Boats, boats, boats

As anglers I would have thought that we all have a bit of a love hate relationship with boats and people who sail them - they provide features due to the shelter they offer fish, and can help to stir up the water and help encourage fish to feed in the muddied water they've just created, but at the same time can cause chaos when care isn't taken (by both fishers and boaters) and the same piece of water is wanted by both parties!

Unless you always fish commercial waters where boats aren't allowed you'll have no doubt come across at least one boat whilst out on the bank. As I've spent a little bit of time this year up and down the canal I've seen both the respect and pure ignorance that boat users can have - most boaters seem to recognise when there is someone fishing and will attempt to steer clear of the swim that they are in, on a canal this usually means going to the far bank (although this isn't usually the best thing in the world when you are often fishing to this exact spot!). However you do occasionally get the odd wally who can't be bothered to deviate from their path and so nearly wipes out all the rods when they are cruising past, and also very rare (although I did have it once this year) idiot who still continues to travel when the light levels have really dropped and don't have any lights on their boat. I'm pretty sure that there is a cut off time when all traffic has to stop on the water (8pm rings a bell), so I often don't cast out until after this time to allow for minimal potential disagreements with boat users, and so you can imagine my confusion when this boat appeared out the dark at nearly 9pm with someone peering off the front to see where they were going!

I'm also fishing a couple of old gravel pits that have now been converted into sailing lakes, and the contrast in understanding and agreements between fishermen and other water users really is amazing on these - on one of the lakes there are rules to forbid overhead casting when other people are out on the lake, and the regular boaters keep well clear of wherever there is someone fishing. You still get the newbies who don't really know what they are doing and so get blown around by a rogue wind, or the canoeists who get the fright of their life when they paddle round the margins and find you guarding the rod tips from them!

The other lake however doesn't seem to have any of these agreements or rules - so it's not uncommon to have a sailing boat just rock up and sit in your swim (around 40 yards out usually) or have youngsters paddling around the margin and then jumping up onto the bank even in he same peg! I have also seen guys lobbing a lead out when there are boats in the same area of water, so just seems to go both ways!

The main reason that any of us go out and do what we do it on have fun isn't it? So I would hope that common sense would prevail, and gentleman's agreements would be in place most venues where there is multiple uses for the water... When fishing, if there is even the slightest chance that a lead or rig might end up landing near someone who is on he water then don't do it - it might be frustrating that you have to wait to cast but with so much time and effort put into fish safety should the same not be put into safety for everyone? When boating or canoeing / kayaking - please respect those fishing... If you see us on the bank don't sit directly in front of the swim, and if you are going round the margins then go past the swims as quickly as safely possible and at a decent distance so not to disturb or potentially cause damage to fishing gear.

As I said - enjoyment should be the reason we are out there, share it with others!

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It 

Litter and British Records

Litter

Now this really does grate, and is one of the reasons that I don't really enjoy fishing busy lakes, especially those in the middle of a park - however sometimes it's good to go to these places as you're more likely to get a bite or two, and when it's free fishing then that helps as well... The main problem (aside from the fact that it can get really busy at times) is the amount of litter that some people (and I will say some as I know a lot of people do take their rubbish away) leave around the banks.

I say this now as you may have seen the photo I posted on Twitter this week of a bundle of line with a hook still tied on that was just chucked in the bush to the edge of the swim. The bin that I tidied this into was less than seven steps away, yes seven!!!! I ended up clearing another three or four metres of line from around a set of roots at the front of the swim along with a number of plastic bottles from the bushes either side of the swim in the short morning session I did, and whilst some of the additional litter may not have been left by anglers the amount of line in and around the swim is not excusable!

Source: twitter.com/Rob_OHagan

It's definitely not my intention to say that I'm a martyr, and to highlight the fact that I'd cleared the litter that others left, but to point out the fact that it takes a couple of seconds to look round your swim at the end of a session and check you have everything (including the rubbish) and to put stuff in a bag as you go through the session... If you don't have a rubbish bag with you then drop it in the bottom of your tackle bag and then pop it in the bin when you get home!!

As a wise person once said "Take only memories, leave only footprints, kill nothing but time"

British Records

This is something that has really taken the angling press and social media by storm in the past month and that is the capture of a 70lb carp from RH fisheries 'Avenue'.

The amount of abuse that has been aimed at the captor has been shocking and I have to admit that I did have to leave a couple of fishing groups I was a member of on Facebook because I couldn't be bothered with the amount of 'trolling' about this. Usually I can put up with it but it was beyond a joke! This isn't the only large fish in September with a new 60lb plus fish coming from Holme Fen as reported by Anglers Mail at the end of the month, however I don't remember seeing as negative a reaction as the Avenue fish.

Source : telegraph.co.uk

I tuned into the Fox International live Facebook feed last Thursday with Harry Charrington, and was just in time to see him put across his view on the matter - I thought he was really good as he kept impartial because he was out at the World Championships at the time and came back to the news. This was another Facebook item that was ruined by trolls as I couldn't be bothered to read the same bloke throwing stupid comments at Harry... It must have been a bad couple of weeks because I usually just get on with it but apparently I couldn't those times!!

Iain Macmillan is another person who's put the whole record fish thing in a great way pointing out that at the end of the day a carp is a carp, and in the grand scale of things that are happening in the world at the moment it's nowhere near the biggest issue! Read his full post just below...

"Well what a week, i was lucky enough to be there at Rob Hales ''Avenue'' this week for my weekly 48 hours, and what i saw will stay with me for the rest of my life.  I saw the initial bite, the whole fight, and then i saw the fish go in the net......what a moment for Tom Doherty.  I flung my arms around him and felt so privileged to be able to share the whole event with him, Rob and Josh.  The fish is immense, just immaculate in every way, now fortunately for me my signal is dire down at the lake so didn't see much of the meltdown that FB suffered, but all ill say is to those who've aimed their shallow comments directly at Tom or Rob, is you're life really lacking that much that you feel the need to belittle the capture by name calling and quite frankly pointless remarks ??  The bottom line is its a carp, that's all, it's a carp.  If you don't agree with the weight, its origins, the feeding programme, the owner, the capture, then that's your view, but there is a saying ''if you ain't got anything good to say, then say nothing at all'', you have choices to fish for whatever you like, wherever you like, but to run people down for doing something they enjoy doing is just PATHETIC.  Now i wont have this thread tuning into anything other than positive, and I've not started this thread just to incite hate and slander like others have done, so hats off Tom and Rob, i personally cant wait to catch the fish, and ill do it on my own terms for my own enjoyment, and finally if you're one of those who've found it necessary to run this weeks events down in any way, feel free to delete yourself from my list of friends, and remember this......its only a hobby that's meant to be enjoyed by us all, in what ever way makes us happy..........oh and meanwhile in Syria people are still dying right this very minute, kind of puts it all into perspective doesn't it ??  Peace out. X"

My personal opinion is similar to the two mentioned above - everyone has their own targets when they go fishing, whether it be the biggest fish in the lake, a haul of fish of smaller sizes or just to catch something, it's all about being out on the bank enjoying a fantastic hobby! If you happen to have the chance to fish a lake which has been stocked in a particular way by its owner (and you must remember that they are creating opportunities based on what people want them to/have asked them for) and you get a huge slice of luck in catching a certain large or special fish then you should be congratulated for your skill in catching that fish and get to enjoy every minute of it rather than worrying about what other people are going to say!

One Life - Live It, Love It