Discarded fishing line and tackle makes my blood boil!

[Dales]

I went to Bury Hill on Saturday for some Piking and hoping to catch my first Zander. I booked a punt for the day and done my best to fish through the rain. By lunch time all my kit was wet and there was about an inch of water in the punt. We had thrashed the water with spoons, spinners, plastics and plugs with out a take. So rather then spend the day bailing out we decided to put the boat back and fish from the bank.

 

I set up ledgered dead baits and all seemed to go well and I caught my first Zed at 7lb. I was in a great mood and pleased with my capture when my girlfreind Paula pointed out that one of the geese on the bank looked in distress. I wondered over to take a look and the poor thing was covered in line, plastic ties and twigs. Paula decided to start feeding the birds corn and groundbait in an effort to keep the goose in the area while I headed off to see if I could find a bailiff. I returned after about 10 minutes with out finding any one.

 

Paula was not satisfied with my less then successful effort and went off in search of a bailiff and soon came back with one. After a quick look at the bird she went off to call a swan and bird rescue team and soon returned saying they would be along later and bought along some more bait to keep the geese interested and out of the water, we were running low as the trip was for predator fishing.

 

For the next hour Paula kept feeding the geese while waiting for the rescue team, when they turned up with a crook the bird must have known something was up and headed in to the lake. The team retired to their vain to make plans and Paula continued to try to lure the bird back out and wondered down the lake bank with a tin of sweetcorn. Luckily her plan worked and she tempted it out of the water, I let the team know the bird was back on the bank and they kept there distance while Paula tempted the bird as far away from the water as she could. Then the team moved in and caught it with a large crook. not the nicest thing to watch, but it was for the birds own good.

 

They took the bird back to the van and worked on it. When they let the bird go they gave us an update and said they had removed hundreds of metres of line and that the bird had multiple cuts. They said they had cleaned it up and given it a shot of antibiotics and they were hopeful that it should recover.

 

My elation of catching my first Zed had gone and all that was left was a sense of anger that some one had discarded so much tackle and a sense of shame as an angler. I know that there are people who fish that think nothing of leaving fag buts, paper etc on the bank and this is a NO NO, but I had naively thought that even litter louts would never dream of discarded fishing tackle.

 

My respect and gratitude go to the rescue team and its nice to see the fishery act so quickly to get some help.

 

Paula did not catch any fish, mainly because she spent a large part of the day helping out with the goose. We are going back to Bury Hill this Saturday and hopefully with a bit of luck and karma she will be rewarded with a fish.

 

I don't know how to describe the sort of person who discards tackle and sorry to rant to the AN members who feel the same. My girlfreind is a fairly new convert to fishing and I feel a little bit ashamed that she has now had to see its bad side.

[Dick Dastardly]

Well done to both of you.

 

Makes me cringe what other so called anglers do. Taking my brother over a small park pond on Wednesday as it turns up some good roach. Allready started dreading the amount of litter and tackle that I know we will have to pick up before we can start fishing happily.And having to watch the so called baillif there just ignore it........

[wayne baker]

Its a sad state of affairs. A lot of the club waters round my way leave a lot to be desired, When it comes to tidiness. Not just lost tackle but litter as well. All being detrimental to the welfare of the resident wildlife. I think we have all seen the type of bailiffs that have no interest in doing their duties properly. Most just like to have the position of power and the perks that come with it.

As anglers we all have a duty to keep our environment clean and safe, We all lose bits of gear now and then and im sure most of us make every effort to retrieve lost line and floats etc. There are occasions when it isn't possible.

I remember a few years ago i was fishing a local gravel pit for pike and the angler next to me was fishing for carp and he was casting to the far bank underneath some over hanging bushes. He misjudged one of his casts and the rig was left hanging in the bush with his boilly in the water. He pulled for a break after a while trying to free it but to no avail, he got most of his line back but the rig was still hanging in the water. I said to him you wanna go round and get that mate before some duck comes along and scoffs it. But he had no interest in doing that all he wanted was to get the rod back in play. Anyway after about an hour some ducks came along, And low and behold my prediction had come true. Next thing there's a golden eye tethered by his rig and all he is worried about is the splashing and the disturbance to his swim. Now being a bit of a softy when it comes to animals i decide to go round and strip off to get in the water to release the duck, Bearing in mind its early November and a bit chilly i wasn't deterred. And all im getting from the far bank is abuse from matey because im fooking up his swim. All im thinking is you want to learn to cast then fella. Well i managed to get the duck free and retreave the rig from the bush, Walked back and handed his helicopter rig. Soaking wet but i was happy that i had saved the duck from a long slow death.

 

To sum it all up i think his attitude was a good example of the problem with a lot of people these days. Im sure if he had lost the tip section of his amorphous he would of been happy to get wet. But its only a duck mate innit.

[Dales]

Well done to both of you.

 

Makes me cringe what other so called anglers do. Taking my brother over a small park pond on Wednesday as it turns up some good roach. Allready started dreading the amount of litter and tackle that I know we will have to pick up before we can start fishing happily.And having to watch the so called baillif there just ignore it........

 

Thanks Budgie, seeing this sort of thing makes it very hard to defend angling to people out side our sport. If as an angler I find seeing a bird in distress uncomfortable, I can see why others are so against fishing.

 

Unfortuantly we all get tarred with the same brush.

 

Good luck with the Roach on Wednesday,

[chevin]

Yeah, it is the same here too.

 

 

 

Makes me mad as well.

[Steve Walker]

I have to say, all of my local club waters are pretty clean. Day ticket and free waters tend to be the worst, in my experience.

[chesters1]

in clubs its down to the bailiffs ,litter attracts litter so have none showing little gets left.

line though is another story this year i have found 2 entangled birds (one dead one died later) just bad angling i'm afraid and lack of skill and of course little care what happens when they leave! just pure selfishness

Edited October 27, 2009 by chesters1

[Anderoo]

It's no wonder the RSPB is so anti-angling.

 

This topic also fits rather 'nicely' into the Justification topic... THIS is why we have to justify what we do. Despicable.

[Dick Dastardly]

A suitable time for me to post one of my often posted observations!

 

Lots of anglers would freak if they saw me leaving line on the bank as I some times do! Mind you it is only a short length and then chopped with scissors into 1" lengths.

 

Same "good" angler will go home and put all of his discarded mono into the rubbish bin...................................which then goes to the tip and promptly gets wrapped around scavenging birds (mainly sh1te hawks like in Chevins pics from down under)! These fly off (if they can) and are of course seen by all! as well as (the real issue) suffering.

 

ALL line should be cut into small lengths/burned before being disposed of no matter where or how.Same with those damn plastic beer tin holders on multi packs.A quick snip with the scissors saves a lot of grief.

[tincatinca]

A suitable time for me to post one of my often posted observations!

 

Lots of anglers would freak if they saw me leaving line on the bank as I some times do! Mind you it is only a short length and then chopped with scissors into 1" lengths.

 

Same "good" angler will go home and put all of his discarded mono into the rubbish bin...................................which then goes to the tip and promptly gets wrapped around scavenging birds (mainly sh1te hawks like in Chevins pics from down under)! These fly off (if they can) and are of course seen by all! as well as (the real issue) suffering.

 

ALL line should be cut into small lengths/burned before being disposed of no matter where or how.Same with those damn plastic beer tin holders on multi packs.A quick snip with the scissors saves a lot of grief.

 

Couldn't agree more about the line. It does not take long to cut it up into tiny lengths. Lost count of the number of times that you go into a swim and find discarded line. Another thing that really annoys me is when you find line hanging from trees. I have spent many an occassion removing them. Having said that it is a sad situation that so many do not care as virtually anywhere you look you see litter of one form or another. Stuff PC and makethe punishment fit the crime.