Closed season...

[Fugley-fisher]

Is the closed season a time to relish or dread, I know a few river match anglers use the closed season to take a break, give all the kit a once over, save the bait and match fees and replace broken or worn out tackle or simply add to the armory. When the season kicks off again there fresh and full of enthusiasm, unlike a few of the lads that fish year round.
Most of the major sports that have leagues stop then start again, to give players a break and the fans builds anticipation for the following season, I know the gaps are getting less as the money machine takes no prisoners.

Should we all take a step back have a short pause, like it used to be many took up fly fishing headed to the sea, or for me some rock pool hunting, must confess not done that for a while something about slippery rocks and broken wrists (I've already done one ), not saying I'm accident prone but...

So who is having a fishing sabbatical ?

I've a couple weeks off as on Monday so I'm going to have a few days fishing, practice my long and short feeder fishing and slider but after that I'm going to have a solid month off.

 

[Zerkalo]

I don't mind it so much. I will walk the river looking for pegs etc and that fills me with excitement, but I don't find April to be a brilliant month for fishing otherwise anyway. It's not warm enough for my natural stillwaters, and when I fish commercials the often bright days but still cold nights leave all the fish either cruising the top or the margins. Not to say you can't catch a lot of them, but it's a different ball game to commercial winter fishing, which I've normally already had enough of by April.

It's all about the excitement that a potentially warm May brings for me, and the thoughts of nice bags of nice Tench. What I will say is that come June, it's often a disappointment until into July anyway depending on river, as they are so busy for the first few weeks and the fishing not always up to full speed.

 

[Don’tTellEmYourName]

15th March is the start of the Brown Trout season on my favourite river

 

[Silverfisher]

No way I could take any time off I’ve got the bug bad so have to get my fix! Would rather be on the rivers for sure but as it is I’ll be the canal and commercials for probably the first 6 weeks then onto mostly bigger natural style lakes with maybe the odd canal session or commercial session in the second 6 weeks.

 

[ravey]

I tend to reduce my fishing, but will have an odd day here and there on a canal or similar just to keep the itch at bay. I agree with you regarding rivers being generally rather poor for the first few weeks. Once we’re at the end of July, my roach sport on the Trent usually picks up noticeably.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

Makes no difference for me. But I can walk the dog by the river and let her off the lead safe in the knowledge she will not annoy any anglers.

 

[Silverfisher]

Tbf it’s generally a couple days to a week into July before the river is worth bothering with here but will probably still get on it as soon as I can just because I’ll be really missing it by then.

 

[Zerkalo]

I will be more likely to go on the weir on the little river near me than the Severn for the first session or two, it's normally full of Chub by then but they're usually all straggly and thin post spawning. Noticeably so as well. I reckon the 2lb measly Chub I catch at the start of the season are plump 3lb fish by autumn.

 

[Paul_T]

The close season comes at the right time for me as I can find time to get on the allotment and prep the ground for the coming growing season, which I should have done last Autumn but was fishing instead. Autumn is my favourite time for roach on the river.

We moved house mid Dec and have had a few artex ceilings re-plastered & walls skimmed so the next couple of months will be decorating for me.

I will try to get out on the local reservoir for some short early morning tench sessions (pre work), or short evening sessions - need to get my fix somehow and to have a break from the other stuff!

 

[nejohn]

I used to quite like the old closed season, I think it was the anticipation in the last couple of weeks of may waiting for it all to start up again, we were lucky in County Durham we had 2 opening days as we could nip across the Tees in to Yorkshire on the 1st of June and take advantage of the 'stolen fortnight' then have a proper opening day on the 16th also. Now I do tend to take a bit of a break from now until around mid May as I find the next 6 weeks or so to be very hit and miss as the weather doesn't know what it wants to do allied with warmer days yet cold nights then you also have a lot of spawning activity also so I use these next 6-8 weeks as a time to re-charge and sort my kit out, not saying I won't go out at all but sessions will generally be a couple of snatched hours just to get out on the bank

 

[Jimpanzee]

I quite enjoyed close season last year, it gave me an opportunity to fish different still waters that I wouldn’t normally consider as the Thames is just a stones throw away.

I plan to sign up to a new club on April 1st and gives me the opportunity to fish plenty of their still waters. They also have lots of different stretches of Rivers, so come June I’ll have plenty of options.

 

[Peter]

I will be more likely to go on the weir on the little river near me than the Severn for the first session or two, it's normally full of Chub by then but they're usually all straggly and thin post spawning. Noticeably so as well. I reckon the 2lb measly Chub I catch at the start of the season are plump 3lb fish by autumn.

Steve, If I'm honest, personally I wouldn't want to fish for fish that in your own words are "all straggly and thin post spawning. Noticeably so as well. "
I'd rather leave them alone to recover from the stress of spawning, rather than stress them further by catching them during their recovery period.

 

[Reuben]

No probs up here. When the Forth is not carrying an extra 6ft I’ll be having a crack for the Dace.

 

[Zerkalo]

Steve, If I'm honest, personally I wouldn't want to fish for fish that in your own words are "all straggly and thin post spawning. Noticeably so as well. "
I'd rather leave them alone to recover from the stress of spawning, rather than stress them further by catching them during their recovery period.

Quite an extreme view, but fair play.

 

[Peter]

Quite an extreme view, but fair play.

Hardly extreme, I just wouldn't derive any pleasure in deliberately targeting fish that are obviously in poor condition as you've stated above.

 

[Zerkalo]

Hardly extreme, I just wouldn't derive any pleasure in deliberately targeting fish that are obviously in poor condition as you've stated above.

I respect that point of view. I don't think being caught stresses them that much though, if I thought fishing was bad for fish I probably would think twice about doing it. I also tend to catch the same fish more than once, that's a thing that has led me to my own 'ethical' questions about whether it's right to fish there, I even made threads on that, but I decided that it's fine. It's obviously less fun, but being fished for or not (and they will be as it's a popular spot), they're still fighting fit come later in the season. I think it's a slippery slope to say that fishing for post spawning Chub is bad.

 

[Peter]

A subject that we are going to have to agree to disagree on then I'm afraid Steve. I won't comment on it further.

 

[Zerkalo]

This was first session of last season. (with 20 pics of the Chub)

https://www.maggotdrowning.com/forums/threads/weirpool-magic-summer-of-21.234168/

 

[Deleted member 23692]

I’ll miss the rivers, but will go back to still waters fresher from not having been on them for a good few months. It’ll be nice to sit on my seatbox with a tip poised for action rather than walking and casting that lure fishing over winter has been, thoroughly enjoyed it though.

 

[Scribe]

Have a full & busy life so don't get the opportunity to get on the river as much as I would like. Hopefully things will settle down this coming season, so I can get out more.

NB Is it too early to tie hooklinks for next season ?