Fish for the pot

As the title says, Do you take fish for the pot? cooked some mackerel from the freezer that a friend caught earlier this year, and got in the discussion with my house mate about taking fish to eat,,
I personally will take anything that is mature/plentiful enough and eat it,, my house mate argued that as the supermarkets sell it i shouldn`t need to. totally disregarding freshness imo,
He also said it wasn`t right that I trap crayfish to eat.
Is this a commonly held chain of thought? am I in the wrong?

I don't like taking them to eat.

The fishing crisis, globally, is immense, and though the odd fish here and there shouldn't impact upon stocks the way I look at it is that it's another fish in the water and capable of breeding - they need all the help they can get.

Fish won't stop being put in the supermarket, so I do think that it is better to buy from there as opposed to keep those you catch yourself, as otherwise it's just doing double the damage. Freshness isn't a huge issue when the fish have been kept frozen.

Also, the reason I enjoy fishing is because of the natural side of it. It makes me feel at one with nature, and I enjoy the thought that they'll live to fight another day after I've got one over on them. Much better alive then dead, in my view!

Really annoys me how a lot of sea fishermen in particular tend to take anything they catch, often just because they see it as part of fishing, when to me that isn't the case whatsoever.

that is almost the same argument my house mate used, I think the global fishing situation is down in part to selfish attitudes of governments and eu policy's, It wont be affected by taking fish that have been caught by rod and line,
You could look at the view point that if everyone caught there own you would make trawling and destructive fishing methods obsolete, as there wouldn`t be a call for it or it be financially viable.
May also make people think about where there food comes from,, find it odd when people are funny about killing/preparing food but are happy to eat any mass produced animal that has had a hellish life/growing on process.
But I do agree that people need to know what they can take and when

And freshness really does make a difference to taste when it comes to fish imo;)

You say it doesn't affect anything, maybe not on the grand scale of things, however it is still adding to what is already an immense problem.

Remember, fish don't just give birth to one, they give birth to numerous, only a small percentage of which survive. However, taking that one fish will mean that the potential for several others to be born is also removed.

With regard to everyone catching their own, that would never be viable on the scale that it is required by current trends, though it would be nice if trawling were abolished and any fish was caught by rod and line...that's ensure the fish stocks were never depleted, but it is very much a fantasy idea which will, unfortunately, never come to fruition.

Cod is one of the main examples. That is a fish that really shouldn't be taken anymore. Back in my college days I did a detailed case study on Cod fishing in the North Sea and I can tell you that the stocks are dangerously low, and the sheer amount that has been taken in the last few decades is scary to say the least - completely unsustainable and carried out without any consideration for the future of the species.

I guess it's each to their own, but I enjoy fishing for the beauty of them when they're alive and in their natural habitat, not on the dinner plate. It is inevitable that fish are going to be caught for the table by the trawlers, and I personally can't help to reduce that, so I will eat fish from the supermarket, but at least I can be comfortable within myself that any fish I have caught have been returned and therefore my own impact upon their plight is next to non-existent.

I see your points, and I havn`t bought cod for years, especially when you can buy coley which tastes the same and is almost a waste product to a lot of commercial fisherman.
But by buying from supermarkets actually encourages the destruction of our fish stocks and underwater habitats. which I worry makes me hypocritical if I do buy from supermarkets, when i have a freezer full of mackerel and the means to catch sustainable food,
I have also in the past shot food for the pot, where do we draw the line?

If I am fishing for stocked fish then my basic rule is to kill them and cook them or have them smoked. There's no warrant for putting back a fish which has been artificially introduced to an environment that probably cannot support them naturally. That's true of any rainbow trout you catch in the UK and true of pretty much any brown trout of 1lb 8oz or above - although anyone using a fishery will know if they are stockies.

I don't go sea fishing but I'd adopt the same policy as for migratory fish.

When fishing for migratory fish my basic rule these days is to put most of them back and keep one or two for the pot (in the 'good old days' I pretty much used to kill everything except for juvenile fish - but those days are long since passed).

I can see FoF's point, but I'd argue that the more 'natural' aspect of fishing is an extension of the human hunting instinct/activity, so keeping what you catch for the pot is probably a more natural thing to do than simply using the discomfort of the fish for sport. However, both aspects of fishing are now so well-established that I would expect all fishermen, who are usually concerned about the environment, to practice sustainable methods; for me that does not include a 'kill all' policy and nor does it require a 'return all' policy. I find the idea that buying fish in a supermarket is better bizarre.

Jesus, you're a right hunter gatherer aren't you Sherm? Haha. What have you shot? If it is pheasant then I guess it is a slightly different matter, given that they're bred for that purpose.

You could say the supermarket encourages it, but unfortunately the consumer will never stop buying the fish and it'll take some huge political decisions before our waters and the environment gets the protection it so badly needs.

It's just my own personal view that taking fish we catch ourselves is just another load of fish (when you take into account everyone that does it) that is being taken from the water, and my argument would be that the fish need all the help they can get i.e. being released in order to breed again. Also, you have to admit they look far better alive and in the water - imagine what us fishing nuts would do if one day there were none to catch? I dread to think.

barrystar wrote:If I am fishing for stocked fish then my basic rule is to kill them and cook them or have them smoked. There's no warrant for putting back a fish which has been artificially introduced to an environment that probably cannot support them naturally. That's true of any rainbow trout you catch in the UK and true of pretty much any brown trout of 1lb 8oz or above - although anyone using a fishery will know if they are stockies.

I don't go sea fishing but I'd adopt the same policy as for migratory fish.

When fishing for migratory fish my basic rule these days is to put most of them back and keep one or two for the pot (in the 'good old days' I pretty much used to kill everything except for juvenile fish - but those days are long since passed).

I can see FoF's point, but I'd argue that the more 'natural' aspect of fishing is an extension of the human hunting instinct/activity, so keeping what you catch for the pot is probably a more natural thing to do than simply using the discomfort of the fish for sport. However, both aspects of fishing are now so well-established that I would expect all fishermen, who are usually concerned about the environment, to practice sustainable methods; for me that does not include a 'kill all' policy and nor does it require a 'return all' policy. I find the idea that buying fish in a supermarket is better bizarre.

Rainbow trout I see your point, they, like pheasants, are bred for that purpose and aren't naturally indigenous to the UK anyway. However, brown trout in the rivers most certainly are natural and indigenous, and I'd never take those (rare that you see one pushing the 2lb mark in the rivers, though).

Fists of Fury wrote:
Rainbow trout I see your point, they, like pheasants, are bred for that purpose and aren't naturally indigenous to the UK anyway. However, brown trout in the rivers most certainly are natural and indigenous, and I'd never take those (rare that you see one pushing the 2lb mark in the rivers, though).

I guess most of you know this, but many if not most stocked brown trout these days are "triploids", which means that they are effectively sexless and cannot breed. The triploid fish is created by treating the very young fish with pressure and heat at a very early part of their development (pre-fry I believe). This is for two main reasons: (a) the EA prefers that stocked fish cannot breed with the native population - and I think that makes a lot of sense otherwise the gene pool gets very narrowed by interference in natural breeding by larger 'farmed' fish; and, (b) they are much easier to bring on to maturity as they are less prone to disease than hormonal diploid fish so fish farms need to use less chemicals and so on.

The result is that if you catch a triploid brown trout that is larger than the normal size wild brownie there's not only no point in putting it back, the more environmentally sensible thing to do is knock it on the head as it will be taking food that a wild fish could eat and it will not over-winter very well. As I say, most responsible fisheries that stock rivers and lakes for fishing as opposed to for populating waters will be putting in triploid fish. Since any true fisherman can spot the difference between a wild fish and a stocked fish you really can, and I believe ought to, knock the known stockies on the head.

i cant stand the taste of fish to be honest, so no i never cook them.

Only ever cooked fish that i have caught once while on a camping holiday years ago . Eat fish all the time but wont eat sushi

I don't eat eat any fish other than cod to be honest, usually do catch and release at a stocked fishery but will take the odd brown trout home for my brother in law.