Guestbook

can u fish the t,more pond all year or until the seaon runs out

thanks to all who helped out at the open day.
events like this take a bit of planning and its good to see so many men pulling together to make the day a success.
if anyone is fishing the ponds between now and the end of the season can you encourage any anglers to practice catch and release. no one has a problem with taking one or two trout but once there gone, there gone.
so lets get as much fun out of them as possible.
can i just remind sean mc williams and willie darragh that these are rainbow trout and not salmon, so they dont actually count in the wooden spoon competition.
sorry lads

squidgy,hows it going heard greg lost a big fish at the waddle blears.

now nobodys talking about anything on ere shame on u boys 4 stopping that debate??lol

ok all disscusion ends we will talk more at the a.g.m tight lines lads.

I find myself very quickly in agreement with the views from Seamus, Barry, and Steven that the guess book may be the wrong forum for discussing  subjects such as bag limits, size limits , catch and release ,competition rules etc . So, on these subjects I now want to say….oops…END

fellas

some good points raised about bag limits, competitions and october salmon.
good to see our club members are passionate about the river.
could i perhaps ask you to keep your opinions for the next monthly meeting (20th oct 08) or the AGM.
any changes to the running of the moyola angling association can only be made at comittee or AGM level.
so rather than seeing this debate played out through a guestbook. we as a forward thinking club will discuss this and many more topics at our AGM.

willie,grand point about the poacing in the lough i think that is a major point we all must address in the last metting somebody talk about the club getting there own boat i think this should be looked into mabe something like the one abbie had on the lough.as u talked about anglers using worms spinners they have the right to so all we can do is say if they think that there fish is not badly hooked to return them if it is not the case then that fish is better of being taken it would not be fair on the fish good point all we can do is ask .fly angler most of the time can take it or as i would encourage put them back tight lines.

I think it is acceptable to use other rivers as an example as we do not have such data on the Moyola. The Sixmile water estimate does not include coarse fish and the figure was taken from the BBC news website. I know that the habitats of the rivers vary but that’s why I used such a conservative estimate on trout populations. The real figure could, and probably is, much higher.

I agree that catch and release should be encouraged, and that a bag limit should be introduced on competitions but I am against imposing an increase on size limit. I have asked before and will ask again, what evidence is there that increasing the takeable size limit will improve the trout population? If you want this issue to be taken seriously, provide evidence.

There’s no one I’ve met on the river that doesn’t have a sense of responsibility towards their quarry. As anglers we have respect for the river and we should know when enough is enough. We all practise catch and release to some degree.

Catch and release does work, but it’s not perfect. Some of the more heavily fished places on the river will have trout that will stop feeding after being caught so many times. Surely this isn’t good for the fish.

Willy raises a good point regarding worm and spin fishing at the back end. What if catch and release was imposed and a salmon has swallowed a hook. What then?

While I find this debate very interesting and constructive, I hardly think it is an appropriate arena. Surely a meeting would be much more suitable – the AGM.

hello i have been reading the debate from the start up till know,and i think in my mind that this is not really the place to be talkin about it,if you want to talk more about this matter it should be brought up at the next meeting we everyone can have there say on this matter...
tight lines

steven,ur comment about u not agreeing to the bag limit being raised is ur opinion and u r entitled to that as we all are.But as i said countless times we should stop using other rivers as examples against our own - all rivers are different in many ways character food flylife etc.,and as regards ur comment about so many fish being killed in the sixmile pollution not all were trout there was roach skimmer breamand young dollaghan in that stretch so comparing that to the same size of strech in the moyola has no relevance.Regarding what u say about catch and release there is guide lines on this which can be optained in books videos etc knowing how to handle these fish getting them in fast as not to tire them wettin ur hands before handling them barbless hooks etc,the list goes on catch and release when praticed correctly does work.All said we must cut back on our killing of fish u say that there is a heathly stock of fish in our river i would strongly disagree,i have been fishing the moyola for over 20 years and back then u could have went out and caught 10 plus trout a day while this still happens it is rare to have this,so why can we not cut the bag limit and have fish in the river for future generations i cannt grasp the mentality of anyone that thinks otherwise we don't need to kill 5,6,7, trout when we go fishing have ur sport with the fish keep 1 or 2 put the rest back for future anglers.

ciaran good point with the extra points for the angler that fills his bag limit that could work well say 1 point for your first tout 3 for your second 5 for your third and so on until you fill your bag of say five trout then a bonus of 10 more points that certainly would give the good angler the competive edge
regarding the salmon i think we have abigger problem on the lough with poaching witch also needs addressing do you not agree ?
if catch and realease in october is to work properly then worm fishing spinning with barbed hooks would have to be banned as a lot of fish sallow these baits and get damaged that is a lot anglers methods of how they tend to fish its a difficult one but its open for disscussion best foot forward though.  regards

I for one do not wish to see the size limit of trout to be raised. Some are assuming that by releasing all trout that the river will somehow have a healthier population? What evidence are you basing this on? The river sustains a very, very large population of browns of all sizes, but the majority are 7 – 10”. There is a limit on the amount of food available to these fish so their growth will be stunted to a certain degree. The releasing of fish 11+” would have a far more positive effect on the river than upping the size limit to 11”, because, as Michael said, it will provide the trout population with a better gene pool.

So, just how many brown trout would be in the average mile of the Moyola? Back in June, a 12 mile stretch of the Sixmilewater was polluted with the entire fish population wiped out. The fish estimation was 25,000+ trout for this 12 mile length. I would guess that the population in the Moyola would be 50,000+. The fish taken during competitions wouldn’t even make an impression on that number. If you want to get any way serious about changing the rules of bag sizes and minimum size limits, a lot of research needs to be done on the river regarding trout populations, their size and the availability of food on the Moyola. Only then could a proper answer to the speculation be given.

I agree with Ciaran regarding catch and release. Once you release a fish you can be satisfied in the fact that you have outwitted it and it has taken your well presented worm, spinner or fly and that it can continue to live its life in the river. But, will the fish continue to feed after being through the trauma of being hooked in the jaw, manhandled by a terrestrial giant while gasping for air and thrown back alive? My point is that catch and release isn't perfect. The pros and cons of catch and release have been well debated and I am in favour of it, but it should not be compulsory. I feel that the trout population in the Moyola is sustainable as it is and no change should be made. If it ain't broke...

As for the salmon, I can’t catch them so I can’t comment.

Just to reply to Ciaran We would be interested in having our school involved but this would not be until the Spring of the year when it will be more apparent whwt our funding situation is. By the way congratulations to all involved with the open day. You will garner benefits from such an activity for a long time and in many ways.

willie,u say more anglers r fishing competitions chances r that more fish r being caught or r very likly to be caught this is all the more reason why the bag limit should be cut and size of trout be increased to 11inch as patsy says and to compansate for less of a bag limit why not gives say extra points to the angler who fills his bag first this will give competitions a real sence of competitive edge so this will keep heathy stock and give smaller trout the chance of growing on a good point i thing u will agree.But i still strongly think and lots of anglers i have talk to that no salmon should be killed in october competitions or not it is up to us as senior anglers to protect our dwindling stocks of salmon if anyone is not of the same view then i can only think they do not care much for our salmon remember most of these fish r hatchery fish,that the lads in the hatchery have worked with for years we kill them there work is in vein.