COMPULSORY CATCH AND RELEASE

[salmonking]

There are fishmongers who will never change and cannot see reason and others who choose to say 'oh this one wont harm things' to justify their kill and others who say 'Ive paid for my fishing and am only taking my entitlement'.


Wish i had a pound for every time i've heard that un.....
i'd be fishin the best beats,every week ;D.
What do i hear from the very same people the year after...
"there's nae fish". " CLOWNS".

[/quote]

[scottyjock]

Springer

I agree with most of what you say but it is the compulsory part that gets me . This would mean that in some circumstances(limited i admit) you would be putting a dead fish back in the water.

What a waste!!!! why fish for them in the first place?

I am quite happy to catch & release all of the time however if i happen to catch a fish which in my opinion will die if released it will go on the table.COMPULSORY takes this decision away from me .

Fish mongers however have no place today which is what SK was getting at i think ...but that is a different argument.

Keep smiling ;D

Jock

[flee]

I must admit you make alto of valid points but you do realize that the angler is only part of the problem. there is the netting of fish in rivers and the sea some of which is done legally and some not .Poachers are a very real problem that has been going on since time and memorial doing their worst on even the smallest of salmon rivers.They are much more of a threat to the salmon than the angler.it does pull at my heart strings a bit when I make a kill for the very sad reason that the poor thing I just took the life from did not get to finish its epic journey. that does sadden me but unfortunately I am not a vegetarian and I very much like the taste of wild fish.Farmed is no substitute.also there is the threat of escapee farmed salmon mixing with the wild stock causing all sorts of other problems.

[scottyjock]

Flee

Had to say your personal text gave me a right laugh ;D

Jock

[dunbar]

juniorspey said:

it IS illeagle to BUY rod caught salmon in Scotland, if its on the menu and the police turn up, you must have proof of purchase from a licensed dealer.............or so I believe!!!!

Sadly it is only an offence to SELL rod caught salmon in Scotland. Buyers are committing no offence, unless of course the fish was taken illegally. Illogical, I know.

I think that the imposition of compulsory C&R ultimately signifies a failure amongst anglers to behave. For that reason alone, it needs to be retained as the ultimate sanction, a threat, if you like, if anglers can't regulate themselves.

So I support it, if only as a last resort.

[salmonking]

Fish mongers however have no place today which is what SK was getting at i think ...but that is a different argument.

Keep smiling ;D

Jock

Its not another argument at all Jock....fishmongers don't release
their fish,so don't advocate c&r.











[/quote]

[sagecaster]

Springer, I'm with you on this one. I voted yes too.

Its a cultural thing, people do not like change, least of all anglers. I must confess I was in the other camp until I was lucky enough to go to Russia a few years back and before anyone goes on about prolific runs, and more fish than you can shake a stick at, I was in the North where fish are bigger and fewer.

There's no bigger kick in life than playing the biggest fish you've ever hooked, landing it, then letting it go and watch it swim away.

[salmonking]

For me personally, salmo fishing is about the magical take ,the battle ,then the release.....not the chapping ..or the money you pay to fish,or the money you'd get by selling the fish caught,,,,,its simply what i enjoy doing..without salmon i couldn't do it,i'd go compulsory ,if need be.

[acw]

I voted yes ,but the caveat is its for springers and at this time and I reserve the choice of taking the odd fish (summer/autumn ) where I feel I am justified in doing so .

[flee]

I agree with what you are all saying to an extent.Are you telling me if I want to have a bit of salmon for my dinner I have to go to the super market and buy a cut of farmed salmon full of natural goodness oh yes and don't forget the growth hormones and god knows what else they are fed on.I'm not saying fill your freezer all I'm saying is an angler should be entitled to put one on the table now and again.It's just some people get too greedy and spoil it for others .

[salmonking]

flee said:

I agree with what you are all saying to an extent.Are you telling me if I want to have a bit of salmon for my dinner I have to go to the super market and buy a cut of farmed salmon full of natural goodness oh yes and don't forget the growth hormones and god knows what else they are fed on.I'm not saying fill your freezer all I'm saying is an angler should be entitled to put one on the table now and again.It's just some people get too greedy and spoil it for others .

"LISTEN"YER NO TAKEN ANY FISH THIS YEAR,GET IT FRAE MORRISONS ;D

[salmonking]

By the way guys ,i know flee,was joking,,,no need to stop posting.

[akflyrod]

fresh wild scottish salmo on ma table 2moro nite, yummy yum yum

[akflyrod]

joking aside, you all blame each othere, when really the river systems need to be closed 4 at least 5 years, and marine activity , trawlers ect , bought out, and a total recovery program put in place, restocking ect, now the big question --- do you all love salmon so much that you would hang your rods up for 5 years or do you love whinning about who eats what

[williegunn]

castlikeaghille said:

Emperor "observers" plural. You know they can't have their names posted, and you know fine why. So by all means excercise your privilege and carry on being an apologist for the undefendable. However, there are a lot of very experienced fishers out here who know what goes on; your statements cut no ice with us.

Regards

WLAF (aka CLaG)

I am not defending the undefendable, I am still waiting for your evidence. You make it sound like a Faroe island fiord.

The old green eyed monkey has a lot to answer for.

[splash]

akflyrod said:

joking aside, you all blame each othere, when really the river systems need to be closed 4 at least 5 years, and marine activity , trawlers ect , bought out, and a total recovery program put in place, restocking ect, now the big question --- do you all love salmon so much that you would hang your rods up for 5 years or do you love whinning about who eats what

Nice idea AK, the only problem being that there will be one set of beneficiaries and it won't be the fishers....

[splash]

williegunn said:

castlikeaghille said:

Emperor "observers" plural. You know they can't have their names posted, and you know fine why. So by all means excercise your privilege and carry on being an apologist for the undefendable. However, there are a lot of very experienced fishers out here who know what goes on; your statements cut no ice with us.

Regards

WLAF (aka CLaG)

I am not defending the undefendable, I am still waiting for your evidence. You make it sound like a Faroe island fiord.

The old green eyed monkey has a lot to answer for.

Hey WG, good to know that with the recent paucity of salmon that the green eyed monkey run has sustained the local angling interest- what's the best baits for the "monkey" 9 inch shad rap with 6 size 6 trebles???

[akflyrod]

good point splash , sooooooooooooooo if everyone is in it for the take, then why , is a man
to take stick 4 chapping a fish, a hundred fished chapped per season for the table, that 100 wont save the river, and it goes on, rite from the start i said theres no point blaming the little guy, the people taking are the ones whom have always taken from the river, they will always take the money no matter how bad the fishing gets, we have been down this road before, and this is were the guides jump in --- saying its not malords fault zzzzzzzzzz

[splash]

akflyrod said:

good point splash , sooooooooooooooo if everyone is in it for the take, then why , is a man
to take stick 4 chapping a fish, a hundred fished chapped per season for the table, that 100 wont save the river, and it goes on, rite from the start i said theres no point blaming the little guy, the people taking are the ones whom have always taken from the river, they will always take the money no matter how bad the fishing gets, we have been down this road before, and this is were the guides jump in --- saying its not malords fault zzzzzzzzzz

As you say Gary, we fishers have to play our part too. We simply cannot use the "its a tiny part of the overall fish kill compared to what goes on out at sea " arguement if we are to retain any semblance of credibility, attractive though it may seem. The real problem is , as Springer and others have already pointed out, is that as a community we lack alignment. This is totally transparent from the forum posts which range from 100% C&R to the "chaps"(whoops no pun intended) from the more "traditional" areas like Speyside. Is gonna run...

[zephead]

Have to say I love belting a few fresh fish on the head-it gives me a real sense of hunter gatherer buzz right down to my very soul,especially when it ends up on the Christmas morning breakfast table,smoked beautifully with a bottle of dry bubbly and a few prawns and langoustine to go with the bread and butter and a fresh Amalfi lemon with which to bring out the flavour.As a salmon fisher it's the greatest Christmas present I can give myself and those who join me in eating what is a wild harvest of nature's bounty-the only thing adding to the piquancy of the moment is the recollection of the take,the fight and the drams and chat afterward.

I it provides me with a crucial differentiation from some Guardian reading green umbrella jessie that traps a bag of roach in a keep net for hours on end in some de-oxygenated canal,a branch of angling that will eventually put a stop to fishing as it is bigger than game/salmon angling and yet in its undertaking more tortuos to the prey in the eyes of annual subscribers to Wholefoods-for-all.com etc. than a one for the pot approach of the modern game fisher.

At the same time as enjoying my fish for the table I'll inwardly rejoice at those fish released that season,the place they took,the state of the weather in the Strath or some other such personal trivia upon which our sport's close season memories thrive as well as thoughts of the season to come and echoes of the previous seasons kelts that were sent on their way that remind me as much of the health of the river that the fish I'm eating do.What is better than seeing that kick of air bubbles and pulse of a fish,kelt,grilse,old stageror back end leviathan, as it wends its way homeward to its lie and to ultimatley onward to it's redds.

It's all a question of personal taste in terms of fish killing-anything mandatory relating to field sports abhors me except in the case of a need for immediate and desperate measures to restore stocks viz the Dee a few years ago and certain Irish rivers,albeit the Dee is still a sportsmans river in terms of the C&R being a guideline and not a legal mandatory angling requirement.The Tyne has better quality of fish in the spring than the back-end and yet due to political gerrymandering squarely aimed at a one trick catch all defence of the Wye's perilous stocks given it's proximity to the seat of Government in the UK-all spring fish have to be returned.In the case of what IMHO is the Tyne returning to be spring fishery this is a travesty. The fundamental choice of the angler is being over-ridden by misinformed legislators with a much deeper and broader agenda than a dead fish or two on an anglers plate and no matter how hard you believe in C&R-and I fervently and vociferously do in many differing instances-C&R by Byelaw,Government or Central Government legislation will finish salmon fishing quicker than any amount of dead salmon on a slab because if we cede to it collectively we'll then be told by our do-good mates at the meusli counter,who very interestingly have recently and at last espoused locally caught/produced/reared/shot food,that "there's no point in falsely harvesting it in a sporting context just to put it back so lets ban it anyway"!

The issues facing C&R are voluntary and involuntary policing.Its hard to do on rivers predominantly let to Association Water where the local feeling that it's a poor relation to fat private beats so lets do in as much as we catch is evident and yet one so many times sees Association fishers returning fish as,being regular anglers they are often so much more atttuned to the rivers health than the fish chappers on an exclusive beat on the same river who need to get their "moneys worth" before returning South with their only fish of the year wrapped in yesterdays Telegraph so it stays frozen 'til Hampstead.

IMHO it shopuld always be a matter of being down to the angler unless a local situation makes it sensible for frequently reviewed legislation to prevail.The job we have as anglers is to make the indiscriminate numbers game-fish killer see the error of their ways before the plague of banning salmon angling full stop is rested upon us all because sure as hell the legislators will be draconian in putting our house in order for us if they think we can't administer such basic principals ourselves.

ZH