Pilgrim’s Progress

He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.

Pilgrim’s Progress – read it everyThursday!

Bans, Bailiffs, Rules And Regulations

Not to mention rules pertaining to the car itself. But the purpose of all these regulations is so that there is order and things run smoothly. Let’s face it, it’s bad enough driving on Britain’s roads in this day and age with all these rules to help us. Imagine what it would be like without them…..

As with all areas of a developed society, fishing does not escape legislation. Of course, the whole purpose of rules and regulations is, as I’ve already said, that things go smoothly and efficiently. But there are always some bizarre laws that just don’t seem to make sense. I’ll mention some of them later on. Rules applying to fishing basically fall into three categories.

Secondly, there are rules that are insisted on by landowners when leasing waters to clubs. Whilst not law, in the statute sense of the word, they are still enforced. A typical rule that falls into this category is a restriction on the number of anglers allowed to fish the venue. The landowner doesn’t want to create the situation where he feels ‘invaded’ by hordes of strangers and so includes this in the terms of the lease.

Often the landowner prefers to deal with a syndicate or small well run club rather than one that is large and has an open and unregulated membership. Other rules of this nature cover restrictions on where to fish. For example, and for obvious reasons, the landowner may declare the stretch of water that runs alongside his home out of bounds.

And this is angler’s litter I’m talking about, not passers-by. In fact, one angler recently not only left his litter strewn all over the ground (2 metres from a bin), but he also included his day ticket with the collection of rubbish that contained his name and details.

The third set of regulations are those imposed by the club, or governing body itself, independent of the law and terms of lease. It is probably this third category of rules that constitutes some of the most bizarre and often humorous regulations we encounter as fishermen. This is where we come up against ‘The Committee Man’. One such individual was responsible for banning night fishing. When asked why, he had no other reason than he didn’t want to do it, so nobody else should.

It is the bizarre nature of some of these third category rules that are difficult to come to terms with. I’m not suggesting that we blatantly flout them, as a matter of fact I’m not suggesting anything at all. I’ll leave that up to you. But rules such as ‘No mobile phones’ may appear a bit over the top. I appreciate the disturbance, etc, that it can create, but I always carry a mobile with me. Bear in mind I do a lot of night fishing midweek and often find myself alone, miles from anywhere.

Apart from being a lifesaver, literally, in the case of an emergency, a mobile phone is also a link with the outside world in the scenario of ‘undesirables’ putting in an appearance. Then of course, a mobile is useful if you catch a big fish in the middle of the night so that you can call your wife at 2.00am to come and take some photos for you…..

One pool owner is well known for changing rules whenever it takes his fancy. One angler who was preparing to take a photograph of a fish, actually had the honours done for him by the owner, as he happened to be walking round the lake at that time. However, on the next visit, the rules had changed again…’No photos’. On a personal note, I left a syndicate a few years ago, purely and simply because the syndicate leader drove me mad with his rules and regulations that he kept making up. Actually, he didn’t know the reason why I left, so I remained on good terms.

Another pool owner will not let anyone else to fish there unless he has first seen you land and play a big fish. Sensible practice or over the top? A number of pool owners also have swims marked for their own personal use.

Of course, I couldn’t write an article like this without looking at ‘The Bailiff’. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re part of our fishing. A good bailiff is a tremendous asset to any club. I’ve got on well with several bailiffs over the years, particularly when I’ve been focusing on that water and chatted with them several times a week over a period of time.

Usually the first time you encounter one another he’ll ask to see your season ticket. But after that, he doesn’t bother. But what about the bailiff who lives in the same village as an angler, they both knew each other well, and were both members of the club. Yet, whenever the angler was fishing, along came the bailiff and asked to see his season ticket. A bit too enthusiastic?

Talking of enthusiasm, (or is it?) what about the bailiff that was renowned for being anti-coarse fishing. He would go out of his way to make coarse anglers feel unwanted. If he thought a fisherman was more than the regulation 3 yards from their rods, out would come the tape measure. On one occasion he actually confiscated an angler’s club card because he was 6 inches further than the 3 yard limit.

Taking the law to its absolute, he insisted, every time he came along, that every angler reeled in so that he could check that a banned bait was not being used. And a number of times he even went as far as checking fishermen’s bags to see if there was any contraband contained within.

So – bans, bailiffs, rules and regulations – are certainly a part of modern fishing. Whatever we think of them, they’re here to stay. Happy angling, and do try and stay on the right side of the powers that be….

Next week I’ll be reporting on my current chub campaign. Join me next Thursday as I tell you how I ‘Nearly made it to the Trent….And more adventures on the Mease’. So no clues as to where I’ve been over the last few weeks, or not, as the case may be….Confused? Well, check out Pilgrim’s Progress and find out what I’m talking about. Oh, and by the way, only 26 days to go to Christmas…that’s about 10 fishing trips for me….See you next week.

The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org