Numbers of coarse anglers.

[alan whittington]

Can you put me right,but in the areas i fish the numbers of c.anglers seems to be falling,yet according to the EA its the opposite,i rarely fish commercials these days but when i do these seem less busy also,this forum acts as a countrywide scan and i would be interested in your views.

 

[flightliner]

Been saying for years now-- Angling is slowly dying, no youngsters coming into it in any numbers.technology in its many forms is a major cause. Outdoors to the vast majority is a no go area, unlike years ago when people were only to pleased to get out for a day.
The golden years of angling (its hayday so to speak) were the fifties and sixties, after that its been downhill all the way!

 

[guest61]

That's an interesting question.

Where I live (In the North West of England) There are certainly fewer people fishing the local river and canal - this is a shame as both are fishing really well over the past few years.

I don't fish commercials but there are a number of them in local the area, the match reports in the local press always report from them - what it doesn't say is how many anglers are competing.

I don't really see many children coming into fishing, but I feel that the 'social landscape has changed' and parents are reluctant to let children go (alone) to remote areas of canal towpath or riverbank (as I did). I also believe that children have become conditioned to something 'immediate' happening in their lives, and are possibly reluctant to try activities that require effort and patience, (during a recent trip to a city centre stretch of the river fishing with a stick float, a school child was asked whether I was fishing for Carp, when I explained that I was fishing for Roach I was met with a blank look and told of a local commercial pond where catching carp was easy) - Oh how I laughed.

Good thread.

 

[waggy]

Here on Anglesey we're very much a tourism based economy so Angling is a Summer past time. I've been lately and noticed that it's just about dried up.
However , in the main tourist season, the instant-gratification fisheries were buzzing with anglers from the N West mainly. The busiest seemed to be the ones with cabins and caravans on site and these had whole families who fished together. I did notice, though, that they were mainly lacking in waterside etiquette, although one must expect a little noise and boisterousness where more than one young 'un is present.

 

[Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)]

It's the old senario. 4 million anglers? No, only about 2 million with quite a few buying several liscences. I did myself during the 80s, having to buy a liscence for fishing different areas, i.e, North West, Yorkshire, Severn Trent, Wales etc.
These days, there are still anglers that buy at least 2 liscences, especially the carp guys. Only 2 rods per liscence but you are allowed to fish up to 4 rods, hence 2 liscences.
On so called commercials, kids have to be accompanied by an adult, H & S, fishing is time comsuming, some parents have little time to spend with their kids and now we are in recession and money tight and only a few free fishing venues available, some of these now devasted by cormorants and fishing difficult as only larger fish left (this has happend at a local lake near me).
It has also been a few years since we had a decent summer country wide.
Other factors have already been stated, instant success and other activities.

 

[waggy]

How do you measure 'devastated by cormorants' objectively?
What kind of evidence is required and how do you go about obtaining it?
How has your local lake owner gone about ascertaining the 'damage' done?

 

[theartist]

Regarding the numbers i would say that the days of seeing anglers lined up one every ten yards on rivers Like the Thames or Trent like in the old photos are gone. But there are many more commercials nowadays and they do tend to be well populated so i would go for there being a status quo with the numbers after all for every carper buying two licences theres someone without on at all. I wouldn't say angling is dying at all.

As for kids geting into angling, Ive heard from more than one angler who has taken his son/daughter to a commercial only for them to get bored when they catch decent carp from the off and expect it to be like that all the time. They soon lose interest.

On the other hand i still see plenty of kids fishing the free waters although maybe not as many as there used to be perhaps due to other interests or harder fishing.

If each commerical was encouraged to have a kids pool where they can fish maybe for free and catch smaller fish, maybe get a bit of tuition then it would bring on more newcomers and help keep them off the streets.

 

[jcp01]

My local canal has sen an upturn in visitor numbers over the past year with plenty of people coming along and fishing. There aren't exactly crowds of anglers but a healthy number fishing on any given day. The reason is that lots of local anglers run blogs, fish the canal and report what they catch with remarkable honesty. The upshot is of course, anglers visiting with at least some assurance that fish are there to catch, with some idea about how to go about catching them, and lastly, where to fish for the day's target species.

---------- Post added at 15:05 ---------- Previous post was at 15:02 ----------

...the days of seeing anglers lined up one every ten yards on rivers Like the Thames or Trent like in the old photos are gone...

Try a nice summer afternoon at Lucy's Mill, Stratford upon Avon. It's like fishing off Southend Pier. Kids, men, dogs, tourists, people trotting, barbelling, spinning, all at once. Ten yards separation, yes, but only till the bank is full then they will squeeze in every five!

 

[jimmy crackedcorn]

You might not have many kids fishing now but my local is plagued with them during the summer as a result I fish elsewhere. Alot will give up, alot will give up and come back (I did) and some kids who never fished will suddenly get the urge to throw £££££ at a hobby and decide fishing is for them maybe in their late 20s or 30s. Again some will stay, some will go some will go more into carping or from carping etc etc. Its not necessarily something you are born to do and cant try it when you are older when you have more patience, more disposable income and more consideration for the world around you (although thats not a given either)

 

[alan whittington]

On the other hand i still see plenty of kids fishing the free waters although maybe not as many as there used to be perhaps due to other interests or harder fishing.

Theartist,i walk with my family regularly along the free water in Bedford,where when i was a youngster i learned to catch bleak,then gudgeon and roach,even now i could walk with you and tell you depths and what species may be where,but you are extremely lucky to find 3-4 anglers along the couple of miles of river,most days nobody fishes,which is sad,lets be fair tackle is cheap today,especially on fleabay a cheap kids rod would be 'coppers',i feel parents dont want their kids by the waterside,rather have them on a street corner,sad again.

 

[theartist]

Theartist,i walk with my family regularly along the free water in Bedford,where when i was a youngster i learned to catch bleak,then gudgeon and roach,even now i could walk with you and tell you depths and what species may be where,but you are extremely lucky to find 3-4 anglers along the couple of miles of river,most days nobody fishes,which is sad,lets be fair tackle is cheap today,especially on fleabay a cheap kids rod would be 'coppers',i feel parents dont want their kids by the waterside,rather have them on a street corner,sad again.

Alan, is the lack of anglers there down to lack of fish? I could be wrong but the gist i get from the ouse is that its a bit harder than it used to be. Like my local Thames the fish are there but not as many due to other factors (that i'm sure have been dealt with at length on here in the past) and therefore it would maybe take a bit more nous to get a good bag. The sort of nous that a group of novice kids casting to the horizon may lack therefore they wont return. Stick them same kids on small pond catching rudd and Tench all day long and i reckon they'd come back for more.

Also i dont think over protective parents is an issue because if a kid wants to go out whether its fishing or to 'hang out' he's going to go. Its much more down to other interests like gaming,internet dvds etc thats giving them more options.

Sounds also like kids can get a bit annoying to some on the commercials -this is sad as with a bit of positive input we could encourage them rather than find them a disruption. The rewards are there in helping others as we've all had help in the past.

 

[Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)]

Waggy wrote "How do you measure 'devastated by cormorants' objectively?
What kind of evidence is required and how do you go about obtaining it?
How has your local lake owner gone about ascertaining the 'damage' done"?

The lake in question is a local park lake, owned by the council. It was stocked from other waters being filled in and built on for housing or industrial units.
It had bream, roach, perch some tench and carp. Plus loads of sticklebacks.
It was regularly fished and visited by families and dog owners. Loads of ducks, canada geese and swans on the place. Then cormorants and mergansers were seen on the lake. It has taken a few years, but there are no small fish in the place. According to local tackle shop owner (shop now closed down), there are only some decent carp in there, these are too big for the cormorants etc to target, there are also only a few of them.
In the few visits I have made to the park, I have only seen one angler.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

The numbers of kids in the local clubs round here has gone up, but you only see them on the waters during the summer.

As for the amount of Anglers, well it's not much over 1 million if you go on EA License sales, add the week and day license's to that and you may have around 1.3 million Tops i would have thought.

Don't forget many of the oversea's anglers who don't buy the correct permits, for clubs or the EA license.

The only thing that worries me is that with less anglers on our rivers, we don't know just what is going on much of the time, not like years gone by.

It doesn't bother me when I go fishing that nobody else is there, more for me to fish..........

Kids parents dont let them wander around rivers, lakes as we used to years ago, and Computer games and the computer itself is what they want to do, in doors in the warm. Also if the parents dont go fishing, there may not be anyone around to take the kids fishing. My parents didn't fish, but my Brothers did.

 

[captainbarnacles]

I think our rivers will decline even more over the next few years , I think as a result of not being fished regularly as they used to be in my young days. With the bait not going in fish will move away and all you find now are a few swims widley spread that fish well. But if we could get more people out on rivers i think they would improve emensly. We have a good kids section in the club but even at the anual meeting they cant even be bothered to turn up to pick up there trophies, i think its sad realy.I do fish a local lake now and again and in the summer its packed with kids and parents , but come winter , all gone.

 

[waggy]

Waggy wrote "How do you measure 'devastated by cormorants' objectively?
What kind of evidence is required and how do you go about obtaining it?
How has your local lake owner gone about ascertaining the 'damage' done"?

The lake in question is a local park lake, owned by the council. It was stocked from other waters being filled in and built on for housing or industrial units.
It had bream, roach, perch some tench and carp. Plus loads of sticklebacks.
It was regularly fished and visited by families and dog owners. Loads of ducks, canada geese and swans on the place. Then cormorants and mergansers were seen on the lake. It has taken a few years, but there are no small fish in the place. According to local tackle shop owner (shop now closed down), there are only some decent carp in there, these are too big for the cormorants etc to target, there are also only a few of them.
In the few visits I have made to the park, I have only seen one angler.

That's what I'm driving at: 'According to a local tackle shop owner' is hardly an objective measure is it? There's only one way to do it - either get permission to net it or ask if the EA will do it. Failing that, stage your own 'fishathon'; there must be a local club who might be interested.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

You might not have many kids fishing now but my local is plagued with them during the summer as a result I fish elsewhere. Alot will give up, alot will give up and come back (I did) and some kids who never fished will suddenly get the urge to throw £££££ at a hobby and decide fishing is for them maybe in their late 20s or 30s. Again some will stay, some will go some will go more into carping or from carping etc etc. Its not necessarily something you are born to do and cant try it when you are older when you have more patience, more disposable income and more consideration for the world around you (although thats not a given either)

I thin kwe fish the same waters and yes in summer it full of young un' fishing but not many after September - yesterday I fished the canal section and there were only about 6 anglers on both section - I had the far section to myself.

 

[matthew barter]

I'm going off track a bit here but as far as I can remember when I started thirty something years ago I caught hardly anything. I'm sure there were fish to be caught but I went on my own or with mates (parents didn't fish). Just because I caught nothing didn't stop me, I think the same would be true of younguns now if they were let out and fished.

I fished the canals around Wolverhampton. The locks looked like they should hold monster perch (they probably did) but I never got any. One of my best trips was with my mate Pete, the canal had frozen over and some fish were actually frozen on the surface in the ice. We used bank sticks (bits of wood) to free them, we then took them home in our pockets (hardly dry fly upstream I am aware).

It didn't matter I just new I loved fishing. I play a lot of computer games now but I still got out for a few hoyrs this afternoon. I can't believe that if people fished today that a different percentage of them would not love/hate/be indifferent to fishing than thirty odd years ago.

 

[tigger]

That's an interesting question.

Where I live (In the North West of England) There are certainly fewer people fishing the local river and canal - this is a shame as both are fishing really well over the past few years.

[quote/]

I live in the north west also and i see more people than ever fishing the rivers. There are loads of commercials now so that can give some people a false impression.

---------- Post added at 22:46 ---------- Previous post was at 22:45 ----------

Here on Anglesey we're very much a tourism based economy so Angling is a Summer past time. I've been lately and noticed that it's just about dried up.
However , in the main tourist season, the instant-gratification fisheries were buzzing with anglers from the N West mainly. The busiest seemed to be the ones with cabins and caravans on site and these had whole families who fished together. I did notice, though, that they were mainly lacking in waterside etiquette, although one must expect a little noise and boisterousness where more than one young 'un is present.

I lived on Anglesey several years ago(Llanfwrog) and the only propper coarse fishing was commercials except for a couple of small fresh water pools near holyhead so while I was there I had to concentrate on the beach casting, which was good The small stream running through Llanfachreath coming from a reservoir and going into the see at the Cob was good for trotting for sea trout !

 

[chav professor]

On my local river in Suffolk, I see very few 'proper' course fisherman. from a purely selfish point of view, it is lovely to have 2 mile stretches to yourself with no one about - I suppose this is why I go in the first place - to relax, spend time in nature and catch some good fish I have had to work hard to catch!

I do Fear that unless our local comunity fishes the river, it is at risk of further decline, but there lies the problem. Good fish are the reward, and if you are prepared to find your fish, you can 'bag-up'. but that is the key problem - It is hard work. I find it satisfying, But......

From my experiences as a teacher, its all 'carp, carp, carp...' I think comercials are offering people 'what they want' - whatever that is. sad really

The only kids that fish our River (in the middle of a large village) are predominately pikin'. I remember when I was a lad, older more experience anglers used to give you advise, put you into a going swim and actually coach you. if you was lucky, you may even be furnished with some approriate tackle to go with your 1/2 pint of sweaty maggots. Sadly, these days with all the child protection legislation - this aint going to happen anymore.

 

[guest61]

'I remember when I was a lad, older more experience anglers used to give you advise, put you into a going swim and actually coach you. if you was lucky, you may even be furnished with some approriate tackle to go with your 1/2 pint of sweaty maggots. Sadly, these days with all the child protection legislation - this aint going to happen anymore. '

An excellent point.

Mark