WHAT started out as a few South West members suggesting an excuse for chance to meet up eventually resulted in a fully fledged three team ‘open’ event located at possibly the best fishery in the whole of the UK.It all started when I happened to gate crash a thread suggesting a meeting up of around […]

SOME of the country’s leading experts in fishery management will be gathering in Cardiff for three days in September to debate the fundamental issue of sustainability in our nation’s fisheries. What is sustainable? Who decides and interprets this and how do we take practical steps towards realising sustainability in our fisheries?  Debates around these questions […]

A NEW British Record Eagle Ray of 102 pounds was caught by Bembridge Angling Club member Ray Lewis off the Isle of Wight on Monday.He was fishing on Ross Staplehurst’s boat ‘Albatross’.The original British record was held by an angler fishing on a boat skippered by Staplehurst fishing south east of the Nab Tower. This was then […]

SEA anglers are going abroad because there are not enough fish for them at home worth catching.  Last year 217,000, or 15 per cent of them, were drawn by the promise of better fishing, mainly in the Channel Islands, Ireland, the USA and Africa.  The figures are in new research* just released into the economic […]

STAFFORD birthplace of Izaac Walton, author of the fishing ‘bible’ the Compleat Angler, has been chosen as the venue for the prestigious public launch of National Fishing Week. Stafford Mayor, Councillor Frank Finlay, will be using the occasion of the anniversary of what would have been the great man’s 411th birthday to launch over 100 National […]

THE day after newspapers reported untreated sewage killing tens of thousands of fish on the Thames, Ofwat proudly announced it was intending to raise water prices by just 13% over the next five years.   Watervoice, the Ofwat funded consumer group, called the increase “far better than we had expected… or feared.”“These congratulatory notes show how out […]

SEA anglers should be aware of a Government proposal to impose a £22 annual licence on them for pursuing their sport. The proposal is rightly based on concern for conservation, but the Countryside Alliance seeks reassurance on a number of issues.The projected £3m annual revenue that would be generated by this licence fee would probably not […]

DEFRA has invited the Salmon & Trout Association to join the RIA (Regulatory Impact Assessment) Stakeholders’ Group in its wide-ranging review of water prices and resources allocation. The S&TA, as a leading member of the Moran Committee, is the only body representing angling and fishery interests within this influential and opinion-forming Group.“Fish are the obvious […]

WHILE Londoners have heard that the Thames is cleaner, many are still hesitant to go and join the fish for a swim, and quite rightly so, as just last night tens of thousands of fish died.  The Environment Agency reports that yesterday’s storm caused the death of tens of thousands of fish across all ages and […]

Press release from Kevin Webster of Whizzo EVERY seasoned match organiser will agree with me when I say that we perform a thankless task. If it rains, we should have known, if teams drop out at the eleventh hour, we should have had extra teams waiting to fill their places, and strangely both of these things happened […]

Press releaese NEW research points to fish farm cages as most likely source of sea lice, says an organisation calling itself the Sea Trout Group.Two newly-published studies show links between sea lice infestation on salmon farms and ‘pools’ of sea lice juveniles ready to infect wild fish on a Scottish sea loch.The studies – both published […]

A report published today confirms the significant role played by sea angling in England and Wales. The report – by the economists Drew Associates – was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to provide a clearer picture of sea angling activity in England and Wales and of its contribution to […]

FINANCIAL ADVISOR Steve Clark, 46, from Saffron Walden, Essex, produced the right figures to shatter the existing Individual National Championship record by 16.910 kg in the NFA Division One National Angling Championship fished on 25-miles of the River Trent between Nottingham and Dunham-on-Trent (Notts) on Saturday (July 17). Clark, who was fishing for A4 Oxford […]

A NEW credit card that raises money for the development of angling in the UK is now available.The launch of the striking Royal Bank of Scotland Anglers Affinity Card coincides with the organisation putting up £50,000 over three years to sponsor National Fishing Week. The RBS will be a joint sponsor of the annual August […]