Autumn 2017 Newsletter

Transcription

1 Autumn 2017 Newsletter Secretary s Introduction Welcome to the Autumn 2017 Newsletter. Can you believe it s nearly winter again? When our NPS Committee diary showed prepare Autumn Newsletter it felt like only 2 minutes since we were writing the spring publication. Time passes by so quickly, so let s make the most of it while we can. I ll not steal the thunder of the other contributors to this newsletter; they will put more detail into the work each one of them has been involved with on your behalf. What I will say is that we are very lucky to have such a group of dedicated and hardworking individuals, who give up a large part of their time so that other members can enjoy theirs. Every autumn newsletter tells you what next year s subs are going to be. We do this so that if you forget or someone asks, you only have to read the last autumn newsletter and that will tell you. See later. Following the AGM in May, several rules changed, one of which was the rule relating to Veteran status. This should allow more long-serving members to be rewarded earlier for their continued support and then hopefully for longer. The AGM itself was at Southwell racecourse which turned out to be an excellent venue. It s always a bit of a worry when we move such events to new venues. However we need not have had any concerns as the room was perfect: there was no problem hearing people talk, there was good signage and ample parking. We will be using this venue again in May 2018 so please come along and have your say in how the Society is run. We said farewell to Mike Westwood who retired as our Chairman after 43 years service on the Committee. We all wished Mike a long and happy retirement which he has already started by catching a trout on only his second cast using the beautiful 8 6 split cane fly rod we had made for him by member Adrian Richardson and presented to him on the night. Mark Morris kindly accepted our invitation to step up from Vice Chair to Chairman and Brian Stopford agreed to become our new Vice Chairman. The change of Trustees names and my change of address have all been registered on our deeds by our solicitors. In the last newsletter, our new stock ponds had been excavated, lined and filled with water. In January they were also filled with a stocking of around 300 mirror carp in Pond 1 and a lower number of mirror carp in pond 2 (the fish had been supplied in weight and not numbers of fish). Thanks to the daily water checks and rigorous feeding programme carried out by James Brown, Ron Allen and others, those fish have outstripped our growth forecast by a long way. Our plans for a different strain of carp plus some tench are already in place and as James will explain later, the exercise is long overdue but will put our stillwater fisheries back on track to produce the quality of fish in the numbers our members who fish for them deserve. Keith Horsley s work as Fisheries Manager and that of the groups of people who help him often goes unrecognised. It is as though the Society elves (no pun intended Keith) emerge during the night and miraculously the nettles disappear, paths to the water s edge suddenly emerge and the fences and gates repair themselves. All this work is planned and agreed so please do not make your own swims or cut bank side vegetation of your own accord: talk to Keith and he will undoubtedly be pleased to assist. A big part of how we run and manage the lakes especially relies on the information you, the anglers, feed back. We have a fantastic source of fish biomass data available in the form of the fishing returns, but that data is only reliable if everyone fills them in. It is apparent that some members are not filling in the returns either fully or at all in some cases. Which a) does little to help us monitor how each fishery is progressing and b) is breaking a Society rule which requires returns to be filled in each time any of the lakes is fished. Disciplinary action will be taken against anyone found not filling in the returns and, as you know, we usually find out who the rule breakers are before too long! On the subject of rule breaking, there have been several instances of people casting across the river and affecting the fishing of others fishing opposite. Whilst it may be frustrating when someone arrives and sets up on the opposite bank, sometimes where you want to cast to and yes, you could be forgiven for thinking that with now over 15 miles of riverbank available, there is probably an equally good place they could fish elsewhere, please remember that the fact 1

2 still remains that he or she does have the right to fish from that bank to a point in the centre of the river. They shouldn t fish over that imaginary line towards you and you shouldn t fish over it onto their half of the river. We all go fishing to enjoy our sport, not to fall out with anyone so please be equally courteous to each other and spare a thought for those opposite, whichever side of the river you are fishing. We have enjoyed some very interesting monthly meetings recently, something I am trying to encourage so that more members come along and get involved in the Society. We are conscious of the present 3 hour parking rule in Sainsbury s but it should be possible to arrive at 19:00 and leave before 22:00. One of the things we are considering is inviting a mini guest, perhaps once every few months, to talk to us on a specific subject for half an hour or 40 mins after the meeting. If you have heard or heard of any interesting speakers recently then please let me know and we will try to contact them. Any details of these events will be posted on our website. Kevin will no doubt tell you all about this year s Guest Speaker night in November, the return by popular demand of one of our earlier speakers. We are enjoying some fantastic river sport, especially with the size and number of the barbel in our stretches of the river so I am sure this speaker will help bring us even more success and a little bit of laughter along the way. While the lakes may appear to take up a large part of our time and money, your Committee is working for the benefit of all members, whatever species of fish they target. The search for new waters has been going on for a while and will continue to do so. However, such waters must offer something different to what we already have before we will commit to spending our members money on it. Since the Spring Newsletter, I am very pleased to tell those who don t already know, that we have secured the fishing rights of over a mile and a half of the river Derwent at Whatstandwell near Matlock. It took a long time searching and negotiating which involved several members of the present and past committee but this fishery (which we have called the Alderville stretch) hasn t been fished for over 3 years and is now ours for NPS members to enjoy, providing both we and the landowners are happy with the way we work together. I m sure I don t need to tell you how good the trout and grayling fishing can be in this stretch of the Derwent, nor how big the barbel are reputed to be so we should be privileged to enjoy some excellent sport there as long as we respect the surrounding area. The farmer rears cattle in the adjacent fields and any litter left in the fields could possibly kill an animal and lose us the right to fish there so please be extra careful and take away anything you find as I appreciate that people who have no legal right to be there sometimes walk along the river. There are return boxes in use so we can monitor the fishing and full details of the fishery and its parking will be in the 2018 year book and on the website, the details of which are reproduced below The 2

3 The Upstream section of the Alderville Fishery Before I finish I would just like to remind members that we would very much like you to come along to the monthly meeting held on the first Wednesday of the month at Arnold, details of which are in your membership book. The committee appreciates feedback from the membership. In the near future we are also adding onto the agenda talks and presentations that will be of interest to the membership. And finally if you have received this newsletter electronically we have been able to expand the content. However, due to both printing and postage costs for the paper version, we have had to keep this within budget. If you would like to receive the electronic version please provide Mark Morris with your address: markmorris61@btinternet.com Wishing you all continued Tight Lines Dale Whittaker- Honorary Secretary Membership Secretary Report It s the end of August as I write this, so the membership renewal process has long since been completed.you would think. Only yesterday did a gentleman phone me to say he could not find his 2017 membership book. Frantically ripping apart his garden shed, accusations were made about NPS inefficiency. He phoned me to say his planned weekend trip to fish overnight with a friend was in tatters as his could not recall receiving his book at all. He has an annual standing order set up to pay his subscription and I had obviously made an error and not sent it out. Could he come round to my house to collect it? Now I know I make the odd mistake which we resolve as quickly as we can, but I do know that we don t like to simply expel anyone, so those members who had not paid by 31 st March got a letter from me advising them that they hadn t paid. Not one response! Mind you, in the case of the gentleman above that is hardly surprising as he had not told the Society he had changed address and he had not set his standing order up correctly nor checked if it had been paid when he thought. This incident is only recorded here to remind all members to ensure that your standing order comes out of your bank account when you instruct your bank to pay it. We do not direct debit your bank account. Non-payment by 31 st March means you have expelled yourself from our Society. NPS Membership is full! 680 adults (assuming two new members are inducted and accepted at the September meeting), 186 Veterans, 31 other including committee, life members, bailiffs etc. There is a healthy waiting list currently of 104 people. I wrote to a number of members after the Annual General Meeting advising them that the motion to change the qualifying criteria for veteran membership had been approved so it is now TEN years unbroken membership and you have to be 65 or over. Most have responded to me and will become veterans in There are a few still to respond and I suspect a few that didn t get a letter as I don t hold dates of birth for many of you, so if you think you will qualify as a veteran in 2018 please get in touch. PLEASE NOTE Subscriptions for 2018 will remain unchanged. That s for adults, for veterans. 3

4 Please check your standing order is correctly set up and quotes your name and reference number. New members MUST pay by standing order and you all had the form when you received your membership book. Please don t leave it until March 28 th to check. There is no room anywhere for a separate Chairman s Statement so I will steal a few words here. I am immensely honoured and proud to have been elected as your Chairman. Following Mike Westwood is not going to be easy, and I am delighted he is still attending meetings to ensure I get all the voting in the right order and at the right time. I will give it my best, but I know I have the support of our committee and the members at the meetings. It is a privilege and a pleasure I will do my utmost to enjoy. Mark Morris Muskham Lakes Report-Summer 2017 Rainbow Lake Aside from the unbelievable river sport the society offers, one of the other benefits of our membership is the variety of the fishing we have at our disposal: so many fish and such little time! Our trout lake, Rainbow, (just think someone won a prize for thinking that one up!) was conceived in the 1970 s, although back then it was a 90 acre open expanse of windblown water half-filled with sailing boats and jet skis. Being stocked with 10 oz brown trout the fishing was challenging to say the least and a fly was the only method permitted. Since then the lake has been reduced in size to its current 8 acres and fish are now stocked up to 5 times a year. There are new wooden perches made and installed each year and 2017 saw the addition of marginal plants and floating islands were built and positioned to afford shelter to the 20lb rainbows, 10lb brown trout and 3lb blues which have been stocked in recent years. It has been very satisfying to see more members fishing the lake than ever before. Such has been the quality of the sport that we now regularly get membership applications from people who only fly fish. What a pleasant surprise they have had when fishing the place for the first time catching up to 10 fish in a session, some saying they have had their best day s fishing ever and others describing it as the jewel in the Society s crown. Then they find out that there is now also, not only the intimate surroundings of the River Greet with its beautiful wild brown trout to fish for but also the Derwent with its famous mayfly hatches in spring and fantastic grayling fishing in winter. How lucky are we? With the support of the Committee we have been able to get the lake up to its recommended stocking density of around 175 fish per acre and pay the additional cost to secure a good number of quality brown trout which will overwinter better and for longer than their lesser spotted, magenta flanked brothers and, sisters. Since spring we have stocked more frequently, accepting that the higher costs of transportation will be repaid by smoothing out the peaks and troughs of the sport that those stockings often produce. Month on month, more anglers have visited the lake making more visits than in previous years. Hopefully that is a testament to how the place has fished although when there, as with the river, you would be excused for thinking that no one else knows about it, if the number of other members you see is anything to go by. The trout often feed best during the winter months just at the time when most anglers put their gear away in favour of a warm chair by the fire side! Since the beginning of the year there have been an average of 59 visits per month. These visits have resulted (up to the end of August) in 1,953 trout being caught, nearly 400 of those being brown trout. The monthly rod average has been as high as 4.4, the overall average being 1.98, which is still encouraging when you consider that most members spend only 2 4 hours actually fishing. Undoubtedly the members who have stayed longer, trying different flies, depths and presentations have enjoyed the best sport. Since February there have been 51 trout in excess of 10lbs landed, not bad when you think we only stocked 16 of them this year! Paul Woodings was the third member to catch the fish he sponsored, well done Paul. It s hard to be disappointed about anything on Rainbow Lake but the feedback has been so positive with so many memorable accounts and photo s of their capture that I will be sorry to see the sponsored trout initiative have to stop due to the lack of support from the very people who enjoy fishing for and catching them. The fact is that these big fish are extremely hard to source and expensive to transport. Their life expectancy is even less than a normal rainbow but my, how they fight during their brief acquaintance with us. The cost of each fish is now over 30, still good value per pound some may say, but the cost of transporting so few fish is something the Society cannot justify on its own. I ll gauge the feedback I get from this newsletter before submitting next year s stocking proposal but realistically, if we cannot guarantee stocking more than 30 fish at 30 each then we probably won t continue with the sponsored trout initiative, unfortunately. The fly fishing tuition day hosted by member Andy Smith was a huge success again this April. Over a dozen fly fishing members, both new to the sport and those wishing to learn new tricks of the trade, were treated to a portion of Andy s huge knowledge of stillwater trout fishing and the feedback from that and the casting tuition he offered was very positive. Again, if there is sufficient demand, I would gladly ask Andy if he is willing to run a similar event again next year. Please let me know what you think or if there is anything in particular that you would like covering. 4

5 We have really started to see the fruits of our labour with the bankside maintenance and development work this summer. Three new seating perches were made and installed, the floating islands were planted and secured with boat style spade anchors, the grass behind the perches is now lush, no doubt benefitting from the wet weather and regular mowing, leaving the long grass and marginal vegetation to grow so affording a sustainable environment for the bird and fly life to thrive in. We planted hundreds of marginal reeds, rushes and sedges around the lake as well as alders and gorse bushes which are now starting to multiply and spread. Additionally, a few tons of rocks, bricks and broken concrete were removed by the hard manual graft of members to reveal the clear gravel margins which the lakes were famous for. Oh yes - over a hundred more of those pesky double figure common carp were re-housed back where they belong, in Bridge Lake. The latter two events will hopefully be repeated again this winter when we will lower the water level again to kill off any Argulus eggs that may have been laid and to make netting the carp that bit easier and more efficient. The 2017 stocking will conclude during October December. We have some quality rainbow and blue trout being prepared already. I hope to see and meet many more members enjoying the fantastic sport that Rainbow Lake can produce and I wish you all continued tight lines. Dale Whittaker (2084) A nice River Greet Wild Brownie Muskham Coarse Lakes February saw the continuation of the tree planting around Chestnut and the creation of the stock pond feeding platforms. These were completed in March and the auto feeders were then installed. Work continued on the aeration system and the pumps for the re-filling of the stock ponds once the fish have been removed. It is planned to siphon the water off into Kingfisher to drop the level when required. April saw the electrical supply for the stock ponds completed and the conduit covered. James also gained a much appreciated volunteer to help with the loading of the auto feeders. In May, weed clearance took place in four areas of Kingfisher which was a difficult and arduous task. May also saw the bund work commence in earnest and this is continuing at a pace and is expected to be completed by December. The stock ponds received their first residents of beautifully conditioned Dinks on Saturday the 28 th January with 310lb of fish going into Pond 1 and 234lb going into Pond 2. These fish have now grown on to be around 4lb in Pond 1 and 5lb in Pond 2. James has now reduced the feed to keep them stable at these weights rather than risk losing fish by having a too large stocking density. Silver Stone Through spring and summer, there were 508 sessions fished on Silver Stone Pool. The silver fishing has been incredible and the bream are gaining size quickly. However most members wanted to catch the tench and crucians and they have not been left disappointed. There were 722 tench caught over this period and 2912 crucians. Both species are also growing well with Mick Jackson s 5lb 2oz tench (the lake record) highlighting this. The pool looks wonderful with the vegetation and water lilies becoming established and I m sure it will continue to be the most popular venue on the complex. Bridge Lake Bridge Lake was also popular (despite all the construction work going on) with 483 sessions being fished. The construction of the bund has certainly not effected the fishing, in fact some believe it has helped it. There were 987 commons caught with 34 of those over 15lb and one topping twenty pounds. Five mirror carp were caught; unfortunately none were transferred or had their photos taken for James Brown to identify them. There were 250 bream, 4 pike and an eel caught along with some good perch and roach for those who fished for them. 5

6 Bridge Lake Bund Construction Kingfisher Kingfisher had 183 sessions fished and most of those visits were by the same few regulars. The weed put off some anglers plus the fact that it was slow going at the start of the season. But for those looking for bigger carp Kingfisher is certainly starting to produce. There were 8 commons caught with 6 over 15lb in weight and 19 mirrors landed with 12 over the 15lb mark. Six carp have gone over 20lb, 4 weighing over 23lb and it won t be long, I m sure, before we break the 30lb barrier. 14 tench, 3 bream and a pike have also been landed. There are a few pics from the lake to date:- Pics 1 and 2 below are fish from last February's stocking fish. No. 1 has gained five pounds and the pic 2 fish has grown by almost eight pounds and looks to have the frame to make a very big fish which is a typical example of the Handycarp strain of fish which we have in the lake. Members may be interest to compare them to the stocking photo s on the website, not only to see the obvious difference in the size of the fish but also the lovely colours the fish have attained in the clear water. They are fish No 3 and 6 from the 2016 stocking respectively. Fish No 3 below is one of the old Muskham commons that has flourished in Kingfisher. This beautiful fish is now just over twenty pounds. Fish No 4 is a Symonds strain carp stocked into Chestnut ten years ago and transferred to Kingfisher in 2014 weighing fifteen pounds. It was recently caught by Dave Williams at over twenty four pounds

7 3 4 Chestnut Lake Chestnut has been far more popular this season than it has been for the last few years and the anglers have been rewarded with some quality fish. There were 285 sessions fished with 423 common carp netted including 53 over 15lb which is 1 in every 8 fish caught and three of these fish went over 20lb. 4 mirror carp also made appearances but unfortunately none were transferred or had their photos taken for James Brown to identify them. 21 bream, 7 tench, 4 pike and 1eel were also caught along with some silver fish for those who targeted them. Tight lines Neil Radford Fisheries Manager Report. The spring and summer of 2017 is now over and the river is starting to show its autumn colours as are the lakes and Finger Ponds. The reports I have heard from our fisheries on the River Trent have been very encouraging. Barbel have been caught from all stretches with fish of multiple year classes ranging from 1lb to 13lb. Other species have also been caught by members changing their tactics. Chub of all sizes up to 7lb! bream, dace, roach, perch and even grayling. Some members have fished for the elusive carp in the river and some have been rewarded with some incredible catches. On a personal note I am looking forward to the first frosts. I will be pursuing a great passion of mine, winter grayling, and trying out our new fishery on the River Derwent, the Alderville Fishery. I can t wait! Muskham Lakes have fished well; we are so lucky to have such varied fishing available; trout, carp, bream, perch, pike, tench, roach, crucian carp, rudd even eels - all species really and they seem to be thriving at the moment in terms of both quantity and quality. Our specimen lake, Kingfisher,has had good weed growth and the fish have grown feeding on the bugs and critters that live in it. I do realise this makes the fishing challenging but those anglers putting the time and effort in have been rewarded. 27 double figure carp to 24lb, 14 tench and 3 bream. More importantly, the carp are growing at a tremendous rate, between 2 to 8lbs in the last year alone. We will soon have 30lb carp to fish for I am sure. The stock ponds which were dug last year will produce us the stock fish we need for Bridge and Chestnut Lakes. The stock fish are all mirror carp this year but next year there will be a mix of tench and carp. Finally, thank you to all who have volunteered to do work on our fisheries; you know who you are. Without the work done by all volunteers our fisheries would be much less accessible and the fishing would not be as good as it is. Thank you all. Tight lines - Keith Stock Pond Update The carp stocked into our ponds have progressed well, growing from just under a pound to reach their target weights and will present a considerable financial saving when set against the cost of purchasing the same size fish from a dealer. If things continue to progress smoothly they will be stocked in our lakes later in the year. This has been the first year we have utilised our ponds and it has been a steep learning curve for all concerned but the sound and straightforward advice we have received from Steve White of Whitewater Fisheries has been a tremendous help. 7

8 I would also like to take the opportunity to thank "fish feeders" Dale Whittaker, Keith Horsely and in particular Ron Allen without whose help my job would have been considerably more onerous. Next year's fish are already on order, a mix of Leney strain carp and 8 tench. The latter will take considerably longer to reach cormorant-proof sizes but for those amongst us who think there is more to lake fishing than carp the chance to stock our lakes with tincas is well worth the time and effort. What a difference a Summer makes top left Steve White with a stock fish from June at 2 ½ lb and top right Frank Hudspeth with a 5lber at the end of August. I would also like to take the opportunity to appeal for help from members looking after the ponds. Both Dale and Keith already have a heavy workload for this Society so it would be great if I could reduce this. Fish feeding and water quality checks take place every morning from approximately April to October. The work takes around fifteen minutes and isn't physically demanding. If anyone is able to help one or two mornings a week particularly at weekends please contact me on Looking after the fish and watching them grow is extremely interesting and rewarding with the knowledge that you are making a really positive impact on the quality of our fishing. It is something I look forward to more members taking an interest in. Tight lines James Brown NPS Juniors Here we are, autumn 2017, school is back for winter and the junior programme is now complete for this year. The section now boasts 89 members with the most active yet again being both the youngsters and their very supportive parents from the North Muskham School Fishing Club, who embrace all that we offer with verve and enthusiasm. It is a pity that our own members and their children do not give the Society similar support as I do believe it is the kids that are missing out! The Junior Match was fully subscribed and all of the participants along with the greater majority of parents enjoyed a pleasant afternoon when the fishing was not easy but there were no dry nets at the weigh in. As always, the prizes were numerous and every participant went away with tackle and bait thanks to the generosity of our local tackle shops and sponsors. A splendid BBQ followed the presentation of trophies, with the brilliant Jackson Five Catering Team 8

9 supplying a mouth-watering feast for everyone. Thanks as always for a job very well done. Dates became somewhat confused for the Junior Whip Competition but for those youngsters who managed to attend some very good weights were recorded and plenty of fish caught. I have been section leader since its conception and now feel it is time to step aside to allow new and fresh ideas to take the section forward. Gary Wright has accepted the position and with his experience and expertise in competition fishing, along with his recently gained level two coaching accreditation from the Angling Trust, I am certain the section is in very capable hands. I wish him well for the future and hope he receives the support the efforts in organising the events deserve. Finally I would like to thank the members who have supported the section during my time in office. You are few in numbers but we achieved a reasonable result, had a good time on the way and put a smile on a number of young faces. If we have encouraged just one youngster into our sport it was time well spent.. Thankyou Mike Bachini Hello to both adult and junior members, As you are now aware I will be taking over from Mike Bachini as N.P.S. Junior Section Leader, Firstly I would like to thank Mike for all his enthusiasm, hard work and effort he has put into the junior section and in doing so putting many a smile on young angling faces. My aim is to grow the junior section and carry on with the good work that Mike and the other coaches achieved during his time in office. There will be a settling-in period and during this time I will be working on some new ideas to help encourage young people to become involved with this sport which we all enjoy. I am looking forward to the challenge and would like to ask for your support. Tight lines and Best Fishes Gary Wright A Word from Len Duckworth - Head Bailiff Following a better start to the river season than the past 2 years, owing to a settled spring, the fish had a good spawning or in some cases, 2 spawnings. This showed in the quality of the catches early on, especially on the faster stretches of the old river. This success created its own problems with numbers of anglers wanting to have a go and who can blame them! 9

10 The warm and settled weather also brought out another group of people - this year has seen a marked increase in the use of boats on our waters with blatant disregard for fishing law! Opportunist anglers with or without boats have been a worry, often setting out after dark on some of our waters: some unsavoury characters! These reports, along with other incidents including 6 cars of Chinese anglers, yes 6, caught night fishing a local neighbour s water with numerous rods just goes to show that we have to be ever more vigilant! That incident was reported immediately to the police and is being taken forward by them. Prompt reporting increases the chances of catching wrong doers! Slow reporting is often met with little or slow response! The police and Environment Agency have been busy this season and have carried out several patrols including a night time exercise, to catch boat and un-licensed anglers. The police have successfully prosecuted several anglers locally fishing without licences and our local EA contact has been proactively involved in these operations; he has been a vital contact point for us and we must support this work. Every success depends on good information and so we must all report what we see; one first hand report is worth ten second hand ones. If you witness something, if it s a police matter please report it then tell me about it so I can follow it up. If you can get car numbers then that is great quality data. The police understandably treat something more seriously if the person reporting it does so too! In most circumstances these incidents should be reported to the EA at the same time. Please refer to your book for guidance. We now have 8 bailiffs patrolling our waters; we welcome Andy Tidmarsh into the fold. Andy is looking after the new Derwent stretch, all are doing a sterling job, reporting what they see each month, so next time you see them please take a minute just to say thank you - their effort and hard work makes a huge difference to the Society and your thanks would make a huge difference to them! Tight Lines Len 2018 NPS Merchandise NPS merchandise will once again be available either at the monthly meetings, speakers evening or from James Brown. Please send cheques made payable to Nottingham Piscatorial Society to Heather Lodge, Station Rd., Clipstone Village, Mansfield, Notts, NG21 9AQ. The society 2018 calendar is priced at 5 as is the ever popular new-for-2018 NPS mug. Society Christmas cards are priced at 3.50 a pack (5 cards ) or three packs for 10. A new-for-2018 membership book wallet, 1, and NPS notebooks, 3, for recording all the barbel you catch! Plus, on special order, Society branded clothing, polo shirts or sweatshirts are also available. Please contact James on for more information. 10

11 The Assistant Secretary s Last Cast. I had to smile to myself the other day reading a post from a very misguided Nottingham angler on one internet forum or another. He was enquiring about day ticket fishing around Newark; he had heard it was good! The contributors to the forum suggested the usual; Kelham, A1 pits, Smeaton s. One reply suggested he put his name down on the NPS waiting list and he immediately responded back by saying we are far too expensive! I have just calculated that since the season opened I have had 24 trips to the Society waters on the Trent. If I split them all evenly between the 3 ticket venues already mention my day ticket spend alone would have been 209 and that is only for the first 3 months of the season. I don t know about you but the NPS subscription is excellent value for money for the quality of the fishing and not having to suffer fishing shoulder to shoulder with fellow anglers. The number of times I have had a stretch of NPS river to myself this summer has been wonderful. So should any of your friends wish to join NPS I would suggest they get their name down on the waiting list very quickly. Whilst on the subject of value for money, yes, it s that time of year again. I would like to take this opportunity to confirm details for the NPS Speakers Evening. As in previous years we are keeping it free to all NPS members and still only a fiver on the door for any non-members and your guests. November 1 st 2017 sees the Return of the King Des Taylor. I am sure many of you still remember Des s walking the worm from 3 years ago. This year I have invited him back to talk about river fishing for chub and barbel. I am certain Des s talk will be as entertaining as ever and we should pick up lots of advice and information. Des is an excellent river angler and spends many days each season guiding other anglers on catching barbel. To compliment this we have Mr Float, our very own NPS member Andy Field will explain how he goes about float fishing for and catching barbel. Over the last few years Andy has successfully bagged a number of large float caught barbel to over 12lb from the Trent and float fishing for barbel is something we all talk about but not many of us actually do! Well now you will have no excuse. Andy s talk will reflect his enthusiasm for catching barbel and give you an insight into how he goes about it and perhaps more importantly what not to do. The various tackle and bait stalls are a wonderful diversion on the evening and a chance to chat to the bait manufacturers and stock up with bait and tackle at rock bottom prices. I know Shaun Harrison at Quest Baits ran out of some boilies stock within ten minutes last year. For 2017 the tackle dealers and bait companies already booked in are; Future Fishing, Specimen Fishing UK, Open Water Angling and Custom Angling Solutions and Hybrid Tackle on the tackle front along with Fiskies Fantastic Feeders who now have some fantastic maggot feeders in addition to the usual leads and cage feeders. Bait companies this year are; Quest Baits, Dynamite Baits and Monster Baits. The Hook Bait Company is using this show to release a brand new Trent-focused barbel bait Nimrod that in its prerelease testing has been catching more than its fair share of barbel and I am sure will be available at a show rock bottom price. Such were the positive comments we received last year about the venue and its facilities we are there again so tell every angler you know. This will be another fantastic evening and don t forget the massive raffle; last year we had getting on for 2,000 in prizes won on the night. So a reminder once again:- NPS Speakers Evening Wednesday 1 st November. Doors open at 6.30pm, talks start at 7.30pm. Newark Showground - Cedric Ford Pavilion (Look for the NPS signposts) loads of free on-site parking. 11

12 Sat Nav user: put in NG24 2NY. Free to NPS members and children and just a fiver on the door for non-members. NPS members - don t forget to bring your book for proof. Further information please give me a call or drop me an . Kevin Stephenson. Tel: kevin@watermead-financial.co.uk 12