I agree with you in principle Avonangler, although I can see the issue of fish in nets all day being a welfare problem & the poaching (which I hadn't thought about), I suppose by-passing the net dip could be another issue.
But I think your point was about hipocracy - 50-60lb+ of fish in nets for however long can't be fish friendly can it< & neither can the way they get dumped into the weigh sling.
This also raises a point about barbed hooks which you probably use on rivers ? (I don't use the horrible things anywhere). It funny how pro bardbed anglers argue that they don't damage the fish yet all commercials ban them... & good on em.
Maybe I shouldn't go fishing at all if I'm concerned about fish welfare but I do, all I can do is not fish somewhere if I don't like what I see.
I once fished Lindholme, which seems to have come along famously these days, but 5-6 yrs ago one particular lake looked about 2ft deep at the most & was solid with fish, you couldn't fail, turned my stomach & I haven't been back - yes I know, they haven't missed me ! But the point is as someone else has said, if you don't like the rules or anything else about a fishery... don't go.
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