Ok – so the AGM was the place to be if you wanted to have a say in the changes. In a nutshell the AGM was carnage – there was disagreements, arguments, calls for the resignation of members of the committee, arguments amongst the committee, a member of the club were told to fuck off by an office bearer (not sure if that one was a joke) and everyone now has an idea that there are deep divisions between the old and young members of the committee (as in age).

In a nutshell the changes are:

• The permit will be raised to £20 for wage earners and stay the same for youngsters and the unemployed.
• 5 members of the club will be put through the bailiff course – the names are already decided – looking at two of the guys you do not want to mess with them.
• Douglas Brown is no longer secretary; instead Paul (a reader of my blog) asked too many questions and was promptly nominated and seconded for the post. He then spent the remainder of the evening with his head in his hands.
• The treasurer retired – at the moment no one has come forward to take up that post.
• I am now back on the committee and contrary to what was said at the AGM urbanflyfisher.com and theriverkelvin.co.uk are still my personal sites – I will be making announcements on behalf of the club however this has still to be discussed. This decision was made as the sites are hubs for anyone looking for info on the club – I have done the job informally for years so I may as well do it formally.

The rise in permit prices will help to fund:

• Putting the bailiffs through the course and paying for expenses.
• A study of insect life and water quality (possibly the Wild Trout Trust however do not quote me)
• Putting up signs along the river.
• Possible future implementation of tags for salmon (may be a hint of limits)
• The repair of Gavins Mill fish pass

There were major arguments about all these points – the chair wanted the permit price put up to £25 to fund all the proposals however members were only willing to pay £20 – still the cheapest river in the West of Scotland. Even though the river is the one of the best rivers out of the Clyde catchment it is also one of the most abused. Appalling stories of anglers killing large amounts of Salmon on Sundays was discussed – fingers were pointed at anglers who fish the sea pool – many of these anglers were killing Salmon on Sundays. The issue of people using hand lines and badminton court nets to catch salmon was discussed, the issue of major pollution incidents – all of us have witnessed sewage in the river – the infamous “sanitary towel” pool is stuffed with trout – pity they all have breasts. Also how to educate anglers was discussed – people killing black fish is a problem – the permits may be changed in future to show anglers examples of fish that are not cocks and hens and what ones cannot be killed.

Written this very hurriedly for those that could not attend!