MORE TO ANGLING THAN THE BIGGEST FISH

I have been fishing for over 60 years but I just can’t believe how our sport is going. It seems to me that so-called specimen anglers only want to catch the very biggest carp and no other fish matters. I am happy just to go out there and catch a few bream, tench (if I’m lucky) and a few roach. A nice day out. I really don’t go out to catch carp, I find them far too easy. Carp are mugs, feed some pellets in the margins of most lakes and the carp will always turn up, guaranteed. Today I have been informed that on three waters that I fish regularly, the rules have changed to include a minimum size of landing net of 36 inches. Nuts! I’m not a match angler and certainly not a specimen angler, I just go out there to enjoy a few hours catching reasonable-sized fish. I never put fish of any size on the ground or on any sort of mat. I see mats as the worst possible place to put fish and the number of fish I see jumping around and off the mats makes me sick. My fish, whatever size, stay in my sensible landing net across my knees until unhooked and then they go straight back in the water with the minimum of fuss. Stupid rules like minimum 36-inch landing net will ruin angling. I see plenty of anglers who just can’t handle these outsized nets so they end up dragging fish out over the bank, causing untold damage to the fish. Sensible rules only – 36 inches if you are out to catch bigger carp, but, for the rest of us nets to suit the target fish. Can we please stop this lead dumping guys – the stuff is toxic and it needs to stay on the line and not in the lake.