I fished Arnfield near Manchester yesterday for the first time. It was the first time I have fished a C&R trout fishery like that although where I fish on the Ribble most of the trout, graying (and salmon for that matter) are returned.

Unfortunately I won't be returning. There were fish covered in fungus in the margins looking very unhappy, which weren't bothered about the anglers a couple of yards away. I saw a few dead fish as well at the edge of the lake and further out fish were putting their heads out of the water in a very strange way - I can't explain it properly but they kept poking their heads out of the water time after time looking distressed.

I caught 2 fish, both covered in fungus, one of which had 2 leaders wrapped around it. Neither put up any fight and I struggled to revive them - I wasn't sure if they wanted reviving to be honest After I caught the second one I gave up and went home as it was too depressing.

I don't want to bad-mouth the fishery (hence I didn't put the name in the title) as it seems well run and they have a good set up there, but the stocking and C&R policy of these places has to be questioned if fish are dying like that. As it was my first (and last trip) I'd be interested to know if this is the norm and are other anglers happy to catch fish like this or just turn a blind eye...

st7, sounds very odd - think you need to raise it with them asap; I'd be worried for the overall health of the fish and water system and I don't think they would be offended, if they are, then perhaps there lies the problem?

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It's probably not the C&R policy itself that is to blame, it's more likely to be poor C&R practice by the anglers. This may be exacerbated by low oxygen and/or over warm water but unless the fish are returned carefully with the minimum of handling then fish like the ones like ST7 saw will be the result.

There will be a few stupid fish in every fishery that are caught many times over and these can get a bit manky, the kindest thing is to chap them if the fishery rules allow.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

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“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

I am a huge C&R fan but only if it is practiced properly. My syndicate lake only operates C&R after Sept and we all use barbless hooks and keep the fish in the net and at no time does the fish leave the water. There have never been problems and all fish are healthy, Again it is down to educating the anglers!!

If anglers were the cause of fungus on fish then the whole of the countries lakes would be full of fish infected by it, Its more likely the fishery itself and the water conditions, millions of anglers fish lakes day in day out, most C&R are coarse fishermen,we as fluff chuckers are a small minority, so logic would point towards the fishery not the angler fungus infections do crop up in fisheries , but due to the fact we put fish like troot into waters its not used to , IE: temperture wise then what do you expect , theyre not warm water fish and our temps are higher than they are used to as a species, even though we breed them here

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Intelligence is relative to your environment

Many fish on our own C&R water suffer badly through summer due to warm water and a lack of oxygen.

Most, throughout summer, get into a very poor condition and when caught take an age to recover. The bankside is also littered with dead fish.

I wonder if we should impose a close season through July and August on some of our smaller stillwaters, many of which are totally unsuitable for trout.

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I've seen the kind of thing mentioned here on a water which does not allow C&R.

The fishery in question is relatively large (40 acres according to the website) and is pretty high up in the hills, fed by a small river that runs into it. I can't believe the water temperature is ever that high. I think it is more to do with the density of fish hence me questioning the stocking policy as well as the C&R policy...

I disagree that anglers are not the cause the cause of fungus on fish. Handling fish has been shown to remove slime from the fish leaving them more susceptible to infections. In general coarse fishermen handle their fish with more care than trout fishermen so you can't really compare the two.

I have fished loads of lakes big and small, that don't allow catch and release, but I have never seen anything like this. I have no doubt that these fish were in trouble because of C&R, and probably made worse by the high density of fish.

I release almost all the wild fish I catch (salmon, sea trout, and river browns) so I am definitely not anti C&R, but I would question the policy in the context of stocked rainbows. What is the reasoning behind it? apart from saving the fishery money by not having to stock as much.