Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Mike Livingstone

The River Don
« on: 19/05/2009 at 18:42 »
I have followed with interest over the past few years the recurring topic of the River Don and the no Sunday fishing law.  I just thought I'd finally put down my thoughts on it.

First of all, yes I do attend the kirk but no I do not have an issue with Sunday fishing!

However, I feel that having the Sunday no fishing rule is beneficial for the river and if people are desperate to get fishing on a Sunday there are plenty of other options in Scotland.  Also, at least it is not like the west coast of Norway where if there are salmon in the river it is a salmon river- period!  this means you pay salmon prices and the season only starts on 1st June so you would miss any decent LDO hatch.

Anyway, the way I see it is that the public water on the Don probably benefits from the no Sunday rule as it reduces overall fishing pressure on the water.  This would not be as true if the no fishing day was, say a Tuesday, as most people do not work on Sundays.  Yes, it can be frustrating if you really want to fish the Don on Sunday but we can't have everything.  Too much of our 'society' is based on a fairly selfish way of life and if it is inconvenient for us we tend to get upset about it.  Whatever it maybe!

I guess what I am trying to say is that some enforced restraint is not a bad thing from a conservation point of view and has probably kept the fishing on the Don up to the standard that is evidenced by some of the reports this year.  Having fished in the US on some of the rivers it gets pretty busy at weekends and even with C&R there is a real competition to catch LOTS of fish.  I do not believe this is healthy for any watershed and this is evidenced by the fishries going down hill.  Again, this is another topic about learning when enough is enough.  Not that my catches are ever that large!  :z6

So, in conclusion, while I have the soap box, no Sunday fishing is not a bad thing for the continuing fishing quality.

Thanks for reading this!

Mike

Sandy Nelson

Re: The River Don
« Reply #1 on: 19/05/2009 at 20:06 »
Nicely put  :z18

Sandy

Hamish Young

Re: The River Don
« Reply #2 on: 20/05/2009 at 07:43 »
A reasoned post there Mike, and a view that the majority of proprietors would most probably share.

That said, I'd have to say that whilst I recognise the logic in the arguement I do think there is room to increase the amount of Sunday fishing on rivers in Scotland as a whole and on the Don in particular.

At the very least, a consistent approach by proprietors (or a statement of intent) would go some way to alleviating the confusion that is quite widespread throughout Scotland on the subject of Sunday fishing for Trout (silver tourists don't count :wink ) on our rivers.
However, there are bigger issues to be tackled first and I'd be quite happy to see those attended to before the availability of Sunday fishing is (perhaps) extended  :z16

Hamish  :z3

Rob Brownfield

Re: The River Don
« Reply #3 on: 20/05/2009 at 08:18 »
This has always been an interesting one for me. As a whole, I feel the Don is extremely underfished in the terms of rod hours per mile of water. I have fished major matches on the Thames and the Seven where there were some 500 anglers fishing one stretch. I doubt the Don sees that in a whole week. A prime example was is the 20 something miles that Archie Grant has. There where 3 of us fishing 2 weeks ago, the day before 1, the day before that 3.

However, I realise Trout are not as prolific (in terms of numbers, not breeding potential) as Bream, Roach, Dace etc. and need protecting to a degree. A simple fact is that if a trout is banged on the head, it is not one fish that has been killed, it is "potentially" hundreds of offspring over the years. The simple answer in my mind (and it is simplistic) is that the river goes totally catch and release with a sustained stocking from natural fish at fingerling size to bosst present stocks to a level that keeps people happy.

And this is where my arguement falls down :). People expect to turn up and catch 10, 15 even 20 fish in a session, as that is what they get in a stocked fishery, so where do you draw the line when it comes to what can be expected from a river. For me, that one fish the other week made my day...over the moon with it :)


Re: The River Don
« Reply #4 on: 20/05/2009 at 12:13 »
I agree with most of what has been said, especially with Hamish in that a consistent approach would prevent confusion.

I am by no means an expert on stocking of waters, but my initial thoughts would be that for a river the stocking level should be dictated by population the river can support and not by people’s expectations.

Robbie

Rob Brownfield

Re: The River Don
« Reply #5 on: 20/05/2009 at 18:15 »
I am by no means an expert on stocking of waters, but my initial thoughts would be that for a river the stocking level should be dictated by population the river can support and not by people’s expectations.

Agreed, but that, in my view anyway, is the problem. People "expect" loads of fish. I think it is safe to say the Don is very well stocked with food for the trout, pick up a rock and see whats crawling around under it. The hatches can be truely spectacular (well, evenings at Monymusk when I lived there).

Compared to rivers down south the trout have virtually no competition for food.

Re: The River Don
« Reply #6 on: 21/05/2009 at 07:46 »
Sorry if we have hijacked this thread.

As I said before I do not have the knowledge or understanding to recommend stocking policies and don’t think I can add more to this discussion.

Robbie

 




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