STOKE-ON-TRENT ANGLING SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 2011
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Julian
GOOD NEWS - NO INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR 2012
2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This year’s AGM was attended by 21 Members. Tony Burt was elected Match Secretary, Albert Perkins and Geoff Beckett were re-elected as Secretary and Assistant Secretary. Richard Duka and Ray Lightfoot were re-elected as Committee Members. There were no Notices of Motion.
MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS for 2012
Senior £55, Senior Citizen/Lady/Disabled £30, Juvenile age 12/13 on 1 January 2012 £5, age 14/15 on 1 January 2012 £10. Non-Fishing-Guest-Permit £10 for a named individual.
TREASURER’S REPORT
The Balance Sheet showed an excess of Income over Expenditure of £9286. At the AGM, the Treasurer distributed copies of the audited accounts and gave a detailed explanation of the Balance Sheet. Special thanks to Mick Hann for selling the Membership Tickets.
Albert Perkins
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
Members are reminded to renew by 1st March if they wish to guarantee that their membership can continue into 2012; we had a very good year in 2011 with Membership up by over 100. It is hoped that membership books will be available from 8 December. If renewing by post, please return the front cover of your 2011 ticket with your cheque or Postal Order and enclose 75p stamped addressed envelope for each ticket. Memberships will be on sale at HQ on 8 December, 12 January, 9 February, 8 March from 7pm. My address is Mick Hann, 34 Kenley Avenue, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, ST9 9HX.
Mick Hann
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT to the AGM
It has been an excellent year for the Society; you will be pleased to hear that there will be no increase in membership subscriptions for 2012. You can see from the balance sheet that the Society is in a healthy state. It is nice to see a lot of previous Members rejoining our Society from the Stoke-on-Trent area. Our ticket is excellent value for money and we all have a part to play in promoting the Society, so please all continue with the excellent work you have done this year.
Astbury once again has been a real success attracting many new Members. We have invested a lot of money this year in improving the fishing pegs and creating segregation from the public in the fishing areas. The Society continues to work very closely with Astbury Mere Trust in improving and developing the site; most of the work has been organised and supervised by Brian Banks who once again has done an excellent job managing the water on behalf of the Society. Many thanks Brian.
All our sections of the River Dove have fished well considering the low water levels with Members having excellent catches of chub, barbel, trout and grayling. It is very nice to see many Members on the waters. Stanley Reservoir has fished well this year considering the low water level. We continue to receive many compliments both on the car parking and the fishing with some tremendous bream catches. The pike fishing got off to an excellent start with some very good catches. We have had good reports about the fishing at North Road Pool. However, we do realise much work needs to be done with the fishing pegs and the water level; we will be looking to improve the pool next year in all aspects. We have done a lot of work this year on Rookery Pool, building new fishing pegs and the car park has now been completed. We still have a major problem with the weed, but have some new ideas how to improve the situation.
I was very pleased to report to the Members at our October meeting, the acquisition of 3 pools at Brooklyn Grange Fishery, Thorncliffe, near Leek. They will be available for fishing from 1 January 2012. All details will be in the 2012 membership ticket so please renew early.
I am very pleased to report that all is well with Committee and Officials with everyone doing an excellent job and all pulling in the right direction taking our Society forward. I would like to thank all fellow Officials and Committee Members for their contributions and efforts over the last year, also to all the Members who took part in the work parties. With a very special thank you to Andy Freeman and the netting team for an excellent job at Ellenhall and all the fantastic work they have done this year. A special thank you to Albert for as always, doing a great job.
Thank you for your help and support during the year. I wish you all the best for the future.
John Davey
FISHERY MANAGER’S REPORT
With another year coming to an end I hope that Members have been able to enjoy some excellent fishing on the Society's waters. We now have a variety of waters which hopefully cater for more disciplines of angling giving outstanding value for money. With the acquisition of fishing rights on Brooklyn Grange Farm we now have another great match and pleasure water for our Members.
Earlier this year the netting team finished the work at Ellenhall Pools, and transferred the remaining fish from the Hut and Gantry pools into the North Road Pool. We also completed population surveys at North Road Pool and the Rookery Pool revealing a healthy stock of mixed species in each pool. We also thinned out the lily pads at North Road Pool and attempted to rake the weed from the Rookery Pool whilst also creating fishing pegs at the Rookery Pool.
With the water temperatures now beginning to fall, the netting team will soon be busy obtaining a variety of species for some of the waters and an intensive stocking programme has been arranged to stock the Brooklyn Grange complex with the aim of producing a top class match and pleasure venue. This work will be complete before the end of 2011 prior to the water opening for Members to fish on 1 January 2012. We also plan to stock Astbury Mere with some of the finest young mirror carp available with the proposed strain renowned for producing large scaly British specimens. A carefully planned stocking programme is to be introduced to ensure that we now only stock the best quality fish to enable Astbury Mere to reach its full potential.
In terms of actual catch reports I am pleased to say that we have had some real good captures this year. The River Dove has been on great form with numerous double figure barbel, 5lb plus chub and also trout and grayling reported. Astbury Mere has provided good sport with many multiple captures of carp reported, the biggest mirror weighing in at 32lb plus and a common 27lb plus has also been landed. Other specimens have also been caught from Astbury with Bream over 12lb making occasional appearances. There have also been some cracking roach and perch caught with one angler capturing them one after another around the 1lb mark when I fished the water at the end of August.
Rudyard and Stanley reservoirs have both been providing good sport with mixed bags of roach, perch and bream. Moving into the Pike season Rudyard and Stanley have both been producing good pike with the largest specimen over 30lb from Rudyard and 20lb plus from Stanley.
I would like to thank everyone for their support over the last year and wish everyone all the best for the New Year.
Andy Freeman
STANLEY RESERVOIR; WORK PARTIES and BLITHFIELD
There are more disadvantages than advantages to getting older. One disadvantage is that you forget things that happened yesterday but an ‘advantage’ is that you can remember what happened a long while ago. I remember when most anglers couldn’t wait for 16 June, in order that they could start fishing again after the close season. Stanley Reservoir saw a great many anglers on the bank-side on that particular day. I do appreciate that nowadays Society Members can fish throughout the year and that there are more opportunities to fish different waters but this year there has been very few fishermen fishing Stanley. This is a great shame as the fishing has been very productive. Those who have ventured forth have had good catches of bream with plenty of roach and perch.
In past times you could both night fish and fish for pike throughout the year but when the rules changed pike fishing was only allowed from 1 October; as many as 15 Members would set up on the evening of 30 September and wait for midnight before commencing to fish. (Please remember, Night fishing is no longer allowed at Stanley.) This year there has been little activity. Only one Member fished the opening day and he only fished till midday but was rewarded with a 20lb+pike. In the next few days there were multiple catches of pike. The best reported to me was on 11 October by one Member: 1x19lb, 2x18lb, 1x17lb, 1x16lb and 1x7lb; I know this because the Member had run out of bait and he wondered if I could take some up to him as it was only 1pm and he intended to continue fishing.
So please can I see more Members fishing the Water. The Pool is closed from 1 October to 15 October to Members who have not done Work Parties; which brings me neatly to Work Parties.
I have issued 70 Work Party passes this year, which represents approximately 10% of the Membership. Whilst this is quite pleasing I would like more Members to volunteer to help the Society to do many of the jobs that need to be done, not as one-offs but on a regular basis to improve the fishing for everyone. So again a plea, send your application to attend Work Parties next Season as early as possible and remember that a Work Party Pass lasts for twelve months from the date of issue. There are benefits to you as you can fish some of the Waters when they are closed to other Members.
Finally, I would like to report on the continued success of the ticket we have for Blithfield Reservoir. This year 42 Members have availed themselves of the opportunity to fish Blithfield. They have combined, fished 170 times. One Member has been 15 times and two others have both fished 12 times. The best reported single catch in a day was 34 fish. So those of you who have never tried fly-fishing give it a try, you might even get ‘hooked’. The Booking System will change next Season so please see your Membership Card for details.
Geoff Beckett
ASTBURY MERE REPORT
It's been another very successful year at Astbury with excellent catches of carp into the low thirties, bream to 14lb, catfish to mid doubles and tench to 9lb. Lots of work has taken place during the year; we have fenced off more of the lake and had a JCB to dig channels to the high banks. These will restrict the general public from walking around the water's edge and will make great habitat for the fish fry etc, I would like to thank all the Members for their efforts in doing this work and hope to see them again next year.
Brian Banks
MATCH REPORT
In 2011 the match calendar included 14 week-end matches on commercial waters. These have proved popular with three matches at Izaac Walton produced winning weights of over 100lbs for Jamie Burt and Steve Griffin. In addition to the individual competitions, the Society took part in the following team events; Angling Times Clubman round 1 - Blake Hall; Division 2 National - Basingstoke Canal; Rosebowl final - Knypersley Reservoir. We were runners up in the Rosebowl final and came 28th out of 47 teams in the National but we are planning to improve on this performance in 2012.
Midweek competitions are held every Wednesday - attendances in the Summer were excellent with over 20 people fishing some of these matches. The 2012 match calendar includes one week-end match at Stanley each month between May and September: two matches on the R Dove: five matches at Brooklyn Grange: a veterans match at North Road Pool and Pike match at Stanley in November. In addition to the Member only matches, we will continue running week-end matches on a number of commercial waters. We plan to enter teams into the Angling Times Clubman competition; the Rosebowl and the Division 2 National (on the Stainforth and Keadby canal on 28 July 2012). For any more information about the team competitions and/or matches on commercial waters please contact Tony Burt 07960957039 or Gerry Brookes 07575086328.
The Officials and Committee would like to wish Members and their families a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year and tight lines for 2012.
2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This year’s AGM was attended by 21 Members. Tony Burt was elected Match Secretary, Albert Perkins and Geoff Beckett were re-elected as Secretary and Assistant Secretary. Richard Duka and Ray Lightfoot were re-elected as Committee Members. There were no Notices of Motion.
MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS for 2012
Senior £55, Senior Citizen/Lady/Disabled £30, Juvenile age 12/13 on 1 January 2012 £5, age 14/15 on 1 January 2012 £10. Non-Fishing-Guest-Permit £10 for a named individual.
TREASURER’S REPORT
The Balance Sheet showed an excess of Income over Expenditure of £9286. At the AGM, the Treasurer distributed copies of the audited accounts and gave a detailed explanation of the Balance Sheet. Special thanks to Mick Hann for selling the Membership Tickets.
Albert Perkins
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
Members are reminded to renew by 1st March if they wish to guarantee that their membership can continue into 2012; we had a very good year in 2011 with Membership up by over 100. It is hoped that membership books will be available from 8 December. If renewing by post, please return the front cover of your 2011 ticket with your cheque or Postal Order and enclose 75p stamped addressed envelope for each ticket. Memberships will be on sale at HQ on 8 December, 12 January, 9 February, 8 March from 7pm. My address is Mick Hann, 34 Kenley Avenue, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, ST9 9HX.
Mick Hann
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT to the AGM
It has been an excellent year for the Society; you will be pleased to hear that there will be no increase in membership subscriptions for 2012. You can see from the balance sheet that the Society is in a healthy state. It is nice to see a lot of previous Members rejoining our Society from the Stoke-on-Trent area. Our ticket is excellent value for money and we all have a part to play in promoting the Society, so please all continue with the excellent work you have done this year.
Astbury once again has been a real success attracting many new Members. We have invested a lot of money this year in improving the fishing pegs and creating segregation from the public in the fishing areas. The Society continues to work very closely with Astbury Mere Trust in improving and developing the site; most of the work has been organised and supervised by Brian Banks who once again has done an excellent job managing the water on behalf of the Society. Many thanks Brian.
All our sections of the River Dove have fished well considering the low water levels with Members having excellent catches of chub, barbel, trout and grayling. It is very nice to see many Members on the waters. Stanley Reservoir has fished well this year considering the low water level. We continue to receive many compliments both on the car parking and the fishing with some tremendous bream catches. The pike fishing got off to an excellent start with some very good catches. We have had good reports about the fishing at North Road Pool. However, we do realise much work needs to be done with the fishing pegs and the water level; we will be looking to improve the pool next year in all aspects. We have done a lot of work this year on Rookery Pool, building new fishing pegs and the car park has now been completed. We still have a major problem with the weed, but have some new ideas how to improve the situation.
I was very pleased to report to the Members at our October meeting, the acquisition of 3 pools at Brooklyn Grange Fishery, Thorncliffe, near Leek. They will be available for fishing from 1 January 2012. All details will be in the 2012 membership ticket so please renew early.
I am very pleased to report that all is well with Committee and Officials with everyone doing an excellent job and all pulling in the right direction taking our Society forward. I would like to thank all fellow Officials and Committee Members for their contributions and efforts over the last year, also to all the Members who took part in the work parties. With a very special thank you to Andy Freeman and the netting team for an excellent job at Ellenhall and all the fantastic work they have done this year. A special thank you to Albert for as always, doing a great job.
Thank you for your help and support during the year. I wish you all the best for the future.
John Davey
FISHERY MANAGER’S REPORT
With another year coming to an end I hope that Members have been able to enjoy some excellent fishing on the Society's waters. We now have a variety of waters which hopefully cater for more disciplines of angling giving outstanding value for money. With the acquisition of fishing rights on Brooklyn Grange Farm we now have another great match and pleasure water for our Members.
Earlier this year the netting team finished the work at Ellenhall Pools, and transferred the remaining fish from the Hut and Gantry pools into the North Road Pool. We also completed population surveys at North Road Pool and the Rookery Pool revealing a healthy stock of mixed species in each pool. We also thinned out the lily pads at North Road Pool and attempted to rake the weed from the Rookery Pool whilst also creating fishing pegs at the Rookery Pool.
With the water temperatures now beginning to fall, the netting team will soon be busy obtaining a variety of species for some of the waters and an intensive stocking programme has been arranged to stock the Brooklyn Grange complex with the aim of producing a top class match and pleasure venue. This work will be complete before the end of 2011 prior to the water opening for Members to fish on 1 January 2012. We also plan to stock Astbury Mere with some of the finest young mirror carp available with the proposed strain renowned for producing large scaly British specimens. A carefully planned stocking programme is to be introduced to ensure that we now only stock the best quality fish to enable Astbury Mere to reach its full potential.
In terms of actual catch reports I am pleased to say that we have had some real good captures this year. The River Dove has been on great form with numerous double figure barbel, 5lb plus chub and also trout and grayling reported. Astbury Mere has provided good sport with many multiple captures of carp reported, the biggest mirror weighing in at 32lb plus and a common 27lb plus has also been landed. Other specimens have also been caught from Astbury with Bream over 12lb making occasional appearances. There have also been some cracking roach and perch caught with one angler capturing them one after another around the 1lb mark when I fished the water at the end of August.
Rudyard and Stanley reservoirs have both been providing good sport with mixed bags of roach, perch and bream. Moving into the Pike season Rudyard and Stanley have both been producing good pike with the largest specimen over 30lb from Rudyard and 20lb plus from Stanley.
I would like to thank everyone for their support over the last year and wish everyone all the best for the New Year.
Andy Freeman
STANLEY RESERVOIR; WORK PARTIES and BLITHFIELD
There are more disadvantages than advantages to getting older. One disadvantage is that you forget things that happened yesterday but an ‘advantage’ is that you can remember what happened a long while ago. I remember when most anglers couldn’t wait for 16 June, in order that they could start fishing again after the close season. Stanley Reservoir saw a great many anglers on the bank-side on that particular day. I do appreciate that nowadays Society Members can fish throughout the year and that there are more opportunities to fish different waters but this year there has been very few fishermen fishing Stanley. This is a great shame as the fishing has been very productive. Those who have ventured forth have had good catches of bream with plenty of roach and perch.
In past times you could both night fish and fish for pike throughout the year but when the rules changed pike fishing was only allowed from 1 October; as many as 15 Members would set up on the evening of 30 September and wait for midnight before commencing to fish. (Please remember, Night fishing is no longer allowed at Stanley.) This year there has been little activity. Only one Member fished the opening day and he only fished till midday but was rewarded with a 20lb+pike. In the next few days there were multiple catches of pike. The best reported to me was on 11 October by one Member: 1x19lb, 2x18lb, 1x17lb, 1x16lb and 1x7lb; I know this because the Member had run out of bait and he wondered if I could take some up to him as it was only 1pm and he intended to continue fishing.
So please can I see more Members fishing the Water. The Pool is closed from 1 October to 15 October to Members who have not done Work Parties; which brings me neatly to Work Parties.
I have issued 70 Work Party passes this year, which represents approximately 10% of the Membership. Whilst this is quite pleasing I would like more Members to volunteer to help the Society to do many of the jobs that need to be done, not as one-offs but on a regular basis to improve the fishing for everyone. So again a plea, send your application to attend Work Parties next Season as early as possible and remember that a Work Party Pass lasts for twelve months from the date of issue. There are benefits to you as you can fish some of the Waters when they are closed to other Members.
Finally, I would like to report on the continued success of the ticket we have for Blithfield Reservoir. This year 42 Members have availed themselves of the opportunity to fish Blithfield. They have combined, fished 170 times. One Member has been 15 times and two others have both fished 12 times. The best reported single catch in a day was 34 fish. So those of you who have never tried fly-fishing give it a try, you might even get ‘hooked’. The Booking System will change next Season so please see your Membership Card for details.
Geoff Beckett
ASTBURY MERE REPORT
It's been another very successful year at Astbury with excellent catches of carp into the low thirties, bream to 14lb, catfish to mid doubles and tench to 9lb. Lots of work has taken place during the year; we have fenced off more of the lake and had a JCB to dig channels to the high banks. These will restrict the general public from walking around the water's edge and will make great habitat for the fish fry etc, I would like to thank all the Members for their efforts in doing this work and hope to see them again next year.
Brian Banks
MATCH REPORT
In 2011 the match calendar included 14 week-end matches on commercial waters. These have proved popular with three matches at Izaac Walton produced winning weights of over 100lbs for Jamie Burt and Steve Griffin. In addition to the individual competitions, the Society took part in the following team events; Angling Times Clubman round 1 - Blake Hall; Division 2 National - Basingstoke Canal; Rosebowl final - Knypersley Reservoir. We were runners up in the Rosebowl final and came 28th out of 47 teams in the National but we are planning to improve on this performance in 2012.
Midweek competitions are held every Wednesday - attendances in the Summer were excellent with over 20 people fishing some of these matches. The 2012 match calendar includes one week-end match at Stanley each month between May and September: two matches on the R Dove: five matches at Brooklyn Grange: a veterans match at North Road Pool and Pike match at Stanley in November. In addition to the Member only matches, we will continue running week-end matches on a number of commercial waters. We plan to enter teams into the Angling Times Clubman competition; the Rosebowl and the Division 2 National (on the Stainforth and Keadby canal on 28 July 2012). For any more information about the team competitions and/or matches on commercial waters please contact Tony Burt 07960957039 or Gerry Brookes 07575086328.
The Officials and Committee would like to wish Members and their families a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year and tight lines for 2012.
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