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Anglers... the good, bad and ugly


Baghdaddy

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1 minute ago, MartynG said:

We passed a few fishists this morning and received no abuse , which is a bonus. 

One seemed anxious . Why try to fish near the opposite bank of a fairly wide river when both banks have access for fishing?

It's our first trip out of the year. Have only seen three other boats so far.

 

 

The offside is often quieter so the fish will be less spooked but also most fishermen will have 2 or 3 swims on the go at any one time, for example,

1 close by the nearside bank, 1 mid swim, 1 far bank.

All of these will be fed and fished 1 at a time, moving to another swim when the bites fall off on the swim you are fishing, rotating through the swims as the day goes on

 

 

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2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

The offside is often quieter so the fish will be less spooked but also most fishermen will have 2 or 3 swims on the go at any one time, for example,

1 close by the nearside bank, 1 mid swim, 1 far bank.

All of these will be fed and fished 1 at a time, moving to another swim when the bites fall off on the swim you are fishing, rotating through the swims as the day goes on

 

 

The point was that on the Trent, there is no 'offside'.

 

Both sides are fished (often at the same time) but it seems they (almost) always want their bait on the opposite side to where they are sat.

 

Maybe "the grass is greener on t'other side"

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Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

The point was that on the Trent, there is no 'offside'.

 

Both sides are fished (often at the same time) but it seems they (almost) always want their bait on the opposite side to where they are sat.

 

Maybe "the grass is greener on t'other side"

Same reason though, working 3 different swims.

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Recently I made the mistake of hiring a boat on the Norfolking Broads, minimal mooring points, often occupied by fishermen who simply wouldn't move. The best was a boat moored in the centre of two berths, he was fishing from the bow, his wife from the stern, both looking really really happy. When I asked them if they could move their boat a bit to let me moor the language was ,erm, interesting. The boat was a hire boat rather than private. Rather than use the Italian method of parking I moved on.

Some years ago I was on my Narrowboat and came across a fishing competition, as I came past the start an official gentleman asked if I was going on for about two miles, when I said I was he asked if I would act as the starter for the competition, telling each angler as I passed to start. They all seemed very pleased to see me and nearly all of them wished me a good day and thanked me. I presume they asked a similar boat to end the competition later in the day.

Generally most fishermen will respond if you speak to them, often looking very surprised that a boater will acknowledge their existence. I too have been asked to speed up, slow down, go to nearside and offside. Slowing down when the engine is on the point of stalling (difficult to do with a Lister SR2) meant I actually speeded up, then slowed down, the engine note made the anglers assume I had obeyed their instructions and they became happier because they thought they had "got one over" on the dreaded and damnable boating fraternity.

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When we came down the Trent to Newark late October 2018, we came across a number of anglers with very long lines out into the river with the rods supported on tripods. Which was fine with those who had brightly coloured lines. Problem was not all did and not all stood by their rods, often sat in their cars atop the bank. Can they run when a boat comes round the corner!

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The most aggressive anglers I've met of late sit below Nether Lock at Newark on The Trent, just beyond the railway bridge.

The last time I went that way, the lock keeper warned us all as we left the lock, he wasn't kidding.

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We've had a pretty crap time with fishermen on our journey from Great Haywood to Rufford. One guy screaming and shouting opposite Oakwood Marina, telling me to stop when his line got snagged. Everyone else in the area had pulled their lines in. We had at least three lots fishing off of lock landings. Lots of lifting the rod out of the way at the last possible second. General surliness and moaning from a load of them around Parbold, one of whom asked me if there were any more boats behind us. 

 

We always make a point of saying thank-you, but generally they just mutter into their maggots. 

Edited by Athy
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Coming from Wigan last year we ran straight into a match once we passed the Pier which continued to Pagefield Lock. That wasn't a problem but the pound below was empty so we set about filling it joined by a boater waiting at the next lock to come up. It's about 1/2 mile so took a bit of filling with anglers getting a tad upset about the flow. Fortunately there were 3 of us to face them down. Unfortunately, first boat coming up got a tyre around his prop in the lock so gates were open for some time.

 

Next day another match extending to Apperley Bridge. Whilst waiting for the lock to fill I commiserated with the angler nearest the lock on his choice of peg. He reckoned it was the best spot.

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Some years ago Fulbourne was moored at Sowerby Bridge. We had arranged a trip with a load of my daughter's college friends on a Sunday afternoon from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge. But not wishing to miss an opportunity, my son and I decided we would like to head down to Salterhebble (which is as far as a full length narrow boat can go) and back in the morning.

Being a Sunday morning the entire 2.5 miles was lined with fishermen. Yes - almost all men. This is the traditional North, where on a Sunday morning then men go out fishing, while the wives cook the Sunday lunch!

On the way out we got mostly neutral reactions from the fishists, who just wanted us to get past as soon as possible. But on the way back we got more than a few tart comments for daring to disturb them twice on the same morning!

  • Greenie 1
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The simplest things that anglers can do to be helpful to boaters are to be visible (to boats, even if not to fish!), and to acknowledge your approach in some way.  Then both parties know that the rod will be lifted out of the way at the last minute, and perhaps a few friendly words exchanged.  It avoids the uncertainty that can lead to horns / emergency slowing down / lines being caught etc.

  • Greenie 2
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On 21/06/2020 at 13:45, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Grumpy anglers being grumpy. Who'd have thunk it. Generally speaking, the further north you go the friendlier they get. Well friendly for angler values of friendly. There is a small proportion who are complete nutters and could react in any way, who you can find anywhere.

 

You are aware that they take "misery pills" to get them in the right frame of mind for fishing aren't you? ?

 

Generally I find, as others have, that slowing down, followed by a polite "hello" results in a short conversation.

 

In 47 years boating I have only had incident with a fisherman. That was on the Leigh Branch about 25 years ago, when a teenage fisherboy fired a catapult full of maggots at the stern of my boat after I had passed him. 

 

My mate quickly grabbed a mooring pin and leapt onto the bank, brandishing it at the boy. The teenager ran off leaving his fishing gear behind. 

 

When my mate got back on the boat, he said he was tempted to throw his fishing gear into the cut, but resisted it.

  • Greenie 1
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I have had some poor experiences with fishy folk, but rarely get sworn at, just ignored.

Conversely, I have never had  a good experience either. 

But then I don't understand why they want to stick pins through fishes faces, its not nice.

Sorry but if they want to behave like a subspecies I could not care less.

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On 21/06/2020 at 18:08, Alan de Enfield said:

There could be confusion because C&RT are instructing boaters to leave a 5mt gap between boats on Winter moorings.

 

 

The needs of angling customers are incorporated into the terms and conditions of the issue of these permits. A five-metre gap must be kept between one boat and the next for the purposes of permitting angling from the towpath. We are exploring whether this ought to apply more generally between moored boats. Do take special care when fishing within close proximity of boats. It would not be acceptable to lean your equipment up against the boat hull, for example.

Fishing where you find moorings rings

Unless so signed to the contrary, anglers are permitted to fish where there are towpath mooring rings present, in a similar way to boaters having the right to moor where there are angling club permanent peg numbers. Mooring rings might be present underneath powerlines or within 25 metres of a lock wall approach. Clearly, fishing would not be permitted in these locations.

 

I didnt know that.

 

I thought they were called "git gaps" because of inconsiderate boaters.

 

Still think "git gaps" is a good name for them. ?? 

Edited by cuthound
Phat phingers
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17 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

One problem is that many anglers think this 5m gap thing applies all the year round. We have had a couple of arguments about it on our summer travels.

Whilst they say :

47 minutes ago, cuthound said:

A five-metre gap must be kept between one boat and the next for the purposes of permitting angling from the towpath. We are exploring whether this ought to apply more generally between moored boats.

 

As this is on C&RT website Angling pages, you can understand why they may think this -  everyone always takes what is beneficial to them as being gospel.

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59 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

I didnt know that.

 

I thought they were called "git gaps" because of inconsiderate boaters.

 

Still think "git gaps" is a good name for them. ?? 

They are called git gaps becsuse sensible boaters leave them to avoid getting poisoned by exhaust fumes from inconsiderate boaters running their engines all day.

PS I also have never seen the fun in sticking pins in sentient creatures faces either, nor in hare coursing or fox hunting, but I accept that some people enjoy that sort of thing. Though, apart from in competition, I think catching fish is not the whole point of fishing, any more than getting somewhere is that of boating.

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48 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I also have never seen the fun in sticking pins in sentient creatures faces either,

I can think of a few humans that would benefit from that treatment ;)

 

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9 hours ago, zenataomm said:

They could be visible to boaters and remain hidden to fish if they tied a helium balloon to the back of their collars.

Like this one available online?

00C7254C-31D4-4C4E-B76C-7C5FCD430E11.jpeg

  • Haha 1
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One Sunday I decided to boat round the Soho Loop, as I turned in an old chap on the bridge said something that I didn't quite catch but soon realised he was advising me of the fishing competition.  All round the loop there were fishermen, most sharing me to stick to the towpath side which i did until I got to the first bridge hole where I needed a few more revs to steer and obviously had to move across the canal to go through the bridge. That was the only person to shout any abuse, all the others gave a polite hello.

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