rules are on waters where the owners know little about angling and have been ill advised by someone that this that or the other are bad for either the fish or the fishery.

I have never come across any daft rules on any of the syndicates that I have belonged to in fact on one of them there was only one rule it was "don't p!!$ other anglers off" anything else such as fish care and littering were taken as a given that members knew what was required, it worked very well.

I remember many years ago fishing a carp water somewhere up north (could have been Roman Lakes) and he reckoned that the owner allowed no "hairy rigs".

A no lure fishing one is very strange and I don't really understand why anyone would have it unless they were afraid of fish being foul hooked by a lure, I should imagine far more chance of foul hooking on bait with fish feeding around any freebies.

One of my clubs as bans on wire traces.
They cannot be used in the summer and no lure fishing is allowed without using one. They must be used when fishing for pike thereby banning lure fishing on all waters containing pike and that also bans lure fishing on those waters for perch. Who made this rule up I have yet to find out?
They also ban all pre baiting and that includes dropping a few bits of bait in a swim and coming back later in the day to see if they have gone. Fallen foul of this one.
Only being allowed to fish the water in front of you and not to the side. I have also fallen foul of this one when I was the only angler on the water.
The one that started a big argument in the club was why can’t I use a small tent when night fishing. Isn’t a bivvy just a tent by another name?


Anyone else come across your landing nets too small rule. Because a lake contains a few big carp you must have a 42” net no matter what you are fishing for.

The biggest joke of all is that on all waters these rules and bans are in place for the welfare of fish. If that is the case shouldn’t they just ban fishing on these waters.

Is it an Angling Club or an Anti-angling club Some of those rules defy belief. Does no-one do quiver tip fishing?

I hope the fishing you can do is mesmerisingly good!

My fishery/club bans bivvies from not being green hno:. And I am not allowed to fish at night when sleeping in what is called on the packet "tent de pecheur" (fishing tent) mg:

Whilst fishing an ex-club water a few weeks ago I had read the rules on the board and commented to the assistant bailiff that I was looking forward to live baiting the lake as I suspected a few big perch might be roaming around.

My comments were met with a look of total distain and a response of "Oh no, there's no live baiting".

To which I then continued to argue the point that if it wasn't listed in the rules then it was a matter of his opinion and not that of the committee.

We left it as agreeing to disagree but I will live bait it and whist ever there's no mention to the contrary in the written rules I shall consider myself to be rightfully doing so.

There are plenty of rules out there that I disagree with, even if they do have an element of logic behind them. Some rules don't appear to have any sensible reasoning behind them until you dig a little deeper. Some rules are downright ridiculous, but you have to respect them anyway.

I can shed some light on the bivvy/tent thing. Bivvys don't generally have a built in groundsheet (though some do). Tents generally do have built in groundsheet (though some don't). Plenty of waters, home and abroad, have laws/byelaws/planning authority rules/lease caveats imposed on them that mean that no camping (i.e. use of a tent) is allowed, but the use of a bivvy is. I make no comment on the logic involved, but it is the case. Some places have laws/byelaws/planning authority rules/lease caveats that mean that only green coloured shelters/bivvys may be used.

My main river club doesn't allow for the use of lures and/or treble hooks. The largely unknown piking potential is rather difficult to explore because of this. Despite having little interest in piking, I've asked the question of the committee. It's the fly anglers that are quite strongly against either being allowed. They are adamant that misuse is common, people trying to foul hook fish deliberately. I'm not really convinced by this. The best argument they have is that the unwelcome guests we occasionally get invariably chuck lures about. They are rather easy to spot when no spinning/lure fishing is allowed.

One thing that's always worth remembering when it comes to club rules, they may not be entirely down to the club itself. Leases often have caveats in them. Sometimes the caveats can be really odd. Even in waters owned by clubs, there can be strange rules imposed. More than the odd club has had water ownership bequeathed to them. Again, this can lead to some strange ownership caveats being imposed. Even when bought on a supposedly open market, ownership can be subject to caveats.

Over here in France, I have been told, it is illegal to live bait perch.

nichalex said:

Over here in France, I have been told, it is illegal to live bait perch.

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I belive the rule actually relates to the Perche soleil which is in fact the Pumpkinseed. Its considered an invasive species and so should not be introduced to a waterway...hence the no livebaiting rule

---------- Post added at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was at 22:09 ----------

Derek Gibson said:

Here's one example, I have noted on more than one occasion references to braid being banned on certain waters with no explanation as to why.

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Obviously I don’t know the reasons on your waters Derrick but I have come across waters in France where braid was been banned due to anglers rowing out long distances of mega high breaking strain braids then getting cut off and leaving giant cats cradles of super strong line criss crossing weedbeds. The resulting snags are dangerous and difficult to remove.

I know there is an argument that high breaking strain braids are actually safer as you have more chance of bending your hooks out of snags and so getting the tackle back however even a super strong braid won’t save you on a steep angled pull across something sharp.

The water i fish on has more bans than allows. No boilies,no groundbait,no bread,Fisheries only pellets both feed and on the hook.Plain sweetcorn only,no cloured or flavoured. No bread. Plain luncheon meat only. No flavoured or coloured. I believe they lose so much custom. But like the owner says " if you dont like it p%ss off ". Also do you agree that any rule that is not enforced is a bad rule.??

Fishing bans - a lighter note.

Some years ago I had an ear operation which left me with a temporary balance problem, if I kept bending over when setting my tackle, bivvy etc I got very dizzy. The club (correctly) banned me until I was ok, especially as I had a rowing boat on the water.

Two of my friends also got temporarily banned for excessive drinking on club waters.

Later the 3 of us were talking on the bank when I said - it's funny all 3 of us have been banned. One of them asked "why did you get banned?". I replied "because I kept falling over" they then said "that's why we got banned!".

steve2 said:

Isn’t a bivvy just a tent by another name?

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For some reason there are bye laws noting that if a "tent" is used then a Camping site license is required for the venue whereas a bivvy is not classified as a "tent"

At least, that is what my club's legal advice was a couple of years ago.

As far as some of the Rules and Bans are concerned then if there is a logical or evidence-based reasons behind then then fair enough.

I do, however, have a problem with some venues where a ban is put in place based on the club or the owner's whim or worse still possibly biased beliefs.

Where rules or bans are in place then surely they are only as effective as the policing or enforcement behind them . . . . . and unfortunately the enforcement is often conspicuous by its absence.

Much as I expected, based on a number of posts, some rules are implimented on nothing more than hearsay. And in the absence of any validity the questioner is told, ''These are the rules of the committee, take it or leave it''. Altogether a sad state of affairs.

From my own side of the fence concerning the use of braid, some years ago a criticism to the use of braid was made a number of times. These hinged on the belief that fish were suffering from fin's being removed during the fight due to the properties of the braid.

Now, anyone who has done any Pike fishing will be well aware that the Pike can be and often is a fish of acrobatic tendancies . Given this fact, if ever there was a fish that qualifies to be damaged by the use of braid one needs to look no further. And with this in mind I consulted with a number of experienced Piker's over several years. None reported experiencing any of those horror stories, and that represents a huge number of Pike taken, so it will come as no surprise to anyone that I don't subscribe to it. Rant over.

From my stance regarding fishery rules I have my own thoughts and rely on my judgment rather than some uneducated buffoon.
The fishery I spend nearly all my time has a more relaxed rule board than most others. That is the main reason I fish there.
Using other fisheries would not change my mind on how I fish, if I believe rules are idiotic I do ignore them. If I can't fish how I like then I will suffer a ban.
For example. I last fished Lindholme lakes after they implemented a ban on luncheon meat. I used three tins in peg 23 on Bonsai and had a very good days fishing thank you.
The bailiff came to see if I had a ticket and was oblivious to the fact I was using meat. If I need to go clandestine I do. Adds to the fun.
Would I brake laws NO, do I break fishery rules YES.