Rod Licence by Direct Debit

[Chris Plumb]

I'm sure many of us have had letters from the EA inviting us to apply for our Rod Licences by DD. About time they introduced this Nationwide. I've already sent mine back - no excuses for forgetting now!!

 

If anyone wants a DD form you can get one from the EA by ringing 01925 5424000.

 

 

Chris

[Zinky]

Done and dusted mine was posted yesterday.

But how about a discount service for all us direct debit users

[Jon Hedges]

Keep your fingers crossed that they don't get "lost in the post" like thousands did in the midlands when introduced last year.

[Paul_D]

Paying 'on-line' was good, this is better....!

[snotty]

On the face of it a good idea, long overdue but on the basis of ... use it or lose it, I may still stick with my local post office 'cos they are under threat of closure and need everyone's help.

 

It has already been said... last years mess up with 'lost' licences was shameful. I would rather pay my money and walk out of the door grasping it tightly in my grubby little hand, but then I'm just an old fashioned lad...

[Guest Ferret1959]

I get my cheap license by DD and have had no probs.

For me it's great 'cos I don't have to go down to the P.O. and get it.

[Vagabond]

snotty:

On the face of it a good idea, long overdue but on the basis of ... use it or lose it, I may still stick with my local post office 'cos they are under threat of closure and need everyone's help.

 

It has already been said... last years mess up with 'lost' licences was shameful. I would rather pay my money and walk out of the door grasping it tightly in my grubby little hand, but then I'm just an old fashioned lad...

Agree absolutely - I have no trouble at all with our local village P.O. I use it as much as possible.

 

Also, I buy two licences, one migratory fish, and another "ordinary" licence for the rare occasions on which I use more than two rods. There is a box to tick on the DD form, but as it is non-specific as to the type of the second licence, I don't trust them to apply logic and get it right(ie send me one of each) - I don't want to end up being debited for two salmon licences!

 

Old-fashioned maybe, but I prefer to stay in control of what's going on. I could do without the stress in late March of wondering if my licences are going to turn up or not

:confused:

[chevin]

What do you guys get for your licence fees? When I first took up fresh water fishing I saw it as a matter of honour to buy my licences each year, and invariably I did so before that start of each New Year. As time went by however, I began to wonder what I was paying for, and when the River Authority decided to dredge the Upper Ouse, I asked them why, there was nothing wrong with the fishing, the farmers had no problems with the river as a bit of winter flooding was a good thing anyway. They told me that it was to make the river navigable for water craft. I told them that boats would never be able to navigate the Upper Ouse whatever they did, it would remain too narrow and too shallow for them. The reply was that canoes would be able to do so. Now that really did impress me, that was all we needed on a fishery like the Upper Ouse - canoes going through a swim while we were trying to catch chub. I asked them how much canoeists paid for their licences and I was told that they didn't need one. "Ah" I said, "so our licence fees are being used to make the river navigable for people who do not have to pay to use the river?" The silence to that question made the answer quite obvious. That dredging and subsequent ones ruined the fishing on that part of the river for years and killed off more indigenous cray fish than anglers have ever killed! Indeed, I used to follow the dredger and return any living crays I could find and any river pebbles to so that they would have somewhere to hide. The dredgings were simply dropped on the bank which made the banks higher and more difficult to negotiate and also provided an environment in which nettles proliferated. Trees that had been planted to provide cover for fish were ripped out and tossed aside. In short, the river was brutally vandalised and nobody gained because instead of growing either side of runs, the reedmace and bull rushes choked the whole of the river, so even the canoeists for whom the River Authority had so much concern couldn't get through anyway. I was angry after the first dredging but the second one was even more devastating and I resolved at that time that I would never pay one more penny to a fund that was destroying so much of what I was paying to the ACA to protect! Pollution and vandalism are not that far removed. From that day onwards I never bought another licence. I hope that you are getting a better deal these days and that your licence fee is going towards protecting your fisheries.

[Spindle]

I don't think the dredging pleased Mr. Walker much either, did it Chevin!

[chevin]

spindle:

I don't think the dredging pleased Mr. Walker much either, did it Chevin!

It certainly didn't, it annoyed a number of Aylesbury anglers who had been fishing the Upper Ouse for much longer than Dick had been fishing it too. In fact it annoyed just about everyone who fished the river except, perhaps a few members of clubs such as Buckingham A.C. Skefco A.C. and an Aylesbury club that was run by Herbie Cobbold who wanted to go match fishing there. Even after the dredging it was still no good for match fishing and the chub were in such poor condition for some years, they were hardly worth fishing for. It really was an act of vandalism - nothing less! All paid for by anglers!

 

I remember FJT having a conversation with an angler who thought that the dredging was a good thing, and Fred pointed out that at one time he could go to just about any part of the Upper Ouse and be confident of catching a chub of over 4lbs. "Ah yes" said the angler, "but that was in the olden days". The olden days ended at the beginning of the dredging.

 

[ 10. January 2003, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: chevin ]