Going to a serious part of Mark's (cast out the devil) article though and when we first moved down here I used to take no.1 son fishing on the local Rye. It's a stream cut out almost like a canal, crystal clear, and we could only fish at one end and on one side of that. Still can, but it had some lovely tench in it.
However, only way to catch them was with a float (legers were banned for fear of hitting people on the path opposite) and that on a 6lbs minimum line strength. No groundbait (still a rule) either. The roach would have none of the 6lb line, just too thick.
It was fairly wide and required very large heavy wagglers to get near the other side wher the fish were, stupid really because the public walked on that side. Now with, as Mark says, newer thinner and softer lines, wide spools on reels, carbon rods, and much better designed floats it's dead easy. You can almost get a floating pole across it now.