ANGLERS WITH KEEP NETS PLEASE NOTE

[Swift]

For the past several days, an incredibly fearless otter has been helping himself to the largest specimen fish being retained in angler's keep nets.  On Wednesday I watched an otter help himself from the same keepnet twice within minutes.  Yesterday the same otter helped himself from three different keep nets one after the other.  Sometimes he climbs up the keep net itself and at others he climbs up the quayheading first.  These events have taken place along a mile-long stretch of the River Thurne.  The otter pays no attention to people or to dogs.  

Regrettably, I know from experience that these forays for free meals are not always successful.  Last year we hauled a keepnet from the river which contained a young otter that had drowned in an attempt at a free lunch.

[fishtone]

If keep nets were banned except for match fishing this sort of thing would not happen.

[Wildfuzz]

My personal opinion is that keep nets are used to stroke the ego of fishermen, who at the end of the day or worse the week can haul out a bag of damaged and stressed fish to photograph and put on Facebook. I have fished for over 40 years and never had the need to store my catch.

 

i see the reason in match fishing as obviously the bag at the end of the day is what matters, but to me that is very different to a holiday haul. I have even seen keep nets towed along tied to a cruiser. Presumably to be added to at the next morning. How very sad.

[Bound2Please]

 I have even seen keep nets towed along tied to a cruiser. Presumably to be added to at the next morning. How very sad.

That is as bad if not worse than trawlers crushing undersized fish in nets that have under sized mesh. In my eyes more than very sad its down right against the grain of most anglers

 

Charlie

[Gracie]

Well said Charlie, "being towed along tied to a cruiser", is that not an offence? If not, it damn well should be.

Grace

 

[LadyPatricia]

IMHO, 5hrs is the MAX any fish should be kept in a keep net. I use to do a lot of match fishing and this was a rule around the lakes / rivers I fished. Some matches, if people were available, Nets would be emptied. and weighed every hour. 

 

Cheers

[BroadAmbition]

I no longer use keep nets, have not done so for years, but to my eternal shame I used to do so as a matter of course, then I got 'Re-educated'

Griff

[Gracie]

I understand the need for keep nets in matches, a good practice to weigh and release every hour when possible, what I don't understand is the pleasure angler keeping fish in nets over night and dragging the poor creatures along as they cruise just to get a good photo of how many fish they bagged that holiday. We fish regularly, have little family competitions and keep a count of how many we have caught, always releasing them immediately, trying to cause as little harm as possible. It makes my blood boil, it really does, this type of thing causes as much damage to the angling population as so called helmsman do to the hire brigade going through bridges without a Pilot

Grace

[smellyloo]

I too was once a keen angler and like everyone else used a keep net so that I could ogle my catch at the end of the day.

It never occured to me that it was cruel however I did become increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of hooking fish from the river for fun so I stopped fishing.

I'm not anti fishing but for me I decided I couldn;t justify this growing perception of cruelty for fun.

 

[ExUserGone]

I've never understood the need to hook and catch another creature that I wasn't going to eat, at least the eastern europeans everyone moans about tend to fish for the right reasons not just abusing a creature for fun, at least sea fishing you can take your catch home with you and have a good munch.

As you can guess I don't fish...

Edited August 23, 2015 by LeoMagill
Typo.

[Wildfuzz]

I've never understood the need to hook and catch another creature that I wasn't going to eat, at least the eastern europeans everyone moans about tend to fish for the right reasons not just abusing a creature for fun, at least sea fishing you can take your catch home with you and have a good munch.

As you can guess I don't fish...

I think you can eat most of the river fish, but we don't anymore, must be a fashion thing, Eels, pike carp etc. all are table fish. I recall that St Benet's Abbey was a reputable fish farm run by the monks in its day. As for our European cousins fishing for food, keep to the rules (correct tackle and license) and the criticism may be muted.....

[SteveO]

I think you can eat most of the river fish, but we don't anymore, must be a fashion thing, Eels, pike carp etc. all are table fish. I recall that St Benet's Abbey was a reputable fish farm run by the monks in its day. As for our European cousins fishing for food, keep to the rules (correct tackle and license) and the criticism may be muted.....

My mother is from a central European country where they eat what we call "coarse" fish with relish.  Where the fish have been caught in a river or lake with a muddy bottom, the flesh will taste muddy unless they are first purified in clean fresh water for a few days. I have eaten eel, pike, perch and zander abroad and found them to be perfectly palatable, if prepared properly.  This said, I don't advocate taking wild fish from the Broads for the table, nor do I support the use of keep nets for casual fishing.

 

Steve

[JennyMorgan]

Got to say that I think keepnets are as unacceptable in match fishing as they are in leisure fishing. As far as the fish is concerned whether an angler is fishing just for pleasure or taking part in a match is irrelevant, a keepnet is still a keepnet.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

I no longer use keep nets, have not done so for years, but to my eternal shame I used to do so as a matter of course, then I got 'Re-educated'

Griff

Why "to your eternal shame" Griff?. It`s no shame to lack knowledge, and is`nt that the basis for continually learning?. It`s what makes us human beings trying to better ouselves and our activities understanding, and behaviour.