Maldon Angling Society

We are sure that it will come as no surprise to you that the litterpicking session on Saturday (3rd March) in Chelmsford has been cancelled by the organisers.

So PLEASE DON’T TURN UP! Given the unpredictable weather conditions we don’t want to risk compromising anyone’s safety or wellbeing.

Please make sure that you have the date of our next Chelmer Canal Trust work party booked – Saturday, 7^th April. Full details will be sent out a few days beforehand.

If you are looking for a Chelmer Canal Trust event to take part in before the next work party then why not consider joining the next monthly walk on Wednesday, 21^st March which will explore the waterways of Chelmsford City centre and the watermeadows downstream? Full details to be confirmed, and to ensure that you are on the ‘walks’ emailing list please email: maurice@chelmercanaltrust.co.uk.

If you are out and about along the Navigation please look out for any Floating American Pennywort. And if you can cope with the technology, pictures showing how much of it there is, and its location in the Navigation, can be very helpful (email: neil@chelmercanaltrust.co.uk). If you are not sure what Floating American Pennywort looks like – and to be reminded of what jolly folk our work party volunteers are –  CLICK HERE and look at a few of the pictures in our Work Party reports.

Stay warm and safe.

Kind regards – Neil.

Having received this question from a member I thought it worth sharing his points and my response with our other members who visit this website:

Dear Paul,  further to your post regarding keepnets, surely landing nets should also be dipped ? Will the bailiffing team have the resources to monitor that every member  no matter when they are fishing adheres to this rule ? As for matches the match secretary can ensure compliance. Could I please have your comments.  Regards Jack Morley.

Hi Jack,  thank you for your email.  A lot of thought went into this decision at the committee meeting to ensure that our final decision was practical and made with the welfare of our valuable fish stocks at the heart of it.  The original proposal was for a complete keepnet ban but as that would have meant cancelling most of the remaining matches, or moving them all to the canal, the compromise solution of dipping in Virkon S was proposed and accepted. 

Keepnets are a non-essential angling item to the ordinary member (ie not fishing in a match), unlike landing nets which are compulsory (rule 6.8 refers).  Keepnets are also much larger than landing nets, have fish in contact with them for up to 5 hours at a time rather than a few minutes, and take much longer to dry out thoroughly.  As a result keepnets are seen as a higher risk in the transferal of KHV.

If you can dip your landing nets before each match as well then that will be much appreciated.  The cost and practicality of having a net dip at every venue was discussed but as Virkon S is only effective for 1-3 days max depending upon conditions this was ruled out as being high maintenance / low effectiveness / next to impossible to bailiff as you state above. 

The best form of protection against waterborne fish diseases continues to be thoroughly drying nets in direct sunlight – a difficult proposition at this time of the year! 

All the best for the remainder of the season.  Kind Regards - Paul.

Unfortunately all of our remaining senior club matches, which were all to be fished on the canal, have had to be cancelled following the unexpected resignation of our Senior Match Secretary Russ Samuels at the September committee meeting.  Russ stated that poor turnouts at recent matches had lead to his decision.  Russ was the longest serving member on the current committee and we thank him for all of his hard work over many years of service to the club.

If anyone else would like to pick up the reigns and run the remaining seven matches on the canal please contact one of the committee members as listed in the 2017 rulebook.

The open pike match at Totham Pit on Sunday 26th November will hopefully still be going ahead but any changes will be posted up as we hear them.

The Worms Direct Final was fished on Sunday 6^th August at Hoe Mill upstream of the footbridge. Ten Anglers took part and all caught fish, with some nice Roach and Rudd being landed. The winner of the final was Geoff Forman taking the trophy and prize money provided by our sponsor Worms Direct with a haul of 8lb 1oz of nice Roach and Rudd. Second was Chris Dyall with 6lb 7oz of Roach and Rudd with Andy Stebbing coming third with 4lb 12oz. A total of 35lb 6oz of fish were brought to the net.  All who took part would like to give a big vote of thanks to Worms Direct for their generous sponsorship and continued support.

Geoff receiving the trophy from last year’s winner Chris.

The last qualifying match of the Evening League was fished at Heybridge Basin on Friday, with another poor turnout, which was a pity as the average weight of fish caught was 5lbs. There were no new qualifiers for the final. 

1^st Dave Smith 6lbs 4oz
2^nd Andy Stebbing 5lbs 10oz
3^rd Chris Dyall 5lbs 8oz 

A total of 25lbs 14oz of fish were landed, with one Perch over a pound. 

The ten qualifiers for the final are:

Mark Campion, Chris Dyall, Andy Stebbing, Steve Willis, Geoff Forman, Peter Lamb, Dave Smith, Steve Holdon, Bill Woollcott and Kim Naish. 

Wednesday 26th July see’s the AT Veterans National being fish at Partridge Lakes, Warrington, with a lot of Maldon members as well as other local Clubs taking part. I would like to wish all a good day and hope we can produces the winner. 

Thanks – Kim.

A disappointing turnout of five for the fifth Evening League match at Tesco’s however all caught fish and all enjoyed themselves.  Chris Dyall won the match with 4lbs 5oz and Bill Woollcott was second with 3lbs 3oz.  A total of 12lbs 9oz of fish were landed Roach, Perch and Rudd.  Bill Woollcott and Kim Naish go through to the final.

The next match to fill the last two places in the final is at Heybridge Basin on Friday 21 July, draw 05.00pm at Daisy Meadow car park.