after the thread on the £104 salmon ,it got me thinking as to is it now time for the government to step in and make all rod and line fishing C&R, if as they say they are genuinely worried about stocks of salmon etc why not impose it straight away instead of allowing a two fish limit , if everyone who caught salmon returned there fish how much more breed stock would that produce,those of us who coarse fish as well know that the coarse side of things are pushing for mandatory C&R with respect to all the fish theft by non nationals and nationals that goes on, and not just for the table in some cases as in to transfer to another fishery .
some places have been left devoid of fish because of this practice ,now a hell of a lot of us already practice C&R and i think rightly so ,yes ok its nice to eat them now and again but do we really need to ,theres plenty of farmed fish around and no doubt more farms could be built to cope with the demand if it went that way,i would say all wild running water fish should be mandatory ,as should stillwaters that genuinely have wild fish within them, some will agree some wont.

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

i agree!!!!

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fishing in scottish waters

this sounds like the right thing to do doesn't it.

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dont you just love nature

I havent caught a Salmon for years but when I was about 18 I caught one and brought him into to the net. Took it over and was just about to smack her on the head.

I had a good look at it. About 7-8 lb I'd say
It was so shinny, muscular and pretty that I couldn't do it. It had travelled miles to come back to back to spawn and I was about to smack it over the head. For what? Food!

My love of nature and what it can do and indeed does, trully started that day. I put it back into the run and it started to flip away and off she went

I told my dad...he went nuts lol

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John Danter

Sorry Bruce - can't agree! Voluntary C&R with a small bag limit is surely the way forward otherwise you turn all the legal anglers who fish this way into criminals! I have caught around 120 wild browns and grayling on the Rye this season and kept one - but if I knew I wasn't allowed to keep the odd one I would feel differently about paying so much for my fishing. Also - just thought about this - it gives me great personal pleasure to return a good fish alive, knowing that I had every 'right' to kill it. Don't know why, but it does!
As for "non-nationals" (ie foreigners) killing coarse fish - they will do that whether it is illegal or not and transferring fish from one water to another without the necessary EA paperwork is also illegal - making it even more illegal will do no good - IMHO.
Education - most likely angler to angler - is the best way forward as I see it. Legislation can only do so much and those that don't care will never care!

I tend to agree with "The Stickman".

There are many wild waters where the stock could do with a little thinning down, Hill Lochs for instance which are full of little brownies.

In the main however, wild fish should be returned to the water.

I agree i fished a couple of Lochs on Lewis which held large stocks of Trout about six inches in length, you were catching them two at a time,
never came across anything larger.

[QUOTE=thestickman;487098]Sorry Bruce - can't agree! Voluntary C&R with a small bag limit is surely the way forward otherwise you turn all the legal anglers who fish this way into criminals! QUOTE]


HF made the case that if C and R was mandatory then the antis can say all we wish to do is play with the fish.. I know the views of HF can be a bit controversial but I think there is a valid point there.

What about the wild lakes and rivers that contain large numbers of undersize fish. Some culling can be beneficial.

Personally I kill very few fish but I would like the decision to be mine..

Andy

as said in original post some will agree some wont,just a way to find peoples honest thoughts on the matter and hopefully without people falling out about it ,as to some it can be a sore subject either way they look at it , as to culling in the loch's etc why not net them and transfer to fisheries short of stock ??

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

I believe that the huge majority of anglers are conservationists at heart, people who appreciate the fragility of the environment in which we indulge our passion. We are acutely aware of water conditions, fish stocks, bird and other aquatic life levels. Without us, I believe there wouldn't be anywhere near the same pressure on local government to maintain the waterways. However, I also believe that introducing a catch and release only scheme will give the bunny huggers ammunition to take us one step closer to an outright ban on fishing, as they will be able to argue that if the fish are not being caught for food, rather purely for sport. And without anglers, I believe all our aquatic life would suffer.