Not sure about the drains, beery, perhaps Mark Barrat might be able to clarify. I thought that technically, they were rivers, but hey, you never know.
In most areas, so long as you're fishing with an artificial lure, small spinners (but not Anglian region it seems) and certainly flies, that's ok.
However, what the hell this means in Anglian's bylaws I don't know - "Revoked by the National Fisheries Byelaws of 1996; Confirmed 16/06/1978"
And this "The meaning of the term “drain”is not confined to that assigned to it by the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 or the Water Resources Act 1991;"
And get this "Existing byelaws which contain reference to “the annual close season for freshwater fish” shall henceforth be read and construed as if the said byelaws apply only to the waters in relation to which a close season for freshwater fish is imposed in Byelaw 6(2) notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the relevant existing byelaws. Confirmed 23/03/2010"
Struth! What a load of gobbledegook. It's no wonder we want to get rid of the close season, but that load of unintellible garbage is bang out of order. Thames' is much easier to understand. At worst we want and demand a brand new set of national bylaws that are easily read and understood.
I bet even Windy would have a job with these.
This is a job for the Angling Trust - if they want something to really do.