Fears for Broads Pike

[wsmlewy]

Serious Gaff wounds. Why the feck are people gaffing pike. SOme people make me sick.

serus gaff wounds gaffing who the hell uses one of them coarse fishing i thought they were for landing sea fish on boats?

i agree does make me sick aswell

[gozzer]

It does seem a little paradoxical to bemoan pressure and handling of Pike then talk up the chances of The Broads producing another 40lb'er.

 

http://www.btinternet.com/~bjh35/ncatch/08/jan08/jan4.htm

 

I have nothing against angling guides as long as they use their time on the water well and spread the load on a fishery rather than hammering certain areas as a few certainly do..

 

I can't see the point of 'professional angling guides' in England.

I can see that in certain areas of the world, they might serve a purpose, but even that can lead to undue pressure on waters and fish, and all for commercial gain.

Who uses them in the UK? (and I don't mean gillies on a salmon beat).

Have we come to a stage where some anglers have lost the ability to work things out for themselves? Where they have to be led to a water, shown what tackle and bait to use? And are then willing to pay for the service!!!

What happened to 'sussing' it out for yourself, or just asking a few locals how it's fishing?

 

Please tell me I'm not that out of touch.

 

John.

[DavyR]

Please tell me I'm not that out of touch.

 

A number of factors at work here, I think:

 

Pressures of modern "money rich, time poor, instant results required, let's take a short-cut" society

 

Culture of "celebrity worship"

 

Possibly a desire on the part of some anglers for a "confidence booster" after being demoralised by a succession of blanks?

[gozzer]

A number of factors at work here, I think:

 

Pressures of modern "money rich, time poor, instant results required, let's take a short-cut" society

 

Culture of "celebrity worship"

 

Possibly a desire on the part of some anglers for a "confidence booster" after being demoralised by a succession of blanks?

 

 

Where's the fun or sense of achievement in the first on your list?

 

I can believe the second, some people are gullible enough to believe anything said by a 'name'.

 

Blanking is a part of angling, it adds to it, and you learn from it. (Or at least you should do).

 

What your really saying Davy, is that I am that out of touch, isn't it?

 

John.

[DavyR]

What your really saying Davy, is that I am that out of touch, isn't it?

 

Not at all, John - I completely agree with you on the subject of angling guides. I'm just trying to come up with reasons why others might want to use them.

[Dick Dastardly]

When I guided full time as a proffesional catfish guide I could understand the reasons people used our service. As people would be travelling a long way to fish it made sense to use our "local" knowledge.It was also far simpler (and less expensive) for them to use our boats and even the specialist tackle we would supply. When you fish with a guide he to a certain extent "catchs" the fish for you.No way that can be denied.Often I would rig up the tackle,bait the hook,place the bait in the area that my experience had shown me to.I would then tell them when to set the hook (even sometimes doing it for them) and with many even after all this I would tell them when to wind and when not to! Not my idea of fishing but there you go!

 

I have however learned one thing from this and often when I go abroad to a country to fish a new venue I to employ a local guide for the most important thing he has to offer ie "local knowledge".Most "away" trips suffer from the same limitation and that is lack of time.Makes sense to make the best use of the time youve got to me.

 

One strange thing I found from my guiding though was the "repeat customer" these were guys who had been out with us so many times there wasnt really that much new I could show them.I often asked why they kept booking up with us and now they new the score didnt "go it alone"? Two main things came to the front.Firstly a lot of them said that due to the pressure (time wise) of their jobs it was just so much easier to use us and allow us to do the preperation for them.Others also said that they actually enjoyed our company and knowledge and being with us was very much a part of their trip.

 

I can understand people wanting instruction in the UK and its a shame that this isnt more the norm especially in some specialist areas where "learning the hard way" is often only "hard" on the fish themselves.I can to a certain extent understand people using guides/skippers for the use of a boat as well.Well initially to once again learn the ropes anyway.

 

I dont like the idea of people using guides/being guides for a species such as Pike though that suffer so badly from fishing pressure.I would have a right problem if people were running a full time guiding service for "outsiders" on my waters! Especially if these guides were then (as we have here) proffessing to care about their target species and complaining about pressure on them!

[gozzer]

I can understand people wanting instruction in the UK and its a shame that this isnt more the norm especially in some specialist areas where "learning the hard way" is often only "hard" on the fish themselves.I can to a certain extent understand people using guides/skippers for the use of a boat as well.Well initially to once again learn the ropes anyway.

 

I don't like the idea of people using guides/being guides for a species such as Pike though that suffer so badly from fishing pressure.I would have a right problem if people were running a full time guiding service for "outsiders" on my waters! Especially if these guides were then (as we have here) proffessing to care about their target species and complaining about pressure on them!

 

I can understand how instruction could be useful to a beginner to angling itself, or a different discipline within angling. But I fail to see the point in hiring a 'guide' to help you locate and catch the freshwater species we have.

It seems to me like hiring a golf professional to play the round for you, so long as you can tap the ball the last few inches into the hole. You would get round the course quicker, if that's all you wanted.

 

John.

[Dick Dastardly]

IMO your right John! Yes there are obviously varying levels but as I said it really is often the guide that catchs the fish and all the angler does is wind the reel!

 

That may sound very condesending to a lot of people who kept me in a good standard of living for several years but facts are facts.

 

Which ever venue/country I was working at the time the first real day (as in fishing as opposed to travelling) of a trip I would basicly run the customers through the equipment/methods and routine of how we would fish.I would tell them in no uncertain terms about the realities of guided fishing.I would however offer them the two alternatives.Firstly I would gladly do every thing for them from making the tea through driving the car/boat to taking their trophy shot.After all they had paid for my services to do such.I then pointed out the relative lack of merit they would really gain from any captures.The second (and Im glad to say the one chosen by the majority of UK customers) was "to come fishing with me" by this I meant help get the gear ready after I had shown them my favoured way,help launch/recover the boat etc etc in fact to really be a part of the fishing trip process.I would be on hand at all times to show the way ,answer questions or help out etc but they would have a lot more input.

 

In general I found that most who opted for the second option got a lot more out of the trip regardless of what was caught.Some I reckon deserved their captures nearly as much as if they had done it all them selves and as such were far more meritable captures.A bit more like going with a mate who knew the score rather than paying a guide to do it all,and how many of us have caught fish thanks to a mate/another anglers help and knowledge?

Edited February 7, 2008 by BUDGIE

[Peter Waller]

Fears about Broads pike stocks are very real indeed. Over the last three years stocks have shown a marked decline. I fished my local Broad on Saturday, and some might say that I did well. Numerically yes, very good, but 2 to 3 pound jacks galore.

[Mark Crame]

"Professional Angling Guides" ????? If these guys weren't showing people where the pike are, and anglers had to find their own fish, then there would be less pressure on the pike to start out with. You can't have it both ways.

 

Full agreement from me on that.

 

Fears about Broads pike stocks are very real indeed. Over the last three years stocks have shown a marked decline. I fished my local Broad on Saturday, and some might say that I did well. Numerically yes, very good, but 2 to 3 pound jacks galore.

 

Seems you have done way better on there than everyone else Peter, nobody seems to be having any success at all at present. I've had one to a trolled lure since the start of the year. I've found them 'elsewhere' in good numbers and to a good size but sod all on the Broad or dyke.