Rule Change – No carp retaining slings

Following a recent incident, the Committee have been carefully considering the use of carp retaining slings and any other means of keeping coarse fish. As you know rule 5 of the General Rules of Fishing currently prohibits Keepnets except during the Club’s recognised matches. The Club’s most important assets are its fish, and it is inevitable that it is the largest fish that anglers will want to retain. This is true particularly if caught at night so that photographs can be taken of them in better light. However, the clear advice the Club has received is that fish do best if returned as soon as possible after recovering from being caught.  That advice should not come as a surprise to any Club member. With this in mind the Committee has resolved to revise the second sentence of Rule 5 to advise:

Keepnets, carp retaining slings, together with any other method for retaining fish, are not to be used on any Club water except during recognised Club matches in which respect they must be knotless and at least 2.4 metres in length (additional wording in italics)

This revision was agreed with immediate effect and therefore the Club’s bailiffs will be enforcing this amended rule following publication of this newsletter.