What happened to the close season?

[Peter Waller]

Not only the Barbel is King brigade but also the Pike is the demi god faction!! But, since angling is ruled by the Carp are Omnipotant fraternity it does no harm to have a balancing factor from other sectors of our great sport.

 

As has been said we have a reasonable compromise at the moment. I'm happy to keep it that way.

[Peter Sharpe]

"The Close Season was, I think, hijacked by the sector of angling that predominantly fishes for carp."

 

That's funny, I always thought it was entirely due to pressure from match anglers - the ones most likely to damage the fish. Angling Times should also shoulder a lot of the blame, as they stir up the whole debate every year, as a cheap way of bumping up circulation figures. I seem to remember most carp anglers being in favour of keeping the close season when the proposal first arose.

It is probably fairer to say that the close season was hijacked by commercial interests, who put profit before fish welfare.

[Bradford Angler]

Right or wrong guys . . . it has gone . . and never to return . .

 

for me my rod is well and truly in the rest and not in the shed. There again, I haven't been fishing this close season yet . . but have been on 4 working parties since mid March - so maybe I am not all bad eh

 

presently anglers are the only things keeping cormorants off the lakes !

[Peter Waller]

Peter S, I might be wrong, but I don't think so. Where you are right, without doubt, is with regard to canals. Basically, as I saw it, the arguement was that the still water anlers had got a twelve month season, so why shouldn't the match anglers have likewise.

 

Don't carp and commercial interests go hand in hand?

 

[ 17. April 2004, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[malevans]

I find the close season origins quite confusing. The spread of spawning periods when one considers Pike thru Tench and its sensitivity to water temperatures etc does not stack up regarding it being from Mid March to Mid June.

 

Secondly there has never been a coarse close season in Scotland as far as I can remember, and there certainly was not one in Cornwall when I was a lad, but there was in the Midlands where I originated from, before moving to Cornwall. So the breeding season did not seem to matter in these extremes of North and South. Neither was there a coarse close season in Ireland.

 

I find the sentiment around the close season surprising, not knocking it, but it has caught me by surprise. Because prior to the "any method trout" period. Coarse anglers in significant numbers migrated to Ireland and Scotland (more pikers based upon my contacts to scotland) once the waters closed in those regions of England where the close season existed.

 

Closed season for brown trout kicks in 30/09 for reasons not clear to me and pertains to still waters also. Although in the era of catch and release this makes little difference and the browns are returned anyway rather than kept.

 

Salmon is also varied. Some southwest rivers are open into december, others also stay open quite late like the tweed. The tweed and south west rivers are known as late rivers. The start of seasons also varies from Jan to April. Most seem to go for closure sometime in October. The river I fish closes 15th of October, which is bad news as I cannot exploit October half term.

 

So in short the whole thing beats me..........

 

But I am very glad the close season has gone for still waters. It means I can exploit the Easter, and May bank holidays for fishing trips, saving a valueable 4 days annual leave, whilst getting either some variety of trips in or some extended trips. Absolutely Priceless !!!