aledrinker

Hi folks, am new on here, recently got back into fishing but immediately found out that this sport seems to have a few strange rules about. Was away camping in the lakes last weekend with some friends and we decided to take our fishing gear up there. I'd read a book on the lakes and knew about the no deadbaiting with freshwater fish and no livebaiting at all rule so was all up for a day on maggot and worm and a bit of spinning. Was hoping for some trout but as it's been so long anything would do. We found a nice spot on Ullswater and spent the afternoon and evening there with not much success apart from a few small perch which was better than nothing. Some friendly local guys fishing nearby came over and after a bit of a chat informed me I was wasting my time with my bait and should hook a few minnows to use as livebait. They seemed to be of the opinion that whoever made up the byelaws were a bunch of, I quote, 'to**ers'. I carried on with the maggots and watched them pull out a number of significantly larger perch, but couldn't persuade myself to adopt their tactics as rules are rules etc. etc. and I didn't fancy getting on the wrong side of anyone on my first outing in 15 years! Anyway, I understand the fear that some of the fish there are rare and could be vulnerable to other species if they were introduced, but what I don't get is why it is not permitted to hook a few minnows or other small fish from the same water and use those? After all this is exactly what the predator fish in the lake are feeding on anyway.