Moley

Well hi folks, and allow me to introduce myself.

I am not an angler, that is to say I fished when I was a lad, may still dangle a hook and drown a few maggots from time to time, but I am by no means a serious angler and have never belonged to a club or fished a competition. Now I've got kids of my own, we may occasionally do a spot of fishing for half an hour when moored up at night. Yes, that's right, moored up, meaning that I am one of that hateful species, the bane of your lives, the narrowboater.

So why have I joined? Well it seems that ‘us lot’ and ‘you lot’ don't always see eye to eye, and we thought it might be interesting to look at things from your point of view.

The problem seems to be that many canal anglers seem to resent us wanting to use our waterways and intruding upon your sport or pastime. Many can seem sullen, a minority can be abusive, and you are frequently in the most inappropriate places. There is hardly any commercial traffic on the canals nowadays, their time as a transport network is consigned to history and they have become a leisure facility, but boaters, anglers, cyclists and walkers should all be able to peacefully co-exist.

Personally, if I see someone fishing I try to cut my engine revs to a tickover and stay in the centre of the channel, but there are times when that's not possible if there's 2-way traffic or you're hiding in the bushes, and let's face it, 12 tonnes of steel doesn't stop that quickly.

So is that ‘slower and down the middle’ approach correct, or how would you prefer us to pass you? Come on, have your say, we can take it, what gets up your collective noses?

Ade.