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Typical bloody minded canoeist?

Having been involved in various introductions of barbel into the Wensum and having also previously undertaken various habitat improvements on the stretches of river mentioned in the clip, I know something about this. I also know that the Wensum in not classed as a navigable river for canoes or any other craft. Not that this stops them wanting free access to every inch of the river.
 
I had a guy and his daughter come through at the cattle drink on friday, she stopped at the signs and said to her dad that they couldn't go through as it was private, he just told her to keep going. I made the point that it was private and there was no access for canoes and also as there was a loop across the river he wouldn't get through, he replied that he'd see how far he could get. Came back about 20 minutes later.
 
I wonder what he would have to say about it if I were to drive my car on his lawn?
 
and i can see the EA roll over...lol. in favour of the non paying, but how long before this lot get a shared season with anglers...grrrr.
 
They are doing it on throop as well despite signing saying its not navigable...THey think they can go where they like and to be honest theirs not much anyone can do..:(
 
I don't really understand this guy. He uploads an anti-fishing video yet some of his other uploaded videos are of him fishing.

I wonder if this stretch of the Wensum would be navigable by canoe if fishermen or the owner of the stretch didn't engage in any maintenance of the area such as keeping vegetation at a manageable level and perhaps strategic weed removal.

Regardless of whether the stretch is used for fishing or not, the fact remains that the stretch is private and this privacy should be respected. I might stock the olympic slalom canoe course with barbel and fish during the first heat.
 
If it's the one on the Tees I hope it doubles as decent salmon steps as the current one is woeful and just leaves the salmon sitting picnics for the local seal population.
 
Trouble is, we have anglers - dogmatic and unwavering on one side and belligerent canoeists on the other, but nobody in the middle to mediate.

It can only end in tears unless something is done to make some hard and fast rules but that will almost certainly mean the loss of some of our anglers rights.

With the potential 'threat' to angling of English Natures deeper involvement within the sport, we could be heading for some rocky times.

The guy in the video is a pillock though, his logic of 'they did wrong so I'm doing wrong' is a classic example of someone trying to make two wrongs into a right. But that is the sort of attitude we are up against. However, filling canoes with 'pult fulls of maggots doesn't help either.
 
Canoes on the Ouse

I have the fishing rights to a stretch of the Ouse, and Sunday we had a father and two sons come by. They could be heard screaming and shouting from about half a mile away. When we told him to keep quiet he response was he could do what he liked, when we told him the stretch was private he replied that we dont own the river, just the bank access, and when told that the river was non-navigable, he said he was navigating just fine. We pointed out that the EA say the Ouse above Bedford is non navigable, he just said sue me.

The issue is no-one can do anything about it because the EA will not step in. The farmer who we rent the river from is very anti canoes and makes a determined effort to stop them, but the truth is it is a futile struggle. They (the canoeists) are likethe ramblers and will roam wherever they wish, and they will agrue on the grounds that no-one actually owns the water, just the banks and access. If they launch from an access point which is open and has no restrictions, how do you stop them?

I must say that the vast majority of the canoeists we see are perfectly okay; they dont make noise, they dont leave the river and come onto the banks, they are polite and friendly and they keep well clear of where we are fishing. In many cases they have stopped for a chat and even told us where fish were sitting up. When you get people like this I personally dont see a problem, but our stretch is wide and lightly fished so the disturbance is minimal. On other stretches I can see where the potential for problems arises and fully understand that things can get out of hand. The only way it will stop is by strong intervention from the EA and the law makers, and let's face it - it is not a priority for them, and they have shown how poor they are at dealing with illegal fishing and fish removal by immigrants, so how will they stop canoeists going where they should not?

I am interested to hear from others whether lines accross the river have worked or what measure people have used to stop access from the water by canoes and boats generally - if it were feasible it might be possible for us to try things but I don't know how it would be best to do it. Also, what happens if any measures we take actually cause an accident - in this day and age we would propbably end up getting sued even though the person hurt might actually be breaking the law!!
 
you can stick a line of rope across a private bit of river like you have said, i've seen it, with a clear sign.
and if they ignore it, you can pull them up on it, if it gets nasty, there is a law called public order.
 
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Bullhead's are endangered? Is that a countrywide thing or just the Wensum? I see loads when flyfishing...

Cheers
Adam
 
Apparently yes, bullheads are listed as a protected species. On the Wensum, I'd suggest that there are hundreds of them for every single roach and barbel, but according to the habitats directive it's the bullheads that need special protection. Pity they don't grow big enough to gulp down stray canoeists I say.
 
Chris Turnbull said:
Apparently yes, bullheads are listed as a protected species. On the Wensum, I'd suggest that there are hundreds of them for every single roach and barbel, but according to the habitats directive it's the bullheads that need special protection. Pity they don't grow big enough to gulp down stray canoeists I say.
Click to expand...
No bullheads, no Barbel, no roach no nothing. The importance of protecting the species lower down the food chain cannot be ignored.
Some species act as indicator species, in that when they decline everything else will. Insect life is the quickest to be effected by problems, hence fly life monitoring being the best way of seeing quickly any changes to a rivers condition. By the time a species such as Roach is noticed to be in decline it often may be too late to do anything about it. The fact that Bullheads have declined in nearly every water in the country and fly life is even worse, mainly since the change in agricultural practises in the 1940's is what has lead to a steady decline in everything else.
Get the insect life back and everything will follow. Not a nice quick solution like stocking with fish, but long term problems require long term solutions.
 
I have gone into this in great detail for my local angling club and the misconception we have is around this phrase "non-navigable".

All it actually means is that it is not a piece of water controlled by the local EA navigation department, not that boats cannot use it. Boats can use it, at their own risk, and moreso are not held by any speed restrictions or laws which govern navigable stretches, furthermore they do not need to be licensed to use it........

The other area frequently mis-quoted is the fact that on non-navigable stretches, boaters/conoeists, etc... need to have the express permission of the land owner to access the waterway, this is also incorrect, they do not need to seek permission from anyone in the eyes of the law..............

The owner of the land, i.e. the riverbed is able to erect signage to say that the land/waterway is private and to prosecute people in a civil case of trespass, or in fact erect fencing, etc across the waterway to block access provided this is first approved by the EA Fisheries and Flood Risk teams........
 
Pete Marshall said:
No bullheads, no Barbel, no roach no nothing. The importance of protecting the species lower down the food chain cannot be ignored.
Some species act as indicator species, in that when they decline everything else will. Insect life is the quickest to be effected by problems, hence fly life monitoring being the best way of seeing quickly any changes to a rivers condition. By the time a species such as Roach is noticed to be in decline it often may be too late to do anything about it. The fact that Bullheads have declined in nearly every water in the country and fly life is even worse, mainly since the change in agricultural practises in the 1940's is what has lead to a steady decline in everything else.
Get the insect life back and everything will follow. Not a nice quick solution like stocking with fish, but long term problems require long term solutions.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed!.....

in fact, the site in question is one that has had a lot of habitat restoration work done to address some of the underlying problems. With the river gradually filling up with silt that is constantly running off the arable farmland overlooking the valley and flow rates continuing to slow down due to over-abstraction, it is the job of English Nature and the EA to deal with the big problems and preserve their 'indicator species' while hopefully supporting angling organizations such as NACA in getting on with the task of trying to manage, protect and enhance the fisheries. Stocking barbel may only be a quick fix solution but the sad fact is that if the barbel all go, then the fishery will go too, and that is in the interest of nobody!
 
Quote from the comments below the video

"I think this video is a positive contribution in demonstrating that NACA are basically just a criminal organisation who have conned Natural England, the Environment Agency"

This bloke is obviously an attention seeking nutter and to add more comments to his video will accomplish nothing.

Canoes are a problem (you should fish the Wye:rolleyes:) but it won't be sorted by arguing with the likes of this pillock.
 
I hope no-one mis-reads my above post, I totally agree, he is a few bob short, was just pointing out the facts to those who may not know them.
 
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