Would you Kill your Catch?

[corydoras]

awaaar:

 

Absinthe may be nasty, but you'll find that the more you drink the less you'll care!

---

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

[Adz]

I'm not having a dig at anyone, just pointing out the inconsistencies in 'modern' thinking... taking a nicely wrapped piece of rump steak from a supermarket shelf is morally exactly the same as killing a fish you're going to eat - I'm sure most if not all of us as anglers will see that.

 

The real question is - will the green party?

 

After all, dead is dead and food is food - you're allowed to slaughter your own livestock, provided it's for your own or your immediate families consumption only, you're just not allowed to sell it, but how many people know this or would feel uncomfortable enough about it to make moves to have the practice made illegal?

 

Mister Toad is almost certainly right - wild fish wouldn't last long if everyone had to take the fish they caught, but they're doing just fine in the present climate where those who want to, can.

 

Lastly, it's only theft if you don't have permission to take the fish - they belong to the landowner or lesee of the water you're fishing until they decide, where possible, to move on.

 

Cheers,

[Leon Roskilly]

I'll happily knock some mackerel on the head both for eating and for winter bait, I'm partial to some sole and plaice too, but nobody better be caught by me ill-treating a mullet!

 

(I can't seem to be able to do anything other than release bass and gar fish these days either!)

 

Funny folk us anglers, it's hard for normal people to know what to make of us.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Pangolin]

I'd kill any fish that I'd be happy to eat, but being prepared to eat the fish would depend on the species and where it was caught! I'd be concerned that fish too small to eat would have to be killed too. It would stop me fishing the canal, because I just wouldn't eat anything that came out of it, regardless of the species reputation as food!

[jedi_knight_298]

Unfortunatly at my lake at the moment we are having a bit of a slaughter. the pike population is getting a bit aout of control and its stopping us from stocking any new smaller fish (crusian/tench/etc) the anglers may do as they wish with the pike but there not to be returned top the water. pike must not be very nice to eat as many end up just being thrown away. its a shame as pike are nice fish to catch but its ruining the fishing for all the non pike anglers.

[Pangolin]

I have eaten pike: it is a fish that needs another flavour to make it palatable... like pan-frying it in garlic butter. Shame your anglers are just throwing them away!

[Peter Waller]

No, I wouldn't kill a coarse fish because in doing so I would be killing my sport.

[Leon Roskilly]

jedi_knight_298:

Unfortunatly at my lake at the moment we are having a bit of a slaughter. the pike population is getting a bit aout of control and its stopping us from stocking any new smaller fish (crusian/tench/etc) the anglers may do as they wish with the pike but there not to be returned top the water. pike must not be very nice to eat as many end up just being thrown away. its a shame as pike are nice fish to catch but its ruining the fishing for all the non pike anglers.

er, As many clubs have found to their cost, your pike troubles could be about to begin!!

 

See: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/leon14.htm

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Andy Macfarlane]

You reckon killing Pike is gonna help???....LOLOLOL....you're fishery is doomed unless you put some BIG Pike back.

[poledark]

Toggle, to answer your question re angling becoming a sport where you have to kill your catch, no, I would not kill fish that I did not intend to eat, and would continue to return them to the water.

 

If I came under surveillance by one of the newly appointed fishing police (what an opportunity for employment for the antis!) then I would stop fishing until they/it, went away.

 

I would also keep a very close watch to see if anyone was videoing me.

 

I might also get quite aggressive and probably end up in court, but I would not comply with any law that said I must kill all I catch.

 

Den