Complete and Utter Punts

[maceo]

A good and bad session this afternoon on the beautiful sunny upper Thames.

Number of other people fishing today: 0
People seen fishing there so far this season: 0

Often, especially in the winter, you can have an all day session down there and barely see another person. Not even a dog walker, but today there were loads of people about.

Worst of all were the people from the pub a couple of fields up where they hire out electric powered punts and also pedalo type punts. These damn things were up and down all day and were a real pain in the neck.

One group of lads splashed through screaming and laughing and taking it in turns to jump into the water and swim. They then stopped about 50 yards upstream for about half an hour and carried on with the slackness. Four or five empty beer bottles came floating by in the current.

Another one came along with a group of girls in it and managed to crash into the bank right at my feet. Another one (a pedalo type) with a couple in came splashing through so I had to reel in yet again, they got 20 yards past my swim and then stopped peddling and drifted through the swim again backwards, so I had to reel in again urgently. ("sorry mate!!!")

Then some elderly woman came along with three dogs. She got 20 yards past my swim and then started throwing sticks in so the dogs all jumped in with tremendous noise and splashing. Half a mile of empty bank one way, half a mile of empty bank the other way and she chooses that spot to do it.

I did something I've never done before whilst fishing and shouted at her. "Have some bloody consideration will you?". She didn't answer but called the dogs quickly and thankfuly did one.

I caught pretty well, plenty of dace and four perch, including one about 1.5 lbs. 27 fish in all. However, my biggest reason for going fishing is to get a little bit of peace and quiet and I certainly didn't get that today.

I think I'll creep down to that pub in the dead of night with a hand drill and turn those punts into submarines.

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Live and let live I say
If it's free fishing you have to expect this sort of thing

[guest39]

Such is the nature of fishing Rivers in or near town centres in the summer months.

On one of my River sections they have a by law prohibiting angling through to the end of August - keeping anglers away from pleasure craft during the summer months. I think that this is a pretty good idea.

However, the little boats progress upstream into the area that you're allowed to fish and then cross the river to return downstream after the 20min hire period, the trouble is that many of the people who hire boats have no idea of what they are doing. On a recent trip a woman with two small children in the boat was headed backwards into my rods. I moved my rods and a catastrophe was averted.

"Sorry" she said as I pushed her boat out of my swim in to a 10ft depth of flowing water, it was then that I realised that the Children both around 6-y-o were not wearing life jackets and she'd admitted that she couldn't control the boat. I then noted that none of these small boats have life jackets.

The local rowing club(s) also practice here and get up to full speed at just about the point the boats are crossing the river - during this session they had to put the 'brakes on' three times avoid 'broadsiding' little aluminium vessels - one would think that this lot would know better - but having met a few socially perhaps they wouldn't.

These aren't bad people, they're day trippers mostly having fun in the summer. The rowing clubs should know better but they don't, I could avoid all of this and fish elsewhere and will do so until the weather gets properly cooler and the children go back to school.

Not a rant, more a comment.

[maceo]

Nope - not free. £4 a day ticket down there.

I agree that everyone's got a right to enjoy the river, but not to pollute it up by chucking beer bottles in, nor screaming and shouting and jumping in and swimming round where people are trying to fish.

The pub needs to take some responsibility and not let these punters take alcohol out with them.

[dave1]

It happens. It might be £4 a day but you caught quite a few fish so sounds ok to me. You can't fish that close to a pub on the Thames on a glorius summers day and expect it to be quite?
Sounds like they were all enjoying themselves

[markg]

Can you hire one of the punts yourself and find a nice quiet spot?

[Ray Roberts]

I used to fish the Sussex Ouse upstream from Lewes. Paradise in the winter, no boats and few dog walkers. But in the summer after about 10:30 am it was mayhem, boats everywhere and rowers without a clue, they used to kill it stone dead. I used to get really wound up, then I realised that they were just having fun and enjoying themselves, their actions weren't directed at me, they were just doing what people do on a river. My answer was to turn up late afternoon during the summer and then fish through until about 10 am. I no longer fish this stretch, but I do fish rivers and the ones I have books for are boat free, aaaaaah, bliss.

Most of us go fishing, at least in part, to unwind. I suggest you find somewhere else to fish during the busy periods or join a club and get access to more secluded areas.

[maceo]

It'd be a great solution to hire one of the punts, but they're £22 per hour! Judging by the numbers that go up and down, the pub must be making pretty good money from them.

Of course they're just enjoying themselves and I'm not labouring under any misaprehensions that they're deliberately trying to mess up the fishing. It's just thoughtlessness really.

The same as with the littering and chucking beer bottles in. They haven't thought it out. You'd think it'd occur to them that if they like to jump in the river and swim on hot days, throwing glass bottles in might not be a brilliant idea unless they fancy a future trip to the A&E with shredded feet!

I think, like Ray says, the solution is to find somewhere a bit quieter on summer days. I guess that means somewhere a long way from car parking, so a bit more bank walking is called for.

[S-Kippy]

I totally sympathise. Consideration for others is sadly lacking nowadays wherever you go and I do not accept that "enjoying yourself" means that you can do so irrespective of the impact on others. What irritates me too is that as soon as you get anywhere near water anglers very often get the blame for everything...litter,bad parking etc. And of course we are last on the list of people with a right to enjoy our chosen pastime....ask any paddler/swimmer/boater/canoesist/drunken idiot.

Love the drill idea. Go for it !

[benny samways]

Good points Skippy.

Anglers are generally respectful river users compared to others.

If for instance an angler turned up wanting to fish a weir pool and found it full with kayakers getting their thrills in the white water the angler would naturally go else where.

If the kayakers turned up to find an angler in situ they would try and bully and intimidate the angler away.

Llots of people do not understand the notion of respect.