Minutes of Consultative Meeting held on 19th Oct 2019
Present John Newman John Wadham, Chris Reeds, , Howard Neal, , David Hawley, Mick Dimmock, , Kelvin Allen, Ray Torrington, Ivor Stokes, Paul Douglas, Ray Richardson, Jake Reeds, Darren Finnie and Hugh Bunker
Apologies Viktor Tzikas, Seumas Halliday, Brian Balderson and Andy Beal
Matters arising from the previous meeting
Action Winter water retention level management concerns escalated to Area Manager and RFCC chair. David is seeking better engagement within the RFCC community on this issue. Indeed given the current issues with Soil Moisture Deficit it seems hard not to make a case for having lower levels. Still ongoing
Regional/National AT update.
Kelvin presented the following:
Water Resources East and the national push to resolve the UK water infrastructure
Defra General Licence Consultation
Wensum Past Present and Future
Great Hoveton Broad Bio-Manipulation
Nenescape
Dusan Kovacik from Northampton now fully engaged with the coaching team since July.
David Beecroft started on 17th Oct and will be engaging with clubs.
David’s contact details are:
Email: david.beecroft@anglingtrust.net
Mob: 07851 037091 (This currently is unavailable due to technical issues)
Lets Fish Nenescape now ran its 20 events – great success
VBS continues with some great engagement from Volunteers – 828 patrols this year
With 55 reports made to EA-Police
Nene Valley Festival attended Peterborough 14th Sep and 22nd Sep Stanwick Lakes
Kelvin asked how are we doing and for feedback.
Discussion raised the issue of, given that many clubs are struggling with membership numbers, should they be a co-ordinated push to attract the migrant communities as additional source of membership.
The issue of signage came up and it seems an improved price could be achieved saving over 50% on the current procurement. Kelvin to follow up with John Newman.
A further suggestion was of having Eastern European language flyers to advertise Angling Club membership opportunities particularly in tackle shops.
Cormorant Issues
John Newman, explained the personal issues that has impacted Rob Harris’s ability to lead on this survey and count initiative. As such progress and updates have been slow. Kelvin pleaded with members that this was a chance to make a difference, but it needed action and commitment on obtaining bird counts to make it happen. The following actions were agreed.
Action: David Beecroft to co-ordinate VBS resources and feed into John Newman
Action: Roosting sites and specific requirements for the survey are available here for reference. The document is available here.
2018 EA Nene Fisheries Surveys – Jake Reeds
Jake went through a detailed excellent presentation of both the techniques and outputs from last year’s surveys. The level of detail and information now available is most impressive. I have had to remove the video element from the attached presentation, however and replace with snapshots of the screen images, but it’s still a great piece of work.
EA Update and Enforcement Report.
Hugh Bunker provided an update on the work of the FBG team that can be viewed here.
Members may be interested in a free fisheries management workshop that the Institute of Fisheries Management and the EA are providing in the new year. The workshop is all about aquatic plant management, a big topic for most fishery managers.
The date is Saturday 15th February 2020 and the venue is Wicksteed Park, Kettering – its FREE !.
If you could ask members to send me an email as an expression of interest I would be very grateful. Further information about the workshop will be distributed in due course. The IFM courses are very well put together so I recommend this for all our clubs and fishery managers.
Nene Catchment Report
Viktor had provided David with an update on the restoration work, as below.
There is not much of an update on the Nene Backchannels works since the last meeting other than that Ailsworth backchannel has been completed, apart from a few tonnes of gravel left to go in which was left over once the contractors left site. I’m in two minds as to leave it to see where the first lot moves too during winter high flows and then put it in the channel in Spring or to put it all in ASAP whilst we can. The works at Nassington (Wellington) backchannel are due to start from the 14th October so the fencing should be finished by the 19th and the tree works will commence on the 21st for a couple of weeks. All of these works are subject to the weather being favourable of course.
Other than the restoration works other things which may be of interest are;
– The Nene Valley Festival activities. I led a guided walk around Barnwell Backchannel at the Country Park & borrowed the EA flood model table for the finale event at Stanwick Lakes which was very well received.
– Barnwell Country Park have two wood carvings to be installed shortly. One pike sculpture and one chub bench.
– Progress is being made with the Wellingborough & Peterborough restoration projects but it is just slow at the moment.
If anyone wants any further info then they can email or phone me. Viktor
Stillwater Reports
John surprised us with a power point presentation on all the issues and outcomes on the Stillwater Trout scene. It’s available here.
Seumas had sent David a report as below.
Pitsford has been fishing consistently well for trout in recent weeks; both bank and boat. The boats have been week used especially at weekends with a number of competitions (fly and lure anglers) which is a good sign. Sometimes it was impossible to get a boat. Trout are taking shrimp, snail and fry patterns. The rod average (catch per return) was 4 last week (5 for the season).
Ravensthorpe on the other hand has been beset by algae and low water although it is now starting to fill after the recent rain. Fishing has been very difficult and not many people out. We have moved our Bob Church end of season boat match from there to Pitsford for this reason.
MNTFA News
We have been running coaching sessions for 5 years now and the Pitsford sessions really took off this year; down to a number of reasons including spending some money on adverts in local magazines, online marketing through facebook, Angling Trust, Anglian Water etc. About a quarter of current our members have benefitted in some way from the coaching (and some joined through it). The volunteers enjoy it as some of them aren’t able to get out fishing as much. Numbers wise we are treading water (about 90).
Kelmarsh Show is also a useful attractor.
Myself and chairman Don Moore did our first cormorant count last weekend at Ravensthorpe and are exploring other venues to count.
Next year we plan to do more of the same, with the exception of the Adult Learning course (as the council have changed the kind of courses they offer). That’s unfortunate as it was a useful source of funding and recruits. So we plan to be coaching at Pitsford monthly from March to October, Kelmarsh at Easter and helping the coarse guys and Angling Trust at other events. We have a keen new recruit (via Kelmarsh show) who is taking his level 1 coaching course next month.
Best wishes Seumas Halliday
Club Updates
P&DAA, John reported continued survey work on Ferry Meadows by both EA and NPT, however the tern islands still remain. Match returns on FM continue to be low.
River fest on the North Bank was patchy, Fencing at Stebbington with over 1000m now completed. Help from NPT on obtaining grant support. Further meetings with WTT on reaching fencing agreements with other landowners ongoing.
Enforcement across Peterborough City reaches meetings with City Council,
Deeping St James, Ray reported that received an EA grant to clear the Stibbington backwater from weed. They had untaken a Welland restocking program with the EA.
They had received the water resilience award from the EA, but on other issues they had gone into formal complaint procedures with the EA
WNDAC, Howard reported their receipt of the resilience award grant from the EA. The club celebrated its 150 anniversary over the summer with 180 people attending. The junior program goes from strength to strength through the Lets Fish initiatives. The club intends to install platforms on the Nene at their Ringstead site.
Northampton Nene Mick reported that their membership was holding firm, with Mick hopeful that his health enables him to return to full fitness for next year.
Rutland Fly Fishers is covered in John’s detailed report
The dates of our next meetings are:
11th Jan 2020
28th Mar 2020
27th Jun 2020
17th Oct 2020
