Hi all thought i would share my day with you guys, we phoned late fri afternoon to comfirm the place was open and FISHABLE oh yes there is a bit of ice but easily fishable so of we set at half 8 as it was an hour and half trip to get there, so we arrived got our rods set up and walked up to the caben and was looking for water i thought we were at the wrong place. the chap inthe cabbin was very nice and friendly and said there are two holes up in the top water but go and have a look before you get your ticket, so of we went and sure enough two holes of ice free water, however you had to walk about three foot out on to the ice before you could fish them so we humed and hawed and had we not travelled nearly 2 hrs would of said forget it but we decided to give it a shot 2 fish 2hr ticket and no c and r,more for my bro in law as this was his first real outing since wanting to take it up and going and buying all his gear. Any way 3 casts in i had my limit2 hard fighting rainbows at about 2lb each. that was me 2 hr drive fish for 10 mins and then finished. i then helped my bro in law and after a couple of cast he was in to his first ever fish on the fly. seein him catch then tempted me to go and buy another ticket another £12. another 3 or 4 casts i was in again and while playing that fish aaron hit his second fish, mine was a 6lb bow and his was about 3lb. he had both his fish inside 40 mins. it then went quiet for about a whole 15 mins before i hooked my 4th fish 3lb bow. So intotal i paid £24 for 4 fish and an hours fishing 2 at 2lb 1 at 3lb 1 at 6lb and my bro in law in 40 mins had 2 fish 1 at 2lb and 1 at 3lb paying £12. was a good day fish wise however when i go fishing it isn't the be all and end all catching fish its being out. it is a nice fishery but i prob wont go back due to no catch and release it was an expensive hour albeit we had 6 fish. everyone is dif but for me to get value for money will prob stick to places that one have your limit let you fish c and r till time is up. But at least it was some fishing and best of all the bro in law is total hooked

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

have to agree about the no c&r rule i tend to fish places where you can fish for the day never understood why fisheries do this if done right i cant see the problem with c&r but at the end of the day its there fishery and there rules which you must respect at the end of the day we all have the choice whether to go or notat least you got out and caught fish so it makes it all worthwhile

I fish Wellsfield during the closed season "precisely" because it has No C & R !

I find i get better quality, dont let the "limp" feeble fish i often get at C & R waters, certinally dont get he damaged and ripped mouths im fed up seeing guys fishing "C & R" ripping there barbed hooks out of fish and them returning them Saw it over and over last season, goes back to most fly fishers total mistrust of barbless hooks

I fish kill tickets at Wellsfield for gods sake and use barbless give them a fair go i.e use only barbless for 3 months (which is what i did) tied a box of All barbless took no barbed flys so i had to use barbless.....now im a convert and catch more fish too

I have a problem with C & R on small waters, dont mind it on wild waters or Big waters..........in reality i should say i have a problem with "Bad C & R" and sadly there seems to be plenty around

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Englander

"Barbless since 2008"

Vision GT Four catapult 9' 6#
Vision GT Four SW 9' 9#
Vision 3 Zone 9' 5#
Vision Cult 9' 3#
Shakespeare Trion 9' 5/6#
Cortland Endurance 9' 6#
Shakespeare Expedition float tube
Vosseler DC3 reel
Okuma Helios 8/9 reel
Greys G series 3/4 reel
Snowbee Geo 3/4 reel

exactly englander its bad c&r practice by anglers that cause the problem when i am releasing fish they never leave the water and are very rarely netted and always barbless or de barbed hooks a lot of the fisheries i go to have strict policies on c&r and make these clear on payment of ticket and enforce these rules very strictly in my experience the fisheries that have these policies have very hard fighting good quality fish perhaps more fisheries could educate anglers on how to c&r correctly i personally hate to see fish netted and then lifted onto platforms to thrash around and then be put back

One of the fishery associations done a survey a year or two ago to ask why anglers wanted to do C&R at rainbow trout fisheries.

The main reason that emerged was 1) financial - for a cheaper permit. 2) was fish conservation and 3) was as they dont eat trout.

Its a shame that so many anglers who do fish c&r do it for cheaper fishing or for better value and not for true conservation.

If it was the other way about more fisheries would offer c&r for sure as they would incur far less mortalities im sure. also the permit prices would come down. i dont think its up to the fisheries though to educate the anglers.

i know of at least 2 fisheries in the glasgow area well known for their c&r competitions amongst anglers who had to shut down temporarily in the last 5 years due to remove and kill poorly/diseased fish due to continual c&r and had to restock. I can see at last one newly emerged fishery going the same way right now...

Bob

bobz - 2 hours from perth to denny? what were you driving ? a horse? !!!

i fish catch and release mostly on stillwaters,i always take the utmost care to ensure the fish go back in the safest possible manner.
in the last year i have noticed more and more fish looking distressed at the top of the water with what looks to me anglers handprints.
is it alack of respect for the fish or is it anglers not being educated properly in the safe return of the fish?
yc

i stay half hour outside of perth the other side and due to the snow it took just under 2 hrs

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

Maybe C&R trout should be treated the the same way and respect as we would if we were say Barbel fishing, minimum requirements being the use of knotless landing nets, unhooking mat and barbless hooks.

like you i fish catch and release all the time. if it is done right there is no reason why the fish cant be returned without any damage. i fish at Cloybank and the owner is a stickler for barbless hooks and keeping the fish in the water at all times. i know what you mean about some trout having marks on them and you are right to say that it is down to fishermen not knowing how to handle trout correctly.why kill fish when you dont eat them and after catching a trout is what the sport is all about. when you see all the fishing programmes on discovery how many fish do you see them killing.