BAC Committee Meeting Minutes 2020

Update December 2020
Beauly Angling Club

Chair : Wendy Harpe 18 Croyard Drive, Beauly IV4 7EE
E-mail: harpewendy@gmail.com
It has not been the best of years. The Clubs fishings on the Beauly start at Lovat Bridge down to the Firth. Beats 1, 2, 3, ( our most prolific Beats) run alongside the Caravan Park. After Lockdown we no longer had access to these beats. Although restrictions on fishing were raised on 29th May the Caravan park remained in Lockdown until July 6th. This meant that from March 20th until July 5th we had no access to Beats 1, 2, 3. It also meant that we lost the chance of a spring fish and the start of the Grilse run. We have over the last few years rented fishing on the Downie Beat from 11th February to the end of March. This year the River was closed following Lock Down which meant that we lost most of the last week of this rental. We will be renting the Downie Beat next Season. The rent has been slightly increased. So those of you who fish the Downie should get in touch with Dave. However places can only be reserved once people have joined the Club. We already have the laminated part of the Permit but do not expect to have the Booklet before Christmas. So anyone who is desperate to reserve their place on the Downie can join the Club and get their Plastic ID.

Our Returns were dismal with 2 Salmon and 3 Grilse. People did better on Sea Trout and Finnock with 191 in total. Next year we are going to try to have a form which separates Sea Trout and Finnock. Despite it being a legal requirement that people send in their returns we had 7 members (9%) who did not. In future anyone not submitting a return will need to rejoin the Club in the following year and pay a rejoining fee.
Lee Martin had the biggest Fish at 11lb 8oz.
Jim Braithwaite had the largest Sea Trout at 2lb 10oz.
Because of the Lockdown and the added travel restrictions the Club decided that we would not this year sell Day Tickets. This is a financial lost of at least £200. Equally we would not make use of the Exchange Tickets we have with other Clubs. Again a loss of facilities to our Club Members. Despite all of this we do not seem, to date, to have suffered a substantial loss in membership, but if Covid19 restrictions continue, or even increase, then I think this will impact on membership and hence on our basic income.
We have over the last two years run Junior Fishing Days. This has proved highly successful and our Junior (under 16s) Membership now stands at 30 plus individuals. Because of Covid19 we decided we would not run such events until the schools opened. After a long discussion with Angling Scotland we ran our first (and what seems to be our last) Junior Event for 11 youngsters in 2020. We are particularly upset by this because, as people will know, getting young people involved in fishing is very difficult at the best of times. The restrictions around Covid19, and the fact that these seem to be ever changeable, has simply made it much more difficult.
The Committee. Current membership is John Brocklehurst (Treasurer), Dave Sellers (Secretary), Neil Mackenzie (competitions), Paul Summerlin (website) and myself as Chair. Without an AGM we were not in position to have elections for the Committee, however there have been some changes. Paul Pacey has stood down for health reasons. Paul was both Vice-Chair and represented the Club on the Fishery Board, doing an excellent job. Neil Mackenzie will be the interim Vice-Chair. The role on the Board will be taken on by Jim Braithwaite. Hamish Young has stood down, Hamish represented the Club on the NBFT. However since the Trust is in abeyance it is not at this time necessary to have a BAC representative, though I have told them that if anything changes, and a representative is needed, I will step in. To cover these changes we have invited Iain Morrison and Charlie Simpson to join the Committee and they have done so. We are looking for further members so if any one fancies it please get in touch. I myself will be standing down as Chair once we find someone else to do it. This has nothing to do with the BAC but is a result of personal commitments in Liverpool and less than perfect health. I will however remain on the Committee and do the membership for 2021.
Wendy Harpe. Chair.
December 2020

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Minutes of BAC Committee Meeting Wednesday 9th SEPT 2020. Apologies: None.
Present: Wendy Harpe, Dave Sellers, Paul Summerlin, Neil Mackenzie, John Brocklehurst, Jim Braithwaite, Paul Pacey; Hamish Young.
Approval of Minutes; Prop: Hamish Young Sec: Jim Braithwaite.
Matters Arising not on the Agenda. Ness and Beauly Fisheries Trust AGM 23rd September Hamish to attend as our representative.
A member from Skye, Patrick Parker has donated some angling gear (reel with two spare spools and a bag) which we can sell and the monies would be going to the club.
Fishery Board &SSE: Wendy passed around a letter she had sent to Jock Miller chair of the Board, about the problems of the counter at Aigas dam and the Fish that were trapped below Kilmorack Dam. Hamish said that he had heard that the counter at Aigas was not working properly so they cannot get a correct number of the fish going through the Dam. Yorky said he was speaking to a chap at Aigas who apparently checks the dams each day. We don’t know this man’s name or his position as he says it is easy to spot if things are not working since a red light appears if there is a problem. Paul Pacey to find out who this chap is and what is his job that’s if the Board knows who it is? The many problems with the dams stem from when the control of the dams was moved to Perth. So, having someone capable and qualified checking the dams daily would be a good thing. The number of lifts per day is currently 2. Nobody thought this was sufficient. SSE shut the Lifts Between 30th November and 1st of April but how do the Kelts get downstream? Who is checking the progress of smolts through the turbines? The Committee thought, given the huge changes in the times when the fish run, that they should operating throughout the year.
Newsletter: Wendy wanted the Maps of the Beauly river that the club has for sale mentioning. Basically the Club have bought 8 of Nigel Houldsworth Maps of the Beauly. We will be selling them at £20 each as against their regular cost of £26.00 each. People can find further info on the maps by checking Nigel Houldsworth site. We have already sold 4 – first come first served.
Junior Fishing days: Yorky to check with parents to see what they think about their kids fishing at Tarvie fishery. Karl must do a thorough risk assessment and the Committee would like to see it once complete.
AGM: Wendy will not be standing again for the position of the Chair but said that she would look after the Membership/permits etc. for 2021. We would like nominations for the position of Chair before the AGM. Date and location of the AGM is provisional. 27th November at The Lovat Arms Hotel. We will need to ensure that we can practice social distancing so the committee will not confirm this date yet but will accept proposals from the members that they wish to be discussed at the AGM.
BHP Estate. Wendy has heard from Alan Hogan, he complained about damage to the footpath and the bank between beats 1 and 2. John Szarkiewicz went to look at this and found Lee Martin working on re-instating the old path. There seemed no way of knowing who had created the problems, but not necessarily just the fishers. Dave to speak to Lee about the work he has done. There no longer any facility for Club members to park in the Caravan Park unless they have a blue badge.
Ferry beat. Wendy is going to check with the estate if they have got round to deciding what they might be thinking about doing to repair the damage to the entry point of the beat they have had plenty of time to look at this and we told them that the club would have members happy to assist with the labour if asked.
AOB: Hamish and Wendy reported to the meeting that they were both receiving names of people interesting in becoming members of the Club in 2021.
Meeting Closed
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Minutes of BAC Committee Meeting Wednesday 12th August 2020. Apologies: Jim Braithwaite,Paul Summerlin.
Present: Wendy Harpe, Dave Sellers, Neil Mackenzie, John Brocklehurst, Paul Pacey, Hamish Young.
Approval of Minutes; Prop: Paul Pacey. Sec: Hamish Young.
Matters Arising not on the Agenda. Wendy showed the committee the Map for the River Beauly that the club could buy at approximately half price ie 8 for £100 .They normally sell at about £26 from Nigel Houldsworth own site.
SSE dam/fish lift issues- CAR Licence Details? Paul Pacey said that that he has been told that the lift has been fixed at Kilmorack but the counter at Aigas is not working and that there are fish stopped before both dams. It was decided that Wendy should write to the Board and ask Jock what can be done given SSE’s failure to ensure free run for fish both up and down the river. Also why they failed to maintain the counter.
BAC rules or recommendations. it’s one or the other not both. Dead Fish (Salmon) photos, C&R best practice. If we want to change the Club rules so that they are rules and not simply recommendations then this needs to be put to the AGM. We should also discuss catching fish and photographing these fish out of the water. Particularly true for large fish. It is difficult to decide which is a cock fish and which is a hen fish. Even very experienced fishers can get this wrong so we need a strategy to deal with this problem. Parking Estate. Letter from Alan Hogan. Dave sent out a copy to the members re. the No parking in BHP due to the extra people using his parking area at the Bar etc. Wendy and other anglers cannot fish the river at beats 1, 2 and 3 because they are not fit enough to walk from the car park to the river in full gear. Wendy said that she is going to write to the Lovat Estate to tell them that the club is not really getting the fishing that it is paying for!!
Future of NBFT. Hamish is going to put it to the Trust that it should be wound up at their AGM. The Pickup. Hamish will be suggesting to the Board that the Pickup should be sold.
Junior Fishings. Yorky said that he and Karl will be having a chat about Orrin and Tarvie fisheries and put in place a risk assessment and then let the committee know when it is ready.
Resignation. Wendy will be standing down as Chair at the AGM.
Meeting Closed

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Minutes of BAC Committee Meeting Friday 3rd July 2020

Present : Paul Pacey, Dave Sellers, Jim Braithwaite, Hamish Young. Apologies: Wendy Harpe, Yorky Brocklehurst, Paul Summerlin. Approval of Minutes;Prop. Jim Braithwaite, Sec. Paul Pacey.
Holiday Park Access: Paul has spoken to Wendy to ask if Yorky Brocklehurst has been in touch with Alan Hogan at BHP, she said that Yorky could not get through to Alan via phone and Yorky has no computer to access the web. It was decided that Hamish will get in touch with Alan Hogan to find out when he is going to be opening up the BHP. It says on his web site that it will be on the 15th July but we need to know exactly when it will be so that we can notify the Beauly A.C. Members can start to fish the Beats 1,2and 3 from the holiday Park side of the river.
Ferry Beat Repairs: Jim Braithwaite has looked at the damage at the entry point of the Ferry Beat, he thinks that a temporary fix would need about 6 fence posts and a length of rope. Paul Pacey said that the Estate is responsible for the river but the Club members would assist if the estate were willing to pay for the materials . The Club will get in touch with the Estate and hope that they get back to us as soon as possible so it can be fixed as it is likely to get worse the longer it is left and will be a danger to any anglers going into fish the beat.
Juniors: We hope that the schools open soon but we will not start taking the Juniors fishing to Orrin or Tarvie until school has started and there will have to be only a few at a time going to these events with their parents present. E Banking: Hamish is very much in favour of this but agreed that it would be better discussed in depth at the Autumn Committee meeting before the AGM in November.
Day tickets : It was decided that the club will NOT sell any Day tickets to visitors for the River, but we will allow non members who are staying on the BHP to buy a day ticket for the river. The Firth tickets can be bought as normal! Competitions: Hopefully we could have a Trout Competition at Achagour say in late August/early Sept. .
DFB Report: SSE are putting a little money into the board and also the Biologist position has someone ready to take the position. The Bailiff position is that they have someone in mind but they are in the process of selling their house and moving up to the Highlands. Our levy to the board will increase in about 6 months Of the fish that were Tagged in the Moray Firth approx 50% came back which asks the question “where did the other 50% go”!! The Pick-up that the Board owns is still parked up at one of the committee’s driveway and he would like to know when is it getting moved, he thinks it may be getting sold soon !!
Meeting Closed.
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Minutes of BAC Committee Meeting Wednesday 4th March 2020.
Apologies: Hamish Young.
Present: Wendy Harpe, Dave Sellers, Paul Summerlin, Neil Mackenzie, John Brocklehurst, Jim Braithwaite, Paul Pacey.
Approval of Minutes; Prop: Paul Pacey. Sec: Jim Braithwaite.
Matters Arising not on the Agenda. Paul Pacey has spoken with Jock the chairman of the River Board about the Trust. He said that matters will stay the same until the Trust can be sorted out.
The Opening celebration was a success even though the Press and Journal didn’t send us a photographer this year, but we had some good photo’s taken by John Szarkiewicz which were sent to the Highland News and the North Star and both papers had a very good one of Wendy Harpe and Niall Bolger, our young Piper at the riverside after she had poured the Singleton of Ord Malt onto the water to bless the river for the 2020 season. There was a report in the Press and Journal saying that the celebration went ahead even with the poor weather not spoiling the occasion.
State of River and action needed: Wendy had sent the committee photos of the eroded bank at the Ferry Beat for us to discuss, and Bales that were blocking the road to this beat. This large hole will need filling in so Wendy will speak to the Lovat estate about this, and we will try to find out how much it will cost for gabion baskets stones etc. and we will then have to get a team of members to fill this in. Jim Braithwaite said he thinks he could find about 10 tons of rubble from his work. It was agreed that Paul Pacey & John Szarkiewicz would look at the Ferry and the Mealloch and come back with proposals on the way forward Yorky said that there is a lot of bank that’s overgrown and also around the area of the gate to the Mealloch beat near the Iron Railway bridge, we need to get a team in early April. Wendy told Yorky that he does enough work with the Junior Members without doing bank work etc. Let us get other members to do some of the work.
Seals in the river at the Downie beats. Paul Pacey said that he will get in touch with Jock at the River Board to ask about getting someone who has a licence to shoot the seals in this part of the river. Paul Pacey rightly mentioned that it is a bit dangerous and awkward with walkers etc. going past the beats if there is someone trying to shoot a seal. He suggested that the Anglers would have to stop walkers for say half an hour while the shooting was in progress.
Report on Membership:- Wendy reported the number of members to have joined are as followed, To date 62 members have joined and 17 Juniors. These figures include 4 New Senior Members and 3 new Junior Members. Wendy told the committee that one of the members, Donald Campbell, who is a carer for his wife had wanted to take a place on the Downie but was unable to do so as he could not predict how his wife would be on any given day. Wendy suggested that we should offer him the odd day and asked Dave Sellers if he would ring him up and speak to him about how he can have a day when he has time from looking after his wife.
AOB: The Insurance is up for renewal in April and has only gone up by £5 this year so Yorky will be renewing it with the same company again.
Member Ewen Robertson gave the committee a bottle of Malt at the Open Day – it was decided that this would be used as a prize for the Club’s Trout Competition. It was passed on to Neil Mackenzie, our Competition arranger.
Meeting closed Next Meeting Wed 1st April 2020.

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Committee Meeting Wednesday 5th February 2020
Present: Paul Summerlin, Wendy Harpe, Jim Braithwaite, Hamish Young, Neil Mackenzie, Yorky Brocklehurst. Paul Pacey. Dave Sellers.
Apologies :  none Approval of Minutes: Prop Jim Braithwaite Sec Hamish Young.
Matters arising not on Agenda None.
Open Day: – The food and Drink has been arranged by Yorky, Paul Summerlin and Jim Braithwaite. Dave Sellers has picked up the Free Bottle of Malt from the Ord Distillery and their Banner and passed it on to Paul Summerlin ready for him to take to the Downie Fishing Hut on the Saturday of the Opening Celebration. Also, Dave has spoken to the P and J and hopes that they send a Photographer and The Highland News asked Dave to send them some photos as last year. Yorky is organising the Piper. It was hoped that there was not going to be a “Flood” of water on the Open Day but if there is, we will hold the Open Day next to the Priest Pool.
Downie Fishings: – David Sellers reported that he had just about filled the slots for the Fishings and that there will always be the 5th rods that are there for “Late Comers”. David told the meeting that there were 2 sheets of “Rules” that he passed around to the committee to look at, 1 from Bidwells and the other was the Beauly Angling Club Downie Fishing’s Rules for 2020. It was decided that David would send out to the Downie Fishers the BAC edition before the start of the season and we would also put a Laminated edition of the BAC edition AND a Laminated Edition of the Bidwells “Code of conduct and rules “ in the Downie Fishing hut before the start of the season. Jim Braithwaite will laminate both sets of rules. Yorky will also put the Catch returns Sheet for the Fishing in the Hut and the Arch.
Young People Fish Days: – We already have 15 members. Yorky says he knows that several more youngsters will be joining.
Facebook: – Hamish said that since the last meeting he has had 9000 “hits” on Facebook. He has had other Clubs pleased that BAC has joined social media. Wendy reported that Paul Pacey had spoken to Fishpal and they had agreed to simply take 10% on the tickets. This would of course lower the pressure on the Club to find alternative ways of selling day tickets. Paul said that he gathered that we weren’t the only club to approach Fishpal. We then discussed the idea of using the page to market Club memorabilia such as badges, tea shirts or pullovers with a BAC badge printed or embroidered on them. There are plenty of places who do this, and surprisingly there are quite a few who are local. The club will also speak to TECLAN who is our web site “Managers” to look at ways of managing sales. Flyers: – The first set have been distributed. Hamish is printing off some for Wendy and will drop them off on Friday at Dave’s and he will then pass them to Wendy on Saturday. He will also produce some with different colours as many places remove fliers after a month
AOB: Paul Summerlin has printed the Day Tickets for the River and The Firth Tickets Week & Season. John Szarkiewicz will staple them Jim Braithwaite presented 2 copies of the Ness and Beauly Fisheries Trust “Trout as Predators of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon “. He will print off some more for the Next meeting.
Meeting closed Next Meeting 4th March 2020
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Minutes of BAC Committee Meeting Wednesday 8th January 2020.

Apologies: Paul Pacey. Present: Wendy Harpe, Dave Sellers, Paul Summerlin, Neil Mackenzie, John Brocklehurst, Hamish Young, Jim Braithwaite.
Approval of Minutes; Prop: Paul Summerlin Sec: Jim Braithwaite.
Matters Arising not on the Agenda. Karl Brocklehurst has received notification that he is now qualified at Coaching Level for Casting and looking after young members at fishing venues etc.
It was decided at the recent AGM that the club would be getting a Shield for the winner of the Clubs Trout competition. John Szarkiewicz has told Wendy that he will buy the shield for the club.
Downie Fishings: Dave Sellers is going to print out copies the rules for the Downie Beats that Bidwells sent the Club before the opening day of the season. Dave told the committee that he was getting a lot of names already and it seems to be getting filled by the starting day.
Open Day: Yorky to arrange with a Piper for Saturday 15th February and it was agreed that, if possible for Yorky to get the young lad that we had last year. The food, hot drinks etc. is sorted. Still to be sorted the Photographer from the P &J; plus getting in touch with the Ord Distillery for a bottle of Malt and their Banner for the Opening Day. Both to be done by Dave Junior Fishers: Yorky Brocklehurst and Wendy sent out the Xmas Cards for the Juniors with renewal forms. We have already several filled in forms returned. Julia Leslie is now joining as an Intermediate so possibly our first Junior graduate. It was suggested that Dave should mention this in the next Newsletter. Karl has suggested that he leads a session on Saturdays specifically for our fly fishers. Yorkie has been speaking to some of the older youngster’s parents about the need for them to move on from bait fishing.
AOB: Day Tickets. Paul Summerlin is going to print both the day and Firth Tickets once he has agreed the text with John Szarkiewicz. They will then be put into books.
       Flyers: Hamish looking to print out some like the one he produced a couple of years ago to be put up around the village, etc. River Spey Fly Tying Event. Wendy told the committee about the River Spey Fly tying on the 18th of this Month at Inchberry. Hamish will email Dave with the app for Dave to send out via emails to the club members.
     Scales. Although people are still be asked to collect scales, we now have nowhere to send them due to having no Trust Biologists. Possibly people should only be encouraged to collect scales if they caught a really large fish. This would then possibly be given to someone at the River Board. This to be checked with Paul Pacey.
     Digital Banking. This follows from the discussion at the AGM re using Facebook, or our own website to get people to pay for Day Tickets. This would if it worked deal with the fact that Fishpal will be charging £100 to sell Tickets Day – last year this would have meant that we made a mere £20.00 for the year. We should still have a presence because Fishpal will most likely keep the page up even if we are not using them to sell tickets. We will not be using digital banking for membership fees.
Meeting closed Next Meeting Wed 5th February 2020.

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Committee Meeting Wednesday 11th December 2019
Present: Paul Summerlin, Wendy Harpe, Jim Braithwaite, Hamish Young, Neil Mackenzie, Yorky Brocklehurst. Paul Pacey. Dave Sellers.
Apologies : none

Approval of Minutes: Prop Jim Braithwaite
Sec Paul Summerlin.
Matters arising not on Agenda None.
Competitions: Neil has booked Loch Watten for the Inter Club Comp on Saturday 23rd May.
The Downie Fishings: Wendy has been in contact with Bidwells and they have confirmed that we have got the Downie for the weeks commencing the 2nd week in Feb, the Season opens on the Tuesday 11th and we have the Fishings until Saturday the 28th March. She gave Dave a copy of the letter and also a copy of the Letting Conditions. Dave will put notification of the fishings on the latest newsletter along with an attachment for the 2020 Permit renewal form as fishers on the Downie must be paid up members of the club. Junior Fishings: Karl Brocklehurst has not yet received his “Passed certificate”, they are known to be slow at sending the paper work back!

The Junior Fishing Days are going well and we have several who have started fishing with a Fly rod and line with a fly instead of a piece of sweet corn on the hook, these may need a bit more coaching. Dave will put an attachment of the Beauly Angling Club Report on Junior Fishings 2019 we think the members will find it very interesting. Wendy and Yorky will be getting together and sending Xmas cards and permit renewal forms to all the juniors that were with us in 2019.
Open day: Although the Downie Beat fishings start on the 11th Feb, the club will have its “Open Day” on Saturday 15th February at the usual Downie Beats Fishing Hut with hot sausage rolls, hot and cold drinks, and Janet’s Clootie cake. Yorkie to arrange the Piper and Dave Sellers to get a bottle of The Ord Distillery Malt and the Banner for advertising “The Glen Ord Distillery “.
Fishery Board Paul Pacey had been to the latest River Board meeting and reported to us at the committees follows:- Catches and Dam counts……786 Salmon caught for season and 1100 sea trout approx (to include finnock). No up to date dam counts. SSE has problems with new counters and software……No timeline for improvement. Smolts, 2 parts: a) entrapment. Less severe 2019 than previous…thought approx 1000 smolts suffered out of total of 80-90k. Condition on release very poor. Still some holes at gate slots….cannot be blocked for operational reasons. At low spring flow will always be some entrapment. SSE required to monitor and save those trapped on annual basis. b) Low spring flows. Board attempting through SEPA to get protocols in place for minimum night flows during smolt run to best allow smolt survival.
Ongoing NBFT Now in shell state and no prospect of rejuvenation New fishery management plan was to be provided by Chris Conroy….not now likely ….Board to consult with Keith Williams…former biologist. Catchment officer and biologist to be employed direct by BDFB, posts to be advertised soon. Conservation board not opposed Cat 1 proposed status but advising that all anglers encouraged to return salmon.
AOB Dave was asked that if he received an email from any of the angling clubs who we have exchange tickets with, having attachments in them of a Newsletter etc., would he please send it out to all the membership emailers. He was also asked that when we produce the first Newsletter in 2020 could we ask members if any of them would like to go on one of the casting/coaching courses, maybe a day on the Ness or one like Karl went on, there are several courses for various levels.
Yorky told the committee that he had heard that there had been a seepage of cow slurry from a farm above the Bridge end burn recently, the club will report this to SEPA just in case they have not been informed about it. Meeting closed Next meeting Wednesday 8th January 2020

BAC Committee Meeting Minutes 2020

Update December 2020 Beauly Angling Club

Update December 2020
Beauly Angling Club