ANNUAL REPORT – APRIL 2025

We are approaching the AGM and the time for the renewing Club membership. The Committee thought it useful to have a brief recap of some of the events and highlights of the last year, to review where we are now and to look ahead to some of the plans for the future.

• Bordeaux Stock Management
• Whittlesford Developments
• Lake Conditions, Maintenance and Working Parties
• River Ouse Stretches
• Matches
• Youth Open Day
• Clubmate
• Members’ Fish Gallery
• Committee changes

Bordeaux Stock Management

Following on from the manual netting exercise undertaken in November of 2023, we undertook a more targeted electro-netting survey to give us an accurate picture of the number, size and condition of the Carp in the lake.  A total of 115 carp between approx. 2lb to 15lb were caught. Electro-netting achieves a hit rate of about 30% of the fish population, so our estimate of a carp population of approx 250 was reasonably accurate. 

Under the guidance of the Mainstream operatives, fish with mouth or scale / fin damage were identified and 35 were removed. This means a total of 60 fish were removed over the two exercises: approximately 20% of the stock

Whilst this was done for all the right reasons, the removal of carp triggered an emotional response from some. The Committee listened to the criticism and decided to respond positively.  In mid-February two great looking fish, weighing in at 20.5 lb and 20lb were placed into the lake as ‘Target Fish’.  They have several years of good growth ahead of them and should hopefully add weight quickly.  We have also increased the number of night syndicate places available at Bordeaux – contact Tony Holmes for details.

Just in time for Christmas, we took delivery 6,000 mixed silver fish, nominally of 3-6 inches; mostly roach, but including some skimmers, perch and a few gudgeon. These were put into the Small Lake, where they should grow on in the protected environment and where they will receive supplemental feeding.

A further 3,000 of the mixed silvers were placed directly into the Main Pit. This included some bonus extra-sized fish, courtesy of the supplier.  We also put 100 Bream of 6-8 inches and 100 Ide of a similar size into the Main Pit.   We also took delivery of 237 Chub in March, but were sadly let down by the supplier for the Barbel we ordered; we hope to remedy that later in the year.

 Hopefully the presence of the new fish will boost interest in the lakes and the level of feed going into the water will increase, to the benefit of ALL the resident species.

Whittlesford Developments

Following the previous year’s investment in mechanically removing in excess of 150 tonnes of black silt and decaying weeds from the lake, the water was allowed to settle after being ‘limed’.  Time was subsequently spent in levelling out the piles of silt that were taken out of the lake and generally landscaping and restoring the banks and paths around the lake.

Unexpectedly, the weed returned with a vengeance, which has necessitated an on-going manual effort in keeping swims fishable. 

Given the quality of fish in the lake, there is a long-term intention to enclose the lake with an otter-proof fence.  However, given the geography of the site and the number of trees and amount of undergrowth, this will need to be done in several stages.  In the meantime, work will soon be starting to make the car park and entrance more secure.  Chairman Tony Holmes has managed to obtain a quantity of high-quality metal fencing which will be erected behind the existing hedge to the right of the gate as you enter. 

Lake Conditions, Maintenance and Working Parties

The water levels at Bordeaux are very high, although a little down on the peak seen this time last year.  Several pegs are submerged, but by being creative it is possible to access the water around the majority of the pegs. The main focus of our on-going works is to raise the inundated pegs around the small lake.

The water is also high at Whittlesford, with several pegs on the wrong side of soggy.  Work has been done to stabilize some areas of the bank and back-fill and raise the pathways.

We regularly monitor the oxygen levels and test the water for acidity, nitrates and ammonia.  Both lakes are currently very healthy, with DO levels well in excess of 75%.

As already mentioned in passing, both waters need constant maintenance to keep the pegs fishable and accessible.  Looking after the Club’s venues as ever falls to volunteers.  We have jokingly referred the teams as the ‘Elves’ at Bordeaux and the ‘Pixies’ at Whittlesford and this seems to have stuck. At present both teams are small, with the same few individuals undertaking most of the work.

The Club really needs some more help and volunteers to assist in working parties would be really welcome.  We will be advertising planned works more proactively in the future and hopefully more members will want to be involved.  The working sessions are a good way to meet the committee and other members and are always sociable and not excessively strenuous.

The Ouse Stretches

Once again, Ashley Kinsey ran a well-supported league of summer matches on our leased stretch of The Ouse.  A growing band of thirty or so members took part in the ten-match league that ran from June to October. 

The final match had to be abandoned due to the very wet condition of the track making some of the pegs inaccessible.  We are hoping to address this during the dry months of this year.  It is also the intention of the ‘river gang’ to open up some new pegs downstream.

Ashley will be running the league again this year and details of dates can be found on the rolling list of matches that appears at the top of the Facebook page.

Matches

Since the last AGM, Fred Hunt has arranged 34 matches across ten different venues.

There have been 17 Sunday Club Matches, of which 12 were on commercial venues, with the other five being at Bordeaux on either the Main Pit or the Small Lake.

Five Inter-Club matches were fished: four against Bishops Stortford and District [Home and away] and a short-notice bout against The Jolly Boys. 

Twelve short-notice ‘Knock-up’ matches were also arranged mid-week, with the majority [7] being at Bordeaux, with three at Whittlesford and a couple at Goldstones [Ashdon], primarily to determine how that venue was fishing.

Apart from our own waters, we have visited:

Rockell’s Farm

Home Farm – Little Walden [Big Lake]

Home Farm – Little Walden [Small Lake]

Goldstone’s Farm – Ashdon

Long Pond – Clare

Lawn Farm – Cambourne

Hall Farm – BSDAS

Beggar’s Hall – BSDAS

The same venues are on the fixture list for 2025 / 26, with the addition of Cable Pond [Clare].  There is currently a question mark hanging over Goldstone’s due to the recent run of poor results there.

Youth Open Day

We repeated our regular Youth Open Day on Saturday 20th July’   Bordeaux Pit was at its stunning best in the sunshine for the event which was well attended.  A good time was had by all those taking part with everyone catching fish during the ‘knock-up’ match. A couple of the larger fish appeared, just to spice things up a bit!

Well done to all who took part and thanks to Tony Holmes, Pip Kerry, Ashley Kinsey, Fred Hunt and Craig Henderson for their hard work looking after things on the day.

Clubmate

Our move onto the Clubmate system to manage memberships has been largely successful in the first full year of operation.  We have managed to sign-up more than 340 members this year, which is about forty more than last year.  Being an online system has allowed us to attract more new members as there is no need to visit a tackle shop to buy a ‘club book’. With the renewal season almost upon us, it should be much more straight-forward for existing members to sign up again.

All members this year will have to have access to an e-mail address to sign up.  The manual work-rounds we offered last year have left us with a number of incomplete records and being unable to use some of the really useful communication facilities that Clubmate offers.

When you sign up for 2025/26, please verify your e-mail when initially asked by the system; this will mean we will be able to communicate directly with you with information, such as matches, lake closures and notices of maintenance.  If you get the Clubmate App on your phone, it is even easier. 

Use this link to sign up if you are not yet a member, or if you have already registered and maybe forgotten your password.  Follow the instructions for ‘Forgot Password’ – and don’t forget to verify your e-mail address

https://saffronwaldenangingclub.clubmate.co.uk/register

Members’ Fish Gallery

The committee still feel it would be a good step in promoting our waters if we regularly post pictures of members’ catches both on Facebook and the club website.  We did not have huge response to the appeal we made last year, so please do feel free to send your pictures to us [via Mesenger].

Committee changes

Some of you will already be aware, three of our longest serving committee members are standing down at this year’s AGM.  Neil Everard and Dennis Gowlett are stepping down as Vice-Chair and Treasurer respectively, whilst Graham Carter is also leaving the committee.  Between them, they have been members for over one hundred years, and they have been on the committee in some shape or form for most of those years.  The Club owes these gents a huge debt of gratitude for their many years of largely thankless service.  They will be very difficult to replace. 

But replace them we must.  We will be looking for members to step up and help those of us remaining to keep the Club moving forward. If you are interested, please do let one of the existing committee members know, or failing that, make yourself known at the AGM

Committee members are regularly at the venues, either fishing or working on maintenance; we are always happy to engage with members and to hear your views and ideas. 

REMINDER: This year’s AGM is on TUESDAY 15th April at

The Plough – Duxford. Start time 7-30pm.

SWAC Committee