The Towpath Angler
Our monthly look at the angling scene
I PICKED up a couple of comments after I raised, in last month’s Towpath Talk, the increasing issues relating to canoeists and paddleboarders.
One of these was from a longtime boater. The consensus seems to be that where these activities take place on sections of river on which there is a public right of navigation it should simply be a matter of everyone accepting that, with a little common sense and taking due notice of all riparian rights, access can be shared and managed to the general satisfaction of all.
However where there is no public right of navigation this must be similarly respected. I did say last month that the Canal & River Trust, particularly here in the East Midlands, has taken some crucial steps towards improving things and I am very keen that this momentum continues.
Due to a late change in commitments I was unable to attend the latest meeting of the trust’s Fisheries & Angling Advisory Group. I had my tablet and tried to join virtually but it seemed wherever I sat the signal was unstable and the connection kept dropping out. Once again it had been a sizeable agenda with some key issues to discuss.
Sadly my early morning start the following morning also meant my having to withdraw from the trust’s 10-year celebration event in London. Having been the angling representative with British Waterways, throughout the transition period and to the present day, it would have been good to join with others to acknowledge this important milestone.
As you no doubt can recall I have some strong views about cycling on our towpaths or, more correctly, about certain cyclists. This issue came up in a discussion last week where views were expressed about the lack of respect shown by some cyclists, particularly to pedestrians.
One person in this group whom I know very well is a regular cyclist and was trying to make the case for no bells on cycles. I must say he was in the minority. To be fair one ring on a bell is often not enough to warn pedestrians but it is something. Indeed this discussion ended with a couple of the participants insisting that the use of bells by cyclists should be compulsory.
Young anglers
I regularly and quite rightly refer to the tremendous Let’s Fish initiative. It is not only achieving so much in the present by enabling young people to enjoy and even be successful at the sport of angling and to be more appreciative of what is around them when they are actually on the bank but also to take the legacy forward into the future.
Indeed with a teacher at a local school for youngsters with special educational needs, who approached me in my capacity as a club secretary, I am trying to facilitate a Let’s Fish event sometime in September. So far in two classroom sessions many of the group have clearly been as interested in the connect to the environment as they are to fishing.
Talking of September we are rapidly approaching the National Celebration of Young People in Fishing. This will comprise three separate events and, as I understand, take-up thus far is really good.
It seems that since we returned to more normal summer temperatures fishing has improved everywhere. That said, our rivers and many of the stillwaters are desperately in need of a real freshen up, although looking at the weather forecast this does not seem likely any time soon.
I have not picked up a great deal of information on results of late other than where matches have been held in the evenings on some canals local to me. Weights have been quite good with the best in excess of 10lb. Stillwaters everywhere are suffering from severe weed growth around the water’s edge and this is only getting worse as levels continue to fall.
Although still very busy I have managed to fish around once a week recently. The shoulder injury I mentioned last month improved following my short layoff and, thankfully, has been much better recently. I did not manage any frame finishes but a couple of section wins have maintained my interest.
Both were on venues where a completely different approach was needed so it was doubly gratifying to find that what I did actually worked. I have said before that, exactly like life itself, making the right decision at the right time can make all the difference in a match and on both occasions I had, I am pleased to say, done just that.
Despite the more settled weather fish still seem not to switch on until the late afternoon so if you are able to find a couple of hours in the latter part of the day you should have some decent sport.
Tight lines!