smudger

Yes i am satisfied, i am doing things the right way, by what local and more impotantly the water that i am fishing rules state i should be doing ie: landing net,unhooking mat, minimum line BS, correct hooks barbed, or barbless, more often or not found on your club licence or day ticket, so i would say for the debate we are having i am right and the Law and regulation are on my side of the argument And while you typing things like "and I refuse to cart an unhooking mat around with me, its bad enough on one club water having to carry a net which I would never use". you are doing wrong and contridicting yourself with every post If you want evidence look at you club licence and EA licence is that enough substantiantion for your personal consideration.

Phone "Rinsing in water is a joke". As opposed to rinsing in dust and dirt....get real As for parochial depends by which definition you want to use, i certainly would not say i am narrow minded or provincial,or is that your attempt at haviing a dig, as was (That's assuming you are a good steward to the sport) jibe Then you say trust me..nah thanks i am happy with my "English quilt complex" thanks and i'll stick to using a mat when it's needed,and yes unhooking in the water is fare better,but if your fishing off a high bank, landing net and unhooking mat all the way,all the time Next you're be telling me boga grips (which are used extensively in the US) are also good for fish welfare, any enlightened words on those butcher tools. I guess you don't have fisherie rules that you should follow.Over here we do..and most try to abide by them,if not people would turn with dynamite, compond bows,shot guns, and such like and we would end up like......well you get the jist you have nice day now

emma2 "Violence solves nothing" coment come as a reply to your stating that i would not poke my nose in to other perosn fishing pratices, and going by the looks of some i would not question their methods I'm so much more 'Holier than thou' [/i]has no place in the debate either niether doe's "i do as i like" has place in modern day fishing practice's

yes and if the mat has mucus on it after fish is put back, i stick the mat dirty side down in water and wash off.

Andy don't you wash your mat off when you get home , i have no shed or garage so net and mat get a good wash off and hung to dry, if not the fragrance is not condusive to a happy relationship as i have found "you might not have caught a 20lb+ pike in 4ft of water? where the only place they have to go is straight ahead. " Have had that with smaller fish,had a mid double that must have seen the lure coming towards it and broke the surface like a dolphin for a good 10 yards or more, nearly lost the rod reel, just managed to hang on to the lot, once the run was over came to the net in under a minute, continue to be amazed by pike and what they will/can do

Firstly i do not need to bulls%%% myself or anyone else I mostly fish on my own and do not feel the need to take picture of every fish i catch, so don't carry a camera= more weight Are you really trying say that a fish layed on the ground covered in dust, dirt,is better than a clean fish layed on unhooking mat??? As for fish to fish disease yes it happens every day and if its going to happen don't you think it would happen in the enviroment they live ie; the water they share and swim in and not wait until they might share a unhooking mat? As for stacking up fish over a session, your thinking carp maybe we don't do that over here with pike As for feeling bad about a fish that dies ,yes if i've caught it and it dies i do feel a bit bad, may be like feeling a lack of skill or proffessionlism.Unlike you we are only a small island with limited resourses of fish we have enough problems with our Eastern friends raping our rivers,lakes, canals etc without throwing out good fish handling and welfare pratices, Yes they are only fish, but we pay for those fish and don't you think we sort of owe it to the fish and ourselves to respect them and how we handle them and make sure there are fish for future generations of anglers. If we can not look after the stocks of fish who else will pay for them to be there in years to come.

i never said they where returned in bad order, merely that that woud be returned less protected el natural, as refering to unhooking mats you stated that "and I refuse to cart an unhooking mat around with me, its bad enough on one club water having to carry a net which I would never use" then say you on occasion use for deadbaiting when your static ...you either do or do not! the rest is straw men arguments which have no place in the debate,and violence solves nothing and as for saying i can not tell the "wetness levels" ..oh please come on you can clearly see that the grass is not wet whether using a flash or not on the camera. we clearly live in parts of the country and fish in very different ways as for being one,..... yes one of many i hope may you fish in peace

Of course you should've started a thread,,why not that whats its here for is it not? Many traditionalist say no to summer piking and by that i mean all pike fishing the thing they have forgotten is that piking has moved on and by that i mean lure fishing lure fishing was something done whilst you waited for the deadbait/livebait to be taken and that was pretty much it not until the late 80s really did lure fishing really take off and it caught big fish , so yes some find it good, some bad, and some indifferent. We must all make our own choices as what is right in our own eyes as far as pike fishing whilst abiding by club rules,and returning fish as healthy as possible Welfare of pike always arises, Winter has always been the traditional time for piking mainly due to the thought that water temps are low and pike are dormant for much of the time, but as we all know we can catch on lures even in winter,think alot of pike fishing depends on each seperate water fished, some are shallow and pike fishing is easy when mild and some are deep and fishing is hard except when the water temp begins to rise. lots of questions about fishing and by going fishing only then will you (sometimes)find the answers question is do want to fish or just catch fish i love going fishing,catching a fish is the bonus to me

Phone 1st point What scientific evidence is there that favors a slimeball disease infested bacteria concentrating black unhooking mat? Perhaps pikers are much like my fellow carpers. The use them because they are told to. Not because they are safer. They are NOT. No scientific evidence is needed is it, quite simply you remove the mucus from a fish it will be more prone to catching disease's..black is not relevant to any thing i can see, after every fish i have i have on the mat i stick the mat in the water i am fishing and wash any mucus off before the mat is attached to my lure bag, over here we have club rules which should adhered to or you could get banned from club and water,why do you say they are not safe?? Point 2 The subject of the thread is roughly "the guy needs help learning". Fair enough, I too would like to know. The fish you call "pike" we call "northern pike" and they are a favored target fish among sporting anglers (Esox lucius). The advice i gave in my eyes was helpful, teaching some about the basic's is where we all started off from, every one should learn basics, yes they are favoured as a sport fish Point 3 Why isn't 8 lb line enough for UK pike? Skilled Black Bass anglers in the US use very heavy line because it is paramount to "horse" fish into the boat as quickly as possible with NO clutch and line burning reel speed. It reduces the risk of a lure caught fish coming off. Pike guys in the US/Canada don't use heavy line in open water. Is it the culture of your style in the UK that would require recommending heavy line? First off as a newbie 8-10lb is not strong enough, the guy stated that he was not hooking the fish, so whats the first thing that go's through his mind "i am not striking hard enough" so next fish take and he strike too hard and snaps the line: result lost lure, lost pike, with a lure in its mouth both not desireable. plus the reason why heavy line /braid is required is that when lure fishing in summer the best practice is too get the fish in quickly as to not tire the fish out to exhaustion ( see ban on summer piking thread)The swimming strength of a pike is not the greatest of freshwater fish, but it can give a tremendous burst of speed,quotes of 30yrds in a second do the rounds but i have not read any scientific research to say this is correct?? could you give your reason as to why you think 50lb power pro is too weak for a newbie???Line weight is guided by size of lure and rod rating Emma 2 Telling some one to f%%% off and to mind their own business might get the reply that it is their business as they to have to pay for the rod licence as well and that they want the fish returned in a relative healthy state.Strange you say that you refuse to cart a unhooking mat around with you ? i wonder what your club rules state, then you use the on going research with a university as an "its ok reply" not to do so. whilst i put fish down on WET grass sometimes, the pictures you've provided 2nd 3rd and 4th look anything but wet.Next time you take a picture of a pike on the grass ,take a second one same spot and see if you notice anything left behing? you've seemed to developed a state of thought that just because you see no one else on your lakes/tarns that you are able to do as you please and thats ok...thats fine you must go with you own conscience.But what happens when others also notice you fish on your own and then start to notice damaged and diseased fish turning up and then point out that its you they see mostly fishing said waters??? yours inspector esox

Go with some one who fishes for pike on a regular basis,and see what your club rules state on line and trace strength.Sorry but 10 lb sounds a litlle light for a newbie( on offence intended) plus i would use braid as you will feel every thump of the lure and any tell tell knock from following pike. please also remmeber a unhooking mat at all times and unhooking tools yours inspector esox

surely removing the fish even with the owners permission is illegal?you need a section 30 first then the owners permission. theres me thinking the new laws stopped all fish being taken!

Amazed and saddened that people are livebaiting in summer despite the risks, i lure fish come april/may and give it a rest when its too hot to walk around and go after the silvers fish come the height of summer then start luring end of september if the weather has cooled down.go deadbaiting october if the we have had frost.i mostly rule myself by water temp?

And teenage mutant ninja turtles!!

Always thought it was feeding on flying insects or struggling or emerging water larvea etc.Dolphins do this apparently, jump to see where shoals of prey are??

Yes and no, when you think of what couldhappen to a water just because of one mans selfishness.Effecting other peoples pleasure/fishing and the damage it could do to the ecosystem/biology of the water and surrounding countryside does'nt bear thinking about.

Apologies, it seems i was wrong on stateing prison as a punishment. from searching it seems as the most he can expect is a big fine, though there is a case where the EA seems to have asked for a curfew for a poacher!!who was caught removing salmon and sea trout.you ned to warn him of the consequencs of his misplaced actions ..if he can not catch where he fishes at present suggest he find some where else to fish

Plus the possible introduction of alien plant species, and the growing problem of signal crayfish. never worth it,plus if he gets caught he's in deep doo-do would'nt be worrying about not catching fish he's be worrying about going to prison, plus loss of job.

One fingered salute good enough for you? joking aside my friend there are some "ruperts" who would love to have us oiks off the rivers, We have one owner down near Exeter who has a salmon/trout beat on his patch who was battering any caught barbel on the head and nailing them to up on gate posts!!! and then they have the nerve to call us uneducated.Sad to say like many aristocracy who own these water pratices like this won't seem to die out.

Sorry i must need new spectacles, i see no mention of a study? And not just a clueless journalist, as been pointed of before not all salmon spawn in spring? Miss Gray, a PhD student in river ecology, She said: "Salmon and sea trout are spawning at this time of year and they need a good spate of water to get upstream. Oh when do i get my picture

No the chip on my shoulder is fine,but thanks for the concern! Were does' it say its a exclusively trout and salmon article??? The headline mentions fishermen and anglers,With a comment from the head of sceince from the Salmon and Trout Association.and some one from a fly fishing Association It address's the concern of game anglers as per norm with out mentioning the vast majority of angler who are course anglers. next time would you care to borrow my spectacles

Seems only worried about the "Ruperts" fishing, sums up the attiude to course anglers. Trout and Salmon are the only fish worth worrying about.If the problems with EEs taking fish were about Trout and Salmon you can bet the powers that be, would come down like a ton of bricks on the problem by now.

You can buy good braid quite cheaply, Veal's do a braid called Tiger Braid, been useing for years with no problem what so ever.and if you use braid you can use up to 30-40lb braid and it will not affect your fishing for Chub/Perch, always err on the side of caution. pike can and do appear in lots of waters. As for traces alway use a trace when lure fishing, a pike does'nt know you are fishing for perch or chub and you must comply with the Associations/Clubs rule who's water you are fishing! would recommend at least 20lb trace for a newbie. If possible fish with someone who's been lure fishing for a while. contact your Club/Association and ask if there is someone willing to show you the ropes..And do not forget about unhooking tools should you hook a pike, long nose pliers or Bakers unhooking tool, side cutters for those times that hooks are impossible to extract. and also unhooking mat and suitable landing net. take a look at the Pike Anglers Club on pike handling tips And the Lure Angling Society for lure fishing tip in general, might be a good idea to join them and meet up with lure anglers in your area. Hope this helps

I would avoid the Drennan series lure rod they have a nasty habit of snapping the tip off under load of casting. Have a look at the Savage Gear rods, very good rod for a reasonable price,try matching your rod to the lures you will use, no point having a rod rated to deal with 60-70 grms if the lure you have are 20-30 grms or less you will soon tire your self out and will have problems presenting the lures correctly and ultimately catch rates will stay low and you will get bored with lure fishing.that go's for the line you use as well be it braid or mono. use braid you will feel every pulse of the lure. i'd go for a rod rated to 30- 60grms covers most good proven lures on sell at the moment. P.S. don't get fooled by the "fashion" of big lures you'll be surprised by what you catch on more moderate sized lures unless you plan on fishing lochs or something like windermere

Have one of those types of photo's on a wall at work,amazing pictures 20ft of great white launching it self out the water, well over a ton of fish, poor seals don't stand a chance.

I like TheWeatherOutlook site and NetWeather both have forums and have indepth discussion on the weather model runs,plus you can get an idea of what the coming season might bring. When i gave you guys the nod on the bad winter spell we had in January 2010 i picked that up from the forum discussion and a American forcaster called Joe Bastardi.I find the Metoffice ok for about 6 hours forecasts,they seem to be more worried about whats going to happen in 100 years rather than what happening today or this week.