hi all ,

i was just wondering what your views are on clubs allowing maggots to be used to catch trout on rivers .

the reason i'm asking is my club is a mixed club with around a 50/50 mix of game and coarse anglers and maggots are allowed on the rivers when the coarse season starts in june .(our club has around 10 ponds which are solely coarse ponds)

i have no objection to the use of maggots but don't believe they should be allowed to solely target trout for the pot .

when i renewed my permit the other day i questioned the tackle shop owner (who is also on the committee) about this , and his reply was that alot of members would walk away from the cub if this rule was brought in , also they pay their money so can take a trout if they wish to do so .

i must admit i was a maggot/worm fisherman as a child and took the odd trout , also the river (river Wear) seemed to be brimmed with trout back in the 70's and 80's so the odd fish didn't go a miss , but now wild stocks are low , the river is rarely stocked much by the clubs .

ideally my club says it would like to return back to a wild fishery , which i'd also like to see but i don't believe this can work whilst allowing trout to be caught using swimfeedered maggot .

what i'd like to see is the club to enforce the rule that all trout caught using maggots to be returned . also the 2 fish limit be scrapped and maybe say a maximum of say 2 fish per season be taken for the pot or a bit more common sense used .

i've joined kirkby stephen angling club for the coming season so most of my fishing will be mainly on the Eden , i'll still fish the Wear but not as much .

does anyone else's clubs allow using maggots for trout ?

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CHEERS SID
FTM

"if my answers frighten you , don't ask scary questions".........Jules Winnfield

As you have probably found out, maggots are devestating for trout..and i guess thats the crux of the problem.

I don't think the method is at fault, rather the ethics of the anglers taking fish for the pot at every oppurtunity.

A little self control is all it takes rather than banning a legitimate method, but thats a culture change really.

As for me...i would return all the trout, but i am strange

Is a moggot a fly pupa' or is it a bait?

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WHAT IS A FLY IF ITS NOT A BAIT

Deadly for trout, as is the daddy long legs grub.

Banned in most places though.

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www.paypalsucks.com

It is not a great method for the trout's welfare! They tend to bolt them down deep.

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"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk

Cant agree with that i,m afraid, i have never had this happen in some 20 years of fishing waters that contain trout. I use delicate float gear and as soon as that float goes i strike.

Maybe if one ledgers or uses bubble floats, but not on proper float gear

I guess everyone is going to have their won experience and I am not going to disagree with your view. My view is based on several years - some time ago - when I used to act as bailiff on two still water reserviors up in Cheshire and also on a stretch of the River Dane. Both waters were fished by coarse fishermen more than game anglers but both held good numbers of trout. It was my experience and that of the clubs who ran the water, that we lost many trout to both float fished and legered maggot.

Clearly the float fishing tactics you describe above are refined and your skill level enables the trout to be caught without is bolting the bait... but do all coarse/bait fishermen employ the same level of discrimination? I am not for one moment labelling all coarse fishermen as indiscriminate trout killers, but I believe that as a general rule of thumb, a trout is more vulnerable to damage in a fishery where bait fishing methods are employed than they would be in a fly only environment. And before any kicks me for being anti-coarse, I am not, I am just wary of mixed fisheries.

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"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

www.monnowlogue.com
www.monnow.org.uk

Hello Sid - I'm a fellow member of the club in question. We've bumped into one another on the Page Bank stretch a couple of times. It must be acknowledged that that the club which we hold a membership of is predominately a coarse fishing club. On the Page Bank down to Knicky Knack stretch (about a mile and a half) we have the south bank and another angling club has the north bank. The other angling club is exclusively a game fishing club (other than that lake at Witton Park which I think is theirs?) and it's fees are substantially higher than ours. Granted, they have a lot more desireable game fishing water than our club has. What I'm trying to say is we get our fishing cheap. I - like you - am a fly fisherman and I don't kill fish from our river. I think the downside of the inexpensive fishing we enjoy is sharing the water with the occasional maggot drowner - I've not encountered very many above Croxdale Bridge, so it's not too bad, unless things have changed drastically. I've mainly fished below Croxdale in the last couple of seasons and to be honest I've not even had many problems down there with coarse anglers.

I hope you enjoy your fishing on the other side of the hills and I hope we bump into each other on the Wear again some day.

hi sandancer ,
yes i agree with the cheap fees , and have no problem whatsover with the coarse anglers , as anyone that knows me i'll sit and chat to any fisherman coarse or game .
but i just wish the club would introduce a fair rule that could protect the stocks of the river's trout as i've noticed over the last few years the trout numbers is in serious decline.
i was chatting to my dad yesterday who due to ill health only bait fishes and hasn't taken a trout for over ten years , he asked me how many i take and i think i counted 4 in the last ten or so years .

have we spoken this season on the river ? just trying to put a face to your name .

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CHEERS SID
FTM

"if my answers frighten you , don't ask scary questions".........Jules Winnfield

There's no doubt that Trout or any other kind of Juvenille or adult fish can get gut hooked on ledgered maggots - when that happens it's a death sentence.

I totally agree however that other methods such as float fishing are more refined and would avoid fatally hooked fish.

Re. banning the maggot, you'll probably find if the committee member is telling you there's not much chance of it happening, then there's not much chance of it happening.

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Tight Lines. :)