Countryside Alliance March

How many of you will be joining the March on London on March 18th?
I will definetly be there.

Do you have any details Ron? Times, where from etc? I'd like to go but I am limited to am only.

Just a question, why are you joining the march?

I watched pet rescue tonite and a swan had a hook in its neck and line down its throat. The RSPCA bloke on there was saying how disgusting it was that anglers leave fishing line about with barbed hooks on them even though the hook in question was not barbed. This paint all anglers in a bad way as the public are like sheep and believe what the see and hear on tv. Have any of you out there ever heard anything positive said about anglers?

Have any of you ever been aproached by anti angling idiots? if you have the next time you have trouble ask them if they eat meat.......and if they think how our food animals are killed is any better? As most anglers look after their fish, photograph them and let them go.

Steve, anglers who leave hooks and line are ****heads! they have no right to be on the bank's, the only thing we can do is keep pushing that point home,and ban them if they are caught!
On your second point you will never ever reason with them, i have had contact and it ain't worth the effort...just concentrate on recruiting anglers and telling all of the good points.

QUOTE: "I watched pet rescue tonite and a swan had a hook in its neck and line down its throat. The RSPCA bloke on there was saying how disgusting it was that anglers leave fishing line about with barbed hooks on them even though the hook in question was not barbed. This paint all anglers in a bad way as the public are like sheep and believe what the see and hear on tv."

I agree with you totally Steve - The general publics (non-anglers) view regarding it is tainted by what they see on tv and what they read elsewhere. They can be like sheep, and in this connection, would taint anglers with the hunters and shooters of this country. Therefore, in my humble opinion, it would be wrong to join the Countryside Allince march.

It has only been called that by the hunting faction to try and incorporate other sports so their numbers are swelled artificially. Public opinion has always been against hunting with hounds, however public opinion against it has grown significantly since the publicity raised concerning it.

By linking fishing with country sports, there is the risk of greater publicity and, thus, greater public opinion swelling against it. Why risk this? Surely it would be far better to seperate ourselves from these people, and not draw attention to our sport?

I agree also Paul, that anglers leaving behind hooks and line are what you called them - and worse, far worse!!!

Of the two clubs from which I have purchased season tickets, niether have emphasised the great importance of clearing up when one leaves the river bank or lake side - greatly important for the dangers to wildlife as well as common-sense and courtesy to all others concerned. One club have stated each member is to clear rubbish within 10 yards of his/her swim - but this imo is NOT enough. It needs to spelled out why!

Listening to the radio this morning and some MP said that the results of three major polls shows that the general public are more in favour of the middle ground option on the hunting bill.
That's the one where the hunters are governed by a seperate statute body.
Only a small percentage are in favour of a total ban.
Will the MP's listen?
Probably not, they think that banning hunting will make them appear more personable and trendy.

I'm no great lover of hunting, but I wouldn't impose my will on others.

To Malcolm.
I read with interest your thoughts on the subject of the Alliance March. You may feel that by burying our heads in the sand we will be safe from the Antis but I can assure you that you are very wrong. I suggest you study the web site www.anti-angling.com/ It may just alter your view. Lets all enjoy our fishing.....While we still can.

Hello Clive. Thank you for your comments and the link. I have had a look at the anti's site - quite comprehensive isn't it? I certainly don't think that we should bury our heads in the sand, as you put it - on the contrary - but I think we should do something about it when the time is right! I just do not think there is anything to be gained by associating ourselves with country/blood sports! The bill going through parliament is the abolition of hunting with hounds - what has that to do with angling?

Why do we need to associate with the countryside alliance? Town people make up a big part of the fishing community aswell. What i think we need to do is start to promote our sports good points like conservation, pollution control not to mention thatt all these new comercial carp fisheries that have sprung up play an important part of the contryside fragile ecology. The fact is you set up a new water it is very soon colonised by invertebrates, weed then birds of all types (including the much loved swans). If fishing was banned what would happed to these waters? Would they be left to nature? No chance the land owner would probably sell the land to housing company which would fill in the water and build houses on top aiding to the countrysides destruction.

If you look after the fish in the water you look after the countryside, eg bankside vegetation for nesting birds, newts, frogs and toad which are all starting to get rare in these times of pond destruction.

We dont need to comit ourselves to one organisation.

Having read all the comments so far I believe that it is not necessary to affiliate our angling bodies with the Countryside Alliance, that is up to the individual, who may have other concerns as well as the banning of angling. I’ve also had a look at the anti-angling web site and without being rude it’s a bit simplistic and may have been done by someone on “Blue Peter” for Halloween. Having said that, I don’t underestimate the trouble that these people can cause. You have only to read about the animal rights campaign against “Huntingdon Life Sciences” personnel to realise the extents that some individuals will go to force their opinions onto individuals. The connection between pictures of animals in labs (bad) and new cures for dying children (good) is never made in the same story.
Doing nothing is not an option that will save angling. We now have a window of opportunity that we may never have again. The Fox Hunting Bill and the forthcoming election, not to mention parliaments concern about the activities of the animal rights brigade has got the medias and publics attention. The following question must be asked now of the political parties we belong to and our individual MPs “ Are you in favour of banning angling in the foreseeable future? This question must be answered before the forthcoming general election. If you look at the following web site you can see if your MP is on the web, and if he is ask him, if not please take the time to write.
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/almsad.htm
The last time I looked at the numbers of anglers on fishingmagic’s web site there were well over 2,000 and that’s a hell of a lot of emails to send out to our MPs. We must also voice our concern about the anti’s and their tactics of harassment; we’ll not get another chance like this. My request to fishingmagic is that you list all the MP’s who are for or against angling.

I'm up ready to go out piking, i have the TV on, a guy in a suit has just been siding with the hunt side, his main comment was WHY DON'T THEY BAN FISHING !!!!!....I'll not now be siding with these guy's. This is the second time i have heard them try to us my sport as a lever, the first time it was Michael Hesaltine!!!!

There are details in this week's Angling Times and a telephone number to contact regarding the march.
As I thought we are divided on this one. I will however leave you with the following:
1: In addition to angling I have done a great deal of shooting in my life. Both angling and shooting are hunting in another form.
2: Do you think that the antis will give up once fox hunting is banned? At the very best angling will be hide bound with a whole list of restrictions. The first will be the abolishing of match angling and keepnets. Secondly, you will not be able to release fish.
It happened in Germany and will happen hear.

Hello Ron, whilst I greatly respect your views and opinions, may I suggest that your views might just be a little swayed by the fact you openly admit to having done "a great deal of shooting...." in your life? You ARE going to link the two together (fishing and shooting) but this is not necessarily the case with other folks! One fact remains, Ron, each IS differently and MUST be considered differently, because hunting with hounds ends up with the prey being killed, shooting (if their lucky) ends up with the prey being killed - FISHING DOES NOT!

I'm sure you are right that the anti's will NOT give up once hunting with hounds is banned (not just fox-hunting, but stag hunting, hare coursing - then bassets and beagles, etc, etc.), they will persue their quest, I'm sure.

It did happen in Germany Ron, but it doesn't necessarilty mean it will happen here. In fact I'm pretty sure it will not!

Got to differ with you at least on one point here Malcolm. You're thinking only of coarse fishing. In game and sea angling the 'prey', as you call it, is most definitely killed.

The fact that coarse anglers return their fish, therefore demonstrating that we do it for fun and not food, goes against us more than it goes for us with the anti-angling mob.

One thing is for sure more than anything else - these people will not listen to reason no matter how much logic you apply.

Our only chance is in numbers and power.

Yes Graham I agree. I consider that fishing and shooting are another form of hunting. I do a great deal of trout fishing and one of the great pleasures of this sport is to bring a nice fresh fish or two back for the table. In my youth I have eaten perch, eels, pike, roach, rudd, gudgeon and tench. In South Africa I have eaten bass, carp and yellowfish.

My apologies, Graham, I now understand more fully the point raised. I was only thinking of course fishing!

I jst wonder how many 'EX' fox hunters, stag hunters, hare coursers, etc, etc, will support our stand if/when that time comes?

I don't for one minute think they will support us, especially not when their own sport has been banned! They've had to swallow a bitter pill and they won't give a damn about us that's for sure.

It's what happens next that's going to be interesting because the fox hunters are not going to lie down and take a ban just like that. The more difficult they make it for the law to enforce the ban the better for us, for it might make Parliament think twice before imposing bans on the greater number of anglers who could cause a hell of a lot more trouble.

If they banned angling today I would go fishing today. And I would do so with as much song and dance as I could muster.

"If they banned angling today I would go fishing today. And I would do so with as much song and dance as I could muster."

HERE, HERE!

One of the most interesting aspect of this subject is that by far the majority of anglers who object to us joining up with the CA are match anglers.

When angling is eventually hogbound by rules as it is in Germany, Match angling and the use of Keepnets will be the first restriction. Then will come the fact that you will have to take a test before they grant you a fishing licence. That's right a test. They do that in Germany. After that the release of fish will be prohibited.

One of angling's greatest game anglers: Hugh Falkus believed that to catch fish that were inedible was wrong. He strongly objected to trout anglers returning their catches on the grounds that it was immoral. He was passionately opposed to match angling, keepnets and catch and release.