Closed season question

[chrissh]

I was chatting on the phone today with a friend and the fishing lock down subject came up.

I trying to tell him that we used to have a complete closed season when no one could go fishing from march 15th to June 16th
And we need different licences for north and south

I think the North had a couple of weeks difference in the closed season dates for the Sothern anglers

Can anyone remember what year it was when it all change so we could fish commensals and canals in the closed season and when the closed season date became the same for North and South

He was convinced that I was dreaming this and he had never herd of it.

Am I right or wrong ?

 

[rich66]

I can remember all the different license like “nene and welland” “Severn Trent” etc I used to have to write them out by hand. My first job was in a hardware store that sold tackle etc Not sure about the varying dates on a closed season but it does kind of ring a bell.

 

[steve2]

I think it was changed in the mid 1990's to open still waters and canals, not all canals.
Before the national fishing licence each area issued it's own licence.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

If I remember correctly back in the 70's the Norfolk Broads had a few days break over Easter in the Closed Season when you could fish

 

[sam vimes]

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.

 

[nottskev]

And some stillwaters in Lincolnshire were open when the closed season was on elsewhere.

Didn't Yorkshire open on June 1st?

When the closed season was in force, before canals and stilwaters became open all year, I and others used to do our fishing on the farm ponds and marl pits which were common in the area. There were at least a dozen within a bike ride, including one in the sidings of Chester's Northgate Station. It was a figure-of-eight shape, with the remains of a Mini in the smaller half.

Crucians, small tench and stunted rudd, as a rule, but what's wrong with that?

 

[Mark Wintle]

Cornwall never had a close season as there were no waters with coarse fish initially but gradually a few developed and when Devon got lumped in with Cornwall to form the original South West Authority all of Devon's waters opened up - this was in the mid 80s - including being able to fish the river Exe, so us Dorset anglers made the 150 mile round trip to Devon to fish the Exe, Exeter Canal and canal at Tiverton, and later some early commercials stocked with pasty carp this side of Exeter.

A few Southern and Thames waters opened in the late 80s to 'any method' troiut fishing ie floatfishing with maggots in a coarse water with a few rainbow trout added. Wessex wouldn't allow it though.

One change yet to sink in is national byelaws that prohibit trout in keepnets yet the Yorkshire River Fest matches weigh in trout.... could be embarassing.....

Originally you didn't need a license on the Thames but brought in during the 70s. It used to be a pain as a travelling match angler needing licenses for the local waters (Wessex and Southern and SW) plus those we travelled to which could include Anglian, Thames, Severn-Trent etc.).

 

[sam vimes]

One change yet to sink in is national byelaws that prohibit trout in keepnets yet the Yorkshire River Fest matches weigh in trout.... could be embarassing.

As far as I'm aware, our own regional bye laws prohibit trout being kept in a keep net outside of the trout season, yet allow it when trout are in season and it overlaps with the coarse season. However, as I've had no interest in match fishing, keepnets, or keeping trout in them, I make no attempt to stay current on their use.

 

[nottskev]

One change yet to sink in is national byelaws that prohibit trout in keepnets yet the Yorkshire River Fest matches weigh in trout.... could be embarassing......

Ouch! A painful memory there. I'd not lived here for long when a friend got me to join him on an open on the Upper Witham. I got the scales. The pegs were widely spread, so when a bloke, apparently a regular, swore that trout weighed, I was dubious, but with no-one to ask, put it in with his chub. I didn't weigh it separately - bad mistake, as it was harder to knock its weight off when the rest of the anglers told me they don't count them! They took it in good part, and the trout bloke wasn't going to win money anyway, but I was glad to get out of the car park.

 

[Keith M]

Originally you didn't need a license on the Thames but brought in during the 70s.

I may be wrong (I usually am) but I used to fish the Thames back in the late 50s and 60s with my dad and I don’t remember not having a closed season on the Thames Mark, are you sure that it wasn’t only the tidal stretches of the Thames below Teddington lock that didn’t have a closed season?

If I remember right the Thames Water Authority controlled all the fishing in the Thames catchment areas; in both still waters and the rivers in and around London.

Keith

 

[Mark Wintle]

I may be wrong (I usually am) but I used to fish the Thames back in the late 50s and 60s with my dad and I don’t remember not having a closed season on the Thames Mark, are you sure that it wasn’t only the tidal stretches of the Thames below Teddington lock that didn’t have a closed season?

If I remember right the Thames Water Authority controlled all the fishing in the Thames catchment areas; in both still waters and the rivers in and around London.

Keith

The close season was in force but there was no rod license.

 

[peterjg]

I might be wrong but I think that the close season for still waters finished in 1996?

 

[steve2]

You might need a licence to fish the Thames but you still have miles of free fishing.

 

[barbelboi]

I've received an email today from the EA advising me that my rod licence has run out.......

 

[S-Kippy]

I've received an email today from the EA advising me that my rod licence has run out.......

Gasp ! How did they know ?

 

[barbelboi]

Wonder why they think I need one at the moment - don't they watch the news..............

 

[John Keane]

The river Dee below Chester Weir was deemed to be tidal and therefore free fishing so we utilised that facility. I don’t think that the close season on stillwaters and some canals was abolished as early as the 60’s? Those were my teenage years and there was definitely a close season on all waters then.

 

[nottskev]

The river Dee below Chester Weir was deemed to be tidal and therefore free fishing so we utilised that facility

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?

 

[peter crabtree]

I might be wrong but I think that the close season for still waters finished in 1996?

It was in 2000.

 

[steve2]

It appears there were 2 dates 1995 for Stillwater and 2001 for canals.