The Future

Where is everyone?
I walked round a couple of my club waters to check up on what’s being caught no one fishing.
Today I walked 5 miles of the River Chelmer in Essex a river that Another Dave knows well, nobody fishing.

Is the interest in going fishing on natural waters dying quicker than we think? If it is just how will the clubs with holdings on natural low stock waters survive.

On the way back home I passed the car parks of heavy stocked day ticket waters and they were very busy.
Have I now seen the future of angling? Yes I think I have.

Is it a bad thing?

If the commies are doing well then so will be the tackle trade. If the rivers are becoming more deserted then that’s less pressure, all good for the fish and even better for those that still enjoy the pleasure of fishing running water.

Is that too simplistic a view?

Funnily enough i saw TWO separate anglers out on my local stretch today, very unusual. I wasn't fishing, i was collecting a few handfuls of gravel for a plant pot, having refused to pay Homebase's robdog prices.

Whereabouts were you today steve? The last couple of days have had me planning in my head another session near lock 2, Barnes Mill. Thinking i could do the morning then hit the pub at lunchtime

I bailiff around 14 pools a couple of times a week, it is rare not to find the majority of them being fished by at least 3 anglers.
the bailiffs who do the clubs river sections regularly post either no one is fishing or the occasional angler is fishing, same with a canal stretch we have, Which in my mind we should not have taken it on. I would also say that the weather pays a part in fishing a club pool/lake compared to a river, Club pool can park your car and on some be at the waters edge in a couple of minutes or park behind your peg on couple of waters, On the rivers you park your car and have to walk a fair way to were you want to fish, in the rain this may not be much fun,whereas on a club pool, its brolly up and fishing within minutes. Also I would say there are more older members in clubs these days than younger members, it seems that way in the club I bailiff for.

I rarely fish anywhere on bank holidays or weekends. The river stretches I do go to aren't the busiest at the best of times. IIRC, I've only seen three anglers (two together on the same day and one alone on another day), on the side of the river I've fished, all season. In both cases they were in swims as close to the access as they could get. Plenty on an opposite bank on a day ticket stretch that you can drive a car along though. Easy access seems to be the key to whether a river stretched is fished or not. If the access isn't so good, the fishing has to be superb for it to be busy. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 situation. At least some of the places with excellent reputations have a kind of self perpetuating thing going on. They get fished a lot and the fishing results are better for it.

sam vimes said:

I rarely fish anywhere on bank holidays or weekends. The river stretches I do go to aren't the busiest at the best of times. IIRC, I've only seen three anglers (two together on the same day and one alone on another day), on the side of the river I've fished, all season. In both cases they were in swims as close to the access as they could get. Plenty on an opposite bank on a day ticket stretch that you can drive a car along though. Easy access seems to be the key to whether a river stretched is fished or not. If the access isn't so good, the fishing has to be superb for it to be busy. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 situation. At least some of the places with excellent reputations have a kind of self perpetuating thing going on. They get fished a lot and the fishing results are better for it.

Click to expand...

This is true folk wont walk anywhere now, although the car park swims have and will always be popular both with those who suffer from mobility problems, we will all get to a stage when the walk isn't worth the pain, plus the lazy anglers who will fish by the car no matter what, maybe they carry to much gear? But maybe they also fish the 'long walks' sometimes roving but this is their chill out day? Unlikely in most cases but possible. Either way when you are in the middle of nowhere on a river it's usually all yours and it's bliss.

I used to avoid bank hols and weekends too but am now finding these to be very quiet as many a river angler is getting on a bit, some rivers are actually quieter at the weekend as the retirees will all be out Monday and the youngsters will be on pools, those youngsters will probably go on to barbelling when older as the tactics are similar to method feeders and end up on rivers at some stage, which is why the non barbel rivers are always empty.

The problem isn't the lack of anglers on the rivers rather the lack of river anglers on the rivers, those coming from a commercial background bring those traits, and clubs are being run by them, woodchip paths,toilets, parking behind pegs and platforms etc. I know it sounds controversial but i'd rather see waters where you don't see anybody and are left natural, they may be for the 'few' but the mass market isn't everything.

Another Dave said:

Whereabouts were you today steve?

Click to expand...

Hi Dave
I started out at Papermill lock walk up stream towards Borham than back to Ulting. River looks good but only fish I saw were near the bridges.

s63 said:

Is it a bad thing?

Click to expand...

Is it a bad thing? If that is the only way angling can survive I would have to say yes. Fishing on many still waters these days is already too artificial for me. If rivers get deserted who will manage them. If anglers don’t want them the canoeist will.

But seeing that I wont be around to see the future of angling it wont affect me. Although the speed at which change happens these days I might still be here.