Will anglers on catch and release waters eventually start to recognise
individual fish ?
Will they end up giving them a name- Fred-Bert-Joe- Betty etc .
Will they keep a log noting - fish weight- when caught- weather
conditions-what fly etc?
When back in the pub will they say to their fellow angling mates.
Hear! I caught Bert today- Gave me a good fight- caught him on a
yellow dancer
Didn't you catch him last month?
Yeah! I caught him on a buzzer-gave me a good fight as well-
I was told that Jack caught him the week before me.-
Yeah!think he has lost a bit of weight though.

The carp boys do that. They know the names of their fish,when
caught etc etc.
Some of their fish are caught 3-4 times a year.
Caught year after year.
On stocked trout waters where fish are continuously returned wont
the same happen?
Perhaps trout don't live as long as carp.
I fish rivers and stocked ponds for trout and I return most of my
fish,only taking one now and again for the pot.
I have also fished for carp in the past.
I love fishing , been fishing most of my life, hope that it continues.
However I feel uneasy that a fish can be returned and caught
time,time again.
What does the Forum think? Peter

Is it better or worse than saying down the pub

"Hey guys, I caught Bert today, and guess what, none of you guys will ever have the chance to catch him again, because I cracked him on the bonce".

I know it's a bit of a mellow-dramatic slant on the subject, but which of the above conversations would be more palatable?

As far as stocked rainbows go - they are generally 2 years old when stocked, and most don't make it past five. So there is much less potential for fish to hang round long enough to become 'known'. Also the stock levels of his fellow trout are high. Contrast this with carp in redmire pond for example ie fish which live to 50-60 years plus and are much much lower in number stock wise - and there's your potential for 'geoff' the carp versus 'geoff' the trout

Cheers

Ian

And because of unique scale patterns, especially amongst mirror carp, fish are fairly easy to recognise.

before getting fed up with small stillwater trout fishing i fished a little fishery called frensham in surrey, its a lovely little place with nice stock and well priced sporting ticket. i caught the same big trout (around 10 lbs) from the same spot exactly a week apart. when i went back the third week he was still at the same inlet feeding on all the little foodstuffs coming in to his lake from the other. i never had the heart to cast to him again. it was deifinately the same fish as he had a slightly deformed dorsal fin. jon mcmillan.

Interestingly enough, the first angler to recognise a trout that he caught and released on several occasions was Richard Walker. This concerned a brown trout that lived in the Oughton Brook, a chalk stream that ran close to Hitchin. It's name was Oswald and it weighed 2 1/2 lbs.

How sad, the Oughton Brook is no more, destroyed by abstraction.

and when were releasing them we dont hold them out the water for weighing and photos,so dont get much of a look.

__________________
Robbie
Amnesia, i forget what that means
Harbour lights flyfishers

Ah ha! But did Oswald recognise Richard Walker? That'd be a story.

__________________
[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

[url]www.wildfly.net[/url]

[url]http://www.gameanglinginstructors.co.uk/[/url]

Our C&R fishery was re-stocked in early October. Throughout November I'm sure that I caught the same bloody rainbow 4 times!!!

The fish weighed around 6lbs and I'm certain, judging by the wear pattern on the tail and other fins, it was the same fish.

I wish now I'd have taken photos for comparison - it's just that I ain't that bothered

We'll soon get like the carp ponds where every fish answers to it's own name

__________________
*
How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

~~*~~~~~
*****©(

I think that catch and release is the way to go for many clubs that have their own water, IMO if you want to stock your water with decent sized fish that stand a chance against cormorants and you also want to be able to stock regularly, then catch and release is best for you, no more killing just for its sake, there is nothing to prevent a member who enjoys a nice fish on a plate from taking one and into the bargain you can keep it affordable fishing, we have no predators other than cormorants on our water, so ,sometimes fish that have become unhealthy for whatever reason can be culled, we have a midsized water, approx 33 acres, so the chances of getting to know the fish are pretty remote, but we still get to respect them.
yours in fishing Arty