Photo 01 - yes its more rubbish from last week.
Rule changes
regarding night fishing!
Today we had a meeting with the River Tweed Bailiffs to discuss the
ongoing assault on our lochs. The first thing to note is that the meeting took
place 8 weeks after our request was made via the police. Not the quickest
response I have come across! Anyway the two bailiffs who attended were eager to
assist us and made some positive sounds and after what was a lengthy discussion
involving the bailiffs, Loch keeper Mr Xxxxx, club bailiff Aaron, member Les and I
we came to some appropriate conclusions.
We hope that the measures we are implementing will not impinge on
angler’s freedom to fish but be clear OUR
NEW RULES MUST BE FOLLOWED PRECISELY OR YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO HEAVY PENALTIES!
We are very keen to proceed with a prosecution to send out a clear
message that we will not tolerate illegal fishing on our lochs! Now that means
that anyone fishing without a permit will be subject to prosecution under the
River Tweed Protection Order! We will allow a variation in that if you contact Mr Xxxxx our loch keeper and inform him of where and when you intend to fish on
the lochs he will at his discretion allow you to fish! This means you cannot just turn up at the lochs and commence fishing if
you have not contacted Mr Xxxxx! This of course does not apply to members of
the club,
With regards to night fishing which we will class as being between the
hours of 20.00hrs and 06.00hrs all anglers including members must let Mr Xxxxx know that they will be on the banks between these hours. We have mentioned this
before but have now formalised the arrangement with the authorities. The Tweed bailiffs will be
patrolling the lochs at night and they will prior to descending on to the lochs
enquire of Mr Xxxxx who has permission to be on the lochs at night. Please do not
allow yourselves to fall foul of this arrangement as the consequences may be
severe! Please note that the Tweed Rivers Bailiffs have the power to seize all
fishing equipment and any other items they deem to have been used in committing
the offence which may include your car!
We regret having to implement these measures but recent events involving
people from other countries carrying heavy and persistent poaching have left us
with no alternative. If you are fishing on our lochs with the required permit
you may take 4 Brown Trout or 4 Perch or a combination of both up to 4 fish. You may not harm or take any Eels or Pike! Normal
right thinking anglers should not be inconvenienced by these measures just
contact Mr Xxxxx and he will keep you right! Apologies for all the bold print but
this message must be transmitted our all that fish or intend to fish on the
lochs. The font size of the link to this site will be increased on our main
site to catch people’s attention.
Photo 02 - yet more rubbish!
Dumping!
Unbelievably there was another dumping incident into the Megget burn on
Sunday evening early Monday morning. You will see the volume of rubbish dumped
was significant with the usual mix of general rubbish, chemical containers and
gas cylinders. Again this rubbish was dumped unseen and it was down to Ian and
Barbara to clean this rubbish up before it got dispersed all over the loch.
It’s bad enough to dump the stuff but to do so into a watercourse and
give people extra work is unforgivable! Again the incident has been reported to
the authorities and this is now the sixth incident in a short period of time.
Short of having someone camping out under the bridge seven days a week there is
no hope of catching these wretched people. We await feedback from the
authorities although we are not hopeful of moving forward!
Outboard engines!
Yet again we have found ourselves in a pickle regarding these pieces of
equipment. Our Hidea engine was found to be malfunctioning after a recent hire.
It would run fine at low revs but on acceleration the drive seemed to let go
and the engine revs hit the roof. We suspected a problem with the rubber clutch
which is a mechanism that replaces the shear pin on modern engines.
On examination the propeller was found to be heavily dented indicating a
good thrashing on the rocks and on one of the leaves a chunk had been knocked
right out! Closer examination revealed that the “Shear pin” had been broken in
effect the rubber clutch that envelopes the drive shaft and provides a coupling
to the propeller body was at high torque conditions slipping the adhesive bond
having been broken.
The good thing about this method of protecting the machined gears in the
engine is that even if the bond is broken the system will allow you to limp
home at low revs. We unfortunately cannot pin down those responsible and are
now facing a good bill! I think it unlikely we can purchase a splined brass
collar with the rubber clutch bonded on more likely we will have to purchase a
complete propeller with the rubber clutch bonded in! My guess is £50 - £80 for
the assembly and that does not take into account the repairing teams time, at a
dealer the time would probably come to another £80.00 plus 20% VAT.
A ray of light however from our club precision engineer Elliot Fraser,
he will make a couple of holes and insert pins to a pre determined depth into
the rubber thereby allowing the pins to slice through the rubber if the
propeller is bashed against the rocks. It’s a great solution no doubt one we
will have to employ, yet again Luddites
at work! Thanks to Elliot & Mr Xxxxx for their work on this task!
From our
recommended dealers!
Received this week from Fisher direct some great offers for the fly
tier, a great deal if you are in the market for a pair of waders, super deal on
a midge tip fly line and a superb offer on a Scierra fishing bag! Click the
link to see all these great offers –
The wider
world in my view!
Double
whammy for Lord Snooty!
It’s like watching a pumped up bully in the ring with Mohamed Ali! Yes
Lord Snooty took another pounding firstly with the defection of Tory MP Douglas
Carswell and then from the snap opinion polls that came out after his talk on
the “Better together” campaign which turned out to be positive for the “Yes”
campaign.
Carswell could take no more of the shambolic policies of the Tories
especially on Europe. This millstone which hangs round Lord Snooty’s neck will
be the one that forces his last political breath as the leader of a bunch of
clueless poor punishing posh boys! To make matters worse Carswell has forced a
by election one which most of the pundits think he will win under the UKIP
banner!
Even worse is the fact that potential UKIP defectors are still hiding in
the Tory ranks lining up to defect to effect the death blow to Lord Snooty!
Weak Ed Milliband must be laughing up his sleeve as they take a six point lead
over the Tories in the latest opinion polls giving only mild hope to working
people in this country! Remember though that UKIP are extremists and as much use to the country as a parliament of posh boys and puppets!
In a similar vein Lord Snooty doing what he thought was his bit for the
better together campaign actually did nothing at all for the cause but moved
support to the Yes campaign. Yes visiting “safe” areas where it was unlikely he
would be put on the spot when he did come across working people he was met with
derision and contempt! You would have thought by now that in a country where
there are more pandas than Tory MPs he would have realised Tory posh boys are
not welcome here! Snooty also received a pasting from the CBI for their
shambolic stance on Europe!
Yes campaigners all over the country are asking for another quick visit
by our Prime Minister to boost the ratings yet again. Currently the Yes campaign
has moved up to 47% which is just a smidgeon below what is needed for
independence and a welcome Tory free zone! Lord Snooty’s premiership has been a
catastrophic mixture of lies and unparalleled bungling the pattern has not
changed – The slide continues!
Butcher
Thatcher’s Army!
The people of Galashiels have been subjected to an onslaught of heavy
tipper trucks working on the new borders rail link. Names such as Skene, City
Haul, NWH and Malcolm thunder over our roads doing what needs to be done to
meet the deadline of September next year. No doubt all this travelling will
have a detrimental effect on the road surfaces something which we all dread!
Some of our older readers may remember the pre closure Ravenscraig dispute well,
it was the Malcolm group who acted as scabs and broke through the picket lines
as the mechanised division of Butcher Thatcher’s Capitalist army! Disheartening
to see a company with such a background still operating!