I would say so , yes!!

tricky one that
id say if it wasnt frozen it would have been water and fish gone!!!!!. wouldnt say cheating as such but playing the conditions ~think

It is tricky, I bet we have all dropped fish on the ground, picked them up and put them in the net. Is it really any different?

I would say not can’t see anything wrong with it myself

Definitely no, unless you think picking a fish that’s dropped on the floor is cheating.

were they supposed to leave the fish on the ice to die???

I would say its not cheating but would consider it un-sportsman-like practice. Its very similar to the anglers who i have seen hooking little perch and lifting them on to canal bank before shipping the pole back to get hold of the fish. If the fish falls off. Its easy to go and get the fish instead of losing it if it falls off while playing it in the normal way. That practice has created murder in winer leagues in the North West in the past and was banned.

Difficult one imo Nick….Would it be cheating if you used your cupping kit to catch small roach on the surface,or ones that inadvertently jumped onto the ice fleeing Perch?….I have seen that done before.

dont think most anglers would do that nick just my opinion mate

@Geepster (moderator) wrote:

Definitely no, unless you think picking a fish that’s dropped on the floor is cheating.

Spot on

ok for me

@NickW1 wrote:

Mick you have mail

Replied Nick….And many Congrats mate. ~clap ~clap

what about losing a fish at the net to go for it underwater and get it into the net!..seen it done before.

unless whoever witnessed it made and objection at the end of the match, then it is not cheating.it amazes me to see the number of people who cry “foul” well after the event.
if in doubt, ask the organiser, and tell him of your doubt. he can then give a ruling as to weather it should stand.
regards 2TS

As a match organiser I would say yes it’s cheating…as a caring angler I would say the retrieval to the water of the fish was a must, but not via a keepnet.

Too many of you are pussy footing here and I would be watching you closely on any of my matches~clap

It’s quite simple to rule on. The fish was lost off the hook before the fish was banked the fact that there’s ice does not a bank make!

The angler should make the effort to return the fish to the water so long as he does not put his own safety in jeopardy by putting the fish into his keepnet.

Just to play devils advocate some people are saying that the dropping a fish on the bank means that you landed it and on the ice means you lost it.o.k. what if you drop it onto ice in front of you where there may usually be grass/weeds is that lost or landed?Captains meeting required before next match so everyone is on a level playing field.

Yes, i agree with Pete, it is actually wrong. A fish must be landed for it to count, either caught by hand or netted. BUT, like some rules, they are not adered to, and most turn a blind eye.

Rule 21. A competitor must strike, play and land his own fish.

Surely it’s cheating? as has been said the ice is not the bank and surely the fish has to be banked (via a landing net if needed) on a hook and line – which they weren’t!

I had this happen to me when this cold weather started just before Christmas (my swim was refreezing during the day from the bank outwards) and I had 4 or 5 small perch come off on the ice while shipping back. Without thought I pushed them back into the lake with my cupping kit.

Definately not cheating, how many times have we anglers had a carp slip a hook just as we are about to net the fish, sometimes for a moment they just lay there and if your quick enough a lunge with the landing net secures the fish, alternatively the hook comes out once you have netted a fish,ok the angler concerned fishing the ice has fed correctly to get the fish in front of him he has struck at the bite played or lifted the fish out and it has dropped off onto the ice a quick lunge with a landing net or cupping kit and he has secured the fish, I take it as part of the luck element to fishing, normally one scooped fish or two will not make a major difference to the overall result.I for one can’t see a problem.

What about when you are swinging in a roach and it drops off straight into your keepnet along with the other 15 that have been successfully swung to hand. Do you then have to get your keepnet out and try to see which fish it is to return it? Do you choose the largest and put that back? Do you take a penalty and tip them all back?

Of course you don’t you carry on fishing as if it never happened. There are plenty of times that a fish falls back into the water the wrong side of the net.

It actually happened to me twice yesterday. The first time I spent a little while trying to get the fish to me, scraping away with my landing net and sending vibrations through the water. Eventually I got the tiny perch to the edge of the ice near where it was broken and went to net it – Missed the beggar! The next time it happened, I didn’t bother to try to bring it back, I knocked it back into the water where it came off.

I reckon no Ive pulled out of a carp before and scooped at the net and landed it ! Better to mind your own business at a match stay focused and you wont get the same treatment filthy Ralph got.

Netting a fish as the hook pulls isn’t the same – you’ve used a hook and line to get it to the net (the point of fishing!) Using a pole cup to get it to the net isn’t or else I’d use my bigger pole cup more often!

i do not think it is wrong to do this… it is better to do that than leave it on the ice…

Guys I really don’t get this. If you hook a fish fair and square and it ends up in your keepnet, it’s not cheating unless there’s rule that says it is.

Lets be right about it. If its big enough to fit in a pole cup its not likely to be a match winner in fact i would think the amount of time spent getting the fish of the ice wold have cost more time.

lets face it if ur in a match and you have a choice of getting a fish off the ice back to the net only to be called a cheat or spending time tryingto get the fish back into he water by scraping ur pole all over the place then I bet most on here wud leave the little beggar to freeze….alternatively we cud all acknowledge that these instances are few and far between and should be allowed for the welfare of the fish…..