Birmingham Anglers Association

Thank you atlast and stew83mul.

About keep nets, viewers will note the use of an extra-long free flow river net which was positioned in line with the flow. These are designed to be fin-friendly and none of the fish had snagged dorsal fins.

The vast majority of the fish were in the net for fewer than 2 hours, as the last two fish I caught were after the first 8 were returned to the water.

I can report that on returning, each fish had fully recovered from being caught and made a vigorous return to the river.

I recall catching a winter barbel at Eardington Brook around three years ago. This was a fish of around 5 lbs. I returned it to the water straight away. It lay around 10 feet from the bank in 18 inches of water for at least 3 hours before slowly making off once recovered. It may be that keeping a hard-fighting fish safely in a well-designed net is more fish friendly than immediately returning, allowing time for recovery.

I understand that there are some with strong views on either side of the debate about keeping barbel in keepnets, but I am happy that each fish I caught was returned healthy and fit, and will be there for other BAA members to catch on another day.

After all, thats why I always post where and how I catch something, rather than keeping details of location and methods secret as some others do, depriving others from benefitting from their knowledge and enjoying our sport to the full.