Woo Hoo What a day

[Barry]

Beautiful spring day so was up early - breakfasted and done my ironing by 10 so nipped into town on my moby - didn't need shopping, needed the ride - back home by 12 so decided to nip out in the car to Chapel Hill to see Smudge and Sam on Fairies Wear Boots to pick up a little job they've done for me and took my piking gear - told Smudge about planning to go piking and he very generously said "take my dinghy outboard and have a troll" - no second offers being required I leapt at the chance and gingerly got into his boat - it is veeery small - took my spinning rod and a selection of lures with me - I've never had a deal of success plug fishing but thought I'd give it a go - within thirty seconds (I kid you not) I'd got my first fish - within 5 minutes (I kid you not) I'd got my second - both little jacks about a couple of pounds apiece - Smudge's son Dale stuck his head out of the nb so I suggested he have a go - within half an hour he'd caught two, about 6 and 8 pounds and then it was dinner time on fairies wear boots so I left them in peace and fished off the bank with plugs - while they were having their dinner I had two more fish, a jack and a nice 10 pounder - then it was Smudge's turn in the boat - while he was driving I got a couple more Jacks and then Smudge got one as well

 

9 pike between 1:30 and 6:30 - all on lures and dale's two fish were the first pike he had ever caught

 

What a smashing day!!!

[carlt]

Is 10lb worth a photo? Do you eat them? I always have a couple of zander off the electro boys when they come down our way. Very tasty indeed.

[Janet S]

Nice report Bazza. I AM jealous!

 

I've only caught one pike so far, which took a maggot and gave me a bit of a surprise, but it was only a tiddler of about a pound.

 

I think they are beautiful looking fish, and I'd love to catch them, but it'll have to wait until I know what I'm doing. They're too delicate for a beginner like me. I'm waiting for one of the lads to have a free day to take me out and show me how to handle them properly.

 

Janet

 

PS. I've just posted a story about today's fishing trip on one of the angling websites.

[Tinally]

Good day Bazza.....but sadly only three more to go to the end of the season!! I'll be getting dropped in again at Dogdyke on the 6th of next month, then will have to peer over the side at the fish until June!! I always look forward to a few nice Perch down Boston way, but I'm worried that their numbers are in sad decline due to the number of immigrant anglers who are fishing down that way and knocking everything they catch on the head. I wish they'd go to the chippie like the rest of us!!

 

Dick

[Janet S]

It's a pity the end of the season has come round so soon after I discovered the fun of river fishing! Back to the canal it is then...

 

However, the end of the coarse season heralds the start of the fly fishing season! I'm going out shortly for my first lesson.

 

Janet

 

I've booked the last day off work to try and land a chub to beat the one I caught recently. I'll be on the bank whatever the weather!

[Tinally]

I've got a few stillwaters to occupy me while the rivers are shut....just can't fish off the boat! That means I need one day for fishing and one day for boating each week! Ah well...I can work on the other five......unless it's a really nice day of course! The Tench will be waking up again soon.

 

When the weather warms up a bit I prefer a few hours in the evening.....usually up to midnight (ish) when things tend to go quiet on our waters. There's something special about fishing in the dark, all on your own, miles from anywhere.

 

Good luck with the fly fishing Janet. You've got yet another skill to learn - fly tying !

 

Dick

[Barry]

It's a pity the end of the season has come round so soon after I discovered the fun of river fishing! Back to the canal it is then...

 

However, the end of the coarse season heralds the start of the fly fishing season! I'm going out shortly for my first lesson.

 

Janet

 

I've booked the last day off work to try and land a chub to beat the one I caught recently. I'll be on the bank whatever the weather!

 

Can you fish canals in the closed season then?

 

the last time I had a license - many years ago - you could only fish stillwaters in the closed season

 

Hope you can fish canals cos I'm off on my hols on Graham's boat in May

[Janet S]

Can you fish canals in the closed season then?

 

Yes, I've been informed that you can fish canals all year round, but please somebody, correct me if I'm wrong! Closed season doesn't apply to stillwaters any more, and canals are classed as stillwaters. Some of the commercial fisheries may also observe a closed season to allow their fish time to recover from spawning, overfishing and overfeeding by bivvied up carpers.....

 

Seems to be rather an outdated law, but one that I'll observe. I read recently that the close season was introduced to keep us commoners off the rivers so the toffs could go fishing for salmon and trout, but I don't know if that's true or not, or just an urban myth.

 

There is a growing lobby to abolish the close season altogether. Not sure if I'd support that or not. I'm too new at this angling lark to be able to make a decision either way, but with all this talk of global warming, it seems that many species are spawning outside of the closed season.

 

Janet

[Tinally]

While the rest of the country shut up shop for the spawning season, enclosed waters in Lincolnshire were never subject to closure, a fact greatly appreciated by me growing up in Lincs! It seemed that a lack of a close season didn't do any harm, though some waters banned the use of keepnets during this time. Pressure from commercial fishery owners in other parts of the country, keen to capitalise on their investments, led to abolition on further enclosed waters and some canals.

 

The current picture is here http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subje.../255175/255178/

 

The close season was always a bone of contention as some species, Tench for instance, tend to drag out their spawning activities throughout the early summer, well after the season re-opened.

 

 

Dick

[JohnOnTheWey]

Yes, I've been informed that you can fish canals all year round, but please somebody, correct me if I'm wrong! Closed season doesn't apply to stillwaters any more, and canals are classed as stillwaters. Some of the commercial fisheries may also observe a closed season to allow their fish time to recover from spawning, overfishing and overfeeding by bivvied up carpers.....

 

[snip]

 

I thought canals were exempt from the closed season until I turned up at dawn to fish the Basingstoke one day last May. I'd just got set up and was about to make my first cast when an old dear passing by said "Are you sure you should be fishing? It's just that that notice over there says the season starts on the 16th of next month." I hadn't seen the notice, with its promises of astronomical fines and gear confiscation for anyone caught fishing off season.

I thanked her profusely and packed up, to go and spend £10 for a pretty fruitless session on a local commercial gravel pit.

 

John

Edited March 12, 2007 by JohnOnTheWey

[Purple Fairie]

It was lovely to see you Bazza! Sorry there wasn't enough dinner for the extra mouth, I can usually stretch to one more but with Dale being over for the weekend he tends to eat us out of house and home! Well, he is 13 and is a bottomless pit!

 

By the way, Smudge was more excited than Dale about catching a pike (at last!)

[Tinally]

John: ".....the notice, with its promises of astronomical fines and gear confiscation for anyone caught fishing off season."

 

Like the BW purge on unlicenced boats, the EA are starting to get heavy on those who fish out of season, and especially those who fish without a licence! Last season quite a few people found that £24.50 for a licence was a lot cheaper than the fine they finished up with!!

 

Dick

 

....and I just found something I didn't l know before:

 

An angler was today ordered to pay £445 in fines and costs after he was caught fishing at a Bristol lakes complex without a rod licence........Anglers must ensure they have a valid licence before they start fishing or face the prospect of tough penalties including a fine of up to £2,500 and a ban from fishing,’ said Stuart Miller for the Environment Agency.

 

I didn't know you could be banned!!

Edited March 12, 2007 by Tinally

[colin1325]

It's a pity the end of the season has come round so soon after I discovered the fun of river fishing! Back to the canal it is then...

 

However, the end of the coarse season heralds the start of the fly fishing season! I'm going out shortly for my first lesson.

 

Janet

 

I've booked the last day off work to try and land a chub to beat the one I caught recently. I'll be on the bank whatever the weather!

hi is the close season still in force on canals ??? i thought most of the waters you can fish all year round now (for quite some time now )

[colin1325]

Can you fish canals in the closed season then?

 

the last time I had a license - many years ago - you could only fish stillwaters in the closed season

 

Hope you can fish canals cos I'm off on my hols on Graham's boat in May

The main conclusion of the R&D project was that:

 

"On the grounds of fish stock protection and conservation, the evidence examined has indicated that there would not appear to be any justification for maintaining a close season for coarse fish angling on canals."

 

Following this, the Environment Agency carried out a national consultation on the canal close season. There was almost unanimous support from angling and fisheries interests to dispense with the coarse fish close season on canals. As a consequence the close season was dispensed with on canals with effect from 15 March 2000