Threatened, yet apparently I was the offender!
WHILE bailiffing for my club the other week, I was confronted by a machete-brandishing boater who was moored up close by.
He’d been threatened by some of our members after airing his views about them spinning and drop shotting around a lock and boaters’ jetty.
The police were called and he only got a warning because the landowner said he used it to chop brambles and nettles around the canal. The Canal & Rivers Trust was informed and looked into the matter. However, it merely referred to bylaws stating that no-one is allowed to fish within 30 yards of a lock gate or jetty.
So now we have to bailiff with this in mind and tell our members to stick to this rule.
I personally think the whole situation stinks.
If an angler isn’t upsetting or bothering anyone in the locks or jetties then surely that’s fine. The vast majority stick to the rules and use their discretion – I think lock keepers and boaters bear a grudge against anglers a lot of the time. David Wood, email
DOES the Canal and River Trust favour boaters over anglers? Yes, and to a point with good reason.
I’m both an angler and a narrowboat owner. Lock landing stages are critical areas for boat operations, and boats are not allowed to moor there for anything else. So ‘no fishing’ at such points is totally reasonable, in my opinion. Mark Welton, email