Birmingham Anglers Association

Did a very pleasant walk with my border collie yesterday from Bridgnorth to Arley and then on to Kinver. Middle Severn valley and river looked spot on and good to meet team of BAA volunteers working (fairly) hard. Good news is that there was no evidence of illegal fishing, except for one middle aged bloke "lure fishing for pike" with his teenage kids at Arley, on slipway, for all the world to see. Spoke with him as BAA member and he had no BAA card, no EA licence and allegedly no knowledge of close season. Following my advice he packed away and went home and seemed genuinely remorseful that he had broken the law. Looking at his tactics and gear, he was obviously a very occasional angler and fish stocks were never under threat. Better him than gits who know what they are doing and try and sneak a few hours with all the gear, in full knowledge that they are taking the ****. We must all be vigilant and confront the idiots who bring our sport into disrepute, whether fishing illegally, behaving like yobs, leaving litter or mistreating fish. Tight lines all on the 16th.