Newsletter for Winter 2025

Dear Members,

Welcome to the Winter newsletter with best wishes to you all for the upcoming Christmas period. It is hoped that you have all enjoyed the season so far and that you will continue to do so over the coming months.

AGM
The date of the 2026 AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 24th February 2026. The Fishbourne Centre, in Blackboy Lane, Fishbourne will again be the venue for this event as it has historically catered well for both the number of attendees and in providing ample free car parking and a bar facility for refreshments for those who wish to avail themselves. The start time for the AGM will as usual be 7.30 pm, with members asked not to arrive before 7.00 pm to allow time for the room to be duly set up, and the event is open to all Full Members but not Associate Members who, as laid out in the terms of your Membership, are not entitled to attend an AGM or vote on any items on the Agenda, but can at any point in time during the course of the year send in any suggestions they may have which will be fully discussed by the members of the Committee at their monthly meetings. As an incentive to attend the 2026 AGM and as it proved popular last year, there will again be a draw done at the end of the event for a free membership for the 2026 season.Any full member wishing to put forward a proposal for the 2026 AGM must do so in writing to myself, by either email to cdassec@gmail.com or post to my home address as outlined in your Membership Book. All proposals must be received by Monday 27th January 2026 and any member submitting a proposal must then attend the AGM in person if it is to be fully discussed and voted on by the members present on the night. A full AGM agenda will be made available to all members via post with the 2026 renewal form on the reverse and as previously notified, this will be the final paper offering and all future newsletters and renewal forms will need to be accessed either via the group Facebook Page or the CDA Website.

Now to other matters of potential interest to some or all of you: -

Pike Teach-In
Another very successful event took place in early October. Organised by Steve Jones and Christine Luffman this year. Attendance numbers were again high, and feedback from attendees was very positive with everyone having both an enjoyable and informative day with the added bonus that the sun shone throughout and several of the clubs younger members met up at the event and were planning a day on the complex together afterwards.

Ongoing Site Maintenance
The Committee wish to extend they’re thanks to you all for your understanding on the need to close the complex for 5 consecutive days in November so that some much needed maintenance work could be carried out safely and without the need to ask anglers to vacate swims and to avoid any health and safety issues for all members. With no close season it is often difficult to do any major maintenance on site without some disruption although the vast majority of work is always undertaken during the closure for spawning if possible. The 5 day closure was deemed essential to get things on site back under control to hopefully make your angling experience better as a result.

New Site Signage
Many of you will have seen the new signage around the site and it is hoped you will agree that this is a vast improvement on the old signage which had for the most part seen better days. The new signs are designed to give anglers the most important information they need while fishing on any of the lakes but it it still vital to read your Membership Book to familiarize yourself with every rule and bylaw to ensure you are always compliant when using the complex.

Future Information Provision
You have all been made aware that after the AGM agenda for 2026, there will be no further paper newsletters or other information supplied, and everything will be presented on the group Facebook page and website. On occasion you may receive something by email and with 850 members it will be necessary to use a bulk email processing facility. Can you all kindly check your junk emails regularly and if you do receive one from CDAS then please move it into your inbox as this will ensure all future correspondence reaches you successfully. You will only need to do this one time and then any future emails from the club will arrive straight into your in boxes and ensure you do not miss out on any important information if you do not use Facebook or the CDAS website on a regular basis.

Cormorant Licence
It is probably a timely reminder as we head into the colder months that the club do hold a licence to dispatch a number of cormorants every season as they move onto our waters from the coast. Our Fishery Manager and his designated officers are granted the right to carry a firearm to undertake this process when necessary and utilize the services of a dog to collect the bird carcasses as is necessary due to avian flu. This practice is only ever done in a safe and controlled way and to ensure minimum disruption to anglers but if a large number of birds arrive suddenly then on occasion the Fishery Manager will attend site at short notice to address the problem. A full description on this matter is outlined on both the website and the group Facebook page so please familiarize yourself with how and why it is conducted.

All that remains is to thank you for taking the time to read the above, which I hope you found to be informative and useful.

Kind regards
Carole Baker
Secretary

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