Bailiff woes

[john step]

I got pulled today on the Fosdyke whilst piking. After showing my card the bailiff informed me that my large Savage Gear pike net did not comply with the "new rules" introduced this winter. Apparently it should be 36 inches and triangular. I have printed off a copy of said new rules and it says 36inches or equivalent for different design. When I asked him why his own net was clearly too small for pike he told me that for lure fishing the net can be smaller. Thats wrong actually. The smaller size net is for perch and zander and light lure fishing. He was quite clearly breaking the rules.

I also needed to have both an audible alarm and a float when deadbaiting which is completely wrong for a drifting non static deadbait.

I do hope he will re read the rules correctly to save himself embarrassment when he breaks the rules himself and bull Sh&ts next time out.

 

[markcw]

It is surprising how many bailiffs interpret the rules in their own way.
When I was bailiffing I always carried a set of club rules with me ( it was one of the club rules anyway) .
One of my " problems" was other bailiffs definition of free running feeders or leads,
Free running means just that, not free running upto a float stop a few feet up the main line as some other bailiffs thought it was.

 

[john step]

I did wonder if the problem is with slapdash skim reading of the rules or relying on the tiny screen of the iphone he showed me when setting out my errors.
The problem is that if one is enforcing rules then one must know what they are.

 

[steve2]

Just who makes up these rules I bet is someone that sits on their backside in a bivvy all night. Triangle nets are only suitable for the purpose they originally designed at a time when nothing else was available. Like you I have been told my Fox predator net are not suitable for pike fishing, too small and I should be lugging around a 42" net.
I have had run ins with club bailiffs just like your one who make up rules as they go along. I have been told I have the wrong size net, wrong shape size, etc unhooking mat. I have been told I can't cast left or right of the swim but only straight out in front. I pointed out no fishing left or right is for matches only. He took my card number to report me under what ever rule it was. Never did hear anything back.

 

[S-Kippy]

Not all bailiffs are numpties but I'm afraid they are no different to anybody else......give someone a little bit of authority and suddenly they are never wrong,incredibly important and deaf to any opinion not fully in line with theirs. In my experience nearly all Fishing clubs suffer from internal politics,power struggles and shameless cronyism. I've known some that were run like a Tudor Privy council and that kind of attitude can lead to bailiffs far too full of their own importance.

 

[fishface1]

Presumably an unpaid role?

Have you considered volunteering to assist?

 

[mikench]

As a member of 3 clubs, I have only ever been asked for my card from a variety of bailiffs from just the one. I now know 3 of the four who asked and don't get asked now. The 4th was an older guy who just couldn't remember me and who has retired as a bailiff. They do it for no reward and I have no criticism at all. Mind you none of my clubs have silly and unenforceable rules imo. I was asked if I fancied being a bailif( pre Covid) and I declined as I was away a lot and felt I wouldn't be suitable.

 

[markcw]

Presumably an unpaid role?

Have you considered volunteering to assist?

The club I was in the position was unpaid ,all bailiffs, committee ,match organizer , were volunteers , didn't get expenses .
I was out bailiffing 3 times a week sometimes twice a day,
It was a twenty mile round trip of the waters I did, plus if they were busy you were out for a fair few hours .
I was asked to be head bailiff but I declined.
A few of us went down the advice route for anglers mainly the new members, It was members who had been in a few years who used to try it on and bend the rules, These were the ones who had licence endorsed.
One of the questions we got asked and a few members got argumentative and we are staying calm, was why do we want to see their rod licence ,?
Because it was rule number one, club card and rod licence must be taken when fishing and shown to club official on request.
They soon calmed down when they realized we hadn't given them their club card back while waiting to see rod licence.
No rod licence, no fishing .

 

[john step]

Presumably an unpaid role?

Have you considered volunteering to assist?

If that "you" is me then no. The waters are too distant for popping and checking. I do however visit my own lake and check up on most non fishing days and put a considerable amount of labour into maintenance. Fishery ownership comes with hard work. ( Thats not meant to sound pompous but several us raided savings and pension pots to save it as a fishery and prevent it being filled in)
The point is that if one is checking people one should know the rules.

 

[nottskev]

I've met all kinds of bailiffs, from ones who you didn't actually realise at first were bailiffs, as they say hello and ask how the fishing's going, to those who march up and stiffly demand to see your credentials. I'm never without license or permits as anticipating the shame of being caught would spoil my fishing, so it's all the same to me. But genial is always preferable to surly.

On one water I am required to take a 36" landing net. So I do. But I'm often alone on the water so I also set up a 22" Drennan Specialist which is far more wieldy and swallows anything that I catch. The bigger net is not only unwieldy, it's so deep that lifting a fish out to take to the mat is needlessly difficult, as you try to make sure it doesn't bump the ground.

The bailiff on one river stretch was a gent in seventies of the old school who bailiffed in jacket and tie. I once went home leaving my net and chair on the bank. His number was in the club book, and I called to ask if he might look out for them. He went back to the river that evening, picked them up, phoned to say he had them and would drop them to me on my next visit. I was taken with this, so, not assuming he drank alcohol, bought some chocolates as a thank you. I exchanged them for my gear, but he told me he didn't eat chocolates and his wife was diabetic, so my gesture fell a bit flat.

 

[flightliner]

I got pulled today on the Fosdyke whilst piking. After showing my card the bailiff informed me that my large Savage Gear pike net did not comply with the "new rules" introduced this winter. Apparently it should be 36 inches and triangular. I have printed off a copy of said new rules and it says 36inches or equivalent for different design. When I asked him why his own net was clearly too small for pike he told me that for lure fishing the net can be smaller. Thats wrong actually. The smaller size net is for perch and zander and light lure fishing. He was quite clearly breaking the rules.

I also needed to have both an audible alarm and a float when deadbaiting which is completely wrong for a drifting non static deadbait.

I do hope he will re read the rules correctly to save himself embarrassment when he breaks the rules himself and bull Sh&ts next time out.

Peter, I wonder if it was the same guy who checked out my friend today up near Cromwell wier?

 

[john step]

Peter, I wonder if it was the same guy who checked out my friend today up near Cromwell wier?

No its a different club book. My guy wasnt rude or anything , just hopeless . When discussing the business of compulsory audio alarms for deadbaiting I told him I assumed it was for stillwater leadgering.. He told me that deadbaiting would not be allowed on the clubs two stillwaters as they are now syndicates.
Absolute boll0cks. The two waters have a night syndicate - thats all !
I am back there tomorrow for some maggoteering as its a venue that will be ice free. We shall see!

 

[ian g]

I bailiff the Severn for the club I'm in . My motivation is to help protect our waters and hopefully encourage more members to fish the river. I enjoy the majority of my interactions with members and try to keep abreast of all the rules , got to say as a coarse angler the game rules are tricky . I think of the members as customers but like everywhere in life some are nicer than others , same goes for bailiffs . As we know a little commonsense goes along way but isn't that common.

 

[David Gane]

I was a bailiff for a while. I packed it in in the end because it's a thankless task. You become a bailiff because you enjoy fishing, then spend your time walking along the bank watching others fish and getting none done yourself. And then, of course, there are the numpties who deliberately set out to get something they haven't paid for and who are perfectly prepared to get nasty if you try to stop them. One thing I always did try to do though was be reasonable. If an angler has paid his subs and is quietly fishing, handling fish with consideration and doing no harm I never saw any point in checking gear and getting awkward over minutiae. It sounds to me, John, as if your bailiff needs to rethink his approach.

 

[nottskev]

I used to drive out from Chester now and then to a picturesque new fishery near Shrewsbury. Barbless hooks only was one of the rules. Rather than ask, the bailiff used to take your hook, stick it in a square of cotton he carried and see if it came out. This tripped up plenty of anglers who obviously thought he'd simply ask them. As he continued along the bank, you'd see some he'd just been to changing their hooks.

 

[nottskev]

Spring Lea, just in case you were wondering, Ian. There was the original lake. and one new lake up a tier. Probably more now, if it's still thriving.

 

[ian g]

Thanks Kev , I live up near Whitchurch , looks nice but can't say I have ever fished it . PA have a few stillwaters near me but I mainly fish the Severn and occasionally the local canal.

 

[nottskev]

Thanks Kev , I live up near Whitchurch , looks nice but can't say I have ever fished it . PA have a few stillwaters near me but I mainly fish the Severn and occasionally the local canal.

That would be the Shroppy Ellesmere branch? I used to drive out to a little pool in someone's (big) garden out that way. It was full of small crucians - we'd catch 50 or 60 in a morning - at a place called Bronnington? Does that ring a bell? And I fished a bit at Hampton Springs, up the A41 a bit towards Chester. I always liked those slightly sleepy Cheshire small towns ( maybe not so sleepy in these accelerated times?) .... Whitchurch, Nantwich, Northwich, Middlewich.....

 

[ian g]

I live quite close to Bronnington , not fished there. I fish on the Llangollen canal around Whixall nice roach and perch .Also the Monty near Oswestry love stretch with some nice fish including chub. Nantwich has grown massively since l went to school there, we moved out from Crewe 20 years ago ,I hardly recognise the place when I go back

 

[dorsetsteve]

Have you considered writing a well written contribution to your club in the matter? I’m not saying make a complaint, more of an enquiry for further information.
If the chap is indeed as you say, surely the club should be aware? Perhaps they could clarify the contention to you both.