View Full Version : River Close Seasons
Well a sticky subject Ian, I do believe there should be a close season on all waters more so the lakes than the rivers. Do the fish need a break when spawning? Do they feed when spawning? These are the factors that determine if there should be a close season. If you go with the flow and have no close season will there be a revised yearly permit and if so how much more would it cost?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scorpio on 13/11/00 01:16 PM.</FONT></P>
I also share Scorpio's view that there should be a close season on both stillwaters and rivers. Flora AND fauna need time to recover from in some cases intensive fishing pressures.
OK on relatively lightly fished waters such as Wraysbury 1 (which I used to fish many many years ago) the anglers impact on the environment is relatively small, but one cannot be selective.
Call me old-fashioned but part of the joy of fishing for me is to enjoy the the surrounding environment. Fishing some waters, sat in a mudbath, surrounded by litter kind of takes the edge off the whole thing. Small point but important to me.
Rivercarper
13-11-2000, 18:32
I know that RMC is a comercial operation but it would be nice if you took a brave stand and said that all RMC river venues will stay closed durring the close season.Unfortunatley I guess you will have to submit to general pressure from other members.It would be nice to hear what your personal views are on the subject Ian.Many of us respect your views and would follow your lead.
i think enforcing a close season is a great idea. i try every year to not fish between 15th march to 16th june. this is for two reasons - firstly i think that *i* need a break after spending most of the winter months battling with the elements, and secondly there is no better feeling than getting to 15th june, setting up, waiting until midnight and casting out! there is the obligatory bottle of bubbly, of course...!
the wait is definitely worth it, even though i perhaps miss out on some great spring fishing.
someone else here touched on spawning. different species spawn at different times, few as early as march and many after june. if a close season were to be enforced for this reason, it would give rmc the unique ability to 'tailor' it to the spawning patterns of the fish.
i am in favour...
Personally, I'm for a closed season, whether it be lakes or rivers....
The bankside (be it river/lake or whatever) needs to be left in peace for a while so that it may continue to flurish. We all know about fish spawning at different times of the year, but what about the natural surroundings ? Is there not more to fishing than catching fish ? Surely nature deserve some consideration.
Do the surroundings not affect the a fishes attitude to feeding, etc ?
The months that are now reserved for closed fishing on rivers were (I think) agreed between two angling clubs years ago as a compromise - LAA and ?? some northen club. Doesn anyone knwo more about this ?
How about a vote on this one Ian ? You know how to do it :-)
Bill.
Keep the close season on rivers, I'm also in favour of a closure of lakes as well but maybe not the traditional close season length or time, Feb and March perhaps.
I thought the close season was to give the fish some peace when reproducing, Feb/March is not a suitable time, sadly if you are going to have a close season for this reason, the original reason, it will have to be may till mid July, totally unacceptable to 99% of anglers, on the other hand if it is for environmental reasons it would have to be from March till May as this is the time of new growth, well maybe till the end of April then :)
I agree with keeping the close season on all waters not just the rivers. Changing the dates could present problems with anglers not being aware of local seasons. However these do exist on many rivers where coarse & game anglers share fishing rights.
Would RMC Angling be able to alter the close season on say the Lea @ Fishers Green which is part of the Lea Valley Park? Would the LVP Authority have any say?
Ian,
As the close season is upon us very soon has there been any news on abolishing the close season on rivers for 2001? If so have RMC decided what they will do regarding the close season? A lot of people are concerned about the environment, if you did had an all year season would it not be possible for bailiffs to close certain "worn down swims"? For example.... "Plaese do not fish here" I know that will not be adhered to but if the anglers were told that it is a vialation of RMC rules then they may adhere to it, just an idea to please all people /images/forum/icons/smile.gif
Tony
Hi Ian.
I also agree with everyone else that the close season should be inforced.
However being mainly a 'Carpman'. It would be nice to see the close season moved
to start later on in the year, say july 1st or even later.
We start the season at the moment on june the 1st (on my local lake)
and every year the fish do not spawn until end of june. Surley we are causing them
unecessary stress fishing for them at this time.
Paulm
The Carp will spawn when a certain water temperature has been reached in the water concerned so the carp will spawn anytime from may till July, to have a close season for just one month would be inpractical as you cannot predict the weather.
Tony
rhornegold
29-12-2000, 08:46
As I understand it the E.A. carried out a study and found it would not detrimental to fish stocks by not having a close season.
Ian would you please explain these findings as a profesional, to a layman like me.
Personally it would be a shame to see the end of the close season, but I suspect it will all come down to market forces.
Bob Hornegold
I think its a question of horses for courses,I think that my local river the Ouse and the Barbel hotspot at Adams mill benefit from the close season but by the same token i cannot see what problems could be caused by fishing some areas of say the Thames were there is constant boat traffic from dawn to dusk and seeing another angler is a rarity.
Tony.
What i was getting at was the close season should be the same length of time, just shifted a month.
Instead of the season ending in March, perhaps ending in April and starting again in July.
Paulm
This whole idea of a close season in certain parts and not everywhere should be abolished.... either there is a close Course Fishing season or there isn't..... Fishery managers can close certain parts of their waters that suffer environmental problems at their will which will in a way sort that problem.... as for the fish stocks it won't make a lot of difference to them if there was no close season.... we need to cull the Cormerants and combat polution to up the fish stocks.
Tony
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