The sport that was already on a form of lockdown before the coronavirus crisis

But as you read this article the annual close season for coarse fishing, somewhat ironically, is in full swing.

By tradition March 16 is when we start to clean our gear, empty out tackle boxes, find long lost items and remove mouldy items of bait that have escaped.

Then all equipment will be stored away until June 16 when the whole fishing cycle starts again.

This annual exclusion has been going since 1878 when the Freshwater Fisheries Act come into force to ensure that fish cab enjoy the “procreation of their species in peace and quiet”

During this time no-one was allowed to fish anywhere except for a few privileged anglers who could still fish for trout and salmon provided they had access to a nearby chalk stream or a suitable loch or two.

Although anglers grumbled about the act, it was mostly obeyed and accepted, after all it was all about fish conservation, wasn’t it?

Then around 25 years ago the newly established Environment Agency decided to do a strange thing. It allowed people to continue to fish for coarse fish provided they were not in a river.

This had the effect of reigniting the age-old question about the close seasons and the benefit of them.

After all what is the difference between a roach or bream in a river and one that’s in a pond? Don’t both have the right to peace and quiet? It’s a question that has struggled to find an answer.

Faced with a barrage of complaints the Environment Agency, under pressure to review this ancient policy, decided in 2018 to test the water, so to speak, and ask anglers their opinion.

The question was quite simple: Should we get rid of the close season altogether, modify it or keep as it is?

It was a topic that divided the angling fraternity with supporters and defenders exchanging quite frank views through the press and social media outlets.

Despite nearly 50 per cent support for the removal of the close season the EA decided to ignore the vote and keep the status quo.

They cited numerous fish welfare studies to back their decision but again struggled with the big question... Why only rivers?

For non-anglers this must sound all rather pointless. For anglers currently catching coarse fish from one of our ponds, it is frankly bizarre.

Do lake and pond fish spawn at different times? Is catching them stressing them out and interrupting the reproduction cycle? Are river fish more susceptible to angling pressure? And finally, when do fish actually start ‘doing it’?

The last question is rather complex because it’s clear certain fish species spawn at different times and this has become even harder to judge with the arrival of some very strange weather patterns that seem to fall into the whole global warming