Are
we making it too easy?
have written quite a lot recently about the way that commercial coarse
fisheries on stillwaters have transformed the angling scene enormously.
Comfortable platforms, disabled access, toilets and sometimes snack bars
on site, and an abundance of fish present.
However, there are some concerns in my mind about one aspect of the situation.
In the past it was often advised that fishery owners should severely limit
the total weight of fish in the water so that the fish could thrive on
the limited amount of natural food present in the water.
Sometimes this means that there were times – when the sun shone
brightly for instance – when even experienced anglers would struggle
to catch more than a few small fish.
Completely blank days when no fish were caught were fairly commonplace.
Now fishery owners know that if they are to make any money out of their
lakes they need to attract a lot of anglers every day.
That means that there must be far more fish present to attract customers
to come again and again.
We get away with the overstocking because the numerous anglers actually
feed the fish by throwing in free samples of foodstuffs often of a very
nutritious nature.
As a result days when even novice anglers fail to catch a single fish,
or at least get any bites, are much more rare than was previously the
case.
There is however a niggling doubt in my mind at times about whether it
is good for angling to be easy.
There are hard waters still of course, but it is a long time since I experienced
a completely blank day.
I wonder if it is in order for anglers to sleep in a tent relying on an
electric bite alarm to wake them when a fish hooks itself on a bolt hook
rig. I used to love night fishing myself, but I stayed awake always.
And when pole fishing anglers rely on a piece of elastic to enable them
to land big fish instead of using skill to play a fish from rod and reel
tackle, I begin to wonder if we have gone too far in our innovations.
After all we do not want the fish to take home but just to catch them
on sporting gear and then gently return them unharmed.