Ian, I do. But much of my club water is not really accessible to me these days so I have to put my efforts in elsewhere, hence the committee work.
I had to have a laugh to my self when I read the article in the last issue of Coarse Angling Today about dangerous banks on some southern rivers. Roger Standon, I think, should try fishing the Wear. Even the easy access bits would make his dangerous banks look like gentle flood meadows.
I could fish our stillwater which is less than half a mile form my home, but if it was full of 10lb chub I would not fish it--there is something about wild rivers that appeal to me.
I agree with your comments about anglers getting their priorities wrong when it comes to paying for their fishing. When you work out the cost per hour's fishing, some anglers are only paying pennies. Compare that to what say a tennis player would pay for the use of a court. In some areas of the country they pay more for an hour than many anglers pay for a whole year, and some anglers are at the water 24/7.
If anglers and clubs alike don?t get their act together much of the running water they now have will be lost to the ever growing syndicates. Apart from the highly prized fishing on the Tyne, the river Wear was probably the first major North East river to have syndicates, but each year sees the ordinary club lose more and more water in this way. If the trend continues most of today?s club anglers will be forced into fishing the commercial "muddy puddles", either that or dig deep into their pockets.