isispete

A very good friend hooked a grebe on legered sprat in 9 foot of water at Tring res's. The place was crawling with twitchers bristling with bins and cameras who congregated around him as he was reeling it in. Visions of the local paper featuring pictures of cruel anglers harming the bird life alarmed me to say the least. Once he had got it to the bank I threw a towel over it and lifted it out of the water. Then asked the assembled noddies if any had any first hand experience of dealing with hooked birds. They retreated slightly and shook their heads. Then proceeded to uncover the birds head and showed them the hook which I removed VERY carefully in front of them and pointed to the fact that there was no noticeable damage. Made a very theatrical point of checking the bird over before releasing it to the water. None of the twitchers said anything negative and some even thanked us for letting them see it at close range One even stayed with us for some time chatting then pointing out that the same grebe was feeding again later. Frankly I hadn't a clue if it was the same bird but as long as he was sure that's all that mattered. I think as long as you try your best to minimise any damage to wildlife there's not much else you could be expected to do. Contacting the RSPCA or anyone else could cause more problems than it's worth and it could end up being yet another statistic to be used against anglers. Less damage is caused to swans through stress if you act promptly then release them than waiting for the authorities to turn up. They will then probably take the bird away for treatment and rehabilitation perhaps returning it later by which time its partner has flown off.

Thanks for your views it sounds like this is a matter of personal experience and preference. Having had decent pike for over 40 years I have had more experience of dealing with deep hooked pike than I would like. The thought of cutting up a rig has never bothered me as I've always made my own. The techniques I used mainly was pencil float, instant strike, at close range (rarely over 25 yards) using braided line and I watch my gear all the time. Heard about circle hooks ages ago like the rest of you, but I didn't have enough confidence to give them a fair trial. Some of the better pike literally hoover up even decent sized dead baits and a couple of years back I had a run of deep hooked fish. This prompted me to give circle hooks a fair trial alongside my normal rig, one rod on each. The results proved, at least to me, that circles certainly answered my problems. The ones I use do not have a slightly offset point like some, so are much less likely to catch up until they exit. As for the amount of fishing I do, well I have always fished a lot, get in two sessions a week now and will be doing even more next year when I retire.

Sorry to sound like a salesman but have you tried circle hooks? The theory is that they don't penetrate the fish until the hook turns on exiting the jaws. The fact is that it really works. Once you are sure you have a take you tighten slowly and only carefully pull the hook in and then lean on it. Even if a pike (or zed) swallows the hook it is unlikely to get a hookhold and will be drawn out until it exits the scissors. Please give it a try. I have discarded the 'operating theatre tray' comprising 12" forceps, long nosed pliers, wire cutters, glove etc. etc and now just need a pair of forceps to twist the hook out. No opening of jaws, no trebles caught in the landing net, no deep-hooking. Wish I'd tried these years ago. Wouldn't use anything else now.

I fished with a bunch of barbel fanatics many years ago on the upper Thames. One very recognisable barbel was caught 22 times in one year that we know of and one guy had it twice in one night...from different swims! It weighed around 8 lbs if I remember correctly but gave us all a good laugh when someone put a pic of it in the angling press giving the weight as being over 10. A well respected angler from way back, Bill Keal, had a twenty pike from Wraysbury twice in the same session. Also know of a mentally deficient tench of 3 1/2 caught three times in a session and put in a net only to stop it happening again. That had a deformed tail fin with the rays fused together. It's true that we only really know of the ones we can recognise. Unless it's marked in some way we can only really tell mirrors and pike easily.

First real fishing done on the Thames (hence the name). Looking forward to retiring soon.