Licence on horizon to deal with cormorant
There
could be some positive news on the horizon for fishery owners, anglers,
and the future of our sport come to that.
That is after the possible approval of a licence to deal with the dreaded
‘Black Plague’ – the protected Phalacrocorax Carbo, more
commonly known as the cormorant.
At present, there are now record numbers of cormorants decimating fish
stocks countrywide.
But now, apparently, the whole issue is going to be reviewed by Nature
Conservation and Fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw – and about time
too.
To a certain degree, the protection of this species was understandable
from the RSPB’s point of view because, in the early 70s, cormorants
were put on the protected list as their numbers were heavily in decline.
But, since then, numbers have been recovering and now the winter population
is calculated as being around 25,000 in the UK.
Without going into too much detail, most anglers know of these birds and
what they can inflict on our fisheries and the fish themselves.
In water, a cormorant will tackle anything that resembles a fish, big
or small.
A deterrent, on some trout fisheries for instance, was to stock larger
trout over 2lb in weight hoping they would be too big a meal to handle.
But evn that did not work – they still had a go at them.
A problem I witnessed quite regularly was many badly damaged fish around
the 2½ to 3lb mark, some with their insides trailing!
These were a direct result from the actions of this predatory bird that
had attempted to continually grab its prey and could not manage to swallow
it after capture, and left a ‘right mess’ in its wake.
Incredibly, some of these trout continued to feed and take a fly even
in this sorry state.
If anyone has seen this type of damage they will undoubtedly understand
my view that it is an issue that needs addressing.
Let’s hope a wise decision can be made sooner rather than later.
Angling Course is friendly and helpful
I was
among 19 anglers (that, encouragingly, included two females) who attended
the first angling course run by Ken Stevenson at the Gateford in Worksop.
It was a very pleasant friendly affair with a good atmosphere.
I doubt if any of the pupils came away without learning a bit of something
in the short time after enlisting.
Many were seasoned anglers with long angling careers behind them while
some just wished to pick up a few more tricks of the trade.
For instance, how many of you know which way a low pressure wind blows
or, indeed, a high pressure wind?
And do you know the effect each wind can have? No prizes, but the answer
is, a low blows anti-clockwise and a high blows clockwise.
We were all given examples on how the weather affects our sport, a factor
which is sometimes overlooked. All we want to do is go fishing, right?
Air pressure, wind direction and water temperature all determine the outcome
of a day’s fishing. It is not just a draw of a good peg in coarse
fishing or being in a boat with a ‘local star’ in trout competitions.
Some anglers take a good day’s fishing for granted, and plug away
regardless. I’ve been there myself, trust me.
But one thing’s for sure, my love of competition trout fishing had
me looking at the weather forecast days before every outing, not just
for wind or rain, but the direction a particular wind was going to blow.
Wind direction was paramount to either a good or bad day on the reservoirs.
Because we were fishing in drifting boats, we were sometimes unable to
fish productive areas because the wind was blowing in an opposite direction.
This meant that you could catch well in practice the day before but could
not get near the fish on competition day because of differing conditions.
Still, I can honestly say, I never knew which way a high or low wind blew,
so I am thankful to Ken for that.
There is still plenty to go at over the next few weeks, and if you are
one of those who regularly struggles and would love to change your fortunes,
or would like to pick up a few tips on all differing methods, this is
the place to be.
I have received an e-mail from angling newcomer Pete Marsden, desperately
wanting to know about ‘hair rigs.’
I’ve encouraged him to attend the second date of this course to learn
all about this and more – I can thoroughly recommend it.
Notice Board
Child
protection and first aid workshops. Joint Angling Governing Bodies (JAGB)
child protection 
and
first aid workshops are to be held at Sandhill Lake Adventure Base, Worksop
on Sunday 7th March.
The workshops are available to any member of the general public who is
involved in working with children or vulnerable adults ( for example,
coaches or youth club leaders).
For further information, or application forms, please contact Glyn Williams
on 01909 501030.
Angling Course. Ken Stevenson’s angling course is continuing at the
Gateford, Worksop on Wednesday from 7pm to 9pm.
If you want to get in contact with Martin to give him any results, stories or information, you can e-mail him at martintrona@aol.com