My rant yesterday about Mr Rhys Jones and his lament that he and his ilk are prevented from turning our quiet rivers into a linear theme park for boaters prompted an observation from a member who has suffered the tribulations of trying to fish one of our Dales rivers in the company of the great British public.  Let Gavin describe his frustration in his own words:

I have been reliably informed that this was a feature on the Jeremy Vine show on Thursday, but as yet I have not had chance to listen again on the BBC’s web page.

 I as you know I fish a certain Yorkshire beauty spot with stunning views of an old Abbey, but we constantly have to endure the attention of  dog walkers who decide just at the crucial point when you have waited fishless for the last 2 hours, and worked your way to rising fish when splash half a tree branch appears in the river in front of you from some hapless dog walker who is busily sending his dog to collect the floating object which even if it did actually manage to get hold of this lump of wood then the dog would have to be built like Goliath to physically drag it from the water, and whose owner protests most strongly at the abuse that you have just hurled his way thinking that you have just decided to reek vengeance on his dog. Or alternately when blessed with a warm balmy night you are fishing away in one of the many quiet pool when up bobs some gormless youth with reversed baseball hat still intact, and who as just decided it was time to impress the group of 12 year olds with is swimming prowess. For all this you are asked to pay a princely sum to enjoy the pleasure of these fine surroundings.

There are hundreds of miles of navigable waterways in this country all in public ownership that were designed and built 200 years ago for the benefit of those who wish to travel by water.  Our canals are maintained largely through our taxes and the efforts of dedicated volunteers. They provide an extensive network connecting almost every major town and city in the country giving access to some spectacular scenery.  It is not necessary to impose even more pressure on our wild rivers by opening up access to canoeists and boaters.

A very happy fisherman arrived on my doorstep this afternoon.  Alan M came up to fish the (canoe free) river and finding the water rather higher than he anticipated decided to try his luck anyway.  Setting up a reservoir rod with  small salmon flies he fished up from Cragghill towards Whit Beck.  He got 5 trout on this assemblage including one cast which resulted in two fish on at once.  However, the crowning glory of the afternoon was a 5.5 to 6lb salmon taken just below Whit Beck pool.  I understand that whilst not in full silver glory it wasn't over coloured.  All those members who wait eagerly for the salmon season should take note!

It's actually stopped raining now and the forecast for tomorrow is promising so conditions over the weekend should not be too bad.

Ian