I was in Blakeney last night, visiting my dear old friends Janet and Billy Temple. Billy will be remembered by many both fondly as a wonderful person and also as an outstanding winger and full-back, plying his trade on the pitches of north Norfolk for most of the last century.

He was also the bravest goalkeeper I have ever witnessed, but that’s by and by; we’re here to talk fishing. Which Billy did over steaming cups of tea. Billy and I fished a fair bit together back in the 70s, but he was always salt-oriented, whereas for me, the pull was towards fresh. But who cares about false divisions? The point is that I was rapt by Billy’s tales of the fish of the coast. Billy has lived a good, long fishing life and it shows... to the point that I guess if a mullet blows its nose, Billy will hear it.

Bass, mackerel, mullet, flounder, sea trout, smooth hound, rays, skate, peeler crabs, samphire, wow, I came away knowing the lot! But the point is that Billy talked with such knowledge, conviction and love, every word was poetry of a kind. What Billy demonstrated especially was what today is called joined-up thinking. He knew why fish were here and not there, why the seals did this, not that and how the winds and tides affect everything along the shore. He painted a picture that was complete, a masterpiece of natural understanding, and I loved it.

As it happened, I had done a lot of driving before meeting up and Radio 4 had been playing on the car radio most of the way. Twice Nick Hayes was interviewed, the author of the much-acclaimed work, The Book Of The Trespass. It’s a book that basically urges us as citizens to take over the land and the rivers and to turn a blind eye to private ownership. He speaks well and seems to claim that history is on the side of the trespasser, though I doubt William the Conqueror a thousand years ago would be nodding in agreement. The BBC gave Hayes a pretty soft ride, it seemed to me, even when he was portraying us anglers as toffs clad in corduroy, eyes popping in fury at every passing wild swimmer. But then, of course, the message of the book seems to be very much in tune with the times, especially since Covid, has changed the way we look at most things, our 'rights' and our mental health in particular. You could hear the presenters all but purr with delight as every, right-on box was being ticked.

Now, you and I are anglers. We know the waterside and how it works to a degree that canoeists and wild swimmers can’t guess at, aren’t even aware of. To them, creating aquatic mayhem is a bit of a lark, a laugh, something to giggle about, especially if some smelly old angler gets in a tizz. Hayes was particularly irate over the fact that some anglers actually dare to own stretches of river, stretches of river he evidently feels should be left to their own devices, left to nature alone, left to rot. Does this holier than thou chap not realise that is you and me, anglers alone, who actually look after rivers, tend them and protect all the flora and fauna they contain? Doesn’t he have any inkling at all about the fragility of rivers, how easily they can be irreparably damaged by the sort of rough treatment canoes, boards and swimming wreak? Of course he does not, nor does he even care, I suggest, so keen is he on his crusade.

I spend 300 days a year, at least, on rivers. I have seen water 'sports' grow exponentially since 2019. I’d say the protagonists are pretty well easy to characterise - 40pc of the canoeists/boarders/swimmers that I see daily, April to October, are there simply to make merry, generally helped along with copious amounts of beer, or worse. They make no pretence of enjoying nature or having the slightest interest in it or giving a jot about the damage they are doing to it. Anitgher 40pc are far more empathetic, there on the water to enjoy and appreciate it. These people are appalled when you tell them how they are ruining weed beds, destroying fish spawning redds, obliterating invertebrates, disrupting waterfowl and creating carnage. Why have we not been told about this they ask? Indeed, why haven’t they been told? Why hasn’t this travesty been explained to them?

Because of the remaining 20pc of river users (or abusers), are those who are on a Hayes‘ type mission to ensure they can do what they like, where they like and when they like on our rivers, and hang the consequences. To these people, their so-called rights are far more important than the genuine rights of the river itself. These people will never accept the damage they do because it doesn’t fit with their narrative of selfishness. Sadly, they are the ones making the noise, captivating the media and winning what really is becoming a war for our waters.

So, I ask you, would you want a Billy Temple or a Nick Hayes looking after our rivers here in Norfolk? In my view, we’d better decide pretty quickly… and, once again, do something about it.