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Late Spawning time.??

It's been a seasonal spring and not much in the way of high water so there's no excuse this year.
 
Which makes a mockery of closed season, but of course it does not really cover all species spawning events within the six weeks. So we will have the problem as we always do in the middle of June targeting fish on the redd's .
Whilst I appreciate no self respecting barbel angler would target spawning barbel, some will, these areas should be out of bounds until at least July.
When the Teme held a good number of Barbel you would clearly see spawning fish on the gravels way after the 16th. It's up to local clubs to police this, we all know where the areas are, a notice or two would not go amiss.
 
Hi Graham,
Yes I reckon your right..Carp showing no signs at all, on the Pits I fish..
Water temps rising, so with a couple of weeks of prolonged warm temps, they might just have a go..
 
Three normally very prolific lakes on a complex I fish have gone very difficult the last week. The bailiff reckons the Carp are getting ready to spawn. Had my first ever blank on the best one last week, usually get at least 1/2 dozen.
 
Hi men ,

I know river anglers dont like this , but the close season should be removed , even for a test period . There is heavy poaching on a bit of river I know , but catching them is hard , but a local bloke has regulary chucked people off . The period of spawning started early for pike/perch , and we are looking at late June for barbel , so if we take that to its logical conclusion if we stopped in march , and started when the barbel stop thats 4-5 months of the year . You have to take all species into the equation , although some people seem to put barbel on some sort of pedastel . Local clubs / syndicates / EA could identify areas to be left alone during periods when they are spawning , but iv fished the Canals right through the close season for donkeys years , and its made no difference to the fishing on there at all . Iv sat on the deserted Teme in the season chatting on the phone to Dave Mason up the valley more , amd we sat watching barbel spawning miles apart , it was July !!!.

Hatter - hello mate , hows things going , seen any carp ?
Dangler - Ok , yeah , had 1 , and a couple of tench , blah blah blah , but i cant wait for the river season to open , get back for those barbel .
Hatter - I think we could have been fishing the rivers for a while now ( explain the canal etc that we were sitting next to ).
Dangler - No , we should leave them to spawn in peace !
Hatter - Sounds right mate , but your fishing for spawny carp , tench , and bream in this venue now ! .
Dangler - Yeah , but I like it when the banks are over grown !.
Hatter - Good idea :rolleyes: .


Hatter
 
i witnessed a few barbel spawning in late april during the warm spell but it was only a few then it stopped once the temps dropped. there`s been the odd bit since but still not the amount of fish over the gravels to complete the majority of this years spawning.
it will go over as everyone says but it always do`s so on my section of the nene i keep the known spawning area closed off until i`m satisfied that its over and it also gives the fish chance to move off to other parts of the river. i`ve done this the last 2 years for a month after the season starts and its worked well, yes you get moaners but they just want an easy catch but 3 seasons ago when it was touch & go that area got hammered from dawn till dusk and i even had one bloke standing on the gravel trying to catch chub on a lure !!.
the best thing clubs can do is close the known spawning gravels off until its finished.
 
the closed season should be kept at all cost but if anything it should be moved back a month.
as for poachers having free range from march till june then clubs should get more bailiffs on the bank even if someone can only do a few hours a week it all helps.
if there`s 10 anglers fishing on the bank during the season how do you know which are the poachers ?.
if there`s 10 anglers fishing on the bank during the closed season they are all poachers.
 
Hi men,

Mark , I was on the Vauxhall committee , fishery officer for Stanton , and even a club as big as that could not buy a bailif for love nor money:rolleyes: , and there lays the problem with a lot of stretches / waters !, as if you can't get waters visited during the season , you have no chance during the close season . The bloke regularly walks the river all year , but as he is getting on in years thinks twice about approaching people drinking beer , with a little short "anything that comes along" rods and a tesco carrier bag . Iv told him about the police / EA , and hopefully he took that on .

Hatter
 
What about no set dates for the close season.?.
Left completely to the Angling clubs / Owners discretion..
Everyone knows when they are spawning so would easily be spotted..
Anglers presence on the banks all year round can only be a benefit..

Predators and Poachers have a field day whilst left alone.;)..
 
I must say, I really struggle with this idea of barbel starting to spawn, then stopping when the water cools, then picking up where they left off once everything hots up again. I couldn't cope with that. I mean, I've got used to waiting until Emmerdale has finished but that's my limit. Once the business of the day begins then it ought really to be concluded that day, preferably before Match of the Day. After Game of Thrones is fine though. Sometimes necessary actually.
 
Took a walk along the river this morning and counted 7 barbel doing the business on one of their favoured gravel beds. The chub were making the most of it and hoovering up . I shall have another look later this week .
Regarding the old perennial close season debate, one factor always stands out to me, and it's the lack of choice that you would have if you wished to retain a closed season and another controlling riparian owner or club who had the other bank did not. Ok, a lot of fisheries are double bank but there are plenty that are not.
I think that protecting spawning areas is a good idea, but the same selfish idiots who persist on fishing high bank jungle snag swims where there is little or no chance of landing a fish without doing it some damage will ignore such measures. It really is a fish at all costs with a few, and when the fish are gone they just move onto the next unfortunate club.
Which brings me onto bailiffing rivers.... no probs recruiting stillwater bailiffs but the rivers are considered to be akin to the Wild West which understandably puts good club members off volunteering . Add to that the lack of backup from the plod, .... who needs the aggro?
Very few club members want to risk an altercation and the poachers know it.
As a bailiff on a leased or rented water you are in fact an agent of the landowner and therefore should expect a certain degree of support, but prosecuting for trespass and poaching seems to be a thing of the past .
Regular bailiffing is often a requisite within the terms of a fishing lease , but it has become an almost empty gesture on many waters.
I had this same discussion on another forum 2 or 3 years ago and Ray W. kindly gave me the mobile no. of a local bobby who had been tasked with dealing with poaching incidents. Not sure if this is the norm though, when one of my Surrey club's bailiffs confronted a guy who was in the process of gutting a good chub he was threatened with a machete . When he called the old bill they said that they were unable to send help and recommended that he followed the guy and get a reg. no. They did give it an incident no. though!:rolleyes

Ps boaters, canoes and salmon anglers can do a fair bit of damage to shallow spawning areas as well as predators of course.
 
Dave,
You say the Chub were hoovering up the eggs, not disputing that, but I was under the impression that Barbel eggs were toxic.
Nice post btw:) and I agree with all your points made, particularly the comment about canoes and whatever else on spawning gravels.
 
Agree with that also Dave about canoes and there occupants who thrash over the shallow gravels disturbing everything in sight, even walking through them, i have seen it:mad:
 
Hi Neil,
The chub were getting very excited, perhaps seeing the barbel at it made them a bit frisky !
Seriously though, it's something that I have witnessed in previous years on those same gravels.
If barbel eggs are toxic does that mean we don't have to fret about signal crayfish ! :D;)
ATB

Edit addition .
Good point Neil and whilst barbel eggs / roe are flagged up as poisonous to humans I can't find any reference as to their harmful effects on anything else.
Dear old Izaak refers to barbel covering their eggs to prevent other fish from eating them ( third para. )
http://anglicanhistory.org/walton/angler/chapter14.html
The search did flag up that between 8000 and 12000 eggs per kilo of fish were deposited which means nature must allow for a fair bit of wastage !
 
John Cook said:
Agree with that also Dave about canoes and there occupants who thrash over the shallow gravels disturbing everything in sight, even walking through them, i have seen it:mad:
Click to expand...

Yes John, seen it as well.
River just has to drop and they just get out and carry them across the gravels.
 
Dave Taylor said:
Hi Neil,
The chub were getting very excited, perhaps seeing the barbel at it made them a bit frisky !
Seriously though, it's something that I have witnessed in previous years on those same gravels.
If barbel eggs are toxic does that mean we don't have to fret about signal crayfish ! :D;)
ATB

Edit addition .
Good point Neil and whilst barbel eggs / roe are flagged up as poisonous to humans I can't find any reference as to their harmful effects on anything else.
Dear old Izaak refers to barbel covering their eggs to prevent other fish from eating them ( third para. )
The Compleat Angler, by Izaak Walton
The search did flag up that between 8000 and 12000 eggs per kilo of fish were deposited which means nature must allow for a fair bit of wastage !
Click to expand...
Hi Dave, It's 5am and the dawn chorus has got the better of me again. But whilst I really appreciate old Issac, his science was sometimes found wanting, but covering eggs was one of his better theories. I guess.
Thie poisionos barbel egg thing, I was under the impression that the roe was toxic to all species, not just man, will have to dig deeper I guess, what else to do at this ungodly hour?
 
Neil Smart said:
Hi Dave, It's 5am and the dawn chorus has got the better of me again. But whilst I really appreciate old Issac, his science was sometimes found wanting, but covering eggs was one of his better theories. I guess.
Thie poisionos barbel egg thing, I was under the impression that the roe was toxic to all species, not just man, will have to dig deeper I guess, what else to do at this ungodly hour?
Click to expand...

BGT on youtube, how sad am i. :D

P.S. Great thread by the way. :)
 
Neil Smart said:
Hi Dave, It's 5am and the dawn chorus has got the better of me again. But whilst I really appreciate old Issac, his science was sometimes found wanting, but covering eggs was one of his better theories. I guess.
Thie poisionos barbel egg thing, I was under the impression that the roe was toxic to all species, not just man, will have to dig deeper I guess, what else to do at this ungodly hour?
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry about the I.W. link, ... I was struggling to find anything of real substance.:D
Must be time for your mid morning nap !
 
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