choo choo, Fairbrass edits his comments!

[Phone]

Steve,

 

AWESOME is something Americans use to describe everything.

Oh wow it's just awesome. The river is flooding just awesome. The river is - and is - and is - and-----

What the 'ell is an awesome river?

Phone

[Anderoo]

My rivers have been totally decimated by otters, to the point where it's pointless fishing them any more.

 

At least, that's what everyone keeps telling me, both on forums and in person on the bank.

[Anderoo]

As for DF, if he keeps u-turning like that he'll have dug himself another hole to fence.

[gozzer]

All,

 

I think you Britons are eating to much milled grain. At least Worms and gozzer can be sanctimonious since the good old days will NEVER return. Just to name a few reasons: - human population growth and food consumption, energy use, land use changes, and pollution are driving forces in how to best serve the profound changes in families, behaviors and environmental responsibility associated with C&R angling. Rhetorically, Why do you suppose there is so much resistance to the changing recreational habits of millions of kids and families that don't necessarily want to dedicate their lives to angling - but rather go fishing occasionally.

 

Just me - and I suspect this is off topic but I find my "favorite" water drying up, or at least being manipulated (channeling) more than I find a lack of species balance.

 

Isn't this like arguing against cell phones - how about we limit mobility to walking? Urbanization on small islands requires controls.

 

As for carp - since 1972 I have offered to "agree" carp in natural habitat muddy water if someone can offer a SINGLE scientific study to that end - - - I'm still waiting.

 

Phone

 

As far as I can remember, it's the first time I've ever been called sanctimonious Phone. Mmm, hypocritical, feeling morally superior to others, preaching one thing, and doing another. Are you sure you know the meaning of the word, or is it, as I suspect, you put your own interpretation on my words? I speak out against greatly overstocked 'fisheries', I don't like them, and never use them. I certainly don't feel superior to others, either morally, or in any other way you can think up. Any thoughts in that direction says more about your perception of my words, than my intention when posting them.

 

Is it wrong to want a kind of equal choice for the UK anglers? Is it wrong to want to protect the native species of this country? Is it also wrong to want to try and keep at least some semblance of 'naturalness' in and around our waters? If you answer yes to these questions, then ok, I'm wrong, in your mind.

 

Oh, and on the subject of carp muddying the water. I remember a post on here from the 'leading authority on two continents, of all things carp related'. He said that stocking carp in large numbers does cause turbid water. Whether that is classed as a "natural habitat", I'm not sure, I'll have to ask him. Well does it Phone?

 

John.

[Andy Macfarlane]

 

What the 'ell is an awesome river?

Phone

 

 

It's a river that creates a sense of awe....

[Steve Walker]

Or which has awe-inspiring fishing!

 

Maybe I'm easily awed.

 

Anyway, bottom line, the Thames and Bristol Avon systems still offer some absolutely excellent fishing and are far from having gone to "rack and ruin". If there are issues, they are mostly with abstraction.

[RelaxGod]

The river I fish is unchanged, carp are still needle in a haystack, been getting less Chub the last few years but it's hard to tell from one person's point of view and these things tend to go in cycles anyway.

 

A local river had a population of otters until they fenced off the man made privately stocked lake, they moved into the local town center now, guess it's easier to find food there.

[Dales]

These threads always interest me and I tend to find myself offering an alternative view as much just to offer some sort of debate as most threads would just be the AN faithful dissing the Carp machine. One thing that does stand out in these sort of debates is how different waters and the social conditions are from place to place.

 

I have 2 "awsome" natural waters around 40 minutes drive from me Hooks March and Seventy Acre lake. They look nice other then the aesthetics are spoiled a little by electricity pylons. Low stock waters that have double figure Bream & Tench and a few big Pike & Carp, both considered hardish waters but available on cheap club tickets and you can night fish them.

 

So what is there not to like? They are open to the public, dog walkers and general hoi polloi and so are considered a bit chancy to night fish and so they get neglected. Potential "fallow" lakes? There are other waters only a stones throw away that contain similar stocks and many not as good but they are fenced and so can command high ticket prices and long waiting lists.

 

The Otter scare stuff does annoy me a little but i do feel that at least in some areas of the country the future of still water angling does lie behind fences. Whether they are created to keep Otters, poachers, muggers or general riff raff out it amounts to the same thing. If you currently fish nice open natural waters with no negative social issues then it stands to reason that the mere mention of Dan and his fence plan will cause outrage. However if you live in a part of the country when open to the public means its a hassle to fish, enclosing waters does not sound like the worst idea in fishing.

 

 

 

[Steve Walker]

I don't have a problem with fencing. It's more the process of aggressively acquiring mixed fisheries and turning them into carp-only venues I don't like the sound of.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Mmmmmm....fence. It's a beautiful thing.