Where Diversity Really Counts

[John Bailey]

Angling is hardly a world wherein woke attitudes have really taken root, but perhaps they should. Diversity is a concept not paid that much regard either, but once again, perhaps it could have fundamental benefits. Here’s an example.

My wife, Enoka, was brought up in Sri Lanka as a Buddhist, and before meeting me had not the least idea she’d ever become an ardent angler. She loves barbel, she’s half way to becoming a pretty fine fly fisher, and now she has discovered what magnificent targets big pike can be, come the winter months.

But she wasn’t brought up in an angling background, and when she saw how some fish are treated her religious concerns kicked in. Whilst I thought I had fish care covered, she wasn’t so sure and suggested I looked again at my catch and release practices. Happily, around this time, our Orvis connection began, and Enoka was rightly impressed by that company’s view that a fish photograph must be taken as close to the water it came from as is humanly possible. Almost overnight I began to rethink how I could take shots of barbel much more kindly, and really restrict the time they are out of their natural environment.





Now we come to those big pike, and Enoka has made me realise they deserve equal respect as the magnificent creatures they are. Here she’s seen with Rob and James Buckley, two fine guys and both fabulous anglers… son James is a keeper on the Test for goodness sake! Nobody is better than cradling big fish than these two, but Enoka still thinks we can do more to minimise the time they are out of water.

I’m doing with pike now what I did with barbel back in the summer, and thinking of new, better ways we can display them for that trophy shot. I’ll get there in the end and won’t stop ’till Enoka’s happy, but I would never have considered the challenge without her input.

That’s diversity for you. A way of bringing new thinking into a world of fossilised ideas!





The post Where Diversity Really Counts first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[LPP]

View attachment 19279

Angling is hardly a world wherein woke attitudes have really taken root, but perhaps they should. Diversity is a concept not paid that much regard either, but once again, perhaps it could have fundamental benefits. Here’s an example.

My wife, Enoka, was brought up in Sri Lanka as a Buddhist, and before meeting me had not the least idea she’d ever become an ardent angler. She loves barbel, she’s half way to becoming a pretty fine fly fisher, and now she has discovered what magnificent targets big pike can be, come the winter months.

But she wasn’t brought up in an angling background, and when she saw how some fish are treated her religious concerns kicked in. Whilst I thought I had fish care covered, she wasn’t so sure and suggested I looked again at my catch and release practices. Happily, around this time, our Orvis connection began, and Enoka was rightly impressed by that company’s view that a fish photograph must be taken as close to the water it came from as is humanly possible. Almost overnight I began to rethink how I could take shots of barbel much more kindly, and really restrict the time they are out of their natural environment.





Now we come to those big pike, and Enoka has made me realise they deserve equal respect as the magnificent creatures they are. Here she’s seen with Rob and James Buckley, two fine guys and both fabulous anglers… son James is a keeper on the Test for goodness sake! Nobody is better than cradling big fish than these two, but Enoka still thinks we can do more to minimise the time they are out of water.

I’m doing with pike now what I did with barbel back in the summer, and thinking of new, better ways we can display them for that trophy shot. I’ll get there in the end and won’t stop ’till Enoka’s happy, but I would never have considered the challenge without her input.

That’s diversity for you. A way of bringing new thinking into a world of fossilised ideas!





The post Where Diversity Really Counts first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

Continue reading...

As regards to fish care, one of my great mates has taken this to extremes by using "rubber" hooks, at least that's my take on them. He does get a pretty fair share of good fish, but seems to drop far too many with his love of circle hooks - deeply researched on youtube with all the experts, but for me, a little extreme??

 

[John Bailey]

Grip “n” Grin Shots

I notice there is a suggestion that we don’t actually need grip “n” grin shots at all, and that perhaps the trophy image of the past should in fact be consigned to the past. I’m hugely sympathetic to this, but would rather come up with a way of displaying a fish that avoids stress as far as is possible.

Obviously, the “Orvis Way” of taking shots at every possible opportunity, with the fish largely still in the water is unbeatable, but is not possible in every situation. If you Google 'Mark' at 'Loch Garry Fishing', we might find an answer.

I spent some time with Mark on the Garry chain of lochs last year, and was hugely impressed by pretty much everything I saw, especially by his fish care. Most of Mark’s fishing and guiding is done from a boat, which makes a great trophy shot even more difficult to secure in a fish-friendly way. Mark has overcome this issue by taking on board large containers, which he fills with water and puts the large trout into whilst they recover. A quick shot with the camera all ready, and away the fish goes.

It’s this concept I’m working on now, notably for pike and barbel. More later.

Mark and the majesty of his world​

 

[John Bailey]

Big Fish Recuperation

I refer back to Mark up at Glengarry in the Highlands, retaining ferox trout in a container whilst they recover. Indeed, why not let the fish simply hold safe in the landing net 'till it is time for release, as has been suggested? Well, I guess the fish has to be taken from the water and brought into the boat to have the hooks removed? It makes sense to have a quick picture then and perhaps, afterwards, pop the fish in a tank to de- stress? Perhaps then transfer it to the net hanging overboard for a last check before final release?

I do believe we are obligated to do everything in our power to look after a capture whilst it is in our possession, as it were, but perhaps we underestimate the resilience of these fish, ferox anyway. Quarter of a century ago I was involved with a ferox tagging experiment, and those fish were fitted with a radio receiver as we caught them. They were placed in a tank, tranquillised, and the receiver inserted. They were then kept in a large holding net overnight to ensure the receivers were not rejected. All the fish survived this ordeal, and we know this as we were able to track them electronically as they moved around the loch. (BTW, they moved almost constantly, sometimes covering five miles in a day!)

Fish care has always been an issue with me. Back in the Seventies I was dismayed how many big roach were kept inordinately long for photography by some anglers I classed as friends... sometimes several fish being held in a net whilst numbers built up over as long as a week. Around 1976/77 I mounted my own little crusade against the use of keepnets in the specimen world, notably in Coarse Fisherman magazine, then the brave new publication on the block. Ten years later, you would not find a serious angler anywhere using a keepnet, and I take some credit for this. (Though why some adults still use nets outside matches defeats me.)

 

[John Aston]

How come you didn't buy the wonderfully eccentric Tomdoun Hotel , JB ? I could have wept last time I passed , en route to Kinloch Hourn .

 

[nottskev]

Fish care has always been an issue with me. Back in the Seventies I was dismayed how many big roach were kept inordinately long for photography by some anglers I classed as friends... sometimes several fish being held in a net whilst numbers built up over as long as a week. Around 1976/77 I mounted my own little crusade against the use of keepnets in the specimen world, notably in Coarse Fisherman magazine, then the brave new publication on the block. Ten years later, you would not find a serious angler anywhere using a keepnet, and I take some credit for this. (Though why some adults still use nets outside matches defeats me.)

This adult would like to know how you equate, or don't, the stresses imposed on one of your beloved barbel in the death-struggle ( known as a "fight" by anglers; Queensbury rules, presumably) of catching it - how else can a fish interpret being caught? - with the stress imposed on one of the roach I put in a keepnet. Your paragraph moves from anglers keeping big roach in a net for a week to your parenthetical swipe at all anglers who put fish in a net for a few hours. I catch plenty of barbel, which I return promptly, and plenty of roach, which are often retained in a net for a few hours. On the grounds that barbel don't do well in nets, but smaller shoal fish seem to be relatively ok. Both are impositions on the fish and we don't become saints by doing one and castigating the other.

 

[sam vimes]

I'm not entirely comfortable with the almost tyrannical zeal that has overtaken angling fish care. It seems to have been largely driven by the tackle trade in an attempt to sell us ever larger, more elaborate, and more expensive, fish care equipment. I have no issue with angling striving to do its best for caught fish. However, we should never lose sight of the fact that we stick hooks in fish and lead them towards a waiting net against their will. No matter how well we care for them after that event can alter, or ameliorate, that fact. It shouldn't be an excuse for poor treatment, but going over the top strikes me as being a sop to anglers consciences and the misgivings of a largely ignorant non-angling public.

As far as I'm concerned, if the debate over keepnets concludes that they should no longer be used in the name of fish care, so be it, make them illegal. However, that should be the case across the board. Match fishing may be a fractionally better reason to use a keepnet, but if they are not acceptable for "pleasure" anglers, they should not be acceptable for any reason. Unfortunately, if keepnets are banned, the same should probably apply to any form of fish retention. I don't believe that we can have our cake and eat it based on individual ideals of what might be right or wrong. Floatation slings, sacks, tunnels and the like aren't necessarily any better than a keepnet, especially if they are misused.

I tend to believe that this is the biggest issue when it comes to fish care. Anglers can catch fish with no idea of how to treat them properly. They may even have all the right gear, but they don't necessarily know how to use it safely. When it comes down to it, I've seen anglers with all the gear but are left wanting when it comes to using a disgorger properly. At worst, they've got a dirty great mat and antiseptic kit, but no means of unhooking a fish if it's not possible to do so with their fingers. Then there are those that treat every fish like it's somewhere between a newborn baby and a huge precious gem. The snag is that they keep it out of the water for ages whilst they fuss over it.

Anglers not really knowing what they are about is a big issue. One poor experience I've had over the last few years has involved newcomers to rivers seeing experienced grayling anglers returning fish. I've known of the odd heated discussion occurring when a newcomer has expressed concern on seeing a grayling "thrown back". They apply their own indoctrinated experience of "good" fish care to an environment and species they aren't familiar with. It's even worse when you see those that complain struggling to return grayling when they get to inflict their idea of good fish care on them.

 

[John Aston]

I well recall some young zealot flying into a self righteous rage at a picture of a chub caught on a small stream (I think on fly IIRC) which - no !- wasn't cradled on an unhooking mat . Agree totally about grayling - they may have the looks of a catwalk queen but don't bugger around with artfully posed pictures ('let's just take another one now the fin's up') , just get them back in the river , where they belong.

Keepnets ? Whatever- it's compulsory to sneer at them but properly used , at the right time and for the right size and/or number and/or species they're fine . And I'll be buggered if I will take lectures in fish care from Generation Z carp anglers with an unsettling obsession with antiseptic potions.