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:

I'll think I'll stick with what I know Newt. i agree the fun was always in the light tackle for me, so I'll start with that and time will tell if I'm wrong. Your website looks good and I'd imagine your lifestyle is just lovely in NC. I spent a couple of weeks in SC in May this year - Just lovely. Cheers Steve. So the Goyt has fish! Good ones too by the sounds of it. I'll be having a look at that really soon. maybe I'll need that heavier tackle now? Sounds like we may have crossed paths if you had a card in '83. Going fishing on the bus! oh those memories... try lugging all you gear down to Roman Lakes, even worse, but slightly lighter, back up the monster hill. Roman Lakes was always packed to bursting with small roach in the 70's and 80's so much so that the water boiled with fish like a trout farm when you through a hand full of maggots in. As a group of 7 or 8 lads we'd all get 100+ fish each on a day ticket. It was so popular then that you would have anglers almost every 8ft apart around the whole main lake. It was also run by the most miserable and untidy family you could ever wish to meet. They built a two story cafe in the early 80's and i hear it's still not finished. I did take a walk around it on a sunny day a few years ago. I hear the someone introduced Pike to spite the family and they had a field day with the roach. The owner used to go around with a gun trying to shoot the pike I seem to remember. One great memory of the Lakes though was the Alpine Yodeler! On sunny sundays in the early 80's a man used to walk down from Marple and Yodel all the way down and around the lake to the car park and then walk all the way back, yodeling as he went. He was fantastic at it too. Everyone around the lake used to smile and laugh with the cheery Yodeler back then.

Hi Steve, I thought so about the tackle. I does appear that everything has got stronger. Although pole fishing for Carp still seems really strange. How do you stop a carp running with a pole?? I was a member of Stockport FED and Disley and New Mills AC so my main waters were Poynton Pool, Etherow Park, Disley Dam, Birch Vale Res and Woodbank Park. Also the odd trip to Roman Lakes. I'll be joining both of those again I think. I see the River Goyt is on the FED list know, it says it has 10lb Barbel in? That river was a mess when I fished.

Hi all, and thanks for the replies. I'm really impressed with this forum and the friendly advice from you all. Interestingly that's another thing I'd forgotten about fishing over the years - just how decent the people who fish generally are. I'll wont be changing my rods and reels anytime soon. I will invest in new seats, boxes and terminal tackle though. One thing though, do people generally fish on heavier tackle these days? Carper recommends a 2.5lb tc carp rod and my tackle shop owner said that my float tackle was maybe a bit light. I remember that the skill was bait presentation on light tackle. That to me would seem the reason that poles are now so popular today? My Carp line was never more than 8lb and rods 1.75lb tc. In saying that I never had a fish bigger than 19lb. Didn't ever get snapped though. Are the fish generally bigger these days? Maybe they are super fit from all those high protein pellets/boilies that are now used. Cheers.

Thanks dapper and Alan, You're right, I love my old gear and I certainly won't be swapping my reel for anything. I took a trip to my local tackle shop today and after I posted. The owner was really good, just as they always were, and advised on various issues and innovations. Float adapters seem to be an obvious and great new invention to me. I had a look at the new (to me) rods and was impressed to see that you can buy better than my old "carbon" for about £30! The new baits I find just bewildering. expanding pellets for pole fishing, pellets for match fishing etc etc. The boilies? Just amazing all round. I was advised about a Rod License, we were always supposed to have them in the 80's, but nobody really bothered as no checks ever took place. Now it seems you'd better have one or face the firing squad? The enviro agency seem really hot on this? Seems like another new labour stealth tax to me?? Or do they actually invest the cash back in? I left the shop with a new disgorger, a few new floats, some shot and a couple of bank sticks - just like I would have done in 1982!! I'll be back though, not to replace my gear, I kept it cause I love it. But because the old fishing bug has caught on again!

Hi all, new to this site so not really sure what to expect but here goes. In my youth i fished constantly for about 8 years 1978-86 mainly in Cheshire/Manchester. But when girls, bikes, beer, football etc came along the fishing took a bag seat and never really recovered - Until yesterday that is. My brother (how never did fish like I did) has been taking his son fishing in the holidays to some of the old waters I fished as a lad. he's been asking me to come along and show them the ropes. So yesterday I dusted down my old takle, no I never sold anything, and went along to fish with them. I had a great time and it really brought the memories flooding back. We were only float fishing for small roach, perch etc. But I hit four fish in my first four casts! (brother looked ready to throw me in). We only stayed for four hours and I did manage to show my brother and nephew my 25 year old knowledge of fishing! So they know how to tie a blood knot and what size of hooks to use, how to unhook safely etc. I was a great few hours and I'll will be going a lot more from now on. Now here's the question. What the hell has happened to the tackle? I know it's been 21 years since I've been in a tackle shop but looking at the websites and how people fish these days I feel like Marty fro Back to the Future! Yesterday I took my 25 yr old Shakespeare carbon (a big deal in 1982)Match rod and my Mitchell Match reel and used 3lb main line to 1lb bottom on a 22 hook. Considered by most to be the dogs in 1983 for the job in hand. Actually still considered by me to be exactly that! Chatting to my brother he says that Mitchell Reels are considered "vintage and antique these days" even worse "Mitchell reels aren't considered any good these days" Yeah right, I thought these were the ramblings of a novice. He even mentioned something about "Carp poles" Fishing for Carp on a pole rod?? Now I knew he'd lost it!! I'll check it out later on the internet I thought. So last night I went trawling the web to look at what has happened in the last 21 years. I have to tell you I'm amazed at what's happened. When I finished fishing I was mainly carp fishing and as such had two "Carbon" 1.75lb tc fast taper 11ft rods, a pair of Mitchell 300A reels (not considered quite as good as ABU cardinals at the time) a pair of Optonic alarms, plus all the other gear deemed necessary at the time. Looking at today's gear though is really entertaining. On eBay Mitchell match reels are listed as vintage! Pole fishing seems to be the norm and you actually do go for carp with them! Poles go to 16m!! in length, that's over 50 ft. Mitchell Reels seem to have been replaced by Shimano, I've never even heard of Shimano! Diawa seem to make everything are are considered quality, when they were considered pretty middle of the road in the 80's. What the hell is a "baitrunner"? Optonic's seem to have gone? Now replaced by about four brands? And carp bait?? Good god, it looks like the you could buy "poodle flavoured" boilies if you so wished these days. I've never even heard of pre-packed boilies! The only prepacked carp bait we had was sweetcorn and luncheon meat! Does anyone use sausage meeting with Pilchard flavour cat buscuit in anymore? We all had our "secret recipe boilie" that we'd never tell a soul. Now it's all prepacked and available to all. The whole game is a lot more commercialised these days as most things are. The one really positive thing seems to be the cost of it all. My reels cost me £45 each in the '82, the rods £200 each the alarms £35 each. It seems that similar kit these days is a lot less expensive. So what is considered good quality kit these days and how much would it cost? Thanks.