petekd wrote:Eyes, thanks for taking the comments in the spirit they were intended. It was not my intention to cause offense. We are all aware of the anti angling brigade and the pressure this sport comes under sometimes. I have heard stories of people wandering by Monkstown wall convinced there was a fish kill due to the large number of belly up juvenile fish that had been thrown back during a comp floating down the river. This is not about whether you had a good session or bad, whether match anglers have a greater right to target juvenile fish or anything like that. Its about how angling in this country can be perceived. I would have far rather seen a picture accompanying what was an entertaining report of the Scorpion fish. They aren't that widely caught, I've had 3 in my life fishing mainly around the SW, they're unfamiliar to a lot of people and they are class looking little things, infinitely more interesting than a pic of 6 pins. Pictures of people holding up a string of suicidal pin whiting on two traces cobbled together is not possibly the best way to portray angling in this country. We all know what a plague they can be and we all know that when they are there in numbers there is nothing the little feckers wont take, therefore 0 points for skill in pulling in 6 at a time. When it comes to peoples perception of things, browsing this site, 2 things struck me. Firstly, is the best the East Coast, even at this time of year has to offer? Absolutely not, not even close. Secondly, stick a headline on top of that picture on an anti angling site stating something like "Irish anglers double up their hooks to increase mass slaughter of juvenile fish for fun" and see now how that can be perceived.......
ever get the feeling petekd that people are ignoring you, and rightly so,keep your silly comments to yourself,we make our own rules as we are not govern by any club or commitee, had enough of that for years
Maybe they saw yet another picture of pin whiting and decided to skip it......! Nothing silly about the comments, they are fair points. I dont care if people decide to ignore it, no odds to me. I'm just asking you to think about what you are doing and how it could be perceived is all. Not because I think the world of whiting or I'm some tree hugging killjoy, but because broadcasting that kind of thing could be damaging for the reasons outlined above. There are aspects of our sport that are hard to defend sometimes, its best not to broadcast it.
OK Pete,,,,,,,,,,I got the message

I don't take any offence ,you're right to have spoken out

I'm just glad you're not going on about it too much and posting a big reply

,,,,,as it might draw more attention to my mass slaughter of juvenile fish,,,,,,,,,,,,which by the way were all put back in right under my feet,,,,,,3 or 4 feet drop at the most and I didnt see any go belly up like those in the comps that you give an example of (though i'm not foolhardy enough to hope that they all survived

). It was a moment of madness on my part brought about by months of staring at a motionless rod-tip

.I wasn't thinking straight in my excitement at seeing two rodtips nodding frantically and I immediately regretted it afterwards,,,,,,,,,,,as the man says "I'm not proud of it,,,,,,,,,,,,,but i'm not ashamed either,,,,,,,,i'm only human and prone to erring on occassion". I hope this apology is accepted by you and received in the spirit it was intended

. As for Fishface,,,,,,,,,,,forgive him also for he is only jumping to my defence and does'nt see the error of his way's,,,,,,,,don't forget he picked up all the litter afterwards and warned us of two particularly nasty doggie doo's that were right in our path's.......so he's not all bad

,
Eyes
Species '20 (14) 5 Beard Rockling, Shore Rockling, Codling, Whiting, Pollock, Coalfish, Pouting, Corkwing Wrasse ,Ballan Wrasse, Poor Cod, Dab ,Smoothhound,Flounder, Thornback Ray
For the rich, there is therapy. For the rest of us, there is FISHING! --