Notices & Newsletters

To subscribe to the monthly Angling Trust Sea Newsletter go to https://anglingtrust.net/subscribe-to-newsletters/

Anyone can register and you don't have to be a personal member of AT.

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Note that temporary notices such as cancellation of competitions will be removed once they become redundant.

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STICKY NOTE:

Membership & Mooring Fee Payments due from 1st November 2024

Unfortunately, there are still some members who have not renewed their membership yet.  The Club has a lot of expenditure at this time of the year so we would appreciate it if members would pay promptly rather than waiting to the Spring when they next go fishing!

Dave Geddes (Membership Sec/Treasurer)

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STICKY NOTE:

If any Club skippers have a spare places available when fishing, please mention this on our Private FaceBook page.  We have a few new non-boat owning members who would welcome the chance to get out.

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STICKY NOTE:

We have a few moorings still available and if you require one, or know someone who is looking for one, please contact the Club via this link: bembridge.ac.membership@gmail.com

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STICKY NOTE:

MEMBER SUGGESTION SLIPS

These are now available to the right of the large notice board in the Clubhouse, for members to suggest something that they would like the Committee to discuss at the next meeting.  Only forms with the members name and signature on will be accepted. Once conmplete please place in the letterbox to the right of the office door.

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2025 BOAT LIFT WORK PARTY

Would all skippers participating in the annual boat lifts please turn up at the Club after lunch this Friday afternoon, 10th January, to help clear and prepare the compound for the first lift this Saturday.  More hands make light work!

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**ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2024**

This was held at the Clubhouse at 8pm on Tuesday 22nd October 2024.

Details of all Club Officers on 'Officers' page.

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11-11-23: Bass restrictions for 2024 : see https://anglingtrust.net/2022/12/22/bass-take-season-extended-for-recreational-anglers-from-dec-2023/ 

19-2-23:  Bass restrictions for 2023 have been announced:-

For recreational anglers  catch-and-release only during 1st February to 31st March. Not more than two bass may be retained per fisherman per day from 1st March to 31st December.   

For commercial fishers:- 

Commercial catching, retaining, transhipment and landing of bass is subject to restrictions. The commercial restrictions relating to bass are as follows:

It is prohibited to retain bass in February and March.

During January and during the period from 1st April - end of December in each calendar year, commercial vessels may fish for, retain, tranship, relocate or land Bass with the following gear and within the following limits:

Demersal trawls and seines - maximum 5% by weight of all marine organisms PER TRIP. Unavoidable by-catch 3.8 tonnes (3800kg) per vessel per year. 

Hooks and lines - not exceeding 6.2 tonnes per year

Fixed gillnets - By-catches not exceeding 1.6 tonnes per year

All other gear types - bass catches prohibited

Commercial fisheries using hooks and lines or fixed gillnets require a specific authorisation by The MMO to catch and retain bass.

The legislation also prohibits any commercial bass fisheries from the shore. ==============================================================

28-03-2023: Sandy Mogridge's funeral was held at the Crematorium on Monday 27th March 2023 at 3.45pm.  

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21-02-2023: We have been advised that there be no funeral service for John Rackett as the family are following his wishes, so there will will be only a direct cremation.  We send our condolences to all his family.

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12-02-2023: More sad news; some of you will probably know that long-standing members John Rackett and Sandy Mogridge both passed away the week beginning 6-2-23. See further entries in this section,

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12-1-23: We have been advised of the sad news that Cyril Gregory has died,  his funeral took place at 11.15am on Wednesday 11th January at the crematorium. The family does not wish flowers but, have advised that donations may be made, if people so wish, to Cancer Research via the undertakers Geoff Leather & Sons in Newport.  The Club made a donation of £25 in lieu of flowers.  Cyril had been a member for well over 20 years and usually fished with Ross. Our thoughts of condolence go out to his family.

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11-10-23: Our 2022 AGM was held on 25-10-22  and following a successful meeting the Committee details were updated on this website. Following Ross Staplehurst's retirement from being Chair for 35 years, he was replaced by Joe Filipe but Joe subsequently resigned.  Also our Club President Bob Cowley stood down through long-term ill health. The members present unanimously agreed that Ross should temporarily take over as acting President. Sadly, Alan Deeming, our Club Secretary, has also had to stand down due to ill health and he is replaced by Spencer Wright. Our 2023 AGM will shortly be held on Tuesday 24-10-23

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11-10-23: The IW marine division of the Angling Trust : The  Amalgamation of the IW and Wessex marine divisions was discussed in early 22 and it was left to John Racket to request that the division funds be transferred from the control of George Bernowicz to another club which was not defined at the time. As a result of John's demise and Alan not being well for most of the last 18 months, nothing has been enquired about it since. Further information will be sought. 

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12-03-22: Dinghies in BAC compound. It is accepted convention that, with the specific exception of boats moored alongside the quay, each mooring holder is permitted to store one tender (dinghy) within the club compound. (This has now been incorporated into the club's moorings rules as a result of committee approval at the April 22 meeting.) New and existing mooring holders are hereby reminded that dinghies belonging to mooring holders are required to be clearly identified with either the skippers name or marked TT followed by the associated boat name. Joe Filipe had done an audit of dinghies that were then stored in the compound and  he had identified a small number of them that were no longer eligible to be so stored. A number of dinghies were then sold and the proceeds were donated to the stroke ward at St Mary's hospital.

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It was with great sadness that we lost a number of members in recent years:-

Barry Burnand : Treasurer

David Gawn :  Vice Chairman

John Rackett

Sandy Mogridge

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1-6-21 Fishing rules have been amended in accordance with committee decisions to 1) exclude large sharks from the catch and release section of the fish of the month awards; 2) cease to award cash/voucher prizes for the catch and release section; 3) cease awarding the annual trophy for the heaviest shark and only award the different existing trophy for most sharks returned. The revised rules can now be downloaded from the downloads section of the home page.

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Newsletter OCTOBER 2023

Contact details removed compared to version sent to individual members

The Island’s premier deep sea boat angling club

We are now in our 42nd year of our 99 year lease of the Club premises.

IMPORTANT: Please return all cups and other trophies to the Clubhouse at/by the AGM, which is to be held to be held in the clubhouse on Tuesday 24-10-23, or soon afterwards.

Earlier this year, the Club received a demand from the Landlord’s solicitor for a substantial increase in the ground rent that we have to pay on the quay area land (including the Clubhouse). This increase had not been negotiated or agreed with us, contrary to what is required per our Lease. Initially, we did try to negotiate this amount down but the Landlord was intent on still getting a substantially increased amount. Therefore in early August, in an effort to protect the future interests of both the trustees and members of the Club, we decided to engage a local surveyor, namely David Wiggins from Eddisons Limited (Incorporating Daniells Harrison) Chartered Surveyors, to provide us with an up to date rental valuation so that we could challenge the Landlord with our (hopefully indisputable) evidence. The valuation process is still ongoing and we will pursue the matter once we have the information to hand. A satisfactory outcome will be essential to enable Club fees to remain reasonable.

Please note that Membership Fees and, where applicable, Mooring Fees are due again on November 1st this year and your invitation to renew these should be enclosed with this newsletter.  Unfortunately, we still have a small number of members who think it perfectly acceptable to delay payment for up to a number of months into the next year and to pay when they restart fishing.  Perhaps the Club should consider adopting a late payment penalty or possibly a prompt payment discount but hopefully members will pay promptly this year. Due to the effects of inflation and rises in our utility costs etc. the Committee have agreed that we should have a modest rise in the membership fee this year and this can be seen on your renewal invitation. We have held the fees for as long as we can but now we must act. Also the mooring fees have only increased by around 5% in line with the current 5-year plan that mirrors the Harbour Company increases every 5 years, the latest increase being agreed in December 2022 for the next 5 years.

As a result of a review of moorings take up, we can confirm that we still have a number of vacant moorings available to rent for angling boats before we start a waiting list.  If you are aware of anyone looking for a mooring, please suggest that they get in touch with us soon. Application forms can be downloaded from the Club’s website (Bembridge-angling-club.co.uk) by using the download link at the bottom of the home page or hard copies from the Clubhouse. 

For any members who have not heard: members Liam Smith together with Jason Williams won First Prize in the “Sea Angling Classic” earlier this year. It followed on from them narrowly missing out on top spot in 2022. They fished together on Sea Raider and landed five species of fish for a total winning combined length of 1,726cm.  Their amazing prize was the keys to an “Extreme 745 Game King” fishing cruiser fitted with a Yamaha 300HP outboard and Helm Master EX joystick control, plus a Lowrance Ultimate Fishing System all on a SBS Trailer. For details, follow links from: https://www.seaanglingclassic.com/

There have been a couple of significant changes within the committee to those that were elected at the 2022 AGM. Joe Filipe resigned from the position of Chair and Ross Staplehurst agreed to resume in that position pending a replacement being identified. Additionally Cliff Newnham resigned from his position as Vice-Chair.

With the Club’s AGM scheduled for Tuesday 24th October at 8pm at the Clubhouse, any nominations for Officers & Committee, or any Proposals for discussion, should be submitted to the Secretary at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.

The application for the grant towards the cost of continuing the existing safety railings round the edge of our quay is underway again, having been on hold over the summer. We will require fresh quotes for the checker-plate around the quay plus the additional railings and associated supports.

Some maintenance of the Club’s website (bembridge-angling-club.co.uk) has been carried out by Alan and Dave but if anyone has the necessary skills and time it would be appreciated if they would come forward, as assistance is required please.

Competition results as reported by Bill Smith:- 

Bream Comp 4th May

16 signed on and 10 weighed in

1st Cliff Newnham 3lb 6 oz

2nd Paul Hopkins 3lb 0.5 Oz

3rd Jason Williams 2lb 13.5 Oz

Plaice Comp Dave Gawn Memorial Trophy 28 May

13 signed on and 8 weighed in

1st Stuart Newnham 4lb 13.5oz 2 fish

2nd Cliff Newnham 3lb 7.5oz 2 fish

3rd Martin Dye 3lb 0.5oz 2 fish

Bass Comp 11th June

18 signed on and 12 weighed in

1st Liam Smith 11lb 10oz 2 fish

2nd Mat James 11lb 7.5oz 2 fish

3rd Andy Selby 11lb 5.5 oz

Bass Comp John Rackett Memorial Comp 10th September.

10 Signed on and 5 weighed in.

1st Steve Symonds 12lb 5.5oz 2 fish.

2nd Don Wheeler 5lb 6oz 2 fish.

3rd Paul Hopkins 2lb 14oz 1fish.

Bass Comp on 8th October 

12 Signed on and 5 weighed in

1st Don Wheeler 14lb 3oz for 2 fish

2nd Jason Holiday 12lb 3oz for 2 fish

3rd Martin Evemy 8lb 0.5oz for 2 fish

4th Paul Hopkins 6lb o.5oz for 2 fish

5th Sharon Hopkins 1lb 11.5oz 1 fish

Specimen fish as reported to me by Bill Smith;-

June

Boat caught Weighed ashore:- Liam Smith Cuckoo Wrasse 1lb 5.5 oz 69.35%

Shore caught and weighed ashore:- NO CLAIM

Boat caught and released:- Ross Staplehurst Tope 42lb 0oz 65.11%

July 

Boat caught Weighed ashore:- NO CLAIM

Shore caught and weighed ashore:- Oliver Grimaldi Stingray 38lb 0oz 66.59%

Boat caught and released:- NO CLAIM

August 

Boat caught Weighed ashore:- Daniel Gawn Ballan Wrass 4lb 12oz 107.14%

Shore caught and weighed ashore:- NO CLAIM

Boat caught and released:- Nick Ring Bass 9lb 0oz 56.69%

September 

Boat caught Weighed ashore:- Marcus Gawn Red Mullet 1lb 4.5oz 107.89%  

Shore caught and weighed ashore:- NO CLAIM 

Boat caught and released:- NO CLAIM

Our joint moorings officers, Rob Grimaldi and Andy Ellis have been doing sterling work ensuring that every mooring’s hardware is up to scratch. If you have any concerns about your mooring contact the moorings officers immediately. Also Mark Tutton has, very kindly, donated a number of buffs for use on our moorings, for which we thank him.

It just remains for me to wish you all good catching and good health.

Alan Deeming  

A lifejacket may well save your life but only if you wear it.