why do you need a rod license?????????

[Maddison_Twatter]

he he he he, lets start a post on the ethics of catching fish..pain or no pain ?? thats always a good one lol

In my belief its a rip off but its neccecary to have one to fish so I buy one and thats all there is to it

[muddy_boots]

Sometimes my arm aches a bit, but no pain. Thanks for showing concern though.

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by unimatrix1

Who in the right mind would buy a license, Not me.

Maybe the fish and its environment is less important to the people in Holland; but on our small Island (small compared to the European mainland) with it's limited fish stocks and being a small island surrounded by over fished seas; freshwater fish and their environments take on a real importance.

The general non-angling public and even people new to the sport often don't see further than their noses and anything out of sight which is below the water takes a back seat.

Paying a paltry sum for a rod licence is to me; and many others; a small cost compared to the amount of work and study that our licence money is spent on by the EA to help and improve our precious sport and the environment that our quarry live in. (less than the cost of a decent meal and a drink)

In Scotland where they don't have a rod licence several of my scottish friends have said that they wished that they too had a similar thing in scotland which would prevent the game anglers from wiping out the coarse fish in their rivers.

Even in the UK a lot of the less informed angling fraternity don't see the work that is done behind the scenes to improve the sport; and if they don't see hoards of licence checkers on the banks checking their licences then they complain.

In an Ideal world we wouldn't need to buy a rod licence or even a gun licence or any other licence to protect our different sports but alas but we all know that it's far from an Ideal world.

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Although we don`t have rod licences yet, like premature ejeculation, it`s coming too---- soon.

[Bluesbro]

I have got a rod licnce and I don`t even own any freshwater gear. Just to keep me safe when tagging along with my puddle fishing pals!! At the end of the day it`s the law so it`s gotta be done, regardless of personal opinion and value for money. If you object to paying the fee then DON`T fish. Simples!!! At least in the freshwater you guys have got people looking after the waterways with your cash, try fishing in a ever over fished sea, having absolutly no say,power or consideration in the management of the fish stocks and no voice in parliment. We have councils trying to BAN ALL sea angling from beaches these days because a few bad apples keep making a mess, in which your club waters would just ban INDUVIDUALS and clean up the mess im sure?
Would I pay a sea licence if it were intruduced....YES.... would it be value for money or just a stealth tax....... Well i`ll leave that up to you guys to decide. All i can say is I can`t then see the government stopping the rest of our european neighbours over fishing our costal waters, or creating better fishing facilities on beaches.

Joe

[nightriderm]

Reading some of the post's here,I am bemused that some folk think that the environment agency does so much for angling.I believe that considering the amount of money they get from law abiding anglers,we get very little.
Here where I live it is more the internal drainage group that keeps the drains and canals clear of rubbish and other things and quite often has to clean up after the agency.

[barbus maximus]

Just had a similar debate on the mg-rover.org forum, but with reference to road tax!
Now, my fishing licence costs 8 times less than my road tax, yet I can see more good things happening to the river bank, than I can on our crumbling, dangerous, outdated roads!!!!

Its not just paying for litter picking, although little of that happens, it goes on breeding, restocking, studying the habitat, law enforcenemt and a shed load of other things too.

John

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by nightriderm

Reading some of the post's here,I am bemused that some folk think that the environment agency does so much for angling.I believe that considering the amount of money they get from law abiding anglers,we get very little.

Here is an extract from the 'Thames Anglers Conservancy' website talking about the EA fish survey recently done in the tidal Thames; which is only a very small part of what the EA do each year with our licence money.
(Got from the Barbel section on this forum (Thread: 'Tidal Water Barbel'))

Quote: “The angling world in general has done them a massive disservice. We moan they don’t check licenses but that is because they are busy building and preserving fish habitat, pollution clear ups and crucially, closing down illegal netting operations. They’ve stopped 5 illegal nettings this year on the tidal. This means they may not be around to check licences full time and it may mean the odd angler gets away with taking fish for the pot but that’s nothing compared to the loss of fish they have prevented from nets and long lines.”

< Link to Full Report >

NB. By the way for those that might be interested in this report; they found healthy Sea Bass in tidal water at Richmond in Surrey (60 miles from the sea) and Gobies and Prawns, and all from an area a few dozen yards across.