Thursday 5 April 2012

A new role to play

I have just been appointed Junior Leader, for one of my local Angling Societies.
So I will have to dust off the old float, and ledger rods and quite possibly I may have to buy some more up to date terminal tackle.
I will take the Lure and Fly gear with me of course, so the youngsters can have a go with it , might get a few interested in that,
I think that it will be a great idea to show them all the different styles of fishing, and not just match or carp tactics.
The most important thing that I will try to get over to them, is fish handling, and fish welfare.
I hope that I can catch a pike or two ,and show them how to handle them safely and responsibly. There are far to many older anglers, that are unaware of how to handle fish correctly, Those that just toss good size fish in to their keepnets, then keep them in there, for hours at a time, sometimes the whole day.
Most matches are 4-5 hours long , which is still a long time to retain fish in my opinion.
The other day I witnessed an angler returning his catch, of good sized bream, at around 7pm, and I overheard him tell his mate, that he had not had a bite since 11am, so that means that all of those fish,(and I counted about a dozen large splashes, as they were dropped from a height of about 5ft from the platform into the lake.Low water levels, very shallow water close in so they proberbly hit the bottom as well)  had been netted up for a minimum of 8 hours, some a lot longer.
If this angler had walked about 10 yds to his right , he could have returned his catch safely, as there is a beach like swim that he could have walked out pass the shallows and returned his fish responsibly.
If I can influence the next generation of anglers to not behave like that , I will be happy.
If they can enjoy their sport, and respect their quarry, and the habitat that it dwells in , I will feel like I have done a bit for the sport that I love

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