Nottingham Piscatorials Open Evening a huge success

Even the threat that evening of Storm Ciaran hitting the region on Wednesday 1st November couldn’t keep Nottingham Piscatorial Society members, their guests, and local anglers away from Newark Showground on the 10th Anniversary NPS guest Speaker Evening.

The club, who are long standing Angling Trust members, run the event every year and it’s a fantastic example of how angling clubs can engage with their members and local anglers off the bank as well as on it.

This year there were two great talks by experienced anglers, an update on the Angling Trust and the current work its involved with and a great variety of stalls to stock up on virtually anything an angler needs, making this a unique evening for all those attending. On top of this the club raise funds for their Junior Section, encouraging young anglers into the sport and help maintain their interest.

By 6.15 pm the usual queue had started to form in readiness for the 6.30 opening and the 50 free goody bags from either Dynamite or Trent Baits for the first 50 through the door was soon distributed. Kicking off the evening with a talk about the exceptional season he had in 2022/23 was Julian Barnes. Julian is an angler whose dedication to our sport is second to none. An angler who will drive a 300-mile round trip on a hunch that the water conditions may be right to catch a big crucian carp. An angler (and don’t ask me how) managed to catch a 13lb barbel every month of the season. Julian’s talk was both inspirational and entertaining in equal measures. He also commented on the tremendous amount of very large crucian carp he caught in that season, so much so that most would think he is a full-time angler when the truth is he is out on the bank only a few times a month like the rest of us.

After the break Martin Salter and Jamies Cook from the Angling Trust gave an up-to-date account of the work of the Angling Trust and some of the projects they are currently involved in. From trying to get sensible discussion with the government on cormorants, to an update on the river pollution monitoring.

No stranger to some, NPS member and traveling angler Stu Walker kept us all thoroughly entertained by his Mahseer talk. Many of us will consider ourselves truly blessed with one trip to the Himalayas, when Stu has made numerous return trips, and the success speaks for itself. Stuarts talk, slides and video footage was excellent and kept us all thoroughly entertained with photos and stories of several different Mahseer species he had caught in the remote areas close to Nepal.

At the end of the night the all-important raffle draw, 10 fantastic prizes won on the evening, and in excess of £1,600 in raffle taking some of which will go towards the NPS Junior section.

Our Thanks to Kevin Stephenson, NPS Assistant Secretary for this report.