This is one ‘No Fishing’ sign I’ve never seen disobeyed. Nowadays, fishing poles can be 16 metres long and bearing in mind these poles are made of carbon fibre an angler would certainly be dicing with death.
—Stephen G. Hipperson—
No Fishing
Stephen G Hipperson
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Stephen G Hipperson 
We have similar signage along our local canal because power lines obviously have to cross it to service outlying hamlets and farmhouse. Mind you I’ve never seen fishermen angling along this particular length and don’t even remember seeing any wildlife other than mallards and the odd moorhen — but we do have the River Usk running parallel with it and that has a bit more life…
in the old days I would have seen a bit of water ‘not fished’ as a bit of a challenge – even if I only caught a few sticklebacks/minnows. Fishing in canals has a distinct set of skill and would definitley be a place for pole fishing.