In 1999 I first got into match fishing and was persuaded to join a local angling club, Evesham Jubilee A.S. A club with a lot of angling history, being formed in 1897 taking its name from Queen Victoria’s golden Jubilee year.

Club fishing, a great way to learn

This club fishing was a great way for me to learn fishing tactic’s I was a relative new comer to the sport and I didn’t know much about fishing. Not like today were there is a wealth of knowledge available online. Not having a family member into fishing I could only learn the ropes of match fishing via books, magazines and by talking to and watching other anglers. Some of which have become life long friends. Evesham Jubilee provided me with the vehicle to learn all aspects of match angling and to make many new friends.

Around this time the club matches were mainly on the local Warwickshire Avon that ran through the Evesham area, from Bidford on Avon to Tewkesbury. Some canal matches mainly on the Birmingham/Staffs canal in Worcester as well as the River Severn and also small rivers like the River Arrow and some local Stillwater pools. So all methods and styles of fishing were they to be learnt.

Its wasn’t long before I began to win a few matches. Many having Cups and Trophies to be won which made me feel good, collecting them at the clubs annual presentation evenings over the next 18 years, it always felt good. I think during my time with Evesham Jubilee I won every Cup and Trophy at least once.

It wasn’t long before I joined the clubs committee and I began to get involved with the running of the club during the monthly committee meetings. Then later becoming the club secretary. This also coincided as an exciting time for the club as it had just gained the fishing rites for a fishing pool just outside Evesham. Later this would be developed into the Jubilee Fishery as it is today. The Jubilee had always been a roving club not having its own waters and this would later prove to be a new direction for the club to go.

Jubilee Fishery

Around 2003 having just become the clubs secretary I was heavily involved with the running of the Jubilee fishery. This started as one pool and then two more pools followed. Those who know me no I wouldn’t want to break a finger nail with manual work. We had plenty of members willing to help with constructing pegs and cutting down tree’s etc. But I helped source new fish for the fishery and did all the paperwork side.

The fishery proved to be very popular and generally this changed the membership. We still fished on rivers and canals but it was clear the membership was changing and wanted to fish just at the fishery. So the fishery dominated the match fixture list. The fishing was good (for a club water) and we had some great matches. Plenty of leagues and festivals where I did OK, winning a few. We had a good social side and had BBQ’s after some matches. One of these was the annual Grant Davis memorial match which I was luckily enough to win in 2010. These matches had a good attendance often 25-35 angler fishing most weeks. One of the early GDM matches had 50 plus fish and these GDM matches have raised over £15,000 for charity over the years.

Time to move on

These years from 2003 to 2017 were a great time for the club. The membership expanded to it’s highest level and I made many friends and the fishing was good. I personally still hold the venue match record with 163lb 1oz (read my blog) but by 2017 I was feeling the need to move on. The matches were all the same every week. The club matches at the fishery were the main way of financing the fishery and I missed fishing other venue’s. The fishing was becoming poor and the rot was setting in for me. So in the back end of 2017 I resigned as the club secretary and with a few close mates also in the club that were thinking the same we began to fish other venues. Preferring to fish commercial opens calling ourselves Jubilee Nomads. Evesham Jubilee give up the Jubilee Fishery in 2022 but still continues as a roving club and once they have been able to get some decent fixtures I may well re-join the club in the future.

Evesham Jubilee was very good for me. I learnt a lot about fishing, won a lot of their cups and trophies and made many good friends over my time with the club and it is still a fantastic club to be in.

Evesham Jubilee A.S Cup wins 1999-2017