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From The Chair
The membership last year continued at a healthy level but as always we wish to retain old and attract new members to enjoy the fishing and experience that is the Harrow Angling Society. Enclosed you will find a small flyer for you to advertise the Society. Put it up at work or anywhere you think it may attract the attention of potential members. Following on from the stocking of Harefield No1 the fishing has improved, lots of Bream have been reported and plenty of Carp, along with a lake record of 29-8. The policy for No1 is to continue stocking on a regular basis, details of which will follow. The Rowley replacement stockings have been showing and the lake has yet again produced another good season. No2 continues to produce quality fish for those prepared to put the effort in including a new Carp record of 40lb 12oz and hundreds of double figure Bream being landed this season. With this newsletter you will receive your renewal form. Please ensure you complete it as soon as possible and send it to Paul the Membership Secretary. You may have to wait a while until you have done your working parties and get your 'Stamps' if this is the case the fishery managers are very much looking forward to seeing you on their parties. If you have any tools, equipment or materials you think they may find useful, please contact them. Please continue to support our editor Dave Cargill as he continues to grow the newsletter, please feel free to contribute. I am currently on a web site design course, hopefully I will be able to improve and update the site with my new learning. The site is a great place to check up on captures, water reports, and the latest pictures. The Message board has to date had 2096 posts since its inception, and many more thousands of views. The board is "A Place to Discuss Angling Issues" a place for existing and potential members to get together and chat. It is a public place and as such what is published reflects on the Society. It is not a place for people to conduct there private feuds, cast doubt on fellow anglers, or the business of the Committee. If you have a personal disagreement resolve it elsewhere, if you have a policy issue contact the Secretary or myself and the Committee will give it consideration. Please use the Board as it was intended, offending posts will be removed but if the board continues to be abused it will be withdrawn. This would be a shame but the decision is in your hands. My thanks to the Paul, the membership secretary who is about to undertake again the task of issuing your membership, please be sure to fill in your forms correctly, and send him the necessary for him to do his job quickly and effectively. Thanks to the Secretary for all the hard graft he puts in behind the scenes to keep the Society running. Thanks to Dave & Sharon for continuing to produce the best club magazine around. Thanks to the fishery managers for keeping the waters in such great condition. Thanks to John Barnes for making the books balance and the loan of his dining room to keep the costs down of the Committee meetings (and for all the tea and biscuits). To the Bailiffs for there vigilance on the bankside and for all you members who without you there would be no Society Please do not forget the AGM on THURSDAY 13th April. I look forward to seeing you there
Vince Sutton
Fishery Manager's Reports Harefield Pit 1
During these colder months not many fish reports have been filtering through, but pike to 8lbs 1ozs have been caught by the regular anglers. A Tench of 5lbs 6ozs was caught back in November. In the last issue we reported a new lake record Carp of 28lb 8oz being landed by Micky Grice, in this issue we can testify that the record has been broken again with another fish of 29lb 8oz to James Samuels. (left) Please report all of your catches as there are some nice trophies to be awarded at the end of the season. Work Parties. With the close season now upon us there is plenty of work which needs to be done around the lake. Three dates have been set for this:- Sunday 9th April Sunday 14th May Sunday 4th June None of these are on a bank holiday weekend so hopefully there will be enough hands to complete as much as possible. Please bring tools for digging and moving soil (spade and/or wheel barrow would be very useful) no you won't be making sand castles! There are five swims that need to be repaired this year. Also other jobs include clearing dead and rotting wood (and that tree stump in the middle of the path to the car park at the back of the woods). Oh yes bring a kettle as we like a cuppa too. Here are a few tips to help you with your fishing:- 1. Don't leave your rods unattended. 2. Always have your membership card with you. We would like to thank our bailiffs Stuart Verity and Steve Roberts for all their effort and free time they have given this season, thanks lads keep up the good work. All the best and tight lines to all.
Larry and Dave.
Rowley Lake
As I recall the weather put the kybosh on the back end fishing last year, leaving me all confused on what to do - Pike? Carp? the river for a Chub or Barbel? As it happens, this year, I made a last minute decision to fish the Grand Union, having seen a few high double / low twenty carp during my Sunday morning sorties on my bike. Happily it paid off and by lunchtime on the 14th I had landed a chunky sixteen and three quarter pounder, dropped another and was frustrated by an abortive drop back late afternoon. My ground bait had also attracted some reasonable bream which played havoc with line bites keeping me on my toes for extended spells throughout the day. So the weather doesn't necessarily have to spoil things. You just need to think things through and be prepared to do something different. I wonder, how many of those all night bivvy boys I saw on most of the Colne Valley lakes, freezing their tackle off, got even a line bite, let alone caught a fish. But I digress - to Rowley. Possibly a shed load of fish were caught last day but I somehow doubt it. Back in the summer and into the late Autumn - because winter was late in coming - we saw some of the new Crucian stock getting caught and some of the new Carp, which I am told are now weighing pounds rather than ounces. Early season saw many members enthusing about the Tench they had caught and the usual run of specimen Carp continued through the year until tailing off when winter finally arrived. The final consignment of Perch went in around November time with some reasonable fish around the pound mark. We could do with some reports of any big Perch coming out. Anyone do any good into the Autumn - Hambo? We intend to lime the lake before the weather warms up. This isn't as drastic as it sounds and needs to be done to help in the breakdown of silt and leaf litter, raise the ph and calcium levels and thereby release locked up food and minerals for the promotion of invertebrate life, thus providing an abundance of food for our precious fish to feed on. In short enhancing the quality of the water and fishery in general. If any of you are clearing out your ponds in the next few weeks (Mr Treasurer?) please remember to put aside any unwanted ornamental lilies (not invasive types). We will consider such offers for planting. I sincerely hope working parties will be better attended this year. The usual stalwarts, who turn up every year, never cease to amaze me in the amount of work they do in such a short Sunday morning. Alas, there is generally more to do than even their huffing and puffing enthusiasm can cover and we rarely get everything finished in time. So come on down, as they say, the more the merrier and the more hands we have the lighter the work. Please don't forget tools and any half decent timber you might want to get rid of. Look forward to seeing you fully booted and suited! All the best John M
A Committee View
Constructive criticism is good for any organisation. It stimulates discussion and ensures focus, and so it was good to see two members had given time to put their thoughts about the running of the Society into letters to the Editor in our November issue.
There is a common theme in both letters, that of communication. It is an issue to which your Committee gives much consideration – Members Meetings and the Magazine are arranged for this very reason. Through both these mediums we not only disseminate information, but encourage Member’s response. However, communication is a two way affair – to date this season, only 28% of members submitted catch reports, a vital means of judging how well our fisheries are performing. Curiously it is around the same percentage that attend our Meetings. Are they not interesting enough? Should I assume from the inverted commas around the word ‘meeting’ in one letter suggests the author considers them to be a bit of a joke. Why not tell us how you think they could be improved. We not only welcome your input, it is vital if we are to give the membership what it wants.
There were a number of questions posed by the letters, to which the following response is offered. Before I start however, it is noted that if one of the authors had attended meetings more regularly the majority of his questions would have been answered.
The future of the Society – the pattern of its organisation, administration and rules was set up in the early days of its existence, with the need from time to time to update it to align with the many changes that have occurred. At this time we have a vibrant and financially viable Society. This did not come about by chance. The Society is nothing without Members, and the agenda at monthly Management Meetings is focused on how to get them, and how to keep them satisfied. That our membership levels this year, are at their highest level since 1997, suggest they are not doing too badly.
Acquisition of waters –there is a constant quest to find other waters, particularly flowing water for obvious reasons, either through purchase or lease. In recent years we have looked at eight waters up for lease. None proved viable e.g. shallow rivers well fished by cormorants, inadequate access etc. We have also competed to purchase a site that had both river and lakes, but were out bid by developers who had greater plans than fishing. However, whilst we have a healthy bank balance, largely due to some sterling work by John Miles in fighting a legal battle to obtain compensation for pollution at Rowley some years ago, purchasing land still means taking out a mortgage. Contrary to the member’s letter, this carries an even greater risk than renting unless sufficient members are willing and able to give financial commitment to the scheme. Most are happier to pay a reasonable annual subscription for their fishing. But we will continue to remind members to tell the Committee whenever they see available water.
Langley Park Lake – in 1993 the Society lost the riparian rights to this Lake that it had held for nearly 30 years. Due to good management, it had been an excellent general fishery, with a healthy head of tench, bream, roach, rudd, perch, pike, and some big carp. The case against us was the work of one person with a hidden agenda, pandering to their own desires, and was based on false evidence. They publicly attacked Bucks C.C. Officers for failing in the jobs to do what was this person’s bidding. The officers were not in a position to effectively defend themselves, and eventually were forced into a decision they did not want to make. We left with an excellent record, and the BCC’s promise that, if the fishing rights ever came up for lease again, the Society would have first refusal. As reported at one of our Member’s Meetings, such discussions were held several years ago – the BCC needed funds, and since our withdrawal from the water, it had fallen into decline, and poaching evidenced by the lines etc. carelessly left hanging from many trees and bushes. So much for the actions of the Friends of Langley. During our absence, the silting of the top end of the lake had gone unchecked, and to return the water to a good fishery was estimated to have cost more than £20,000. The Council could not afford it and, unless we could secure a long term lease at appropriately reduced rent, it was a poor investment for the Society. The subject is not necessarily dead, but a mutual agreement would have to be found.
Future Members – we should all be singing the virtues of angling to those we think could be converted. Some of our members have successfully introduced novices to the Society. On occasions instructive information on angling methods has been published in the Magazine, and we welcome more input. How would you promote our pastime to non-angler’s and how much money should be put to the cost?
The Society has supported young anglers in years past with teach-ins and monitored fishing parties for groups like the scouts. Indeed a previous committee member, Barry Testro, specifically qualified as an angling instructor to carry on this work. Today, thanks to those lawyers who seem anxious to chase down any cause for a fat fee, and the apparent increase of paedophilia, taking responsibility for young people, particularly in the potentially dangerous situation on deep lakes, is fraught with considerable risk. We are not surprised when there are no volunteers for the task.
Apathetic Anglers – from involvement with various organisations over many years, my interpretation of people’s regular use of the word apathetic is to describe one who does not share the same interests as oneself. If all anglers were truly apathetic, how is it that if it were not for organisations like the ACA, every major river in the UK would be polluted. Call it apathy if you like, but not everybody wants or feels able to be involved in the running of an organisation like ours – it is a fact of life. I am just grateful that we have a band of talented and hard-working people willing to give their time for this Society. All they ask is your support in planning the way forward.
The committee is composed of unpaid volunteers. They give their time selflessly and freely for the benefit of Members. They are well aware that there is more to fishing than just catching fish – some of them give more time to running the Society than fishing itself. Even when fishery managers and bailiffs try to fish, members still want to ply them with questions at the bank-side. The anonymous author seems to suggest with his uppercase highlighting of ELECTED, that election of officers is not above board. Elections are held every year – everybody has the opportunity to stand.
What is the future of this Society that has been in existence for 68 years. We have seen many changes, with doubtless many more to come, but providing there are those willing and of the right calibre to take over from committee members when they stand down, I see no reason why it should not continue for another 68 years.
To quote some Latin back at one of our authors “damnant quod non intelligunt”.
Terry Skelton
Honorary SecretaryCurator’s Report
Last season our 3 lakes fished pretty well following the Committee’s policy towards fish stocking and weed treatment. The highlights from Number 2 being Les Skidmore landing a Mirror Carp weighing in at 40lb 12oz. In addition to the Carp, there have been many 3lb Perch and nearly 100 double figure Bream. Unfortunately many of these fish are not officially reported to me as Curator, but I am aware of them through my bailiff and fishing activities on the water.
Tench and Silver fish on number 2 have been elusive, but mainly due to only 1 or 2 anglers pursuing these species. Having seen many of these fish (both mature and juvenile) in the lake they are certainly there. In fact, it has been a bumper year for spawning and growing on of fish which have found sanctuary in the large weed beds around the lake with many small Tench and Pike in the 6”-8” category being spotted on a regular basis.
Moving onto our other waters, both Harefield No.1 and Rowley have been performing spectacularly well with good catches, particularly of Carp, Tench and Bream. Number 1 is now producing Carp to just under 30lb, with countless captures of modest sized Bream after 165 fish in the 4lb to 7lb mark were relocated from Rowley.
Rowley has had it’s own injection of Carp, Tench, Crucians and large Perch to further improve the already impressive fishing at this venue. Plans are currently in place so that in time as these fish increase in size, we will again relocate a proportion of the larger specimens into Harefield No.1 and continually re-stock Rowley with new fish on a rolling basis.
Without replicating too much of the information captured in the magazine by the Fishery Managers I will let the catch reports from our members do the talking and highlight what has been reported during last season.
As there are far too many catch report details to contain in the space available here, please may I encourage you to locate the finer individual details of this summary within the catch reports section on the website www.harrowangling.co.uk or drop me a line (details at the rear of the magazine) and I can send you more information.
Catch reports 2005/6
To date, for last season there were 203 catch reports from 33 Members, representing 12 % of membership sending reports, but enough to provide you with a flavour of what is being caught. Previous seasons records are also available on the Web page.
Harefield No.1 - 91 reports
Bream: 53 reports from 3lb to 9 lb, biggest 9lb 11oz
Carp: 21 reports from 12lb to 29lb 8oz
Eel: 2 reports of 4lb and 4lb 8oz
Pike: 8 reports from 2lb to 8lb
Tench: 7 reports from 4lb to 7lb 3oz
Harefield No2. - 48 reports
Bream: 23 reports from 7lb to 11lb 8oz
Carp: 9 reports from 14lb to 40lb 12oz
Pike: 7 reports from 10lb to 13lb 7oz
Tench: 2 reports of 8lb and 8lb 5oz
Perch: 4 reports from 1lb 4oz to 3lb 6oz
Eel: 1 report of 4lb
Roach: 1 report of 1lb
Rowley - 64 reports
Bream: 3 reports from 4lb to 5lb 8oz
Carp: 32 reports from 15lb to 26lb 4oz
Crucian: 1 report of 1lb 8oz
Tench: 27 reports from 3lb 10oz to 5lb 12oz
Pike Matches
The attendance at the 2 Pike matches that were run this year was impressive with 23 turning up to the 1st event in November 2005, and a further 20 people attending the match in Feb 2006. Both matches were any method, £3 entry fee for up to 2 rods, and ran from 8am until 1pm. For those of you who do not already know about the outcome, this is how the events unfolded.
November:
23 members turned up for the draw so the match got off to a good start with £69 in the whip for the best overall weight. Based on the lakes recent form I was nervous that nothing would come out and I was worried what I should do with the money should nothing get caught. Running off with it didn't seem like an option as most members know where I live.
Anyway - Eric Skidmore resolved that issue by starting the proceedings for me by landing an 11lb 14oz Pike for the workings jetty quite early on in the match and I felt that a fish of that size was a possible match winner, but that set the bench mark to beat and there were a good few hours left to catch up.
Shortly after then, Nigel Barrett landed a 3lb Perch from the end of the Peat Bank, a good fish, but unfortunately not eligible in a Pike match. Nigel then went on to land a Pike of 9lb. Almost at that moment in time Eric lost his second pike from the workings and it was only around 10am.
Robin Gould then took the lead by landing pike of 6lb 8oz and 9lb from the canal Pylon for a total overall weight of 15lb 8oz and was looking set to take the money with a little over an hour to go. In a flurry of activity towards the end, most anglers pulled out all the stops and Piotr Kowal landed a pike of 9lb 8oz from the railway, Nigel Barratt had his second pike of 8lb, bringing his total weight to 17lb and placing him in pole position.
In amongst this activity, Dave Prasad managed to pinch a Pike of 5lb 6oz from the peat bank and 10 mins from the end a second fish was lost from the peat by either Derek or Ron. Right on the button of 1pm and the close of the match, Ian Warr caught a 1lb 4oz Perch from the peat bank on a very large Jelly shad. In total 7 pike were caught, 2 lost with 2 bonus Perch. The overall winner of the day was Nigel Barratt who walked away joyfully with the £69.
February:
Having 20 members attend for the draw meant that the top prize for the day was set at £60. After an amicable draw for swims the match commenced at a slow pace. There was a bitter easterly wind blowing and the weather had been awfully cold since Christmas.
Phil Skidmore was the first to hook into a Pike along the marina bank, but his decision to land the fish by hand, rather than use his net, cost him the fish, which shed the hooks and disappeared into the depths.
Not long after this there were a few aborted runs from the canal pylon to Nigel Barratts merry bunch of anglers, but by around midday, still nothing had been landed.
Around about this time, Dave Cargill and Glyn Lewis were beating Dews farm to froth with everything they could throw at them. This paid off for Glyn who landed a pike of 8lb 12oz on a wobbled smelt. This was the final hook up of the match, but was enough to secure the event in Glyns favour and he walked away with the money. (right)
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for attending and making both events such great days and would encourage others of you to attend these events. There are plans afoot to run various matches during the 2006/7 season, the next likely match will be for general species on number one in the early summer along with a BBQ event, but the details still have to be formalised with the Committee. These matches will be communicated as best as I can through the magazine, adverts at the lake, word of mouth and via the Internet Forum, so please keep your eyes and ears peeled and try to attend if you can.
Many thanks to everyone who submitted catch reports for this year – all 203 will be cut up individually and entered into a draw for a free season ticket for next season. These reports are highly important for the running of this club and I would encourage more of you to complete them – the more you send the greater chance you stand in being rewarded with 1 year’s free fishing. It is certainly worth it.
Well that’s all from me, I hope you’ve had a good year, and good luck for next season.
Dave Hambly