Advice on gaining consent to fish.

[Izzetafox]

Firstly let me warn you that often getting access to a fishery is not always easy or quick. In total it took me nearly 7 tears to get a group of us fishing from kayaks on Rutland Water.

Don't let this put you off though. There are lots of water out there that are perfect for kayak angling but remember there are many that are not.
The first rule you should apply is the by line that I use for this forum.

"RESPONSIBLE ACCESS TO APPROPRIATE WATERS"

Please don't hassle narrow chalk stream fisheries.....you won't succeed.

Once you have found an appropriate water find out who controls the fishing rights. Often a quick search of the internet will reveal this but sometimes you will have to walk the bank and look for signage, chat to an angler on the bank or list the local tackle shop.

Once you find out who it is then again turn to the internet and see if they have a web site. Read it thoroughly. Check out their rules. Do they have a ban on boats on their water or is there already consent for anglers to use boats?
Check out what waters they control. Look at the stretches on Google Maps. How accessible is the bank, is there a lot of overgrown areas. This is all useful as these areas are not earning the club money...YET!
If the water is navigable? If it is and you have a navigation permit paddle along it and check out how much evidence there is of fishing. Is it over grown or are there pegs dug out. If you cannot paddle it then walk the bank. All this information gathering is valuable and will show you know what you are talking about.
Sometimes from the website you can get an idea of how well the club is doing. Blogs or forums attached will show how keen the members are.
Remember most clubs, especially on rivers, are losing members to 'carp puddles'. We are new blood and new money for zero investment.

Look for the club secretary and send him an email asking if you can meet up and discuss kayak angling over a beer. Offer to show him your kayak and all the safety gear we use. Often you won't get a reply so it may be that the email address is redundant or rarely checked try another, is there a phone number.
Often the best negotiations are done face to face, Many clubs have no idea just how different we are from 'casual paddlers'.

When you do make contact put together the information you have collected from your research.
First an foremost we are anglers who choose to use a kayak NOT kayakers who want to play at fishing.
Emphasise that we don't want to fish the popular swims close to the access points. Why would we spend thousands of pounds becoming kayak anglers when we could fish from the bank?
We want to fish the inaccessible or distant swims, often virgin water.
Explain that most of us are members of the BCU. Not because we support their campaign for access but because it gives us a Navigation Permit and £10,000,000 of Third Party Liability Insurance, something few of their club members will have.
Tell them that we actively use a policy of "Check,clean, dry" for our kayaks. We make sure that no invasive species are carried between waters.

Useful points to offer:
Kayak anglers often find 'dead lines' that have been set out of sight of bank walkers. We would report these to the club and the relevant authorities.
We regularly collect line, lures and leads from overhanging vegetation.
We would be the eyes of the bailiff for suspicious activities.

Some years ago myself and a couple of other guys worked with the Angling Trust to come up with a Code Of Conduct which we thought would be useful. Whilst I no longer have links with AT I have no qualms about using the code I helped to create.

• Local licenses are to be displayed and to be made available for inspection on request.
• Never encroach on, and minimise the disturbance to, swims being fished by others.
• Avoid waters being used for an angling match – check with those who own the fishing rights.
• Only land and launch from recognised launch sites or areas where access will not cause damage to the environment
• Always carry your current Environment Agency rod licence, fish club waters with the relevant permits and permissions and adhere to local club rules.
• Respect and do not enter Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and designated conservation areas.
• Anchor considerately, respect all other user rights to access and local anchoring legislation.
• Land and care for your catch appropriately.

This list is not exhaustive and clubs should know that they can add restrictions such as geographical limitations, should they wish. We need to make them feel we are worth having on their waters.
We have to sell ourselves.

If you are successful then so long as the club are ok with it then share the details on the Venues section of this forum with full details especially of any additional rules or restrictions.

I think I have covered most points. If there is anything at all I can help with from my own experiences then please ask either on this thread or by Private Message. I will be happy to help and support you.

There is one further tool I hope to have available shortly. As soon as it is finalised I will publish it on this forum.

Good Luck

Terry

[kneedeepintoys]

Thanks Terry, excellent ambassadorial work again.
I have a dilemma that I have been thinking about. I am on the side of law and order and try to do the right thing. I fish on a large river near a city, and have a permit where possible for the waters I fish. I also have a bcu licence and rod licence. However, the permits I have don't mention fishing from kayaks or boats (or feet or seats for that matter), and I fish from both. I have often contemplated asking the clubs for permission, but feel this will open a can of worms, and would give them the opportunity to forbid it. To be honest I don't think many of the bank anglers on my stretch of the river have much time for boats, and on the rare occasion where I get seen setting out to fish those remote inaccessible places I can only imagine they think its a turkey shoot. They don't see me catch nothing and fall in when I get it wrong :-). So, do I broach the subject, or let it lie? I get on well with the club members, and they know I use the kayak for clearing the banks and reporting poaching: they just don't know I do both at the same time.

[Izzetafox]

It does seem to be a moral dilemma.

You could argue that as the rules do not ban fishing from a kayak/boat then you are not breaking them.
You say you have a BCU membership but you don't say if the river is classed as navigable. If it is then you are not breaking any laws ther either.
You seem to have all the relevant permits and on the surface of it you are in the right. BUT as you have said in your head you are feeling guilty so you believe the club may not allow kayak fishing.

Personally I would say continue your good work and try and make sure as many people as possible know the good you are doing. Being seen with bags of rubbish you have collected or lures/line/floats that you have retrieved from trees is always a thing other anglers approve of. Photograph your good works.

So I think that you can continue to fish the remote and un-fished areas without guilt. If it does get reported to the committee you can produce your photos, show where you have fished and that you are not causing problems for other members, you have not breached the rules. Indeed you can show that by fishing from the kayak you have enhanced the fishery and been an unpaid bailiff.

In my honest opinion you are an asset to the club and you are behaving in a responsible manner. However sometimes the 'old guard' on some club committees are just plain bloody minded!

Good Luck and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Terry

[kneedeepintoys]

Thanks Terry. Some good pointers there. In an evidence-based society I think documenting the good that we do will go a long way to liberating attitudes to the floating angler.

[kneedeepintoys]

Hi Terry
Just an update on this. In an effort to reach out to the local angling club I attended their AGM and tentatively raised the issue with a few of the committee. The view is that quite a few were keen on canoeing and kayaking and it wasn't the contentious issue that I thought it may be. The advantages of having kayakers a part of the club was clear, especially for keeping a watchful eye on the beat. In fact, I am now also a bailiff on a neighbouring beat run by Thames Valley Angling Association, and hopefully a positive exponent of the art. Again the water skills and passion of a kayaker are well placed. I have to say though that this acceptance may well be because the Thames has a well-established watersport culture, and acceptance on other waters may be slower to establish. In the end I am glad that I went along to the AGM, and think they saw me as a member of their club who happened to be in a kayak instead of an interloper. A classic case of change from within.

[Izzetafox]

Really well done.
A great example of how face to face talks often work where just an email doesn't.

I think you are right, if a club already has recreational water users on their beat then they are not so nervous of us. Plus they all want more members and we could help to top up their budget even just a bit is useful.

Again well done and a great example to others seeking consent.

Terry