The Angling Trust has been working closely with competition creator Dave Harrell to grow the popular event still further, starting with more qualifying venues. These include, for the first time, rivers like the Tyne, Medway and middle Nene and also new sections of the Severn, Thames and Trent. With the competition now in its third year, the prize pot has grown substantially and the Angling Trust is also currently seeking a main title sponsor to boost the payouts still further.  

As it currently stands, subject to all tickets being sold, there will be 10 main prizes in the final ranging from £500 for 10th place, up to £12,000 to the winner. Section prizes of £250 will also be paid out every six pegs on both of the final days. Another change will see a new team prize. The teams will be made up of the three anglers who get through from each of the 24 qualifying matches with £450 paid to the winning team.  

"We've said all along that it is our intention to keep growing this fantastic competition," said Angling Trust Ambassador Dave Harrell. "These latest changes will allow an additional 240 anglers to take part and the prize money will grow considerably as a result. I am personally delighted with how the competition is developing and I’m looking forward to seeing it all unfold again from June. We've got some great new venues as well as established favourites and we'll have an additional 12 anglers in the final this time. It's going to be a great competition!"

Angling Trust will introduce a new entry process for 2015 with anglers invited to apply for their tickets from 23rd March. There will be a 3 week window in which applications can be made which will be followed by a random computerised draw to determine ticket allocation. Any remaining tickets will then go on general sale.  Further updates of the entry process will be available shortly at www.anglingtrust.net

Ben Thompson of the Angling Trust said; “The competition is growing year on year and the demand for 2014 was incredible. We want to ensure as many of our members as possible have the opportunity to compete without the new developments affecting the quality or integrity of the competition. In light of the competitions' growing popularity, changes to the booking process for 2015 are important and we will provide clear and concise guidance prior to launching this year’s competition.”

The final will take place on the River Wye at Hereford over the weekend of 14th/15th November and an additional section below the old river bridge will be included for the first time. Spectators will be welcome to watch the final, free of charge and there will be a bookmaker present on both days for competitors and public to have a flutter.

QUALIFIER VENUES AND DATES

   1) Sat 20th June – River Calder, Mirfield
   2) Sat 27th June – River Swale, Morton
   3) Sun 5th July – Bristol Avon, Newbridge to Saltford
   4) Sun 12th July – River Trent, Newark Dyke
   5) Sun 19th July – River Tyne, Corbridge to Wylam
  *6) Sat 25th July – River Trent, Holme Marsh
   7) Sat 1st August – River Weaver, Northwich
   8) Sat 8th August – River Soar, Sutton Bonnington
   9) Sun 16th August – River Yare, Langley
  10) Sat 22nd August – River Tees, Bowsfield to Yarm
 *11) Sun 23rd August – River Nene, Orton
  12) Sat 29th August – River Don, Sprotborough
 *13) Sat 5th September – River Severn, Bewdley
  14) Sun 6th September – Great Ouse, Littleport
  15) Sun 13th September – River Wye, Breinton to Eign
  16) Sat 19th September – River Severn, Bridgnorth
  17) Sun 27th September – River Trent, Burton
  18) Sat 3rd October – River Thames, Medley
  19) Sat 10th October – River Severn, Upton
 *20) Sun 11th October – River Medway, Barming
  21) Sat 17th October – Warwickshire Avon, Eckington
 *22) Sun 18th October – River Severn, Shrewsbuy
  23) Sat 24th October – Yorkshire Ouse, Hunters Lodge to Linton-on-Ouse
  24) Sun 1st November – River Nene, March
    
*NEW VENUES

Final
14th/15th November – River Wye, Hereford
1st Reserve Weekend  21st/22nd November – River Wye, Hereford

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

View the Video

The National Crucian Conservation Project group was launched in 2014 following widespread concerns about the loss of crucian habitat and the threat to the species through hybridisation caused by inappropriate stocking practices. It aims to: "Promote the conservation of the species and its habitat and to encourage the development of well managed crucian fisheries."

Plans include:

• A regional network of growing on centres to increase the availability of wild crucian stocks to compliment increased crucian stockings
• A ‘pure’ crucian accreditation scheme
• Factsheets on creating and managing waters, avoiding hybridisation and a crucian ID guide
• Courses or events for fishery owners and managers

The video, which features scenes from Catching the Impossible, was filmed at waters belonging to Newbury and Godalming angling associations and shows crucians from the Environment Agency's fish farm at Calverton being stocked into new waters that will be developed as future Crucian fisheries.

Angling Artist Chris Turnbull, one of the projects founding members said:

"In what seems like almost no time at all the National Crucian Conservation Project has really taken off and is attracting great support from clubs and private fisheries all around the country. People are waking up to the fact that crucian carp are a fabulous species that needs all the help it can get. Just two years ago we could see a time when  crucians might be on the verge of disappearing altogether, whereas today more, new, bespoke crucian fisheries are being created. Not only does this offer hope for a bright future for crucians, it also shows anglers can be a strong force for conservation when they put their minds to it."

Angling Trust Campaign Chief Martin Salter added:

"It's been great to have the support and assistance from the guys at Fishing Britain and to be able to use quality footage from renowned wildlife film maker Hugh Miles in our quest to create better prospects for this wonderful little fish. We hope that many more angling clubs and fishery owners will be inspired to create more diverse stillwater  fisheries rather than simply stocking to the rafters with king carp and all manner of ghastly hybrids and ornamentals."

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The strength of feeling on this subject has once again been illustrated in the Angling Trust's current angling survey, which is still open until October 31st, and in regular representations to both the Trust and carp fishing magazines and organisations.

The Trust has been very encouraged by the willingness of Sarah Chare, the new Head of Fisheries at the EA, to consider this and other possible reforms of the rod licence regime. Any changes could not be implemented until April 2016 at the earliest however, because of the constraints of the commercial rod licence contract.

The Angling Trust believes that the current arrangements need to change as they don't seem fair to carp and other specimen anglers using three rods, but being charged for four. On the other hand any changes must not reduce the funds available to the EA for the restocking of waters, tackling fish health issues and delivering fisheries improvement and habitat restoration works, particularly at a time when the government is cutting grant funding to the Agency.

Other issues under discussion will include the possibility of abolishing the junior licence in order to encourage more youngsters to take up fishing and introducing a 365 day rolling licence rather than the current 31st March end date.

Angling Trust Campaigns Chief Martin Salter said:

"Even tench and barbel anglers like myself, who usually fish with either one or two rods at a time, would sometimes like to use a third rod to switch quickly to a new method or to stalk a fish showing in the margins or well away from our baited areas. Whilst many anglers I know won't buy two separate licences at the moment, they would be happy to pay a fair price to occasionally use a third rod. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for my own licence if it meant that more juniors under 16 could fish for free, because anything that attracts youngsters into our sport has to be good for the future of angling."

The moves by the Angling Trust and the Environment Agency have been welcomed by leading figures in the carp world.

Simon Crow, editor of Carp-Talk with over twenty years' experience working in the carp fishing trade, added:

"The majority of fisheries up and down the country allow carp anglers to use a maximum of three rods. It therefore seems a waste that we need to buy two two-rod licences to cater for this. It would be so much more user friendly if a single rod licence was introduced to cater for this."

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal said:

"We welcome the willingness of Sarah Chare to listen to the views of the angling community and to consider carefully taking action to make the licence system fairer for carp and specimen anglers. One of the most important parts of the Angling Trust's job is to represent the views of anglers to the Environment Agency and government. We need to find a workable way forward that is fairer to carp and specimen anglers without impacting significantly on the funds that pay for the vital work of the Agency's fisheries department."

Sarah Chare, Deputy Director of Fisheries, Biodiversity and Geomorphology from the Environment Agency added:

"The Environment Agency is starting a review of rod licence arrangements that will not come into effect until April 2016. This review may also affect the cost of rod licences, which have remained at the same level for the last 5 years. As part of this review we are talking with the Angling Trust and other partners to understand the views of the angling groups they represent. Within government rules we will be seeking the fairest deal for anglers that secures the best future for angling through the services the Environment Agency delivers both directly and through the partners we fund."

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The new licence will be available for just £29.50 a year (£19.50 for under 22s) for coaches who have either a UKCC Level 1 or Level 2 angling coach qualification.  The new licence also includes public liability insurance worth £59.99, along with all the benefits of Angling Trust membership, worth £25.

The Angling Trust is the only organisation which offers angling coaches a Licence to Practise scheme, which proves to parents, young people, funding organisations and others that coaches are appropriately qualified and regularly engage in training to maintain the highest possible coaching standards. 

All coaches licensed by the Angling Trust will also be encouraged to engage in continuous professional development (CPD) events over the course of the 3 year Licence.  A coach attending no CPD events will be referred to as a ‘Licensed Coach’; those who attend more than 3 CPD events over a 3-year period will be recognised as ‘Advanced Licensed Coaches’. 

The Angling Trust has established a number of Coaching Specialisms and these will also count as CPD events as described above.  Further information and courses will be launched in the near future.  A new web site with an online booking form will also be available from spring 2015.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal said:

“Recent court cases have highlighted the need for every sector in society to ensure that young people and vulnerable adults are protected when they are being coached without supervision from their parents.  This new licensing scheme offers a really affordable way for qualified coaches to demonstrate that they are quality assured.”

Ben Snook, the Angling Trust’s Coach Development Manager said:

“We want all qualified coaches to get a licence so that we can guarantee high standards of coaching within a really simple system that everyone can understand.  It’s vitally important that parents and their children have the confidence to learn to fish with someone who has an official licence from the National Governing Body for angling.  We have cut the cost of the licence dramatically to make it more affordable and it now offers unbelievably good value for money.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Each programme will see the contestants travelling to a different country with very distinct climates, landscapes and habitats. In each location they’ll be tested using a wide range of techniques and will face challenges which combine their own experience and talents with newly learnt skills. Over the course of the series, the competitors will be eliminated leaving the others to move onto the next country and the next set of challenges.

So who is brave enough to swap the Thames for the Zambezi? Or trade Lake Windermere for an alligator-infested swamp, or the coast of Wales for the shores of Central America?

The production team are currently looking for a diverse range of fishing fanatics from all over the UK to take part of the series and push their fishing skills to the extreme…

The talent search is open to non-professional anglers aged 18 and over and resident in the UK. Anyone interested applying to take part should contact: thebigfish@bbc.co.uk or call the team on 0117 974 2349

*Please note The Big Fish is a working title only.

The match was won by local angler Nick Burton at peg 28, the famous ‘Stump’ peg with 26 bream for a 121-10-0 total. Nick used open-end feeder tactics and fed two pints of casters plus 1/2kg of chopped worms with lobworm on the hook.  Next door at peg 27, Brian Rigby had exactly the same amount of bream, but fell short of qualifying by just 8oz after weighing 121-2-0 on the same tactics as the winner.

On the other side of the winner, at peg 29, another local angler Ian Shepherd finished third overall with 12 bream for 62-14-0.  More big weights followed with Scott Geens on 59-2-0 from peg 60 and Steve Hemingray with 41-0-0 from peg 53.

The incredible match didn’t just centre around bream catches either as B zone was won by Simon Deakin with 21-8-0, a catch made up largely of one carp weighing 21-6-0!

Top 5 Results
1. Nick Burton 121-10-0
2. Brian Rigby 121-2-0
3. Ian Shepherd 62-14-0
4. Scott Geens 59-2-0
5. Steve Hemingray 41-0-0

Qualifiers for the RiverFest final
Nick Burton
Simon Deakin
Scott Geens

Two qualifying matches now remain to decide the six anglers who will join the 54 others in the big money November final.  The next match takes place on the Yorkshire Ouse on Saturday 25th October.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

• Major draining of 200-year-old London canal for critical safety repairs
• 7.5million gallons, the equivalent to nearly 300,000 baths of water and 14 Olympic swimming pools
• Over 500 fish were rescued, including several 25lb carp and around 350 rare European Eels

The Regent's Canal has been drained between Johnson Lock and Limehouse Basin in east London to allow specialist brick-layers to repair large, 2-3ft-wide voids which have developed in the canal wall.  Works are expected to start this week and the area will remain empty for ten weeks, re-opening ahead of Christmas.

Over 500 fish were rescued and relocated upstream, including carp, bream and perch and around 350 European Eels.  A team of two sent an electric current into the water to encourage the fish not to swim and then scooped them out with nets. 

Born in the Sargasso Sea, the eels travel for three years to the Thames Estuary to spend up to 25 years of their life in London canals before returning to breed.

John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager at Canal & River Trust, says: “The Regent’s Canal is an important habitat for the protected European Eel and the Trust takes our responsibility to care for the fish in our waterways very seriously.  The electric current does not harm the fish at all and it makes it much easier for us to move them to safety.  The essential works to improve the brickwork of the Regent’s will not affect their habitat once the canal is refilled.”

In November, the Canal & River Trust will begin a major overhaul of its waterways as part of a five-month, multi-million pound maintenance programme to canals and rivers across England and Wales.  As part of this, next month the public will be given the rare chance to go behind-the-scenes and venture into the bottom of the Regent’s canal, giving them the opportunity to see up close some of the finest examples of working industrial heritage in the world.

The essential maintenance will include the replacement of worn-out lock gates and repairs to aqueducts, reservoirs and tunnels. The works will also provide thousands of visitors the rare chance to go behind-the-scenes and venture into the bottom of drained lock chambers.

Richard Parry, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, says: “The Canal & River Trust cares for a remarkable 2,000 mile network of historic waterways, ensuring they work as they were designed to 200 years ago. The Regent's Canal drainage and repair work is just one of many projects we undertake which also give the public a rare glimpse beneath the surface of our waterways and a chance to appreciate the work we do to care for these national treasures.”

The charity carries out a year round programme of works to maintain and repair 2,000 miles of canals and rivers so they can be enjoyed by the 33,000 boaters that use the network and 12 million towpath visitors each year.  Many of the biggest projects are carried out during the winter months to minimise the impact on waterway users.

Source: Canal and River Trust

Scottish Water admitted to failing to properly maintain the sulphuric acid tank in accordance with recommended practice. The cause of the spill was identified as the severe corrosion of a bolt securing a container holding this toxic substance. The concentrated acid is used by Scottish Water as part of the water treatment process and is highly toxic to fish. The escape of the acid caused extensive damage to the ecology of the River Devon and many dead trout, perch and sticklebacks were observed on the margins of the River Devon as far as 6km downstream of the spill.

Robert Younger of Fish Legal said:

"This appalling pollution incident caused substantial loss of fishing to the anglers of the Devon Angling Association, and Fish Legal will do everything in its power to ensure that Scottish Water takes full responsibility for paying for all the damage caused. This was a careless incident by Scottish Water that could and should have been avoided."

David Mudie of the Devon Angling Association said:

"The 2011 pollution spill caused the total destruction of the native brown trout population over 6 kilometres of the river Devon and even now trout numbers are a shadow of their pre-incident levels. The Association's members have now suffered a substantial loss of fishing opportunity over a number of years and we sincerely hope that Scottish Water address our losses as soon as possible"

William Rundle, Head Solicitor of Fish Legal, said:

“Fish Legal has a long and proud history of successfully representing its members who have suffered the terrible effects of pollution, and will seek to do so again here for the Devon Angling Association. We hope that by securing compensation for the Devon Angling Association we can help it restore its fishery, whilst also serving as a deterrent to future ‘would-be’ polluters. As a not-for-profit membership association we depend on our member clubs, riparian owners and other fishery members’ support in order to do this work for them, but with Fish Legal membership these members can be assured of our determination to get the best result possible for them in their time of need.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

I expect you are most likely thinking that this must be my year; that at last I am going to succeed and really get into those big fish I have been dreaming of! This exact kind of thought is the mindset that programmes you to succeed in fishing and I will explain why it works and how to harness it much further. You might ask who are you to talk about fishing success and all I can say is for starters is that in 2006 I decided to catch the world record carp. Subsequently within 9 days of fishing at Rainbow Lake I had hooked that specific fish.

My detailed technical preparations involving bait design, very unusual bait applications and formats used and very particular attention given to every single item of tackle chosen and sourced for this mission all paid off. But most of all it was the mindset and constant self talk which paid off. This heightened my awareness and sensitivity to everything I could possibly harness within my environment and own past big fish experiences and focused them all towards my goal.

Winter and early spring are times when you simply must be positive at all times and be at the peak of your abilities as an angler because being in such an alert frame of mind maximises whatever chances may be available. But far more importantly still is that with this sharpened mindset you will actively proactively create your own unique catching opportunities and competitive edges!

When you focus in as great a detail on every single aspect of your fishing challenge then this crystallizes everything at your disposal so it is readily available at your finger tips. There is a reason why top match men practice the way they do. Practice does not make perfect. The truth is that perfect practice makes perfect. I have fished with and beaten a guy who matched for the England Sea fishing team, using baiting tactics and technical strategies from my carp fishing.

I have also beaten a guy in catching some of the very biggest carp from a very hard lake. This guy match fished for England as a youth and was technically speaking among the most refined carp anglers I have fished against. I was able to out fish him by using adapted details of lessons learned from sea fishing and river fishing. You are wondering how does this relate to your own winter carp fishing I guess so I will expand on what I have just described!

What I did to beat these two obviously highly talented and experienced anglers was to use my mind to focus extremely intently upon everything that could possibly be relevant that I ever experienced, read, seen, invented, imagined, or intuited. This included every single thing in fishing I ever observed in the past and present, and my gut feelings about it all in regards to the present fishing situation and challenges in detail that this had. This mental focus is really what Kevin Maddocks was referring to when he wrote about having a positive mental attitude when winter fishing.

To be a sharp carp fisherman is not to have the latest baits and equipment, but to hone your mind shaper than anyone else! This is what Richard walker did, and one of the things that made Rod Hutchinson stand out and what made so many truly great pioneers in carp fishing do so well. In fact so many of these were so sharp that other anglers thought they were crazy, and Duncan Kay is a perfect example of a great angler and technical bait pioneer too that really had vision and  as a result in the seventies he was well ahead of the crowd!

Modern anglers today have mainly lost this creative mind power which assures great success. This is because most anglers are simply following the herd to a massive degree, and copying whatever fashionable baits and methods are the latest to be advertised or talked about in the carp magazines. I hope you can see how limiting this is to success!

For a start, using the same readymade bait as everyone else means you have just lost any competitive edge over them. But the entire point of bait is to be an edge, not simply over cautious carp but obviously over other anglers too. When other anglers catch your target fish on exactly the same readymade bait as you are using think about how much this drastically reduces your own chances!

I recommend that you use the winter and spring to seriously reassess everything you are thinking about your carp fishing. You have many blocks to your success which are actually caused by your own limited and out of date thinking. Carp are dynamically evolving creatures and every single one is constantly day by day individually changing on a genetic level, just like you! Many people do did not realise for example that your genetics are not fixed and that you are adapting genetically in response to the food you eat! I hope this makes you think!

There is no perfect diet! This is because every individual is unique in their genetic make up and details arising from this dynamic and every experience past and present an individual has. This applies to humans and carp equally. For example, a bait with an exact match to bloodworm amino acid profile may be invented that is in a format that physically fools carp. However, once enough carp are hooked on this enough times they will change, even to the point of avoiding consuming bloodworm totally.

Carp have evolved not merely to be acutely sensitive to potential opportunities for energy and nutrition, but also for threats and dangers from these. Not many anglers realise that the actual specific baits that they use directly condition carp to the danger that is associated with them. This is a big reason why I avoid using readymade baits!

I make my own homemade baits designing my own boilie recipes mainly using ingredients which are not used in readymade baits! It takes visualization and careful thought to do this and I do help loads of anglers achieve this very successfully. I do this because it works and because my greater satisfaction is in knowing my experiences are empowering other anglers to catch their dream fish! It has amazed me to discover that in fact doing this is far more satisfying than the highs of catching all the lake records and personal best fish I have over the past 35 years!

These personal catches are fleeting moments of ecstasy that is for sure, but these memories and feelings fade like photographs over time. But getting catch reports from anglers whom you have helped to catch new records using homemade baits on their water, to beat readymade baits such as Bait craft, Richworth, and Mainline etc, feels so fantastic!

So back to what you can control most of all in your fishing, and to positively creating your own detailed guaranteed success in advance!

The only place you can actually do perfect practice for fishing whether to win an international match, or to catch the biggest carp in your lake is to keep on doing perfect practice in your own mind! This is one thing I have a feeling that Terry Hearn for instance spends much of his time doing; far more than the average angler. This involves anything from location and fish behaviour patterns and feeding spots and how they change over time in a lake, to visualizing exactly how your target fish enter the swim, how they sample baits and respond to the presence of terminal tackle and baits on the bottom.

Spending far longer in a swim than average weekend anglers, days and days, you kind of become part of it, and get to know its secrets, natural rhythms, moods, observing and sensing everything moving, changing happening as day turns to night, and night turns to day, learning more and more about how and why the fish behave the way they do, and why.

For instance I learnt by experimentation, comparative analysis of set-ups and tackle arrangements with different lines and back leads, sinking tungsten tubing and more that it was important to pin everything down right from the rod tip on a water I fished for 8 years. Often the biggest fish in there would stop feeding if they felt any line or anything like it.

They developed a behaviour of spinning on line once hooked, and coming straight in giving you no resistance, and searching for another line to use as a lever to pull the hook out, and they did this immediately as close as the bank at you feet and that is no exaggeration, and I lost some near forty pound fish by them employing this evolved behaviour.

This is before I got wise to it when a few fish did this requiring me to exploit numerous back leads sometimes 7 or 9, which always made lesser aware anglers think I was mad. I also pulled my rod tips away from the edge of the water so only the first 2 rigs were over the waters edge. This had a hidden benefit too as by doing this I began to convert more single bleep bites as I had removed the buffering effect of having over half the rod sticking out beyond the buzzer acting like a great big shock absorber defeating the entire point of hook penetration!

Think about it and try it because I know you will have never seen this in magazines but it really does work, but use a line clip above your reels to establish that essential shock effect too! My best result of my own evolution there was a 46 pound leather only caught once previously. (It later occurred to me that it was probably an Essex record for a leather at that time in the late nineties though I never publicized the catch.)

You can get better and stronger and far more detailed in your fishing visualization at any time and any place; and not just in your bivvy! You can deeply detail visualize at home while making homemade baits, when making up rigs and when taking valuable hours manually sharpening your hooks well past the fineness of any chemically sharpened hooks! Very few articles have ever been on the mental side of fishing yet I make this point for this simple reason; every single action you take in fishing is a result of your mind and your thoughts and because of this your degree of success is totally in your own mind!

Perfect practice visualization of exactly the goal you have in mind hones your awareness and opens your consciousness to everything you need to improve upon and refine further and further until you succeed, so that success really genuinely does literally become simply a matter of time!

Perfect practice visualization is the most powerful thing you can constantly do in your fishing so I recommend you think about this! Revealed in my unique readymade bait and homemade bait carp and catfish bait secrets ebooks is far more powerful information look up my unique website (Baitbigfish) and see my biography below for details of my ebooks deals right now!

By Tim Richardson.

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Visitors enjoyed a host of activities that were organised place along the Thames Tideway  including paddle boarding, sailing, kayaking, angling, foreshore exploration, river dipping, wildlife spotting and a heritage walk.

The Angling Trust organised held a successful match at Strand on the Green, downstream of Kew Bridge, and congratulations went to worthy winner Clive Westwood for his fine feeder caught catch of 34lbs 8ozs of mainly bream which earned him a lovely trophy and a cool £500. Second was James Thornhill from the charity Get Hooked on Fishing (which also received a £200 donation from the participating anglers) with 21.05 followed by Keith Clark with 16.15 for third place. The sponsors Thames Tideway Tunnel have confirmed for next year and the organising committee are already making plans for a bigger event for 2015 on the last Sunday in September. This may include a 60 peg pairs match over two sections.

The Angling Trust's Martin Salter, one of the event organisers, said:  " Despite the bright sunshine and the less than ideal conditions for fishing there were some good bags recorded and it was great to see so many people out on the river celebrating what the Thames Tideway has to offer and to mark World Rivers Day. With the new super sewer now being given the go ahead and our sponsors already confirmed for next year we can really look forward to a brighter and fish filled future for London's river. TideFest will not only be a bigger and better match in 2015, it will provide an all important health check on the condition of the Thames Tideway. "

TideFest is a new river Thames event taking place to highlight and celebrate the recreational importance of the Thames Tideway to Londoners. TideFest is part of the Totally Thames festival and is supported by the Living Wandle Landscape Partnership and the Thames Tunnel Now Coalition which includes RSPB, London Wildlife Trust, Thames21, WWF, River Thames Society and the Angling Trust.

World Rivers Day began in Canada 30 years ago but became officially recognised as a global event by the United Nations in 2005 as part of their 'Water for Life' decade. It takes place every year on the last Saturday in September and involves thousands people across the planet in projects as diverse as identifying illegal dumping sites in Russia, holding community awareness programmes in West Africa, organising community clean ups in Poland and highlighting the need for better sewage treatment for the River Ganges in India.

It was the prospect of an ever cleaner river Thames in the heart of London that brought wildlife and conservation groups together to organise TideFest. Last year saw long overdue improvements at Mogden Sewage Treatment Works as part of a wider £5.4bn plan to clean up the river including the £635m Lee Tunnel, and the £4.2bn Thames Tideway Tunnel which the Angling Trust looks forward to seeing completed.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News