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Week 4 Cast of the WeekI ended the newsletter number three by admitting I was off to a commercial fishery to do a shoot for Total Coarse Fishing. I loved it. Some brilliant fan tailed crucians. One or two nice mirrors and commons. A good roach or two. A pretty water. A nice atmosphere. It made me realise you don’t always have to be pushing the boundaries, looking for something unique and exceptional to enjoy yourself. And guess what? Only a few days after this, I found myself on a commercial rainbow trout fishery. I’d been sussing out the small river running along side when I simply couldn’t resist a crack at the buzzer action taking place on the stillwater. I had a seven/eight-weight outfit back in the car but decided to use a three-weight kit that I’d been using on the stream. It was gorgeous. A Hardy Marksman three-weight rod and a little Featherweight reel. The line just flew out. I easily made the distances I wanted to and the tiny rod laid the line down with exquisite caution. Now, I’m on the Hardy and Greys payroll so I’ve got to be really careful here…later on in the day, I made the seven/eight-weight outfit up and I found that in actual fact, I couldn’t really cast that much further with it than I could the three-weight. And what’s more, the line went down with appreciably more force. What I ended up doing was pushing the fish further and further from the bank. It was all a bit self-defeating really. For sure, I’m not saying that I’m going to do all my stillwater work with stream gear in future but it sort of makes you think. Of course, I wasn’t fishing a big reservoir in heavy conditions, more a small pool in a force two or three so I’m not claiming that I’ve found the solution to everything by any means. And you might ask how I got on with any fished hooked? Well, I took a couple of rainbows to nearly five pounds in weight and they fought like Banshees. Again, happily, the lightweight kit proved well up to the job. The fish were landed quickly and cleanly and returned in good spirits. I did take a couple of smaller fish back home to be cooked. I’m in a little bit of a debate about this at present. There’s a mood today that suggests most fish should go back. Catch and release is now the order of the day rather than the exception to the rule. Naturally, if we’re looking at any fish population that is threatened, then any individual caught goes back. But, surely, on a stocked commercial rainbow trout fishery, it’s absolutely acceptable to kill quickly and humanely what you catch and take it away to feed family and friends. And let’s look at the other implications. Whilst so much of the meat that we eat is produced in diabolical conditions, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be a free rainbow trout given the chance to fight for my life and, if unsuccessful, be killed outright. Not great but better than an abattoir or a poultry farm existence any day. And how about the prevailing economic climate? Doesn’t it make sense to cut down on the food bill with some of the most nutritious food available? We live and we fish in interesting and challenging times. Sometimes it pays to think out of the box. Sometimes it’s enough just to think clearly.
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