July is now upon us having survived record breaking temperatures ,frost in the morning, downpours of rain and then a continued spell of dry weather. All in the month of June and it shows what hardy souls we are as we carried on fishing throughout. For those of you that survived the summer of 1976, there are no Stand-pipes in the roads yet and the Asphalt isn't melting, although sleeping at night is still proving problematic.

The lakes waterlevels are starting to suffer, although the odd showers through June did slow their demise. The Abbey level has dropped due to crop irrigation and Alresford Lake has dropped at least 10" so far.This should not affect the fish, as they have survived similar events over the past years, but care should be taken when landing fish, when the water is shallow. Do not drag fish over stoney ground to get to the net. Water oxygen levels tend to be lower this time of year, hence the ban on Pike fishing, who suffer when caught and do not survive the return to the water

Hopefully all the lakes have now finished spawning. After a faltering start, Alresford seemed to gather momentum, finishing at the end of June. Carp have a habit of spawning erratically and may still have another session in the days to come. Ducks,Geese and assorted waterfowl have nested and fledged their offspring, but be prepared for late entries. As always be aware of nesting birds.

Team AAA has fished a couple of away matches against CPS and the Police. The CPS match was fished at Buckbricks 3 on 17th May. Both parties fished teams of 4 with AAA coming out on top with a weight of 59lb 3ozs against CPS's weight of 52lb 12ozs with Jim Martin being the individual winner with 19lb 13ozs. The second match aginst the Police was fished at Great Tey and proved to be an unusual one for the 5 man teams, as the lake had a healthy population of Signal Crayfish. Once again AAA prevailed with a winning weight of 29lb 9ozs against the Police's effort of 7lb 4ozs. This is not the major defeat that it seems, Jim Martin again won the individual spot with a weight of 27lb 11ozs made up of 9 Bream, so without the Crayfish leaving Jim alone it could have been a different story.

The matches for June all went off without too many problems. The first was an OAP fished at Alresford Lake with Ged Spurgin taking the winning spot with 67lb 15ozs. The lakes Pike population showed themselves with several anglers having rigs bitten off and 2 small jacks were landed. This has never been an issue before, but could have been caused by the large numbers of fry active at that time. Westlake 2 and 3 were both fished on Worcester lake, with number 2 being won by Paul Barrell with a weight of 38lb 1oz .Small fish were hard to come by with Bream and F1's adding to the winning weights. Westlake 3 was won by Steve Baynton on a cooler day with a weight of 58lb 10ozs who went on to be the overall winner with 26 points and Nick Austin the runner-up with 19 points. There was also a Sweep-stake match fished on Bramley Lake won by Pete Beecham with a weight of 26lb 10ozs.. The matches for this coming month are :- Sweep-stake, Pairs, and Bareham plus OAP . Once again, keep an on notice boards for any changes.

We have paid over the agreed minimum annual payment to David Grinsted this month for the Orchard , bringing us closer to our final payment." Thank you" as always for your continued support as loyal members and welcome to all you new members who hopefully will continue as long term members. By this time, all members that wish to renew their membership should have done so. If you haven't , be aware that the club is taking on new members.

The owner of the lost Spod rod has been joyfully repatriated with his item of tackle. There have been items of tackle that have been inadvertently left behind, which if found, will be shown in this website. This is opposed to broken bits of kit which have been left for others to dispose of. Please take your litter home!!

June has been a good month for Tench with nice fish, and in numbers, coming from the Bramley, Abbey and Alresford lakes. Bream from Worcester and Alresford continue to be on the menu for feeder rigs and some nice Roach have shown themselves from all the lakes.

The change in the gate code went relatively seamlessly with only a small number unable to get in or out. As has been mentioned before , please keep this number to yourselves, you pay for the privilege of fishing our lakes. Do not let that opportunity be gifted to someone for free. If you are asked for proof of membership, it is nothing personal, it is just the Bailiff or Committee member doing their job. If you are asked to show the end tackle you are using or confronted about the lack of essential pieces equipment , it is for the fish's welfare and you may be told to stop fishing until you comply with the club's requirement.

July has been a busy month historically with the lunar landing in 1969 and the World Cup victory for England in 1966. Hopefully the latter will be true for 2026. It was a busy month for Henry VIII also.. In 1540 he had Thomas Cromwell beheaded and then went to marry Catherine Howard in the afternoon, but in 1545 he was reviewing his navy when the Mary Rose sank in the Solent. Hopefully you will be landing some whoppers and have plenty of personal victories and the only sinking you will see is your float racing to the depths.

As always, stay safe, look after one another and enjoy your fishing.

Tight Lines