why do we go sea angling?

[stavey]

is it man verses elements,or hunter gatherer,or relaxation, the chalenge of catching a lifetimes personel best, financial gains in competitions, or a cheap way to fill ones belly, that makes us go sea angling. maybe its a combination of all these things and more. yet the weakest of all the reasons being portrayed is the sport angling side of which one well known org is building its case to the government on, and the future protection of the bass. 99% of my local clubs 200+ members would not no the meaning of the word sport angling, they all use rods and tackle that drag three or so fish up the beach atached to a big lump of lead at the same time, not im sure you will agree very sporting at all. so my question is this, if we are going to use this as an arguement to fight are case and conservation, had'nt we better put are own house in order first? ie,promote the use of more sporting methods, put fish back like bass and mullet regardless of size and use catch and release methods for all matches starting with those under nfsa/samf rulings etc. world and national events would be a good start. being a conservation officer on my local commitee i have started to practice what i preach by not eating fish anymore and not participating in any competitions. some might say im taking it to far but to do otherwise, would be i feel, hypocritical.

[Bob on Stronsay]

We have discussed this before but maybe from a slightly different perspective. The trouble with your argument is you leave yourself open to the "anti's".

 

Once you are an exclusively a "Sport" fisherman then you have to say you inflict your sport or pleasure on a defenceless animal. I do put most of the fish I catch back but I reserve my right to feed my family and this is how you can justify my "sport".

 

On another point you make I know lots of people are into Bass and they can be slow growing but so are lots of species and as I have said I reserve my right to eat what I catch.

 

Bob

[Ken Davison South Wales]

I know a number of sport anglers and whilst they return a large proportion of their catch they do retain some for food.

 

I would fall into that category, but at the same time I enjoy the challenge and the enviroment.

 

I enjoy seeing large numbers of sea birds and their conservation is part of my hobby.

 

I do not fish competitions as I have no wish to gain money from my hobby. But I like the challenge of fishing with others and seeing how good or poor I am at catching fish.

 

When I do take home fish for the table I certainly feel no guilt, I have been selective with the fish I retain and do my up most to return the others without harm.

 

I think one has to take an overal view of angling and not try to categorize selected areas.

[kentangler]

Stavey, a cheap way to fill our bellies!! You must be joking! I reckon any fish caught for the table must be the most expensive food on the planet.

I am one of those odd chaps who does not agree with competitions. Angling is not about money grubbing for me.

It's about sunsets, wildlife, having a chat with a friendly angler, and if I'm lucky, a fish or two.

[sanctuary]

stavey your argument plays into the hands of the antis as Bob says if you fish for food you have some justification in fishing if you fish for sport (enjoyment) your inflicting unnecessary harm on fish in some peoples minds.

 

[ 05. April 2005, 06:24 PM: Message edited by: sanctuary ]

[rodbender]

I recently stareted a thread on this forum entitled "measure and release...the way foreward?", and this brought out the many opinions of anglers on the efforts made by angling and anglers to "put our house in order"

Firstly I think we (and the general public) have to be able to distinguish between :

 

ANGLING - A pleasurable pastime,practiced by many thousands of individuals, for many different reasons, on a daily basis, where a great deal of respect is held (by most) for the quarry, the environment, and the fellow angler.

 

FISHING - An excersise designed for profit making, practiced by a select few, whether for "commercial" or "sport" purposes, where the fish, the environment and the fellow fisherman are all neglected in favour of short term gain, whether financial or glory.

 

Can anglers really be seen to be putting their house in order when the people at the "top" represent a select few matchmen who, to me fall into the "fishing" rather than "angling" category?

 

Is it any wonder that so few ordinary anglers belong to Federations, when all they seem to be interested in is International teams?

 

Is it any wonder that attendances at most fishing competitions are falling when they're mostly run to 10,15,20cm size limits, for convenience rather than enjoyment?

[peterthefisherman]

I personally find it difficult to convey my feeling regarding the ethics of fishing. There are many things we could do to make ourselves more acceptable. Eg. stop complaining about commercials/seals/cormorants etc when we are killing fish merely to weigh them in for competetion.

To suggest improvements or controls on behaviour does not go down well with many other anglers as I have found when I broached this subject elsewhere to the extent that I wont even try again.

Would agree wholeheartedly with Kentangler And Ken on this subject. Also have to say that I love course fishing even though I would never be eating them - still dont think that makes me bad.

As I said I wouldn,t comment again :confused: :confused:

[peterthefisherman]

I read in the Daily Record on Friday that somebody won a competition with 48 Lb of doggies at Kirkcudbright. Can somebody please tell me how this was run ?? if the fish were released alive I think the article should have mentioned this.

[spasor]

Stavey.

This may sound strange to you. But if you`re so into conservation that you wont even eat fish.

Why the hell are you trying to catch them?

[stavey]

thanks for the feedback chaps some interesting comments made, from the jest of it it does seem sea angling/fishing/sport angling etc is a very diverse interest and this maybe the reason why we cant come together under the likes of the nfsa or any org to represent us.........