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SAA, NFA, NAA and the rivers close season..?....


STEVE POPE

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My views on the close season debate are well known and recorded many times in the past on here and other BBs when this hardy perenial pops up from time to time.

 

Whilst I personally fall into the catagory of 'Old Git' and would without hesitation reinstate the close season on still waters I recognise that the present compromise is about as good as it is going to get.

 

I strongly belive that most sane people within angling would heartily reject the siren vioces wispering for the scrapping of the close season on rivers.

 

Trout anglers ....real ones that fish for brown trout in the rivers have the longest close season of any group and you do not hear them calling for an end to their close season.

 

I cannot see any further need for change in the Present system (other than to return to the full measure of the old close season )

 

Equally I don't doubt that those involved in anglings politics will forget the very effective campaign that was waged to retain the close season on our rivers.

 

This is one issue that is too contentious for the present body politic to touch without causing total meltdown.

 

Along with others I feel that the editor of the angling times is looking to boost sales at a traditionally quiet time of year that being the case they have just lost another regular sale....Mine!

 

Being serious for a moment anglings various groups and bodies need to have a period of relative calm so that they can get into place the effective structures that they need to sustain them when faced by a common foe....Peta springs to mind as an example.

 

Quite honestly the last thing we need right now is mischief making by those who should know better especially for commercial or personal gain.

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical

minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which

holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd

by the clean end"

Cheers

Alan

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trent.barbeler:

I would think, or hope, that the SAA would back the retention of the rivers close season

Lee, Shoulder to shoulder on this one mate :)

 

I feel that continued efforts at undertaking PR for the SAA and other governing bodies has been done to death on another thread. Please, lets not go there here but stick to the very important subject of the rivers close season which remains extremely important to river anglers.

 

Yes Lee, but as Steve indicated there is a connection between the discussions on the previous thread, and now this new thread:

 

Bearing in mind all the hooha regarding the CA, I'll put this one to you.

 

The RSSG is a new, and dynamic group that is attempting to establish itself on the angling scene.

 

At present, it has no political leverage (other than a strong moral and ethical stance, and the enthusiasm of it's members - me included).

 

Unfortunately, that doesn't buy influence where it is needed.

 

On the other hand, the SAA (thanks to many years of hard politicking by many in it's ranks) sits at the table where hard recognition has been won for a unified angling voice (sorry if my use of language gives the impression that I'm just doing PR for the SAA - you'll get used to the way I express myself in time!)

 

Though the RSSG will be able to make a lot of noise on this issue, primarily defence of the close season on rivers, as before, will need to be through the SAA.

 

Sorry Lee, in a few years of hard work, much politicking, building of alliances etc, maybe the primary route for the defence of the ideals of river fishing will be through the RSSG, but for now the SAA holds that position.

 

But, if the SAA loses all influence because it withdraws from the NAA in protest over the MOU issue, there will be no effective representation of river anglers at that level. (Nor, for the continunce of live-baiting - precious to pike, eel and other predator groups, etc, etc)

 

So, does the SAA cut ties with the NAA over the MOU issue, leaving no effective avenue of representation for river anglers to defend the close season, or does SAA reluctantly continue to keep the consensus over the MOU, in order to represent specialist anglers on this issue and the many other issues to come in the future?

 

Taking it even further, should the RSSG join the SAA to obtain group representation through the SAA, strengthening the SAA's hand in representing the views of river anglers on this matter, or stay out of the SAA, partly in protest at the MOU issue, and weakening the SAA's claims to represent river anglers at the table?

 

Unfortunately Lee, angling issues cannot that easily be neatly compartmentalised.

 

It's only by sticking together, working together, respecting one another, and being ready to compromise to reach imperfect agreements that we will achieve most of what we all want, and that will always be short of what we each want.

 

Tight Lines - leon

RNLI Shoreline Member

Member of the Angling Trust

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Alan Roe:

I strongly belive that most sane people within angling would heartily reject the siren vioces wispering for the scrapping of the close season on rivers.

Sorry Alan, that is dangerous complacency.

 

One of the things I like about river fishing is the relative isolation.

 

My club has c.1,500 members, a number of stillwaters and some stretches of the Medway and Beault.

 

The stillwaters are packed. Away from the car park, very few people fish the rivers.

 

And those that do!

 

Carp rods, neatly set in pods fished just like a stillwater. (Stillwater carp angelers looking for something different - River Carp (or barbel! or pike!!).

 

Pleasure anglers fishing the current with a waggler, cursing as it sinks time and again, and eventually using a feeder instead!

 

No, we are vastly outnumbered by still water anglers, and they like to fish the rivers from time to time, and why shouldn't they fish them in the spring? (rhetorical question!!)

 

If AT have wind of a story, there will be some basis to it. Someone is starting the first moves.

 

Remember the canals?

 

Tight Lines - leon

RNLI Shoreline Member

Member of the Angling Trust

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chesters1:

perhapps we should get a media "face " to speak for us perhaps that "tiswas" bloke or some other "actor chappie" that fishes maybe that crooner what was in the who etc.

The crooner is Roger daltry who owns a fishery ,,oh & he also gives money to PETA each year (wonder if thats why they leave him alone??)

 

I feel ill cos i'm going to agree with chesters n say yes to Chris Tarrent (not only tiswas but OTT as well) becoming the media face for angling .

problem is i read in a mag a few weeks ago him n his wife never see each other cos they both work weird hours (being on tv does that i suppose) & Chris never even gets to go fishing anymore

TROGG (Alan)

a government is there to serve its people not rule them

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Leon

I am in danger of being mis read here!

I strongly belive that most sane people within angling would heartily reject the siren vioces wispering for the scrapping of the close season on rivers.

 

Perhaps I should have emphasised the word SANE here!!

 

I am aware as are many people that there are those who for their own selfish reasons would like to see the scrapping of the close season and yes it is someting that we need to be constantly vigilant about.

 

More to the point we need to be exposing these people and neutralising them.

 

However to attempt to bring this issue back to the forefront of angling politics at this time is foolhardiness in the extreme regardless of who is behind it.

 

We are in a period when all the angling bodies are starting to work together albeit not perfectly at this point the last thing we need is to blow all that apart over this issue.

 

To do so would be to play into the hands of the CA who will then start to claim that they are the body to represent angling and with some justification as there will be no-one to stop them.

 

They have 25,000 individual members already and will cheerfully mop up any and all dissafected souls that are still around after any political disaster we know thaat they have very close affiliations with some of the organisations within the NAA. How long after a blow up would it be before those affiliations became a takeover

 

The bigger picture is potentially more frightening

and if as many proclaim they do not trust or want the CA or their puppets to represent angling then we had better pull together.....

 

Otherwise there will be a different form of unity running angling.......!

 

Now I could be wrong in my summation of the potential for disaster and may it please the Good Lord that I am.....But????

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical

minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which

holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd

by the clean end"

Cheers

Alan

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Dear ALL

Interesting this...once again Steve comes along with 'start-up mode' and goes away for a while.

The call is for UNITY......AGAIN.

 

However, posting on his own site, the BS forum, he says it is time for the use of livebait to be taken out of angling.

 

It would seem to me that UNITY only means UNITY to Steve, and others like him, when issues are raised that affect them.....more often than not, they state what THEY think angling should be doing with no concern for those who are affected by their comments....or desires.

 

However, I am in full, 100%, support of retaining the close season on all rivers....I am also in full, 100%, support for keeping all forms of angling practices, for ALL anglers....and will always be there to support whoever of my brothers/sisters are affected or NEED my support......hence my un-wavering support for the RSSG.

 

I am off to work now, but will be back later with more thoughts.....and I hope to see Steve back in posting mode on this thread and not just 'backside' on the telephone with his thoughts.

 

Yours With Respect.....

Steve.

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Game fisherman have always fished through the greater part of what was the closed season and are still able to on rivers.

 

The original reason for introducing the close season was supposedly to protect spawning fish. We all know however that it did little to achieve this and indeed led to massive numbers of anglers on the banks just when the Carp/Tench were spawning. After June 16th I have have personally seen Carp/Crucians/Tench/Bream/Roach/Chub spawning.

 

It has often been suggested (and there is probably more than a little truth in this) that the real purpose of the close season was to keep course anglers off the bank for the best part of the game fishing season.

 

The effect of removing the close season in my observation has been to get people to fish more when conditions are good and less when they are poor.

 

The close season is like our drinking laws in this country... a legacy of early twentieth century state paternalism.

 

I chose not to join any angling organisations because all seem in one way or another to require me to compromise my beliefs. For example I don't like fox hunting and keepnets or the general imposition of a close season. That rules out the BS, SAA, ACA, NAA, NFA and CA to name but a few.

 

To unite anglers you need to allow them the freedom within your organisations to express their individual views. If you then need to take a stance it should be by finding the view held by the majority after careful debate of the matter in hand.

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I was going to keep out of this one as it always tend to get heated... (for the record... keep the closed season)

 

What really riles me is all this talk of unity! So, we've got the BS, CS, SAA, ACA, NAA, NFA and RSSG (plus others).... where's the unity there?

 

If we really wanted unity wouldn't a better idea be to amalgamate ALL these groups under one governing body but still keep the ethos and memberships of each group? With perhaps a senior member of each of these groups sitting on an overall committee? Wouldn't a group such as this truly represent ALL anglers?

 

Do you know why this situation won't ever arise?

 

Simon

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Lee,

As you say you were present at some of the meetings where the rivers close season was discussed. You should therefore recollect that there was a unanimous decision to vote for retention of said closed season. So to suggest that there needs to be 'commited river anglers within the SAA calling for support from the rest of the SAA membership' I find offensive. Lets remember that in the SAA we are all working together as a team and just because I for example don't do a lot of river fishing doesn't mean that I don't support the retention of the closed season.

 

Rob.

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This may be a bit long, but....

 

Boy oh Boy have I been waiting for this one!

Many might know that I am a previous member of SACG, now a life member of SAA. I'm also a member of the June the 16th club, started when the closed season was scrapped on stillwaters, following pressure from carp puddle owners and the like, who had thrown in a few trout.

 

The June 16th club, was not started as any sort of political lobby or group, but more of a small register of protest by a few anglers who basically said that they believed the closed season should be retained. I'm not sure what the club is doing now, or even how many of the original members still don't fish the closed season. It doesn't matter anyway, because what other people do, doesn't affect me very much.

 

I don't fish fresh waters for coarse fish between the old closed season dates and that's what counts. As far as SAA goes at the moment, the SAA is opposed to the removal of the closed season on Rivers. The vote was taken when the issue was discussed and was unanimous in that respect.Be assured, that if the matter is discussed gain, there will be at least one in SAA, who will fight tooth and nail to keep the current SAA stance.

 

Of course, there are a lot within SAA who fish during the closed season and I wouldn't want to stop them, it's up to them. However, i will have no problem with any debate which might ensue, if the stance is considered for revision. If I lose my corner, I will be pleased to maintain my standpoint, but will continue to campaign. It won't be a problem within SAA, because I'll be campaigning as an individual within SAA, hoping to bring others around to my own point of view.

 

At the moment, the NAA are unified, however it is impossible to keep everybody happy all the time. Therefore there will be disagreements over issues, but these will be sorted within the groups, whereas before issue were dealt with by "outsiders" or non-angling politicians.

 

One of the problems with scrapping the closed season is that even though a fishery owner may retain a closed season on his section of river, someone else may control the bit where the fish spawn. Spawning fish may not feed when feeling randy, but they do not like disturbance of the river bed/weed situations where they lay their eggs. If there is just one disturbance to a patch of weed or gravel, such as can be caused by people wading, or pulling out weeded or snagged fish, large amounts of eggs can be dislodged and swept away. Therefore the chap who doesn't want the closed season and allows fishing, is affecting the chap who does.

 

The same obviously applies to stillwaters, but unfortunately the closed season retention lobby was not active enough to prevent the lifting of the break at the time. That is despite a poll in one of the weeklies at the time, saying that 80% of anglers asked, were in favour of retaining the break.

 

Roll on June 16th!!

Dunk Fairley

Fighting for anglers' rights - Join SAA today at http://www.saauk.org

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