ONLY A MONTH TO THE GLORIOUS 16th

[Guest]

Now where did I leave them maggotts!

JohnT

[RedRover]

Now where did I leave them maggotts!

JohnT

And me JT,not long now.

[RedRover]

Less than 14 days now to the BIG cast off on the broads,anyone ready for it.I am.

[Happy Jax 3]

Can't wait.

[RedRover]

Can't wait.

Did not know you fished Col?

[donnygeoff]

I will have to wait untill the 19th, but hey ho, thats life.

Been doing a bit on the local ponds though, just to keep my hand in.

[Guest]

I used to fish a lot in the latter half of the last century but got increasingly disallusioned and concerned about cruelty and so stopped.

Time moves on and i'm sure some of my concerns have been addressed.

1) As a teenager I would get a great deal of joy from catching a bag of small roach, rudd etc. Frequently men would enquire about the catch and when revealed they would ask to take them for live bait. Feeling it foolish to decline they would normally walk away with a bucket full of fish.

2) Joining a local angling club as a junior member I was introduced to the pleasures of live baiting for pike. Even as a youngster it didn't take me long to find the cruelty of plunging hooks through the flesh of live fish unaccetable.

3) Pike lures (spinners etc) would frequently carry multiple large barbed tripple hooks, i'm sure these must damage the mouths and throats of pike and perch.

Now don't get me wrong I am not anti-fishing and would hate it to go the way of fox hunting. I am still tempted to give it a go although it has to be said it would mainly be an excuse to spend hours sitting by the waterside not doing much.

But have things changed?

[donnygeoff]

Hi smellyloo,

I agree with the live bait bit, and I don't do it. The lures that I have have barbless hooks, or if they are barbed I nip them down with pliers to make them barbless, I must admit though, the reason for this is that it makes them easier to remove from my fingers, palms, clothing and any other body/material part that they tend to stab into.

I would rather float fish for roach, bream etc, and be kept busy rather than set a bite alarm, rest my rod on it and wait.

I won't mind if a big one takes my bait, but I fish for pleasure, and am not the specimen hunter type.

As to taking fish away from the area they are caught, I think this is wrong, and how long will a live bait be alive.

[SteveO]

I cant wait for the start of the season. We are up for the week of the 22nd and I expect to drown a few maggots then. Like Donnygeoff, I am no specimen hunter, preferring the pleasure of catching large numbers of average sized fish with the odd big-un thrown in. I use only barbless hooks because they makes the fish and your earlobes etc much easier to unhook and I don't use a keep net. I don't mind if the odd one gets away and would rather that than damage a fish.

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Looking forward in eager anticipation

Steve