River Crisis

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Stu,

I think the issue is one of access.Quite simply if clubs dont get revenue from memberships to sustain leases then those few fisherman in the club who might want to fish a stretch in glorious seclusion(& I agree with you on that point)wont be able to do so when the lease is surrendered.

Syndicates can have a very positive effect on rivers.Did any one see the article in Caorse Fishing Today a few months ago about the stretch of the Wensum run by Chris Turnbull's Norfolk anglers organisation the name of which escapes me. They turned round a stretch by careful stocking & river managemant.That sort of commitment would be hard to find in a general club i suspect.

Graham,

I think you might be surprised as to how much dayticket fishing is available on the Avon. The fear is that as day-ticket revenue falls on some stretches due to a lck of visiting anglers the clubs might take over.I know that this has been rumoured at Bisterne for some seasons.As Peter points out whats the difference between CAC or RDAC and a syndicate to a visiting angler?

I might be prempting Mark's later articles but one concern I have is the lack of young anglers on rivers. Maybee its explained by where I fish, but I cannot remember when I saw anyone under say 25 fishing a river seriously.This site has a lot of river anglers but I would love to see an age demographic.It maybe the case that we are looking at the dying out of river fishing skills when my generation of river anglers die off!

 

[stu]

I agree Nigel, which is why I said that club membership, as we have known for years, will probably have to change in terms of funding and access etc. I really dont think we pay enough.

 

[Peter (the Tackle Tart) Jacobs]

Graham,

I for one would like to see more anglers on my syndicate stretch. The reason being that so little bait goes into the river. We only have 84 members, so the stretch costs around 15,000 per annum in leases etc. An addition of another 5000 per annum would greatly help in our stocking (coarse and trout) programme too.
Good point and one I will bring up at the next meeting.

Nigel,
If you exclude the Royalty, then I agree 100% with you about the younger generation of river anglers. I can hardly remember the last time that I saw anyone under 25 either on the rivers that I fish.

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Peter,

Why dont you charge for guest tickets?The members then retain some control over who fishes & in the situation where the same guest always fishes with the same member so both fish for half-price, the syndicate actually gets some revenue.

Stu,

I agree on that point.Problem is within a club that has both popular stillwaters & unpopular rivers charging the majority of members higher membership to secure river stretches few fish may cause disharmony.

If you have river only clubs charging high membership for limited stretches then to all extents & purposes you have a syndicate. I'd gladly pay higher for my fishing but the problem is that a self-perpetuating cycle will be the result.The more expensive the fishing, the fewer can afford it, it becomes less popular & so on.

 

[Peter (the Tackle Tart) Jacobs]

Nigel,
I do think that both you and Graham have a very good idea and one that I will certainly put forward at the next meeting.

As you know I adore my river fishing and I am becoming frequently more concerned that its popularity is definitely on the wane.

I hope that Bisterne maintains the status quo and does not go over to a club, even though the fishing might not always be up to par it is a lovely stretch and I'd hate to loose access there.

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Just browsing the barbel meeting thread.80 anglers turned up. Is there a crisis on rivers after all? Or are we seeing the demises of the river pleasure angler as opposed to the river specialist?

 

[Mark Hodson]

Fishing like most other past-times is subject to a trend cycle, we have yet to go full cycle as fishing as a sport is still developing. The rivers may not be in vogue at the moment but the ever increasing popularity of barbel fishing and the short interest span of commercials for the pleasure angler means that sooner or later running water will have its day once again. Also wait for the next recession and the large clubs like the BAA's memberhip will blossom once again as everyone realises that ?20-30 to fish miles of beautiful fish filled water is a bargain.

 

[Richard McGowan]

I too found this article very interesting.
Being from an area where river coarse fishing is virtually non existent, Cumbria. I have enjoyed travelling to other areas over the years to persue this branch of the sport, particularly Yorkshire.I too have noticed that gradually over the last ten years during the Summer, some stretches of river are lined with a jungle of undisturbed nettles & balsam plants which obviously haven't seen an angler for the whole growing season.
On one hand it is nice to have the place to yourself, but if fisheries are lost because no one is using them, that would be a shame.

I have also noticed the amount of signs springing up directing you to newly dug/opened coarse ponds, whose car parks always seem full.If this is the fishing people want it is obvious why there's hardly anyone on the river, and it seems most fishing there have brought every item of tackle they own with them, and they aren't always fishing a match.

It always puzzles me why anyone living in an area with arguably the finest river fishing in the land would want to fish somewhere like this?

 

[Baz]

If any river has been turned around it has to be the Mersey that flows through Warrington.
At one time not so long ago, the houses opposite were covered in pink foam that industry had pumped into it over the years. Now, every week there are matches held on there, with some good quality fish being caught. And I wouldn't say the fishing was particularly hard. This was all due to the Mersey basin campaign, and it has been very successfull. Eighteen months ago two seals took up residence in this stretch, and they stayed there for twelve months or more. So the food source must have been there for them. Everything from salmon to sea trout, with chub, barbel, roach, perch, breem, carp, and pike. It's nothing short of a miracle, with the help of the E.A. and other angling clubs. Who says the angling fraternity do not care?