Eating Perch...or any other prized species.

[Newt]

Does anyone using this forum eat hedgehogs or squirrels?

Aye. Squirrels. Takes a good few to make a meal but the skin is useful and they are certainly tasty.

 

Can't say about hedgehogs since I've never lived where they are common. Cat is moderately horrible as is the flesh of most pred animals so I'd only consider eating one if I was in dire need of food.

[Chris Goddard]

More fish are damaged by match anglers than are damaged by pleasure anglers, to my mind that's a simple and irrefutable fact.[/b]ps You will never get any personal abuse from me, but you will get my twopennerth if I disagree with you.

 

Well having read that I don't know what BOB wants to say, Myself?? I have never read such a load of carp in all my lfe!!! Errrmmmm just one word (Or perhaps two) Your PROOF???

 

Cannot comment on the rest as it is personal I feel!! And PERSONAL ATTACKS are too easily chucked about on here!!

[gozzer]

Perch live for around 16 years and top out in weight at around 5.11lb in the Uk. To take a 2lb perch home for tea would be taking a fine breeding fish thats eggs would be virile and fry would be strong.

I am amazed that anybody still eats course fish, as Ive been told they tast bad.

 

Sam your recent big perch was caught on live bait wasn't it? Whats the difference between someone taking a fish to eat, dispatching it humanely, and someone sticking a hook into live fish as bait for another fish? I think you said you used chub because they last longer, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

This whole argument is hypocritical in the extreme, as far as I know, nobody has said they would take a specimen fish, so what's the difference between the use of live baits and taking a fish to eat? Except more fish would be taken as live baits.

[Bob Bradford]

"Thats right Slodger.. ...match anglers practice catch and release so that they may catch their quarry again,and again and again... that makes perfect sense to a competition angler, catch and kill does not, I make no secret of the fact I fish for sport and not food and never have!! so what is your point?"

 

My point is very simple Bob. I think you should stop plying us with disgenuine claims that, unlike a catch-to-eat angler, you only have a fish's conservation in mind. It's arrant hypocrisy. More fish are damaged by match anglers than are damaged by pleasure anglers, to my mind that's a simple and irrefutable fact. Most of us don't have a problem with the associated risks of match angling, why should you have a problem with a sensible angler taking the odd fish for the pot? Completely legally I might add.

 

You seem incapable of seeing that your view is no different to that of an anti, in as much as you wish to curtail someone else's pleasure. In fact, IMO, your view is markedly less worthy than that of an anti, because you still wish to exploit fish to your own ends, while at the same time not wanting someone else to do the self same thing.

 

There's an absolute pile of you know what being talked about the implications to our fish stocks, of a few anglers, taking a few fish for the table. The implications are considerably less than those that are put on those stocks by general angling, because there are thousands more anglers practising C-A-R than there are anglers who enjoy the odd coarse fish for the table. And I'm sure you're aware in reality that no angler in their right mind would be likely to advocate the killing of either 20lb pike or two pound roach, or any other specimen sized fish purely for the table.

 

I've said before, and I'll repeat, I do not eat coarse fish myself. However, I don't flyfish for salmon either, yet I'd still defend another anglers right to. Your message seems loud and clear to me Bob:

 

"Don't do as I do, do as I say!"

 

ps You will never get any personal abuse from me, but you will get my twopennerth if I disagree with you.

 

So , more fish are damaged by match anglers than pleasure anglers slodger? would you care to produce the facts and figures for me to digest? or is this just another un-truth that has manifested itself in the mind?

 

Disgenuine claims? I think you should re-read my posts, I make no secret of the fact I exploit fish for my own pleasure..BUT I do not end their lives and stop others enjoying the thrill of capturing them , I conserve fish to be caught again, that is what I mean by conservation, I thought I made that point perfectly clear.

 

My views are less worthy than an anti's? By catching and releasing EVERY fish I most certainly am not curtailing other anglers pleasure... how is killing a specimen fish to eat enhancing this?

 

A few anglers taking fish for the pot? how many is a few? do you have the facts and figures for that one too?

 

Sensible anglers would not dream of taking a 20lb pike? are you saying these specimen fish are NEVER removed for the table? I do not think sensible comes into the equation.

 

And finally, Don't do as I do, do as I say? well I say , do not kill our natural fish stocks for food, and I DO NOT!!! how is that hypocritical?

Edited April 10, 2006 by Bob Bradford

[GlennB]

Hmmmm - let's ask what fisheries have ever been damaged by taking fish for food ....

N Sea herring virtually wiped out, N Atlantic cod seriously depleted, bass threatened.... and so on. People with more knowledge than me can probably build up a lengthy list in no time. It seems the world's seas are being mechanically swept clean of fish for the table.

And here we have people getting very irate about taking the occasional pike or perch???? Makes no sense to me.

[slodger]

"Well having read that I don't know what BOB wants to say, Myself?? I have never read such a load of carp in all my lfe!!! Errrmmmm just one word (Or perhaps two) Your PROOF??? "

 

I've been in the sport for a number of years, and I know a lot of match anglers. I've seen the damage caused with my own eyes. Fish tipped unceremoniously into WIRE baskets, fish kept in over crowded keepnets, fish TIPPED back from waist high into the water once the scales have been read and the inevitable dead or dying fish that invariably festoon my local rivers following matches. I'm sure there are plenty of considerate matchmen, unfortunately the very nature of the sport demands less consideration is given to the catch. That's my opinion, whether it rankles with you or not!

 

As for my post to Bob being personal, of course it was, how does anyone reply to anothers post without it having a 'personal' element? If you take the trouble to read what I've written properly you'll notice that I said that Bob would get no personal abuse from me. I think it's pretty obvious that I'm talking about.... well... personal abuse funnily enough! Show me where I've offered Bob one single insult, and I'll gladly apologise to him.

[Bob Bradford]

Hmmmm - let's ask what fisheries have ever been damaged by taking fish for food ....

N Sea herring virtually wiped out, N Atlantic cod seriously depleted, bass threatened.... and so on. People with more knowledge than me can probably build up a lengthy list in no time. It seems the world's seas are being mechanically swept clean of fish for the table.

And here we have people getting very irate about taking the occasional pike or perch???? Makes no sense to me.

 

Not by anglers though Glenn!! and for the record I am not getting "very irate"...more frustrated and surprised by my fellow anglers I think!

[GlennB]

Not by anglers though Glenn!! ....

No, they're taken on behalf of "fish eaters". That cod+chips has done a lot of damage over the years. It's a huge world-wide problem, whereas freshwater fish depletion through taking the occasional one for the pot is *not*.

Bob, in an earlier post I asked how German freshwaters were doing given their draconian angling laws. Do you have any information on this?

[Sharkbyte]

Hmmmm - let's ask what fisheries have ever been damaged by taking fish for food ....

N Sea herring virtually wiped out, N Atlantic cod seriously depleted, bass threatened.... and so on. People with more knowledge than me can probably build up a lengthy list in no time. It seems the world's seas are being mechanically swept clean of fish for the table.

And here we have people getting very irate about taking the occasional pike or perch???? Makes no sense to me.

 

The whole reason I am contributing on a coarse forum is because my winter sport at sea has been all but annihilated.

 

May go some way to explain why I am so p1ssed at the promoting of 'taking the occasional pike or perch' on here.

 

Incase anyone has forgotten the initial discussion was started by a poster recommending the taking of 2lb+ perch to eat on another thread.

[slodger]

"Sensible anglers would not dream of taking a 20lb pike? are you saying these specimen fish are NEVER removed for the table? I do not think sensible comes into the equation."

 

I think you know as well as I do that no angler, that's 'angler' would dream of taking a 20lb pike for the table. If for no other reason than the perception that it would be past it's best in terms of being an appetising meal. Let's not confuse two very seperate issues here, we're not debating the wrongs and rights of illegal fish removal by people who have no other agenda than to catch fish for food. That's a completely different issue. All I'm defending is the everyday angler's right to take something home for his supper occasionally.

 

As for my knowing how many anglers fish for the pot, well let's say I haven't met one who's kept a fish for eating for as long as I can remember. So I think that gives you an idea of the scale of the perceived threat. You can revel in melodrama if you like, the truth is that they are a small minority. I only wish I did enjoy the experience of eating coarse fish, because if I did, then there'd be one more. I can't think of a better justification for heading off to the river myself.