Question for our professional anglers

[mark barrett]

newt you obviously arent awre of the european court, you could never get that law passed!!!

 

i agree to a point with peter, coaches would be a great idea, but there is a point where what you learn in a classroom would have to be translated into time on the water and of course you would need to catch fish to show unhooing procedures etc, so really then you are again back into the world of guides as you are not lessening the pressure.

what i fail to see though is how the broads can in the long term avoid the increasing guides on the water. that situation does no one any good, competition is one thing, but saturation is another

[charliebettell]

Although I call myself a guide, I like to think that I am a very good coach/instructor when it comes to teaching my clients methods and techniques.

 

For some years I used to run my own karate school, so I am used to teaching young and old to a very high standard in body posture and arm/leg movements and techniques - which are vital elements when it comes to coaching/instructing lure fishing techniques to less experienced anglers - or people with no fishing experience at all!

 

With regard to when is or isn't the best time to fish for pike, that is a matter of debate. There is no evidence to say that pike suffer more if caught during the summer months.

 

In my experience, I find that pike recover much quicker in the warmer months to what they do in the colders months. During the summer months, on the waters that I guide on, pike tend to shoot off the instant they make contact with the water - i.e. after having been photographed.

 

The abundance of aquatic plant life in the waters that I guide/coach/instruct on, means that there is no shortage of oxygen in the water - which is the vital component for fast recovery.

 

The worst time to fish for pike, in my experience, is when they are nearing spawning.

 

The sad thing is, the majority of people who knock summer pike fishing, have no problem whatsoever with re. fishing for pike around spawning time (!)

 

[ 26. March 2004, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: charliebettell ]

[Peter Waller]

Pike will survive Newt, they have done that for a million or so years. But the quality certainly suffers. Small pike, Jacks, go up in numbers, big pike die off. An intentional cull, or excess pressure, has yet to eradicate pike. Overall weight of fish will remain reasonably pro-rata to the quantity of prey fish. But instead of one thirty pound fish there will six five pounders, or so the theory goes.

 

At one time much of the UK did have an October start to its pike season, and there is now considerable opinion that we should return to that. Looked at selfishly I would not wish to see that happen.

 

Good guides do most certainly educate their clients, no doubt of that. But they also create, have to create, interest to maintain customer numbers. Its a real Catch 22 situation.

 

In the UK we have the Pike Anglers Club. And a very fine club it is too, http://www.pacgb.com. It has achieved a great deal of protection for pike, but in doing so has created considerably increased interest, Catch 22 again.

 

Although as a percentage of the population angling is not anywhere near as popular as it once was, but angling numbers are still in the millions. But with all the created interest in pike there are now considerably more pike-anglers than ever before.

 

Unfortunately we have developed a big fish culture, the downside of the Walker era. Pike are seen as big! We need to recognise this, perhaps even to breed pike for stocking and to consider introducing other big species for this shift in interest.

 

Yes, some good guides do make a living, but so do some good coaches. I have a friend who is a National Federation Coach, he does okay. But in general Newt you are right on that one.

 

Some of us see the commercial exploitation of a shared, naturel resource as unacceptable. Afterall angling is a pastime, arguably a sport. When we perceive that our sport is being damaged then we start to question the situation.

 

Perhaps it isn't that angling guides are universally unpopular over here in the UK Newt, more a case that one or two guides lack popular acclaim due to their public facades. And, as Budgie, has pointed out, the inability of a few.

[Peter Waller]

The spawning thing, for once Charlie and I agree 100%!! I have suggested in the past on AN that we cease to weigh our fish. That a trophy fish be recognised by its length. That way the demand for spawn laden fish would eventually be reduced. Measuring would also be kinder to the fish.

[mark barrett]

its a culture thing pete that i cant really ever see changing. if you look at the history all the fish are registered as weights and people will want to gauge their performances/ catches against those from the past, which of course are measured in weight.

 

personally i see no harm in weighing over measuring if done properly. however i do agree with the spawning bit. i have finished pike fishing and will only do one more zander trip, which i have been asked to do as a feature for one of te mags. i balance the fact that it promote the zander as a sport species and to stop the cullng against the fact that they may or may not be spawning. zandr spawn a bit later anyway. but i am not in favour of fishing for spawn bound females

[Peter Waller]

My suggestion re weighing/measuring Mark was simply that it wouldn't matter when during the year it was caught. As you say, a culture thing. There is a price on these old girls' heads, especially at a time when they are not fighting fit.

 

Don't make zedding too popular Mark! You might not find a vacant swim on your local water in a year or two!

 

Weighing and photographing a pike, especially on a hot day, is not always a good for the pike. It should be possible to measure a pike whilst it is still in the water.

[mark barrett]

it already is very popular down here but i will take a few exta anglers on the bank pete if it stops hundreds of zander getting the knock on the noggin treatment!

[gaza]

somebody once said to me to do a guides job would be easy just have to go fishing and thats it. oh boy how wrong was he,after reading some not all of the replys i see a lot of truth in what has been said. and maybe some things held back, some of the nightmare cenarios, the weather how the floods can ruin a week spoil an anglers holiday with floating debris, constanly coming down river. wind, rain, snow water. all this and hardly any fish will happen at some stage. and things like the weather cannot be controlled. one specific day 36 attempts to keep the lads hapy repeatedly going to the bouy rigs just to see another tree coming down the river this is

"SOUL" destroying.

you see i look at clients like this they work hard some more than others. and they have to be treated all the same with respect dignity and you have to show you have pride and knowledge

in any order to the clients, to give them the confidence and so they dont worry. it a hard cruel world of fishing and mother nature being the boss sometimes. you have to be prepared to some extent to have the knowledge of will happen tommorow oh forsight to that extent cannot be bought. guides are a breed apart. but you will have to agree when it all goes right what a great feeling it is, for either the old man who has caught his first big fish. or the young lad just getting dragged down the gunnels of a boat with some monster on the line. fantastic moments like this cannot be bought and they remanin with you for life.but i still dont get time to go fishing funny that isnt it.

[gaza]

peter get them in the water to photo the fish on those hot sunny days. the pics will be treasured for life ah it doesnt matter if the water is cold get in there. lol

[Newt]

gaza - the first time it really hit home to me that 'pleasure' fishing for a living might not be all fun & games was watching televised bits of a professional bass tourney being held on one of the great lakes.

 

The weather was a little stormy and the sight of guys in bass boats using a trolling motor to hold position (well, after a fashion) and tossing lures while being battered by waves that averaged around 5ft and occasionally more just didn't seem like much fun. But there was money (and points toward the year's top angler) on the line so they were there.

 

The much larger boat carrying the film crew gave it up due to rough water but the anglers carried on.

 

Then I read accounts of other tourneys where the fishing was tough and a good total for 8 hours of hard fishing might be one or two fish - and this by some of the best largemouth bass anglers in the world. Temps near freezing, windy, spray freezing on the rain suits, almost no fish activity to keep the interest up, and they had to carry on.

 

I admire the folks who make a living at the fishing and the guiding. However, I do not envy them.

 

I love to fish but I also like to be able to stop fishing and look around at the lake and the wildlife. I love to fish but I also like to be able to stay home when things are nasty or when I'm not feeling particularly good. Part of this may be due to my age but I really think if I'd been brave enough to try turning professional years ago that I'd still fish but I'd probably not enjoy it nearly as much.

 

[ 26. March 2004, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]