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The fact that the Fullers Brewery was no more than quaffing distance from his birth place has nothing to do with the latter affliction, however, the lead-choked atmosphere of the city has been blamed for the occasional bouts of madness. Paul considers himself a half-serious specialist who has dabbled in most things fishing-related with varying degrees of success, but is in the main a pike and barbel man with personal bests of 24lb 8oz and 11lb10oz respectively.
Are we to believe that the tide is turning on the commercial carp fisheries of the land or are we to believe the view that the carp scene is as strong now as it’s ever been?
I read with interest what Dr Bruno Broughton had to say on the subject a few weeks back in AT, and whilst I agree with him that carp are still the most popular species amongst our angling brethren, I do personally believe that we will see a change in the attitude towards commercial carp fisheries, with a wider choice of fishery becoming available to meet the new demand.
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There will of course always be a strong carp contingency, but on reflection, weren’t many of the commercial carp-flooded venues knocked up to cater for the average angler or match anglers, who just want a bit of consistent sport? The sport they had was probably wiped out in many instances by cormorant predation and other factors like EDS (Endocrine Disrupting Substances) and algae problems.
I believe these have all had a serious impact on silver fish populations. You cant blame the fishery owners for initially going down the carp route either, because legally they were and are still not in a position to protect their investment by culling the cormorants, who still unfortunately have colonies, albeit smaller ones, around most of our inland water and river systems.
Carp are hardy fish, they are pike proof and to some extent cormorant proof.
However, I don’t think anglers always want to use heavy tackle, have a big bend in their rods or poles and a big carp on the end of their line all of the time. Fisheries need the type of advice that Dr Broughton can provide in setting up balanced fisheries that cater for small to medium sized fish like roach, rudd, crucians, perch, tench and bream. I can’t think of anywhere local to me where the fishing for the above species could be classed as reasonable. One reason perhaps why I have specialised more over the last 10 to15 years.
Isn’t it funny how we seem to be going through an age of confusion lately, with all sorts of record-nudging and record breaking fish being claimed as such by ill-informed anglers. We’ve had brown goldfish being claimed as crucians, grassies being claimed as chub and hybrids as rudd. In some circumstances these fish have been certified by experts. I wonder how Alec Watson feels now that his brace of fours which he “so lovingly,” set up, have been duped as a pair of mongrels. And now the pharyngeal teeth have been damaged a positive identification is impossible.
Oh well, it looks like the Pike world has had a bit of a shake up again recently with the departure of two very prominent members from the PAC, Chairman Dr Barrie Rickards and Life member Martin Gay. And now life members Ralston McPherson and Frank Gibbons have resigned.
Shame that such a credible angler as Barrie Rickards left the PAC, without a full explanation, but it seems obvious that he is not happy with the direction in which the club is moving, which is sad. Good job there are a couple of thousand members that are happy with the way the club is moving.
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As for Martin Gay, who seems to sympathise with those involved with the Blithfield Saga and especially Neville Fickling, I can’t honestly say that his departure will prove to be a detriment to the club in the long term despite all of his previous hard work. But what really amazes me in all of this is how some of the more visible members (or ex members) of the PAC believe that those involved in Blithfield have in some way been poorly treated.
I’m sick of hearing it and I’m sick of outsiders having a go at the PAC. We are fine thank you very much. Unless someone can explain the point, which I am obviously missing, didn’t those that fished Blithfield deliberately flout the constitution which many of them also helped put together. I cant understand it myself and I wish I could because before the event I had a lot of respect for some of the anglers that fished there. The only answer I can come up with is that they put their own egos and big fish lists before the conservation of the fish and I still haven’t heard a reasonable explanation in print as to why, not that I expect to see one now!
If it hasn’t become clear, I am fully behind the decisions of the last committee and give my full support to Mark Leathwood, General Secretary of the new committee, who appears to have inherited a bit of a hornets nest. Thankfully, with some assistance from the new Chairman John Milford, the new committee and the 60 plus Regional Organisers, dotted around the country, I am sure the PAC will remain the largest (next to the carp society) and one of the best single species groups in the UK.
New hope has finally arrived in the formation of the National Angling Alliance or NAA. Will we finally see an amalgamation of Angling bodies take us into the Millennium with a bit of unity and clout. I hope so, as it will be long overdue.
This formation follows on from another merger which had been on the cards for a while. That of the NASA and the SACG. It seemed to go a little unnoticed in the angling press, although I will concede to the fact that having had other more pressing family issues on my mind lately, I have skipped the occasional Mail and more than one or two ATs lately, so I may have missed it. The new group will be called the Specialist Anglers Alliance for those of you that are interested and like the NASA and SACG before it, the group will continue to work on behalf of the majority of single species clubs in the UK. Good luck to both the NAA and SAA.
By the time this months article reaches you, I may well be up to my neck in shitty nappies and baby sick, so please think of me when you are out on the river banks enjoying your leisure time as it will be a few weeks before the good lady will let me go fishing again I expect.
Cheers for now.
Wurzel
