One For The Pot

[skinhead]

Having just read the 'To kill or not t kill' thread, I am wondering what everyones views are on taking coarse fish for the pot.

Personally I am not averse to it. In the past my ex-inlaws (Italian), cooked ALL species from minnows up. Their pike & perch salads were to die for, as were their carp recipies. The pasta with bleak & bream was a bit boney though.

[Trout]

Tescos are selling carp now!

[whistlekiller]

I quite fancy trying pike and perch. Perch is supposed to be really nice, a bit like snapper but more earthy. What are the rules for taking coarse fish home to eat?

[Allrounder]

whistlekiller said:

What are the rules for taking coarse fish home to eat?

This will be covered by the rules of the club or organisation with the fishing rights.

If it is Club or Association water where coarse fish predominate then the rules usually say that all fish are to be returned although some make an exception for trout, pike and eels. For example some allow Pike under 6lbs or a brace of trout to be taken for the pot.

If you are fishing a commercial coarse fishing venue then they want all fish returned and I would fear for the personal safety of anyone who knocked a carp on the head 'for the pot'.

However, if you are fishing a water preserved for trout or other game fish then the owners are usually glad to see coarse fish removed, especially Pike.

In the end it is down the rules of the organisation who has the fishing rights.

Allrounder ;D

[Sewinbasher]

whistlekiller said:

I quite fancy trying pike and perch. Perch is supposed to be really nice, a bit like snapper but more earthy. What are the rules for taking coarse fish home to eat?

I've not long returned from Geneva where one of the local specialities is fillets of perch.

[whistlekiller]

Thanks for that. I wouldn't take a fish from a commercial as it belongs to somebody else. The last person I saw removing a carp from a local commercial was beaten to within an inch of his life by five of the local match fishing geezers after they'd failed to get the interest of the police!

That guy certainly won't be doing that again.

I was thinking about river fish as in a lot of cases they don't actually belong to anybody so should count as "fair game".

[muskie]

whistlekiller said:

I was thinking about river fish as in a lot of cases they don't actually belong to anybody so should count as "fair game".

I'd be very careful where you take fish from, certainly around here the vast majority of river is owned/leased by angling clubs that usually have a 'all fish to be returned to the water' rule.
There has been quite a lot of aggro lately over the killing and eating of coarse fish, mainly by Eastern Europeans who don't seem to care where the fish come from or who owns them.

Perch are very good to eat but many coarse anglers would be somewhat annoyed at the killing of decent sized ones.

[whistlekiller]

Thanks for that advice Muskie, believe you me I've seen a lot of Eastern European fish abstraction but it's all been from stillwaters. I suppose ignorance of the law can be held up as a sort of excuse but the penalties are so pathetic and rarely enforced that they probably don't care even when they know the score.

I know taking the law into your own hands can sometimes lead to trouble but there was something quite satisfying about seeing the summary justice handed out to the felon I mentioned above. To put matters into perspective, it wasn't the first time he'd been seen doing it and I suppose the lads just lost their tempers a bit......

[Sewinbasher]

Apparently they're having the same sort of problem in Ireland with Eastern Europeans netting trout from rivers like the Kells Blackwater.

[slacklines]

If you manage tocatch a zander, they are probably THE tastiest coarse fish

[Dougie]

I know the title of this thread is ONE for the pot but why harm our natural resources when there is plenty of choice on the supermarket shelves?

Dougie

[MickeyP]

Hi Dougie,

I wish it was as easy as that but those on the supermarket shelves probably contribute more harm to our natural resources than actually taking one for the pot from a sustainable fishery. Bearing in mind that taking one for the pot should be that and not taking a dozen for the freezer and a dozen for the lads down the pub and a few for the relatives.

Cheers

Mick

[chub1]

certainly on my clubs water(caorse),both river and lakes-ALL fish are to be returned.However on the river,the East europeans are/were having a field day with night lines-taking anything that happens along

[mantog]

Perch has nice flesh but it is indeed very earthy in flavour. As for East Europeans poaching...there's nothing anyone can do about it...we just have to live with it. If I got caught fishing without a license and without a ticket for the venue I was at, I'd get a hefty fine (quite rightly) and at the very least a severe b*ll*cking from the fishery manager. I suspect that if they catch an immigrant (legal or otherwise) they'll just let em go...too risky.