Stillwaters being kept open in the closed season..was it a good decision?

[Peter M]

On my local rivers the close season on rivers is a myth! only the law abiding keep to the rules. on the banks of the Lea and Stort evidence that people have been catching fish and cooking them on open fires is there all year round, usually there are empty beer cans to complete the picture. In some cultures this is a normal way of having fun and usually takes place at night.

Large areas are devoid of fish as this practice, along with the problem of cormorants, mink and now otters, is making fishing rivers almost pointless. for example there is one massive chub on the lea that everyone tries to catch and is regularly seen in the angling press, apart from this a a few other large fish there is little else to go for. All this is very depressing and yet come this time of the year up comes the close season debate on this and other forums.

[Old geezer]

There is a recession. And yet it cries out for more attention to the rivers at this time of year. Depressing!

[chesters1]

On my local rivers the close season on rivers is a myth! only the law abiding keep to the rules. on the banks of the Lea and Stort evidence that people have been catching fish and cooking them on open fires is there all year round, usually there are empty beer cans to complete the picture. In some cultures this is a normal way of having fun and usually takes place at night.

Large areas are devoid of fish as this practice, along with the problem of cormorants, mink and now otters, is making fishing rivers almost pointless. for example there is one massive chub on the lea that everyone tries to catch and is regularly seen in the angling press, apart from this a a few other large fish there is little else to go for. All this is very depressing and yet come this time of the year up comes the close season debate on this and other forums.

People have always eaten freshwater fish ,theres been far more otters and even ospreys were common ,if you ate fish on fridays it would have been freshwater fish on an industrial scale up to the introduction of the train ,even in the 50's taking some for the pot was commonplace.

Its not eating fish thats the problem its mismanaged rivers and pollution not poles and barbicues,they are used as scapegoats because if some alledged foreigner can empty a river with basic tackle then "real" anglers are pretty crap at angling with their top of the range better than thou gear

Mink do very little damage to fish stocks and the new badboy on the street the crayfish do more damage to banks than shoals ,cormerants are bad but perhaps they have naturally moved inshore as we have scoffed their grub on the coast ,i can remember seeing many of them on the military canal ,they were ignored

Poaching doesnt account for the lack of decent fishing where there is no poaching ,if poaching is going on on club owned waters its quite easy to stop it ,and if its a free stretch its legal to take fish so long as they are dead ,eating them ensures they are dead

Perhaps this mysterious gang of world class fishermen from abroad emptying rivers could be used to advantage to open the rivers all year ,after all if the banks are lined with our anglers theres less room for johny foreigner ,perhaps if their that good you could ask for lessons

Edited March 3, 2013 by chesters1

[Peter M]

Chesters you really need to walk the banks of the river lea or stort sometime and see the evidence for yourself. clubs do run the fishing but they cannot police it 24 hours at a time. and even if its free there are rules as to fish you can take for example live bait. also pike are not hard to catch lets face it especially jacks. Now they are turning thier attention to lakes and my club opened up night fishing for members to deter the visitors without tickets. If you read anglers mail a few weeks ago when they could not even catch silver fish on the coppermill stream and only had one bream out on a 24 hour session then you see how this river has declined. i have fished the rivers less and less around me as its heartbreaking to see what happens every year.

[BoldBear]

I can only backup Peter with this as I have seen the damage that these people have inflicted on our smaller rivers like the Lea and the Copper mill stream with their fish poaching and their litter strewn barbeques and total disregard of fish, the wildlife and our environment..

 

One of my clubs have always preserved a closed season on their estate lake so that the banks can recover and the fish can be left alone at this time of year but we have now unfortunately had to allow members to fish all round the year simply because of the problems we have had with Poles and their barbeques and their decimation of both the banks and the fish that we have always looked after well; and so that there is always the chance of a club presence on the water to try to keep them away.

Edited March 4, 2013 by BoldBear

[Dales]

I have to agree with Peter M and Boldbear, The Lea and Copper Mill have been decimated in recent years. The Lea has been in decline for a number of years and for various reasons. However poaching in recent years has been a major problem, even the once plentiful Jacks seem to have made a dissapearence from many sections.

 

This has left a very odd situation on the Lea, you will not catch much in general but you could catch a fish of your life. There is now a small number of huge fish, which can often be seen in a few spots. The few Chub that are present are seriously big and there is the odd whopper double figure Barbel and the a few decent sized Bream. The big Perch have also taken a bit of a hammering recently but still hold on in a few spots. The Lea has now become an out and out specimen water, you set your stall out for a big one but expect plenty of blanks. Unfortunately if the wrong person catch's one, the water does not have the stocks to weather taking one for the pot.

 

When talking about the Lea, you are talking about small groups of big fish and a well placed net or set of lines could take out a huge percentage of the fish population. What the future holds for the Lea is a bit of a mystery, what will replace its group of huge fish when they are gone remains to be seen. But they are going and not a lot is coming along behind.

 

I did manage a Bream yesterday 6 lb 8oz which was nice but most people I run in to had blanked. Well actually everyone I talked to claimed to have blanked. The close season on the rivers will not do the Lea any good. Where practical and well policed, I think the close season on rivers is a beneficial thing but in some areas it may be more like the start of the poaching season.

 

EDIT: I forgot to answer Dave's question. I do think removing the close season from still waters was the right thing to do and feel it would benefit waters like the Lea to have club members wandering the banks with buckets of mashed bread and hidding in bushes all year to report problems. But the practicalities of opening up some rivers or bits of them and not all would be a nightmare and so reluctantly I think keeping the close season in place overall is a good thing. However there may come a point when even the close season on rivers may come up for a review.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Dales

[gozzer]

The reports of poaching and bbqs on the bank, seem to be quite localised.
A year or so ago I did some investigating into reports of it happening locally. The results were that most were misrepresented, or down right fabrications. One was even a guy taking two fish,(1 jack and one perch) which were both legal at the time on that water. The report of the incident that was going a round, was of a large group of EEs with a net full of fish, brandishing knives involved in a fight with several anglers. The facts were that two anglers challenged the guy with the fish, (a polish angler), they were told by another angler that the guy was fishing legally, (licence etc), and was legally entitled to take the fish. It ended with apologies and a hand shake. This kind of exaggeration and misrepresenting of the facts, causes many to not believe stories from other areas. If they are so localised, then if reported, surely it should be possible to keep a watch on the areas concerned. This would be by either the EA, or members of the local club who run the water.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

Regardless of the subjective view of whether ditching the closed season was right or wrong (my own view is that overall it was the wrong thing to do), I definitely think that in general the level of angling ability has dropped since the closed season was abolished. Too much fishing now, and not enough watching, waiting, and thinking.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Anderoo

[RUDD]

Depends where you fish.

My local waters hardly see a soul from November to may.

Lets face it - not many anglers winter fish so why then close waters in spring?

You may also find 365 24 7 fishing has attracted more anglers and saved tackle shops.

[Steve Burke]

I seem to remember reading the opposite about tackle shops being saved by the closed season. I gather that when they couldn't fish anglers would instead going into their tackle shop and spend money instead. Plus of course there were all the closed season projects we never have time for any more.