The accidental angler

Did anybody watch this program tonight, what a breath of fresh air! It featured Charles rangely-wilson, catching chub and dace in London, and trying to locate wild brown trout. The fish were tiny but all were treated gently and with respect, he is a good ambassador for angling. Well done to the BBC for showing this series.

Yep gotta agree with you Paul, I really enjoyed tonights episode. I can't believe what has happened to all those rivers over the last 200 years so its nice to see the trout making a return. More please!

Really enjoyed the series. State of the little streams and rivers is very depressing however. As Charles said, what do the people who throw rubbish think will happen to it. Perhaps the think coke cans are biodegradable in water?

Just to let you know, there's another thread on this as well:

http://www.fishingmagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/dt/1/UTN/22534/last/1/V/9/SP/324198704494200689220

I enjoyed it tonight, but it made my blood boil over. All that crap that people had thrown into the Wandle, bikes, railings, dustbins.

I remember a feature about that stretch where the supermarket and bus station is and how local anglers (anglers note - not P*TA or Anti-anglers!) had cleaned it all up.

A few weeks ago I got to pretend fish the Wandle, yes, pretend fish it. I was an extra in The Bill and we filmed near Wandsworth. I think they showed the stretch I was on when they showed the trains going over the bridge.

I thought then how nice a river it could be, where I was wasn't too bad in fact. Add bits of litter, but a nice steady run and quicte deep too, about 3-4 feet. Plenty of plant life in there, but do the public respect it?

That's not to mention the state of teh River Chess. That starts in Chesham (Chess-Ham see) and it is almost running on empty. Three Valley River company are draining the life out of the Chilterns that feeds it.

Yes you are all right about the state of the rivers, the other month I was fishing miles up river on my own and ended up sitting near what looked like a fridge freezer! Why do people do it, it would of been easier to take it to the tip. Sadly I have to say a lot of litter is left by some anglers, empty tins of meat, beer cans, sweet corn tins, ground bait bags, cigarette butts, broken tackle and old fishing line. If they can carry it to their chosen swim, they should carry it back to the car.

Jeff,

I hope yopu din't have your reel at the butt of the rod as is always the case when fisherman are shown on the television in non angling programmes.

Would echo your views as to the Chess but even worse is the plight of the other Hertfordshire streams such as the Rib,Beane and Mimram.Walker caught some fine fish from these but now they are mere trickles.The Mimram is dry in places I understand.

The Ver south of St Albans is also dry except in floods.

Tragic.

We have the same sort of problem up here in Doncaster. All my life I wanted the River Don to hold fish. The EA cleaned it up (an angler who works for the EA, I might add) twenty years ago, but there's still people fly tipping and anglers leaving rubbish.

I'm sure there are similar stories all over the country.

I think fly tipping would be reduced if it was free to take your stuff to a dump site.

Last time I went to one we had to queue up for ages, sort everything out into different types of materials, carry it up a dodgy ramp and chuck it into the skips. The next day I had a bad back. And we had to pay to dispose of certain items.

Recycling should be encouraged by the goverment by subsidising such places.

Quite agree Matt. I cleared out some wood offcuts from my shed, loaded them into car, a good bootful, only to be told I couldn't dump that much at once.

I had to bring it one bin-bag full per week or pay the commercial rate to tip it at the tip!

Hello????

And Accidental Angler, Brilliant last night really enjoyed it, shame about the rivers as everyone else has said.

You are right Matt, in some ways we are all to blame. Everybody is on the look out for a cheap bargain and customer demand has led to a large influx of cheap goods which in turn has changed us into a throw-away society. In some ways this is good, in other ways it is really damaging the environment.Somebody once told me buy cheap buy twice, I still think this holds true. I also think ebay if it is used correctly (and everybody is honest!) is an excellent way of recycling unwanted items.
Anyway, back to the rivers, we must all strive to look after the fish and the river banks. This will in turn give us a brighter future.

so far I have been unimpressed by the accidental angler, the first 3 have had me bored rigid and falling asleep.

But credit where its due, last nights was one of the most interesting programmes ive seen for good while, well done fella.

I also thought last nights episode was the best so far, excellent.

You see, you can make a damned good film about local English rivers if you apply your mind to it!

Even my wife found it interestign - say no more!


Seeing rivers full of junk and by that I mean things like shopping trollies, prams, bikes,and washing machines etc., really makes me want to cry at times. If it wasn't for the fact it gets me so mad I would cry.

A few years ago I saw the old river Tame in Stalybridge only now it's all clean and I have seen trout in it. But it runs through towns and everywhere there were shopping trollies and a street lamp at one point. Does no-one but anglers give a damn about our rivers, really?

By the way, I fancy having a go for those chub in the Coppermill Stream - 5 to 10lb!

Jeff, it's also anglers that are the problem. I'm sure we've all seen the empty meat cans, hemp cans, groundbait bags, deadbait wrappers and so on.
I think it's society as a whole that is a problem. As Paul touched upon, today's attitude is often one of instant gratification without enough attention paid to the long term. I've only been around 30 odd years but it does seem to me that people are more selfish than they used to be.

I have my own theory as to why this attitude prevails and dicussing it it will just windsome people up.

I'd rather look at what can be done about it now.

Well said Matt,I totaly agree, like you say what can be done about it now, we must become more conservation friendly. Charles rangley wilson on lasts night program did a good job in finding that tiny trout amongst the chaos of london. Even though he is an avid fly fisher he was still happy catching chub and dace, and was overcome by emotion towards the end of the program. Nature always seems to fight back.

They were reasonable, but they would have been better edited down to 30 mins per programme.

Last nights effort was much better and of great personal interest, having spent most of my working life off Fleet Street and lived in Merton just down the road from the Savacentre and bus garage where he was having a go on the Wandle !

I used to fish the Thames at just below Blackfriars on the northern bank and by the Founders Arms on the southern bank - both places have hidden old steps down to the foreshore and water itself - it is harder to get down to the actual waterside of the Thames along there than you would think.

Very tidally affected, even that far up. When going out then general coarse fishing is great, bream, chub, dace, perch and endless roach, all of good size and quality and all suicidally inclined as never ever having seen a hook before !

When the tide is coming in then it switches over to estuarine conditions, flatties flounders and eels....

Must go back and have another bash there, last time I fished it must be more than 10 years ago. Mind you, the mud is pretty foul - though surprisingly there isn't much of it, Thames has reverted to basically a gravel / medium sized stone bottom thereabouts. But definitely wellies or waders a good idea !

The Wandle is a neglected little gem to be honest. Round the corner from where he was fishing in front of the Savacentre is the mill-race behind Merton Abbey Mills, fertile spot for general roach, chub and bits plus (reputed - I never caught one myself or saw anyone else do so) barbel in the faster bits below the weir and under the bridge before it goes under the road.

Over the road and follow the river up northwards a hundred yards or so (bus station on your left) and there is a resident shoal of really decent chub easily visible in the genuinely crystal clear water, hanging around just in front of where it disappears into another culvert for a short distance. Unfortunately never worked out how to get to them, past the obstruction of five foot high railings on the road side and fencing on the other side to a public park. Easy enough to cast or trot down to them from the small bridge, but no way to net or land a decent fish (drop net ?).

Beyond that if you trace it you are genuinely into urban wilderness country, a wild fresh little river running behind the backs of houses that ignore it, with the odd dumped bike and moped ever hundred yards or so BUT also with lovely little pools stuffed full of nice chub and roach. Not huge but amazingly good fun with a short 7 foot rod and light line (anything longer is impossible due to the overgrowth).

Head back upstream from the Savacentre and there is a lovely stretch a couple of feet deep but 20 ft or so wide through a public park, Ravensbury park I think it is from memory. Which doesn't look enormously like anything special but which contains some very decent fish, including doing me the courtesy of my best ever brace of roach, 1 3/4 lbs + 1 1/2 lbs !

Though I never saw hide nor hair nor a sniff of a trout in the Wandle myself.... definitely fast enough, clean enough and plenty of insect life to support a brown trout population though. If only someone from the EA or Merton would authorise and stock a few thousand fry....

Kicking myself because I missed it but the essay in the book on this is really good.

I get the feeling this was the episode that gave CRW the biggest buzz reading between the lines.