Well, in my case, concentrating on pike fishing, angling pressure was(and is) more detrimental - they dont handle pressure well at all.Waters get ruined by the ignorant minority.Add to that the cost of travelling (no decent pike fishing locally) and it wasnt viable to continue.Agree about the outdoors/wildlife experiences being part of the whole thing...so i hung onto those and ditched the fishing
Youre very fortunate having stretches of river like that mate, hope it stays that way for you
Mark H