How many rules does your club have?

[Steve Walker]

Looking at a few local clubs, it seems 15-20 rules is about the norm. Wingham has 38 rules, but of those 14 or so are about the running of the syndicate and administration of the site. Some of the remaining 24 are issues of particular concern to Steve on a water like his.

 

One of my local clubs - which has one small pond of an acre and a half has just finished reviewing its rules. The review has definitely improved things, with some unnecessary restrictions being lifted or modified, but it now has 46 rules. A few of them are the same thing stated in different ways ("No night fishing", "fishing only from dawn til dusk") and a couple of them are constitutional rules rather than fishing rules, but still, I reckon 35-40 of them apply. Seems quite hefty for a small mixed fishery with public access.

 

How many rules has your club got?

[Peter Waller]

Just one, the fish come first!

[chesters1]

Just one, the fish come first!

And good girls ofcourse

[kirisute]

http://www.fakenhamanglingclub.com/#!club-rules/c1egc

33 but split across different venues with differing rules for each.

[chesters1]

Lots

http://www.farnhamanglingsociety.com/membership/rules.php

[Dick Dastardly]

Other than a few acsess/parking rules that the landlord insisted on my Syndicate on Heartbreak used to have only one rule- "No member to act in any way that will detract from another members enjoyment or use of the water"..............simple as that really! But like Wingham now we had a long waiting list and ALL members were vetted and interviewed before acceptance, With like minded, well selected members there is very little need for restrictive rules other than ones that are venue specific (such as acsess/parking/boat use) that are actually conditions of the lease.

[Ken L]

Lots!

 

The list includes several that are superfluous (like the ban on gaffs), at least one that encourages members to break the law (takeing Zander for the pot) and some that are overly restrictive but easily circumvented - using treble hooks for chub and perch is banned so I'll obviously be targetting trout and pike - and might just happen to catch chub and perch in the process.

[Steve Burke]

When I started Wingham I had fewer rules than I do now. I had thought that if I had the right members I wouldn't need many rules. I soon found out otherwise!

 

One of the potential problems is "stroke pulling". Anglers do something wrong but justify it by saying it's not in the rules. I've therefore always preceded the rules with the following 2 principles, and the rules are derived from these principles. If you break the principles you're deemed to have broken the rules.

 

1. Every member must do his or her utmost to avoid damage to fish, wildlife or the site.

2. Members must not interfere with the enjoyment of others.

 

However most of the rules are common sense ones, and I've had almost no complaints about any of them. Neither have I had many rule breaches, partly because members don't want to risk losing the chance of fishing Wingham.

It's also important to be strict in enforcing the rules so that members know where they stand.

 

Equally it's important that the rules apply to everyone, including friends and bailiffs. The latter is not so on a lot of fisheries!

Edited April 9, 2014 by Steve Burke

[Steve Walker]

You do have a couple of uncommon rules, Steve, but anyone who knows a little about Wingham will understand what they are for. The restrictions on pike fishing and on the use of large barbless hooks spring to mind.

 

My club also has some restrictions on predator fishing - they have recently been relaxed in some ways and codified in others. The ban on lure fishing has been relaxed, and there are now bans on wire traces, treble hooks, deadbaiting and spinning from April through September. The thing is, though, your restrictions are in place to protect your pike population because you see high predation as key to a big fish water (and the results speak for themselves). My club is not a big fish water. Until recently the club officials were adamant that the lake contained no pike at all. I disagreed, having had some classic Wingham style one-tone bite-offs on popped up fake maggots last season, and a friend of mine had seen pike in the margins. Last month someone put a photo of a jack up on the club's facebook page and the cat was really out of the bag. Thing is, the pond is occasionally inundated by a small river which certainly does contain pike, so it is inevitable that they will get in there. Given that our officials aren't over the moon about the presence of pike in the first place and until recently didn't think there were any in there, I do wonder what all the regulations are meant to achieve!

[Dales]

i think in general clubs often seem to have more rules then most syndicate/private waters and their is often a certain bias in their rules favouring one style of fishing over another. The classic being those clubs that have a strong match scene or more importantly match anglers on the committee who then pass rules that favour their sport but impede others. A number of clubs with a match presence will often put restrictions on taking live baits (their fish) or restrictions on other bait (boilies) etc because they don't use them and so why should any one else be allowed.

 

I joined a club 2 seasons ago that had a restriction on the number of rods that could be used on its waters after a hard campaign by the Carpers in the club they had the rules changed so that 3 rods could be used on the biggest pit and reservour on its books. Hard work as the pleasure anglers and match men could not except that any one else should be allowed to use 3 rods as they did not, the fact they never fished the waters in question made no difference to their stance.

 

I did not renew this year as the latest rule change was to remove the use of live baits on the water with a few cat fish, obviously those who do not target the cats and don't want them got their way. On my last visit to one of the clubs waters I was "lobbied" by another member to atttend the AGM so they could propose removing the new 3 rod rule. I did enquire why he wanted it removed, we where not even at a water that allowed the use of 3 rods. The best he could muster was we don't want to be over taken by Carp anglers.

 

I think most anglers enjoy restricting other anglers fishing more then they enjoy their own fishing. I get that often rules need to be set to the lowest common denomiator to cover Mr stupid but the ones that are designed to favour one form of fishing over another and so effect ever one else who does not fish in that way do annoy me alot.