Stoke-on-Trent Angling Society Academy

“Our vision is to provide a facility whereby individuals and/or groups of all ages can get involved in the sport of angling. A place where they can enjoy, develop and improve their skills and help them on their journey to become a better angler and have a lifelong love of the sport.”

Background 

Youngsters represent the future of our Society and our sport. SOTAS have made a start to reverse the trend that was being felt by all angling clubs in our area regarding the lack of youngsters getting involved in angling. The Society has fishing rights on approximately 9 miles of the canal network with the Canal and Rivers Trust. To promote more opportunities for family fishing trips on the canal, parents can fish by purchasing an Adult Canal Only membership for £15 per year

Juveniles aged 13 and under must be accompanied by an Adult member. If the adult is not fishing the parent/guardian supervising the juvenile needs to purchase a Non-Fishing Supervisory membership for £10 per year. The parent/guardian can also nominate up to 2 other non-fishing adults to accompany the juvenile on the same Supervisory membership ticket

For several years SOTAS has been active in promoting a campaign to encourage more people to participate in fishing. The Society are successful in attracting more youngsters to start their angling journey, mainly by our involvement in the Canal and Rivers Trust “Lets Fish” events.

To comply with safeguarding and insurance requirements, all events are delivered by a team of professionally qualified and licensed coaches.

Membership of the academy is free and open to all members of SOTAS.   

What events are planned for 2026? 

We are planning an in-house programme of events which has been designed to help to further develop the angling skills of our existing Academy members as well as providing dedicated training events for our new intake of Academy members. The events include match days, training days for pole fishing on a canal, pole and rod and line fishing at a small pool, and a training event to help prepare the Academy members for the biggest annual celebration of junior angling – the National Cadet, Junior and Youth Angling Championships. 

ACADEMY EVENTS ALL SATURDAYS

9th May - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Training

30th May - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Training

13th June - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Training 20th June - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Training 27th June - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Match 29th August - Noels Pool - Training

5th September - Trent & Mersey Canal, Middleport - Training

19th September - Noels Pool - Match

26th September - Lodge Farm - Matc

Anyone with an interest in taking part in any of the above events please contact: 

Stoke-on-Trent Angling Society Academy liaison officer Mr. Anthony Burt via email secretary@sotascommittee.co.uk 

(Please note that no business is conducted in person from an officials’ own residence) 

If you were a junior member last year and have not yet re-joined, then please consider renewing quickly to be able to reserve your place on the above events. 

Any person that would like more information about Stoke-on-Trent Angling Society Academy, how to get involved, helping, volunteering, about donations or sponsorship please contact the liaison officer Mr. Anthony Burt

SOTAS Academy 2025 Awards Night

SOTAS Academy Awards Night - 26th November 2025

Last night was our annual awards night to celebrate the progress and achievements of the SOTAS youngsters who represent our next generation of anglers

Thanks for the generous donations of trophies from Garry Haynes and Ivan Hancock and for the fishing tackle from Neil Powell (aka Hillbilly Floats), Chris Sanderson, and Rob McCue

The youngsters went away with an assortment of fishing tackle - rods, reels, luggage, and accessories to help them on their angling journeys

As you can see from the photograph it was another successful year for the SOTAS Academy with an impressive array of trophies awarded at SOTAS Academy and Canal and Rivers Trust events

The Academy is looking forward to helping our existing members to progress further next year as well as welcoming a new intake of youngsters to join our Class of 2026

Thanks again to our Club for all their support for the Academy

Thanks

Tony