Organisation of fishing clubs...

[chesters1]

I have posted this before ,when Farnham introduced mandatory unhooking mats for all its members (previously it was for up to each angler (i had been using one for pike and carp for a couple of decades) there was many a swear word down the pond and the "i have been fishing for 60 years " and "i land fish to hand and unhook them over the net " etc,  at first the club let members use seat cushions or coats in bin liners to try and placate the 'older' members but most just carried on ignoring the rule .In the end only shop bought ones were acceptable but to stop me threatening eviction and removal of permits for those resisting change i pointed out they didnt have to be used it wasnt in the rule book only they needed to be on the swim with the angler i also pointed out they made great cushions and kept the rain off the seat if the angler went for a stroll . Things finally settled some used them for bigger crucian and tench some just carried them rolled up on display.

The biggest laugh was a polish angler having just joined the club had to have some rules explained , a landing net must be erected and one for each angler (he and a mate had one unerected one between them and still in the rod bag after i took 5 mins trying to explain what i was looking for ) but the biggest laugh was trying to explain unhooking mats " you need beds for fish ?" He said in broken english and i had to try and explain what they were used for with many gestures and pointing to rule books ,in the end i wrote what they needed on a bit of paper and told him to show it to the tackle shop he used . Next time i saw them both had fish beds and both had erected landing nets , They also had a nice barbie with 2 huge sausages on that almost hid the barbie under it, nothing wrong there they are banned on some club waters ( the NT ones) but not there ,on the way to the end of that bank one of the moaners (theres always some) complained they were eating the fish but ofcourse he hadnt actually gone near enough to see it wasnt the case, in his eyes "foreigners " plus "food " = fish ,i am happy to report not all eat fish especially under the eyes of the bailiff lol

One of the most ludicrous rules was the casting boundaries of a typical venue, poinless rule how does the bailiff know where your bait is if your ledgering and why have them at all if 95% of the pond is empty mid week ?

Edited June 28, 2022 by chesters1