Closed season question

[John Keane]

So you're another bloke who's stood up to his knees in smelly mud catching dace, eels and flatties? Did you ever go to Mollington Lakes after tench in the old closed season? Mason's pit on the Queensferry by-pass? The pits in the fields behind the zoo?

Nope, fished just below the weir on the Welsh side. Caught some nice roach and flounders that we called flukes. Me and a mate used to go out on his lawn at midnight with a candle and catch lob worms that were laying out on the grass. We’d be up at 4am and off to Mollington Lakes before light and put a worm on with a single swan shot and silver fag paper on the line. As soon as it got light we’d be on the float laying on. What a great fishing venue that was. Think it got spoiled by ar$eholes like us coming and going at ungodly hours, banging car doors, talking loudly after they built a private housing estate within earshot. That tench fishing has never been bettered IMO. If you fished on the causeway between the two lakes you had to keep your eyes skinned for bait robbing rats. I was once fishing on the second lake close to a bed of stick ups and hit a fish that just went apeshit and dragged me into the weeds and snapped me up. Big tench or a carp, who knew?

 

[markcw]

I used to work away from home a lot, and most places had fishing nearby, So I bought a rod licence for each area I was in, I remember fishing a local club water when I was back home and got asked for my rod licence, I duly went through my seatbox pulling licences out for yorkshire , severn trent , anglian, etc, the bloke said if yo have all those you must have a north west and went on his way, I got home and realized it was the only one I didnt have.
hen it was a rod licence for each area, I could fish the River Gowy and the Shropshire Union Canal on a North West licence , but go 200 yards or so up the banks i needed a Welsh Water authority licence.
A friend of mine lived near Mollington lakes his parents had the post office in Mollington at one time.

 

[Another Dave]

There was never a simple north/south divide. Every water authority region had different licences (Northumbrian, Yorkshire, Severn Trent etc).

Closed season dates also varied by region. Northumbrian and Yorkshire had what was referred to as the "stolen fortnight" in the the season started on June the 1st. Every other region (that I'm aware of) started on the 16th. The main coarse fishing closed season was standardised with the change to a national rod licence rather than regional ones. However, regions still retained some traditional bye laws. In certain regions it's still permissable to fish for trout (with certain baits) with what would generally be considered as coarse fishing methods.

I honestly can't remember exactly when the change to a single national rod licence started, but I think it was in place by the early nineties. I'd guess at '88 ish, give or take a couple of years. I do remember being on ponds by midnight of the 31st of May just waiting to start fishing. I also don't get all nostalgic for the 16th of June in the same way that anglers from most parts of England do.

Yes, my licences were all Anglian region if my memory serves me well. It must have been a right pain if an angler lived on the borders of 2 or even 3 regions and had to buy separate licences.

 

[sam vimes]

Yes, my licences were all Anglian region if my memory serves me well. It must have been a right pain if an angler lived on the borders of 2 or even 3 regions and had to buy separate licences.

It was a pain in the bum if a river you wanted to fish was the border. I do recall having both Yorkshire and Northumbrian licences as a kid. I seem to recall getting Severn Trent day licences for our annual club outing to the Trent. The reason for my confusion about when the single national licence came into effect, other than having a dismal memory, is that I don't recall buying Severn Trent, South West or Anglian licences during my fairly brief (92-98ish) time involved in the military match angling circuit. I do recall fishing the Trent, Thames, Dee, Warwickshire Avon, Nene, Witham, Kennet & Avon Canal, Shearwater (Longleat), as well as hordes of Yorkshire venues during that period.

 

[108831]

When I match fished,I can remember one particular season having rod licences for five different water authorities,also one particular season we had a national on the Witham,well we organised a first practise and the club had supposedly organised rod licences for the team,we had been fishing for about an hour and a jobworth bailiff came and it turned out they hadn't come in the post so the guy booked us all,I was barking mad,as I wouldn't have bothered to travel down there without one,anyway,we all got done for fishing without a licence,even though we did have one after the event(came on the following Tuesday),fined £13 if I remember rightly....grrrr!

 

[rayner]

The National rod licence was a godsend for some, I remember I use to buy the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the East Anglian rod licenses.
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were a fiver each and East Anglia was seven quid.
Yorkshire season did open on the 1st of June, I used to fish the local reses from the 1st of April for trout. that was worm only but myself and others all had maggot.

 

[sam vimes]

Yorkshire season did open on the 1st of June, I used to fish the local reses from the 1st of April for trout. that was worm only but myself and others all had maggot.

I don't recall any bait restrictions applying in Yorkshire during the trout season prior to the introduction of the National Rod Licence. Individual riparian owners often applied further restrictions, but the bye laws didn't. I recall "trout" matches on local rivers being reasonably commonplace. With the change over to the National Rod Licence came the change in bye laws to disallow bait other than worm. To this day, there are chancers fishing Yorkshire and Northumbrian rivers in the closed season with a crafty pint of maggots (or corn, pellet etc) rather than the worms that are actually allowed to use.

 

[flightliner]

In my younger days I had to buy the Yorkshire, Trent, Lincolnshire, East Anglian licenses, more if I needed to travel further afield.
There was also a very unusual license to fish the south forty foot drain that ran from Bourne to Boston called the "Black sluice" license , one of which I have in my small collection of the old river authority ones.
If I went on an open match in the fens ,say on the Witham or Welland I also had to buy the club members book that was another on cost to my fishing.
TBH I was more than happy when the currant arrangement was put into place.

 

[nottskev]

Nope, fished just below the weir on the Welsh side. Caught some nice roach and flounders that we called flukes. Me and a mate used to go out on his lawn at midnight with a candle and catch lob worms that were laying out on the grass. We’d be up at 4am and off to Mollington Lakes before light and put a worm on with a single swan shot and silver fag paper on the line. As soon as it got light we’d be on the float laying on. What a great fishing venue that was. Think it got spoiled by ar$eholes like us coming and going at ungodly hours, banging car doors, talking loudly after they built a private housing estate within earshot. That tench fishing has never been bettered IMO. If you fished on the causeway between the two lakes you had to keep your eyes skinned for bait robbing rats. I was once fishing on the second lake close to a bed of stick ups and hit a fish that just went apeshit and dragged me into the weeds and snapped me up. Big tench or a carp, who knew?

I thought you might know Mollington. It was the absolute archetype of the tench lake for me, and helped get me hooked on fishing. I'm not surprised it eventually became closed - Mollington was a posh village.
My GP at the time lived in one of the houses next to where you cut through to the fields behind, and as you say, they got cheesed off with people coming and going. I think a police fishing club had it after that?