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2024 Club Rules

Due to the ever increasing number of club rules, many of which relating to the running of the club, we have split them into Organisational Rules, Fishing Rules and AGM Standing Orders to make them easier to understand. The fishing rules can be found below.

Fishing Rules

25. (a) The Entrance Fee shall be £20.00 and shall be payable by Seniors, Ladies, O.A.P. & Intermediate Members.
      (b) The Annual Subscription shall be as follows: Senior Members (20 years and over) £60.00, Ladies and Senior Citizens (65 years and over) £35.00, Intermediate Members (17-19 years) £35.00. Juniors £5.00. Any new Senior Member joining between 1st October and 31st December will pay 50% of the current Senior subscription and the full entrance fee stated in Rule 25a.
     No Member shall be entitled to fish the Association’s waters unless he/she has obtained an ‘official receipt’ for his/her subscription for the current year and must be placed in the space provided in their ‘card of membership’ and which must be shown to any bailiff, watcher, official or member of the Association on demand. The ‘card of membership’ shall take the form of a ‘year book’ which shall contain a copy of these rules and a copy thereof shall be handed to every member on payment of his/her annual subscription.

29. Membership of the Association shall extend from 1st January to 31st December in each year.

30. Any member wishing to renew their membership must do so within that current year (i.e. no later than 31st December). Any member not renewing their membership by this date each year shall be deemed to have let their membership lapse and must re-apply for membership in the normal way.

31. Admission to membership shall be at the discretion of the Committee.

32. The Committee shall have power not to renew the membership of any member of the Association.

33. If the conduct of any member shall, in the opinion of the Committee, be injurious to the interest and character of the Association, the Committee after a fair hearing shall be empowered to expel him/her from the Association, but only on the vote of at least three-fourths of the members of the Committee present and voting at the meeting at which such hearing shall take place or any adjournment thereof. The voting shall be by ballot.

34. Any member having cause for complaint shall state the same in writing to the General Secretary, who shall bring it before the Committee at their next meeting and the Committee shall deal with such complaint in such manner as they think fit.

35. Any member who shall cease to be a member of the Association from whatever cause shall have no claim upon the property of the Association nor have any part of his/her subscription returned.

43. All fish shall be returned to the water except pike, trout and grayling. These to stay at limits now in operation for rivers and canals. Size limits for pike (under 5lbs), trout (12”) and grayling (12”). When fishing for pike the Environment Agency Rules shall apply regarding live and pike baits.

44. Two fish only may be taken in one day’s fishing (see Rule 43).

45. All members fishing for pike must use a minimum of 15lbs reel line when using bottom baits or lures and a minimum of 10lbs reel line for surface fishing.
All pike of 5lbs or more must be returned alive and not taken from the water of capture.
Any member fishing for pike will require a 42” size landing net. 


46. A member shall be allowed to fish with only one rod and line on Association waters. Permits may be purchased, allowing exceptions to this rule and are as follows:-
(a) A second rod permit is available to members who wish to fish with 2 rods. The permit and its use shall be subject to the following conditions:
Annual cost to be determined and set by the associations committee.
One permit only per member
Both rods to be within reach
No encroachment on other anglers’ swims.
All baited rods and lines must be removed from the water if the member leaves the swim.
(b) A third rod permit is available for the Knotford Lagoon and Kirklees Lagoon fisheries, allowing members to fish with 3 rods all year, as long as they have the correct Environment Agency licence.
(c) Any member purchasing a 2nd/3rd rod permit will be allowed to take a ‘junior non-member’ fishing as a guest, using their 2nd permit for the junior.
(d) There is available a single night permit. This night permit allows a member to fish Knotford Lagoon and Kirklees Lagoon fisheries. The number of permits issued is controlled by the committee, who also determine the cost and stay of a single night visit/session.

47. Rules specific to specimen carp angling are as follows:-
(a) Specimen Carp Angling rules listed in the yearbook must be followed.
(b) All carp over 5lbs must not be retained in keepnets or retaining slings and must be returned to the water as soon as possible after capture, unless caught in a fishing match, when they may be retained in a keepnet but must be returned to the water immediately after weighing.
(c) All members fishing for leather/common/mirror carp must use a minimum of 15lbs reel line when using bottom baits and a minimum of 10lbs reel line for surface/floater fishing.
(d) Any member fishing for carp will require a 42” size landing net.

48. The annual closed season for freshwater fish on rivers shall be the period from 15th March until 15th June and any closure of waters shall be at the discretion of the Committee.

49. The period between 25th March and 16th June the following baits only shall be allowed on rivers: Fly, Minnow, Worm and Artificial Lure. All other baits are barred.

50. On all waters where for safety or other reasons the Association rule that, ‘Juniors must be accompanied by an adult’, the number of Juniors shall be limited to two per adult and must fish in the immediate vicinity of that adult.

51. The use of remote controlled boats are prohibited in any Association waters.

52. No fishing between 1 hour after sunset til 1 hour before sunrise (except Maunby Top Length & night fishing permit holders). For night venue access, none night ticket holders must not enter before 6am and must have left the venue by 9pm from 1st April to the 30th September. Outside these dates the times will revert to 1 hour before sunrise to 1 hour after sunset, where none night ticket holders must leave the venue. This only applies to venues with night permits. 

No dogs allowed. No poaching. No camping. No litter. No fires. No gates left open. No Firearms. No wandering into fields from water’s edge. No radios. No trout to be kept in keepnets (except matches where specified). No bait tins allowed. No more than 2 fish to be taken (see Rule 44).

53. Any member or guest-angler fishing the Associations waters must remove from their peg all litter and wasted line. This shall include any litter found in the peg on arrival.

54. For night permit venues there are specific rules as follows:
(a) There is a single night permit available. See rule 46d for details.
(b) Members may fish with 3 rods all year. See rule 46b for details.
(c) All nets, mats and slings used at these fisheries must be immersed in the dipping bin, following the given instructions at the fishery, prior to use.

55. All existing night permit holders have first refusal until the 1st February to renew their night permit before they are released on general sale to the membership.

57. That extended fishing hours be made available to members on the: River Swale; Thornton Bridge, Asenby, Gatenby, Maunby, River Calder; Gravel Pits, Bream Fields, Cooper Bridge and Cowthorpe (Cowthorpe Summer Period Only) by way of an extended hours permit. The extended hours will be limited to 11:30pm (BST) during the summer months (June 16th to October 31st) and 10:00pm during the Winter Months (1st November to March 14th) where the farmer/riparian land owner allows it and it has no detrimental effect to the local populous and does not hinder animals whether they be farmed or wild and does not infringe on any S.S.I’s or S.S.S.I’s. The extended hours permit will be unlimited in terms of numbers that can apply and the permit will cost £20.00 each and cover the above mentioned venues. All permit holders will be expected to bailiff/check permits any water they are fishing to ensure that any poaching does not take place. Any monies raised by the sale of these permits will be specifically assigned to the clubs river venues to aid improving stocks of coarse fish, improving access and forming specific areas with easy access for disabled/less mobile anglers.

 

58. All illegal substances and their use are prohibited on ANY of the associations venues. Anyone found breaking this rule will immediately lose their ticket and appear in front of the committee. 

Specimen Carp Angling Rules

1. Carp mats – Sided mats only allowed with a minimum of 90cm with a padded base and sides of non-solid construction. The use of cradles or any mat raised from the floor is prohibited.

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2. Carp care – Anglers should have everything prepared before removing the fish from the water. Carp can only be removed from the water once and to be on the bank for a maximum of 5 minutes. When returning fish use an open retention sling and allow the fish to recover. Do not just tip back.

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3. Carp care – All anglers must carry a carp care kit and use it to treat hook holds or any wounds, etc.

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4. Carp care – It is mandatory that all anglers carry a water bucket, to keep mats wet at all times and to keep fish wet whilst out of the water.

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5. Carp care – No standing for photographs of a fish. Fish must not be lifted above the knee height.

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6. Rigs & Safety – Bradford No1 AA appointed bailiffs can and will carry out rig and terminal tackle safety checks.

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7. Feed – Boilie and pellet are the only feed that can be introduced whilst fishing for specimen carp on any association waters. Surface anglers can only use floating pellet. The use of correctly prepared nuts and particles is allowed as a hook bait only.

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8. Distance – Anglers will be allowed to be away from their own swim for assisting a fellow angler with landing or photographing a fish and this must be limited to a maximum of 1 peg and this must not be round corners on to other banks and must comply with current EA rules.

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9. Fishery management – Anglers must submit all catch reports of specimen carp using the form on the Contact page of our website, which will include: weight, date of capture and a photograph of both sides of the fish. These must be submitted within 21 days of capture. (Data to be used to track growth rates, health, etc. and the association reserve the right to use an occasional picture when advertising the association.)

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10. The use of braid as a mainline is not allowed for specimen carp fishing on all association waters.

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