Birmingham Anglers Association

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

I suppose the demise in the small pub clubs didn't help, I can remember clearing grimley quite a few times in the 80s just before the season started.
The fact the association is advertising for contractors to take on bank clearing duties seems they're taking on a fresh approach, will subs go up next year?

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Yes probably.....but it still don’t change why they don’t offer the remaining clubs a chance to clear a venue in exchange for a free match...it don’t cost the association nothing and it’s one less section to worry about. It always seemed to work both ways in the past....

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

There has been a massive decline in BAA affiliated clubs in the last 20-30 years and I think that is a direct result of the massive decline in labour/liberal working men’s clubs.How many are still in existence now?Even with the remaining clubs the average age is probably 60+ years old.We have sent out letters to the remaining clubs asking for assistance in bank clearing and I know in the two clubs I’m in that there are probably only half a dozen in each that are physically capable.
Gone are the days of the big Severn matches and although river match fishing is making a comeback with events like Riverfest and the successful events the KDAA run,it is more of a solo/specimen hunter area of the sport and there just aren’t enough members willing to commit to it.I think it was only a matter of time before the club had to get help from contractors to help maintain the vast amounts of water we have even if it means an increase in membership fees down the line.To me me it’s an unfortunate but essential move for the club to move forward.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

stew at the moment membership is £40 for adult .. £30 for a senior and £15 for a junior . If you take the adult and senior membership prices That works out at less than £1 a week . Where could you buy a day ticket to fish a water costing less than one pound ? I think uping the price by £10 would not cause any hardship to members and that would still work out at less than £1 a week to fish BAA waters . Maybe another idea before you consider having contractors in to do the work is to offer free membership for the the next season to any one who does a work party ?

another thing you could try as a trial for one season only Is a night fishing permit for one stretch of river ? You could limit the number of permits issued to one chosen stretch of river and see how it goes ? I think you will find a lot of barbel or carp anglers would gladley pay £100 a year to be able to fish at night with out the worry of being kicked of one hour after sunset ?

Just a few ideas the BAA would consider ? If the BAA dont change the way they run it self you could be in danger of loosing many members in the future

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Some great ideas, I have to agree the value for money is just crazy.

Ive been in many clubs over the years where the subs have been over £100 a year.
If the membership went up £10, £20, a year and for that we were getting venues with safe good quality fishing platforms no one could moan. If anything ide probably end up fishing more.

Problem you may have with clubs clearing venues is liability insurance im not sure how things stand with this and a lot of club anglers these days are getting on.

Its ok clearing the banks but we need fishable pegs which involves tools, machinery and wooden platforms etc.

I work full time during the week but would gladly give up some of my weekends and petrol to help with any venues during the closed season

ATB Dave

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Sad to have to say it but, in today's world of health & safety legislation, it is no longer viable to encourage, or even allow, people to work on river banks without proper supervision and qualification. Gone are the days when a mob could turn up at a venue and be let loose with all manor of tools and home made equipment, cutting out pegs and having a jolly good time.
The BAA may be the first club to go down the route of using qualified contractors to do this work, but I promise you that in time, every angling club is going to have to do the same.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Not surprising in the blame game culture we live in today Thanks for the reply John

ATB Dave

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

It must be a huge headache for the club, although I can see the benefits in local work parties drawn from local members, I guess you will need Insurance cover for anyone waving a chainsaw or strimmer around, especially as some of our stretches are shared with public access.
Bank clearance is essential for matches, not quite so much for pleasure anglers, where we enjoy the extra cover, and mostly don't use platforms.
Having contractors let loose on some of our more sensitive stretches where the habitat is vital would be a concern, we all understand the benefits of 'wilding' . Pleasure anglers as we are now called, actually are more than capable of carving out swims, and in truth all you need is a well aimed bank stick, mostly. But its different for the match boys, especially when they need a parking space for their carts et all (joke alert) relax Stew Tracker etc.
Having undertaken a lot of ground clearance in my life, I can appreciate the level of quality the team deliver, it would be a shame to lose that.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Once again Neil you cant help your self can you ? You have to mock,ridicule ,to make fun of any one who has to use a cart to enable them to enjoy there past time of being able to go fishing .You say its a joke . Is it a joke to make fun of some one who may be disabled that has to use a cart to allow them to go fishing . Look to the future Neil one day you might find your self having to use a cart . Will you think that is a joke when some one makes fun of you ?

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

stew at the moment membership is £40 for adult .. £30 for a senior and £15 for a junior . If you take the adult and senior membership prices That works out at less than £1 a week . Where could you buy a day ticket to fish a water costing less than one pound ? I think uping the price by £10 would not cause any hardship to members and that would still work out at less than £1 a week to fish BAA waters . Maybe another idea before you consider having contractors in to do the work is to offer free membership for the the next season to any one who does a work party ?

another thing you could try as a trial for one season only Is a night fishing permit for one stretch of river ? You could limit the number of permits issued to one chosen stretch of river and see how it goes ? I think you will find a lot of barbel or carp anglers would gladley pay £100 a year to be able to fish at night with out the worry of being kicked of one hour after sunset ?

Just a few ideas the BAA would consider ? If the BAA dont change the way they run it self you could be in danger of loosing many members in the future

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

I just want to reassure readers that any contractors which we employ will be given very clear instructions on what is and is not required. We will not be undertaking anything on the same scale as E.A. or the navigation authority. Our work will be strictly to provide clear pegs for every member, whether they consider themselves to be match anglers, specimen or single-species anglers, or just merely humble pleasure anglers.
After all, fishing is fishing no matter what label you chose to stick on it.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

All you need is a peg you can fish spaced about 20/30 yards apart and the undergrowth , trees or bushes in between each peg left alone ?

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Still banging on about the cart business are we Jeff? The subject matter was nothing to with a disability in getting a cart, it was getting a wheel stuck on a footbridge... but somehow it got turned into me being anti disabled.

Perhaps you might find a video of me somewhere abusing a disabled person to post up, just to make your point?

Again.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Still banging on about the cart business are we Jeff? The subject matter was nothing to with a disability in getting a cart, it was getting a wheel stuck on a footbridge... but somehow it got turned into me being anti disabled.

Perhaps you might find a video of me somewhere abusing a disabled person to post up, just to make your point?

Again.


Yes Neil the subject matter was about getting a wheel stuck on a footbridge and you quickly turned it in to a laugh and a joke by your sarcastic remarks about any one having to use a cart to be able to move there kit around . The evidence is there for all to see . Once again Neil its you that has upset numerous people on here Its there in black and white for all to see

Here are some of the comments Neil made by other people about you on this forum . So are they all wrong in what they say ?

Here we go again, another set of meaningless posts from Negative Neil AKA 1LC. It's a personal choice if anglers want to use a trolley / barrow to carry gear. If you want to travel light to fish then fine, do that, but don't have a go at anglers who want to do things different to you. It's not a case of an " image " thing to carry more tackle than you, it's up to that individual, let's hope your next post has a more sensible content than your usual crap.


Onelastcast, Why do you think you have any right to call a persons choice to use a barrow ridiculous ? Like I’ve said previously each to their own. 
I class myself as fairly fit for an older guy but if a barrow makes my life easier I will use one, may even look out for an electric one now you mention it. 
If someone spends a fortune on tackle and blanks so what - all the gear no idea springs to mind. I hope you explained to the angler with all the gear and 3 rods he should only use 2 !!


One last bleeding cast, to call your previous comments on the subject of "image" / trolleys / barrows and the like as banter and just a joke is a pathetic excuse to try and rescue your already rock bottom standing as a contributor to these forums. Take a long break and do us all a favour.


To say carrying a lot of tackle is for an anglers ''image'' is a load of crap and as I said before ''weird''
Now, if an angler laid all his/her tackle out on the bank with all the price labels attached, that certainly would be for their ''image'', but that is something I have never seen in all my years of ''maggot-dangling''.
When I pass an angler on the bank, unless they told me, I would not know if they paid £1.00 or £1000 for a piece of gear and frankly, I don't care anyway.
It's their money and their choice!
I am on the wrong side of 75 with two painful hips and and a ''dodgy'' back.
The electric trolley I bought some years ago, has extended my river fishing by all of those years.
It is an absolute boon to us ''old codgers'' if we have easy access at any venue and not have to risk life and limb to get a days fishing.
Slippy, narrow footbridges are a recipe for disaster for the older members and making things easier for them insures that they stay members for longer.
Make life tough for them and as hundreds have already done, they drift towards fishing the commercials and the BAA membership goes in the wrong direction.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Not really sure I want to get embroiled in this but I have to say that onelastcast's post was considered and by his standards, pretty uncontroversial. Cannot see why anyone would want to interpret his comments as an attack on less able anglers and to launch a verbal assault in response to his post seems incredibly over-sensitive. We need to calm down a bit.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Mick you say we need to calm down .Neil has a history on this forum for winding people up .Making sarcastic remarks and making fun and deride people he don't agree with .So perhaps when he stops The rest of us will stop . You only have to scroll through previous subjects .time and time again Neils name keeps popping up to the number of people he upsets . Perhaps when he stops . Peace will finally breakout on this forum .

I

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Fair point River Novice, I agree that onelastcast has lots of form when it comes to winding people up, but perhaps we should just judge each post on its content and not "bite" and look for offence, whether or not intended. Be good if we could use the forum to build bridges and not to settle old scores.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

I'm not flush by any standards, but on joining again after forty years i cannot believe how cheap it is for a membership. I would quite happily pay £60 per year as a senior if the money went into maintaining the venues. Cropthorne is a perfect example. Having been there twice now, i realised that the parking bay at the end of the track for meadows 10,11,12 only takes three cars, but is 90% overgrown and you could possibly get 8 - 10 cars if it was strimmed. There are plenty of pegs but if more than three turned up you cannot park.

Re: Bank clearing. ..???

Please give me some examples I wind people up? All I want is for a better BAA, however I am afraid we have a couple of members on here who seem to trade abuse rather than dialogue, the worst example is when videos were posted up of me apparently abusing Barbel, a happy event with my sons that was used in an effort to discredit me, of course it was all fabricated, but alas nothing was done about the post, or poster, and he is still trolling me. He has form like you wouldn't believe, and I called him out ,and he like all good trolls just ups the anti.
But back to the current spat with Stew, he I know is passionate about the club, and works hard, but he is so defensive and boils over over into abuse, which goes unchecked, why others on here just accept it or shut up is beyond me. I have said that the club should not take adverse comments as trouble making, merely what comments members have with issues such as state of pegs, tracks, and night fishing.
But looking back at these replies from the club I am afraid is very negative.
I get the BAA is wonderful value, and credit to them for being a rather old fashioned working man's club, perhaps there needs to be a change in what we pay for the priveledge of fishing these amazing venues, please understand this is not a wind up, or a trouble making comment, but very much a heart felt plea to save the club, that I too love to bits.