I just had to post this. I live literally a hop, skip and jump from the top end of Crystal Palace Park in London. As with most London parks there is a fishing pond. Unlike others CP is well managed enclosed and is lovely little haven.

My preferred fly and trotting river is in Kent and well over an hour away on a good day. So I emailed the membership secretary .......... several times ...... eventually a very polite and apologetic email came back saying they tend to deal with enquiries in batches.

We have a waiting list of over 400 with only a few availabilities a year. Currently we estimate the wait to be 23 years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Far from being annoyed I think it is a wonderful situation that people are still so enthralled by this sport they will indeed wait and want to be a member.

Still, amazing 23 years. ............ wow.

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Carl

http://www.wandlepiscators.net/
http://teiseangling.co.uk/index.htm

TOMORROW THE TRENT COULD BE YOUR FISHERY! When are YOU going to JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST?

Carlos

Clubs I know of,like salisbury and district didn't have a waiting list ten years ago,now its about ten years.Others even 40-50 years
This sport must be getting more popular?

Or is the good fishing harder to find these days?

I think it's a bit of both. Anglers are more mobile now and whereas the membership of clubs like Salisbury & District had a majority of locally based members 20 years ago, the increased mobility combined with a move of interest from stillwaters to rivers and also demand for quality fishing has increased demand for good river fishing.

One of my clubs has a waiting list of about 10 years now and even closes off the waiting list now and again to avoid giving prospective members an unrealistic waiting time.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

Carlos
that used to be a very good fishery
guess it still is


Similar situation near me.Wimbledon Park,opposite the All England Club has a cracking lake.can you get in,can you heck.Used to get day tickets years ago as we knew the bailiff.You have to literaly wait until someone snuffs it before you get the chance