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Are keepnets really so bad, if so why?


Emma two

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I match fished for many years, and can honestly say that the number of dead or injured fish I saw after a match, was very small. Those I did see, were ( I believe) mainly due to bad handling or deep hooking, not the responsible use of a keepnet.

My role at the time was to peg-out, weigh-in, and act as part of a litter patrol, so I walked the length several times before and after the match.

In those days though, matches were mostly won with a few pounds, not a few stone or even hundredweight like today.

 

John.

Angling is more than just catching fish, if it wasn't it would just be called 'catching'......... John

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I It goes without saying that big fish shouldn't be kept in a keepnet, doesn't it?)

 

 

Why does it?

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I would also like to add that some of the younger anglers on here take great delight in showing us there catch, each photographed as it’s caught, and that has to be a far better way than bagging them up. I highly commend them on this form of recording the catch, the Mobil phone camera is by far a safer method than a keep net!

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" You lose some you draw some"

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But, how do you know what happens to any fish once released? Match anglers often catch a lot of small fish, and small fish are relatively fragile. I can't see any way of knowing that a fish which is belly up after five hours in a (correctly used) net would not have snuffed it in the five hours after immediate release. Where people are weighing in big nets of fish of various sizes, it seems possible that the process of weighing could cause problems with crush injuries, but I've seen the odd dead fish when people have weighed in a pound of bits from a 10' keepnet.

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Why does it?

 

I assume because it causes less 'stress' to carry a fish a few yards from the water, lay it on an unhooking mat, unhook it, weigh it and pose for a few pictures, before taking it back to the water, to nurse it back to 'life' before letting it swim away.

 

John.

Edited by gozzer

Angling is more than just catching fish, if it wasn't it would just be called 'catching'......... John

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But, how do you know what happens to any fish once released? Match anglers often catch a lot of small fish, and small fish are relatively fragile. I can't see any way of knowing that a fish which is belly up after five hours in a (correctly used) net would not have snuffed it in the five hours after immediate release. Where people are weighing in big nets of fish of various sizes, it seems possible that the process of weighing could cause problems with crush injuries, but I've seen the odd dead fish when people have weighed in a pound of bits from a 10' keepnet.

 

Fair point Steve. However, if that was the case, I would expect to see many more distressed/dying/dead fish during a session than I do (which is none). All I can say for certain is that some fish are put into a keepnet healthy and are released dead or dying. Others are released with far fewer scales than they went in with.

 

Maybe some would have died anyway, but I personally doubt it (I've seen no evidence of it). The others would have kept their scales.

 

I'm not saying that all fish are killed or injured in a keepnet of course.

 

Emma, it's simply a matter of space. If you put 5 small roach into a normal sized keepnet, they have a decent amount of space. If you put 5 10lb carp into a keepnet they will have virtually none. I don't think it's fair on the fish to keep them in cramped conditions when there's no need. If you're using a keepnet to help a single big fish recover before releasing, well that's a different matter.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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I don't think there is enough evidence either way with keepnets as to whether they cause further stress/harm or not. I guess accepted sensible logic is that spiney fish (carp, barbel, perch etc) shouldn't be put in a keepnet, nor should predatory fish, or large specimens of any species except the smaller silvers (roach, rudd etc) and bream (need a BIG keepnet for those, of course). Companies have of course introduced certain alternatives - decent slings, keepnets made with a water-breathable material in place of mesh etc etc.

 

From a personal point of view, I think I've used a keepnet four or five times in 8-9 years and each time it was for short gudgeon matches I had with my fishing buddy. I've never owned a "proper" keepnet (for the aforementioned gudgeon matches we used large material tubes purpose built by my fishing buddy's dad) and probably never will. I briefly mentioned this in another thread, but my fishing buddy's dad was VERY forward thinking with angling conservation - in the mid to late 60s he and his "crew" had a passion for pike (a passion that stuck with him up to his death a few years ago) and, fed up with dealing with deep-hooked and barely alive fish, they did away with gags, closed the barbs on their trebles, struck as soon as bait started moving (general wisdom then was to leave the line spooling off for several minutes before striking) and also made their own knotless landing nets. They would then take a few quick snaps and put the pike straight back (normally any big fish were either killed, or kept in a landing net or bag resting in the shallows for unacceptable amounts of time). But their thinking extended to general coarse fishing as well - smaller knotless landing nets, closing the barbs, and, getting onto the point of this story, also completely dispensing with keepnets, an item they all thought was pretty unnecessary, which seemed like a ridiculous idea to other anglers on the same waters ("surely when you put the fish back, it'd just warn all its friends??!!?!?"). Now all that seems very sensible, but back then it was tantamount to angling sacreledge.

 

Anyway, he pretty much taught me how to fish and, as a result, I've never used and never seen the need to use a keepnet for anything other than a gudgeon match.

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I don't use or even own a keep-net but like livebaits, using trebles and barbed hooks and killing your catch, I fully support the anglers right to do so. Anglers are without doubt, the worst enemies anglers have. There is nothing wrong with trying to move the sport on. It's natural for any pastime to evolve but I cannot abide all the fluffy tackle bans or moves by clubs and waters that seem to crop up every single year. Now it's keep-nets. I mean for goodness sake, it's a temporary fishtank with holes in it and there's little harm in it, provided it's used properly. Why aren't we campaigning for the anglers right to use them before their, what appears to be, imminent ban comes into place.

 

Emma, use you keep-net and if anyone says different, you have my full support. I'll sign anything that keeps their use in place but I'd also support a nationwide campaign to ensure that every net sold has a proper instruction manual. I think that would the right thing to do.

 

Gozzer, you're a match angler who has more experience of these things that I have. Why don't you and Emma get together and draw up, what you think is the correct way to use a keep-net and then see to it that as many anglers as possible, sign a petition to keep their use in place?

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as a bailiff i only have concerns with fish being kept in hot weather in the shallows or for prolonged periods or containing a specimen fish longer than its needed to photograph it,i havnt used one for years myself but have no problems anyone else using them sensibly.

the problem really isnt keeping them in it but how they are taken out of it :(

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If someone wants to use a keepnet then so be it, it's their choice and if they want a picture of their PB I don't blame them after all they've probably spent enough money catching the thing. Using a keepnet shouldn't do fish any harm if it's used the way it's meant to be used. Holding fish in a net won't damage them it's bad handling, keeping them out of the water to long,deep hooking etc what does the damage. Look at stock fish for example there moved over and over and don't pop their cloggs. At the end of the day it's just common sense that's the problem not keep nets. By the way I don't use a keep net but it's because I just can't be arsed carrying one.

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