I'll make a point of not buying a lottery ticket for the next 3 months - to see if it gets anymore exciting come the end of September!
Back in the day when all coarse angling had a 'closed season' most would target stillwaters at the start. Tench, Carp, Rudd and Crucians were the traditional early season targets for the allrounder - the river species were left alone until later in the season, Barbel in the autumn and Chub in winter.
I just feel that the enforced break on rivers creates an un-healthy desire to get back on flowing water which would otherwise not occur.
The often quoted reasons for the break, i.e. to allow the fish to spawn, the banks to recover etc is hard pill for me to swallow. Infact i think it's absolute nonsense - fish in canals and lakes spawn don't they? Of coarse they do - so why not close them? Because Salmon don't run through lakes and canals that's why! Further more - while we are all sat at home waiting for the glorious 16th allowing the fish to do their thing the Salmon Anglers are trampling the bankside vegatation and wading all over the spawning beds.