Fishing Newsletter
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Don’t Dog Me With DogmaA couple of weekends ago I slipped away to Hatepe, on the shore of Lake Taupo. My visit coincided with a good run of fish into the Hinemaiaia River. I caught plenty of fish, some memorable. I should have been happy, but my satisfaction with the fishing was, yet again, eroded, by a couple of ‘catch and release’ dogmatists. Now, with my ego firmly placed in my back pocket, I think it is a pretty fair bet, that I caught many more fish that weekend than these two clowns. And both these clowns, watched me catch and release many fish – in fact I only killed two fish. Wonderful fish they were too. Bright orange flesh, firm and just waiting to be cooked. I guess my reaction can best be summed up in a chapter I wrote in my book ‘Fishing Smarter for Trout’. "The Catch and Release Dilemma ; It was a great day on the Tongariro some years ago. In one pool I caught and released four fish in less than an hour. Then towards home time I landed a beautiful hen, fat and silvery. Just perfect for some guests we were expecting next evening for dinner. I lifted the fish up the beach, and pulled out my priest to give it a whack on the noodle. An angler who had been fishing the same stretch of water with me yelled out, "You are not going to kill that are you?" "Sure am, it’s a lovely fish", I replied. "Bloody meat hunter!" he yelled. Meat hunter? This guy had watched me catch and release four fish, prior to giving this one a knock on the noggin. But my antagonist had not had enough. He stumped up the beach and started to give me a lecture about how all fish should be released. Any arguments I tried to make in my defence were met with a solid wall of dogma. Finally I suggested, forcefully, that he should become interested in sex and travel, sooner rather than later. In an early chapter in this book, I cautioned new anglers against a few in the sphere of fly-fishing who believe it is their mission to ritualize, and propound rules of fishing behaviour. Proponents of fly-fishing dogma. Some fishermen have selected catch and release fishing as their source of dogma. Dogma: An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true. Here is one piece of absolute truth. There is no such thing as an absolute truth. But here, for better or worse, is the word according to this Bishop. Until laws are made to make it otherwise, the decision on whether to
catch and release a fish is quite rightly down to the individual choice
of the angler. First, there is some water where a limited cull may actually be beneficial
to the trout populations. Taupo is an example. The fishing fraternity here and overseas has an uneasy alliance of convenience with most of the major conservation and green organizations. This alliance based on the fact that both groups have, to a point, similar aims. The care and protection of the water and habitat to ensure the preservation of fish and other marine life. But if the sport fishing fraternity became seen as villains, by being seen to be subjecting fish to cruel treatment, that alliance will shatter. Like it or not there are many people, and the numbers are growing world-wide and here, who consider catching fish for sport to be cruel. In their view, to hook a fish, play (a truly unfortunate word) that fish and then release it, is exceptionally cruel. To scale down tackle to make the contest more sportingand prolong the fight further, is crueller still. (See The Thin Line) There are countries where animal rights groups are targeting fishing. There are countries in Europe where catch and release is illegal. It is a growing trend. But there is another good reason why most other fishermen and I do not fish on an exclusively catch and release basis, I like eating good-conditioned trout. And I like eating good conditioned-trout that I have caught. There are still enough of my ancestors hunting genes bouncing about in my body to still enjoy eating something, but nowhere near all, of what I catch. While there remain some waters where killing a trout is not going to endanger their populations I will give a few a bash on the brow. So if I decide to occasionally kill a fish in water that can sustain a limited kill, do not bang on in my ear with catch and release dogma, or I might bang on your ear, or at least get one of my big sons to do it. Enough said! More Thinking Angler ArticlesCopyright Notice |