The Membership Year Books will be posted before 1st of April but you can start your fishing using your Digital Membership Card on Clubmate.

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2026

Another year beckons and we hope you have all your gear cleaned up and lucky hat ready to go. The club has a strong membership through all disciplines which means that the high standards of the fisheries are maintained having resilience for the challenges to come. The club faces many more of these challenges than ever, pollution, rewilding, reintroduction of previously extinct creatures, climate change and new legislation to name a few which keeps the committee and management very busy so you can enjoy your fishing. We are also moving into a more technical age which is being embraced through “Clubmate” but the fishing still maintains the ethos of traditional fishing and methods.

At the heart of things is the Club book which has everything you need to know and more. We require you to read it thoroughly along with any notifications and this newsletter, so you know the rules and regulations of the club. Each fishery can have different rules or dates.

We have now nurtured our waters to have a healthy stock of wild fish and need to protect them.

“Clubmate” and the forum have all the updates about fisheries and in this climate we could have fisheries closed or restricted so again check these before you leave to fish. It is imperative that you understand the clubs ethos and rules so as not to upset our fishery owners, bailiffs and other anglers having not read things properly including this newsletter.

Without further ado here’s what’s happening….

GAME WATERS UPDATE

At the October game meeting and at the January AGM we were talking about the lack of rainfall and the low flows. Well, we’ve certainly seen nature catching up with itself with a very rapid recharge of the aquifer and rivers overflowing throughout January and February. Things are settling now and we are confident of opening all or most of our waters on April 1^st.

The flush of clean water will have brought with it some overflow discharge from the sewage plants, but it is also likely to have given the rivers a good flush cleaning and mobilising the gravels. The recent channel 4 docudrama “Dirty Business” reminded us of the problems our rivers face. SADAC water quality monitoring through the Angler’s Monitoring Initiative has continued for about 20 years. We have a large database monitoring our insect populations and can claim to have developed an early understanding through the support and guidance of Dr Cyril Bennett. The Wiltshire Fisheries Association (WFA) led water quality work continues in partnership with WildFish and the SmartRivers programme. Conversations however frustrating continue with the Water Company and regulator. Some of the dialogue between the regulator, water companies and activists was wearily familiar to our own water quality team.

Weed cutting has been high on our list of concerns since the Environment Agency abandoned its extraction service at Harnham in Salisbury. On behalf of WFA our club stepped up and developed an extraction plan at Stratford-sub-Castle meaning the weed no longer needed to float through Salisbury. The operation has worked well but the permit process continues to be a frustration.

We have greatly reduced the extent of weed cutting in the valley over the last several years in line with good environmental practice, but without some cutting fishing would become impossible in the summer months and the fishing economy of the valley would be struggling.

In my time as Vice Chairman we have also seen river keeping practice move towards a more environmentally friendly style, less grass cut , more trees left in the river, fringes less heavily trimmed, fewer trout stocked. We still retain the permits and the supply to stock up to 2000 trout into the areas of higher fishing pressure and poor trout habitat and we recognise that chalk stream fly fishing is what it is because of a level of care for the banks and fringes, that will not change but the majority of trout caught now are wild in contrast with 15 years ago and now very few members take fish for the pot. Stocking can now be more reactive to conditions for example stocking into fast flowing flood water is a waste of time and money, those fish are quickly lost just as stocking into low warm water will also result in casualties. At this time, we are going to sympathetically stock where necessary and review in the future.

At the game meeting we talked a lot about the rainbow trout fisheries, their cost, the environmental pressures and the pattern of their use by our members. This winter has seen both lakes popular and fishing very well with Leominstead getting off to a good early start and fishing well throughout the winter. The more you use the lakes the happier we are that they are worth the inputs.

We are a large club albeit with a wide range of water and good bank mileage. Our approach has always been to offer good value fly fishing which essentially means our business plan has been higher numbers and lower fees. The move towards wilder waters means that sometimes fishing pressure can be a concern in some areas. We are never going to emulate the high fees, low numbers model of some more exclusive clubs but we do see a need to shift the balance slightly as budgets allow. An increasingly successful membership on the coarse side helps balance the budget and careful planning enables us to move the dial a little on this with the interests of both the members and our rivers in mind.

When you get your 2026 yearbook you will see additional water added to the Constable mixed fishery. Some of our trout members have recognised the beauty and the value of the mixed waters and I commend them to you.

They are definitely a place where big wild trout can be found and where the fly hatches particularly grannom and mayfly are spectacular.

Tight lines for 2026.

John Stoddart-Vice Chairman Game.

RIVER KEEPERS UPDATE

As we look ahead to the start of another fishing season, the winter months have been a busy time along the river, carrying out the usual work needed to keep the fishery in good order before anglers return.

Winter storms and periods of high water have brought down a number of large trees, so much of the recent work has involved cutting and clearing fallen timber from the river. In several places these trees had lodged against structures or hatches, and they have now been carefully removed to keep water flowing properly that helps us manage the fishery. It is the sort of quiet winter work that often goes unseen but plays an important role in keeping the river healthy and fishable.

Along the banks we have also been spending time keeping cormorants moving on from the fisheries. These birds can quickly have an impact on fish stocks if left unchecked, particularly on valuable fish in our stocked waters such as Petersfinger, as well as on the wild fish in our rivers. Regular patrols and disturbance throughout the winter months help reduce that pressure.

Attention has also turned to preparing machinery and equipment for the coming season, making sure everything is ready for bank maintenance and other fishery work once conditions allow.

This winter’s flooding has inevitably slowed progress in places. Some stretches of bank have remained very soft, and accessing them too early would risk causing lasting damage that would be costly to repair. The river has now begun to drop back within its banks and the ground is starting to dry. As a result, a small number of fisheries may initially have limited access while the banks firm up, but our aim is to open them to anglers as soon as it can be done without harming the fishery.

Looking ahead to the early part of the season, anglers should keep an eye out for the grannom hatch, which has been particularly encouraging over the last couple of years. Previous work redistributing eggs appears to have helped, and grannom are now showing up well along many stretches of the river.

On warm, sunny days in April these early sedges should begin to appear. Trout will not always rise freely to the adults on the surface, even when they are present in good numbers. More often they will take the insects trapped in or just below the surface film, which are easier for them to capture. Fishing an emerger or lightly weighted nymph during these periods can often be effective, and it may also be worth considering beats where nymph fishing is permitted early in the season.

Alongside the grannom hatch we can also expect the welcome appearance of large dark olives. When conditions are right, a spell of sunshine around midday can bring these flies onto the water and create short but productive feeding windows.

Work carried out over the winter at Petersfinger should also help floodwater pass through the fishery more efficiently, allowing levels to drop away more quickly after heavy rain. The next phase of work there will begin once river and ground conditions allow. Later in the spring we also plan to net Petersfinger to carry out stock assessments and gain a clearer understanding of the fish population within the fishery.

With the river beginning to settle after winter, it is encouraging to see the first signs of spring returning to the valley. With a little warmth and sunshine, the early hatches will soon be underway and the new season will not be far away.

We look forward to seeing you back on the river in the weeks ahead.

Tight lines for the season ahead

Paul Clancy – River Keeper

GENERAL MANAGER’S UPDATE

Chalk stream fly-fishing for wild fish is a challenging sport, and it is becoming even more difficult because of the extreme weather and river conditions we are experiencing in the last few years. At the start of the season the river may be high and pushing and the banks may be flooded making it difficult to spot fish rises and very tricky casting to achieve good fly presentation. In summer the river level may be too low and clear which makes it extra difficult to approach the fish, requiring extra stealth and long casts with fine long leaders and small flies. Most fly anglers start their journey fishing stocked lakes and using attractor flies. Casting accuracy and presentation are not so important. Fishing a river is a totally different affair and members need to prepare accordingly and have the right expectations. Our club offers several tools to help our new and existing members.

Fly-Fishing Academy Training Courses

They are held at the Cart Shed office. These are group-based one day courses combining classroom learning and practical hands-on training from qualified instructors Lindsay Moore and Rob Doyle who are members of the club. The format is two instructors with 6 participants on each training course.

The courses are split into two sessions. The morning session is classroom instruction on how to approach a chalk stream, etiquette, equipment, aquatic flies and how to imitate them. This is done by group discussion and slide projection. The afternoon session is casting practice and river skills on the lower Durnford beats. We will be initially holding 4 courses in April 2026, on April 8, 11, 15, and 18.More courses will be offered later in the year.

The cost of each course is £50.00

The courses can be booked by clicking  below. The courses are extremely popular. Quick booking is advised!

Note: Please note that on April 8, 11, 15, and 18 Durnford beats 13, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 will be closed on both banks to enable river casting by course participants.

The Club Open Day:

To be held at the Abbey Fishery on Saturday 16th May 2026
Starting at 09:30’ at Amesbury Abbey Nursing Home, Amesbury, SP4 7EX , Map 4 in your yearbook.
The programme includes: Fly Casting Tuition, Fly Tying, Entomology and a delicious BBQ.
Open to all members, game and coarse plus their Guests.
It is an opportunity to meet up with club officers, and to enjoy various stalls and events being a convivial affair to meet up with other members. It is a popular event with about 100 participants every year. Early booking is advised.

The online Forum

This has been an established way for members to interact, post fishing experiences, ask advice and see notifications from the club and much more. It is for club members only and there are approximately 1,000 participants, with a good number of active contributors. Many anglers live away from Salisbury and can post to ask what the water levels are like or seek advice. It is a useful tool to use and we ask you to log on and check regularly. Please note that if you an existing member of the forum but have not logged in during the last year your account may be deleted. To retain access please log in before the 31^st March 2026.

New members should register on the Forum by visiting our main web page.

Mentoring

Experienced members have offered to take an hour or so with individuals to give them some advice on the bank with tips to help them along. It isn’t designed to be an in-depth training session but for the experienced to use their years of knowledge to help new members and maybe new improve their fishing. There is no charge but a donation to the Small Fry club would be a nice thing. You may logon to the club’s forum for more details

Webinars

In 2025 we held series of webinars which have been recorded and are available for members to watch on the club’s forum.

• Early season tactics.
• Mayfly season.
• How to choose the right fly.
• Summer season tactics.
• Grayling fly-fishing.

More webinars will be scheduled later in the year.

Andreas Topintzis – General Manager

CLUBMATE – The good, the bad, the frustrating.

The club introduced Clubmate software last year expecting it to streamline many operational tasks. While it has successfully helped reduce time spent processing membership renewals and assisted the Club Manager with account reconciliations and communications saving valuable time, several promised features have not materialised. In particular, the integration with our Sage accounting system has not been delivered and there is no likelihood that it ever will.
Initially we could use our own payment gateway of Stripe but have been forced to use Clubmate’s own system with slightly higher processing charges.
Simple operations like printing of members address labels is impossible inside the system causing frustrations as data has to be exported to other platforms to complete the task.
As a result, we have had to create our own workarounds to manage some processes, which has limited the overall efficiency gains we were initially promised.
Please note there has recently been an update to the Clubmate App, make sure you are running the latest version.
There was some confusion last year on where to obtain the lock codes for access to our fisheries. These are no longer printed in the Yearbook and are only available in Clubmate due to security issues where the codes became common knowledge so never disclose this information.

Please do not call or email the office requesting the lock codes. Start using Clubmate.

Moving to an Online Catch Return.

For many years we have used a hard copy paper catch return book. Generally, it has worked well, although requiring a site visit to check results and taking a great deal of effort to collate all the data.

After trialling successfully at different game fisheries in the last couple of seasons and during lockdown we are now moving fully on all our game fisheries to a simple online system that records the same information — just in a more convenient way.
The new system asks for:

• Name.
• Membership number.
• Date fished.
• Beat.
• Trout caught.
• Trout Caught tagged and taken. (No colour changes from 2026)
• Grayling caught.
• Comments.

This is similar to the old catch return books and nothing more than you already record at the end of each fishing session.
There will be slight input field variations depending on fishery.
See page 7 in Year Book for example, on submission results will be available to view online almost immediately.
Why the change?
• Quicker and more convenient — record your catch anytime, anywhere.
• Clearer and more accurate — no deciphering handwriting issues!
• No lost or stolen books resulting in lost data.
• Better and faster information collection to help management.
• Less administration, allowing for more time for other club tasks.
Easy to use.
• Scan a QR code or use a direct link to a short form that takes a couple of minutes at most to complete.
• Works on phone, tablet, or computer.
• Submit returns from anywhere. At the fishery, in the car or at home.

Direct links to return forms are published on the fishery maps in Clubmate.
• Help will be available for anyone who needs it.
This isn’t about forcing change — it’s a sensible step forward that helps the club, while keeping the process simple for members.
Results for every game fishery will be available for all members.
To comply with Privacy regulations no names will be displayed on the results web pages.

The books will still be in the boxes as it is mandatory to book in and out.
If you wish to try out the system prior to the start of the season there are QR codes and links to the catch return forms on the forum.
Don’t be alarmed there is test data on some of the fishery result pages.

Bill Latham Communications  and I.T

COARSE UPDATE

Well, the big news for this newsletter is the floods…..again! At the turn of the year our Lakes were frozen over, and our rivers were running very clear and a little below their normal levels for this time of year. Then followed a very wet period where the boreholes filled and the rivers broke banks causing many fisheries to close and matches to be cancelled in February. Hopefully normality will resume soon.

Last year saw some good fishing. Petersfinger saw a bream comeback and good bags of tench. Sadly, the crucian haven’t shown and are a notoriously hard fish to introduce and hope some will thrive.

During the season our keeper team and contractors led by Paul Clancy did an outstanding job of improving our fisheries as he will tell you about. Before the floods we were able to apply “Siltex” to both lakes with good coverage observed but a major casualty of the floods was the netting of both Lakes that had been scheduled for early February. This is a significant disappointment as we had hoped to gain an insight into the Roach and Rudd populations and to continue to manage the stock in the way that has undoubtedly contributed to a healthy population.

This is such an important part of our Management plan for Petersfinger that we intend to bring the netting forward to around Christmas /New Year to hopefully avoid being flooded off again. I must of course not forget the Eels as we appear to be bucking the national trend in maintaining apparently healthy numbers and I know a couple of specialist anglers have caught some pretty large ‘snakes’.

For several reasons Steeple Langford’s glory days as a Carp fishery appear to be over. A small band of dedicated Carp specialists, however, continue to fish the water as the remaining stock are big fish, and it is from these anglers we know that there is also a small population of very large, near double figure tench and that there are even bream caught. The pike fishing was also good at Petersfinger. Sadly during the year, we found more dead pike than usual and ask all those that fish for them to use appropriate mainline and rigs and ask to use barbless hooks and treat pike with respect please.

During the year our keeper team, including new recruit Hugo, did a superb job of creating four very substantial permanent platforms linked by a surfaced path on Kingfisher Lake and these will hopefully encourage our less physically able members to enjoy a day’s fishing on the lake. There were some boughs that fell blocking access and the keepers cleared it for us. Beware of swaying boughs.

During the coming year the team will be implementing some improvements to the outflow on Kingfisher as mandated by the EA so that later in the year we can stock Kingfisher with some smaller Carp as we have done at Petersfinger.

Dandy’s Lake has had issues with predation but remains a pleasant place to fish. We intend to do some dipping to check fry and formulate a stocking plan.

RIVERS

The work at Lords Walk seems to have naturalised and the water levels now are okay, and the fish are back in the stretch below the road bridge where it was nearly a still water last summer. We will be keeping an eye on that.

Parsonage farm has had work done and a tree that fell will hopefully be removed when the levels drop. The keepers did a lot of clearing so hopefully when the water subsides the access will be back.

The Town stretch have seen good localised catches along the boardwalk but sporadic above and below. Perhaps the cover there is a key to it.

We concluded a successful renegotiation of our lease with Salisbury City Council which now includes the entire new Summerlock channel through the River Park. The strong flows associated with the current flood event have scoured some beautiful clean gravel runs and we know that Grayling have already inhabited the stretch and the Dace must surely follow.

The Nadder and Constable fisheries have thrown up some good bags of herring sized dace, roach and chub although they can move about so one day a peg will produce and another very little. Pays to be a roving angler.

Harnham reportedly produced a brace of roach over two pound and good grayling catches. A new bailiff has been appointed for Brunel to hopefully counter poaching and littering. Due to the networking skills of John Stoddart we have been able to negotiate with the Harnham Meadows Trust and from April this year we will be able again to access fishing on the Northern Meadows, please see your new Yearbook for details. Finally, we have made contact with the Charitable Trust that has been set up to administer the new Broken Bridges Nature Reserve. Older members will remember that this bank of the Nadder was previously on our books as Fitzgerald Farm and there is hope that we may secure some fishing.

And finally, to our Middle Avon waters, the White Horse, The Millennium, Folds Farm Upper and Lower, and Burgate North and South. With miles of river bank these fisheries are only lightly fished but even so some outstanding fish have been caught during the season. Chub appear to be the predominant species currently with a fish of 7lb 2oz reported this season.

Other very big Chub  have been seen so if anyone has had, or catches in future, an ‘8’ please let us know, we can guarantee anonymity if required! Chub have not hogged the limelight however with a 12lb Barbel leading the ‘whiskers’ line up and others close behind. Pike is as you would expect also present with a 20lb Pike reported and even one of 10lb with a liking for cheese.

A big highlight was the capture of a brace of 3lb roach, and we hope the work of the Avon roach Project with Trevor and the late ‘Budgie’ helped.

The prospects look good for the year and we must hand a big thanks to the keeper team and committee for their work to make our fisheries as good as they are.

David George – Committee Member

MATCH UPDATE

The Clubs match season starts in June and generally our season is split between summer events on still waters and moving onto the rivers in October. Our main summer venues are Club waters Petersfinger, Steeple Langford and a mix of commercial fisheries – Witherington Farm and Whitemoor Lakes. We also retain a strong tie with Test Valley AC and visit their Kings lake and the vast Totton Reservoir which is a silver fish heaven if you are lucky enough to draw on the roach and perch. Throughout the summer I will run a Silver Fish League across Petersfinger and Langford and last year we had around twenty members competing. The league is based on weight and the winner retained his title from last year with some exceptional weights of tench, perch and bream at Petersfinger and roach and rudd at Steeple Langford -well done Mark Blake and also the runner up Terry Sargent.

Through to October and we head to our local rivers the Avon and Constable fishery. The fishing at times can be exceptional for some and tougher for others dependent on the draw bag. Numbers attending have reduced year on year since the heady days of 40 which gave me a major headache to fit them all in. Normality now with around 24 booking in most weeks. On the Avon – roach, dace and chub are fish of choice and another species coming into play bream and skimmers. On the Constable – chub, roach and dace are prominent with an odd barbel occasionally. Once again I will run a River League over a number of the winter matches which is very competitive amongst the anglers. Last year only 8 points separated the leading four anglers with Jon Rushton ending up the podium winner. Jon had an exceptional run of results with match nets of roach and chub leading him to victory. Well, that’s a wrap for these seasons matches with the conclusion of the summer silver fish league and the individual river league.

Paul Barnard – Match Secretary

SMALL FRY

Unsurprisingly the last few months have seen very little activity with Small Fry events due to high water levels and the weather generally. Overall, I think we can look back on a successful year with our combined Small Fry and Junior membership exceeding over 150. Hopefully a good percentage of these will go on to become senior members and enable the club to grow and thrive.

Unfortunately due to the problems caused by the water levels, particularly at Petersfinger and Steeple Langford, we are reluctant to commit to any specific dates in the new club book both for potential new members and existing members wishing to improve their skills. These dates will be made available through social media and specifically the club website. We are very focussed on helping our young members to improve their skills and to be able to fish independently and safely. In line with this goal, both myself and Steve Trevett will hopefully become Level 2 qualified coaches through Angling Trust giving us a significant number of officially qualified trainers. This adds more flexibility to the coaching events we can offer.

Most of you will have read about the changes that are taking place at Witherington Farm in a previous communication. Following a recent meeting with Eastleigh Angling Club, from whom we purchase our guest tickets, I am pleased to be able to confirm that although Small Fry members cannot use their membership to fish at Witherington free of charge there will be a 50% reduction in the cost of a normal junior day ticket. Please remember that the changes do not affect our Junior members in any way but, as before, anyone under the age of 13 MUST be accompanied by an adult. Eastleigh, through Paul Sears, have also kindly offered the use of one of their lakes at Witherington for coaching sessions which can be attended by Eastleigh and Salisbury Small Fry and Juniors. Details will follow in the usual manner.

The generosity of club members, and indeed other fishermen, means we have now accumulated a comprehensive collection of fishing tackle which is ideal for youngsters just getting into the sport. The intention is to raise money by selling as much of this as possible, at extremely low prices, to raise funds to support our young members.

 We will be holding more open sales sessions at Petersfinger so please watch Clubmate and forum for details. If you have any specific requirements please feel free to contact us via our email address at Smallfry@salisburydistrictac.co.uk.

We are proud of what we have achieved and as always I must close by saying a massive thank you to the incredible team of volunteers that are behind our progress but also the club committee for their unwavering support of our drive to introduce more youngsters to fishing.

Nigel Turner – Small Fry co – coordinator

BAILIFFING

As another Game season approaches, it is to be hoped that the incidence of poaching will lessen from last year. In some ways, the level of activity did us a favour. This was mainly due to regular reporting which generated some good responses, particularly by the police. We also established a good relationship with Amesbury Town Council, mainly via the mayor, Dr. Monica Devendran. Last but not necessarily least, we liaised with the local Environment Agency Enforcement Officer on a couple of joint patrols. The local EA team has been bolstered by the recruitment of an additional officer who is a club member and lives in Salisbury.

A bailiffs meeting is due to be held on March 24^th. This will give an opportunity for exchange of views, talk of what may or may not happen during the coming season, and how best to combat illegal fishing. Practical solutions to be discussed include body cams, CCTV and more visibility for some of our bailiffs. Often, just being seen to be active is a satisfactory deterrent.

There have been three recent additions to the bailiff team. Colin Maddocks has returned to the fold after moving away from the area for a few years and will assist mainly at West Amesbury. Phil Ireland will act as a roving bailiff, mainly on the Game waters. Tim Tyler will bailiff at Steeple Langford.

Members are encouraged to report infractions. My phone number is on page 43 of your yearbooks. We generally turn a blind eye to youngsters fishing at Ham Hatches, as long as they are acting responsibly, but not at other locations. Intrusion onto most of our fisheries can be an issue for our landlords and could jeopardise our relationships with them. Reporting is absolutely key, if it can be backed up with hard evidence (photos, vehicle registrations, etc) then that can lead to a successful outcome. But be careful, approach in a calm manner and avoid confrontation. If necessary, walk away and contact the club or, in more serious cases, the police. Remember – if it isn’t reported, it hasn’t happened.

Andy Stafford-Hon. Bailiff Coordinator

FISHING FOR FORCES

Over recent years we have been fortunate to be able to hold fly fishing days for the charity at Calstone Lake, near Calne, thanks to the generosity of the syndicate who fish there. Unfortunately, this year that won’t be the case. Accordingly we have arranged to hold the day at our Leominstead Lake fishery on Thursday May 7^th. “Mentors needed – if you’d like to help out please contact Andy Stafford, details on page 43 of your membership book.”

VOLUNTEERING

If anyone is interested in volunteering there are various activities that you can become involved in. It could be ‘Balsam’ bashing which is keeping this invasive species at bay, small fry and weed cutting. If you are interested contact the Cartshed. Contact details in the yearbook.

The End.