| August
12th 2001  A New Threat To Livebaiting
On August 8th 2001, the Scottish Executive
Environment & Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) published a Green Paper entitled
'Scotland's freshwater fish and fisheries: securing their future'. A
Green Paper is effectively a Government consultative document which outlines proposals
for new laws. This particular Green Paper contains proposals for the most important
and far-reaching changes to Scottish angling legislation for a generation. The
outcome will determine the establishment of new laws, which will affect angling
in Scotland for years to come. Whilst
the Green Paper presents a valuable opportunity for the implementation of various
improvements to the way in which angling is governed, it also poses a serious
threat to the future of livebaiting - a method which is of fundamental importance
to predator anglers. Section 22 of this document states: "Anglers'
use of live bait has led to infestation by non indigenous species, or transfers
of species to catchments where they were not previously found. When a suitable
legislative opportunity presents, we propose to take the necessary powers to enable
a total ban to be put on the use of live fish as bait." The
inappropriate translocation of fish has rightly been identified in the Green Paper
as a matter for concern. This is the real issue at stake, and although a wholesale
ban on livebaiting might appear to be a convenient solution it is vital to understand
that translocation is not implicitly a part of livebaiting. Indeed, livebaiting
should be regarded as an entirely separate issue. Whilst
it is vital that some measure of control be applied in Scotland to regulate the
stocking of fish into any water, anglers should not be deprived of an effective
and legitimate method.
There are situations in angling when the use of
livebaits might offer the only real chance of success. Whilst other methods have
an important role to play in predator angling, they do not always represent a
realistic alternative to livebaits, the predator's natural food source. Although
it is recognised that all waters are potentially sensitive, many waters in Scotland
provide a valuable resource for pike angling. It is essential that the opportunity
to use livebaits which have been obtained from the same water is retained. In
such circumstances there is absolutely no risk of any unwanted species being introduced. A
ban on livebaiting will not remove introductions that have already taken place,
neither will it necessarily deter the practice as such a ban would be all but
impossible to enforce. The
Pike Anglers Club of Gt. Britain supports the principle of appropriate legislation
being introduced to regulate the circumstances under which fish may be introduced
into waters in Scotland. This should include some facility for the lawful introduction
of livebaits. When
approval is given for the stocking of suitable species into a given watercourse,
it should not make any difference whether fish are introduced as part of a conventional
'stocking' program, or if they are introduced as livebaits. The net result is
the same, and so should be the criteria on which the application is judged. However,
our immediate priority must be to avoid the implementation of a blanket ban on
livebaiting in Scotland, and on that basis we ask that you support our campaign
to retain the right for anglers to choose to fish with livebaits as a legal method. Copies
of the Green Paper may be obtained from: Scottish
Executive
Environment and Rural Affairs Department (Fisheries Group)
Pentland
House
47 Robb's Loan
Edinburgh
EH14 1TY It
is also available online at www.scotland.gov.uk SEERAD
is inviting individual comments on the proposals in the Green Paper, these to
be made by October 31st 2001 to:
Graeme Waugh,
Room 411,
Pentland
House
47 Robb's Loan
Edinburgh
EH14 1TY Mark
Leathwood General
Secretary
Pike Anglers Club of Gt. Britain. Menteith 2002
PAC is pleased to announce its provisional
pike fishing dates on the Lake of Menteith. PAC members will have exclusive access
to the water on Sat. 16th Feb., Sat. 23rd Feb., and Sat. 2nd March 2002. Confirmation
of these dates and further details including prices, rules and booking information
will appear in Pikelines in due course.
June
17th 2001
September Events
North East Liaison Officer Rob Murray
is this years PAC 'Pike Angler of the Year'. Rob has arranged privileged access
for PAC members to fish Kielder Water on September 1st / 2nd and, looking further
ahead, he is also arranging access to Fontburn Reservoir for the first time, hopefully
in March of next year. September
will also see the PAC convention 'Piking 2001' at UMIST in Manchester. Speakers
will include Dave Kelbrick, Pete Gregory, George Higgins, John Synnuck and Dominic
Moore. All the usual attractions will be present and, if that's not enough to
tempt you, there will be an opportunity to win a Sea-Nymph boat, courtesy of CP
Boats. Non-members are welcome of course. October Pike-fest
It's time to start saving up, because
there are some very exciting prospects in store for October. For the first time
PAC has negotiated privileged access for members to fish the mighty Loch Leven
on October 7th and 8th. This will be a major event with 50 boats available each
day, and 200 places available over the two days. Further details, and booking
arrangements will be announced in August's 'Pikelines'. Also
for the first time Loch Katrine, near Stirling, is open to PAC members between
October 8th and October 15th. Although the pike fishing is relatively untapped,
this water has produced specimen pike to fly fishermen, the only other fish present
being brown trout. With boats costing just £21 (for two anglers) per day,
this event offers great potential without the cost usually associated with trout
water piking. On
all the PAC events mentioned, all pike must be returned unharmed, regardless of
their size. Booking details for all PAC Members events appear in Pikelines.
May 23rd 2001
New opportunities for trout
water piking The
number of opportunities for us to fish for trout water water pike is increasing
all the time. As ever, PAC has been very active in trying to secure privileged
access for members with several new events now arranged this year. The
first of these began in May on Loch Insh, which is part of the Spey system in
the Scottish highlands. PAC's 'Regional Organiser of the Year', Dominic Moore,
has arranged five dates between May and September, all of which were quickly sold
out. Llandegfedd
South Wales Regional Organiser Simon
Matts successfully negotiated privileged access for PAC members to fish Llandegfedd
on July 21st, the first time that the water has been open for pike fishing in
July. Originally it was agreed that members could use lures or deadbaits, but
the opportunity for using deadbaits has now been withdrawn after concerns were
raised about 'fish welfare'. Contrary
to what you may have read, the PAC Committee was not consulted on this matter,
either by any individual with such concerns, or by the fishery. Subsequently Hamdden,
which controls Llandegfedd, has announced that the water will be open to pike
anglers for a fortnight during July, with 10 boats being available each day, and
anglers being restricted to using lures only. July 21st remains exclusive to PAC
members. August - More Lure Fishing
Fun The
popular PAC 'Lure Tournament' at Ardingly Reservoir takes place on Sunday 19th
August. Masterline / Storm have kindly agreed to sponsor this event, which has
been organised once again by PAC Chairman John Milford. PAC
returns to Llandegfedd on August 25th for the annual charity event in aid of CLIC
(Cancer and Leukaemia in Children). Last year £1,365 was raised for CLIC,
and once again we are delighted that Rapala has agreed to sponsor the event. Something to Chew on
Many pike anglers will be looking
forward to Chew Valley Reservoir opening for pike fishing on October 15th. This
isn't a PAC event, and there is something of a problem with the arrangements in
as much that Bristol Water, which controls the fishery, has elected not to impose
any restriction on anglers removing pike. I have been in regular contact with
Bob Handford, the fishery manager on this issue, but it now seems fairly certain
that the 4 weeks pike fishing will proceed without the introduction of any rules
to safeguard the larger pike. As
far as PAC is concerned, Bristol Water is at liberty to run its trout fishery
however it chooses, and we can only do our best to try and persuade them to adopt
the kind of measures which we, as pike anglers (and paying customers), would like
to see. Until
this year, Chew was netted in the spring and (some) pike were transferred to other
waters. The netting program has been dropped this year but Bristol Water has taken
the view that anglers should not be denied the opportunity of taking a fish for
the table if they wish to. The
pike at Chew are probably at greater risk from this now, during the trout fishing
season, than they will be during the pike fishing dates in the autumn. Fly fishing
for pike is popular on Chew, and there is no restriction on anglers wishing to
target pike in this way, as an alternative to fly fishing for trout during the
trout season. Indeed when I last spoke to Bob Handford, he told me about a pike
of 22.08 which had been caught on the fly - and safely returned, the previous
week. He went on to tell me that he wasn't actually aware of any pike having been
killed so far this season. The
key thing is that nobody is being told that they have to kill any pike, and any
angler fishing Chew is quite at liberty to return every pike they catch. As
far as the 'pike dates' are concerned, all the boats have now been booked and
most of the bank fishing tickets have been sold as well. According to Bob, those
who have purchased tickets are 'pike anglers' and quite a number of those fishing
will be PAC members, who are expected to abide by the Club's Code
of Conduct. I would suggest that the more influence that PAC, and its individual
members, can have over this situation - the better ! Bristol
Water offered to distribute PAC membership invitation leaflets with all the tickets,
so hopefully we will have got the conservation message across. It's not perfect,
but PAC will continue to try and persuade Bristol Water to review any such arrangements
in the future. Livebaiting Latest
PAC has been working closely with
the other predator groups to produce a new 'information sheet' on livebaiting.
This is intended to give practical guidance on how we can go about livebaiting
legally, and includes specific details relating to the movement of livebaits in
accordance with Sec. 30 Consent. The content has now been approved by the EA,
and the information sheet will be published under the umbrella of the new Specialist
Anglers Alliance (formerly SACG / NASA). Within
the next 12 months, the information contained will also be included in a new Code
of Conduct for Specialist and Coarse Anglers - which will be supported by the
National Angling Alliance (NFA, SAA, S&TA, NFSA, NAFAC and ATA) - in other
words livebaiting, as a legitimate and legal angling method, will receive tangible
endorsement from the single body which the government recognises as being representative
of angling as a whole in this country. This is a major result when you consider
that 12 months ago we were faced by the prospect of a blanket ban, as recommended
by the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Review, and also the fact that in the
past the NFA has supported calls for such a ban. Anybody
wanting a copy of the information sheet can obtain one free of charge by sending
an S.A.E. to: This
is also the address for membership enquiries, so if you're not already a member,
why not drop us a line or click here to find
out what else you're missing out on ? Mark
Leathwood General
Secretary
Pike Anglers Club of G.B. | 
NEWS