Neil (Xplorer1) has got it right re - commercials, or most of it.
SECURITY!
Good car parks that are reasonably secure and close by in case the yobs get in. So therefore not too far to walk with all of that extra tackle. Ease of fishing, being a bit laid back. I can understand that, but a lack of carp?
Anyway, talking with Granville today I had thought of doing a follow-up, but maybe I'll put my thoughts here and spare you the pain on another occasion.
Reflect for one minute on the lead/swan debates of the 80s and how we were badgered into giving up lead shot. Following that the swan population started to explode and those with a purpose were convinced that it was us anglers all along that had cause the problem.
However, I'd already been in touch with a Prof. French at the labs where a lot of the dead swans were examined and he had said that although split lead shot had been found in many of the birds, "It may not directly have been the cause of death." He pointed also to lead found in petrol at the time and the fact that many hire boats on the Broads were powered by petrol engines. The lead from the petrol floated in the surface film of any spilt fuel and with people throwing in bread amongst the spillages, it was conceivable that they were also ingesting that lead too.
What I'm saying is that once we had banned lead and there was an immediate benefit to swan recruitment, people may have jumped to the wrong conclusion. Could it have been more of the lead found in petrol and, given that there was a big switchover to unleaded and more importantly, diesel, could this have been the main cause?
Now, thinking in the 90s to when A) we got rid of the close season on stillwaters and B) there was a tremendous growth rate in commercials, are we right in thinking that this was a recipe for the decline of river fishing?
Perhaps what Neils says, above, is correct and that by keeping the close season on rivers was in fact forcing anglers to fish the easier, more secure commercials for those three months. Once there and once sampled, it was hard to get them back. Now that it is an established form of fishing I doubt they ever will return.
Sad really.