A ROW over rowing on the River Lune has turned nasty, with a small group of fishermen casting razor sharp fishing lures at two female students it has been claimed.

Two19-year-old rowers had sharp lures cast at them by a small group of fishermen close to Denny Beck bridge at around 7am last Tuesday.

The pair had tried to remove a lure which was stuck at head height on the river bank when the group of men began shouting at them.

The women pulled in to the river bank, but the men cast razor sharp lures the size of a hand at them.

The girls were returned to the boat house at Halton by the university's rowing coach, Aaron Scholer, who said that a minority of fishermen were trying to intimidate rowers and force them off the river.

"These are grown men who think they are going to scare athletes off a stretch of river when ultimately all they have done is strengthened the resolve of the rowing club.

"The women were terrified and felt very powerless. They were strapped into the boats, which are small, not very stable and offer no protection."

Mr Scholer, who has rowed across the UK and in the USA said: "I have seen fishermen and rowers get along, even in areas which have absolutely no tradition of rowing. I have never seen anything like this before.

"I tell my rowers to steer clear of the fishermen, and I yell at them if they go too close to their bank.

"We have a very good relationship with the majority of the fishermen. They wave at us and I wave back at them and we have to respect them.

"The university team does the city proud. Last year, at women's Henley, our boat took on Cambridge's first team, which is quite an achievement."

The Lansil sports and social club owns the fishing rights to a stretch of river Lune north of Skerton weir.

However, the university's rowing club and other rowing groups claim they still have a right of way to the stretch of the Lune which has been used by student rowers since 1964.

The long running dispute has dragged on for more than two years since talks over the development of a world class watersports facility in the area broke down.

Mr Scholer said he had no idea if the fishermen involved were members of the Lansil club or not.

The university's Athletic Union has now contacted the police and are also considering contacting the area's two MPs.

Nobody from Lansil's angling club was available for comment at the time of going to press.