norfolkfisher

I've been fishing on/off for 3 years now, always with a license... i fish rivers where the bailiffs regularly come round, and a few commercials.. they always ask to see your day ticket, but never fishing license.. And the environment agency are usually out and about too, but they dont seem to bother either. So does anyone actually check?

Anyone?

I knew it wasnt the part of wales i was going to but i knew they did them off wales somewhere! so close enough... even if it is a fair few miles off! its still something firmly on my to do list. But thanks for the replies, lake bala looks quite pleasant... And glad to see theres a canal! should be fun for small fish when or if fishings not going so well. But it certainly does look well worth renewing the license for.

Thanks! Well im not really a fan of commercials, i'd rather be on a river or somewhere more wild anyway.. and sea fishings something i want to have more of a crack at, but only on light gear, close to shore type fishing.. but if theres anywhere close in to spin for bass, pollack etc. id like to give it a go (not a clue how yet though!) But yeah it does look lovely up there though i thought there'd be a few hidden lakes/rivers up in the mountains? but i dont fancy paying game fishing prices, and ideally i wouldnt have to travel too far as i'd only be able to fish the odd evening or when time allows. Also anyone done the shark fishing trips off wales? must be an experiance to catch a blue shark...

Anyone fished over there? i'm at the point of mulling over license renewal, and as im not sure what the fishings like over there i'll wait to decide until i know a bit more! So are there many decent places to fish? i'm talking between the mountains/snowdon to anglesey right in the north west corner.

Right im off to wales! and i've attempted to fish the shores up here with not much luck.. so is it possible to fish off cliffs/rocky shorelines/piers at all with lightish gear? I've always wanted to catch something other than mackerel and flatfish out the sea, so is there an easy way to light spin or wobble sandeels off the coast? Or alternatively whats the best way to go about harbour fishing? have to admit thats something ive always wanted to do! Also im not a fan of ledgering so if at all possible would either actively spin or something or floatfish ragworms, bread etc. for maybe mullet or anything else thats likely to be close in. cheers for any help! any suggestions on any species or techniques welcome.

How many other exotics could there be out there that we don't know about? or dont get recorded...

perch on the mooring stretch of the wisseys its ridiculous, wThere are so many ent there about 10 days ago with some red worm and every trot down was a perch of about 1/2lb-1lb, with a nice couple of skimmers to a 1 1/2lb thrown in. But the pike were boiling every few mins! specially when someone was bringing in small roach.. Yet they didnt want to take my lures.

Ooh that'd cause many a problem...

Yeah unfortunately i think we' could be seeing the end of true Crucians by the end of this century at the rate the goldfish are hybridising. But i think some species would be alright in our eco-systems. But there needs to be some sort of controlled experiment first before anything gets released.

What about things like Orfe, Goldfish,pumpkinseeds, grass carp etc. and any others that haven't been mentioned. They don't seem to be spreading and i dont think i know of any outside of fisheries. Be nice to hear peoples views on introducing them species.

Always nice to see someone enjoying their perching! But glad fish are being taken on lures still. Going to take worms and spinners and try and out a few perch and chub in a couple days. But i swear you can catch the same perch over and over again. In about an hour spell in the summer literally all in the same spot i took 15 1.5-2lb perch, and some of them must have been the same one. But besta luck with the lake anyway!

I would love to see more species introduced into landlocked waters, just for the diversity and have something different to fish for. But at the end of the day alien species always have a way of getting out.

How can you blame a cat for what it does naturally?

I'd go for worms or just use more maggots on the hook, but personally i find any worm species work best this time of year. And for depth you would have to just try them all until you find what level they are at. But i would go for just off the bottom.

I dont see what makes us as a race so special. We take so much life off the planet it's unbelievable. And the majority of it is taken for no cause(not all buy purpose, but still) I think it's quite vague to think we are the only species on this planet to have feelings.

Anyone see a good market here?

It's a downward spiral i think in the future we will see less and less people bothering with education, and very few will bother with university so therefore, the general intelligence levels of nation will just disintegrate. I mean just look at older and newer generations of anglers.. who would you rather talk to on the bank?

Phew thought this was going to be moe about certain people killing fish again, glad its not! Still a tragic loss though. Gotta feel for the fish and the fishery owner.

I hope i am wrong about prince harry and his friend but at the end of the day he wash shooting exactly where they were shot (no one else was), and the police made an enquiry but never investigated. I'm sorry i just feel strongly about killing birds of prey. And with foxes if shooting isn't a solution then i dont know what is. If they can make guns that bring down antelope and deer in one go, i'm sure there's one that can take care of a fox without just wounding it. I have NOTHING against hunting at all, that's not what i'm trying to get across here, just killing for fun.

I think you should only kill what you or someone else are going to eat. And all forms of hunting/shooting should be done in a method in which the target animal dies within seconds(not chasing a fox across the country, when you could just as easy shoot it). Also with fishing if you catch and kill it should be the same. Everyone has a right to kill for the plate, (and in some cases population control) i just dont think taking a life should be done for the sole purpose of 'fun'. But on game shootings, it all depends on the keeper, i've met some really nice ones who do everything in the proper way andthere can't be a bad word said. But on the other hand especially up in sandringham, they have no regard for laws,the public or anyone else. I'm sure there's always some sort of charges against them and nothing gets done.(not to mention prince harry shooting 2 hen harriers).

THough i dont agree with introducing alien species. In england we have very little variety in our rivers, especially in out and out predators, so basically pike were everywhere with nothing challenging them. But with zander theres a healthy balance between 2 top predators.

I realised the poll wasnt that brilliant after i posted sorry! just have no idea how to change it. But its easier to get the general concensus from the replies than just the numbers. I think just answering the question now they're here so you think they have a more positive or negative impact? i.e. anglingwise and eco system wise. Though i tink the majority of people who reply seem to enjoy catching them. But talking to a couple of guys on the river the other day who were piking and hated zeds with a passion(killing on sight) so there is a proper mixed opinion on this one.

Cheers for that i'll have to look into that on top of the survey. And i dunno but it might be worth passing on my findings to the environment agency,waterways etc. good or bad. I think it would definately be worth comparing what affect zander are having in mainland europe where the species are the mostly the same as to here. Could be interesting. BTW thats a nice looking zed!

That is actually very true, but i think the fortunate thing is pike will hopefully always outcompete zander as long as no more are introduced. I would hate to see pike disappear just because of zander. Though perch do seem to be flourishing round here despite the Zander.