Would you Kill your Catch?

[Dick Dastardly]

Totaly agree with disliking the sea fish in back garden photos.Especially if it is a big bass or mullet.Bass take for ever to grow no need to kill big ones to eat,got no problem at all with the occaisional schoolie (as long as its legal size)being taken.As for Mullet,well despite my great admiration for them as a sport fish they hardly rate as a good table fish,Leon?But you often see monster Mullet in the papers in the "back garden" pose.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

coarse fish,i could not kill to eat,i fish for pike so ive used livebaits and caught fish to be used as deads etc so i probaly have killed a few!seriouslly tho,taking a fish for the table is ok but not like bream or roach for example,they dont taste good anyway!trout in my opinion if i caught one i would release it i dont eat trout,why kill it?people always say "why do you put it back" my anwser is usaully because after taking in some cases hours to tempt a fish,after experiencing its power in the fight and seeing it in my hands gives me a great buzz,i won,i firmley believe that fish deserves my respect,and there for be put back alive after being told how overwieght they are and getting them to smile for the camera i dont fish for the table i fish for the challenge and the experiences being a city boy i relish every trip out,in contrast to that some of my biggest fish(specimen sizes too) have been caught in london town its self.so put em back please!i too cannot stand back garden photos with dead sea fish,they look horrid,its not fair on the fish if you wnat a photo get one at the location n put it back,i wonder how many back garden fish get prepared for the table???

 

[ 06. June 2004, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: ratty46 ]

[Stroller]

I have eaten zander in a very nice restaurant in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and it was pretty good. Pike are also eaten there. I didn't fancy the cow brain delicacy though! Have they not heard of BSE there!

 

In Moscow outside the Metro stations you see people selling coarse fish from stalls, ie, pike, bream and others.

[Leon Roskilly]

jedi_knight_298:

The situation with our pike is that a few years ago they were introduced without permission as fry. The biggest we have in the lake now is around 5lbs max with most being around 3lbs. with no larger pike to eat the smaller ones culling was our only option, we wished to kill off the population before they started to breed. As the pike are still only a small size there isnt much of a worry about them reproducing.

The lake is very old and is very well stocked with large perch, rudd, roach and double figure tench and bream, and of course carp. it was never intended for pike to be in the lake so we are simply trying to restore it to its former state.

You'd be well advised to study this report.

 

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/northernpike/summary_report.pdf

 

Lake Davis in the USA has suffered from the introduction of pike, a species previously alien to the region, and rigorous efforts have been made to eliminate/reduce their numbers.

 

Despite all the pike still being very small, after 3 years of very expensive culling operations (including poisoning the water and the use of explosives!) the pike numbers, keep increasing. The big fear is that they will spread through the region.

 

From the report produced by the authorities there:

 

“Pike have evolved several compensatory mechanisms to ensure survival.

 

They may, for example, mature earlier if no other spawners are in the area or if fishing pressure reduces their numbers (Diana, 1983).

 

They tend to grow faster and produce more eggs when the population is less dense.

 

They will have higher fry survival rates when their numbers are scarce, in part because there are fewer chances for cannibalism (Foin, 2003).

 

All these strategies make it difficult to impact the population.

 

If more pike are pulled out of the reservoir, these compensating mechanisms kick in.

 

One modeller estimated that it would be necessary to remove 50 percent of the adult pike on an annual basis to keep the adult population from growing (Foin, 2003).”

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Tog]

Er? - back to the thread!

Would you break the law by returning fish if an 'anti' angling law were introduced along the lines of the German 'food fishing' one?

I don't mean do you like to eat the fish!!

[Peter Waller]

Er, well its pointless killing 'em if you aren't going to eat them, unenforceable law or not! So yes, I would break the law. Mind you, a nice carp cutlet does go down well with a cool pint of Adnams!

[Leon Roskilly]

When I first started fishing, it was common to retain 2 sizeable fish for the table (byelaws gave the 'taking size' for each species).

 

And I've eaten many roach, perch and pike in my younger days.

 

And yes, if I had to eat what I caught, I'd continue freshwater fishing.

 

After all, I'll take home sea fish for the table (and I prefer pout to whiting! Wouldn't touch estuary mullet though - I've seen what they eat - ugh!).

 

In Germany, to obtain a fishing licence, you first have to sit a pretty stiff examination. If you subsequently commit an offence, you may lose your licence and never be allowed to fish again.

 

Something for those who think that they will easily get away with slipping fish back into the water to ponder!

 

If such a proposal was on the agenda of a future UK Government, in my opinion it would be foolish for angling to entirely oppose it, without a plan B.

 

Plan B would be to set size limits as high as possible (in Germany undersized fish have to be returned), (or better still slot limits ie you return small fish to grow big enough to have spawned, and larger specimens who are more fertile and have proven genetic strengths. Studies have shown that if you keep taking only large fish, the species responds by only producing smaller individuals - genetic evolution in action), and to impose bag limits.

 

Both of these measures could be justified on conservation grounds, so you would hopefully be returning most of what you catch and greedy blokes won't carry half the decent fish in the lake out of the gate in carrier bags.

 

Remember, just as moving to catch and release needed a cultural adjustment by a previous generation of anglers, so anglers who have entered the sport under a future 'utility' culture will be thinking differently to most of us today - as they do in Germany. (Ask those who share the banks of rivers in Ireland, and on the Ebro etc)

 

Tight Lines - leon

[malevans]

I believe, or was told more accurately by my German friend, that the German policy of having to kill the capture, of whatever species, was revoked due to issues of enforcement. I return around 90% of the game fish I catch when in Germany.

 

Would I kill fish, yes and I do, but not very often, the odd one, maybe two a year, trout and pike are killed for the table where fishery rules permit. I have returned all my salmon since 1998 when I last killed a gilse.

 

But if killing was mandatory and enforcement real I would fish for table, but I would not go fishing very often and certainly would not fill my freezer with perch, trout and pike just so I could go bankside.

 

The lakes my wife fishes now have only one of the three lakes where the rainbows must be killed.

[Tog]

Strange that about the Germans revoking the clause, Bob Nudd did a piece the other week saying he had to get an offical to kill his fish at a recent German comp?

Anyone know the actual situation? (can't see the 'anti's giving in once they have got a law passed).

[Adz]

Nicely Said Malcolm and 'here here' mate.

 

Cheers,