Formerly Loughborough Fishing

Sunday 26 May 2013

Fish in distress

I went fishing for a few hours today on the canal at Swingbridge Road. The fishing was terrible, caught one very small chub on maggot - but the boat traffic was unbelievable. 

As I was fishing by the reeds, I spotted a large fish in the reeds, wiggling around but not moving anywhere. I assumed it was a spawning fish so left it alone for a few minutes, but it had not moved ten minutes later. I had found loads of loose thick monofilament line all over the floor around the area - picking them up to take home for the bin - and so began to think that the large fish could be wrapped up in loose line. Fortunately I had a landing net with me, and putting the net under the fish I could feel resistance from the reeds - it was trapped in loose line. I pulled up reeds that were moving as I tried lifting the net and eventually managed to free the fish from the reeds at least. 

I got the fish on the bank and immediately found thick monofilament wrapped around the fishes head and behind the pectoral fins. The fish was obviously in a lot of distress so I quickly cut line from around its body and freed it. 

3 pound bream free of line

I took the picture above and then released it back into the water. It must have been trapped for some time, as it can be seen in the picture that there is a large amount of swelling around where the line was tight. 

There was no hook in sight, so it was not a fish that had snapped off a light line. This was caused by pure negligence and laziness of so called 'anglers' leaving loose line lying around, it getting caught up in reeds and then fish getting wrapped up and potentially killed. 

TAKE LOOSE LINE HOME AND CHUCK IT IN THE BIN

Some may be thinking the trap could have been intentionally set by a poacher. Well it happens around here, there were signs of poaching in the area - i.e. sticks stuck in the bank side to hold nets - but from the way it was all just tangled up in the reeds I do not think it was intentional. Of course it could have been collateral from poachers chucking loose line around without a care in the world, one likes to hope anglers take more care. 

Next time you get a birds nest on your reel and you cut it off - put it in your pocket, please. Or you're worse than a poacher - killing fish out of pure contempt.  

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