Richard,
With respect there's a bigger picture here which the angling media haven't really grasped yet.
Anglers (and fish...) are now the third placed priority as far as the management of most of our lowland rivers is concerned.
Flood prevention comes first, because despite all the warnings flood plains are still being covered in concrete and tarmac at the rate of tens of thousands of acres a year, our climate is becoming much wetter at a rate of knots and sea levels are rising.
Visit Fenland before Fenland visits you, because in a generation or two's time an awful lot more rivers are going to be straightened, dredged, embanked and flow-controlled.
Their main purpose for six months of the year is going to be getting rid of floodwater as quickly as possible.
Second, believe it or not, is a toss up between water supply and tourism. Plans are well advanced to link the Great Ouse with the Thames, via a new link to the Grand Union Canal; and the Thames to the Severn, via the restored Thames/Severn Canal.
British Waterways, which is stumping up much of the money for this, has already announced it is studying whether the newly-linked river/canal systems could be used to move water from one side of the country to another, or ever carry waste by the modern equivalent of the old canal barges.
This company - which has already hinted it wants to take over rod licences/fisheries work from the EA - has clearly realised there is going to be mega money in water, because not so far down the road we're going to have too much of it half the year and not enough the other half.
If you currently have to travel to the Fens to fish for zander don't worry. They'll be on their way to a river near you soon.
On a slightly more serious note (I know, zander are already in the Thames...), what are all these sudden changes of flow and water level - which will presumably accompany water movements - going to do to fish fry..?
Look how quickly generations of silver fish disappeared from the Great Ouse Relief Channel a few years back. The shrimpers were dredging them up in The Wash.
Tourism-wise, the British Tourism Authority has already calculated how much being linked to the rest of the inland waterways system could benefit many towns in East Anglia.
More boats is the bottom line. Or boats on waters which are either off limits or too out on limb at the moment.
In some part of the Broads, river wardens already turn a blind eye to people fishing from hire cruisers during the close season.
This will almost certainly be a major factor as far as areas like the Broads are concerned.
I agreee the close season's unscientific. Well, the idea's a good one, but the timing's out of synch.
I was catching spawned-out pike in the first week of March this year. On the same water, I watched carp spawning in July.
I love rivers too, but I think we're going to see a lot of changes in years to come and it's time we got to grips with them and made sure we're heard too, amid the clamour for more houses, more water and more tourism...
It's not about whether or not you hang the rods up on March 15th and hit B&Q - it could well turn out to be a battle for survival in many parts of the country.
