The Game Fair, (18 -20 July) is to host the UK’s largest fishing event and fundamental changes in the fishing village involve a revised layout and a totally fresh approach to demonstrations, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with the experts.

Some of the UK's top demonstrators and anglers will be showing off their casting skills, tricks and techniques and sharing the secrets of their success.

Based at the House Of Fishing the Angling Trust will be organising its largest ever stand with fish tanks, displays, videos and a host of material covering the Trust’s campaigning work on behalf of Game, Sea and Coarse anglers. There will be an opportunity to talk to Chief Executive Mark Lloyd and the Trust’s Campaigns Chief Martin Salter. We will also be running a fundraising raffle on behalf of our partner charity Get Hooked on Fishing along with other attractions including a fish fighting machine.

The House of Fishing will include an advice centre, a specialist fly tying station where youngsters, newcomers, and novice fly anglers can come to tie their first fly. Angling Trust Ambassador John Bailey will once again be playing host in the special seminar area to a fascinating and informative array of speakers.

Martin Salter said: “I have no doubt that this year’s House of Fishing will be the biggest and best yet. We are working closely with Chris Ogborne to make sure that it is packed with demonstrations and talks covering all angling disciplines from some of the best anglers in the country. Whether you are a novice angler or an established expert, if you are after a bargain or just want to talk fishing, there will be something of interest for every angler at the Game Fair.”

As part of a concerted effort to help youngsters into country pursuits, entry into this years’ CLA Game Fair will be FREE to those aged 16 and under. Tickets are now on sale and can be booked online at:

https://yourticketbooking.com/gamefair/p/2523/book

CLA Game Fair Head of Fishing, Chris Ogborne, added:

"We are absolutely committed to helping and encouraging the next generation of anglers. In addition to this major concession on entry, we shall also be featuring many new initiatives at this year's event. Young anglers of all abilities will enjoy the special fly tying areas, the bait casting, and the comprehensive demo programmes. Instead of just watching, they will be encouraged to 'have a go' and to try their hand.  With the concerted help of the Angling Trust, the Fly Dressers Guild, GAIA and many others, our hope is that we will be bringing many new faces into the fantastic sport of fishing."

Source: Angling Trust

Kevin a  Senior Clerk of Works was fishing for Maver, Bathhampton.  Drawing peg 86 on Cary Lake.  Fishing either waggler or the bomb, to 0.18 lines with 14/16 P911 hook, Kevin fed nearly two pints of 6m pellets during the match.  He took carp up to 16 lbs and with some 19 fish taken to the scales for a winning weight of 149 lbs 6 ozs booking his place in the grand final at Cudmore Fishery in July.

A long drive from Surrey saw  Peter Upperton fishing for Middy draw peg 66 on Lodge Lake.  Fishing 14.5 m down the edge on luncheon meat to an over- hanging tree, Peter used nearly two tins cut to 4/6 mm cubes fished on a 12 hook, to take second in the match with 134 lbs 12 ozs of an all carp catch to 16 lbs.

Robert Jones of Neath fishing under the Frenzee South West banner draw peg 87 Cary and on the next peg to the winner. Fishing the bomb and pellet waggler with 8 mm and 11 mm pellets. Robert took carp up to 16 lbs plus four skimmers for third place with 116 lbs 8 ozs. Local Angler Dan Squire of Somerton drew peg 120 Campbell, fishing the long pole with either pellet or caster to take 23 carp and 4 tench for fourth place with 115 lbs, and fifth place was taken by Robert Giles of Blackwood, another member of the Frenzee South West team.  Robert drew peg 96 Cary, fishing the pellet waggler, carp to 15 lbs which made up his final weight of 112 lbs 01 ozs.

The next Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier takes place at Preston Innovations Boldings, Bridgnorth on Saturday 12th April 2014

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Competition creator and Angling Trust ambassador Dave Harrell said:

"The mix up on dates is unfortunate and it would be impossible to fish the competition at Evesham with so many boats on the water. We have therefore moved quickly to replace the venue.  A very big thank you goes to match organiser Colin Harvey for sorting out the new venue and match headquarters.  Eckington is a superb venue and one that is not used enough for big competitions in my opinion. I'm expecting it to be a very good qualifier.  Tickets for the new venue will be sent out to all the anglers who were originally successful in securing a place at Evesham. I can't imagine anyone wouldn't want to fish the new venue but if they do there is a waiting list and the place can easily be re-allocated.  All the angler will need to do is contact the Angling Trust for a refund."

If anyone would like a refund and cannot fish the new qualifier venue at Eckington please contact the Angling Trust at; 0115 9061 301/307 or alternatively email; Sandra Drew, Competitions & Events Manager at sandra.drew@anglingtrust.net

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The match was the culmination of an 8 month programme which has seen youngsters from Angling Trust’s Northern, Midlands and  Southern Development squads work with some of the country’s top match anglers in Des Shipp, Joe Roberts, Matt Godfrey, Nick  Speed and Frankie Gianoncelli to learn and understand what is required to compete at elite level with Team England.

The match was run to FIPSed rules with bloodworm joker the main focus and with Sensas Team England U18 coach Joe Roberts watching on, anglers had the opportunity to showcase their skills and earn the right to grab a place at the U18 trials to be held at Makins Fishery. 6 teams of 4 anglers fished Molands and catches were steady if not spectacular throughout the match with good quality roach and skimmers featuring regularly and some big F1’s  appearing towards the end. It was Team South 1 who triumphed collectively and individually with a score of 9 points and James Allen took the individual honours with a weight of 23lb 14oz, his performance being enough to earn an invite to Makins on the 6th April. James will be joined at the Sensas U18 trial by Jake McNeil (North), Jake Sanderson (North), Josh Smith Trow (North), Brad Hancock (North), Jordan Hollaway (Midlands), Finlay Bulbeck (Midlands) and Matt Grindle (South).

Ben Thompson, Talent Development Manager at the Angling Trust  said “I’m delighted with how the match went and every one of the anglers did well today. It was a great opportunity to showcase their skills and impress Joe Roberts. There are some very talented young anglers out there and it’s fantastic to see some of our top match anglers supporting these youngsters’ development and helping them achieve their ambitions of representing their country. We are very grateful to those guys and our Talent Coaches who give up considerable amounts of their own time to make this programme possible. I wish every angler attending the U18 trial the very best of luck and to those anglers not selected I’d encourage them to keep working hard, keep learning and I’m sure  their opportunity will come in the future.”

The 2014/15 England Talent Pathway programme will begin in June with selection events staged nationwide. If you’re aged 14-17 and want to get involved then visit the website www.anglingtrust.net/talentpathway for more information.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Graeme Pullen tries some deadbaiting for big Pike and puts out some theories on how you can guage how big your Pike is. In his search to find some Pike to measure he joins up with lure specialist Nathan Brotherton and the pair latch into an AWESOME double catch of lunker predators! Sardine bait for Graeme, Rainbow Trout for Nathan. This film will suit beginners and experienced pike anglers alike, and will certainly get you thinking "outside the box!".

More angling videos form The Totally Awesome Fishing Show can be found by visint their YouTube channel or you can check out their Facebook page

While damage to fish stocks was not immediately apparent, within a few days dead fish were floating belly-up on the water, and others were gasping for air. Highly-valuable, large specimen carp were among those found dead. This was reported immediately to the EA by local anglers, who knew that there is a maximum of 48 hours to get oxygen back into the affected water to save dying fish. The Todmorden Angling Society (TAS) asked the EA to bring aerators with them to do this but, for reasons which remain unclear, the EA delayed and insisted on visiting the site first to make their own assessment.

On arrival, the EA agreed that the oxygen level was dangerously low (16% when it should have been around 75%) and only then made arrangements for aerators to be deployed, wasting several hours. After around 40 hours constant use, the water condition improved significantly, but sadly it was too late to save most of the fish. Whilst in the immediate aftermath of the pollution no one fished for health and safety reasons, more recently anglers report that very few fish are being caught and there is an absence of the large specimen fish that were once the major attraction for club members and day ticket sales.

To add insult to injury, the EA refused to undertake a fish kill assessment despite being pressed on the obvious need to properly assess the damage caused to fish stocks. When challenged by Fish Legal about this, various different reasons were given and further requests for a full and credible explanation were at first deferred and then later, refused.

The EA’s own target for making enforcement decisions is 12 weeks from knowledge of the incident, and yet 38 weeks after the incident the EA were still talking about bringing its investigation to “a swift conclusion”!  It was not until the 14th of October 2013 (some 72 weeks later) that it told Fish Legal “we have now concluded our investigation”, but was still unable to confirm the outcome. The EA eventually wrote to the club on the 25th of February 2014 to say it would not take a prosecution.

Despite confirming that the pollution was a Category 2 incident, which means it has a significant impact on the environment, and confirming the pollution had “caused significant fish mortality” including an offence under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, the EA decided to serve the polluter with only a formal warning letter. The polluter was prosecuted separately by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) for two breaches of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £6,000 at Trafford Magistrates Court in February 2014. The HSE’s commitment to enforcing the law and prosecuting offenders stands in stark contrast to the Environment Agency’s shoddy investigation, delays and weak enforcement response.

Fish Legal has requested the EA’s case file under a freedom of information request and will submit a formal complaint to the EA inviting it to reconsider its enforcement decision and asking for a fuller explanation as to why it did not take decisive action. Unlike the EA in this case, Fish Legal will battle on to try and help TAS, and is committed to taking the polluter to court if necessary, to recover compensation for the club to restore its fishery.

Cameron Hogg, Solicitor at Fish Legal, said

“It is hugely disappointing to wait so long for little or nothing to happen. The EA failed the club by delaying with aerators, then again by refusing to do a fish kill assessment, then once more by failing to prosecute. It also took more than seven times longer, at over 91 weeks, to make an enforcement decision, than the EA’s target of 12 weeks. The EA has not given a sensible (or sometimes any) explanation for the actions it refused to take, or its delays. The EA has been given the bullets, but has not pulled the trigger - again.”

Will Rundle, Head Solicitor at Fish Legal, said

“This is yet another example of Environment Agency failures when responding to pollution killing wildlife. In this case they failed to take timely action to protect the environment and punish offenders. We recently exposed serious failures within the Agency in its management of its pollution response function, which highlighted delay, inconsistency, and a failure to follow its own guidelines. This case demonstrates those problems and just goes to show how bad it has got; a significant fish kill has resulted in a mere warning to the polluter nearly two years after the event. It begs the question whether the EA is fit for purpose.“

Source: Fish Legal

Helping Support the Little Princesses Trust & the Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre.

The contest will work differently to traditional pairs matches in as much as angler's do not get to pick their partner. Instead, pairs will be drawn on the morning of the match. The reason for this is two-fold; firstly, the event is open to all anglers of all abilities - not just top match anglers; secondly, it gives casual anglers the opportunity to be paired with some of the country's finest anglers for the day.

Prizes are to be confirmed.

As per last year's event, there will a raffle offering some fantastic prizes. Tickets cost £10.00 per strip with all proceeds being split equally between both the Little Princess Trust and the Ruimveldt Children's Aid Centre.

For more information about the event, please contact Matthew Blackmore on matthewblackmore@hotmail.com or 07825 817 474.

Source: Larford Lakes

Last year's event saw sixty four (64) competing anglers pile an incredible 24,370lbs of fish onto the scales. The average was over 76lbs of fish per angler per day! Catches were made up of large bags of bream, hybrids, roach, tench and carp.

Again, the event will be run on a points system with overall weight deciding in the event of a points tie.

The registration and draw for the lake permutation will be held at the fishery lodge at 09:00am prompt on Monday 4th August 2014, followed by the draw for your lake peg at 09:30am. The draw for the remainder of the festival days will then revert back to a 09:00am draw each day.

Entry fees for the five day event this year will be £60.00 per person plus £20.00 per day pools. This means the total entry fee, including pools, will be £160.00. We are NOT taking part payments or deposits this year for the festival. It created a lot of extra work for us in the past and we had to chase final payments right up to the day of the event. Payment must, therefore, be made in full by Friday 18th July 2014 to secure your entry. Payment on the day will NOT be accepted - no exceptions!

The draw format will mean that each angler will rotate between all four banks of the Specimen and Match lake with one day out of the five on the Arena Lake.

EXAMPLE: Your rotation draw could be:

Day 1 - Match Lake (A) Shallow Bank
Day 2 - Specimen Lake (C) Burr Bank
Day 3 - Match Lake (B) Burr Bank
Day 4 - Arena Lake (E)
Day 5 - Specimen Lake (D) Chalet Bank

* you then draw daily for your peg number of your permutation.

Event Schedule

Monday 4th August        Day 1        Draw 9:00am for permutation     Draw 9:30am for peg number / Fish 12:30 - 5:30pm
Tuesday 5th August        Day 2        Draw 9:00am - peg number        Fish 12 noon - 5pm
Wednesday 6th August   Day 3        Draw 9:00am - peg number        Fish 12 noon - 5pm
Thursday 7th August       Day 4        Draw 9:00am - peg number        Fish 12 noon - 5pm
Friday 8th August           Day 5        Draw 9:00am - peg number         Fish 12 noon - 5pm
        
Presentation 6:30pm plus buffet and bar                

There will be cash prizes each day on all sections and overall lake winners.
Lake winners will receive a daily cash prize.
Top 2 in section will win a daily cash prize.
Top 5 in the festival overall will win cash and / or tackle prizes.

As we don't know at this point how many anglers will be participating we cannot forecast the overall winners prize fund, but last year's winner collected winnings over £1,000 plus tackle prizes from Maver (UK) Ltd.

ALL POOLS PAID INTO THE FESTIVAL WILL BE PAID OUT 100%

For a full report on last year's final, plus all the results, pictures and details of accommodation for the festival, visit the Larford Lakes website.

In order to book your place on this exciting festival, contact Maver (UK) on 01527 406 300 and request an entry booklet.

Source: Larford Lakes

The FIPSed under 23s World Championship is due to be staged at Assen in the Netherlands from 25th-26th July 2014, and a team is required to represent the Angling Trust and team sponsors Drennan International.

Where and When
The Angling Trust Drennan Team England youth assessment will take place on Saturday 12th April on the Gloucester canal.

Applicants must have been under 23 years of age on 31st December 2013 to apply.

All competitors will be fishing to full international rules. Rules are available on the FIPSed website at http://www.fips-ed.com/index_eng.php

Applicants who are invited along must impress the Angling Trust Drennan U23s England Manager, Mark Downes. This will be a pole only assessment, and the anglers will be expected to work a2 lines, the 5-6m and a full 13m line.  Bait limits for the assessment will be; 1 pint joker, hooker, bloodworm, ½ pint pinkies, ½ pint maggots, ½ pint casters, ½ pint worms and 15 litres groundbait and leam.  Mark Downes will supply 2 x leam and 3 x ground bait)

How to Apply
Anyone wishing to apply for the assessment trial must complete an England youth assessment trial form by contacting Sandra Drew, Competitions & Events Manager at the Angling Trust.

Email: sandra.drew@anglingtrust.net, or telephone: 0115 9061 301/7. 

Completed forms must be returned by no later than 1st April 2014.

Application forms have automatically been sent to anyone who applied for the assessment trial last year.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The Angling Trust and Countryside Alliance are members of the Sustainable Access Campaign Cymru (SACC), which represents hundreds of thousands of anglers and land owners in Wales and was co-founded with Angling  Cymru, The Country, Land and Business Association and the Welsh Salmon and Trout Angling Association back in September 2013. 

They stressed at the meeting that they were supportive of Voluntary Access Agreements (VAAs) to increase the number of rivers where canoeing is allowed, but stressed that these must include restrictions to avoid damage to sensitive ecosystems from boats and slashing the capital value of fishing rights, which may be worth as much as £1billion in Wales.  They also pressed the officials to introduce the registration and licensing of all vessels on rivers so that such agreements can be enforced.

A green paper on access to the countryside, due to be published in the autumn of 2013, has been further delayed following a huge volume of correspondence from SACC supporters highlighting the risks of access without locally-agreed restrictions.

Formation of more VAAs throughout Wales and England has been frustrated by the refusal of the canoeing representative organisations to agree to anything other than access to all areas at all times.  Furthermore, Canoe Wales has recently issued a statement on navigation policy which claimed a “right to use the inland waters of Wales” and stated that “Canoe Wales supports the rights of its members and the general public to use all the inland waters of Wales with responsibility and pride”. 

All the legal textbooks concur that no such right exists, except on navigable rivers.  This has been confirmed by independent lawyers and QCs, and no legal professional has ever suggested otherwise.  The continued suggestion from the British Canoe Union and Canoe Wales that such a right might exist is causing widespread unlawful canoeing which is the subject of a complaint by the Angling Trust to UK and Welsh Government.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal said:
“angling is worth approximately £150 million to the Welsh economy, and supports thousands of jobs.  We urge Ministers to ensure that this business, and the wild fish on which it depends, are strongly protected in any proposals for increased access.  We support increasing access to rivers for paddle boats, but is seems utterly reasonable that this access should be restricted to protect legitimate existing users and to protect the fragile environment of rivers.”

Rachel Evans Director for Wales for the Countryside Alliance said:
“any increase in access to land and water must take in to consideration people’s property rights, and must be managed to complement and protect the environment and habitats.  With regard to access to rivers, the continued stand-off by Canoe Wales and their membership is once again forming barriers for negotiation. For access agreements to work on our rivers, I think it is vital that vessels be licensed and have some form of identification.”

Note:
The Sustainable Access Campaign Cymru was established by Angling Cymru, Angling Trust, Countryside Alliance, Country Land and Business Association, Fish Legal and the Welsh Salmon and Trout Angling Association

Source: Sustainable Access Campaign Cymru (SACC)