Enjoy the thrill of responsible angling
LET me introduce myself. I have been involved with angling for my entire life (almost 50 years) and have written a number of articles for various publications and spoken on air on numerous occasions.
I have been a very serious “tag and release” angler for almost a decade and have gathered a huge amount of knowledge that I would like to share with the readers as we journey ahead with this column.
For many years I have persevered to conserve, teach and encourage the value of responsible angling. We all enjoy a good fry but we should consider more selective harvesting of our resources.
This also focuses on the bait we use and the wastage thereof. “Limit the catch but never catch the limit.” By this I mean what goes home.
Enjoy the outing and the thrill of angling.
This column is intended to help all anglers in their quest for a memorable catch. I certainly do not want to encourage exploitation, neither do I want to discourage those who enjoy the taste of a fresh catch. Our image as anglers needs to be improved.
Angling should not be seen by others (non-anglers) as a “blood sport”. I would like to encourage readers to impart some of their experiences and submit photographs of their catches for publication, thereby sharing their experiences with fellow anglers.
The reporting of strange occurrences and phenomena or anything of interest will help the column no end. We will not concentrate on any specific facet of angling but rather on an- gling in general.
There are many interesting points to cover and I will endeavour to share these with you and make your read interesting and motivational.
Part of every column will be “the catch” of the period between publications. So please submit a snap of that catch should you consider it as such. The quality of the photo is important, but the size of the fish is secondary. It must explain the joy of the moment and add character to the occasion.
Angling has become a very expensive past time and hence some believe they must subsidise their pleasures with the fruits of the catch.
Unfortunately the law sees it differently and there is little sympathy for those who venture on with that ideology. Ten fish per day per person is still a generous bag.
We hear horrific stories of catches of shad in particular where hundreds are caught at one time even when the season is closed. This type of behaviour impacts severely on our sport and pastime as law-abiding citizens.
There is a difference between angling and fishing. Fishing is merely a way of spending time.
Angling is a way of catching fish while enjoying the “reel time” on hand.
December is here and a well-earned break awaits us. Enjoy the spoils of the fresh air and think safety first at all times! Tight lines – and enjoy your angling. I can be contacted on wlrudman@mweb.co.za
Wayne Rudman donates the payment for this column to the Zwartkops Conservancy.