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| "That Excellent Inn the Peacock, Rowsley Bridge" circa 1879 |
My first outlay, for membership of the Peacock Fly Fishing Club, in readiness for next season has just been dealt with and, frankly, although it has gone up 5% compared with this last season, I believe it will be worth it. The water is superb and the river keepers are second to none in the country. The "wild fish only" policy is a massive success with more fish in the river than ever before (at least since I started fishing there in 1969) and they are in a greater variety of sizes from little to enormous and everything in between. The water is beautifully kept without turning the place into a theme park or worse still a "garden" and the wildlife abounds, thanks to the diversity of habitats created by the keepers.
There will be other, greater outlays to come but that will be in Q1 next year!
You may have similar outlays to make, so a good mission during this close season is to make sure to set aside enough money, money money...
Regular Rod
We are fortunate enough here in Wisconsin to only have to pay 40 dollars and then all of the streams are able to be fished. I must say it would be great to have river keepers over here though. We have some beaver problems. The DNR is starting to get their dam removal program going again so hopefully that helps. For now I guess I will have to keep the river as best as I can. I look forward to hearing how this stretch of water treats you and the dry flies. ;) Tight Lines.
ReplyDeleteI must've been thinking along the same lines as Trout MaGee. Isn't there any free stream/river trout fishing in England?
ReplyDeleteIn England all waters are owned by someone. Some waters are available to fish for free because the owners have not taken an interest. It is a sad fact of human nature that where something is freely available it gets plundered and neglected. Where a water is looked after properly then the folk who do look after the water need wages to live. That is where we English anglers come in with our fees. We fund the protection and management of the habitat, or rather, we should do.
ReplyDeleteWe also live in a crowded island. This means that waters near to a large human population have to be protected by rules. The rules can consist of limits on the numbers of anglers fishing a water each day, limits on how many fish that may be taken, limits on the methods that may be used and so on. They are necessary to protect the waters from being over exploited and to preserve the creatures that live there (not just the fish).
So, yes there is free fishing available, but it is usually (not always) in a sorry state.
The best fishing usually (again not always) is to be had where anglers make the commitment to support the waters with their money, money, money...
:)
Regular Rod