Fishery News Update

This update includes information on the new online permit system and details with regards to Emstrey and Oxon Pool Fisheries.

Online Permit System.

The new Online Season and Day Ticket System is now up and running for the Town Waters Permits. The Town Waters Permits do not include Emstrey and Oxon Pool. These two venues are to be managed as two separate entities for reasons explained below. The new online system has been brought in to bring Shrewsbury Town Fisheries to the modern days way of purchasing permits. It gives Anglers greater access to permits 24 hours per day 365 days a year. You can now pay by card and all your fees go straight into the fishery bank account. This adds security for your money, makes accounting much easier and ensures the funds are available immediately for fishery developments. The old system was labour intensive,time consuming and more expensive. We need to minimise costs to maximise more funding for the fisheries. We have also reduced the cost of the permit card itself too. The new card is now based similar to your Environment Agency card in style. It will now be mailed to you within 10 days of the month preceding the month you purchased your permit. This card is much cheaper to produce and post than the old permit book. It is also easier to carry and can fit easily into your wallet etc. The online permits for Emstrey and Oxon Pool will be added as soon as possible to complete the system. Day permits will be available on the bank at a higher cost because they are a higher cost. We need Anglers to switch to the online system from now on please. This year the bank day tickets are there to ease the transition. We have now added combination locks to replace the gate locks on the fisheries. You will receive the combination lock number when you purchase a permit online. You must keep this number totally to yourself and “not” disclosed this number to anyone. (See The New Fisheries Rules) This is another saving to the Angler as there will be no need to purchase new keys. The old locks have also been left in place, again to ease the change over. These will be removed later in the year.

Emstrey and Oxon Pool Specialist.

Since these fisheries came under the Shrewsbury Town Fisheries banner the beginning of April, a plan of works has been made as a priority to get things moving. The two Fisheries will be managed independently and command their own separate membership and fees. There are a lot of reasons for doing this.

Anglers have a choice of which permit they may want. Not everyone wants to pay for a higher priced permit to fish waters they don’t wish to fish. It is more beneficial to have separate cheaper permits to maximise Fishery membership. The more membership, the more is the return and the more we can do.These two fisheries are own by Shropshire Council and are licensed to Shrewsbury Town Council/ Shrewsbury Town Fisheries for up to four years. Should Shropshire Council want them back it would cost more funds to detach and change the permits again. Doing it this way would make the cost negligible and easy.We also need to evaluate each Authorities waters separately to hopefully enhance membership, determine progress and value for money. Oxon also has a much higher conservation restriction and thus this Fisheries in itself must have much tighter control with regards to who is on there and when they are there. There also has to be extra thought to the local residents and also the wildlife aspect of the site.

How to fish Emstrey:

Temporary paper season permits are now available at Total Angling. There are only two season permits available. Full season permit is £30 per year. Junior permit is free up to the age of 17 years of age. All permits last for 12 months from the date of purchase. A valid Environment Agency rod license is required to purchase all fisheries permits. Day permits are £7. When the online goes live the paper permits will cease. You new permit card will be mailed to you within the first 10 days of the following month of purchase. Emstrey will be open on June 16th 2019. The fishery rules currently available on the website will apply to Emstrey. You need to take time to read and understand the new Fishery Rules before you fish.

How to fish Oxon Pool Specialist:

This Fishery is to become a special place to become a member and offer a choice for the dedicated Carp Angler or Coarse Angler who wishes to practice their sport in more seclusion with much quieter surroundings. You will need to apply to fish this fishery via an application form. There will be additional “rules of conduct” for this venue that will accompany the new Shrewsbury Town Fishery rules that are available on the website. These will come with the application form and will be a condition of membership if approved. Any rule broken will forfeit your membership of this fishery for good.

There will be two types of membership. Carp Specialist and Course Specialist.

Carp Specialist membership costs £125 for 12 months. An additional £15 per day fee will apply with a maximum of 3 days in a row. Night fishing is allowed for this category and so you have a 24 hour period. You can fish a maximum of 3 days in total per month. You will have to be on the venue by 10.00am and off by 9.00am the following morning. A single days fishing will then be 23 hours.

Course Specialist membership costs £25 for 12 months. An additional £7 per day fee will apply with fishing being an hour before dawn and an hour after dusk. There is no night fishing in this category. You can fish a maximum of 4 days in total per month.

When you become a member as a Carp or Course Specialist you will then be able to log into the membership site for Oxon Pool via the website using a log in password. You may change your password if you wish.There you will see the pegs on the pool above a calendar with available dates. You then have to place you name on the appropriate date you wish to fish and pay the appropriate day fee. This will confirm your booking. You will also be able to see who else is on there too. If you are interested in becoming a member please send your name, address and contact telephone number via email to info@shrewsburytownfisheries.co.uk

When the Oxon Pool online system goes live, you will be able to apply there.

Andy Jones

Shrewsbury Town Fisheries