Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:53 am
I was watching Fishing with Paul Merideth on Discovery Shed the other day, and he was shore fishing in Ireland actually, in Cork. He commented that most shore anglers seldom use unhooking mats and he was using a soaked towel to put his catch on. It put me to shame because Im guilty of putting fish down on rocks or the cement of the pier. So Ill be using the wet towel technique from now on. Does anyone use anything else? All the mats on the market are for carp or pike and are a bit bulky to be carried around the rocks and would take flight in the wind. Would a small bit of pvc or plastic do the job? Any ideas?
The other thing I was wondering about was drop nets for the pier/rocks, can you buy them or will I make one?
And the other thing I got thinking about was my attitude to different fish, this will probably sound strange but when I catch trout treat them like porcelain and I'm extra careful, when I catch pike I feel like there's someone watching me ready to give out yards for not handling the fish properly etc etc But Im less concerned about fish I catch in the sea, I dunno maybe its just me, now don't get me wrong I still debarb all my hooks except feathers and I do my best for every fish thats not for tea to swim away to fight another day. Is there more focus on fish handling in coarse and game fishing? Or possibly and I've experienced it,are coarse and game anglers a bit snooty? In my own club there's fly fishermen who wouldn't give you the time of day. I havn't met a man on the sea shore that wouldn't chat away to me or pass on any tips.
Em I think thats it for my rant, I know everyone on this site practices top c&r practices. Just something to think about. And if you have Sky dig, Go tot 242, practically 24 hour fishing programms on Shed, great stuff and loads of features on Ireland. You can catch Jim H on the small screen!
Tight lines chums
Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:26 pm
saw a guy use a baby changing mat fom mothercare....same thing!