A MAJOR bank fly only competition will be held at Hury Reservoir on Saturday, August 28.

Registration will start at 8am prompt in the fishing lodge situated on the north shore of the reservoir. Competitors are requested to use both the north and south shore dam wall car parks. Those who park in the south shore car park will need to make the short walk over the dam wall to register.

Competitors will draw numbers; those who draw odd numbers will fish from the north shore and those who draw even numbers from the south shore. After drawing their numbers anglers will need to muster in either the north or south shore car park by 9.20am.

At 9.30am competitors will be set off at 30 second intervals by a steward from both the north and south shore car parks to walk to their desired location. No angler shall pass the angler in front of them until they have chosen their fishing spot.

Competitors may fish on the north or south shore from the dam wall up to Corporal Hill Bay on the south shore and from the dam wall to the Reedy Point on the north shore.

Both of these areas will be clearly marked to avoid confusion.

There will be no fishing on the dam wall during the competition. Anglers may move to a different area within the north and south shore designated areas at any time during the match but must not encroach within 15 yards of any other angler.

The match will begin at 10am by the sounding of a klaxon, and fishing will stop at 5pm, again by the sounding of a klaxon.

The match will be fished to fishery rules - that is, fly fishing only, no double hooks, no flicker spinners, gazelles and so on. Anglers may carry two rods which may be set up ready for use.

The match will be fished to an eight fish limit, on catching the eighth fish the competitor must report to one of the bankside match stewards who will register the finish time.

Anglers will be awarded 2lb per remaining hour of the match time bonus to add to the weight of their fish. This will be rounded to the nearest 15mins at 8oz per 15 min.

Fish will be capped at 3lb so no individual fish shall count for more than this in the overall bag weight.

No catch and release, first eight fish must be killed, with the exception of brown trout which must all be carefully returned.

Wading is allowed but not above thigh depth - daylight must be seen between the legs at all times.

The match shall be fished in the spirit and tradition of the sport and any of the stewards or Northumbrian Water officials reserve the right to disqualify competitors in breach of the rules.

Trust 'furious' over licence proposals

THE spectre of an increase in rod licence fees to meet the cost of all Environment Agency work on managaing freshwater fisheries and fishing licences, saving the Government £9.4m, has been raised by the Wildlife and Countryside Link.

The WCL, a coalition of more than 30 voluntary organisations concerned with the conservation and protection of wildlife and the countryside, this week issued a statement with some proposals for spending decisions related to environmental and countryside spending in light of the current government review of budgets.

It also suggested that all Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA) and Marine Management Organisation (MMO) work on the management of sea fisheries could be funded could be funded by the industry and that "a licence could be imposed upon the sea angling community similar to that of freshwater angling".

The Angling Trust reacted angrily to these proposals and issued the following statement:

"The Angling Trust is not a member of Wildlife and Countryside Link, but has a partnership agreement to collaborate on the Blueprint for Water. The Trust was neither aware of, nor consulted with on these proposals.

"The Trust disagrees wholeheartedly with these proposals in respect of angling and is furious that WCL did not consult the national governing body for angling before issuing the proposals.

"Freshwater anglers contributed £26m in rod licences to the work of the Environment Agency's fisheries department in 2009, a figure which has risen consistently in recent years. Anglers also invest hundreds of millions of pounds each year improving and maintaining rivers in the UK.

"The Government grant in aid for fisheries has been frozen at £9.4m for the last decade - effectively a cut in real terms each year. The Angling Trust demands that this grant is maintained because fisheries are important to society as a whole and not just to anglers.

"The Angling Trust is strongly opposed to a licence for sea anglers and holds firmly the position that fishing with rod and line in the sea should be a free right for people of all ages under current circumstances.

"The notion of charging sea anglers for access to public fishery resources whileaccess for commercial over-exploitation of those same resources is free of charge, and heavily-subsidised, is perverse.

"Sea anglers have endured decades of failed fisheries management and commercial overfishing that have thoroughly degraded the sea angling product, so the idea of now charging them is like adding salt to an already raw wound.

"If overfishing is brought to an end, depleted stocks restored, those who fish commercially are paying realistically for access to fish stocks and anglers are playing a full role in the process of formulating fisheries policy, then and only then will sea anglers be prepared even to discuss the merits of a licence."