Catnfiddled

Answer from Enviro Agency Dear XXXXXX, Thank you for your enquiry regarding the dates that a rod licence expires.. We offer Full and Concessionary licences which run from 1st April to 31st March on an annual cycle (much the same as most Angling Club memberships). This system keeps costs to a minimum and therefore keeps licence duties as low as possible. Treasury rules dictate that income from rod licences must be spent within the financial year so this method makes best use of our income. It would be very difficult for us to plan our work if our major sales period were to occur around Christmas, for example. By operating on a Financial Year basis, we can remind all anglers to renew their licences through publicity campaigns in March through to June. If all licences were issued on a rolling basis, we would have to operate a system of reminders for every individual licence holder which would result in extra costs that would have to be passed on to anglers. We do offer one and eight-day licences for anglers who don't fish regularly. For regular anglers this will be a problem only in the first year you fish, thereafter (if you are a regular angler) you will get 12 months worth. The current set up of licences was arrived at after a public consultation exercise in 1994 (including our Fisheries Advisory Committees) and approval by the then MAFF Minister, and there has been no call to make any changes since then. The system appears to satisfy the vast majority of anglers. I hope this is very useful for you. Good luck in all your endeavours. If you have any other queries please call us and we will be happy to help. Kind Regards, Name Witheld by me Customer Service Advisor National Customer Contact Centre ENVIRONMENT AGENCY enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk 08708 506 506

Thanks Rabbit, looking for spare spools only. I just like the reels and they do the job perfectly for me. I know there has been plenty of progress, but I suppose it begs the question. What do newer reels do that these can't, baitrunning excepted?

Thanks Dunk. sent my details. :thumbs:

dunk. No offense intended and I hope none (seriously) taken. I've just returned to fishing after a 20 year break and can't find my spare spools. Despite all the latest gizmo's in reel tech, I can't see any reason to keep and use my mitchells as I loved them then and still do. I've moved house 3 times in that period so the chance of finding my four stray spools is unlikely. I'm trying to bid for the reels also as for about £40 you can get a good condition 300A with a couple of spare spools. Hope your collection is a good one.

When it seems that new tackle these days is really cheap. Old tackle seems to cost a fortune! I've been looking for spare spools for my Mitchell 300A's. I bid on one on ebay for £4.00. It went for £9.50!! Ruddy collectors!! At todays prices you can almost get a Carbon Spaceranger Carp rod and Baitrunner Longcast 3000 Reel for that much.

£5 for 12 full months.

Del. No chance on a ZRX, I thought you might have had a "Ewan and Charlie" special BMW and were looking for something to stick in all those paniers! The only chance of combining the two is Bike early, back for car, then fish pm or vice versa. It seems there are quite a lot of bikers who fish (or vice versa). Most of my mates do and my 7 yr old nephew prefers his new found hobby of fishing more than going Moto X on his own KTM 50. My brother loves it cause fishing is loads cheaper!

I've got a GSX-R 1000 sat in the garage. Don't really fancy slinging a holdall over that! Don't think my two hobbies are gonna mix somehow.

Just back from another trip. Another thing I'd forgotten about fishing was the joy of tangles!! I don't suppose they've invented some James Bond style magic untangling device in the last 21 years, have they? Now that would be really useful. :rolleyes:

Nice one pete. If you read the post again, you'll see that I've already done that!! The point is you pay for 12 months. If somebody buys one next February, it'll cost @£23 for less than two months cause it'll end on March 31st 2008 come what may. It can't be that hard for these things to run for 12 months from the purchase date. That's what happens with car insurance, mot, tv license etc, etc. Gov' organisations, just like the enviro agency.

Hi all, I've just purchsed my Rod License online. I see that despite paying full price and them insisting that I input a start date the licenxe expires on 31st March 2008!! What a con that is! As there doesn't seem to be any "season" these days why doesn't the lisence run for a full 12 months from purchase? I've sent a mail to complain. Lets see what they come up with.

I'm going on the local canal which is 5 mins from the house and mobile phones make it ok. She wants me out of the house so she can use the computer. I'm supposed to be "working from home" at the moment!

Steve. I will be fishing again later today hopefully so I'll let you know. Newt. "the boats gassed up and ready to go" Like I say, it sounds perfect. Thanks for invite and I'd love to take you up on that one day. The SC trip was a vacation for my wife who was 5 months pregnant at the time. The baby was due last friday 24th, but is still in there and showing no signs of making an appearance yet.

Fraser. I'm returning to fishing after a long break and the fishing world does seem a bit double dutch to me at the moment. However your post is one I'm sure I can answer. The point of a hook length was always bait presentation in my day, the lower the bs hook length the better the bait presentation. So the hook length was always a lower bs than the main line. I can't see a reason why you use a higher bs hook length than your main line. Although people pole fish for carp and deliver bait in radio controlled boats these days which is crazy to me so don't take my word as gospel.

Thanks Anderoo. It does look like carp fishing is all the rage now. We were very much in the minority back then. I think the generic term was "specimen hunter" used then when anything above 12lb was considered huge. It look like there's no close season now? What happened there then? We had to sit waiting until the glorious 16th every year. The new tackle is still making me smile. Rod Pods, seats better than those in my living room, but my favourite is the little remote control boats to deliver your bait with pin point accuracy! James Bond style fishing - yours for £499!! :lol: