Fishing

[lozzy_seward]

what is the reason that there isn't as amny fishermen as there were 50 years ago ???

[tigersam258]

cos its a dreadful waste of time.

fresh water fishing has to be the dullest pastime ever perhaps only surpassed by watching re-runs of Tenko!

sea fishing has declined due to over-fishing of our coastal waters by the spanish and so to protect the stocks, restrictions have been imposed by DEFRA.

[shaneystar2]

Do you mean deep sea fishing ?
Speaking as someone who was brought up in one of our once great herring ports ..the answer is simple ..overfishing ,quotas imposed by the government and the declining North Sea fish stocks.Also national protection of the north sea in the Icelandic areas plus intervention from Brussels has all but closed down the fishing industry in my area . .We have one trawler left here ..when I was a child 50 odd years ago you could walk from one side of the river to the other on the fishing boats.

[Octavius]

The decline in numbers of people going fishing (as a hobby) is due, in part, to the increase in urban populations. Most people identify lack of time as the major reason for quitting and the increase in competition with other forms of entertainment, and changes in family structure. As one generation grows up on Playstations etc, the art is not passed on between parent/child etc, and eventually dwindles and is lost.

[cogsy]

i blame the cormarants and the east europeans eating our sport/past time

[Pipdorset]

Fishing? A waste of time? You have to be joking? It's the perfect antidote to an inane, insane world. There's no pressure to obtain results, no endless phone calls - just the chance to merge with nature and see and experience things one will never see stuck in an office or turning over in bed.

I believe the downturn in numbers is caused because there's no short cut to success, watercraft comes with practice and experience. These days, however, people want instant results without the time and effort build up.

A waste of time? Drag yourself away from the pc and try it. It might just change your life - for the better.

[Bellringer]

They have probably committed suicide.
As helmsman on a passenger boat along our local river I have passed hundreds and they all look miserable.