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There will be NO MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION increase for 2017 and the ASTBURY NIGHT PERMIT will be remain at £35. There will be changes to the Membership Subscription criteria for Members age 12 to 21.

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2016 Annual General Meeting

The AGM was attended by 42 Members. Albert Perkins, Kevin Edwards, Tony Burt and Gerry Brookes were elected as President, Vice President, Secretary and Assistant Match Secretary. Dave Hulme, Kevin Grocott, Roger Watts and Roy Bailey were elected to the Committee. There was only one Notice of Motion concerning the Constitution and General Rules paragraph 7 - details of this change is published in the 2017 Membership Book.

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Membership Subscriptions for 2017

Juvenile Member age 12 to 16 years of age on 1 January 2017 £1. Intermediate Member 17 to 18 years of age on 1 January 2017 £20. Intermediate Member 19 to 21 years of age on 1 January 2017 £40.

Senior 22 to 64 years of age on 1 January 2017 £65.
Senior Citizen/Lady/Disabled £40.
Astbury Night Permit £35.
Non-Fishing Guest Permit £10 for a named individual.
These were agreed unanimously by the members in attendance.

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TREASURER’S REPORT

The Balance Sheet showed an excess of Expenditure over Income of £1212. At the AGM, copies of the audited accounts were distributed and an explanation of the Balance Sheet was given. Subscription income increased by £5600 as our membership increased. We purchased fish at a cost of £12000. We spent over £6000 on work party materials; mainly for the Stanley Reservoir project. Approximately 20% of our members paid their subscription through our new on-line payment system - we are hopeful that this method of payment will be very popular in 2017.

Mick Hann Treasurer

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Membership Renewal

Members are reminded to renew by 1st March if they wish to guarantee that their membership can continue into 2017. Membership books will be available from 8th December. If renewing by post, please return the front cover of your 2016 ticket with your cheque or Postal Order and enclose 96p stamped addressed envelope for each ticket. Memberships will be on sale at our HQ on 8th Dec, 12th Jan, 9th Feb and 9th Mar from 7pm. Members may wish to renew their subscription on-line at www.stokeontrentanglingsociety.com Non-members may apply for membership using this web address.

My address is Mick Hann, 34 Kenley Avenue, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, ST9 9HX.

Mick Hann

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CHAIRMANS REPORT 2016

This is the Text of the Chairman's report to the2016 AGM.

Good evening and welcome to the 2016 AGM. I hope you have all had a good year and have been enjoying your fishing.

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It has been a good year for the Society with an increase in membership. Therefore, we will not be proposing an increase in membership subscriptions for 2017. The night permit for Astbury proved to be very popular .

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The changes we made to allow people to join on-line have proved to be a success with many people using this facility. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to promote our Society. We all have a part to play in promoting the Society, so please all continue with the excellent work you have done this year.

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Astbury Water Park – Astbury continues to improve and the money we have invested in fish stocks is resulting in some great catches, creating segregation from the public in the fishing areas is proving to be a success. Most of the work has been done by Dave Rowe and Roger Watts who have done a sterling job, supervised by Brian Banks who once again has done an excellent job managing the lake on behalf of the Society.

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River Dove – All our sections of the Dove have fished well this season with members having excellent catches of chub, barbel, trout and grayling. It is very nice to see more members enjoying the river. However, we have had a number of issues that have upset the landowners resulting in changes to our fishing arrangements which I will cover later; particularly on Brookhouse Farm.

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Stanley Reservoir – Not many members fished Stanley this year due to the high water levels. However, we are taking action to improve fishing at high water levels with the introduction of twenty fishing platforms on the shallows.

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Rode Pool - We have seen improvements this year on the fishing front following the fish stockings, we are hoping for further improvements following the removal of the net which was across the lake.

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River Sow - Good news once again with further stockings from the EA, all good news following major work on the river last year, should be good for the future.

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Blithfield - Members have enjoyed fishing Blithfield Reservoir this year; the new booking system has worked very well . The river has fished well with some excellent catches of chub and dace; it is planned for work to be done on improving the fishing pegs.

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North Road Pool - This water continues to improve each year; a lot of improvements have been made this year and will continue in 2017. The introduction of the tench has gone down well with members; with some excellent catches. I will be asking the netting team to once again remove more of the lily pads.

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Woore Fruit Farm - We have seen improvements this year on fish catches and we will continue to monitor the water over the next twelve months.

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Rule Changes - River Dove As a result of members being inconsiderate to our landowners i.e. knocking on doors at 5 am, complaining gates are locked, driving through the centre of the mowing grass, leaving gates open which allowed livestock to escape; we are very lucky not to lose our fishing on the river. The following arrangements will now apply:-

No coarse anglers allowed on the river in the close season.
Trout Fly fishing allowed from 18th March to 7th October 2017.
Work party members only for the first two weeks of the season.
Members without a work party ticket allowed to fish from 1st July 2017.
Please note no visiting the river prior to the start of the season.
Fishing sessions from first light to 12.30am, all anglers must be off the farm land by 1.00am.

Strictly no camping on the banks between sessions.
Failure to comply with Society's rules or behaving in an inappropriate manner will result in loss of membership.

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Juvenile Fishing - Over the last 3 to 4 years we have seen a reduction in our juvenile membership to a stage now where it is less than 5% of total membership. We are, therefore, introducing a cheap ticket with a view to attracting more juveniles, Special rules will apply i.e. child protection, fishing in the same peg with an adult, 3 rods max per peg.

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Specimen Fish i.e. Pike and Carp - When fishing for specimen fish please use a 42 inch landing net and large unhooking mat.

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This is the time of year when I can publicly thank people for all their hard work, once again Mick Hann for all his sterling work, Albert for keeping us in the right direction and being very supportive to myself, the committee for all their contributions, Tony and Gerry for the match fishing , Brian Banks and his team, Kev Grocott for volunteering to organise the work parties and Jim Thomas at Trentside Tackle. One last thing before I sit down, you will see on the agenda that we are proposing a new Secretary and President ; due to the fact that Albert has decided to step down from his position as Secretary. It gives me great pleasure to thank him for all his hard work and service over many years to the Society and now I welcome him to be our new President.

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Well that’s it once again for another year thanks for your attention; I would now like to ask Albert to say a few words.

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Albert said that he joined the Society in 1961 and was elected to the Committee in 1964. He became the Assistant Treasurer in 1975 and continued in that role until 1992 when he was asked to take on the role of Secretary. In 2001 he added the Treasurer role to his existing position as Secretary. This combined situation continued until 2012 when Mick Hann kindly volunteered to become the Treasurer. He has continued as Secretary until this year's AGM; Tony Burt has very kindly offered to take over this role. Albert said he considers it a great honour to be offered the role of President; he intends to play an active supporting part in the future management of the Society. Albert then continued by saying what great pleasure it has given him putting something back into the sport which he enjoys and he encouraged all members to consider playing a more active role in the management and work parties of the Society.

John Davey Chairman and Albert Perkins retiring Secretary.

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ASTBURY MERE

It’s been another fantastic year at Astbury; there has been a string of thirty pound fish caught, and the growth rate of the VS fish we have introduced is exceeding all expectations - one fish stocked three years ago at eighteen pounds was caught in September at thirty one pounds and some of the others are not far behind; some members have recorded excellent catches, one had seventeen fish in a session.

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The work that has been carried out by the work party team this year is a credit to all the lads and I would like to say a big thank you on behalf of the Society; also thanks goes to Dave Rowe and Roger Watts for their endless dedication to the water and to Paul Beresford for so much time bailiffing the water. There are more work parties planned for this winter and anyone that can give a few hours please contact Dave or Roger for details.

Brian Banks, Astbury Manager

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FISHERY MANAGER'S REPORT 2016

It’s been another excellent year with the Society continuing to offer exceptional fishing for all angling disciplines and great value for money. It is exciting times for the Society with many of our waters moving in the right direction to meeting their full potential. From a fishery management perspective we have carried out a number of stockings and improvements to Society waters throughout 2016 with more planned for 2017.

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The introduction of tench in 2015 and almost 100 carp averaging 3lb into North Road in 2016 has proved a great addition to this popular pleasure water, with some quality catch returns. We will be implementing a plan to reduce the silt in this water this year along with the removal of some lily pads; this work should further enhance the fishing in the long term. At Rode Pool we introduced over 300 crucian carp and a similar number of small rudd and removed a 150 metre length of net which had been positioned to the southwest of the fishing bank by the previous angling club. Although the fishing at Rode Pool can be tough at times, the rewards are certainly there with some good catches of carp, bream and roach reported this season.

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The stocking of the Leney/Sutton carp strains into Astbury Mere in 2013 and 2015 has been a huge success with these fish showing exceptional growth rates; well beyond our expectations. In September we saw the first one of these break the 30lb barrier when it was caught at 31lb; followed by confirmation that one of the new fish had been caught at 27lb 10oz, putting on over 9lb since being stocked in November 2015. The fishing really has been outstanding on the Mere this season and I even managed to catch one or two myself up to 29lb 14oz! The Mere is looking better than ever with all of the work that has been undertaken.

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On a more serious note there has been an increase in outbreaks of notifiable diseases this year with some quite close to home. Please would all anglers remain vigilant and report any suspicion of unusual behaviour or fish condition. Please help to prevent the spread of fish disease by ensuring all nets, slings and unhooking mats are dry before they are brought onto any of our Society waters. Further, please treat all captures with respect and help to protect the Society’s fish stocks by using appropriate fish care products which are now widely available in tackle shops and online and returning captures promptly. This applies to all species of fish and should be second nature to all experienced anglers, but for anyone new to the sport this video link has some useful starting points especially for specimen sized fish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEYoNctNjYg or you can ask one of the Society's bailiffs for advice.

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Finally I would like to wish all members a happy and prosperous 2017 and tight lines!

Andy Freeman, Fishery Manager

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MATCH REPORT

The planned matches at Stanley Reservoir in 2016 were disrupted again because of the continuing high water levels: the home leg of the inter-club challenge match with Potteries AS was transferred from Stanley to Rudyard. The away leg was at Adbaston. It was a good result this year for the SOTAS members - we won the home and away matches.

 

A special mention to one of our Society match anglers, Mick Bagnall, for winning the annual Rose Bowl competition which was fished at Knypersley Reservoir in September.

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In 2017, 6 Society matches are proposed - 3 at Stanley Reservoir and 3 at Rudyard Reservoir - these matches will be on the second Sunday of each month between April and September. A veterans' match will also be held on the second Thursday of each month between April and October.

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On the team front the Match Group have had another busy year: a team was entered into the Heronbrook Spring League and we came 12th out of 30 teams. We finished 17th out of 28 teams in the Commercial National Championships fished at Lindholme Lakes. We reached the semi-final of the Supercup for the second successive year.

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Although the team result in the Division 2 National fished on the Fazeley Canal in Birmingham was disappointing, following months of practice for this event, the Society had the individual winner of the National Championship - Roger Abnett who put in a stunning performance to beat 280 anglers by catching 15 bream and a winning weight of nearly 15 kilos.

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For the first time SOTAS entered a team in the World Feeder Club Championship. A qualifier match was held at Barston Lakes in November and the top 2 teams were selected to represent England in the World Feeder club Championships in Spain in 2017. SOTAS team members gained from the experience of fishing in such a high profile event and competing against such a star-studded field . Preston Innovations Telford and Drennan Barnsley Blacks were the top 2 teams on the day. These 2 teams will now have the chance to be crowned inaugural champions when they fish against the best feeder teams in Europe next summer.

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At a more local level, we fished a first team match with Goms Mill on their stretch of the Middleport Canal in October. A second local team match has also been arranged with Fenton on their stretch of the canal in November. It is planned to arrange for further local team matches later in the year.

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If you enjoy team fishing and/or wish to take part in any of our individual Sunday matches please get in touch with our Match Secretary.
Tony Burt, Match Secretary