Goldenloch oct-26th–week 40-2015
Goldenloch
Oct-26th–Week 40-2015
Its been the funniest of seasons this year, last night I was reading and looking at old catch record books that we have kept over the years they go back to 1990, which is 25 years worth, its interesting to see the different seasons and how they panned out, for example and picked at random Oct 26th 2004 Flies catching were, Nomads, Orange Dog, Dark Mackerel, Yellow Snotter, now these were being used by many of the names I still recognise, on turning several pages and studying the flies I see no mention of Diawl bachs, until the 14-01-2006, Ray Eastwood, Bankfoot, caught 12 using same, other things to note was that the average catch including returned fish was about 3 or 4, and that many anglers then were only taking 1 fish home, the price for fishing was £12 for 3 fish for 4 hours, and we were the same as the Holl, Heathery Ford and the Raith Lake, but a load of fish was £312 for 150 with an average size of 1 ¾ lbs equating to about £2.00 / fish, the upshot being that back then an angler paying £12 to fish catching his 3 fish left with £6.00 worth of fish leaving £6.00 to the fishery, its nothing like that today, hence the reason that so many fisheries are now encouraging catch and release, which means anglers who are paying to fish, the whole value goes towards the running of the fishery, the downside is that the fish become hook shy and they can get out of condition quite rapidly, the mucous protecting the scales becomes damaged, or even in the worst case removed through netting or handling, back then it didn’t seem to matter so much as the water was much colder and probably purer, but global warming has seen temperatures rise significantly which has increased the amount of bugs and fungus, mostly because of higher temperatures, so what is needed now is for anglers doing catch and release to be absolutely sure that they are using barbless hooks, that the nets stay in the boats or banking, only to be used as a form of last resort, no handling of fish and just by slacking of the line a fish can then shake free, it pleases me no end to hear anglers say that they dropped loads and just let them go.
To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing