The Committee’s Blog

The Tweed Festival held last weekend was an important milestone for one of our junior members. Ryan Brady is just sixteen and entered his first competition at the Tweed show at the weekend. There was no junior competition category this year, so Ryan had to enter the mens “Distance Spey Casting Event”

Ryan Brady casting at The Tweed Show on May 2008

The preliminaries took place in the first half of the day with only six competitors being allowed to qualify for the finals. Amazingly Ryan managed to qualify for the finals even though he was up against some of the best distance spey casters in the world.

With the finals underway later in the afternoon, Ryan Brady to the amazement of everyone took “Third Place” in the event and was mighty pleased with himself as he was not expecting to qualify for the finals let alone be placed!

Casting champions with Trout & Salmon editor and the Duke of Roxburghe.

Right to left: Andrew Flitcroft, Ryan Brady, Gordon Armstrong (current world spey casting champion) and Norwegian champion Knut Syrstad and The Duke of Roxburghe.

The week before the event Ryan was brought into the exclusive world renowned Carron team who compete throughout the world. That is quite an achievement. We spoke to Ryan and asked him for his thoughts once he got back home. This is what Ryan had to say:

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would like to thank everyone for making my trip so enjoyable. There are so many people to thank throughout the whole weekend and in the short period of weeks i have started to learn distance spey casting. i would not know where to start. Jimmy Jack of Carron for giving me a variety of lines to use. I would like to thank the “Quarry Boys” they all know who they are but every one of them have been so kind and helpful to me, so thanks guys.

I also met Ian Gordon who spent a day with me and took me round to see the ghillies on the Spey and kindly gave me tackle to practice with. The kind person who gave me an invite up to the Tay at Cargill. This allowed me to practice whilst wading AND enjoy the fishing.

One special mention must go to James Chalmers Carron’s rod and line design specialist and organizer of Carron Team. James has unselfishly showed me everything he has learned in all his years of casting and i owe him a huge big thanks!

Ryan casting on the Tay at Cargill with the ghillie at his side.

The organizer of the Tweed festival Eoin Fairgraive has asked Ryan to demonstrate at the event for next year. Eoin was commenting on Ryan at the show and reckoned he must have been born with a rod in his hand, he said said that he had been watching Ryan practice casting in the morning and was hitting the other side of the bank on the Junction Pool which is probably over sixty yards!

There are many anglers in America, Canada and other parts of the world who travel over to get expert instruction from members in the Carron Team. Getting top class instruction particularly if you are new to the sport is money well spent!

Anyone who joins The Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association as a new member from the 1 st June 2008 will be delighted to learn that Ryan (Carron Team Member) has indicated he will give new members full instructions on casting with either single or double handed rod completely free of charge provided he has the time available and the new member wants to take the offer up.

On behalf of the Committee of the LLAIA and all of our members we would like to congratulate Ryan in his achievement.

 

Well Done!

 

THE COMMITTEE LLAIA

 

 

PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS ON RIVER LEVEN CONTINUE

With the clean up a huge success the rest of our planned work program continues!

Our tireless hard working chairman (Michael Brady) and Eddie the head bailiff who has done some great work so far, has been tidying up various parts of the leven with the use of the LLAIA chainsaw.

Michael Brady doing more “un-paid work” for the association on the leven.

It gives a great deal of satisfaction when you see the improvements after some hard work, cutting and hauling wet logs out of the river as can be seen below, showing the before and after affect.

The tree lodged at the Polaroid Bridge just upstream from the bridge.

What a difference a bit of hard work and effort has made to this area: All that is left is the two boulders seen in the picture.

Other areas have also seen the attention of the big bowsaws or more recently the new chainsaw by the chairman and bailiffs. The area above the Stucky Bridge was extensively cut by the chairman several years ago using very long ladders borrowed from the voldac HQ . No fear of heights when you are twenty feet up though !

This time it was the area below the Stucky Bridge that received some much needed attention.

Below the Stucky Bridge now cleared of overhanging branches and trees.

It is a pity we did not have bailiffs four years ago that were prepared to help out with this type of work. We even tried to shame them into doing some work at the time but they were unenthusiastic to say the least!

Now we have bailiffs only too happy to do the work and see the difference it makes to the river. We hope that situation will remain for some time now and all parts of the system can eventually get the attention they all deserve.

THE COMMITTEE LLAIA

All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission.

FISHING REPORT:

James McDonald a fairly well known angler down the Renton caught an 8lb springer on Friday covered in sea lice caught at the managers.

On Saturday Gordon Pollock also caught a springer it weighed 9lbs. The gates will go down to weekend freshet on Monday as explained in last report.

On Saturday the 26th April 2008 the River Leven had its first major clean up since 1997 and 1998. Sure there had been varying small attempts by previous bailiffs to clean some parts in between these times namely the removal of supermarket trolleys. But this was a major effort by the anglers themselves.

The LLAIA had a good turn out on the day in question. Those who care about the river they fish and felt they wanted to do their bit for the system attended and worked hard for at least a good solid four hours of hard work!

Bailiffs Chris and Jason with Duncan Ferguson (committee) clearing the rubbish above Ritchie’s.

It was good to see the chairman had a sense of amusement with this photo though!

Trust our chairman to spot this little amusing piece of rubbish!

As the guys all quickly got down to work it was the River Leven that received some “Spring Cleaning” as many hands make light work. Though we think Chris the bailiff was getting somewhat carried away in this photo below.

Chris decided to get the Hoover out for this part!

We had a good turn out at Bonhill Bridge on Saturday. Members who regularly fish the loch at Balmaha came out to lend a hand as did our chairman Michael Brady and Duncan Ferguson from the committee.

Some of the Renton anglers turning out for the clean up on Saturday.

It is amazing what a relatively small number of anglers can achieve. The rubbish that has been lifted out of the river ranged from a plethora of tyres, several bikes and the usual debris.

The council arranged to pick up the rubbish we left at the towpath.

The river leven has some cracking pieces of water in these middle sections, in fact the flow over the whole course of the river is what makes the river leven such a great fly fishing river throughout almost all of it’s entire length of about six miles.

More rubbish comes out throughout the river as lads get stuck in!

As we walk along the rivers edge the extent of the work done becomes more apparent.

More rubbish removed by the anglers!

The Sandy Hole part of the river is cleaned up!

There must be a lot of kids without bikes in and around the leven!

We have to say when you take a look at the River Leven after the clean up on Saturday you cannot fail to appreciate what a transformation a simple clean up can achieve.

River Leven Summer low: The leven looking nice after the clean up.

Some parts of the river were really bad for cans and bottles and plastic cups at the Bonhill Bridge but cleared away by those anglers that turned up. Perhaps our efforts make up for others bad behavior?

A “New Look” Bonhill Bridge pool is cleared from the multitude of cups and cans.

When you look at the amount of hours some people have spent sitting beside a computer bad mouthing the LLAIA and its office bearers yet they never turned up on Saturday to do any work themselves! it does make you wonder about the type of person that behaves like this though!

The river leven looking upstream of Bonhill Bridge Saturday.

There will be a continuing work program by our bailiffs and chairman throughout next week weather and water levels permitting.

The Craft Stream: cleaner and better looking, lets hope everyone else can keep it this way.

We would like to thank the anglers who took part in the Saturday Clean up. One particular angler is going abroad to live this year and will be sadly missed. Despite this he felt he should turn up and do his last wee bit for the association. What a really thoughtful and kind member indeed. We wish him well and will ensure if he pays us a visit sometime in the future we will look after him, as he has looked after us.

It is now obvious that the debris cleared possibly amounts to no more than five tons of rubbish on the Saturday. This is a massive difference to the estimated 30 tons of rubbish cleared away from the river in 1997. Nevertheless it is a transformation and has made the river a nicer place to look at and to fish.

One thing that is noticed, is the amount of cups bottles and paper especially plastic bags removed from the river. We are confident that we can keep in check the rubbish and ensure that the river is kept relatively free of rubbish in the years to come. With more caravan parks and leisure boats on the loch the accumulated rubbish does eventually find its way down the leven.

We took a list of the names of anglers who took part. The bailiffs have discounted individuals who did not take part but were just “observing the work done”

Credit to Jack Ferguson though, he made his own effort on Friday and early on Saturday which was appreciated and noted.

Thanks to all who took part on Saturday, a job well done indeed, thank you.

SUNDAY 27TH APRIL.

The bailiffs felt that the area in need of most attention for Sunday was at Renton. For that reason those who arrived at the clean up at Bonhill Bridge were asked to help out in the Renton area as most of the cleaning up around the Bonhill area was more or less done on Saturday. There were only five anglers that had turned up at the Bonhill Bridge area and they decided to work in that area. Hopefully the huge success of Saturdays clean up had prompted them to turn up and do some good which at the end of the day is what we are all trying to achieve! We understand that they cut branches along the glebe area on the far side, which was appreciated.

The Renton area was particularly bad.
There were seven anglers attending the Renton area on Sunday with the street run the overall worst areas for general rubbish and accumulation of paper bottles and cans etc. This area was bad for builders rubbish which was most evident with the new housing being built in this area. The Polaroid Bridge downstream was and is the worst area for bikes and larger rubbish strewn around this area. A heroic effort was made by Chic McLean who attended again and Angus Souter and our chairman in attendance again too.

Chic McLean and Angus Souter (Chic on the right) a splendid effort by both.

Between them they lifted out of the river an impressive amount of items. Martin Mclimons was doing his “look out” above the bridge pointing out the items to the bailiffs and helped Chris and Jason who were assigned to the difficult task of hauling the stuff up the embankment, a tough job indeed!

Below the Polaroid bridge saw an accumulation of rubbish.

The amount of rubbish along this area was really awful. But it is amazing the amount of rubbish that a small gathering of hard working anglers can remove.

Underneath the Polaroid Bridge was always going to be full of rubbish.

Our fishery manager even put in a show and quickly got to work with one of the litter pickers removing what seemed like an endless supply of rubbish along the Renton street run.

Our thanks to the lads that worked really hard on this particular section.

The Street Run getting a much needed tidy up.

This area would need a few more days with the litter pickers so hopefully we will get Eddie who has been on holiday to arrange further efforts in this area by the bailiffs.

More rubbish from the street run at Renton.

West Dunbartonshire councils containers.
Despite the fact that the “old firm” were playing this Sunday we still had a decent turn out. We reckon another three tons of rubbish were cleared on Sunday. This has been a success but we look upon us as an on-going process from now on to ensure we keep on top of things.

Hopefully we will contact the Park Authority for assistance as soon as practical, given that a lot of the litter has came from the loch and again hopefully the council will oblige and get the car removed from the Bucks and also provide regular vehicle pick up patrols.

Our sincere thanks to West Dumbartonshire Council for all their sterling efforts to help in making the River Leven a much cleaner river to look at as well as to fish.

THE COMMITTEE LLAIA

All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission.

On reflection after recent events, this article could have been written by your committee…

You can view the article in PDF format by clicking here .

(Thank you to Trout Fisherman magazine for permission to reproduce the article).

AGM Tuesday 26^th February 2008

The Annual General Meeting was held in the Partick Burgh Halls on Tuesday 26^th February 2008.

This is a brief report on the AGM last month. We have deliberately not posted until now to allow us to meet and discuss a number of matters following the AGM.

The committee would like to thank once again those members who turned up at the meeting for their continued support. The meeting itself was not an orthodox AGM due to the underlying problems of recent takeover bids and bans on members. No elections took place as agreed at the recent EGM and unfortunately no Annual report was issued before the meeting due the extenuating circumstances present. A set of annual accounts were presented in draft form but could not be ratified until such times as they have been through the audit process. They did however show another surplus for the year of over £20,000. The formal Annual Report will be sent out to all members as soon as it is complete.

Our Chairman commented on the recent turmoil and said it was damaging our association, he hoped that the committee’s conciliatory tone would also be adopted by the alternative committee. Malcolm MacCormick who was the proposed chairman of the alternative committee was allowed to address the hall. It was decided that the subject of bans would be addressed after the formal AGM agenda items.

The hatchery report indicated that there are at present 118,000 salmon and 63,000 sea trout eggs in the hatchery. We have 10,000 salmon eggs from returning second generation Douglas salmon. It is our intention to thoroughly investigate the possibility of raising the resultant fry from these eggs to smolt stage using a commercial facility. There is a significant cost implication to this but the potential returns could move the fishery into a whole new field. There are a number of fisheries ranching salmon in this way and the normal return rates are well documented at between 2% and 10%. That means between 200 and 1000 extra salmon into the system for 10,000 smolts. The £20,000 from this years surplus will be placed in a separate account to help finance the smolt programme.

It is our intention, if it is successful to expand this programme to other areas above impassable falls. There is obviously a limit to how many smolts we can afford to ranch but one of the main reason for us becoming cash rich (along with the purchase of fishings) has been to allow us to support this programme in its early years. It will obviously need to become self financing if it proves to be successful but increasing runs will no doubt attract new members and visitors as our reputation grows.

We are not putting all of our eggs in the smolt programme basket – we will continue to look at other fishery management tools and how best they can be implemented in our system.

The AGM ended with a vote on the lifting of the bans on full members – the committee supported this decision for two reasons. There was doubt cast on the legality of the bans in relation to the wording of our constitution was one factor. The main reason and very miuch the overriding reason was that the committee were prepared to recommend the membership lifts the bans in an attempt to reconciliate and allow the Association to move on.

The vote was passed by a significant majority.

A number of points were raised from the floor but time precluded any lengthy discussion and the meeting was closed.

A copy of the final minutes for the AGM will be placed on a new members only area of this website as soon as we can make it happen.

We will be using this website over the season to keep members informed via regular bulletins, articles and tips. We will also be sending out more comprehensive information by post to cater for those members who do not have access to computers, again when time allows.

THE EGM HELD ON 23 JANUARY 2008

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS? REPEAT ELECTIONS? DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS!

Following the recent EGM there has been some suggestions that the process was flawed and that the result of the elections were in some way suspect.

There have been cries by the defeated of “foul, unfair and we didn’ae get a real chance“, with subsequent allegations and further threats made on two public web sites.

To clear up any misconceptions as to the calling and conduct of the meeting, the aggrieved should take the time to read the following, and ask if it might have been better to have read the Constitution before, rather than after, the EGM.

Following the resignation of the previous committee, it was necessary to call an EGM to quickly install a new management team to direct the LLAIA.

The constitutional requirements for calling an EGM (Article IX) were met by the receipt by the Secretary of a letter signed by Ten Ordinary members requesting this. A copy of this letter, together with the Agenda, was included in the documentation sent to members prior to the EGM. There is no item in the Agenda allowing candidates to address the hall on the night of the meeting, and this was clear to both parties. The terms of the meeting were clearly expressed in the notice calling the meeting.

The Constitution (Article IX) states that the meeting can only discuss items specifically noted in the notice, which in this instance was one point namely , “election and appointment of replacement office bearers”. The persons requesting the EGM therefore have the opportunity to set the agenda and specify the items to be discussed. This opportunity was open to both sides but was not taken by the defeated candidates.

Thereafter any members wishing to stand for election to the Committee have to be nominated , proposed and seconded in accordance with the Constitution (Article VIIc). Both sides managed this within the timescale stipulated in the Constitution (31 December preceding the AGM).

It was then down to the two parties to get their message over to the members as best they could. For the successful group this took the form of a statement of conditions and the stipulation of their intention to stand as a full committee, not as individuals. This opportunity was again available to both parties but only taken by one, and is not expressly prohibited by the Constitution. This carefully worded statement was sent to members in the notice calling the meeting prior to the EGM. All costs of this were underwritten by the candidates themselves and this can be verified by the Secretary who still holds the cheques.

The defeated candidates, “in the interests of fairness”, demanded that the Secretary provide them with stamped addressed envelopes giving all members addresses so they could forward their manifesto, thereby expecting members to underwrite their campaign. This request , together with several others for information they were not entitled to, was refused by the Secretary in writing. There are obvious legal reasons why members addresses are not given to anyone. They also availed themselves of the opportunity to use the RRB web site on a daily basis to expound their intentions when, not if, elected, to personally attack fellow LLAIA members and the opposition candidates and to generally bring scorn on the recently resigned Committee in a disgraceful way.

After the announcement of their resignations, no use what-so-ever was made of the LLAIA web site by the resigned committee. The LLAIA site was utilised by the Secretary on only two occasions to make general information statements relating directly to the EGM, and of equal benefit to both parties, .

On the night of the EGM the hall is in effect the polling booth. Members are there to cast their votes for the candidates of either party who should by that time already have carried out any electioneering and informed members of the policies on which they intend to stand. For either side to turn up and expect to be allowed to address members in the polling booth with a view to swaying the vote is optimistic to say the least, and is an admission that they failed to reach their audience during the election process.

It is actually illegal in political elections to canvas within a certain distance of the polling station. It is certainly not, for obvious reasons , allowed within.

There has been a great gnashing of teeth by the defeated on the basis that they were not allowed to present their case on the night, and this is given as the main reason for their defeat. It is worth noting that neither side addressed members on the night , but only one side is complaining. Their unruly and offensive attempts to enforce a change of EGM Chairman, to present their case for election and to override the agenda were shouted down by the body of the hall. They were also resisted successfully by the Secretary presiding as the Chairman for the EGM purely to enable the election, and again perfectly in accordance with the Constitution.

The attempt by a small number of persons to disrupt the meeting was defeated by the solidarity of the majority of members present who were determined to see fair and free elections and were not prepared to be intimidated by a noisy minority.

All attempts to disrupt the meeting having failed, voting was carried out in accordance with the agenda and in compliance with the constitution (Article XIII), and the previous committee was re-elected by a substantial majority.

Votes were counted (twice) by Bailiff, Eddie Stone, under the scrutiny of two of the defeated candidates who were then asked by the Secretary if they wished to proceed with a further vote for their candidates. This offer was declined by them to save further embarrassment. At this point it should be mentioned that the need for certain specified disciplinary measures was therefore endorsed and confirmed by the majority of the Members attending, who decided that they did not wish to be associated with the persons indicated. Therefore the agreed disciplinary measures will be implemented by the Committee at the insistence of the members, and with their approval and consent.

None of the defeated candidates objected to the results on the night and it is only in hindsight and generally by persons who were not actually there, or who are not members, that any doubt is being cast on the proceedings.

There are now threats, instigated by the same recently defeated alliance, to remove the newly elected committee. This, apparently, will be attempted at the AGM, following which any disciplinary measures will be overturned.

Anyone considering embarking on the road to a repeat of the recent EGM at the forthcoming AGM or anytime after, would be as well to consider the likely attitude of the majority of members at any attempt to overturn their legitimate election of a new Committee and the implemention of disciplinary measures against a small number of persistent agitators. Members are unlikely to look favourably on being required to repeat the procedure again so soon, and will not be easily persuaded to change a decision reached after careful consideration by an overwhelming majority.

They are more likely to decide to deal firmly with any attempt to belatedly interfere in the result, and to put in place measures to ensure that in future when they elect a Committee that it stays elected because that’s what they really meant to happen the first time.

The LLAIA Management Committee

Following the EGM at Woodside Halls Glasgow the committee would like to thank the membership for the very healthy turnout. We would also like to warmly thank all of the members who voted for us knowing that the only way forward was with the old committee running the system.

We have left this announcement for a few days to allow the dust to settle after the EGM but would now like to get back to business.

The vote to re-elect the resigned committee was carried by a substantial majority.

It was gratifying that the membership turned out in numbers to vote on the future of the Association. We take it as a vote of confidence and will now again get down to the business of running the Association.

The past few months have been a harrowing time for us all, with the EGM itself a particularly trying experience, handled in the face of attempted disruption with dignity, firmness and fairness by the Secretary.

We would now like to put this whole sorry affair behind us and get on with delivering improvements to all parts of the Loch Lomond system.

We will use this website, as originally intended as a primary means of communication with members and have some first class plans for the coming year. There are many issues to be dealt with which will directly affect our Association in the coming year.

We will announce our plans at the AGM which is to be held at the Partick Burgh Halls on Tuesday 26^th February.

Once more – Thank you all for your support.

 

The committee LLAIA

The committee of the LLAIA have resigned. The resignation letters are posted here on this Blog. Brian Smith resigned the week before which obviously had others thinking about their position. Peter Lyons who was the LLAIA Vice Chairman resigned, the reasons are stated in his resignation, others followed quickly after this including the chairman of the LLAIA.

Chairman vice chairman and all committee members were unpaid voluntary workers for the LLAIA. The majority of the committee had been active over some 12 years carrying out an incredible amount of work unselfishly over this period.

RESIGNATION LETTERS

Brian Smiths letter of resignation.

Guys,

You have probably noticed that I have not attended the last two committee meetings or this one either or participated in the e-mail chatter.

Due to a change of circumstances i offer my resignation to the committee.I have only managed to fish the system twice this past season although still managing a couple of salmon on those days.

I feel I am letting you all down at this time but have to prioritise my responsibilities with my family coming first and sports having to come a poor second, so at this time I would be grateful if you would accept this as my letter of resignation from the committee of LLAIA.

I would like to thank you all for the knowledge gained, the friends I have made and the uncountable major problems we overcame together. My ten years on the committee have seen people come and go with the “old stalwarts” remaining (I’m not sure if I had became one!) after ONLY ten years.

I enjoyed the cut and thrust of the meetings with Peter usually leading the way with the cuts and Mike with the thrusts, I’m glad to see Peter is coming back to his old self, it’s a true reflection of his determination and character and I will miss his ability to gain clarity where there is chaos. Again it has been a pleasure and a learning curve working together and you may not believe this but I will miss you all, well not at ten to midnight on a Thursday night!

So with that I wish you all the best with the latest problem and the forthcoming AGM and you “old stalwarts” will always have a friend in me.

Thanks……..

Brian.

———————————————————————-

Peter Lyons the vice chairman’s letter.

As you know I have been a member of the LLAIA for 27 years and on the committee for over the last 12 of those years. I have been vice-chairman for the last 7 years and consider that overall my time on the committee has encompassed the most successful period of the LLAIA’s history.

However the events of the last 9 months have left me totally disillusioned at the conduct of some full members and Leven ticket holders who have managed by their petty squabbles and unceasing vitriol directed at the committee and the chairman in particular, to demolish the very thing which actually secured and maintained their fishing. I am sick reading about how the Committee have done this, or not done that, and how they should really have concentrated on the other.

Over the last 2 years I have watched silently as our efforts as a Committee have been ridiculed and publicly vilified by a succession of people on the so called Discussion Forum, most of whom I have never met, and who from behind the cover of an assumed name have on numerous occasions accused this Committee of various transgressions including miss-appropriation of LLAIA funds, falsifying of expenses, Tax evasion, non declaration of legitimate committee expenses, making gifts of LLAIA equipment, incompetence in committee matters, lying in statements made in respect of VOLDAC members, lack of respect in the aftermath of the recent tragedy on the Loch, generally not being fit to warm a Committee chair, etc., etc.

At the 04 December meeting held to allow questions to be asked of the Committee with regard to the recent unrest, none of the main malcontents appeared, and only 27 other members thought it important enough to waste 2 hours of their precious time to show their support or otherwise for the present committee.

Today it continued with the long awaited VOLDAC Committee statement declaring that they totally endorse the version of events relayed to them by “Honest Stewart“, and discount the statements of the other LLAIA Committee members present at the same meeting who have collectively published a different account of events and who by inference now are not honest men.

I am not prepared to sit and debate my honesty with any member of the VOLDAC Committee under these circumstances and if, as it seems, they have already decided which view they accept, what is the point anyway?

Fortunately the evidence speaks for itself as to the actual facts of the matter, as laid out in the previous LLAIA Committee statement, unless you chose to believe that the LLAIA Committee collectively hatched an elaborate plot to discredit one poor honest man, whom most didn’t even know at the time.

However there is always room on Committees for good “honest” men. I am sure that VOLDAC will find now gainful employment for him on their own Committee.

In my view, rather than accuse the whole LLAIA Committee of lying, it would have been better if the VOLDAC to disclosed if S. Ingles was acting on his own initiative and overstepped the mark, or whether he was acting on instructions from VOLDAC Committee in which case it is them who are responsible for developments thereafter .

Anyway, I have decided that in the circumstances I am not interested in continuing and am going back to being a salmon fisherman. I am not prepared to continue be the target of the rubbish spouted by imbeciles whose ignorance is matched only by their own laziness.

There will be many members wondering how this situation has developed, and the answer is Membership Apathy.

Until the members of this Association find a way to deal with the small number of persistent moaners who for entirely personal reasons are dragging the good name of LLAIA through the mud, it is not likely that it will ever be more than a collection of selfish individuals ready to fight each other at the first opportunity and careless of the damage their actions cause. Getting a cheap ticket is all that matters to them.

I therefore resign my position as Vice chairman LLAIA with immediate effect, and will arrange later for return of whatever LLAIA equipment I may have.

I know that we usually just sell all LLAIA equipment and keep the proceeds, but somebody might be watching.

Yours, Peter A Lyons.

———————————————————————–

Dave Sunman’s Letter of resignation

 

Following the meeting of 04 December, and having taken a few days to consider, I have come to the conclusion that I have to re-assess my position as to whether I can continue as a member of the LLAIA Committee.

In particular the events of the last few months and the defamatory comments and untrue allegations made by Robbie Redball and others on the so called Discussion Forum have left me with no desire to continue my voluntary efforts for the Association.

Following various untrue statements and inferences of a personal nature made by the owner and moderator of the Discussion Forum, I find myself in the position of having to defend myself against allegations of lack of respect following the recent loch tragedy together with being falsely accused of writing the “Any-one for Chairman” article which recently appeared on the LLAIA website.

The turn out of members at the 04 December meeting was abysmal with only 27 persons feeling it important enough to attend. And although the members were supportive of the current committee the numbers were very disappointing,

I do not feel that the level of interest and support of the members deserves the level of commitment required of a committee member, and I therefore resign with immediate effect.

The way is now open for the authors of all the criticism to show the members how it should be done.

I suspect the silence will be deafening.

Yours, Davy Sunman

———————————————————————–

The fishery manager Angus MacRitchie’s letter of resignation.

Chairman and fellow committee members,

It is with some regret that I too feel the need to tender my resignation from the L.L.A.I.A. committee forthwith for the reasons covered in the Vice Chairman’s letter. I understand Peters decision and the reasons, including apathy, that have brought both him and I to this point.
If a committee of volunteers gives of their time and effort over many years to help keep the association strong and in safe hands on behalf of its membership and is supported by so few of the membership turning up at “the anglers night out” to ascertain the facts from the rumour is very disheartening.

I am not aware of any other angling association who puts up with being constantly criticised and vilified on a public website forum on every aspect of association business.

I also don’t like the association being threatened by this website web master to report the association and its committee to various authorities in an effort to try and undermine and destroy the association by unsupported allegations and hearsay.

I and other members of this committee have served this association well for many years and I fully accept that if the membership do not wish to support us that is their prerogative. As Peter says its time for all these experts to stand up and put themselves forward and seek the support of the membership.

As regards the hatchery I will of course continue to oversee the running of all hatchery aspects until the fry are finally placed in the streams or until requested to stand down by any new committee.

Angus.

—————————————————————-

Duncan Ferguson’s letter of resignation.

Michael, fellow members of LLAIA Committee, It is with great disappointment that I have read firstly Peter’s resignation, then Davy’s and Angus’. However, I fully understand their very real concerns and know that they will have thought long and hard before they arrived at their decisions. Like most of the present committee I have been in there since the beginning and can honestly say that I’m very, very proud of what we achieved in that period of time.

I agree completely that there’s a limit to what we’re expected to swallow from the keyboards of faceless, gutless, anonymous individuals. Tuesday the 4th’s Partick Burgh Hall meeting while of benefit to most of the few who turned up, really highlighted what appeared to be a serious lack of interest by our considerably large membership. For me this also put the tin hat on it!!

I fully support Peter,Angus,Davy’s decision to resign and now tender my resignation with immediate effect.

Like Davy said “Have a great Christmas and Happier New Year.”

Best wishes, Duncan.

——————————————————————————

Gary Weirs letter of resignation.

Gents,

I am dissappointed that it has come to this. I have been thinking about resigning my position on the committee for some time now, but for entirely different reasons. I see no point in holding a seat at meetings when, due to work and family committments, I cannot find the time to do anything of real benefit for the committee and wider membership of the LLAIA. For this reason only, I am resigning my position as LLAIA committee member with immediate effect.

For those that remain on the committee, I wish you all the best in your future endeavours to protect and improve the fishings for our members and associate members.

Kindest Regards,

Gary.

———————————————————————

Colin McCrory’s letter of resignation.

Following Peter’s resignation I now feel that I have no option but to follow his example and tender my resignation.

I have also been on the committee for 12 years. I have been a member for 22 years and have been immensely proud of the way that we have turned the Association round and maintained a balanced approach to management of the system. I have personally played my part acting as Secretary and Treasurer during the initial years of our tenure when I made enormous sacrifices holding down a full time job and working evenings and weekends for the Association on a voluntary basis.

The final straw for me was the apathy shown by the membership on Tuesday night (4^th December) when they had the opportunity to meet us and air their grievances or voice their support. 27 turned up which was very disappointing for me. There are some hard decisions to be made and it is now imperative that the membership play their part and don’t just leave it to the faithful few.

I do realise that many people have no interest in the politics of running the Association but am disappointed that so few came to our support when we really needed it. Those on the outside throwing stones have a lot to answer for but I am personally no longer prepared to accept their castigation.

It is with deep regret that I tender this resignation but I feel it is impossible to run the Association sensibly when there are people who are prepared publicly to vilify our every move.

I do worry about the outcome of all of this but feel I have no more to offer in the current climate.

Yours sincerely

Colin McCrory

 

———————————————————————–
Alistair Mairs letter of resignation.

I also am resigning at this time and agree with Peters reasons for resigning.

regards

Alastair Mair

————————————————————————–

Michael Brady’s letter of resignation.

 

Resignation of my position as Chairman of the LLAIA

It is with a great deal of sadness that i now tender my resignation as chairman of the LLAIA.

I first came on to the committee of the LLAIA Back in 1982. I was able to witness the shocking way in which the LLAIA was run and equally important the manner in which the whole system was being managed. I replaced their death trap facility they called “a hatchery”, which was 60 miles away. Cured the hidden massive mortalities that were experienced then and tried to point out to others in control of the bailiffing and finances that changes must be made or the association would collapse. I left once it became obvious that i was not allowed to see the finances and those dealing with our largest expenditure (the bailiffing) were neither willing nor capable of dealing with the huge wastage that was going on in that department. At that time i seriously doubt it made much difference to fish stocks though, as runs of fish were reasonably good then as marine mortality was low in comparison to the current climate. During that whole period i never once claimed any expenses and even hired vans and paid for wood to build the hatchery stands. Designed and built at a fraction of the cost a complete new hatchery system, which is still in use today. The weekly journeys to and from my home to Inversnaid during the winter months were all done free of charge.

Then in 1995 i was approached by two members of the association if i would become involved again with the LLAIA as chairman of the SIWG (Stock Improvement Working Group) and then if all went to plan move on to become chairman of the LLAIA. In short i was “asked to become chairman” and i voluntarily accepted the huge challenge that i knew lay ahead.

When faced with an association that few wanted to help and a mountain of debt most of which was hidden from members i knew it was going to be a thankless task. On top of the £16,925 deficit, we also had rents that were not paid to owners of around £9,000. Secretaries that were also a year behind in their payment dues i.e. £24,500 of costs and VAT which the then secretaries (who were chartered accountants) were claiming, but should not have been claiming, which amounted to £12,967 most of which was due prior to ourselves taking over the management. All this debt totalled £63,392.

In the short space of just “two years” most of this mountain of debt was paid back and we produced a surplus of £6,000. On the third year we paid back the £12,967 of VAT due. Ironically it was i who pointed out to the then professional secretaries that they were claiming VAT that they should not claim. I was told by the then Vice chairman of the LLAIA that i was a mechanic and leave that to the chartered accountants who know more about this than i could ever know?

One would have thought that the huge efforts by the committee and i would be admired or perhaps at the very least our efforts (bearing in mind we were all bailiffing freely with no charge to the llaia) would be appreciated by all concerned. Apparently not! The VOLDAC committee for some strange reason attempted to remove me as chairman and replace me with a man that sat on the committee that had failed and produced the huge mountain of debt!!

Members will not be surprised to learn that one of the two proposers for the removal of myself as chairman was none other than Stuart Ingles, the man chosen by the VOLDAC committee to be their representative in 2007 and who has since caused most of the problems leading to the resignations of my whole committee.

In addition to this It is deplorable that some anglers some of whom are not even members of our association but leven permit holders, can attack us and accuse the committee and i of all manner of things and somehow expect us not to feel angry and disillusioned at the lies and venom that these people have for the LLAIA and its elected committee. Their reason for such attacks particularly on me is because i don’t agree and neither does the committee with their aspirations of making deeper holding pools on the leven with Croys in order that leven anglers can catch the vast majority of fish and leave the loch man and those that fish the tributaries with very little fish to catch.

The committee have had enough and they have all resigned, naturally i have reluctantly followed suit.

One of the reasons that i initially went on to the committee of the LLAIA was because of the warmth and welcome i received ironically from the VOLDAC and its members when i first came to fish Loch Lomond. Some of these guys gave me trolling rests for free; others gave me helpful advice and generally made me feel so welcome. I had a great sense of respect and appreciation for that kindness and thought by going on to the committee of the LLAIA i could repay that friendship by helping the association survive and prosper. Sadly now it seems some of them want to attempt again to replace me as chairman. Now i find that all the sacrifices that we made will be wasted if another committee take over and from what i have heard so far, this will end in disaster for sure.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and those on the VOLDAC committee will realise that the llaia committee has acted in the best interests of the LLAIA at all times and occasionally some things don’t get done in the way they would like and if people act in a manner that puts the LLAIA in danger then they will be treated the same as any other LLAIA member whether they are also a member of VOLDAC or not.

If a solution to the problem cannot be achieved then i have absolutely no doubt it will be the end of the association and suddenly those with boats on Loch Lomond will begin to realise……. what is the point.

So i resign saddened as the LLAIA has now been brought to its knees just when it was doing so well and everything starting to come together nicely.

Yours Michael Brady

 

—————————————————————

Euan McGrandle’s letter of resignation.

Please accept this email as my letter of resignation from the LLAIA committee. I fully support the reasons for resigning.

 

Euan McGrandle

—————————————-

 

What is to happen now with the LLAIA? ……………………………..There will be a NEWSLETTER going out to members in the next few days.

One way or another if members want to see the LLAIA destroyed then they can sit at home and watch all the great work done over the last 12 years go to ruin or they can attend the next meeting and THEN decide what the future will be for their fishings and the LLAIA.

 

Secretary Michael Brady

 

 

 

As what became to be known as the chairman’s camera issue has constantly been raised as an indication of the incompetence of this committee and as the primary reason for the intervention of the VOLDAC committee in LLAIA affairs, we think it is time to put on record the facts pertinent to this issue.

There could of course be another explanation. All of the committee really could have been prepared to sanction that LLAIA equipment be gifted to an individual, and we all could have just decided to purchase the camera equipment on a whim.

Over the last ten years we have attracted over 800 new members to the LLAIA as a result mainly of efforts in Trout & Salmon Magazine, for which we have been castigated regularly by certain Leven anglers. Sadly less than 300 have stayed with us over an extended period. That means we have lost over 500 members who have gone elsewhere. Financially that is a loss to the LLAIA of around £600,000.

At the price of an annual permit ten years ago which was £120.00? multiplied by the 500 members we have lost and multiplied by the number of years they could have stayed as a member up till present time that is £120.00 x 500 members x ten years. That is a massive number of members we were powerless to prevent leaving.

AN EXIT POLL OF “NEW MEMBERS WHO HAD JOINED THE PREVIOUS YEAR” INTENDING NOT TO RENEW GLEANED THAT THE REASONS FOR LEAVING ARE NOT JUST RELATED IN THEIR MINDS TO LACK OF FISH.

When asked why they left, there were basically only two answers (90% gave either 1 or both) . They did not catch anything and they did not know where to fish (50%). They lacked the knowledge of where to fish and how to fish the various areas around the system (40%)

40% of these new members said that it was not the fact that they did not catch anything, but that they did not know where to go how to get there and how to fish the various different parts.

Of the 50% of new members that said it was because they caught nothing, a large portion of them indicated that had they known where to fish and received information as to how to get there, what to use, etc., they would have stayed for at least another few years to see how they got on.

Armed with this information the need to target that potential income came out loud and clear.

Visual marketing offers the greatest potential reward as it stands head and shoulders above all other general forms of marketing and in terms of teaching or showing people how to get to places and how to show people what to do and where to do it, it also was way ahead of all other methods.

Even if just one third of these lost members stayed we could have prevented a loss of £200,000 over the period mentioned. So this was not some ill thought out speculative venture. It was a carefully planned strategy (as usual) that offered substantial potential income boosts for the LLAIA over a considerable period of time. As a committee the hard economic reality stares us in the face every single year as we try to bring in sufficient income to do all the things we would like to do in the running of the LLAIA. Here was a strategy that could dispel the LLAIA’s financial worries for the foreseeable future.

It was becoming clear to us that apart from new members believing there was a lack of fish, the single biggest barrier to maintaining our existing membership and continuing the influx of new members was one of lack of information. We have carried out sufficient research to realise this and we had a carefully researched solution to the problem.Marketing of the system is key to its survival, unless of course the fish stocks return to the days of plenty and the weather is kind enough to provide the best conditions to catch them. Whilst we all knew how successful the Trout & Salmon Reports and newsletters have been over the years we had to acknowledge that this route was becoming exhausted and was starting to provide less income that it had previously provided. The constant negative reporting by the alternative website was also having a severe impact on our potential income.

We are still of the opinion that until we have a marketing strategy which attracts and keeps members we will always be in the position of borderline year to year survival. The proposed DVD would have addressed this, but unfortunately someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut until it was fully researched and either sanctioned or abandoned.

Maps and written guidance to stretches and written articles on local methods while better than nothing would come a long way behind visual information of how to get to and how to fish a particular pool, using a certain method with specialised local flies. The objective of producing a DVD to a standard to satisfy this need was not outwith reasonable expectation. It does not require great artistic ability to film the route to Cowdenmill, followed by a tour of the main taking spots in the pool, then suggested flies, etc. The catching of fish to order and the incorporation of this into the final product would have been problematical, but the main get there, find the pool, what fly info, how to fish it, was entirely achievable. The cost, no matter what it was of producing something which would be the LLAIA marketing strategy for the next 30 years, would be well worth it.

However, and again here is the heart of the matter. The members of this association elect intelligent people to run it and expect them to come up with ideas to do so. Having elected them they then sit back and leave them to it. If the Committee decide to carry out certain policies, especially if they have a proven successful track record, they should be allowed to carry on. If the policy or idea turn out to be wrong or fails then that is the time to sack the Committee and vote in some alternative. Attempting to second guess a Committee with our track record without the slightest idea of the reasoning behind the policy and what stands to be gained is only going to lead to confrontation.

As it was certain characters on the alternative website decided they were smarter than us and debated whether it was 17K or 27K, when in truth they should really have done some investigation of their own. But they could not be bothered to find out the correct information and chose instead to make accusations of wasting members money.

This Committee do not make irrational decisions. BY NOW MOST MEMBERS REALISE THAT THE COMMITTEE DO NOTHING WHICH IS NOT THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL.

In the end we deduced that the editing would be particularly problematical and this together with the disillusionment engendered by the accusations of financial mismanagement, misappropriation of LLAIA funds and in particular difficulties with our relationship with the VOLDAC committee has resulted in the abandoning of the project. We now find we are too busy with an election campaign to worry about advancing the LLAIA.

To finish we would reiterate that it was always clearly understood by the Committee that final ownership of the camera and equipment was merely a “technical one” to avoid having to deal with committee members, or others, wanting to play with something that was a specialised piece of equipment, not a toy. It was also agreed that the proceeds of the eventual sale of the equipment would revert to llaia.

The LLAIA Committee