Southdown Angling Association

Members of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2017

Last years sympathetic dredging of the Wallers Haven below Boreham Street seems to have had a beneficial effect as we have had reports of some fine fishing last season on this stretch of the river. Further silt removal has been taking place on other stretches of this water, but we understand has now been temporarily suspended to allow fish spawning & bird nesting to take place without disturbance.

Overall the fishing last season appears to have been pretty good, with some large bream, carp & tench coming out of the Cuckmere at Shermans Bridge & from the Wallers Haven, while the still waters at Curls Farm & Marle Green have continued to provide good catches of carp up to just over 20lb. The weather over the winter has generally been quite mild & despite what many may think, we haven’t really had as much rain falling as usual to get into the ground waters, so we may well find ourselves with a water shortage situation come high summer, which won’t help the fishing, we shall just have to wait & see.

2016 was a pretty good year for our club, membership numbers being very slightly up on 2015, subscription rates will therefore remain unchanged & we do not anticipate any need to relinquish the fishing on any our current venues.

Thank you to all of you who have provided an e-mail address & who will have received this newsletter electronically. Well over 60% of our membership now receive communications this way & with the high cost of even second class postage, it does save us considerable expense & effort during the year, as well as enabling us to keep you up to date with the latest news & developments.

If you haven’t registered an address with us, but would be quite happy to receive information this way, simply send an e-mail to: secretary.saa@gmail.com, with “Newsletter” as the subject & you will be included for the future & if you change your e-mail address, please don’t forget to let us know.

Social Evening & Prize Giving, Saturday 22nd April 2017

Eastbourne Fishermans Club, Royal Parade, Eastbourne, BN22 7AA.

All members, prospective new members & partners, are cordially invited to this years Prize Giving & Social Evening in the upstairs bar area of the Fishermans Club, commencing at 7:30pm, when the various recipients of our many trophies will be presented with the rewards for their efforts last season. There will be a Raffle, free Buffet, a Quiz & as usual, the opportunity to renew your membership for the year.

There is more than adequate parking space adjacent to the Fishermans Club, so there’s no excuse for not coming along. Although last years event was reasonably well attended, let’s hope this one is even better with more members turning up. The Fishermans Club is easy to find, being on the seafront, roughly half way between the Pier & Langney Point.

The winners of the various awards are as follows, Gary Flint having a particularly good year, winning no less than four trophies:

Match Results: 

Aggregate Weight Cup:             C Copeland            96-2-0             F Glazier Memorial:          P Stradwick      28-0-0

Bill Walder:                                G Flint                   11-14-0             Cuckmere Cup:                  C Ramsden       151 pts

Pole Shield:                               G Flint                    8-10-0              Marsh Shield:                     G Flint                244 pts

Roger Weston Memorial:          I Wicks                  4-12-0              Waggler only:                     C Copeland       153 pts

New Years Challenge:              C Ramsden              4-6-0              Percy Baron:                      R Brown           189 pts

Southdown Challenge:              M Faulkner               6-8-0              Xmas Cup:                         S Davey           150 pts

Roy Andrews Memorial:           T White                11-14-0               Evening Cup:                      C Copeland      240 pts

Roger Izzard Memorial:            P Gabbitas             4-15-0              KO Cup:                              G Flint

Specimen Fish:  Once again, despite our efforts at making the reporting of specimen fish easier, only three members have bothered to submit claims during the year. Clive Copeland once again proving to be top dog, weighing in with four specimens, a 21lb 10oz pike, 4lb 4oz bream & 6lb 7oz tench from the Wallers Haven and a 12lb 4oz carp & 5lb 4oz bream from the Cuckmere. Steven Smith captured a 19lb 4oz carp also from the Cuckmere and Mike Hamill a 20lb 14oz carp from Curls Farm. Clive therefore receives the trophy for the best specimen, his tench being 96.3% of the club record, the Tench & Bream Cups and award for the most specimens, while Mike wins the cup for the best carp. We know that there are many more quality fish caught by members which go unreported, so come on guys give Clive a run for his money this coming season, if you catch a worthwhile fish, please submit a specimen form, we would love to hear about it.

Membership Renewals.  Your 2017 Membership Form is enclosed with this newsletter (attached if received via e-mail) for you to renew your membership for a further year. We hope that you will do so, as we feel that Southdown AA membership offers real value for money in the variety & quality of the waters we control & there is no increase in subscription rates from the previous 5 years. The 2017 membership booklets are now available in readiness for the start of our membership year on the 1st May. As usual, you can renew in person at the Polegate Angling Centre in Eastbourne or Anglers Den in Pevensey Bay, by post or via our website. If renewing by post, please include a self addressed & stamped C5 envelope for the return of your membership pack, complete the form as necessary & forward with your remittance, to: S.A.A. Membership, C/O Polegate Angling Centre, Unit 7, Birch Industrial Estate, Eastbourne, BN23 6PH. If you have access to internet facilities, please also include an e-mail address.

Web Site.  Our website at www.southdownaa.co.uk is regularly updated with all the latest news, match reports & information. If you haven’t visited it yet, please take a look & let us know what you think. We feel that in this day & age, an active, current website is an essential tool in promoting the Southdown A.A. & are determined to give regular, up to date, topical information via the site & have included a “Sales & Wants” page for members to advertise any surplus fishing equipment they wish to dispose of, or to possibly acquire some other tackle item that is no longer available. You can now also join or renew your membership of the Association via the Membership page.

This is where you can help. Please send us YOUR news for our features. Your report could be about a recent fishing trip when you enjoyed a fantastic days sport, it may be about the capture of a club record or specimen fish, your success in a recent competition, or you may want to feature a specific club venue or tackle tip. You can also send us pictures of fish you've caught or photos you've taken of our terrific waters, whatever, it's entirely up to you. Please try & get involved by sending us any items you are happy to share with the wider fishing world, by e-mail to: webmaster@southdownaa.co.uk or to the Secretary at; secretary.saa@gmail.com.

Annual General Meeting 9th February 2017.

19 members attended the meeting at the Eastbourne Fishermans Club.

Treasurer Grenville Weston presented the accounts for the past year where there was again a slight surplus over the year, showing that the Association was in good health & giving some cushion for the future. Secretary Mike Richardson presented a written report & thanked all the Officers & Committee for their efforts over the past year. Mike Sherlock & Jonathon Pang were again confirmed as Vice Presidents & the management team remain much as before. The position of Association Secretary was in some doubt as no nominations for the post had been received. Mike Richardson had completed three continuous two year terms in office in 2015 & was therefore technically not eligible for re-election back then. He had carried on for a further two years to give time to find a replacement, but was not prepared to serve for a further term. However, although they were unable to attend the meeting & have 2 young children, two of our younger members, Laura Angell & her partner Jonathon Monk, had volunteered their services. As a result, Laura becomes our new Secretary, with Jonathon coming on board as Assistant Secretary, their initial task being to take over the membership side of the club. Laura has been a member of the Association since a child, initially as a junior with the old Compleat Angler club, where her father Neal ran matches & coaching for the juniors. Mike will now serve on the management team as Committee Chairman & will continue with some of the secretarial duties for a while longer to ensure a gradual transition of the workload & “on the job” training for the new incumbents.

New Parent / Guardian Membership Category.  Association rules & insurance require that juniors only fish Association waters when accompanied by a responsible adult member. However, we have had the occasional junior wanting to join us without the involvement of an adult member, although a non angling parent would always accompany them when fishing. We need to do all we can to encourage young people to take up angling, after all they are the future, so to cover this eventuality, an additional membership category of Parent/Guardian (Non Fishing) has been introduced, necessitating changes to Association rules, these being shown on the inside front cover of the 2017 Membership Booklet.

Changes to Angling Regulations:  Our current angling regulations limit members to the use of two rods only when fishing our waters. The Environment Agency have now introduced a new three rod license & it was felt that some members would wish to take advantage of this, particularly when fishing the Wallers Haven. However we still feel that members should be limited to two rods when fishing the still waters, but the use of three rods will now be permitted on the Pevensey Levels fisheries. In all cases, all the rods must always be positioned within easy reach of the angler.

Current regulations also state that camping and the pitching of tents is not permitted on Association waters.

This rule still applies, however, with the arrival of the modern angling bivouac, there is some confusion over whether a bivvy is a tent or not. While we do not allow night fishing on any of the still waters or downstream of Iron Bridge, at the moment it is permitted on all our other waters and bivouacs are used by some members. The use of bivvies is therefore permitted and we have decided that the definition of camping would be a period exceeding 24 hours & fishing sessions be limited to maximum period of 24 hours, after which the angler must vacate the water. Again, the changes to these rules are clearly shown on the inside front cover of the 2017 Membership Booklet.

Water Maintenance.  Every year we arrange work parties at various venues to carry out maintenance to enable anglers to fish in relative safety & comfort. The work is nothing too strenuous, trimming back the undergrowth, clearing the banks, removing the odd branch or two, weed clearing etc. Every year we ask you the members to help, by giving some of your time, but unfortunately, most seasons, we get very little response, with the usual 6 or 7 members, mainly Committee & match fishermen, doing as much as they can, so it would be nice to see some new faces helping out this year. We meet at the venue on a Sunday morning at about 9 am, spend about 3 or 4 hours working & one does as much or as little as one feels able. You don't have to come to every one, just any that you fancy & the time spent is up to you, even an hour helps. It's generally good fun, there's a good deal of "fishing talk" taking place, it enables you to meet other members & maybe even learn something which will help your fishing in the future. If you want your favourite water to be safe & ready to fish this coming season, please try & help if you can. It’s no good complaining if you favorite swim has become overgrown or filled with weed if you haven’t volunteered to help. The more members that turn out the more can be achieved. The dates arranged so far for this year are: 16th April at Curls Farm; 28th May at Iron Bridge downstream & 11th June at the Pevensey Haven, Pevensey end. All are Sundays & if you can help, please contact our Water Maintenance Manager, Peter Gabbitas, telephone 01323 440734, to volunteer your services, or just turn up on the day, armed with suitable tools & clothing.

Padlock Codes.  As usual every year, In order to prevent access to all but current bona fide S.A.A. members, the combination is changed on 1st May on all our waters which are secured by padlock, the new code being shown on the front of the 2017 membership booklet. Disabled members & those authorised to drive down to the water at Curls Farm will be advised of the new code for the track gate by separate communication. Please note that vehicles must only be driven around the edge of the field, NOT straight across, you won’t receive any help or sympathy if you get stuck!

North Farm Pool, Marle Green.  As last year, due to other activities taking place on the site, there will be occasions when this venue is closed to Association members. The closure dates for this year are shown in your 2017 Membership Booklet, on our website, by a notice on site & are also repeated here for your information:

Friday May 19 to Thursday May 25.  Wednesday May 31 to Friday June 2.  Saturday/Sunday July 8/9.  Saturday/Sunday July 15/16.

Friday September 8 to Sunday September 10 & Wednesday September 13 to Friday September 15.

Southdown A.A. Management Committee 2017

President: Fred Clews, Vice Presidents: Mike Sherlock, Jonathon Pang.

Treasurer: Grenville Weston,  Secretary: Laura Angell.  Assistant Secretary: Jonathon Monk.

Committee Chairman: Mike Richardson.  Match Organiser & Trophy Steward: Steve Izzard.  Assistant Match Organiser: Chris Copeland.

Water Maintenance Manager: Peter Gabbitas

  Committee Members: Graham Shinkfield, Alan Law & Alan Woods.

The Secretary can be contacted by:  telephone: 01323 483210,   e-mail: secretary.saa@gmail.com,

Post: Southdown A.A., C/O Polegate Angling Centre, Unit 7, Birch Industrial Estate, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6PH.