Difference in angling culture

[ben306]

Well having only just signed up onto this forum today (must say, lots of good info, so thanks).

 

But Ive noticed after reading a number of threads that the culturte out there is quite different to here in the UK in that you seem to eat almost everything that you catch.

 

Here its very much catch and release, its only really the trout fisheries were you generally fish for the table, and then its all farmed fish.

 

Just find it interesting how different cultures vary in there view on fishing.

 

Personally I dont really eat fish, so on that basis would have no intention on fishing for the table, I fish purely for the please of it!

 

Just wondering on your thoughts really, tho I suppose if its always been that way for you, it would be odd for someone like me to say that almost all our fishing is catch and release.

[holdfast]

I was in Germany for a while and I wouldn't eat anything out of any Body of water, same as Iraq, Kuwait, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Serbia, France, and most likely England too. You know Pollution and so on. Carp, yuk.

[muskeybugged]

We're Savages!

 

No, hardly any of our species are bad for eating nor the water from what it's been caught, its a treat to many. Except I'd say carp/bottom feeders, which is the huge sport fish over there from what I gather, wouldn't catch me eating carp though.

 

Sorry don't have a better answer. Welcome to the board.

Edited February 9, 2009 by muskybugged

[capt bruce]

You are reading the forum wrong , MOST of our sport fishing is catch and release also (large trout are almost allways released with the small ones kept for lunch, bass are mostly catch and release , not many would eat a muskie or large pike), BUT we also have very good tasteing and very CLEAN fish and most people enjoy a fish lunch or a dinner or two , BUT TO SAY we eat all we catch is a wrong impression.

Edited February 9, 2009 by capt bruce

[solopaddler]

Actually catch and release fishing has a strong following over here.

Virtually no one keeps all the fish they catch. When fish are kept the popular term is selective harvest.

[Abraxus]

Yup! I would have to agree. Simply put.. I think the culture of eating the fish we catch here is a result of it being safe by most standards. Of the worlds 14 great fresh water lakes, Canada has 7 of them. We also have an enormous amout of smaller lakes, rivers and bodies of water. Ontario alone is littered with fresh water lakes and most of it clean. Our population is a fraction of that of many first world nations. Most of Canada is uninhabited. Thus less agriculture, industry and pollutants. Our fish are plentiful and tasty! That pretty much sums it up.

 

Ab

[ben306]

Thats fair comments. I suppose I worded it wrong in saying 'all'. Just in comparison to here were only a very small persantage is taken, and thats purely the game/trout anglers.

[tdotfisherman]

Hey, welcome aboard..

 

It's not really like that up here.. Your probably just being swayed by all the ice fishing posts where your seeing people keep their catches..

 

There are two schools of thought in Canada.. many anglers are strictly catch and release, like myself.. although many people keep their catch for the supper table. I tend to find that the farther north you get in Ontario, the more fish are kept..

 

In and around the Urban centres, fish are generally let go.. but up north people fish to eat.. but I can't say that I've seen many people abusing the resource.. people in Canada generally stick to their daily limit of fish if they are keeping them, and like was stated earlier in this thread, Ontario is a tremendous fishery, I'd say the best freshwater fishing province/state in the entire world.. even with many anglers keeping their limits of fish, lakes are still plentiful with fish, and will continue that way simply due to the lack of population up in northern Ontario..

[DRIFTER_016]

We have a lot more public water in Canada than you do in the UK. This spreads the demand on the resource over a wider area.

 

The area of Great Britan is 209,331 km² while the area of Canada is 9,093,507 km² about 44 times the size.

While the population of Great Britan is about 59,000,000 and Canada is 33,200,000.

So you have about 1/44th the land mass and nearly twice as many people as Canada.

So you see the strain on our fisheries is nothing like it is on yours.

 

Here's an example:

The lake I live on has an area of 28,568 km2 or about 1/7th the size of Great Britian!!!

 

So that is why you will see people keeping and eating our tasty finned friends.

[jwl]

if you take the time to read the forum around a bit and read back many old posts, you will probably find that most people tend to practice CPR.

 

I myself maybe keep 1% of the fish I catch for the table, and of that generally speaking a portion of those are given away to people I know that don't get out much or have much luck but enjoy a meal once in a while

 

many members of this forum, myself included also do things to give back to our sport like volunteering time for conservation. I am involved in an annual stocking program in my area.

 

You may be seeing alot of people's catch and keep posts this time of year becasue it's the ice fishing season, and may people get together and kick in to pay for annual trips out to different areas, and thus tend to bring home a good haul of fish for thier rewards.

 

I would tend to think that for the most part a huge percentage of anglers are catch and release fisherpeople.

 

Good to get a report and opinion along the way from another side of the world

[pike slayer]

im closer to the northern part of ontario and i do keep alot of fish i catch. i stick within slot sizes and limits, they are put in place so we can take home fish yet still have a good quality fisheries. i dont keep little fish and i dont normally keep monsters. i love going fishing and i find its also rewarding to take a few fish home for the family. i feel the other part of the world is missing out. enjoy fishing here and welcome to the board.

[ben306]

This is by no means a dig, I just wanted to get abit of a debate going as to how different it looks, granted, Ive only browsed through the most reacent posts.

 

Drifter, I think you put it into proportion pretty well, and when you think its estimated that upto 10% of the UK fish, thats alot of people and not much water, I suppose thats why we have the culture here like we do.

 

If Im honest, I cant wait to get there and try something different. Initially Im coming for a year, but you never know, this could soon get extended.

[bigugli]

I love a regular feed of fish, but that barely reflects the numbers caught in a year. My culture is Swede/Finn and the folks there eat fish as regularily as we do here(according to my cousins). Lots of Europeans will keep a good share of perch, pike and zander for the table. It's part of the culture and upbringing.

[tbayboy]

It's definitely biased more towards keeping during the ice fishing season. Maybe it's just a matter of lugging gear out onto a frozen lake to sit on a bucket all day that makes us more inclined to bring something home. You know - have some sense of 'making it worth the misery' . In the summer except for maybe some walleye trips you don't see all that much keeping of fish on the board. Not that there's anything wrong with keeping fish within the stated limits (please lets not start up that war).

[wolfville]

I used to keep a fish or two years ago when I mainly fished for bass, crappie, ... etc. Then I switched to mainly fishing for carp 4 years, and have not kept any fish of any species since (except two bass for my newbie friend in 4 years).

 

Keeping fish is not wrong, not keeping fish isn't wrong either. Do everything by the regulation and if someone has anything to say to that then just pray for that person.

[John]

I was in Germany for a while and I wouldn't eat anything out of any Body of water, same as Iraq, Kuwait, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Serbia, France, and most likely England too. You know Pollution and so on. Carp, yuk.

 

Holdfast, here you go again. It's too bad that you find it necessary to continue to insult those outside your small world. You obviously know very little about the countries that you mention, making a general statement like that. Pollution is a worldwide problem, however most of these countries have areas of relatively pristine waters, like North America.

[Zubris21]

Ben I think this is a very interesting commentary and I don't think anyone is taking any offense to it.

 

Personally I practice catch and release on most of the fish I catch, but still bring something home about 75% of the time, it all depends on what I'm fishing for. The fish I bring home are not the largest, nor the smallest caught on any particular day, and typically I don't bring home my limit because I'd rather just bring home what I will consume in that meal. The fish we have here typically come from strong healthy populations, and the number harvested by sport fisherman does little to no damage.

 

I think all of the recent threads with people bringing home fish is directly linked to the season for a couple reasons. 1. The lakes are more accessible to more people (don't need boats). 2. The fish will usually bite if you can find them, at least for a little while. 3. maybe the most important, the fish taste better coming out of the clean cold water as opposed to the warmer muddier waters in spring and summer.

 

In the end it is a personal choice, if you enjoy fish and fishing by all means keep your limit if you so choose. If you don't want to keep any fish I don't think anyone would ever put you down for that either!

[TJQ]

Ben I think this is a very interesting commentary and I don't think anyone is taking any offense to it.

 

I agree!!

 

and welcome aboard!

 

Personally I live in northern rural Ontario where there is fish aplenty. Our, well my personal philosophy is kinda geared towards fishing to eat, but by no means keeping everything we catch. Just about everything up here is fit to eat and its a big part of my families heritage is to do just so. that being said, we only keep what will be immediately eaten, if we have a taste for fish that day (I couldn't tell you the last time I had fish in my freezer) and if we are not eating fish that day they all go back in the water. Plus when we do keep them, we generally keep the smaller ones and let the larger specimins go back to spawn.

 

Heres some good pictures of my fishing playground for ya!!

 

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...wblog&mid=3

 

Some great fish fry pictures in there as well...

 

come on spring!!!

[limeyangler]

Hey Ben...welcome to the board...i think your bang on the money with your cultural observations. Having moved here from England 2 years ago i noticed exactly the same thing...of course there are regional variations in both countries that would challenge that there is a more eat what you catch culture....and that goes for a lot of the European countries as well. But i would have to say....IN GENERAL...yup....England and freashwater fishing is about Sport.....and over here its a sport where you get your dinner

[MJL]

Drifter touched on population as well as the privatization of waters in the UK but also consider the types of waters you fish. In many instances, the fish do not spawn successfully and must be stocked in limited numbers in small (compared to Canadian standards) gravel pits or ponds. An angler in the UK might belong to a syndicate which only has 40 fish with only 1 fish over 30lbs named ‘Two-Tone Jr’. From what I hear, it’s also expensive to stock fish as well. In Canada there’s definitely no shortage of wild carp (small or big). The populations of tasty freshwater fish like panfish (like perch & crappies) and walleye are healthy enough and prolific enough in many places to support regulated catch and keep angling. In some cases, fish are purposely stocked to provide enjoyment and a meal for an angler.

 

I grew up fishing with a lot of anglers from the UK. It certainly was a culture shock for them to see anglers catching carp destined for the table (or not using an unhooking mat if they weren’t). If you grew up watching ‘A Passion for Angling’, you might recall the narrator saying “that fish unless the highly edible sort must not be killed” or something along those lines. Canada is the most culturally diverse country in the world and one angler’s trash-fish might be another one’s treasure (or dinner). I recall not too long ago in one of the English newspapers that there were problems with Polish immigrants poaching carp across the UK for their dinner. In Canada it’s an accepted practice to eat carp – though for me I have no desire to try.

 

There are some differences in angling culture between UK and Canada but not many you’d find totally unusual. The majority of anglers I meet on the bank are mostly catch and release anglers (at least for around Toronto and southern Ontario). I’d love to visit England one day – Mainly to purchase new carp gear without the duty and customs and to take a few pictures with the guards wearing the fury black hats. Also driving on the wrong side of the road – that sounds like just plain fun.LOL

[holdfast]

Holdfast, here you go again. It's too bad that you find it necessary to continue to insult those outside your small world. You obviously know very little about the countries that you mention, making a general statement like that. Pollution is a worldwide problem, however most of these countries have areas of relatively pristine waters, like North America.

 

Not where I went. Germany, Brown Trout waters always Bordered or went through populated areas creeks and Streams. Even the many Army training areas. Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, might have wonderful Pike fishing but I mwould never eat anything out of any of those waters. I wont say what was dumped. Kuwait had no fresh water, but the Gulf you could see the Oil slick, The very few Rivers in Iraq must even be more polluted than when I was there in the first War. In France would you eat anything out of their very few waters. Yea you know everything. Listen up, you got one thing right, you picked up my point about the Pollution. However, I think your Trolling. Like what was mentioned, pollution is a concern, Im not so concerned here. By the way, how would you know of any Pristine waters of the countries I mentioned. For me, I would probably take my fishing trip in Scotland than England.

[holdfast]

Holdfast, here you go again. It's too bad that you find it necessary to continue to insult those outside your small world. You obviously know very little about the countries that you mention, making a general statement like that. Pollution is a worldwide problem, however most of these countries have areas of relatively pristine waters, like North America.

Oh yea, you can stop lurking on my comments too.

[limeyangler]

In France would you eat anything out of their very few waters.

 

 

I aint trying to pick a fight holdfast....but France is a large country, with many...many...many bodies of water. I own a cottage and converted barn in the Dordogne region of France, and holiday there regularly....not only is it an area litterally criss-croossed with natural rivers, it is just over an hours drive to the coast. Species cauht are Perch...millions of 'em, Pike, roach....kinda like what i think you call an Ailewife here....chub...very similar to the chub here...bream...tench, carp....they also stock the rivers too...all sorts of trout. The locals there eat most....but then it is a rural area. Then again i rember visiting Paris when i was 12 years old (30 years ago..i'm 42 now....lol...) and being captivated by the fishermen lining the banks of the Seine, catching buckets of perch....and keeping them for supper.

[holdfast]

I aint trying to pick a fight holdfast....but France is a large country, with many...many...many bodies of water. I own a cottage and converted barn in the Dordogne region of France, and holiday there regularly....not only is it an area litterally criss-croossed with natural rivers, it is just over an hours drive to the coast. Species cauht are Perch...millions of 'em, Pike, roach....kinda like what i think you call an Ailewife here....chub...very similar to the chub here...bream...tench, carp....they also stock the rivers too...all sorts of trout. The locals there eat most....but then it is a rural area. Then again i rember visiting Paris when i was 12 years old (30 years ago..i'm 42 now....lol...) and being captivated by the fishermen lining the banks of the Seine, catching buckets of perch....and keeping them for supper.

 

Yea I seen the Fishermen also fishing the Seine or I could be wrong maybe it was the Rhine river, the big river that runs not too far from Lahr and the Border of France. Long Pole and Carp. That River was grossly polluted. I found in Germany it was almost impossible to fish, the Ponds you talk about that were stocked were always owned and there was too many rules and hefty charges. I did my fishing at the Rod and Gun club in Lahr. Never caught nothing, hated it, it was like fishing at an Aquarium. One good thing though, I bought my one and only, made in Germany DAM QUICK Spinning reel. A Beauty. Anyways I eat fish here in Canada because its fresh and good and I can get info if it kill you if its full of Toxins. Overseas, I learned to eat what you can trust. Of note, I got to see a lot of waters in Germany as part of my job was water Supply. I'm sure that there are some clean Pristine waters that the Forest Meister too0k care of, but lets face it, very few.

[steverowbotham]

I think its the time of the year in which you are reading...

 

Ice fishing seems to have more of a catch and keep fishery than summer fishing. During the summer, I may keep a few brook trout here and there for the frying pan, but the rest of the summer is catch and release bass fishing for me.

 

In the winter, I usually opt to keep a good number of perch, whities and trout. Don't know why, I guess they taste better out of the colder water, and I cant fish for bass in the winter!