R&DAA News

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

E.C. RESIGNATION

Steve Carvell has resigned from the E.C. due to Royal Berkshire Fire Service ‘s decision to target arson crimes concerning children which would leave little time to assist RDAA. We wish him well and thanks for all that he has done for us. Steve has also agreed to help us on Saturdays whenever he can. We will be looking for a replacement member for the E.C.
 
JUNIORS

Steve’s resignation has left us slightly in limbo and on top of that Danny Williams the Angling Development Officer for Reading Borough Council has also been appointed as Fisheries Officer for London and the South East for the Angling Development Board who are part of Sport England. We have our three recently accredited coaches who are all in full time positions which may prevent us from running the Tuesday School Holiday programme. We still have to meet up and discuss this but I will keep you informed.
OSIER BED STREAM BY PASS CHANNEL

This is now fully operational and now serves two purposes, one is to enable fish to pass through for spawning and the other is to prevent the Stream drying up in times of low flow, as when the weir downstream recently collapsed. The channel looks very good and may encourage members to fish the stream now that water flows have increased.
Just by chance, a new campaign called  “Our Rivers” sponsored by W.W.F, R.S.P.B., Angling Trust and  Association of Rivers Trust chose the outfall of the Stream from the River Kennet for a photocall with Martin Salter to  promote this campaign which goes live on April 20th. The idea is to make the River Basin Management plan within the Water Framework Directive more easier to understand and for the local person to be able to contribute directly on “our river”.

Their website can be viewed at www.ourrivers.org.uk.

FOBNEY ISLAND PROJECT

I attended a meeting today where the appointed contractors (Jacobs) produced three options  for the site.
These will be discussed within the steering group to decide which option to progress and a meeting is scheduled for May 7th when some costings will be received.

FOTM & BOTR AWARDS

Even though fishing has been difficult over the past year these results show the variation of RDAA waters.
Fourteen awards from 10 different venues with six different species and a Junior member taking one award. Award vouchers will be sent to clubs with the permit issue. See list overleaf.
FISHERIES REPORT

The final stocking of carp to Whistley Mill took recently, with another 88 carp averaging 7lb. These carp are of the Dink strain, mostly mirrors, with a dozen or more being ‘double zip’ mirrors.

Having spent sometime at Whistley in the last few days, I can confirm a now very healthy stock of carp, with some anglers catching 4-5 fish a day! This has increased the stock introduced this year to 156.

On the subject of stocking, I spoke about asking British Waterways about re-stocking Froxfield Canal, as we expected this was a non-starter, so I will be looking into out sourcing fish for this.

 I will also, now be looking at Hambridge and Wylies although as I have said in the past some research needs to be done before we start throwing good money after bad.

Along with the sunshine and butterflys, our maintenance man, Phil Lush has sprung into life with some of the heavier ‘tree work’ being started, with the main grass and swim maintenance due to start in the coming weeks.
Please if you find yourself on a venue that Phil is cutting, be courteous as it has to be done sometime and he isn’t waiting for your one and only day off this year, just to annoy you!

On the bailiffing front, Fred Jones tells me that anglers are still fishing the rivers, some of which are members, with one having had his permit removed. With the night patrols continuing once/twice a week this number may go up!
We do have a bailiff meeting at the end of the month 27th April were I’m sure this will be discussed.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

We now have 246 Senior members a number that I do not expect will increase by more than a couple if at all now, however even in the current economic climate we are not too far short of last seasons total.  I have around a dozen applications in for next year already and have only just sent out the end of season newsletter and forms so I expect a lot more over the next few weeks.

There is little to report on the fishing front as apart from a number of bream from Sonning and a few carp from Whistley Mill, there have been very few reports, it is as a result of this lack of feedback that there will be new venue controllers on a couple of the venues next season, with Tim Harris taking over on Pingewood and Keith Hunt taking the reins on Farnham Flint.  I need a new controller on Englefield as Nick has lost his job and has decided to take a trip around the world on his redundancy pay!

FISH OF THE MONTH

MONTH SPECIES WEIGHT NAME P.no. CLUB VENUE
MARCH Barbel 16-07 S. Woolford A0288 Associate Lower Benyons
APRIL Tench 9-02 P. Larrett S0160 British Airways Sonning Eye Pit
MAY   No Claims   
JUNE Tench 6-04 P. Hawkins S1714 Sundial Wylies Lake
JULY Bream 7-08 T. Howes S0808 Miles A.C. Burghfield River
AUGUST   No Claims   
SEPTEMBER Barbel 15-02 M. Foster S0269 Associate Lower Benyons
SEPTEMBER Barbel 15-02 A. Povey J0136 South Reading Beat 3B
OCTOBER  Barbel 12-11 P. Griffiths S1711 Sundial Beat 3A
NOVEMBER Chub 7-09 P. Hughesdon A0042 Associate Upper Benyons
DECEMBER   No Claims   
JANUARY  Perch 3-08 G. Miller S1844 Tring Anglers Upper Benyons
FEBRUARY Pike 28-00 M. Rodgers P0197  Longwater Lake

BEST OF THE REST

SPECIES WEIGHT NAME P.no. CLUB VENUE
Chub 6-14 A. Clark S1133 Reading F.C. Burghfield River
Chub 5-15 A. Tucher  Reading C.S. Beat 4
Chub 5-12 G. Eley  Prestcold Theale River
Tench 7-12 A. Parker  Nine Elms Wylies Lake

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

JUNIORS

Our three coaches Will Barnard, Charles Gook and Chris Riddell have all passed their Level 2 course and are now able to teach our juniors with no supervision. The Saturday morning programme will commence in May and they along with Danny Williams, the R.B.C. Angling Development Officer will be running these courses.
I advertised for members who are willing to become coaches and we are meeting these this week, all four have come from the RDAA website and unusually one is a female. Our proposal is to put these four through a Level 1 course and see how they progress before going on to Level 2. Funding for this has been obtained by NACCRO.

FISHERIES REGISTRATION

All of our Stillwater lakes have been registered with CEFAS. We would not have been able to carry out any stockings on these waters if they were not registered from August of this year. They have all been placed in the name of our Fisheries Officer as this is where the Section 30 (fish movement order) normally comes from.

POSSIBLE NEW VENUES

I understand that Wokingham D.C. have taken over the lease for the lake at Twyford  and they are running a syndicate on there.

WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

This is an E.U. led directive that will tell us how to manage and improve our surface and ground water standards  and as such carries legislation with it. The U.K. will be obliged to implement whatever the E.U. tells us to do. The Environment Agency will be the competent authority who will oversee the directive but it appears that fishing clubs etc . will have more involvement than at present. Our area will be under the Thames River Basin Plan and the Environment Agency will be holding several workshops to explain how things will operate. At present there is a six month consultation period  (which closes 22nd June 2009)  where any ideas we have can be channelled back for discussion.

FISHERIES REPORT

The last month has been fairly busy for the fisheries team.

The netting at the Limes A.C. lake at Woburn Green unfortunately didn’t produce the numbers of fish we have come to expect. With 3 sweeps of the main lake only producing 50lb’s of Roach/Perch.
This is way down on previous years and as such we have agreed that we will not return next year, leaving it until the following year 2011.
As a result of the poor numbers netted and stocked into Froxfield we are currently look to British Water ways for additional fish, (we live in hope).

On the stocking front we have another lead on some fish for Whistley Mill, which I hope to inform you of next month.

2 weekends ago the maintenance team, lead by Mark Holmes were busy on Pingewood and Englefield Lagoon.

Pingewood had a ditch dug along the motorway bank in order to stop un-thinking anglers from driving to their pegs, causing no end of damage and requiring bailiff’s etc to be called from work in order to pull them out!
The track was also repaired as some nasty ruts had appeared.

Englefield had the bridge at Searles Farm lane end repaired, along with some fencing.

In the last month Mark and myself had a trip around Farnham Flint de-rigging the trees around the islands, although we do this once or twice a year this time it was prompted by the unfortunate death of a young Heron which had become tangled and suffered a no doubt long uncomfortable death.
This is something I and I’m sure most of you don’t want to see repeated!
Some of the places we found line/rigs and the sheer numbers, beggers belief (some 30 feet up trees)
Please when fishing in cross winds in particular, think before you cast! This fish at any cost attitude has to stop!
As I’ve said before if things don’t improve restrictions will be implemented for all anglers using this venue.

In the last meeting of the fisheries team a draft copy of a plan to stop motorbikes entering Cottage lane was submitted. This included a pinch point on the left and right of lake one. Along with barbed wire fencing to the sides.
The redirecting of the footpath across the car park and out into the field.
I have given the go ahead for materials to be sourced, with work to go ahead before the summer.
This will mean we will have to contact the council in order for them to repair the old footbridge to the right of lake four.

Some concern was also raised about the platforms on Whistley river, which Mark and I will look at in the coming weeks.

Once again I would like to thank all those who give their time to fisheries work.
In particular my team.  

SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

Paul is away on holiday at present so we have no report. We are hearing of unconfirmed reports of a 39lbs Carp from Hambridge Lake.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

JUNIORS

The dates will soon be announced for our Saturday teach-ins. These will hopefully be run by our by then newly qualified Level 2  Angling Coaches. They complete their course in March and will be looking to run the teach-ins from the beginning of May. Steve Carvel is not sure at the moment what Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue’s input will be but he is hoping to cover the School Holiday programme. Their target this year will be kids involved in arson and most of their funding will be channelled in that direction not leaving much to assist us with.

We will be running this Saturday  programme in partnership with R.B.C.’s Angling Development Officer Danny Williams. He will be running other programmes during the summer where our coaches may be helping him. I hope to see an increase in Junior membership this year as a result of this effort.

R.B.C. and NACRO have obtained some funding money to cover the cost of training more Level 2 Angling Coaches so any Clubs that have any members who feel they would like to involve themselves in training youngsters please get in touch with me. I will also be advertising on our website for volunteers.

KHV RESTRICTIONS

There has been no further update at present on the follow up testing on the Cemex Burghfield Match Lake complex and the fish movement order is still in place. I am however led to believe that CEFAS are looking at ways in which to test for KHV without the need of removing what is very expensive stock fish. We look forward with anticipation.
BRITISH WATERWAYS & RESCUE

The date for this has now been moved to Sunday March 15th thus missing the last day of the season.
POSSIBLE VENUES

We have now withdrawn our interest in the small lake that is on the market adjacent to Hambridge and I understand the Twyford venue is being run by Wokingham District Council on a syndicate basis.

FISHERIES REPORT

We had the first of this years bailiff meetings last month, with all the usual suspects in attendance, thank you chaps. One thing that was very encouraging was their willingness to suggest possible ways in which we can improve the way we select bailiff’s. At our next bailiff meeting in April I hope they have some idea’s put forward. 

It’s been relatively quiet at the moment what with all the snow/ floods etc. It appears the fish retaining fence at Whistley has withstood the latest flooding in that area, although a proper check will be made in the next week or so.
The coming weeks are destined to be busy with the annual netting of the Limes being carried out this coming weekend, as mentioned earlier in the year the fish obtained will go into the short pound at Froxfield.
The first full weekend of March will see the team descend on Pingewood in order to dig a ditch along the edge of the car park adjacent to the motorway in order to stop anglers from driving along this bank to unload their tackle. Obviously there will be provisions made in order to acess for maintenance, etc.
At the same time we intend to look at the track to this carpark which has become very  rutted.

Farnham Flint has become a thorn in the side, with anglers thinking they can do as they like, cutting trees/swims and using the carpark as their own personal play ground!
This WILL stop, I will be sending a letter to all Flint specimen group members old and new outlining the fact that just because they buy a permit, it does not entitle them to do as they feel. I have no problem for members asking for permission to open swims etc, but, that has to be gained first.

We have the second meeting of the fisheries management team in March, where I hope to be asked for some more float money from the various departments! (sorry, Paul/ Martin).

I am very encouraged by what is the new look management team and I think this year we have the makings of a first rate team.
Thanks everyone for your input/ faith.

To date the Bailiffs have checked 1042 permits on 434 visits on 27 different venues.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

We have currently got 226 Senior and 6 Accompanied Junior members.

 Prices: Next season most of the prices will remain unchanged, there will be a couple of changes though.  Farnham Flint will increase from the current £25 to £40 with the price of a Part Year permit rising to £25.  Sonning and Whistley River permits will go from £22 to £25; on both venues the price of Accompanied Junior permits will remain unchanged.  Also there will be a new type of permit for next season, this will be a combined river permit, which will in effect be a group ticket for the rivers on the portfolio, and this will cost £75.

Due to, the recent weather reports from the venues has been scarce.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT
FOBNEY ISLAND

Tenders have gone out to suitable consultants to carry out the feasibility study of the site. They will have ten days to compile some costings for the study and then one will be picked who must be able to produce a report before the end of March 2009. The steering group will meet again on the 31st March when the report will determine the future of the site. Work would begin in the summer if the study is favourable.

ANGLING TRUST

This new body went live at (aptly named) Fishmongers Hall in London on January 5th 2009 and will represent all of the different angling bodies that existed before with the exception of The Salmon & Trout Association whom have gone down the route of a charitable group. The website can be viewed at www.anglingtrust.net. The site is new and is being added to daily. Details of membership for Clubs and individuals are on the site.

The Trust will represent more people than the combined membership of all the main political parties, the Anglican Church and the National Trust

BRITISH WATERWAYS & RESCUE

These two groups are proposing a towpath tidy up on the Kennet upstream of Kennet Mouth. The original date given would have been Saturday 14th March, the last day of the season. I voiced my comments and am waiting to hear the new date.

POSSIBLE VENUES

We are looking at two venues. The first one at Twyford was looked at back in November when Cemex gave up their lease on the River Loddon adjacent downstream to Whistley Mill and a lake that was included. We contacted the owner and stated our interest who informed us that they may not continue with a lease. If they wanted to then we would be kept informed, to this date we have heard nothing.

The second one is a small lake which is adjacent to Hambridge Lake at Thatcham. We were led to believe that a stretch of the Kennet was included but we have since heard this is not true. This matter is ongoing.

PRESERVATION CUP

This is one of our grander silver cups and was donated in 1955 by a Mitchell-Hedges. Between 1953 when he moved to Farley Castle he was both the President and Vice President of RDAA before his death in 1959. After some internet searching he turns out to be a very famous man who Indiana Jones was probably based upon. He is responsible for finding The Crystal Skull in some far off land. There is a website dedicated to him and this can be found at www.mitchell-hedges.com

CLUBMAN OF THE YEAR

Nominations are required from Clubs. The announcement will be made at the Annual Dinner.
FISHERIES REPORT

We now have a management team of Del Shackleford (Fisheries Officer), Fred Jones (Bailiffing). Phil Lush (Planned Maintenance), Mark Holmes (Day to day maintenance) and Piers Kernoghan (Stockings).

They each will be responsible for their own budgets and as such should take a lot of the load from the Fisheries Officer.

Projects planned for this season consist of reinstating a gate at Cottage Lane for us and Cemex below the entrance to the field  and also installing chicane type barriers around the four lakes to keep the motor cycles out.

A netting of small roach and perch from Limes A.C. at Wooburn Green. These fish will be placed in the short pound at Froxfield Canal.

To date, Bailiffs have made 416 visits at 27 venues, checking 1012 permits and 47 Day Tickets.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

Due to the interest in Part Year permits now starting to pick up; we now have 221 senior members, which is still a bit short of last season’s total.  I would expect a few more permits to go over the next few weeks, last year they were still selling right up to May.

Paul Johnson has had to step down from the post of Venue Controller on Pingewood for family reasons.  I have now identified a replacement for him in Tim Harris.  I will also be looking at making changes on Farnham Flint for the coming season and will keep you informed.

Catch reports are non-existent for last month, probably due to the lakes having a bit of a crust on top for a good part of it!
 

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

  On behalf of the Association I would like to wish all of our members a happy and prosperous New Year. 

 FOBNEY ISLAND    

A feasibility study on the venue will be carried out shortly  to ascertain the costs involved to provide the facility. It will provide Reading with two facilities that it has lacked for some years, a secure lake and coaching staff to teach them how to fish and also appreciate the wildlife especially the bird life that the new wetland area will provide. It was hoped that some of the excavated material could have been sold on but tests have shown very little of these aggregates. This will now have to be removed from site causing higher costs. However the Thames Rivers Restoration Trust has shown an interest in the scheme and are at present busy looking for funding. This is a major help as they have a paid full time representative who talks to the necessary people (landowners, business etc) for funds. Work is expected to commence in the summer of 2009. 

OSIER BED BY PASS CHANNEL

 The work has been completed leaving the reinstatement of the local area as the last job. We have agreed with the Environment Agency to use some of the money they gave us to pay for this. This was originally given to us to part fund the Lower Benyons Rehabilitation Project which at present is shelved.  

FISHERIES REPORT  

 With the return of our newly completed Fisheries Team we should get a more updated report next month. Bailiffs have made 364 visits to 25 different locations and have checked 982 permits and 44 Day Tickets. 

Work has commenced on the track at Whistley Mill to backfill some of the holes, this should be completed in the better weather. 

SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT  

Due to holidays etc and the lack of people on the banks there is no report to hand. 

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

ANGLING UNITY

I expect that most of you are aware that agreement has been made between the various national angling bodies to form Angling Unity that will be the voice of angling in the future. The body will include National Federation of Anglers (N.F.A.), National Association of Fisheries & Angling Consultatives (N.A.F.A.C.), Anglers Conservation Association (A.C.A.), National Federation of Sea Anglers (N.F.S.A.) and the Specialist Anglers Alliance (S.A.A.).
The Salmon & Trout Association were originally prospective members but having achieved charitable status  they have decided to concentrate their efforts individually.

Angling Unity will consist of two entities: the “Angling Trust” which will be the governing body for coarse, game and  sea angling in England and an unincorporated association “Fish Legal”  which will deliver throughout the UK, the legal protection and advice currently being provided by A.C.A..

The new body will be launched in January 2009 and is hoping by 2011 to recruit 100,000 anglers to individual membership (£20.00per annum) and the vast majority of Clubs (£50 - £200 per annum)will be members.

It is also expected that discussions with the government over funding for angling will include a levy on the rod licence.

JUNIORS  PROGRAMME

This was completed last Saturday with the Xmas match. Our prospective coaches commence their Level 2 course and these will take place over the next few months with completion next Spring ready for next years junior programme. They will all hopefully become fully qualified coaches.
FISHERIES REPORT

The log that was stuck in the outlet pipe has been removed and levels on the lakes are returning to normal.

It was feared that the outlet pipe under the railway line was blocked but this does not appear so but maintenance to the ditch on the eastern side of the railway is urgently required and this will be carried out by the landowner very soon.

The excess water at present is finding it’s way back to the Kennet via ditches into Longwater Lake and this is causing some temporary high levels on this lake. This will be resolved when the above mentioned ditch is cleared.
WHISTLEY MILL STOCKING

This should be completed over the coming weekend with around 90 Carp being introduced into the water to replace the stock that was lost in the floods of the summer in 2007. These fish should range from 4 Lbs through to 16lbs and are of the Leney strain so prized by carp anglers.  These are the fastest growing fish from their year group and it is hoped that with the favourable conditions in the lake they will make fairly rapid progress.
A stile has been  erected at Whistley in the stock fencing between the lake and river for anglers. Hopefully this will prevent damage to the stock fencing caused from anglers climbing over.

NETTINGS

We have purchased a new boat and trailer for use on future nettings. This will replace the previous one that was stolen. The compound fencing had been cut to gain entry at Flint but this has now been replaced.

SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

Membership stands at 215 Seniors and 8 Juniors, I do however have my first application for a part year permit on my desk waiting for February to come around.

Not much to report on the fishing front:  I may as well start with Whistley; there have been bream to 12lb 12oz caught from the lake along with carp to around 30lb, whilst I know that there have been chub and barbel landed from the river I have not been privy to the weights.

Sonning has seen a few bream landed but no reports of anything else.

Englefield has seen a few carp to 30lb through the season but it seems that the pike anglers have taken over now, a few fish to around 15lb have been reported.

No report from Farnham Flint

Upper Benyons has seen barbel to 12lb 11oz and chub to 5lb 4oz

The reason that I have no report from Pingewood is that the Venue Controller, Paul Johnson has had to give up the position due to family commitments and time constraints.  I would like to go on record with my thanks to Paul for all the hard work he has put into this venue over the past few years, it is because of his efforts that the venue is as good as it is currently.  He will be hard to replace, but that is something I now need to try and organise before next spring.  In the meanwhile the bailiffs have been made aware that we will need some extra cover on there for the time being.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

OSIER BED STREAM

Work on this project has gone very well and should have been completed by the end of October. The wet weather has caused the Environment Agency some problems with access but the hope to be out on schedule.

FISH OF THE MONTH

Listed below are the results so far and the March Barbel is a record fish for our venues.

MONTH SPECIES WEIGHT NAME P.no. CLUB VENUE
MARCH Barbel 16-07 S. Woolford 0288 Associate Lower Benyons
APRIL Tench 9-02 P. Larrett 0016 British Airways Sonning Eye Pit
MAY   No Claims   
JUNE Tench 6-04 P. Hawkins 1714 Sundial Wylies Lake
JULY Bream 7-08 T. Howes 0808 Miles A.C. Burghfield River
AUGUST   No Claims   
RIVER LODDON VENUE AT TWYFORD

You may well have seen on the website reports that CEMEX have not renewed their lease of the next stretch downstream to Whistley Mill. The venue also includes a lake similar to Whistley. We have looked at the venue and made enquiries. When the owners decide whether they want to lease it again they will contact us along with others. We will keep you informed of progress.

JUNIORS  PROGRAMME

Our programme for this year comes to and end on November 15th with the Junior Christmas Match. This will be held at Longwater Lake with the draw at 9-30 am. Any RDAA  affiliated Club’s Junior members are allowed to fish. They can enter by either ringing Mike Sheasby (0780 241 4317) or Steve Carvell (0779 561 3019), alternatively they can register via the junior section on the website.
FISHERIES REPORT

The repair work to the platforms and the bridge at Hambridge Lake have been completed and the fence on to Hambridge Road has been replaced.

The paths around Cottage Lane Lakes have taken a bit of a pounding in the wetter weather we have received this summer and as such the Fisheries Team decided to remove the muddied areas and fill these areas in with scalpings. This has made access far easier. The rubbish from the fly tipping in the lane has been removed by (I think) West Berks Council but already a load of old tyres has been dumped.

I have received no drawings, maps or information of the pipework arrangement interlinking the lakes at Pingewood and as such will have to make our own decisions on the lakes respective levels when the log is removed from the pipe under Cottage Lane. We will be able to set the level on Farnham Flint which in turn will set the other lake levels.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

Now have 213 Senior and 6 Accompanied Junior members.   Probably no more new members until spring part year permits are sold.

Grass and undergrowth has again grown quickly this year causing problems with upkeep of venues for the Fisheries team now there are no organised work parties.   Thanked in particular, Phil Lush, Mark Holmes and Ian Pyatt along with the venue controllers of the S.G. waters, who have all done their best to keep on top of the situation.   Lots of trees “keep falling over”.

Stock retaining fence has been installed at Whistley Mill Lake.   Also posts to stop cars driving along the bank to drop off gear – privilege has been mis-used on wet and soft banks therefore banned.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

SAD NEWS

I expect you all now know of the sad sudden death of David (Dusty) Millar our Associate Members Secretary who had served on the E.C. for the past 12 years. Dusty was also a member of the Fisheries Team for some years and also helped with the School Holiday programme. He will be sorely missed.

Eileen Willmott also passed away recently after an illness and she worked tirelessly along with her husband Ken who was RDAA Match Secretary for many years. Our condolences go to Ken at this sad time.

MOTOR CYCLES ON TOWPATH

These were reported again to the police recently when around 10 were seen speeding along the towpath on Beat 3. They were later spotted at Calcot and reported again. A reminder for every one to report them on Incident Number  935 30-07-08.

JUNIORS AND SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

We finally got some better weather to complete the last two sessions at Longwater Lake and this was a sell out on both occasions. Longwater is proving to be a great hit with the kids as they all catch fish. Roach and Rudd approaching a pound, Skimmers and  Bream up to 4lbs with the odd Tench and the kids love the action from the jack Pike. The Environment Agency also donated whips for the kids to continue their fishing with.

FISHERIES REPORT

The Fisheries side will be keeping busy as work commenced on the 20th September at Hambridge Lake. The broken platforms will be replaced and the missing toe boards on some of the swims will also be replaced. Hopefully we will also be looking at the weed problem for next season.

The fish retaining fencing at Whistley Mill Lake has been completed and we are now looking for stock to replace the fish that last years summer floods lost us. We are in negotiations over some replacement stock but it is proving difficult obtaining Carp in excess of 10 lbs.
It would appear that most Fishery owners lost stock and are looking to replace larger fish and this is causing shortages.

The levels on Farnham Flint and Englefield Lagoon have been high for some time now and upon investigation we have found a large log trapped in the pipes under Cottage Lane
We are waiting to see if Peter Brett Associates can supply us with any plans / drawings for the pipework between the lakes and the outlets. We do not want to be the one to flood somebody else especially when you think of the amount of water 150mm off the level of Flint and Englefield represents. Alternatively if there are people out there who can remember the construction of the lake outlets could they please contact me.

A Koi Herpes Virus check on Britains larger “at risk” commercial fisheries has revealed that of the 71 Fisheries tested, 26 (37%) proved positive for KHV. The Colne Valley complex (after suffering a fish kill on The Fisheries A.C. Lake) has had a Designated Area Order placed on it, the same as the one affecting our Pingewood Lakes. The most likely cause of this latest outbreak is anglers moving fish.
 A check on KHV is due at the end of October on Burghfield Match Lake and as CEMEX have tried to remove all of the Carp in the lake it will be interesting to see what CEFAS decide to do if no fish are found for tests. It could be they are left with no choice but lift the movement order.

The left hand footpath at Cottage Lane around Lake 1has been moved further back from the lake to drier ground after H&S issues were raised.

185 Bailiff visits so far this season over 20 different venues have resulted in 2 permits being removed.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

Membership has now reached 200 seniors and 8 juniors

Last bank holiday saw the Paul Snookes Charity fish in held at Pingewood Lagoon and as has become traditional, nothing was caught.  However, £1250 was raised for the charities which this year are: the Duchess of Kent house trust and St Georges Hospice.

As far as catch reports are concerned; there have been a few twenty pound carp landed from Englefield, as is the case at Farnham Flint, which is fairing a lot better since the cutting was made along the causeway.
Again a couple of 20lb carp reported from Whistley Mill Lake and barbel to 14lb from the river along with chub to around 5lb and there is a rumour of a 17lb pike being caught from the river, although this is not confirmed.
There are a few 10lb + barbel being landed from Upper Benyons, but I have not been given any precise weights.
I know that fish have been caught from Sonning Eye and Pingewood, but have not received any reports from either venue for last month.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

Due to the diabolical weather we have been getting the first two Tuesdays of the programme were cancelled. We hope to get most of the kids through a programme but they will only be able to attend one of the last two. Those that are keen will also be able to attend on the remaining Saturday mornings.
Our five coaches will also be commencing their Level 2 course commencing in September, this will end in early Spring 2009 when I hope they will all pass.

BRITISH WATERWAYS

Phil Lush and myself met up with British Waterways recently for a yearly review of our practices and I quote below the reply received after the review.

Overall, I was very happy with the procedures you have in place and which you have continued to use & update since the self-supervising assessment in May 2007.  I think the folder produced & in daily use is a great example to other fishing clubs carrying out maintenance activities, and I would like to use it as an example when visiting other clubs if RDAA is happy for me to do so?

This makes us the leading light with regards to maintenance on British Waterways venues

Well done Phil and John Berry.

WATER BOOKING SHEET

Two matches were missed on the sheet they are Sunday 28th September at Beat 3B and Sunday 12th October at Calcot. “A” section at Froxfield will be used for the Junior National on Saturday 6th September due to increased numbers fishing.

FISHERIES REPORT

Our Chairman and myself met up with Del Shackleford recently to see if we could come up with an agreement between us that would suit all. For the present we have agreed that Del will take a three month break and in this time we will try and set up a working position that gives him more time with his family. Then along came the dissolved oxygen crash at Farnham Flint but more about that below.
We have set up a system as described in last month’s Information Sheet where certain people look after certain sections of the Fisheries department. Although it requires more fine tuning it appears to be working and so far we have completed the repair to the gate at Ufton, the movement of the container from Farnham Flint to Whistley which will house the ride on mower, a barrier has been put in position at Whistley to prevent cars accessing and the installation of the fish retaining stock fencing for Whistley Lake is scheduled for August 30th.

The repairs to the platforms at Wylies have been completed and work is required on some of the trees at the river end of the venue. This should be dealt with very soon.

Several large trees blown down by the recent winds have been removed at Whistley but another one since has come down which will be dealt with.

The next major project will be the retaining boards and platforms at Hambridge Lake and if we can something on the weed front.

The number of Bailiffs has increased to forty and patrol numbers have increased especially the late night ones as Fred Jones will testify.

The number of locks we are replacing seems to have gone down since the new season rush.

Most of you will know from the website we suffered a D.O. crash at Farnham Flint, this we are led to believe was due to toxins being given off from an algal bloom in the recent hot weather.

This resulted in the loss of around 40 Bream and Tench and 2 Carp along with some of this and last years Perch.

The E.A. were involved from an early point and we learned a lot from their advice.

I would like to pass on the Associations thanks to Del Shackleford (and the anglers who assisted him), Del spent all of a recent weekend and other time as well at the venue sorting out the problem, he also suffered severe abuse from website users and it is a good job he has broad shoulders. I just hope that this does not deter him from coming back in three months time.

Phil Lush also responded very quickly to Del’s call requesting the removal of trees for around a thirty metre stretch between Flint and Englefield Lagoon. This will allow the wind through onto Flint Lake and help retain the D.O. levels.

We received two disturbing reports of two eastern european men dressed in camouflage gear shooting ducks on the Kennet around the Beat 2-3 area. They carry the shotguns under covers and also have large bags with them to remove the duck. The police have set up a direct number which is 0118 953 6277 quoting incident number 935 and 30-07-08 for this and any other incidents including motor cycles on the Kennet. Anyone spotting anything should report this asap.
SPECIMEN GROUP CONTROLLERS REPORT

We now have 193 Senior and 6 junior members and a total of 62 Associate permits have been sold.

Not many catch reports from the last month but what I have follows:

Pingewood has seen carp to 42lb landed including several small commons.

Some double figure barbel reported from Upper Benyons along with a fair few singles.

Whistley Mill has seen carp to mid twenties along with a few tench and bream from the lake and barbel to 14lb 8oz and chub to 7lb from the river.

No reported captures from either Englefield or, unsurprisingly, Farnham Flint.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT  

KENNET VALLEY PARK PROJECT  

You must be all aware that the Governments South East Development plan for the next 20 years issued last week did not include the KVPP. This decision was clearly due to the proposal to build on the flood plain without the Environment Agency’s recommendation. The final decision on this will be made in October of this year 

JUNIOR ANGLING 

The four Tuesdays in August will see us carry out the School Holiday programme at