Gillingham and District Angling Association Newsletter 2025/26

Chairmans Address

I would like to welcome you all to the Gillingham Angling Club newsletter. This is a relaunch of what we used to do in the past.
Firstly I would like to thank all the Committee for all their hard work. The Club has been very busy over the last year with various projects completed. We have been able to do some of these projects because of Andy Watson who has come on to the committee and has worked tirelessly on getting funding for the club through the Angling Trust and Environment Agency.
We have been able to open up the stretch of river below Stour Provost, which has not been fished for the last 5 years and this has a very good head of chub. It is well worth a visit after Christmas when the weed has cleared. The ongoing project at Eccliffe opening another stretch of the river. Andy has managed to get funding for this project, which has proved to be a real challenge and all credit to him for his perseverance as many would have given up. Andy has also helped in getting Clubmate up and running. 
Mark Harper who overseas Lodden Lakes has been involved with a lot of work which has been going on around the lake. The subsidence on peg 25 which has been repaired. A great job. There has been stock going into both lakes with some nice carp going into small lake and bream into the main lake. Mark runs a thriving match scene which raises a lot of money for the lakes. A big thanks to Bill and Rick for all the help over the last year. 
I am sure Mark will have some more ideas for the coming year. 
It has been great to see Sturminster Angling Club getting more involved again. The future looks good for the Lakes. 
The Club is in a great place; it is overseen by Steve Bassi who looks after the Clubs finances and membership. He has been doing a great helping to manage the club’s receipts and expenditure. Steve has also worked with Andy to get Clubmate membership system up and running. 
Thanks to Richard Cake for running the winter championship for the last couple years. But unfortunately, he had to give up match secretary due to work commitments. 
This is where Simon Hebditch has agreed to be Secretary and Match Secretary for this coming year. This is and always be a challenge to get the winter championship completed every year. Winter Match Secretary is probably one of the hardest jobs especially this year as it has been a wet winter and it feels that the river has been in flooded every weekend. It was touch and go with the matches not being completed until the last weekend of the season. I am sure Simon was glad that this season is over. Hopefully this year will be better. Simon will be supported by Ewen who will eventually take over as Winter Match Secretary in the future. 
Neil Kerley has just taken over sorting out our website. I am sure you will see a big difference in the coming year. 
Neil recently ran a survey, which we have found very interesting. It will help the club to decide what direction the club will take over the coming year. 
I feel the club is in a great place at this present moment in time, especially as our members have grown to an all-time high of 412 members. 

Work Parties

The club has various work parties throughout the year both on the River and the Lakes we control. The work is vital to the upkeep of the venues and provide a safe environment for all anglers to fish.

We are always looking for more support on the work parties so please do join in when you see one advertised, even if you can only spare a few hours.

The Shreen

The club is looking at developing this very pretty stretch of water into a designated Fly-Fishing section. This will require some work and dedication to get the river into a perfect venue for Fly Fishing, but the initial response has been encouraging. This will be decided by a vote at the AGM following a proposal.

The AGM is on the May 6th at the Coronation Club 19.45 and hope to see you there. 

Tight lines Michael Hunt.

Chairman

Secretary’s and Winter Match Secretary’s Address 2026

Hello and I hope you all enjoyed the fishing that the Association provided this year.

The Associations waters continue to fish well with 2 Counties and Whitepost providing great sport for pleasure anglers with nice bags of Carp and Silvers, and Lodden providing big bags of Bream and Tench for pleasure anglers on the big lake and plenty of decent sized Carp and Pike for the specimen anglers on the small lake. Unfortunately, in a match the big lake can prove a cruel mistress, but we have stocked some new skimmers which we hope will remedy this and conducted nettings which prove that there are plenty of fish in here.

There has been a lot of work carried out on the river with new swims created at Eccliffe and on the opposite bank at Stour Provost Thanks to the Thursday gang of Neil Kerley, Michael Hunt, Andy Watson, and Ewen McNeish for their hard work. The river has been patchy and unfishable for half of the winter, but when conditions allow there have been some great bags of Roach and Chub and encouraging to see so many pleasure anglers fishing.

I have also taken on running the winter championship on the River Stour and thank you to Richard Cake who started off running this, and we are hoping that by providing more accessible pegs with shorter walks we will encourage some of the older anglers back to fish. With the weather as it has been it is a struggle to get all the matches on, so hopefully next year we will try to start the matches a bit earlier and I will not be panicking in the last weeks of the season! Congratulations to Kev Harvey who was the winter champion this year. Presentation night is on the 9^{th of} May at the Coronation Club, where we will have a buffet and skittles after the presentation of trophies. Will anyone who has trophies from the winter or Summer please get them back to me or Mark Harper as soon as possible.

I must thank all those who have served on the committee this year and who have ensured that the Association runs as smoothly as it does, with very few problems to deal with at Committee meetings.

The A.G.M. is being held at the Coronation Club on Wednesday 6^th May, at 7.30. Any member who has a proposal they would like raised then they should email me well in advance so we can add it to the AGM agenda.

I hope to see some of you on the bank in the next year, and if you have any questions, complaints or feedback about the Association please do not hesitate to phone me on (07394) 386239  or e-mail at simonhebditch1969@gmail.com.

Simon Hebditch.

(Hon. Secretary)

Summer/Spring Match Sect

A substantial amount of work has been done around the lakes over the past year.  A large willow came down into the lake on the Dave Hillier roadside bank which was removed by contractors with a trailer grab and much chainsaw work.

The concrete path between pegs 25 & 26 was in danger of slipping into the lake because of water erosion.  This was underpinned with concrete sandbags, a front of scaffolding put in and capped with wood, then planted out with yellow iris and evergreen rush.

The dead Norfolk reeds were cleared this winter outside the bird nesting season. This is vital as dead decomposing reeds will cause the return of nutrients to the water, which can fuel algae blooms, decrease water quality and harm fish.

Life buoys and warning signs were erected around the lakes for safety reasons, especially as the development around the lakes progresses.

There will be some work parties to reconstruct the two large pegs on the Shaftesbury bank of the small lake; we have an ongoing effort to shore up and secure our boundary to avoid non-members accessing the lakes.

The small lake has been dyed to prevent the problem we have had in the past of excessive weed growth. A net dip will be installed before the summer for nets, slings and cradles. With hotter summers forecast, this is vital to stop the spread of carp diseases such as KHV.

A considerable amount of bream was stocked into the Dave Hillier lake in January. Three very pretty C5 carp were introduced into the small lake, all around 17lbs. These are a great strain and should grow on well.

When the small lake was netted, approx. 250lbs of large roach & skimmers was transferred to the Dave Hillier lake.

There has been a greater than usual number of cormorants visiting the lakes. Daily patrols at first light and through the day to scare them off has been successful, with none seen visiting since the beginning of March.

Match report.

The Summer series was won by Steve Trevett with 496pts

Second Mark Harper 494

Third Dave Sealy 483

The Gillingham Festival was won by Andy Akehurst.

The Jim Debnam trophy      Mike Hunt.

Carnival Cup Rob Fletcher.

There is an “Open Day” Planned at Lodden Lakes Saturday 4^th July 2026 for all Members and Non-members.

Further details will be posted on our Facebook and website pages. This will be a great opportunity to find out more about the club plus receive tuition on the various methods to fish the lakes.  This will be an ideal opportunity for young anglers to try their hand all tackle and bait provided.  Refreshments will also be on sale.

Mark Harper

Summer/Spring Match Sect

Funding and External Agency Liaison Officer

Some of you will be aware of the work undertaken by the club on the Stour at Eccliffe Mill.

The club achieved funding for some of this work from the Environment Agency/ Angling Trust via the Fisheries Improvement Programme, which is funded from our rod licences.

Our thanks go to the Environment Agency for this funding. During the process of starting this work we were able to engage with the Wild Trout Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust who provided much needed advice on caring for and improving our stretches of the Stour. This advice included hinging tree branches to provide fish cover and to prevent bank erosion, and the use of diverters to prevent further silting mid river.

Engagement with the Environment Agency, Angling Trust and Wessex Rivers Trust has led to the club developing a prominent role in the Dorset Catchment Partnership Fisheries Group. An initial meeting, which will include other clubs who have fishing on the Stour, will be held in April. Our hope is that we have a planned approach to re-rivering the Stour, with some external funding being available.

Our search for further funding continues with a project planned to improve swim access at Eccliffe (below the mill), Highbridge and Stour Provost.

Andrew Watson

Grateful thanks to the Environment Agency

Andrew Watson

First Spring league match.

First Spring league match.

There are three places left. Book in with me if you want to fish.

Draw 8.30 at Todber Lakeside Kitchen Breakfast available from 7.30.

Mark Harper

SURVEY ENDING SOON 7 MARCH 2026 SO PLEASE CLICK THE LINK IN YOUR EMAIL AND HAVE YOUR SAY

All members should have received a survey by email. Please complete it as your comments and views will shape the club over the coming months and years. Thank You