Returned to fishing after 20 years . . . no barbs, no worms WTF !!!

Shiraz 4.99

Ok, I need an education on what happened over the past 20 years, the green/liberal agenda must have bitch slapped down I sport I knew so well.

Let me go back to the beginning.
Young lad turned 7 a few weeks ago & decided he wanted to go fishing.
Grand, we picked up one of the cheap extendable rods in Aldi, I hadn't fished in 20 years but decided now was the time to get back at it.
I would have originally just fished the canals for perch/bream/pike & would have entered loads of competitions in my late teens.
Anyway, myself & the young lad drove out to the Barrow at Magheny bridge (Carlow/Laois border, 3 Counties pub) where we were met with a sign on the riverbank:
Catch & Return - OK, I do that anyway
No Barbs - ??? Lad in the shop sold us one packet of size 8 hooks, all with barbs
No Worms - ???? Lad in the shop sold us a cup of 25 worms, all the bait we had

Not to disappoint the young fella we soldiered on & after finding a slower moving pool started landing some nice perch.
He loved it & can't wait to go back but I need to check how "policed" are these new rules.
I come from a generation who used live bait gudgeon for pike so I'm not best placed to comment on these new regulations.

Educate me please.

kildare lad

probably to do with salmon i presume...i had the same problem yesterday regarding spinnin i was told i can only use a single arbless hook on my lures or il b fined 150 euro even tho im targeting pike.. go up to the canal u can do wat u want up there all tho this time of year its too over grown to spin

Shiraz 4.99

Nearest canal would be where ? Athy.

What bait do they recommend for perch/bream/roach nowadays, bread or corn ????
I could snip the barbs off the hooks, I presume they sell them barbless ?.

Do most coarse anglers actually follow these new rules or is lip service paid.
I don't want to go to the bother of being the good guy if this is just paperwork nonsense that's never policed.

Thanks for any help.

kildare lad

try maggots..ye they sell barbless in most tackleshops, dont really bait fish so wouldnt know

Flysfisher

If you are getting back into fishing after a 20 year break you will probably find a lot has changed.

Sadly a lot of our fish stocks are not what they were and conservation rules have been brought in. You need to check them out before fishing its all on the web.

The rules for each river probably have to apply to all species or else you would get people claiming they were fishing for species that they actually were not fishing for.

Bio Mech

Flysfisher wrote: »

The rules for each river probably have to apply to all species or else you would get people claiming they were fishing for species that they actually were not fishing for.

I don't think they have to at all. You could list a number of exemptions easily but the powers that be took the lazy way out IMO. You have a bye law that prevents barbed hooks over a certain size, say a 14, that would allow coarse anglers to float fish for roach. You could ban trebles on all methods except static deadbaiting using a wire trace.

In order to enforce the bye laws as they stand the IFI officers need to inspect gear anyway so they are surely able to make a judgement call on the exemptions.

But sure one the salmon boys can fish their prawns its all grand

Shiraz 4.99

So I'm guessing a lot of these changes have been brought on by the Salmon lobby, interesting.
Why do they hold such sway over the sport, I've never fished for a Salmon in my life.

KAI.Fundraiser

Because salmon fishing brings in more money from tourists and native trade... TBH its all a bunch of bull.

If you want to get the young fella into fishing find a fishery and you can use all baits, granted it costs money but 99% of fisherys charge between 10 and 20 for a day ticket.

DANNY22XX

you can check with the Athy anglers or if your ever heading to Carlow i can pm you

Super-Rush

I understand the barbless hooks rule, but the no worm fishing is a joke. As i said in another thread, i have caught Salmon whilst coarse fishing using maggots and corn on the hook.

Also the guy in the shop isn't banned from selling you barbed hooks and worms.

kildare lad

anyone tried the fake worms that they sell in some tackle shops, i wonder could u use them!!

Bio Mech

kildare lad wrote: »

anyone tried the fake worms that they sell in some tackle shops, i wonder could u use them!!

You can use them they are lures essentially. On a single barbless jig head they would be within the bye laws.

Scrappy600

kildare lad wrote: »

anyone tried the fake worms that they sell in some tackle shops, i wonder could u use them!!

I've just ordered a tub off of aliexpress, €3.80 for a 39g tub of scented brown earthworms, gonna try them soon, will report back!