This Week’s Fishing News

A selection of articles courtesy of Anglers Mail

Each week the GO Outdoors blog will bring you fishing news courtesy of our friends at Anglers Mail. Click to

 

 

Rescue at dried up river

THE Environment Agency have already had to rescue fish as waters dry up – and they’re seriously worried what the summer will bring.

As seen in this photo, the EA took the decision to electrofish and transfer fish from the rapidly drying up Maxey Cut and transfer them to the River Welland near Market Deeping in Lincolnshire.

Gates were closed so no water now goes into the Maxey Cut, a flood bypass channel, with the benefit that flow is increased in the Welland. Low levels in Rutland Water, a giant Leicestershire reservoir, have compounded the problem for all of its feeder rivers.

EA experts are clearly worried about what could happen over a far wider area in weeks and months ahead.

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Carp man lands 7 ft sturgeon

ONE of the biggest fish ever banked in the UK has been landed after a 40-minute battle that its carp angler captor described as ‘the fight on my life.’

Danny Hughes, who will be 60 this year, has caught stingray to 180 lb and fished for marlin, shark, salmon and tope, but he literally had his hands full with the 7 ft 3 in sturgeon, his first of the species, which he tailed out single handed in the early hours of the morning.

Even his highly trained Labradors took one look at the 96 lb 4 oz creature and dived back into his station wagon.

Danny was fishing Celtic Lakes Resort, at Lampeter, in West Wales just eight miles from his home, arriving at 4.30am to fish 17-acre Lake 6 at the £35 for 24-hours, where he is a regular.

‘I was fishing for carp using 35-year-old Bruce & Walker 2.25 lb test curve rods and had a run at about 6.30am,’ recalled Danny.

‘This huge fish jumped out of the water right in front of me about 20 metres out and I thought was: “Oh my God, that thing’s on my line!”

‘I’ve seen sturgeon of 50 lb landed and they’ve given a bit of a fight, but this will stay with me till the day I die. I’ve never had a fight like it in my life. The play on the rod was absolutely tremendous.

‘It wiped out my other two rods completely even with backleads on and ran out of the swim and between the islands. Then it turned and ran straight towards me faster than I could reel in and took off out of the water.

‘I kept as much on it as I could with just 15 lb line and brought it in six times into where a swim has been cut in the weeds, but each it came in close it went off again.

‘On the sixth time I knew it was ready, but I couldn’t net it so I got in about 3 ft of water and grabbed it’s tail and brought it straight up the bank.

‘I have two trained Labrador dogs that I use for working and do trials with and they sit at the back of my truck. They had come to see what was happening and when I fetched this fish in it moved towards them and both of them turned and ran back into the station wagon.’

Danny landed the huge fish on a size 6 hook using a chod rig with lead core and a PVA bag of crushed boilies, pellets and worms.

However, he wants to keep the exact hook bait to himself, though he did admit that it was: ‘One of the fishery owners own baits that I bought from him.’

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Now killer beavers are a national threat

ANGLING has yet another threat after the rise of otters, cormorants and crayfish – beavers!

The large rodents – the second biggest in the world after the South American capybara – was stupidly re-introduced into Scotland but are spreading from their ‘controlled trial’ sites. They can carry a parasite that kill other mammals including humans.

Now the Angling Trust has written to Fisheries and Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon urging him to authorise the trapping and lethal control of beavers to halt their spread into England.

This might involve applying to the European Commission for an exemption to the beaver’s European Protected Status to allow them to be controlled and their dams to be dismantled, which has been done in other member states.

Anglers throughout the UK reacted with concern to the announcement that the Scottish Environment Minister, Stewart Stevenson, has blocked the conservation agency Scottish Natural Heritage from carrying out trapping and euthanasia of hundreds of beavers which have been released into the River Tay catchment.

These animals were almost certainly released illegally into the wild by beaver enthusiasts and have already spread throughout Perthshire and Angus and it is only a matter of time before they spread into England and Wales.

Anglers are particularly worried because beavers create dams across streams and rivers which can prevent coarse and game fish migrating up and downstream to complete their lifecycles.

There are also grave concerns following the discovery that the Scottish beavers may be carrying Echinococcus multilocularis, a tapeworm that can be transferred to foxes, dogs and people. It causes a number of human fatalities each year.

 

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Robson Green starts “ultimate fishing adventure” on TV

ROBSON GREEN fans can count down the days before a fishy treat as he’s got his fifth Channel 5 angling series appearing very soon.

Energetic Geordie actor and keen fisherman Robson has eight one-hour episodes in the new series called Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge starting at 9pm on Monday, April 9.

Robson has now had the most ever prime-time angling exposure on national terrestrial television after the great John Wilson MBE, but if he keeps up the current rate of filming could overtake the Norfolk legend.

A Channel 5 spokeswoman said: ‘Robson has caught fish most anglers have only dreamed of. He’s spent the last four years travelling the globe, and has done it all from catching half-ton sharks in Ascension Island, to the fastest fish on earth in Costa Rica. He’s fished the world – but this time it’s one Geordie against the world.

‘In Robson’s Extreme Fishing Challenge, he’s out to take on the best – and win. Each week, he’ll be in a different place with the same extreme challenge – a competitive fishing tour against some of the best anglers out there.

‘In eight brand new episodes, he faces the anglers of the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Peru. It’s his ultimate fishing adventure.

‘Episode 1 is Brazil. For the first challenge of the series, Robson travels to the land of sand, samba and soccer to fish against Brazil’s finest along both the 5,000 miles of Atlantic shoreline, and the mighty Amazon river system.  Can this Englishman gain revenge for countless years of World Cup defeats?’ he added.

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2 Pints of Lager and 400 lb of carp

TOP comic actor and keen angler Will Mellor took a well-deserved break away from filming his BBC1 hit In With The Flynn’s with a holiday to Devon’s Anglers Paradise.

The Manchester-based 2 Pints of Lager And A Packets of Crisps star was down at the holiday mecca to celebrate his dad’s birthday.

Holiday boss Zyg Gregorek explained: ‘He had all the ladies in the village and at Anglers Paradise weak at the knees. He was a true gent and posed happily for photos.’

 

For the full stories, grab this week’s Angler’s Mail magazine. Be sure to also check out www.anglersmail.co.uk

 

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