SKEWEN
ANGLING CLUB
Click here for useful
links of websites & forums you may find of interest - none of which
are
endorsed by the club
We are always glad to
see new Members of all ages join our Club.
Print out application form here and send it to the Club Secretary
Archived Newsletters
Nov 05 | Dec 05 | Jan 06 | Feb 06 | Mar 06 | Aug 06
December 2007
Welcome to the 2007 Club Newsletter.
You may wonder why you are getting this earlier than usual. The reason is that after listening to members comments, we have decided that we need to receive any proposals and nominations earlier, in order for the members to be informed of them before the AGM so they are able to come to the meeting prepared.
The proposals and nominations for officers need to be in the hands of the secretary by midday, on the 12th December 2007.
Members will then receive notification of these before the AGM. Proposals and nominations should be sent to;
The secretary, Skewen A.C., 58 the highlands, Skewen, Neath, sa10 6pd. Or Mike.doyle@ntlworld.com
It is your responsibility to ensure that any sent in are received in time.
Email addresses would allow the club to communicate our membership easier and quicker. If you want to be included in regular newsletter updates please let the secretary have your email address.
Theft of club equipment. It saddens the committee to report that a theft of club equipment has taken place at the Square Pond. Thieves broke into one of the cabins used to store tackle for coaching sessions as well as a number of strimmers used to maintain the ponds banks. Rods and reels plus terminal tackle and three strimmers were stolen. In addition to this the cabin door was damaged and the lock on the second cabin also damaged. The club has now moved both cabins into the factory grounds beneath a security camera. Any person with information on these thefts should get in touch with the secretary. Any information will be treated in confidence. Or you can contact the police directly if you want.
Work parties this year been carried out solely by members of the committee. As the clubs waters and the number of anglers fishing increase, more work is required to keep the waters in good shape. If anyone wants to help the club please contact any committee member to join in the fun!
The clubs Website has been taken over by one of the members wives. We are grateful for the work done on this and the constant updating with news given to her by the committee. If you have any ideas on improvements, or would like to see something different on the site please let us know. Any news item can be given straight to the webmaster, but will need to be confirmed by the committee before uploading.
Bailiffing of club waters will be stepped up during the winter and coming season. There seems to have been an increase in people fishing without permits, as well as an increase in the amount of litter being left on our waters. This is totally unacceptable, and we are committed to clamping down on this action, and will take action on any member found to have left any litter. Please remember that it is your responsibility to make sure that your peg is clean before, after, and during fishing.
PROJECTS. As most of you are aware, we are currently undertaking three major projects within the club. These are the all ability access areas on the canals at Parc Newydd and Neath abbey, and the community fishery at the lower Gnoll pond. At the time of press the all ability access at Parc Newydd is almost completed, with just a few pegs to be finished off during the winter. Hopefully people will begin using this area and report back to the club with regards to fish caught. The work here has been done in conjunction with Groundworks and BTCV, who also provided funding for this. The club has agreed to maintain the path and pegs.
The all ability access at Neath abbey is still being worked on, as we have sub-contracted this project to a third party, namely Dyffryn Clydach Volunteer Group who work on the site at intervals with the aim to have it finished by next season.
The lower pond at the Gnoll was once a swimming pool, and due to years of neglect has become a silted up shallow duck pond. The aim is to desilt the pond, improve the inlet and outlet to prevent fish losses and silt entry, re-inforce the dam wall, raise the level by three feet, and create purpose built pegs on part of the pond. This work will be funded jointly by the EA and NPTCBC who will be spending around £90,000 on the project. The de-silting work will be completed at a later date due to the cost of removing the silt which has been classified as “toxic waste” due to high levels of metals it contains. The main construction work will be sub contracted once again with the club being responsible for some of the maintenance after the work is completed.
The latest news from the EA and council is that this work is due to start on the 4th November and run for about five weeks after which a stocking of tench and crucian carp from the agencies fish farm at Calverton will be introduced. A further stocking of silver fish in the new year will complement these fish and hopefully provide sport when the fishery opens officially
These three projects will provide around thirty new pegs for members, as well as providing a completely new fishery at the Gnoll. The second Gnoll pond will also be on the club card officially next season and it is important that members adhere to both the club rules and the council park rules when fishing this water. Opening times of the park are probably the ones that will affect fishing, and at present there is no night fishing allowed. This may change when the council and committee can agree to a mutually acceptable way to do things.
The Annual Stocking will have taken place by now, with up to ten mid double figure carp from heather fisheries being introduced into the Square pond at the request of the syndicate members. The fish are the ideal size to grow on and hopefully will be in the twenties in a few short years. The current stock is pushing thirty pounds now, with a 27lb fish the best reported to the committee during the last year. The tench and bream stocked last year have also proved a good investment with many double figure catches being landed by members during the year. The roach have also been in great form with some good bags of these silver fish also being landed. Hemp and caster have proved good for the roach while worm, pellet, and corn have been instrumental in many of the bream bags.
MATCHES: The senior open was held on the pond later in the year than usual due to a conflict of interest by the match organiser. The event was supported by around 12 anglers who attempted to land the biggest bag to take the title. Bream and tench together with roach made up the majority of catches and depending on the number of bream you had in your net, the more the higher you finished. The winner was the club match secretary and organiser who drew the old pier peg and fished a feeder to good effect to land several bream for a final weight of around 20lb. the club came second in the local league, losing by a narrow margin of two points.
Fishing taster sessions were held on the pond as part of national fishing week. The general coarse event was supported by the EA and Daiwa, who provided free rod licences and reels respectively. The event saw around a dozen junior and senior (some very senior!) anglers have a try at fishing and all succeeding in catching fish. They were shown how to cast, and how to feed consistently over their bait in order to hold the fish in their swim, and how to handle fish safely. The weather deteriorated during the day and made the fishing a bit difficult, but despite this all enjoyed their day and most even joined the club as a result.
The club also held a carp fishing event on the pond which had a restricted number of participants due to the nature of this type of angling which saw the anglers spread around the pond. The anglers were shown many aspects of carp angling including feature finding, spodding, and fish care. They even managed to land a few carp with the best one a fourteen pound common. This event was supported by Nash tackle, and the club would like to say thank you to Alan Price, Nash’s representative, who supplied Nash goody bags full of terminal tackle and bait for each angler taking part.
While we hope to repeat these events next year, it will depend on the club being able to replace the tackle that was stolen earlier on in the year.
Check out the disabled swim link on the home page, almost
complete now,
just a bit more work.
Congratulations to team Skewen, led by Phil Lewis. They overcame a
disappointing start in the local WFCA league to finish back on top and
retain the title they won last year. excellent performances by all
anglers saw them win by just 1 point after a thrilling last
match. three titles in a row lads???
the clubs first coaching session was a limited success. a few people
turned up and all caught fish. a few new members joined as a result.
look out for more events in the future.
12th August, 2006
NEW CLUB WATER
The committee is
delighted to announce that after several years of
negotiations and hard work by the committee, we have secured a lease on
the fishing rights on the two lower Gnoll ponds.
the lower of these will be renovated using grant money over the next
couple of years, while the the second or fishpond is currently a
thriving fishery. The club will be taking over control of the fishing
from next year but it is hoped that our members will be allowed to fish
the pond sooner than that-watch this space!
As a result of this acquisition, and also due to other factors, the
committee recognises that we need to expand our numbers in order to
effectively manage our four waters.
The club is its members so it is you who can dictate and direct the way
the club is run. We are currently in the last year of a five year plan
for the waters and a stocking policy which has seen us rotate between
all our waters is coming to an end with last years delayed Tennant
canal stocking, and this years Neath canal stocking being the last
until we decide the way forward.
One idea is to recruit members onto the committee who will
look after
each water under the guidance of the main committee. these people would
be asked to look after one of the waters and we think two to three
people would be needed for each water. If you are interested in this
proposal please get in touch either by email, post, or simply telephone
a committee member to let us know. the club AGM is early next year and
we want to have firm proposals in place by then. If you have any other
ideas which we should be aware of also let us know.
It is likely we will have a special open meeting in Oct/Nov to discuss
these matters, it will be advertised in the usual places
4th April, 2006
permits are in the shops, usual places, same prices. the syndicate
numbers are reduced on last year due to members not taking up their
renewals, the waiting list is open once again for members who are
interested in joining next year. a letter or email with your current
club permit number should be sent to the secretary
check out the neath canal regeneration link opposite, some good pics of
the renovation work.
21st March 2006
Club permits should be
in the tackle shops this weekend or early next
week. There is NO CHANGE IN PRICING which I'm sure you will appreciate.
The clubs attempt to secure a large cheap stocking of fish for the
tennant canal has been thwarted as the club controlling the water we
wanted to net has had a change of committee and refused our previous
permission. We are looking at other sources and failing these we will
spend the money on a purchase of fish from a supplier as we normally do.
The club has the first work party of the season on friday at 10am
at the square pond, all welcome. this is to finish off the disabled peg
and a general tidy up.
next month will see the start of the club coaching sessions which will
begin on the square pond. details will be on here, the fish4wales
forum, local tackle shops, and the evening post so you should see them
somewhere.
20th February 2006
The clubs match dates are out, see
them on the link across
the page.
Check out the melin regeneration link for details of the forthcoming
work parties on the canal bank.
the club met with the EA today to put forward a grant request for our
proposal to create a disabled angling area at Neath Abbey on the
Tennant canal. the stretch in question is either side of the bridge at
Neath Abbey and will hopefully accommodate up to 20 anglers. It will be
a month or so before we know if our bid is successful. The club will
contract out the work and will oversee the project with the help of the
EA. Once details are sorted this project will be updated and followed
on this website.
3rd february 2006
The clubs agm was held last wednesday, and though a well advertised event, it was poorly attended.the night went well with only one change to the clubs rules being passed so from next season you will have to carry your club permit to vote in any meeting. Neil Powell stood down as treasurer after 3 years service, and was replaced by Dave Pickin. the club also announced a bit of good news for members; we have negotiated a lease for coarse fishing on the river neath at tonna! the lease will allow us to fish the stretch of water outside the game season, subject to the normal by-laws. more details to come soon.
16th JANUARY, 2006
Dont forget that the deadline for nominations and proposals is midday on the 18th January. If you have any then they must be in the hands of the secretary by this time, together with your name and club no., and the details of the seconder for your proposal. The committee look forward to seeing you at the AGM.
13th December 2005
The club newsletter has now been
posted to all members,
however if your
membership number is one of the following then the club has been unable
to decipher your name or address and has not sent the letter. please
contact a committee member to get your newsletter
and the lucky numbers are:
9,19,28,68,80,93,94,115,490,495,480.
20th November 2005
The clubs agm will be on the 1st February 2006. all items for consideration such as proposals and nominations MUST be in the hands of the secretary by midday on January 18th. all proposals and nominations to have the name and club no. of the proposer and seconder