Mostly agree Harpo...there is a first
Never fished a match seriously (except when I was six) and came out because of all the slaughter and chaos that went on back then (16 years ago). We shifted over to a point system for a while which was great and did little harm to the fish, they all went back in a few seconds and everything was dandy, people got fed up and went back to heaviest bag...so again I quit.
In my mind, match angling is slowly retreating; anglers are now going over to other competitive aspects. Such as trying to catch as many species as possible in a year, trying to beat their pb's etc. Like our comp, unless somebody wants one for a tea, all fish should be returned after a very quick picture, (its very easy to take pictures of fish quickly if you want to).
You all know me, I hate "banning" it goes against every grain in my body. We are all individuals and should be responsible for ourselves, we don't need a nanny state telling us what to do. So I won't go the whole hog and say "lets ban it" but those who take part in SOME matches, need to start looking after their fish better and the environment (look at the e-mail I got a few weeks ago). Although I do believe that in *some* of the big organised matches, the fish are looked after a lot better than they where and the situation is getting better, slowly. I cant comment on small club matches as that would be impossible, so whether or not the fatalities are increasing, we don't know. A lot of clubs are now employing good catch and release techniques and are very good at organising matches, and if that is the case, then who am I to try and ban them. I don't like match fishing, but if other people do and its conducted in a sensible manner, then, let them do it.
As for dogfish, if anybody kills them just because they are dog fish and are a pain, you dont deserve to be called an angler.
Mike Jr
P.S Harpo, get over the hunting, we disagree, end off, I think you are wrong, you think Im wrong, thats why we live in a "semi" free society. It doesnt however give you the right to ban something I agree with...just like it doesnt give an anti the right to ban my fishing, they can speak out against it, but they haven't got the right to ban it.