Idiot Anglers

[Bob Bradford]

Please do not patronise me Rabbit, I happen to believe that anglers are a soft touch in this Country, we are always accepting this or that, to please misguided and foolish people, I will stand and fight the anglers corner,not willy nilly, accept the blame for the stupidity of others that are not anglers, but do indulge from time to time in our great sport/pastime.

 

We (as anglers) must make it clear to the non angling public, that the person/s responsible are in no way representative of anglers, they are allowed to purchase items of tackle and fish with it ONLY because there is no legislation in place to prevent them, THAT DOES NOT MAKE THEM AN ANGLER.

 

It is time anglers got some backbone and defended our sport more rigorously, instead of meekly accepting the blame for the morons of this world, and you and a few other misguided people on this forum need to stop doing our sport a disservice, by accepting the blame, anglings defence is seriously undermined and you are actually helping the anti's, please understand this vital point.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Bob Bradford

[Steve Walker]

I will not be tarred with the same brush as the scum that did this, purely by association, just because an item of tackle was discarded by a river, by an individual, does not make that individual an ANGLER

 

Unfortunately it's the guy wielding the brush who does the tarring. We don't get to make up the definitions.

 

I'm afraid it's the "No True Scotsman" fallacy, and I don't think it will cut any ice with the general public.

[Guest rabbit]

Bob

You assume that I am misguided with others on this forum, about what? That a discarded lure was found by a dog or who or whatever, it could have been a child, then the antis really would have had a field day. I care about this sport as much as anybody., and I am not the sort of person to stand aside when I see wrong doings. But thats the problem isn't it too many people do, if we were all more proactive on the banks then the problem with litter and bad behaviour would diminish. We really as adults need to act as such stand up against the yobs that ruin our lives.

As a member of any angling club we have a right to check 'tickets' and to uphold the club rules especially on litter, but its not done, because we prefer to look away, well I dont and nor should any member.

So please don't call me misguided ...

[thejesmonddingo]

I have to agree with rabbit here,my local reservoir is littered with discarded deadbait packs,hooks,line and other angling rubbish.Have PET@ taken to real guerilla action,or is it really that some anglers are slobs,who can't be bothered to clean up their own crap?Why not take a rubbish bag and take it home with you?

[chappers]

This needs to be put in proportion.

 

Whilst it is sad that the dog got the lure caught in its mouth the facts are

 

1. the old boy is a whinging old git who, if he is concerned about his dog picking up such items should walk him somewhere not used by fishermen, he should also take responsibility for not supervising his dog, when ever I walk my dog off the lead I never let him go out of my sight ( though for this old git it probably means keeping him within 2 foot of his nose)

 

2.Who says the lure was purposely discarded, I have lost items of tackle without realising it, just as we all drop or lose things in our everyday life, small children cut themselves on broken glass everyday, but do we see it adorning the papers ?

 

3. There are good and bad out there in the angling world just as there are in everyday life, because Fred West came from gloucester does every man in gloucester immediately get acussed of murdering their children?

 

Storm in a teacup would be the best way to sum this up

[Guest rabbit]

This needs to be put in proportion.

 

Whilst it is sad that the dog got the lure caught in its mouth the facts are

 

1. the old boy is a whinging old git who, if he is concerned about his dog picking up such items should walk him somewhere not used by fishermen, he should also take responsibility for not supervising his dog, when ever I walk my dog off the lead I never let him go out of my sight ( though for this old git it probably means keeping him within 2 foot of his nose)

 

2.Who says the lure was purposely discarded, I have lost items of tackle without realising it, just as we all drop or lose things in our everyday life, small children cut themselves on broken glass everyday, but do we see it adorning the papers ?

 

3. There are good and bad out there in the angling world just as there are in everyday life, because Fred West came from gloucester does every man in gloucester immediately get acussed of murdering their children?

 

Storm in a teacup would be the best way to sum this up

Chappers

By calling the dog owner a whinging old git is hardly going to gain support from the neutral, we cannot bury our heads in the sand, we as anglers need to be more responsible, and I would like to think that message would go out to all who read these posts.

[Gaz51]

For my two penn'orth.

 

Sometimes anglers are their own worst enemies.

I fish a private members only water. The water is surrounded by high fencing with a permanently locked iron gate. (members hold keys to gain access.)

I haven't fished it for a while but did call in the other day for a quick look round.

 

In short it's in a pretty bloody disgraceful state!!

 

Empty sweetcorn, meat tins, discarded bread wrappers, bottles and allsorts of unwanted packaging fishing related.

The point I'm making is that as a members only venue what hope is there for public access venues if it's left in a state such as I found it to be in the other day! I left there with a couple of bin liners full of crap and deposited them in one of the several wheelie bins PROVIDED ON SITE !!!

 

I was bloody livid I can tell you!

[Guest rabbit]

For my two penn'orth.

 

Sometimes anglers are their own worst enemies.

I fish a private members only water. The water is surrounded by high fencing with a permanently locked iron gate. (members hold keys to gain access.)

I haven't fished it for a while but did call in the other day for a quick look round.

 

In short it's in a pretty bloody disgraceful state!!

 

Empty sweetcorn, meat tins, discarded bread wrappers, bottles and allsorts of unwanted packaging fishing related.

The point I'm making is that as a members only venue what hope is there for public access venues if it's left in a state such as I found it to be in the other day! I left there with a couple of bin liners full of crap and deposited them in one of the several wheelie bins PROVIDED ON SITE !!!

 

I was bloody livid I can tell you!

Sad state of affairs Gaz, one occasion that anglers can only blame themselves

[Bob Bradford]

Interesting! It would appear I am defending the indefensible, most ,if not all ,anglers are moronic , uncaring , slobs and vandals! Well you live and learn don't you? I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty (the Norfolk Broads) it is a wild,largely untamed expanse of waterways, visited in the summer by hordes of the above mentioned morons, I have always known this, I was hoping to be proved wrong in my theory, but alas it does not seem so.

 

I have witnessed many,many acts of vandalism and stupidity over the years whilst out fishing my local waters by other "anglers" on or off the Broads cruisers, this Country has gone to the dogs (excuse the pun).

[Guest Ferret1959]

Dunno what all the fuss is??

 

I take my dog for a walk down the river but need to get there by walking the footpath.

 

Broken beer bottles all over the place.

Do I go to the nearest pub or off licence and blame them?

 

Why should anglers get blamed for the odd bit of rubbish?

 

The river at the end of my road has all sorts of crap drift down and snag on trees, locks and obsticles, looks like a refuse tip after a flood.

 

I would say if the banks are controlled by a fishing club then they should keep the place clean and tidy, anyone found littering or fouling the place should simlpy be reported as they are breaking the law.

If it angler or dog owner they are not exempt from prosicution.

 

All this explodes out of proportion because the press need someting to do.

 

The newspaper who did the article should be give a number of news reports about litter louts discarding the plastic bit that hold 6 packs of beer together, one of the biggest wildlife killers going.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Ferret1959