It’s not like me to stick up for the AT, and I fully accept what happened at Cromwell wier was a tradgedy, but….

Angling is one of THE most dangerous sports with regard to fatalities.

-People are washed off rock ledges and Jetties regularly sea fishing.

-Some choose to climb impossible looking cliffs in pursuit of sport

-Many are rescued by the RNLI every year when their engines fail, or they are overwhelmed by tides when kayak fishing

-People fall in rivers and out of boats EVERY year and drown.

I knew somebody who was washed off the beach and died.

It’s the chance we ALL take when we go near the water.

Wiers are a feature that attract fish. We anglers are drawn to them.

It doesn’t beggar belief at all that the AT should carry an article encouraging people to fish wiers.

It’s what we do…

also quite a cheap shot IMO.

Unbelievable :rolleyes: Rusty, instead of trawling internet forums why don’t you get out on the bank and positively discourage all those fishing weirpools on your waters then? Perhaps the queue behind peg 1A might be a good place to start?

I have never heard of an angler drowning on dry land ? :confused: 😉 😀

So nobody wades in weirpools then? I seem to recall the national winner did. I think you’re the one missing the main point Rusty – suppose somebody dies in a car accident, are you going to complain to every national daily that then subsequently runs articles on, err, cars? With all due respect to the angler on the Trent, accidents happen; roads, weirs, wherever…

Boats are not the problem, it’s the type of boat and the preparation if they are not suitable for the area chosen to fish (clearly stated regulations should also be followed – where legal).

As far as I can tell there is only this one recorded death in Collingham weir that was resultant from fishing in the weir, just one, and by everyone’s reaction the contributory factors appear to be using the wrong craft and/or poor preparation and/or inexperience in getting too close to the weir itself, this in fact may have been exasperated by engine failure or an unsuitable engine (I go back to my poor preparation/inexperience point). There have been a number of other deaths in years gone by resultant from boats going over the top of the weir but this was resolved by the upstream boom.

I suspect there are a number of other deaths that are fishing related, i.e. falling in from the bank, especially if steep/tidal/speight but I don’t recall hearing the call for barriers or by-laws to stop people fishing from dangerous/steep banks.

Just one example that I know for certain is the poor chap who froze to death overnight in his bivvy this winter, should we have by-laws preventing overnight fishing during the coldest months of the year because one person was poorly prepared? Why wasn’t there a similar outcry over this incident? Just a few posts and articles saying “be careful out there”.

My point is we should be careful of a knee jerk reaction which results in draconian measures due to one terrible tragedy. I agree that existing rules and regulations should also be enforced, if they are not then people will push the limits, I suspect a number of anglers push the limits although in doing so the vast majority do not risk their life. i.e. at Collingham lock there is a sign which says “no water craft beyond this point” so a direct (imaginary) line from that sign to the banks should be the limit of boat travel into the weir which which should be enforced, if a boat moors on/below this line and the anglers cast up further into the weir then there can be no argument as rules are not being broken. Unless of course the controling club has an alterior motive in that they just don’t like boats spoiling “their” fishing and are using this terrible tragedy as a means to further that aim.

Cheers,

SF