Boaters v Anglers

Good evening gentlemen! (and our lady members too, of course!)

I'm a member of a boating forum, and we are currently having a bit of a debate about the best way to deal with anglers. There is a lot of confusion about the best way to approach boating when anglers are about. The following is a post from one of our members asking for help, so I thought I'd post it on here and see what you lot have to say. It was initially posted on another site, but I thought I might also get some reasonable answers and sensible debate from you lot.

Well hi folks, and allow me to introduce myself.

I am not an angler, that is to say I fished when I was a lad, may still dangle a hook and drown a few maggots from time to time, but I am by no means a serious angler and have never belonged to a club or fished a competition. Now I've got kids of my own, we may occasionally do a spot of fishing for half an hour when moored up at night. Yes, that's right, moored up, meaning that I am one of that hateful species, the bane of your lives, the narrowboater.

So why have I joined? Well it seems that ?us lot? and ?you lot? don't always see eye to eye, and we thought it might be interesting to look at things from your point of view.

The problem seems to be that many canal anglers seem to resent us wanting to use our waterways and intruding upon your sport or pastime. Many can seem sullen, a minority can be abusive, and you are frequently in the most inappropriate places. There is hardly any commercial traffic on the canals nowadays, their time as a transport network is consigned to history and they have become a leisure facility, but boaters, anglers, cyclists and walkers should all be able to peacefully co-exist.

Personally, if I see someone fishing I try to cut my engine revs to a tickover and stay in the centre of the channel, but there are times when that's not possible if there's 2-way traffic or you're hiding in the bushes, and let's face it, 12 tonnes of steel doesn't stop that quickly.

So is that ?slower and down the middle? approach correct, or how would you prefer us to pass you? Come on, have your say, we can take it, what gets up your collective noses?

Ade.


Ok everyone? We await your replies....

Now that is what I call mending bridges JSD. Some reasons for animosity between anglers is caused by:-

1. Going through too fast.
2. Steering on to or near the far shelf which is a natural fish holding spot and because it is so shallow it muddies up the water something terrible as well as frightening the fish.
3, Steering too close to the bank that the anglers are on and in some cases ripping out the anglers keepnets.
4. Parking their boat right where anglers are fishing.
5. Attempting to turn the boat where it is quite obvious there isn't enough room to enable this sometimes damaging the banks and generally causing mayhem.

If boaters just slowed down and steered a middle of the canal course it would cause much less bad feeling among anglers and it is a fact that a boat passing through can liven the fishing up so it isn't all bad news.

The comment "wanting to use our waterways" straight away suggests that the boaters own the canals and anglers are the trespassers. Not so, for I can tell you that BWB earns quite a few pounds from selling off fishing rights to angling clubs.

In fact, I'll be meeting with the BWB man next Thursday on a separate matter, but I'm sure he'd be amused by that comment.

I can't speak for other anglers, but whenever I've fished the GU I have always had a good rapport with the boaters. The renters are probably the worst and heaven knows how much damage they must do to the boat they take out. Yes, crashing 12 tons of wood and steel into the bank does disturb the fishing a bit, but they usually come back.

Give and take is what is required, but neither has any more right over the canals than the other. Except dog walkers who should take their dogs somewhere else for a cr@p. And bikers who should try riding up the hard shoulder of the M6 if they want to go fast.

I've known lots of boaters including some of the original bargees and they've been great chaps.

And - what's happened to Janet (aka JSD)?

What have you done with her, Ade? The Monk will want to know!

Lets listen eh folks?

It's a big world......i would love to live on a canal barge, but i also love fishing.

Basically I have few problems with boaters. In fact I really fancy the narrowboat way of life.

I think the only problem is when boaters decide to exceed the speed limit, especially on big rivers like the Trent which does untold damage to banks and waterside habitat.

Travelling down the boat channel would seem the way to go, but this is not allways possible.

Hire boats are by far the worst offenders, There are also some bad anglers who antagonise the boaters.

Personally I don't have a problem with boaters, I get on very well with them, except for the day tripper, hooligan, drunken speed merchants on hire boats.

Fishing the Bridgewater canal one day, a narrowboat moored up about 50 yds from where I was fishing.
As the owner and his wife walked past me, they asked if I would keep an eye on their boat for them while they went to the shops. Of course I didn't mind, and just carried on fishing.

When they came back, they gave me a bottle of wine for looking after their boat.

I have to admit that I felt like I was accepting some kind of protection payment which I really didn't want.

This happened about ten years ago, and it still saddens me to think that people have to, or had to think this way, because of a few mindless morons.

Baz running a protection racket under the guise of being a bailiff, brings a whole new meaning to marking a members card Lol
I suppose if they won't pay you "accidently" step on a pole section or two?

"When they came back, they gave me a bottle of wine for looking after their boat."

Oh yes Baz! I thought you weren't in favour of anglers having booze on the bank!

Aheerrrrm. I'll be leaving you now sir.

So! There you have it all you midnight carpers. When Baz sticks his bonce in your bivvy he's really only looking for a decent bottle of vino.

I've had very few problems with narrowboats and have often noticed made up fishing gear on board many of them.
It definitely seems to be the 2 week a year sailors that cause most of the problems.

Must say I cannot think of a more relaxed mode of travelling though Englands wonderful countryside than on a traditional narrowboat. And when you stop you can get off a fish as well.
Give and take is all it takes for both sides to live harmoniously together.
That said you are right abiut the one a year hire parties. But then we have anglers who only come out when the sun shines.

In general I?d agree with what has been said but add these to it
Boaters not fully closing the lock sluices properly allowing a short stretch to dewater over night, exposing the fish in that length to the stress of having to run the gauntlet of predation from avian predators in just inches of water. Please don?t attempt to blame this on day-trippers or day Admirals. It is dye in wool boaters on the canal near me.

Boaters who think they have a god given right to fish from their boats without paying a dayticket to the club on whose length they are fishing and fishing without a EA Rod License.

Boater who troll for pike on a moving boat. It?s not allowed under BW regulations on canals.

Boaters like the Prick who went to the local papers lambasting the kids fishing my local canal as yobs!
The vast majority are decent kids who love their fishing, not yobs!
It?s the attitude of people like him that bring down the reasonable rule-abiding boaters.
And furthermore, they have as much right to be there as that Prick or any other boater has for that matter!

The simple answer is that anglers and boaters should each show each other common courtesy.

For the boaters that means being considerate of anglers as you pass them, moor or turn.

For anglers that means a friendly smile and nod to the boaters that show you consideration and ignoring those that do not. Boats have reg numbers and any that are behaving particulalry badly should be reported.

I have been asked by the member who made the original posting on this subject to pass on his thanks for your comments, and the following:

Quote Woody Patel: ?The comment "wanting to use our waterways" straight away suggests that the boaters own the canals and anglers are the trespassers. Not so, for I can tell you that BWB earns quite a few pounds from selling off fishing rights to angling clubs.
In fact, I'll be meeting with the BWB man next Thursday on a separate matter, but I'm sure he'd be amused by that comment.?

Oh please do pass on my choice of wording and report back.
The licencing issue is probably our biggest bugbear. Yes, I concede that if you belong to a Club, then a proportion of your Club fees must go to British Waterways towards the maintenace of the towpath etc., and that gives you rights. However, I have been unable to find out yet, and would be grateful if anyone on here could advise. The standard Environment Agency rod licence is ?24. How much (if anything) of that gets back to BW or where does my twenty-four quid go? (and yes, I've got one too). Frankly though, if we (the combined boaters) failed to pay our not inconsiderable licence fees, then neither of us would have any water.

Quote Phil Hackett: ?Boaters not fully closing the lock sluices properly allowing a short stretch to dewater over night, exposing the fish in that length to the stress of having to run the gauntlet of predation from avian predators in just inches of water. Please don?t attempt to blame this on day-trippers or day Admirals. It is dyed in wool boaters on the canal near me.?

Quite right, this is inexcusable and they should be reported to BW.

First point - the EA Rod Licence

This is required by all anglers who wish to fish and the only legal method is with rod and line. You need a rod licence even if you only ever want to fish in your own garden pond, it's a requirement of law.

The money raised goes to the EA Fisheries departments and is allocated by them for all manner of works, investigations and restorations including stillwaters and canals. It's up to clubs to approach the EA and ask for help.


Second point - Licences from BWB

These are what some people call "rental agreements", but it is a licence (permission) to fish stretches of water including lengths of the canals. They are purchased, normally by clubs, and the money raised is spent, in the case of canals, by the Britiish Waterways Board in whatever manner they see fit.

That can be on restoring pathways, locks, fish stocks (less likely), or even fishing access (yeh, dream on). I can't remember what a BWB charge for a stretch, but it used to be something in the region of ?1 to ?1.50 per yard per year. If that doesn't seem much consider that many licences purchased by clubs are for several miles of canal.


(Edit addition - one club I know rents a stretch of 1? miles of which almost a mile of it is taken with moored-up narrowboats, some of which are permanent and have gardens opposite the bank. And yes, the club still have to pay their ?1+ per yard per year for that banking too, even though it is unusable.)

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So the upshot of this is, you are talking about two different types of licence. The ?24 rod licence money goes to all waters and is allocated by the EA. The money charged by BWB for fishing permissions probably goes on flash offices at Rickmansworth or fast cars for top directors (he says with tongue firmly in cheek - and dons tin hat before he meets BWB man next Thursday).

I took my wife and grandchildren on a narrowboat holiday for a week last year and didn't have a problem. That was most likely due to me knowing that anglers would appreciate it if I slowed right down.

In the case of canal boating where most often the fishing is with waggler or pole I just took note of where they were fishing. If it was the far bank I went down the middle, near bank I went as close as I could to the far bank.

Most of the conflict that goes on is caused through ignorance, boaters being ignorant of what anglers require and anglers being ignorant of some things that restrict boaters from steering the boat just anywhere.

Mainly though, conflict comes from idiots on both sides, the ones who don't give a toss about anything but themselves.

"The money charged by BWB for fishing permissions probably goes on flash offices at Rickmansworth or fast cars for top directors (he says with tongue firmly in cheek - and dons tin hat before he meets BWB man next Thursday)."


..........who probably won't have read this -- (which means you'll be safe Woody)

Here's a question for the boaters.
Does your national body include in its members brochure, a section on the requirements of law to posses a EA rod license for fishing from your boat, bank, etc?