Sky Sports.com

Keith: states his case

The idea that someone would leave a secure, convenient fishery, often with café, always with toilets, sometimes even with a tackle shop where they caught bigger fish than they'd ever dreamt of and more of them, to return to a featureless length of narrow waterway where a fish that needed a landing net was a novelty, was bizarre.

Keith Arthur
Quotes of the week

It's getting near that time of year when river anglers, or genuine coarse fishing traditionalists, are thinking about spending as much time on the bank as possible: March 14th, the Last Day, is not far off!

Of course it's not that long ago when ALL coarse fishing shut down for three months, apart from the odd 'official experiment', as Halls Angling Scheme (now CEMEX Angling) conducted in collaboration with Liverpool University in the late 1960s/early 70s, and the 'close season break' enjoyed by holidaymakers and day trippers to the Norfolk Broads.

It is massively ironic that The Broads - the holes formed by peat-diggers in the Middle Ages subsequently flooded by the North Sea - are now closed during the three forbidden months when most stillwaters are open. The Broads are 'SSSI's (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and as such are forced to observe the traditional three-month break.

I used to LOVE the old close season: it enabled me to sort my tackle out, change all the line on all my reels, repair old floats and make new ones where required - floats were rarely purchased by me pre-1990, I made my own, or at least commissioned someone who was good at it to make them. It was also a time when tackle shops got most of their new stock, so usually either a new rod, or reel, or both, was on the cards.

It was also a perfect opportunity, for those fanatics like me that HAD to fish, to try something outside the norm and for me that meant sea fishing. I spent many happy days at Deal, on the pier or on one of the 'Ben Bailey' charter boats, launched down the beach on railways sleepers into the surf and, sometimes frighteningly, rammed onto the pebbles at the end of the day. There would usually be a few cod, some whiting and maybe a couple of good plaice aboard. Now the boats are mostly gone, just one charter boat now sails from Deal, probably because the fish are mostly gone too.

Potential

Dover and Littlehampton were also ports I regularly fished from and, in the 1980s with the building of the massive Thamesmead Estate in south-east London, some pals and I discovered the potential of the upper Thames Estuary and fishing for flounders and eels, we even held matches, became a fortnightly event, to suit the tides.

Some of my friends preferred fly fishing - I never tried it until 1990 - and fished places such as Chew Valley Reservoir and Blagdon, until Grafham and then ultimately Rutland Water opened and changed the face of British fly fishing for ever.

Another couple of venues they regularly fished were Springlakes and TriLakes. If they sound familiar, Springlakes is now better known as coarse fishing mecca Gold Valley and TriLakes is a coarse fishery and a children's playground! Big kids played there with fly rods back then.

Once the close season was abolished on lakes, a decision that dramatically affected the fishing tackle industry by making it unnecessary for those 'must-go' anglers like me and my mates to fly fish or visit the saltier stuff, it was patently clear that pressure would be put on the authorities to remove the close season on canals and rivers.

At the time the National Rivers Authority, replaced by the Environment Agency in 1996, stated quite categorically that angling in rivers during the 91 days would never be allowed because scientific evidence showed that river fish stocks are 'discrete' and gather in huge shoals to spawn, making them liable to over-exploitation.

After a few years of no close season on lakes, many new fisheries opened, offering easy sport on well-stocked - some would say dramatically overstocked - small pools, now known as 'commercial fisheries'.

The tackle and techniques required on these fisheries is so different from 'natural' waters that it is almost essential to have two completely different sets of kit to fish both. Many anglers can't do that so most of them took the easier option and geared up for catching carp from commercials.

That left canal and river banks devoid of anglers for far longer than mid-March to mid-June - some left and never went back. Club memberships declined as day ticket waters replaced the requirement to belong.

A campaign was launched to remove the close season on canals and this, ultimately, succeeded (depending on one's description of success) in 1999. The intention was that anglers would flood back to the canal systems and clubs would once again flourish. The idea that someone would leave a secure, convenient fishery, often with café, always with toilets, sometimes even with a tackle shop where they caught bigger fish than they'd ever dreamt of and more of them, to return to a featureless length of narrow waterway where a fish that needed a landing net was a novelty, was bizarre.

Challenges

So spectacularly unsuccessful was the lifting of close season regulations that many clubs had to give up their leases on canals, including giants such as the London Anglers' Association who parted company with 17.5 miles of canal within the M25, that BW currently leases far less canal to angling groups than it did pre-abolition.

Now the charge is on to lift the close season on rivers. The EA seem to have forgotten all about the NRA reports and query that there is science that challenges the idea of fishing for 12 months. New legislation being planned for the Marine Bill, due this year, would enable the EA to impose regional, or even species-aware, close seasons as current legislation forces the period to be 91 days. That would no longer apply.

I am as against the lifting of the close season now, indeed MORE against it, than I ever was and, to that end, offered my services to debate the issue with Des Taylor, Angling Times journalist and specimen hunter, who has been voluble in his support of abolition.

Des has since pulled out and been replaced by Trevor Johnson, secretary of Milton Keynes and District Angling Association, who frankly should know better in my opinion, and we are having our debate next Saturday, February 16th, in The Garden Room at Hampton Court Palace. Tickets are available at £12, including tea, coffee and a buffet lunch.

If you can make it get along and lend your support. Tickets are available from John Ellis on 01525 381280 and with those you can also hear discussions on Global Warming, entitled 'Hippos in the Thames' (no, I've NOT fallen in lately) and the 'Decline and Rise of the Otter'. I'm looking forward to a great day and hope to see you there.

Keith answers your email...

Email Keith Arthur here

Keith, What are you views on pike matches? Recently I have been hearing a lot about bad piking practice, which is apparently greater than ever. Exactly what is bad piking practice and why do some people feel that pike matches are against the very concept of pike conservation. Lee, Cardiff.

KEITH SAYS: It is a very difficult question to answer Lee but one that I will approach with my usual candour. From a purely personal view I would be unhappy to fish a 'pike match' to 'conventional' rules. I think it is inappropriate to keep pike in nets or tubes for any length of time and they can be a bit like buses: one follows another. That being the case it is against EA bylaws to retain two fish in a single tube/sack. As for regular keepnets, well with pike up to 4-5lb I don't really have a problem but 'doubles' are quite a bit longer than any other similar weight fish and unless the net is VERY carefully positioned and staked out it could cause fish welfare issues.

That isn't to say I don't believe there can't be competitions involving pike, they just need managing in a different way. I fish several 'release' tournaments in the USA where each fish is photographed on a disposable camera issued on the morning, with an initial shot identifying the day (usually a picture of the person issuing the camera!). Each fish is photographed and the time recorded and most fish wins. In the event of a tie on numbers, it's most fish first that wins.

If size is to be a decider, then each fish could be measured in front of the camera and then released, having logged the exact measurement with the adjacent angler as witness. Most centimetres wins, the same rules as above deciding a tie.

Do you think that would work, because I do?

Hi Keith, I have been trying to catch some snig/eels around Wigan but so far with no luck. Any tips on tactics and bait for me? Richard, Wigan

KEITH SAYS: Hello Richard. Eels are difficult enough to find in summer and autumn nowadays and even harder in winter. If I really wanted to catch a decent sized eel in your area, I would try either the canal, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal has a few, but they are VERY difficult fish to catch, or one of the older commercial fisheries as eels will never have been fished for there. Although eels will get almost everywhere, I would definitely choose a fishery with some kind of stream feeding it. The trouble is being selective. I know when Will Raison decided to target the big eels in Gold Valley (some had been caught to 4lb+ in a match) he tried half a freshly-dead roach, legered on 25lb braid just on darkness. He had a carp every cast!!!!

On the canal, wait until summer and try overcast evenings, especially if there has been rain - should be no problem in Wigan or surrounding area eh? - and feed dead maggots, legering a couple of big lobworms or half a small dead roach or gudgeon. It might be an idea to pre-bait with dead maggots too. If you want REALLY big eels, try legering with chicken livers over the same feed. It won't be easy though, even if you may get some real shocks with unexpected species.

Good luck!

Keith, The other day I was having a chat with a few fishing mates and we got onto the subject about leadcore! One was against it and one was for it but neither explained why. Basically I am after information on both the good side and the bad side of using leadcore! I have wanted to try it as I have heard about a few results my mates have. I am trying to chase a new pb, as they have reached the 30's I need to try some new tactics to get the bigger ones. Martin

KEITH SAYS: Hello Martin. There are pros and cons with using leadcore and only you can decide whether it is for you. One of the biggest problems is what happens in the event of a 'break-off'. I would only consider using a helicopter or even chod rig but even if the lead is certain to be jettisoned there can still be an issue of the fish towing a length of leadcore about, as the intrinsic weight of the leadcore can ensure that the hook won't drop out. From my point of view this is such an unlikely occurrence (I have NEVER had one instance reported to me, although that isn't to say it hasn't happened) that I consider the benefits outweigh those risks.

I use commercially-made leadcore rigs, usually the ESP Helicopter versions which have a decent range of types and are superbly made and priced and I am convinced that they are as safe as can be.

I also use the Korda 'Safe Zone' camo leaders, which are think mono with tungsten inserts. They are not quite as heavy as leadcore but as long as a reasonably slack line is used they are as effective and can be purchased with high-quality components, such as lead-release cips, already in place. They'd be my choice for semi-fixed or running rigs.

I hope you sort your dilemma.

Hi Keith, I doubt this is in your range of expertise, but have you ever tried spear fishing? Would you know where I could give it a go and what I could

expect to catch in UK waters? Patrick, Taunton

KEITH SAYS: Hello Patrick. Spear fishing isn't legal in freshwater - and visibility would certainly be an issue too - but you could try it in the sea if you wanted to. I certainly haven't done so, for fear of being recognised as some kind of whale-sized prey. The south-coast reefs and rock formations might be worth a look for bass and pollack and some of the sandy marks will have plaice and rays during season. Of course you would only be allowed to kill and retain fish over the MLS (minimum landing size) and you would not be allowed to sell any of your catch but as a recreational thing, it is very common in the USA where the spearfishers say that being able to target just the fish they are after is very eco-friendly. In our climate and water temperatures I am quite happy to stay dry-side, thanks very much.