Is the season over already?

[kev g 1953]

I'm like you John with regards to distance from river, but I will follow the rules again. I will be walking the River though as I can easily cycle to my local stretch, and beyond on a good day.

Certainly vaild point re supermarkets John, on the odd occasions I've ventured to them social distancing is hard to achieve. In fact in store staff cause some issues themselves when they use those trollies to collect customers on line orders by blocking the isles or making them difficult to pass etc. I'm lucky my wife usually does the shopping, I just put her in the sheep dip when she returns home😉

[dunsmuir]

On a different tack, I read how in some rivers, e.g. parts of the Swale, fish become increasingly reliant on anglers ground bait for food. Due to its size and lack of angling pressure I guess this happens much less up here on the Tees. But I wonder if our absence from the river banks will have any consequences beyond giving fish a rest?

[kev g 1953]

Very Good point re groundbait etc. I know this is an area Graeme often mentions re lack of fish being caught in the Tees when match fishing is cancelled.

[screech1963]

There might not be lots of coarse fish come June if there are no anglers on the bank to scare away seals or otters!

[iffy]

cant see it stopping the poachers, when was the last time you saw the police on the river bank, open invitation i think

[kev g 1953]

Another very valid point re seals and otters.

Although I must admit the sections of club waters on the Tees where I tend to concentrate on mostly do have public footpaths reasonably close to the waters edge, and I can guarantee that the footfall along these paths will be very high during the present lock down conditions, both solo walkers and dog walkers. This may not deter the seals but should keep otters on their toes along those stretches at least.

Maybe we should keep putting a bag of bollies at the entrances to these walks with a sign stating "please take a handful and feed the fish" 😂😂😂

Roll on June 16th

[iffy]

Cabinet Office have now officially confirmed that angling / fishing (incl. sea fishing off private boats, water sports) can be considered exercise and are hence permitted.”

[Deleted]

Yep,stay local and we’re ok to fish.
I wish “local” was more specific so nobody abuses the new concession but It’s great news.

[samvimes]

What are the constraints on "exercise". First time round it was also supposed to be "local" and for approximately one hour.

[Deleted]

Exercising
You should minimise time spent outside your home, but you can leave your home to exercise. This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

It’s quite general with no specific guidelines so really just expecting people to do the right thing.

This is the new statement regarding angling,maybe more info to come.


“fishing is allowed as exercise so long as participants adhere to the rules on staying local, gathering limits, social distancing and limiting the time spent outdoors”

[samvimes]

The next snag is what exactly "local" means. The harshest definition I've seen is that you shouldn't be leaving your area of town or your village. Even if you interpret that loosely and go for parish, most people wouldn't be able to go fishing. The loosest definition of local I've seen so far is within your postcode area. Whether that means the letter code (DL, TS etc) or the letter+numeral DL10, YO10, TS10 etc) is anyone's guess. There would still be lots of folks that couldn't go fishing if that's what "local" means.

[tom]

Great, so long as the river doesn’t flood, I’ll be making the most of it.

[Deleted]

That’s my point,there is no definition of local so it’s open to interpretation.
I’ll be on the Tees which is my local venue and don’t feel I’ll be breaking any rules.
Cyclists will be travelling a lot further than me unless they’re going around the town in circles 😊.

[kev g 1953]

I'm back on the river to. From door to swim approx 6 mile trip.

Dam I've just thrown a batch of old bread into the bin. Back out it comes.