The magical June 16th will soon be upon us and our local rivers are looking in top condition for the start of the new season.

A lot of the silver fish, mainly roach and bream, will be shoaled up, so there could be big catches in some places and lots of barren areas with nothing at all.

Hopefully, as the season progresses, the fish will gradually spread out.

Now, let’s talk boring angling politics . . . how many of you are members of any angling club, syndicate, organisation or trust which puts money aside to fight in court for angling protection?

I would imagine the figure is very low.

I would like to see some sort of compulsory independent national licence which would cover all branches of angling – coarse, sea and game.

I know we have the Angling Trust, which is doing a sterling job, but it’s not compulsory to join and the current apathy amongst anglers means all we do is moan between ourselves and do nothing.

It’s about time we got off our backsides and spent some money helping angling as a whole, instead of forking out a fortune on gear and bait.

I know that it sounds as if I’m attacking anglers. I’m not, but if we don’t step up to the plate and fight for our future with money, we might as well kiss goodbye to our hobby as we know it.

We really have to grab the bull by the horns and do something.

The whole industry has to act, including tackle manufacturers, tackle shops, landowners with water on their property, canal owners, the environment agency and last but not least, us fishermen.

We need to raise funds so that we can compete with the RSPB, English Nature, the councils of this land, DEFRA and all the single species organisations that are eroding our sport.

All you anglers out there should start thinking about our sport, instead of just your own enjoyment.

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