whats the bloody point anymore!!!!

been for a morning session on my local river today,didnt do too bad the water was black with jack pike,had one take a bream of me feeder rod the git.a couple of young lads came along and fished just up for me.id seen them there b4.a while past and one came over(can yo help me m8 unhook a pike hes got one)i said yes went over to find he had a jack caught on a raplela type lure deep hooked,unhooked it and passed him the fish,then ran bck to my rods,bit later same again so of i went again.got there and said you think you should be pike fishing if you dont know how to handle em.went to unhook fish out of his net ,again deep hooked looked over me shoulder and hed got a pike in a carrier bag,i said what the hell you doing with that.lad said well me dads m8 eats pike.well that wa it lost me rag gave um sum right verbal all the time trying to remember these are just young kids.the pike in the net got it unhooked and threw it staright bck in,to which i got sum stern looks,what pissed me off is that they didnt think they was doing anything wrong plus the one in the bag is what id unhoooked for him earlier,so i feel responsable for the demise of that fish.what is the point of trying to help young uns out,share experience with them and give them advice and help if thats all they going to do.i really feel like snapping me rods in alf and saying fck it

i think your actions were spot on mate if you hadnt have helped them there would have been two jacks in a bag.
i started getting fed up seeing all our eastern european friends on the banks cos lets be honest we all know what theryre up to but you cant let it piss you off mate .
ive been down to where those kingfishers are today for an hour throwin a few lures about didnt get a sniff but then again i spent half of that picking up old line which i hate to see cos that gets us all bad press.
dont think about snappin ur rods with the atitude you had today we nead more anglers like that, plus i could av em


wymo

adie1200 wrote:dont lose heart mate all we can do is try to point them in the right direction and hope they learn to do the right thing !

Adie

Spot on Adie

Pike fishing needs people who care for the pike and help to educate others. This means you Chris. I know it will be frustrating at times mate but that must not drive you away from the sport. Belive me, every time I go fishing I see litter. The popular spots are easy to spot as there is piles of it. It makes me sick and I am embarassed every time a non angler walks by. I want to wisper to them that not all anglers are like that, but the evidence screams out. There are a lot of inconsiderate morons who go fishing. They also reflect society as a whole. Today I saw someone in a new 4x4 motor pull over on a 60mph road and leave a kids push along toy car on the grass verge, then drive away again. What possesses these idiots?

Well thats my rant over. Back to slumber

Andy Webster

bigchris wrote:been for a morning session on my local river today,

Where abouts did ya go bigchris? Wasn`t the same spot that i`m stood in on my pic by any chance was it? I had a similar incident here and it turned out the lads were from the local gypsy/travellers camp just down the road.

Steady down Chris
count to ten
not so long ago this was the norm,
count to ten
to remove pike for the table,
count to ten
over the years our elders have become educated in the value of pike in there waters.
we've all helped others to catch pike, only for them to be removed.
its the younger anglers who now need to be educated.
incidently there has been a BILL passed in parliment that all fish have now to be returned to the water which they come from, this will shortly become 'THE LAW' the Enviroment Agency can then prossicute offenders.
have you finished counting.
Stay with it mate it's passionate anglers like yourself that will be needed to secure the future of our sport.

I suppose it is down to us all to educate people new to catching Pike on how to handle & care for them. I have a friend who retired a few years ago & has started to fish again. He fishes a private water that holds Pike & i have joined the club. He fishes the match pond there usually on a shortish 'whip' pole, catching smaller silver fish & a few decent Carp to double figure size. The specimen lake there holds Pike. He is scared stiff of Pike! I have suggested a 'Piking session' using my 2 rods, one apiece. I would end up unhooking etc... that's for sure
As for people wanting to take them home & eating them etc...... aren't Pike supposed to be 'earthy' tasting & bland on the palette? I guess they can be marinated but even if i saw one on a fish counter, i wouldn't be tempted. Once saw a Carp at ASDA & bought it, tasted very earthy..... more so than a Trout.

Bazz wrote:I suppose it is down to us all to educate people new to catching Pike on how to handle & care for them. I have a friend who retired a few years ago & has started to fish again. He fishes a private water that holds Pike & i have joined the club. He fishes the match pond there usually on a shortish 'whip' pole, catching smaller silver fish & a few decent Carp to double figure size. The specimen lake there holds Pike. He is scared stiff of Pike! I have suggested a 'Piking session' using my 2 rods, one apiece. I would end up unhooking etc... that's for sure
As for people wanting to take them home & eating them etc...... aren't Pike supposed to be 'earthy' tasting & bland on the palette? I guess they can be marinated but even if i saw one on a fish counter, i wouldn't be tempted. Once saw a Carp at ASDA & bought it, tasted very earthy..... more so than a Trout.

pike are not that bad too eat in all honesty but there are better fish in our waters.

i know im in trouble now you shouldnthave helped them a second time, if this happpens in future too any of you may i suggest that you take cutters up with you and accidentaly break there lure

i'd be a hippocrite if i said they shouldnt have taken pike for the table because i myself have taken more cod and ling home than i care to remember..... the real problem is the idiots who just fish for pike for the sake of getting them out, killing them and leaving them on the bank with no intention of taking them home, with the excuse that they eat all the silverfish.... THEY are the ones we really need to concentrate on educating
(no lynching please.... just my view on the matter)

Even a well marinaded Pike is not as tasty as Dolphin,

but its still a lot better than Seal or Whale

fluffchucker wrote:Even a well marinaded Pike is not as tasty as Dolphin,

but its still a lot better than Seal or Whale

i believe whale is very tasty a friend tried it in iceland apperently they bury the whale meat for up to six months and due to the vulcanism it comes out quite tasty.

seal mmm would like to try that

robh107 wrote:i'd be a hippocrite if i said they shouldnt have taken pike for the table because i myself have taken more cod and ling home than i care to remember..... the real problem is the idiots who just fish for pike for the sake of getting them out, killing them and leaving them on the bank with no intention of taking them home, with the excuse that they eat all the silverfish.... THEY are the ones we really need to concentrate on educating
(no lynching please.... just my view on the matter)

.cod and ling/in fact any sea fish is acceptable providing its ov a suitable size,but thats not what this thread was about.been interesting to see you lads replys.but i think that should be the end ov it now,as it now seems to be verginging on one of use posting a flipping cook book and recipes.lol.tight lines chris

bigchris wrote:

robh107 wrote:i'd be a hippocrite if i said they shouldnt have taken pike for the table because i myself have taken more cod and ling home than i care to remember..... the real problem is the idiots who just fish for pike for the sake of getting them out, killing them and leaving them on the bank with no intention of taking them home, with the excuse that they eat all the silverfish.... THEY are the ones we really need to concentrate on educating
(no lynching please.... just my view on the matter)

.cod and ling/in fact any sea fish is acceptable providing its ov a suitable size,but thats not what this thread was about.been interesting to see you lads replys.but i think that should be the end ov it now,as it now seems to be verginging on one of use posting a flipping cook book and recipes.lol.tight lines chris

and therin lies one of the problems with the argument against taking fish for the pot why is it inherently different to take a sea fish as opposed to a coarse fish to eat.

the other point to ponder is why is it not okay to take a pike but fine to use a roach as bait?

noodle wrote:

and therin lies one of the problems with the argument against taking fish for the pot why is it inherently different to take a sea fish as opposed to a coarse fish to eat.

the other point to ponder is why is it not okay to take a pike but fine to use a roach as bait?

my point exactly noodle, if fish are taken for the pot then fair enough, we may not like it but most of us eat fish or use them for bait on a regular basis.
its the ones that kill for the sake of it that disgust me

so its ok to eat what we catch,?we are realising now with fish from the sea that they are running out.do we wait for this to happen with our course fish?no i thing we should follow the warning from our sea friends.i live in doncaster an there is a problem with our eastern europeans mates taken fish around my area.its ok they takin them for pot!an they prob note got lience to.

how can i condemn people taking fish for the pot when i do it myself when sea fishing??

how many of you can honestly say you have never done the same, either for bait or to eat depending on the species??

i dunno how me thread has lead to this but hey!lol there is a vast difference between taking sea/game fish for the pot and coarse fish.i have had it brought to my attention that at this moment in time a bill has been passed to stop the taking ov coarse fish form waters,and is waiting to become law and in the mean time acertain amount of fish are allowed to be removed for the pot as it were.this is how i see it. COARSE FISH FOR THE POT.bit of an arcane act.many moons ago monks stew ponds,reason sea fish not readily availabe to them,post and pre war britain coarse fish again eaten due to rationing.modern day and past the sea is a far more sustainable source for fish and lets face it they taste alot better.the sea in trouble from trawlers not youre average joe public witha rod and line that being said some discresion should be exercised as to what you do take,would you take a little fish just for the sake ov it,i sea fish on a regular basis and never remove any fish that is less than 18"or less than 5lb.there for not disturbing future stocks.enough ov that lol.there over 4million anglers in britain,now if they all took 1 fish every time they went out how long b4 there no fish left?

Hi
back in the late 80s a few friends and I lobied the DDAA to put pike back. We anticypated a battle, not so DDAA commitee accepted our views(but for only 2 members).they did change the rules,but it took 4 years for them to get it into print on yearbooks. As you can see you need to keep the water flowing and one day? the banks may burst.
you get my drift.
(sorry about all the water puns(sense of humor in overdrive)
jeff

bigchris wrote:i dunno how me thread has lead to this but hey!lol there is a vast difference between taking sea/game fish for the pot and coarse fish.i have had it brought to my attention that at this moment in time a bill has been passed to stop the taking ov coarse fish form waters,and is waiting to become law and in the mean time acertain amount of fish are allowed to be removed for the pot as it were.this is how i see it. COARSE FISH FOR THE POT.bit of an arcane act.many moons ago monks stew ponds,reason sea fish not readily availabe to them,post and pre war britain coarse fish again eaten due to rationing.modern day and past the sea is a far more sustainable source for fish and lets face it they taste alot better.the sea in trouble from trawlers not youre average joe public witha rod and line that being said some discresion should be exercised as to what you do take,would you take a little fish just for the sake ov it,i sea fish on a regular basis and never remove any fish that is less than 18"or less than 5lb.there for not disturbing future stocks.enough ov that lol.there over 4million anglers in britain,now if they all took 1 fish every time they went out how long b4 there no fish left?

how so if it is done within the legal statutes set out in the bylaws of your area, and within the rules of the fishery then how is it different

its not just fisherman[imigrants] we av to watch with our fish stocks its farmers to.farmers are not getting as much grants so they are down grading land ect.so to get more from 50 hectors instead of 100 hectors they are useing stronger chemicals/pesticides to get most ut of the land.at some point the chemicals will get into the water table ect an it will harm fish/wildlife eventtly.at the monment our rivers/waters av never been as clean but as ression kicks in i can see farmers aving to do more on smaller plots of land to keep labour down to keep profit profitalbe

We have the exact same problem where im from. These eastern europeans have even got aggressive when they have been approached and taken on. The bailiffs dont want to know and the E.A even said there is no rule in taking fish to eat on waters like canals, rivers etc. So basically have been told to like it or lump it. I work in a tackle shop in morecambe and the stories you here are unbelievable. Unitl they bring out a law against it what can we do.

personally i feel there is little difference between taking sea fish and coarse fish for the pot (provided it isn;t from a private stocked lake or other similar place), myself i do neither but i don't like eating fish. people have always taken fish from our rivers and lakes to eat and nowadays is no difference, the problem arises when there is a quick increase in the numbers of fish taken from these waters due to, for example the influx of eastern europeans who culturally eat pike in their native country and therefore will eat them over here, also i feel the increase of the publicity given to this issue, and other sources such as programs on tv recently eating pike, carp, eels may also lead to more people thinking 'i wonder what pike or carp or so on actually tastes like', this increase i feel is what does the damage on the fish stocks as if say 1% of fish stocks are taken a year for the pot then the ecosystem will adapt to compensate and no effect is witnessed, if this suddenly increased to 10% the system wouldn't be able to adapt at the same rate leading to a noticable effect on fish stocks. the answer to the problem probably lies more in education and realising that more people are eating our fish and perhaps commercially farm these fish specifically for the table (much in the same way as salmon and trout) therefore decreasing the levels of fish taken from our waters back down to normal levels and therefore protecting fish stocks. On the issue of livebaiting i see it as pike would eat these fish anyway so it has a negliable effect on stocks provided excessive amounts aren't removed, eg returning any unused livebaits, not transfering between venues (which isn't allowed anyway) etc etc

as for the kids, the problem obviously stems from the parents, show em once but if they don't want to learn they don't want to learn, my brother and myself have had to land and unhook pike for kids fishing for them in the past with no net and no way to unhook them (forceps are good in the fact that you can just clamp them to your top and forget about them so there is no excuse not to carry them, no matter how light you are travelling, nets are a different issue you can fish without a net if you are confident hand landing pike and are fishing a swim where this is possible.) we just hope these kids have now learnt their lessons and will be better equipped in the future!

Lets refrain from the Eastern Europeans thing please. I know I know. They ARE a problem but there are at least 10 other forums online where you can vent your spleen about them there. Let's try and make this the forum that doesn't go down that route please. It's very boring and I've been reading about this stuff for 4-5 years and really, it is boring me to tears.

Anyway, taking fish for the pot. It is legal for starters and two, you wouldn't think twice about using a livie or a deadbait (unless you're a lure only angler, in which case there's a forum here just for you) so in my mind, all this debating about who can take what is all about perception. You might not like it when Lef Walesa takes a carp for the pot but do you crack a light when you or your mate sticks a roach on for a livie?

It's a difficult subject I know but it's a subject that can and often does lead to fall-outs and barneys because people cannot see beyond their own methods.

Andy Macfarlane wrote:Anyway, taking fish for the pot. It is legal for starters and two, you wouldn't think twice about using a livie or a deadbait (unless you're a lure only angler, in which case there's a forum here just for you) so in my mind, all this debating about who can take what is all about perception. You might not like it when Lef Walesa takes a carp for the pot but do you crack a light when you or your mate sticks a roach on for a livie?

It's a difficult subject I know but it's a subject that can and often does lead to fall-outs and barneys because people cannot see beyond their own methods.

I must say that is a VERY valid point Andy. We all (except when lure fishing) use a fish for bait. Admittedly the majority of the time it is a sea fish when deadbaiting, but livebaiting should have come from the water you are fishing at. So, as far as I'm concerned we are all in the same boat so to speak. We 'nick' a fish for food. The difference between us and those that put it on their plates is that we use the 'food' for fooling the pike that we all know and love into our waiting landing nets.

I know that will probably get some people's back up, but think about it logically. We basically are hypocrites for slagging others off for doing the same thing. Don't think I'm siding with the people who do this because this is a big hate of mine. It is unprintable what I would want to do to somebody if I came across them doing it.

The problem is cultural differences and the commercial world appears to be trying to catch up by selling farmed coarse fish for the table.

The police, EA and fisheries owners should be allowed to come down hard on the poachers but seem reluctant to do so because of lack of money, red tape and the fear of violence when approaching suspects.

Hopefully when the law is passed we may start to see the end of this practice. In the meantime we need to be vigilant and report anything we see suspicious. Even if we don't seem to be getting anywhere, we need to do it. And above all, we need to be careful in our actions when we come across this behaviour. Don't let our passion for the fish boil over and end up in hospital. Or worse.