2+2 does equal 4.

[Anderoo]

Maybe Nige was planning to eat them?

 

This sort of thing doesn't show pikers in the best light, and I hope the punishment fits the crime. There really is no excuse for behaviour like that.

[Dave Lumb]

I'm not taking sides on this but, my slant on Bobs post was that, after being ridiculed, and told that it didn't happen,( not on this thread but on several similar ones), then at last something had happened that proved his case.

 

It has not proved Bob's case that fish are being removed on a large scale for sale as dead baits. All it has shown is that two pike anglers are prepared to take 200 or so fish across national borders without the neccessary certification.

[Sportsman]

It has not proved Bob's case that fish are being removed on a large scale for sale as dead baits. All it has shown is that two pike anglers are prepared to take 200 or so fish across national borders without the neccessary certification.

 

Exactly

[gozzer]

It did prove that not all pike anglers are as squeaky clean as some would make us believe, even so called high profile ones. They are no different to any other branch of angling, all styles have an element that abuse the rules and risk fisheries for their own benefit.

 

As for the removal of large quantities of fish, for what ever reason. I have received some information which would seem to back up Bobs views on the boat shed incident. This is not MI5 stuff but I have been asked not to make the info' public, and I feel that I must respect the persons wishes. Suffice it to say that, while I don't fully agree with the fish all being used and sold as baits, I can now see how the removal of large numbers of fish is possible in the situation.

[Sportsman]

It did prove that not all pike anglers are as squeaky clean as some would make us believe, even so called high profile ones. They are no different to any other branch of angling, all styles have an element that abuse the rules and risk fisheries for their own benefit.

 

As for the removal of large quantities of fish, for what ever reason. I have received some information which would seem to back up Bobs views on the boat shed incident. This is not MI5 stuff but I have been asked not to make the info' public, and I feel that I must respect the persons wishes. Suffice it to say that, while I don't fully agree with the fish all being used and sold as baits, I can now see how the removal of large numbers of fish is possible in the situation.

 

 

Sorry

It proved that these two did what they did. That is all it proved.

It may lead you to suspect that others are also doing things like this, and your suspicions may be correct but when you use words like "prove" then it has to be accurate.

Edited May 22, 2006 by Sportsman

[gozzer]

Sorry, but what it has proved (to my satisfaction at least), is that anglers, are their own worst enemy.

That they will pedantly demand that every I be dotted and every t crossed, rather than admit that there are some bad apples within their ranks. I'm afraid that my polarized glasses aren't rose tinted. During my days as a match angler I saw some bad handling of fish, likewise in my short lived piking days and just about every other phase I've gone through in nearly 50yrs of angling, fresh and salt water both. Some have done it for money, some for 'fame', some for a mixture of both, and some through sheer ignorance and stupidity. But all aspects of angling have a (hopefully) minority, who will stoop to any depth to achieve their aims.

 

I haven't cast a float in anger for some time now, and before that, my sessions were mainly done alone. I can look back and see why now. The sheer determination of some anglers I have met, to undermine other branches of angling, by word and deed, because it clashes with or doesn't come up to the 'standard' of their own, never ceases to amaze me.

[Sportsman]

Sorry, but what it has proved (to my satisfaction at least), is that anglers, are their own worst enemy.

That they will pedantly demand that every I be dotted and every t crossed, rather than admit that there are some bad apples within their ranks. I'm afraid that my polarized glasses aren't rose tinted. During my days as a match angler I saw some bad handling of fish, likewise in my short lived piking days and just about every other phase I've gone through in nearly 50yrs of angling, fresh and salt water both. Some have done it for money, some for 'fame', some for a mixture of both, and some through sheer ignorance and stupidity. But all aspects of angling have a (hopefully) minority, who will stoop to any depth to achieve their aims.

 

I haven't cast a float in anger for some time now, and before that, my sessions were mainly done alone. I can look back and see why now. The sheer determination of some anglers I have met, to undermine other branches of angling, by word and deed, because it clashes with or doesn't come up to the 'standard' of their own, never ceases to amaze me.

 

Who on earth said there were no bad apples in angling and if you have ever read any of my posts then you would have to agree that rose tinted glasses are not a feature. As for insisting that Is are dotted or Ts crossed, that is not the point.

When someone says that because two people get caught doing something wrong it "proves" that everyone else needs to get their house in order, it is just plain wrong.

A postman gets caught stealing from the mail, does this prove that all postmen are thieves? no, it proves only that the one who was caught was. You may well suspect that there are other postmen stealing from the mail. You may be correct in this belief, but this case does not "prove" that to be the case.

I am sure that some pike anglers take fish to use as livebait and in the process illegally stock or transport live fish, just as I am sure that some match anglers cheat, or that some match anglers are guilty of poor fish handling or that some specimen anglers bend the rules and so on and so on but this case does not "prove" any of that.

BTW this is the first time I have mentioned other forms of angling, that accusation was made in the original post that I quoted.

 

P.S. My apologies to Postmen everywhere, I used this only as an example and have no wish to suggest that ANy postman has ever done anything wrong>

Edited May 22, 2006 by Sportsman

[gozzer]

The "us and them" statement was aimed at a continuing theme that runs through many posts on here.

 

We all seem to agree that the illegal taking and transportation of fish happens, it's the scale of it that we disagree on. Your own words state your view.

 

"As I said, my house is, and always has been, in order, and I am sure that I could say the same for just about every Pike angler in the country."

 

My own experiences prove to me that, it is more widespread than you may think, and by all branches of angling.

 

I never said that the two 'high profile' anglers getting caught, proves anything other than pike angling not being as squeaky clean as some would have us believe.

 

Just read through past threads, and see the number of denials, followed by a quick put down of the other persons branch of angling, and you might see the point I'm attempting to make.

 

These things happen, it's a fact we all know, and the practise of turning a blind eye by some does nothing to make that any less true.

[RPM]

Whooah!!

 

I am a new member to this site and have recently returned to what I believed to be the wonderful sport we call angling. And how dissapointed am I that there seems to be such animosity, political nonsense and catfighting amongst the people who represent our sport together with such a dilution of skills and a destruction of environment.

 

I dont know the ins and out of some of these clearly nerve touching issues and quite frankly, dont wish to; nor do i want to touch any others. I may be looking at things through rose tinted glasses but what happened to the friendly, sometimes innocent sport that we choose to follow where the day spent with like minded enthusiasts with the common good in mind was just as important as catching 100lb of homogenised vertibrates.

 

Match fishing has always been competitive but stocking lakes or ponds the size of my back garden so that you have to be using a stick and cotton wool not to catch anything is beside me. The fish practically jump onto the hook; where's the skill in that. A local, beautiful pond where I fished happily some two years ago has been demolished with all the trees cut down and fish netted to be replace by a featureless, soulless puddle with nothing but three pound carp as inhabitants. This seems to have been replicated throughout the land.

 

Technology is a great thing but some of the new applications in fishing are rediculous. I accept that you cant halt progress but the whole point, surely, of sport in general is to be challenged, yet much of the new offerings in terms of baits and rigs dont really give the fish a chance any more. Whats the point in spending time on the bank when the greatest challenge that you are to face is how hard the fish is going to pull. If this is the best you can hope for then surely it would be better and cheaper for the participant to join a tug'o'war club. Isnt the anticipation of the chase as thilling as the catch yet all the anticipation seems to have been all but 'scienced-out'. In my humble view, we have a sport which demands great patience and watercraft (sadly not always in my case, but I am still trying) yet commericialism and consequently notoriety of the big one or net full seem to have taken over since my last departure in the late eighties.

 

Litter and discarded tackle/line left by thoughtless ba$^%£rds for both birds and mammals to damage themselves on makes my blood boil and the way some people handle fish just doenst make sense to me. At the heart of fishing is surely the combination of the wonderful environment and its delicate ecosystem we are priviledged to enjoy together with catching the fish, yet sterile banksides with rats and crisp bags for companions is not how I remember fishing. After all without natures best, we dont have a sport.

 

And you may well be wondering why on earth I have replied to this thread when what I have said so far has nothing to do with it. This brings me back to my point I guess. Illegal taking and moving of fish!!! What on earth is this all about? For the newish people reading this arcticle they must think we have joined some kind of loony bin forum. It is so ridiculous to hear that it takes my breath away, proof or no proof. The fact that someone has even though about it and someone is talking about it is beyond me. It shouldnt feature, period. In my opinion, fishing has lost its way in all forms. The people who are involved with the sport as movers and shakers or perhaps the ordinary masses need to take a long hard look at what brought them to the sport in the first place and try and return to the essence of angling.

 

Sorry for the rant guys and girls, nothing personal, just the views of an ordinary angler with arguably outdated, romantic ideals.

 

Come back fishing, all is forgiven.

[ColinW]

I used to be a member of a club whose water had a good stock of roach, bream and pike. By day the matchmen would be throwing pike up the bank and by night the pike anglers would be scooping out roach with their landing nets to take on their travels. It always reminded me of this Billy Connoly sketch.

 

http://media.putfile.com/Football-violence...gers-and-Celtic