Displaying items by tag: angling

WIN a pair of limted edition fish prints. Approximately 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches, they would best fit into a mount (not supplied) of approximately 12.25 inches by 12.25 inches. Each print is limited to 350 copies worldwide and signed by the artist. Each print has been beautifully reproduced from a hand painted original in light-fast inks on ACID-FREE Huntsman velvet board by one of the UK's leading fine art printers.

How to Enter:

One lucky UK Fisherman reader will win a pair of hand printed fish prints. To enter, all you have to do is send us a fishing related picture that we can add to our gallery. Please also send us a brief description about the picture. The best picture received will win ... simple!

Pictures must be either .jpg, .gif or .png format and must not exceed 5mb in size.

Please complete the competition entry form below.

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• The closing date for this competition is 31st July 2013
• This competition is being run jointly with our friends at Fish South East
• The winner be drawn at random once the competiton has closed and the winner will be notified within 2 weeks of the closing date.
• The judges decision is final and no debate will be entered into.
• The competition is open to UK residents only and only one entry per person is allowed.
• Please refer to our privacy policy for details of how UK Fisherman manages data that may identify you.

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The public benefits of conservation and economic generation provided by shooting and angling will become increasingly important as spending cuts come into effect, delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool were told last night.

Speaking at the Rural Reception hosted by the UK’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and the Angling Trust, the representative body for all angling, Roger Williams MP said: “There are tough times ahead. Some public funds may no longer be available. Organisations like BASC will play an increasingly important role in the future. Well managed shoots, well managed rivers are good for the economy and good for conservation.”

Lord Redesdale said “Shooting and angling provide knock-on benefits for the whole community. Fishing is one of those wonderful things and shooting has many, many benefits for leisure, for tourism and for conservation.”

Roger Furniss from the Angling Trust expressed his concern over declining fish stocks in freshwater and in the sea. He said: “There are three million anglers in this country, and angling generates £3bn for the economy every year.” He also called for a review of the role of the Environment Agency saying: “The Environment Agency needs to listen more closely to anglers who pay an annual £26m in licence fees to the Agency.”

John Swift, chief executive of BASC said: “Shooting generates £1.6bn for the economy every year and two-thirds of the rural land area is influenced in some way by shooting management. We want to make sure that wildlife and habitats continue to flourish. We are aware that many public policy areas could be influenced by cost cutting and there could be blunt and difficult problems ahead, but as we face that reality we must find practical solutions. BASC and its members, who enjoy their shooting so very, very much want to work with you."

Having recently returned from fishing in the World Nations Championship in Merida, Spain, as part of gold-medal-winning Drennan Team England, Will Raison has pledged his support for the Angling Trust by becoming a life member of the recently-formed governing and representative body for coarse, game and sea angling.

Will is a highly popular and successful match angler who has won gold and silver in the World Championships in previous years. He has produced a series of DVDs and is a consultant for tackle giant Daiwa.

The Angling Trust was formed in 2009 following a merger of all the old angling organisations to create a single voice for all angling. The organisation manages many national competitions and the international teams, including Drennan Team England.

Will is a very welcome addition to the individual membership numbers which now stand at 13,500, of which 1,620 have signed up for life membership. He encouraged others to join the new organisation: "I would urge every serious angler to join the Angling Trust for the membership benefits and more importantly to protect the future of our sport. Angling needs a strong and well-funded voice to fight for anglers' rights, for the protection of our waters and fish, and to ensure that more young people get into angling. The Angling Trust does a huge amount for angling, but with more members it could do even more. Join today!"

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said: "Will Raison is one of the best anglers on the planet and we're all delighted and honoured that he has pledged his support to the Trust. It's great to see such a high profile and successful angler becoming a life member and supporting our work. I hope that many others will follow his example."

The Angling Trust has learnt that DEFRA and the Environment Agency (EA) last year accidentally abolished the law which created an offence of fishing in the close season. This will lead to poachers and illegal anglers caught in this spring’s coarse fishing close season getting away with lesser offences when their cases go to court.

The EA has now proposed an emergency byelaw to correct the error. The announcement was tucked away behind an announcement about new byelaws relating to eels, presumably in the hope that no-one would notice. A single bullet point on the last page of a seven page document quietly proposes to: “create the offence for fishing during close seasons and close times” to correct this mistake. The eel byelaws are printed in full, but the close season byelaw is only provided on the Agency web site at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/114281.aspx

The Marine & Coastal Access Act repealed Section 19 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act. This was with the intention of allowing the Agency to regulate and enforce close seasons/close times entirely by byelaw. However, the repeal overlooked the fact that S.19 also contained the only offence of fishing during the close season and close times. Government lawyers had assumed the offence was included in national/regional byelaws, but these simply set out close season dates/times and do not include offences. As a result, while all the existing close seasons and times remain as set out in byelaws, there is now no active offence of fishing during the close season or close times.

The Angling Trust understands that 14 anglers have been successfully prosecuted for fishing in the close season and that their convictions will now have to be nullified. Over 90 other cases are pending. Prosecutions of Section 19 offences will have to be halted, but some offenders will be prosecuted for other offences (e.g. fishing without a licence or byelaw contravention).

In addition, Section 35 (subsection 2) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act (1975) allows holders of a rod licence to require another angler to show his licence and give his name and address. Failure to produce a licence was an offence. This was a very useful tool for angling clubs and fisheries, in particular for fishery and club bailiffs or water-keepers. However, Section 220 (subsection 8) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) removed this authority, limiting it to Environment Agency enforcement officers and police officers only, by amending the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act to omit Section 35, Subsection 2.

Angling Trust will be seeking a reinstatement of this provision. In the meantime the Trust is issuing guidance to its member clubs about how to address this unwelcome change, which we are told is because the old legislation might raise issues regarding data protection requirements and the protection of young people.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal said: “We are very concerned that such a major error could be made by the teams of lawyers involved in drafting new legislation. We also believe that the attempts to conceal the error were misconceived and that a full public statement should have been made once the error was discovered. The Trust will remain vigilant in ensuring that law-abiding anglers’ interests are protected, and that clubs and fisheries have the tools available to help police their fisheries.”
 

The Angling Trust and the CLA Game Fair are delighted to announce that Peter Rolfe is the winner of the first Fred J Taylor Award for Environmental Stewardship in the world of Angling. Peter is pictured with his trophy here (left), along with the Arthur Oglesby Award winner Hugh Miles (centre) and Bernard Cribbins (right).

Peter was selected for his work over nearly four decades studying and conserving crucian carp, a species which has suffered a dramatic decline in numbers due to destruction of its habitat and hybridisation with feral goldfish and other carp. Peter was awarded with the Fred J Taylor Award at the CLA Game Fair on Saturday 20 July in the main theatre, along with a cash prize of £1,000 to spend on furthering his work.

In the 1970s, Peter restored, created and managed several field ponds for the benefit of crucian carp, tench and a host of other wildlife. Thousands of field ponds, once a common sight in the British countryside, have disappeared through neglect or deliberate infilling.

In the 1980s, as secretary of his local angling club, Peter then moved on to creating two larger lakes of 2 and 3 acres respectively, stocked with fish which had bred in the field ponds, and restoring two half-acre lakes dating back to Saxon times. The latter he still manages as fisheries and wildlife reserves.
In 1989, he set up a business raising water plants and fish, including crucian carp and tench. He and his partners went on to create more than 20 new ponds, providing thousands of fish for stocking throughout the West Country. In the same year, he supervised restoration of two Victorian estate lakes of 2 acres each, which went on to produce fish approaching record weights.

Now in his mid- seventies, Peter has just completed a book (Crock of Gold – Seeking the Crucian Carp, Mpress Ltd.) about crucian carp to pass on his knowledge to fishery managers following in his footsteps. This is the only book devoted entirely to this threatened species.

Angling Trust received a small number of very high quality applications for this new award, all of which were entirely eligible to win. However Peter’s nomination stood out as being the precise embodiment of everything the Trust was trying to achieve by creating this award in memory of Fred J Taylor.

Chris Yates, angling writer and star of the BBC TV series A Passion for Angling wrote in his testimonial to Peter’s work:
“for several years now I have fished a pair of Saxon field ponds beautifully restored by Peter Rolfe. Though small, these waters are now a favourite with me, not only because of their wonderful crucians and tench, but also because of their wilder inhabitants. In summer, the reedbeds are alive with damselflies and dragonflies; grass snakes bask on the banks, brook lampreys live in the feeder stream and the rare water vole lives under the banks. Last season, there was a barn owl nesting in an oak on the upper pond and I have often seen a pair of hobbies hawking for dragonflies there.”

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said:
“Peter has single-handedly contributed to the salvation of an important fish species for angling while at the same time restoring one of the country’s most threatened habitats: small ponds, along with the plethora of wildlife that are associated with them. We are privileged that he is the first winner of this award and hope that he will inspire others. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to apply. We will be promoting the vast amount of work carried out by the angling community to Government in discussions about how we can contribute to the Big Society agenda.”

Vincent Hedley Lewis, Chairman of The CLA Game Fair Board said:
“Peter is an outstanding role model who hopefully will have inspired many people to improve the water aspects of their land. Improving environmental habitat is an invaluable asset to be appreciated with grateful thanks by generations to come.”

Peter Rolfe said:
“Fred J Taylor’s book on tench was one of the inspirations for my field pond work in the 1970s and I feel very honoured to have won an award named after him. I am grateful to the sponsors for this opportunity to highlight the plight of the crucian carp, a fish that has been under-valued until now. Their generosity will help me greatly in my latest project, the restoration of six derelict ponds, in two acres of marvellous wetland, where I plan to continue my research into this remarkable fish and to breed many more for waters all over the country.”

The Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers reached the halfway stage on Saturday at the highly regarded Stafford Moor Fishery in North Devon. Tim Bull (Dynamite Baits) aged 39 years, a Business Development Manager from Leamington is the eighth qualifier to join the line up for the Fish ‘O’ Mania final with a winning weight of 138-8-0 of Carp from Tanners 2. Tim picked up some useful information at Stafford Moor before the match and was told that Tanners would be the lake to draw as favourite in the conditions.

Unfortunately for Tim it was not plain sailing as he had quite a steady start catching smaller carp of around the 3 lb mark in the first hour or more, using a straight three/eighth ounce bomb with an 11 ml Dynamite XL pellet lassoed on his basic rig. Tim cast about 40 yards towards the far bank but the big key was to pick his moments when the wind died down to feed. As he went into the second hour the carp got bigger, but there were longer intervals between the bites. However, with careful feeding and fish of around the 7 lb mark he was building up a good weight. At the end of five hours Tim had around twenty-eight carp for his win and produced the biggest margin victory of all the qualifiers, this year, to date. After a few years of trying Tim has been very close on a couple of occasions but he will be competing in the final at Cudmore in July for the first time where he obviously hopes to emulate his brother the top commercial angler, Mick Bull who won the Fish 'O' Mania final in 2008.

With Tanners dominating this event local angler Mark Hayman (Stafford Moor) used his experience on the venue to make the most of his peg Tanners 34 draw, catching carp to 10 lb in his 84-2-0 of carp, with tactics being bomb and pellet. In third place from Tanners 6 was Trevor Senior (Vespe Army) from Salisbury with a weight of 76-4-0. Harry Marsh (Maver Farnborough) from Reading took fourth place from last year’s winning peg Tanners 18 with a weight of 73-2-0. In fifth place from peg Woodpecker 21 with 70-1-0 was one of last year’s finalists Andy Power (Preston Innovations Thatchers) from Wells Somerset.

The conditions on the day were not ideal, cold and overcast with rain forecast for later in the day. The weather played a big part in the results, with many anglers who were catching from the start seeing their swims die after a few hours as the wind moved the fish around and pushed them on to the pegs that had not had such a good start. In the end the result was a close run thing, all through the day the predictions were changing from one peg to another and into the final hour it could have gone either way between the top 5 anglers. Tim made the most of his peg and took his chances to leap ahead and win as it turned out quite comfortably, with the other four places separated by 4 or 5 fish.

It was back to ‘winter mode’ for the third qualifying round of the XVII Fish ‘O’ Mania at Dynamite Baits Makins Fishery, Wolvey, Warwickshire. A sharp overnight frost and a cooler day than of late made it difficult to tempt bites in areas; the lowest ten peg winning section was 26-8-0 which was quite acceptable given the tough conditions.

The third name to be added to the eventual sixteen targeting the £25,000 first prize in the Fish ‘O’ Mania final is Sean Huggins from Wigston. It was a hop over the Leicestershire border for Sean to Phases Two and Three where the larger lakes, Lagoon and Lizard were well fancied by those ‘in the know’.

The self employed painter and decorator was actually on the reserve list to fish this match – in fact he was thirteenth reserve! The dreaded number 13 was looking unlucky again as Sean drew on Severn 25, a peg that had good form in the distant past but certainly not in recent times. He started off on 6 ml punched bread fished quite shallow towards the feature island catching the odd carp here and there until halfway through the match. As the fish started ‘backing off’ at this point he introduced minimal amounts of pellets, literally three or four via a small cup every now and then. He caught a few more on punched bread and the odd one on paste before a final change of tactic to the pellet waggler. This final move in the last hour kept even more carp coming and he ran out a very worthy winner with just over thirty carp for 95-15-0. Sean has a happy knack of doing really well in the bigger competitions and must now be one to fear in the Grand Final. The former winner of the UK Championships has fished a few Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers before and was keen to get in this one because Dynamite Makins is a local venue to him.

Runner-up Ben Emery of Garbolino Banstead fished method feeder and pellet, right in the grass stalks of Lagoon 13 to net carp to 4 lb 8 oz in his 78-1-0. Paul Law of Trabucco South East was third with carp to 6 lb, skimmers and roach for 68-10-0 from Lagoon 4. Former River Trent legend John Allerton of Tri-Cast was fourth with 49-15-0 followed by David Bacon 49-4-0 and Matt Hall of Sensas 49-0-0.

The fourth match in this series of Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers is on Leicestershire’s Lakeview Fishery this weekend and it will be interesting to see who will join Ray, Steven and Sean in the line up to the final.

Nineoaks is a purpose built angling complex, currently, with 3 well stocked Trout lakes, 2 Coarse Lakes and 1 small Novices pool. Set in idyllic, landscaped grounds and surrounded by an abundance of wildlife, birdlife and flora; just 1 ½ miles inland from the Aberystwyth to Cardigan (A487) coast road in West Wales.

Recent Trout catches have included:-

During early March when we had "cold weather" and heavy frosts, and semi-frozen lakes some good bags of Trout were being landed.

In the latter half of the Month when the weather was generally "bad" the few anglers that braved the cold and dampness have had some good Trout and bags of fish. Fish are still taking "gently" or "softly" and a slow retrieve with a fly around 3ft deep has done the trick. Most anglers catching Trout in the 2-2 1/2lb range. 

Two Holiday Anglers fishing "catch & release"; a Roy Hubbard of Market Harborough and Ian Caulfield of  Barrow-in-Furness both had over 12 fish each, all in the 2-3lb range across all 3 Trout Pools fishing floating and intermediate lines and trying out a variety of flies - Shrimp, Cats Whisker, Hares Ear , Damsels and Buzzers all working well. Tomos Boyle of New Quay had a 3 1/4lb Rainbow on a White Blob.

Recent Coarse catches have included:-

Although the weather has been poor some good catches of Roach and Carp with the occasional Bream and Tench have been caught.

Mr. Ian Pilson from Wrexham fishing sweetcorn, pellet and the smaller sizes of the new Myokyku Boilies certainly found the Carp in the Main Lake on peg #1 landing over 70lb of fish to 9lb, with many in the 3-5lb bracket. He also had some excellent Roach approaching the 1lb mark. He said that the new Boilies helped to sort out the better Carp and using them in the House Pool caught Roach to 1lb on the smaller Boilies, Carp to 10lb and Bream up to 2lb.

During a day of bad weather, another holiday maker from Oldham had a 2lb Tench from the Main Lake on sweetcorn and lots of Roach on maggots. The few warm days in the middle of March saw Carp being caught on floating Bread and dog biscuits in the afternoons.

The best Carp in March was an 11lb 12oz common from the Main Lake caught by Ted Cole of Cardigan on double sweetcorn. Several other doubles have also been landed. A beautiful "linear Mirror" was caught by local angler Nick Stephens of Cardigan who also had plenty of Bream.

Any angler aged 12 years or over, fishing for salmon, trout, freshwater fish or eels in England (except the River Tweed), Wales or the Border Esk and its tributaries in Scotland must have an Environment Agency rod licence.

Rod licences are available from Post Office outlets throughout England and Wales, online, by direct debit and over the telephone on 0844 800 5386. The phone line is open from 8.30am to 8.00pm daily from March to September and 8.30am to 6.00pm from October to February.

How much does it cost?

Prices for 2010/11 rod licences — valid from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011

Category	Non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels	Salmon and migratory trout (sea trout), non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels
Full season (expires 31st March 2011)	£27.00	£72.00
Junior Concession	£5.00	£5.00
Senior Concession	£18.00	£48.00
8 Day	£10.00	£23.00
1 Day	£3.75	£8.00

A salmon and sea trout licence covers you to fish for non-migratory trout and coarse fish as well. Failure to have a licence is an offence.

Remember: If you are fishing with 3 or 4 rods then you will need to purchase a second licence.

Concessionary licences

• junior concession is available to anglers aged 12 and under
• senior concession is available to anglers aged 65 and over
• you have a Blue Badge parking concession, or are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. You will need to provide your Blue Badge Number or National Insurance Number when buying your licence

Important information

• Anglers under the age of 12 do not need a rod licence to go fishing
• Full and concessionary rod licences expire on the 31st March each year
• 1-day rod licence is valid for 24 consecutive hours
• 8-day rod licence is valid for 192 consecutive hours from the start time and date

Be warned!

If you fish without a rod licence you are cheating other anglers, it is an offence to fish for freshwater fish and eels without a valid rod licence and if you are caught you may be fined up to £2,500.

The money raised through rod licence sales is invested directly in fisheries work that benefits all anglers.

** Buy a rod licence online now >>

Fishprints.org :: quality handprinted limited edition fish prints, hand signed by the artist, beautifully reproduced from hand painted originals. These prints would grace the wall of any angler or non-angler alike.

About Fishprints.org:

Fishprints.org is aimed at fish lovers who want to take the image of their fish further than the river side. They sell and promote various limited edition fish prints, all originally handprinted. Their current range inlcudes some stunning prints of carp, pike, game and predators as well as some gold embossed fishing photo albums, all available to purchase online at their website www.fishprints.org

Hand Printed Limited Edition Fish Prints

Approximately 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches, they would best fit into a mount (not supplied) of approximately 12.25 inches by 12.25 inches.

Each print is limited to 350 copies worldwide and signed by the artist and so are not going to be found anywhere else except at Fishprints.org. Each print has been beautifully reproduced from a hand painted original in light-fast inks on ACID-FREE Huntsman velvet board by one of the UK's leading fine art printers.  

The print will be supplied in a cellophane envelope and shipped in an hard-back card envelope to ensure its protection.

Review:

UK Fisherman were thrilled to receive some samples of these limited edition hand prints to review. As promised, the prints arrived well protected in sturdy carboard envelopes and were in mint condition when opened.

Allthough we had seen pictures of these prints advertised on Fishprints.org's website, you really have to see them in the flesh to appreciate how beautifully painted they are. The detail is really quite excellent. The fish really seem to come to life as they swim magestically in their underwater environments.

These prints won't just appeal to anglers. Even though for me as an angler, they did bring back all sorts of memories of fish caught in the past, these stunning prints would be a magnificent addition to any fish lovers wall. We will certainly be proudly hanging them on ours!

Score:

Prices and where to Buy:

Exclusively available to purchase securely online from Fishprints.org. The print will be shipped by Royal Mail Special Delivery (Next Working Day) after receiving cleared payment.

Price: All prints are priced at £9.99

For more information or to purchase these stunning fish prints, call 07891 244046 or visit their website at:

Fishprints.org >>

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