Sutton Coldfield Angling Society

THE RULES OF THE SUTTON COLDFIELD ANGLING SOCIETY

GENERAL RULES

MEMBERSHIP.

a) A full member shall be over sixteen years of age and will be entitled to enjoy the rights and facilities of the Society. The member shall have the right to attend and vote at the A.G.M. and stand for office in the Society.

b) Junior members shall be under 16 years of age as at the 1st June. Junior members shall be permitted the use of the Society’s waters only when accompanied always by a Full Member, parent, grandparent or legal guardian who shall be responsible for their safety and conduct. Given any deviation from these conditions or any conduct contrary to the rules of the Society, (rule 13), the Committee shall have the power, after due consideration, to revoke the membership of the said Junior Member.

c) A Full Member/Parent/Grandparent or legal guardian cannot assume responsibility for more than 2 juniors at a time.

d) None Fishing members shall be the partner of a Full member. A None Fishing member may also be the Parent, Grandparent or Legal Guardian of a Junior member.

e) Total membership of the Society shall be decided annually at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

f) Full members shall be provided with a non-transferable membership card.

g) All members shall have the right to ask any person fishing the Society’s waters produce their current Environment Agency fishing licenses and SCAS membership card. If the person(s) cannot produce the appropriate documentation, they must leave the water.

h) Any person desiring to become a member of the Society complete an application form obtained from the Secretary or downloaded from the Society’s website.

i) During the first-year probationary period the new member will be expected to attend a number of official working parties. Failure to do so may result in the termination of their membership.

j) Application for, or renewal of membership shall be deemed as acceptance of the rules of the Society.

FEES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS.

a) The annual subscription shall be decided by the Executive Committee. Members shall be notified at the A.G.M.

b) The period covered by the annual subscription shall be from the 1st June to the 31st may the following year.

c) Members who have not paid their subscription by the 16th. June shall be deemed to have lapsed their membership.

d) Payments to the Society made by cheque, postal order or money order should be made payable to ‘The Sutton Coldfield Angling Society’ and crossed ‘Account Payee’. Where time and agenda running order allows, subscription renewals will be accepted prior to the official start of the AGM

e) If a Junior member does not have a parent, grandparent or legal guardian who is a Full member, then the Junior subscription is deemed to include None Fishing membership for up to 2 adults who must be the Junior’s parent, grandparent or legal guardian.

DAY PERMITS.
a) Members shall be entitled to obtain a permit for a friend to fish the Society’s waters on payment of a fee to be decided by the Executive Committee.

b) The permit must be obtained before fishing and the visitor shall be accompanied by the sponsoring member who shall be responsible for their conduct and ensure that they have the appropriate rod licenses.

c) A guest may fish the Society’s waters no more than five times in any one year.

d) Guest permits may be obtained from the Secretary and members of the Executive Committee so nominated who shall have absolute discretion in their issue.

e) No day permits shall be issued between the 16th June and the 1st July.

f) A new member during their first year of probation will not be issued with day permits for guests.

CONDUCT.
a) No member shall act in a manner likely to bring the Society into disrepute.

b) No member shall at any time by action or omission render themselves as a source of annoyance to other members or riparian owners.

c) Members shall approach Society’s waters only by the routes indicated by instructions issued by the Society. Vehicles shall be parked as stated in the said instructions care being taken not to obstruct farm vehicles. The Society will not be liable for any loss or damage to any vehicle so parked.

d) Members shall not take any action which may or is calculated to damage any fences, gates, mowing grass, trees or growing crops.

e) (e) Members shall not wilfully or knowingly cause injury to any fish, animal or bird or farm livestock of the riparian owner.

f) Members are not permitted to take dogs on Society’s waters.

g) The lighting of fires is forbidden.

h) Litter is not permitted. Members shall be responsible for removing all litter from their swim or on the approaches to the said waters.

i) A Member shall be permitted to keep only one brace of game fish in any one day, except on the River Blithe, where it is forbidden to kill or remove Brown trout.

j) (j) Members shall not publicise the venue of any fish caught in society’s waters except with express permission of the Executive Committee.

k) (k) Members fishing for carp and pike from any of the Society’s waters are required to use a suitable unhooking mat and are required to return fish immediately. If photographs are required, the camera should be set up prior to fishing. Retaining fish for lengthy periods is strictly forbidden. Carp caught during the hours of darkness may be retained, for photographic purposes in a suitable carp sack but they must be returned to the water within 30 minutes of sun up. The retention of carp and pike in keepnets irrespective of net size or size of fish is not permitted.

l) (l) No Carp, Pike or Barbel shall be retained in keepnets on Society’s waters except during matches subject to the contests rules. Members wishing to use keepnets to retain other species of fish, must use a net of the knotless variety and ensure that the fish are kept in the best possible condition. Nets must be properly staked out in the deepest water available. The maximum time, any fish may be retained is twelve hours. Members shall not hold an excessive amount of fish in a net and should always put the health of the fish first, should fish show signs of distress they must be immediately returned.

m) (m) Only barbless hooks to be used on all still waters owned or leased by the Society. Treble hooks may be used only when pike fishing and these must be of the semi-barbless type (i.e. Barb on the bait point only). Hooks used for all fishing methods on the River Blithe shall be of the barbless type. The filing down, or flattening of barbs on artificial lures or flies is acceptable.

n) Spinning for trout is strictly prohibited on the River Blithe. Anglers are permitted to spin for Pike using recognised artificial lures, the use of blade spinners (Mepps type), is not allowed.

o) When wading care should be taken not to disturb spawning beds. Both trout and Coarse fish utilise clean gravel around shallows for spawning activity. Wading through areas of where the gravel has been disturbed by spawning fish must be avoided.

p) (n) The Society may retain a ‘closed season’ on our waters, the duration and timing within the year to be set by the Executive Committee.

q) (o) Members shall conform to all regulations of the Environment Agency and adhere to any local bylaws.

r) (p) Members may use a maximum of three rods at any one time providing they possess the required license coverage. Additional marker rod and ‘spod’/’spom’ rod may be used for feature finding and baiting up. No other made up rods will be permitted. All rods must be used within the same swim. No rods should be left un attended and must be in the immediate control of the member.

s) (q) Cars must be parked sensibly and not block access roads or gateways for any reason.

t) (r) Currently members may fish 24 hours per day during the season without additional charge. The committee may elect in future years to impose additional charges for those wishing to fish at night.

u) (s) The use of boats and bait boats is strictly forbidden.

v) (t) Swimming is not permitted on any of the society’s venues.

w) (u) No lead core leaders, braided lines, fixed leads or ‘beach caster’ rigs are to be used.

x) (r) It shall be incumbent on all members to report to the Executive Committee any breach of the above rules of conduct.

y) (s) Any member who is brought to the attention of the Disciplinary Sub Committee for being in breach of any of the rules of conduct may be called to answer before the said committee, who following investigation and at their discretion may suspend or expel the member. Where a member is expelled from the society their membership fee will be forfeit. The member shall have the right to appeal to the Executive Committee about any decision affecting them, if notice of such appeal is submitted in writing to the Honorary Secretary within seven days of notification of the decision. The disciplinary Sub Committee shall comprise of an Officer of the society and two members of the Management Committee appointed from time to time as required.

ALTERATIONS TO RULES

(a) The Executive Committee shall have the power to alter, add to, delete or amend any rule of the Society pending a general meeting.

(b) Any member wishing to alter, add to, or amend any rule of the Society shall make the proposal, properly seconded in writing to the Secretary not less than twenty-eight days prior to the A.G.M. and both Proposer and Seconder shall be present to support their proposal, or it shall be deemed to be lost.

CONTESTS AND RULES
Currently the Society does not have a Match section due to a lack of general interest Should this situation change a full set of match rules will be made available by the acting Match Secretary.

CONSTITUTION AND FULL RULES OF THE SOCIETY
A Full copy of the constitution and all rules pertaining to Sutton Coldfield Angling Society can be obtained on request from the Membership Secretary.