MONTHLY BRIEF­ING

April 2008 www​.spey​fish​ery​board​.com

PAD­DLERS ON THE RIVER SPEY: GUID­ANCE FOR ANGLERS

[Image of pad­dlers on the river Spey]

The River Spey, as well as being one of the world’s finest sal­mon fish­ing rivers, is also pop­u­lar with oth­er water sports users, includ­ing canoeists and rafters.

In 2003 the Land Reform (Scot­land) Act gave recre­ation­al access rights to the gen­er­al pub­lic to most land and water with­in Scot­land. This right applies to recre­ation­al, com­mer­cial and edu­ca­tion­al activ­ity, includ­ing walk­ing, cyc­ling, horse-rid­ing and canoe­ing. In 2005 the Land Reform Act con­firmed the right of reas­on­able and respons­ible ped­es­tri­an access (includ­ing walk­ers, cyc­lists, horses) over land (except cur­til­age and cropped field) and to non-motor­ised craft over water.

Guid­ance on respons­ible beha­viour for both recre­ation­al users and land man­agers is con­tained with­in the Scot­tish Out­door Access Code, a copy of which is avail­able online at www​.out​door​ac​cess​-scot​land​.com

Fur­ther­more, the Scot­tish Canoe Asso­ci­ation has pro­duced detailed guid­ance under the ​“Paddler’s Access Code” (avail­able from www​.canoescot​land​.com), about which the major­ity of canoeists and rafters are aware. Pad­dler guid­ance, spe­cif­ic to the Spey, is avail­able online at www​.spey​guide​.co​.uk

Anglers on the River Spey are quite likely to see canoeists and rafters when they are fish­ing, approach­ing anglers from upstream. The Spey Fish­ery Board con­tin­ues to work with the Scot­tish Canoe Asso­ci­ation to try to ensure that both anglers and pad­dlers exper­i­ence as little dis­rup­tion as pos­sible to their sport. To facil­it­ate this the Board and the Asso­ci­ation have pro­duced the Guide for Anglers prin­ted over­leaf. It is hoped that this will allow both anglers and pad­dlers to enjoy their respect­ive sports with the min­im­um of dis­rup­tion. The key to har­mony on the river is mutu­al respect as well as cour­tesy between all river users.

SPEY FISH­ERY BOARD RESEARCH OFFICE 1 NETH­ER BORLUM COT­TAGE. KNOCKANDO, MORAY­SHIRE, AB38 7SD TEL: 01340 810841 FAX: 01340 810842 E‑MAIL: research@​speyfisheryboard.​com

Anglers can reas­on­ably expect that:

• The lead­er of the pad­dling group will endeav­our to ensure that anglers are aware of their pres­ence, either by shout­ing or blow­ing a whistle that can be heard above the water noise.

• Once con­tact has been estab­lished, the lead­er will request the angler’s pre­ferred line of pas­sage for the pad­dling group.

• The pad­dlers will wish to cause min­im­um noise and dis­turb­ance to the angler and will move in the dir­ec­tion indic­ated, water depth and obstruc­tions per­mit­ting. Where the angler is stand­ing on the bank, the dir­ec­tion indic­ated to the pad­dlers may include going towards the oppos­ite bank, towards the angler and even under the rod. If the angler is wad­ing, canoeists will be happy, where pos­sible, to pass behind the angler i.e. between the angler and the bank.

• Pad­dler group lead­ers will endeav­our to have their group pass in fairly close form­a­tion, allow­ing for a reas­on­able, safe dis­tance between each boat, thus min­im­ising the time taken to pass.

• If an angler is play­ing a fish, pad­dlers nor­mally wait upstream until the fish is landed or until there is an indic­a­tion from the angler or ghil­lie that it is safe to pass in the angler’s pre­ferred direction.

• In the event of an inad­vert­ent cap­size, pad­dlers will do their utmost to affect effi­cient res­cue and refloat the upturned canoe as soon as pos­sible. Anglers will know that the River Spey is fast-flow­ing and its cur­rents can catch out even the most exper­i­enced paddlers!

• Once past the angler, the pad­dler group will quietly con­tin­ue on their way down­stream. Pad­dlers will not ​“loiter” unne­ces­sar­ily or ​“play” in a pool where someone is fishing.

Anglers are reques­ted to:

• Acknow­ledge that they are aware of the pres­ence of the paddlers.

• Care­fully con­sider which line is most prac­tic­al for both angler and paddler.

• Give clear dir­ec­tion as to the pre­ferred route the craft should take.

• Refrain from cast­ing whilst boats pass by (although it is not always neces­sary to take in line).

• Only resume fish­ing once the boats have com­pletely passed the angler.

(Issued jointly by the Scot­tish Canoe Asso­ci­ation & the Spey Fish­ery Board.)

SPEY FISH­ERY BOARD RESEARCH OFFICE 1 NETH­ER BORLUM COT­TAGE. KNOCKANDO, MORAY­SHIRE, AB38 7SD TEL: 01340 810841 FAX: 01340 810842 E‑MAIL: research@​speyfisheryboard.​com