Catch and Release on the Lake of Menteith

4/4/2011

Please comment on the Lake of Menteith C&R issue here using the comments facility

David O

4/4/2011 04:21:20 pm

I would be happy to fish to a 2 fish fish limit with C&R for the rest of the day. I know there are some anglers in the club who do not like C&R for very valid reasons, but I don't like catch and kill for equally valid reasons.

tom boseman

5/4/2011 01:00:59 am

I will gladly agree to a 2 fish limit
then catch and release

Billy Gillan

5/4/2011 01:51:53 am

Personally I don't eat fish so catch and release would suit me.
However if I was fishing C&R, would the price reflect this?
Would Menteith Fisheries introduce a C&R ticket?
One other thing, would this only apply on the Lake, or would this be applied to all venues B&B fish throughout the season?
Just my thoughts,
Billy Gillan

David O

5/4/2011 02:52:44 am

Billy, the current price IS a C&R ticket in that you can C&R all day. The limit remains 10 fish per boat (we use that as a 5 fish per person limit), but we are being strongly encouraged not to take more than 2 or 3 fish per person to avoid further price rises. I doubt if they will reduce prices for C&R only. The cost of a midweek boat on the LoM is £44 (£22 each) which seems to me pretty reasonable for 8 hours fishing. The cost for the weekend (£54) reflects demand. There were only 10 boats out last Friday whereas they were all out on Saturday. There are no plans for this to be applied to any B&B venue at the moment but the council could change that if it saw fit. However, in light of the LoM website article I thought it was worth raising and seeking the views of the internet-enabled club members.

Billy Stevenson

5/4/2011 05:40:19 pm

Not keen on catch and release, this is in the Lakes blog is all about saving money, maybe they should consider releasing fish at 3/4 to 1Lb this will save on rearing costs.

Keith J link

5/4/2011 07:26:46 pm

C&R is always an option open to the angler and is now generally adopted by me when not in competition, unless it is necessary to kill the fish due to injury or its inability to recover.
It is now common in major competitions to go onto the card which has the advantage that all fish caught count at the 'weigh-in'.
I would prefer this to happen.
Having said that, I enjoy eating trout, as do several of my friends, and I would like the option, on occasion, to keep more than 2 fish.
There is no doubt that fisheries operate on small profit margins and the cost of replacing fish will always be passed directly on to the angler. In my opinion the current charges are high enough and if C&R is the way to keep them down I'm all for it.
The matter of barbless hooks would have to be considered as would instruction on how to return fish.
I know that C&R plays into the hands of the anti blood sports lobby who accuse us of inflicting pain on fish for our own amusement, but I wouldn't be too concerned about such, I believe, misguided views.

Richard H

7/4/2011 10:00:17 pm

Hi all,
The C&R doesn't worry me because I rarely bag up - at least not for a while anyway!!!!!
I'd be happy with C&R provided people are honest in their judgement of the weight of fish returned because this is the main criterion on which points are awarded. Perhaps the council needs to look at ways to deal with this.
Richard

Willie_E link

10/4/2011 06:10:41 pm

C+R works for me (usualy at long range!)
I I have fished barbless for years and cant complain. As long as there is agreement before the off and the releases are done with respect to the fish cant see a problem. Now the only problem is gettting them on the hook int he first place...

David O

11/4/2011 05:14:25 pm

Interesting comments. Billy S, it is about saving money, but only to an extent. It's also about killing fish unnecessarily. I for one am still eating fish from the freezer caught last season and was therefore delighted when Willie was happy to take my fish from Menteith. Richard, no need to judge weight, which would be open to all sorts of doubts. Usual system is to kill the first 2 or 3 fish and have each subsequent fish recorded on a card and a 2lb weight allowance granted per fish. So, 2 fish weighed at 3 lb 11 oz plus 5 returned = 7 fish for 13 lb 11 oz. Simples!

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Catch and Release on the Lake of Menteith

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