The Towpath Angler Our monthly look at the angling scene
IT HAS been a pretty good week so far with the news that the number of people having received their first Covid vaccination has just topped 30 million, that the opportunities to meet more people will soon be there and, from a purely personal standpoint, match fishing is once again possible from March 29.
Judging by the overwhelming demand – not just for tickets for the more prestigious, big prize events but also for match places at a more local level – the date could not have come any sooner.
Even so none of us should become complacent. If we wish this current positivity to continue and expand, we must all maintain great caution and I suspect that social distancing and, possibly, even face coverings may be here for some time to come yet.
Of course Covid precautions mean that virtual meetings go on. Last week I attended 11 such meetings, the biggest of which was the spring meeting of the Canal & River Trust’s Fisheries and Angling Advisory Group. As usual the agenda was substantial.
There were topics covering partnership arrangements with angling clubs, an insight into the rapidly developing world of social media and its place in the trust’s fisheries and angling business and an in-depth update on the highly successful Let’s Fish campaign.
The meeting also looked at the new Waterway Code for boaters and anglers which recently has had a long overdue review involving a small group of representatives from each activity. I hope this will set the scene for similar codes to embrace other activities.
Zander debate
However the lion’s share of the meeting was taken up with a very detailed discussion on invasive non-native species, in particular the zander. Currently under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to either stock these fish or return them to a waterway after catching one.
Around the country there are a few very specific sites which are now specially licensed to hold zander but the trust’s 2200 miles of canals are not on that particular list. The whole debate is national and, at times, very noisy but it seems to me that until such time as this law can be changed no one should break it.
As I mentioned in my previous article Angling Trust’s two big National Championships, both on canals, in 2020 were cancelled primarily because of the difficulty in guaranteeing effective social distancing.
It is planned to use these same canals this year and social distancing safeguards will, no doubt, need to be in place. Similarly there is a chance that zander may be caught in both events which again creates another dilemma for all concerned. I do know that discussion at the very highest level is ongoing.
Without matches the ‘flow’ of catch information is obviously minimal. One contact of mine has said that he watched a mate catch more than 20lb of roach and small bream from his local canal in Cheshire. A long-time friend spent March 14, the last day of the river season, fishing the Trent locally and despite the river being in good condition he struggled to catch a dozen or so small fish.
Talking to some of my club colleagues it seems that even in the local commercial stillwaters the water temperature is still very low and naturally this is having an impact on catches. The silverfish are reasonably co-operative but the carp and other bigger fish are definitely conspicuous by their absence.
That said, on Tuesday I treated myself to a short three-hour session at my local stillwater. This was the first time I had picked up my tackle since December, having been busier at my desk in the ensuing period than I can ever remember. The weather was beautiful and the fish were feeding so I notched up a fair old weight with eight carp and seven bream. It was so good to be out again and with the restart of the match season, it will be really good to be part of that wonderful camaraderie once again.