River Reports

[Tony Carter]

Tony - are you serious? You want everyone to be a great source of info on the river threads, helping everyone out, but at the same time want the banks deserted - and if not, syndicate them to keep everyone off? Wow.

No that's not what I meant I never insinuated for the river reports to be giving out information every five minutes omall and sundry on where to catch fish from.

My original comment on the river reports was that most of them are a closed book even to regular posters, no one bothers to comment to people outside of a click even a welcome to the river or even mentioning a club to join never mind a bloody stretch of river!

My comment to Darren about syndication is that sadly even paying members of general clubs these days don't give a **** about the state of a fishery Christ most of the rubbish I find is other anglers ground bait packets or tins!

The two comments are not linked, you can at least speak to other people on a thread without inviting all and sundry to the swim you are fishing, especially those people that are respected long standing members.

 

[Damian Kimmins]

Tony - are you serious? You want everyone to be a great source of info on the river threads, helping everyone out, but at the same time want the banks deserted - and if not, syndicate them to keep everyone off? Wow.

I think Tony is just looking to go back to how things were; information more freely exchanged and there was less competition for swims and stuff.

 

[Darren Smith]

I think a certain camaraderie existed where we could ask for general information on rivers and get welcomed replies. Many friends were met that way and three strangers who became friends in that way have commented on this discussion. I think Tony is absolutely right in missing that connection but as I said in my earlier post times have changed. Locally there is nothing like the numbers of fish to fish for. Nationally the emphasis is on catching the biggest from any venue so those looking to make a name chase every scrap of info on what has come out of where........ barbel became the new carp and so the carbellers arrived with their 'camp out until its in the net' approach. All in all a sad state of affairs but hey, that's life. Lack of fish, too many anglers, bad fishery management etc..... All has an impact and of coarse free local information becomes non existent. I think the answer is Tony ask the questions but just except you are unlikely to get many replies.......... but, just maybe someone see's a genuine enquiry and offers a little advise. Not swim or bait detail, just a general fishery comment; it fishes best on a rising river, full moons are useless, may be a bit weedy at present........ I know where you're coming from as many others will.
Good fishing where ever you're currently based and let's hope it never comes down to syndicated waters. There are still a few hidden gems awaiting discovery, or should that be awaiting re-discovery ;-)

 

[Damian Kimmins]

Good to see you back on here Darren.

 

[Tony Carter]

Exactly what I meant Darren.

Fishing the Warwickshire avon at the min closest I can get to the Dorset Stour but moving to SW London next week!

Damian are you still Twickenham way?

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

Clicks / Cliques , they surely do exist . One of the few things that do annoy me on this site is the post of the type . ''We are mates and in the know , we are letting you know this as well '', the post is inevitably ended with one of these

 

[David Gauntlett]

I can manage the wink OK Mike....just hoping my minor heart condition never reaches the stage where I can do the face colour to match

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Neil Smart]

Why be so dependent on River reports ? Surely the real fun in what we do is the not knowing aspect? Perhaps if we were all a little less demanding of Barbel that requires giving details on their location quantity and size we could all get back to fishing and not merely catching.

We are supposed to be the real edge to angling, and not the much ridiculed commercial types, but are we any better?

 

[Mark Anderson]

Hi men,

I think the river reports are important to the site , and is the reason many look in . I don't think they are to bad ?, often giving conditions and info , but are only as good as those who want to post . I'm as guilty as any , I post on Facebook as you can put pics strait up from my iPhone , so I need to get get back into the habit .

I also think people are more guarded as barbel fishing becomes more popular , and some river more busy , human nature .

Hatter

 

[Iain J McDonald]

to be honest,theyre called river reports not catch reports,in winter a river report could save someone a long drive and petrol if the river is almost unfishable,so info on levels,debris etc is useful,but obviously no one wants to give away locations if theyre enjoying a good bit of fishing!!

 

[John Walker]

Well i for one think a few helpful snippets to help someone on their way is what a website like this needs, once on the right route the rest is up to them,
as far as i am concerned the real pleasure in fishing captures is putting the time,effort and determination into it, i for one would get no pleasure at being sat down in a hot swim and given all the feeding times, bait ect would give no satisfaction at all,
as far as the winks ect goes these emotives were put up for the very good reason that others can see the intent of the post and not secret squirrel signals, not that i have seen any yet.
take a mile stretch of a river and if any one can pinpoint fish holding spots from a few general pointers then all i can say is that person must be a great
angler with great experience or raw natural talent, the rest of us would have to get to work figuring it out for ourselves.
three of the greatest river threads gracing the BFW boards was the Trent, Thames and Wye and lots of friendships were formed and general info freely posted and the rest of the river threads were in the same good intent,
the rivers aint changed much but maybe the guys attitudes posting have,
without info ect the river reports would be almost useless and not interesting in any way or form,
BFW took me in a long time ago and its the best thing thats happened to my fishing,
no longer do i go quietly about my barbel fishing and being in a secretive world where i wanted nobody to know what i fished for or caught,
i now have lots of fishing mates with rainchecks on offers to come fishing for a day or more, not that my health allows me to do so much these days but its very comforting to know i could

 

[Howard Cooke]

Nicely put John. I would suspect, and indeed hope, that the vast majority who contribute to the forum do so because they see the value of community. We are humans and that means we need connectivity to others, especially those who share our own interests. It helps to put our own fishing efforts and experiences into a broader context.

But as with all walks of life and all communities, be it family or work, you get tensions and nonsense and falling out and making up and then falling out again. What is key though is the responsibility that each of us should take in making the forum the kind of place we want it to be. That means nurturing it and doing so in a spirit of respect. You can do that and still have healthy robust debate and lovely banter.

But one request, please can we not start referring to each other as "rods". It may have been around for years and I have just missed it, but I have noticed in the angling press that it is no longer sufficient to simply state someone's name in an article describing a great capture. We now must also include that person's full title such as "the Yorkshire based rod". At first I thought it was unnecessarily rude and some evolution of the derogatory term "tool" but perhaps not.

 

[Neil Smart]

to be honest,theyre called river reports not catch reports,in winter a river report could save someone a long drive and petrol if the river is almost unfishable,so info on levels,debris etc is useful,but obviously no one wants to give away locations if theyre enjoying a good bit of fishing!!

Very true Ian.