News | Halstead and Hedingham Angling Club

Start of the 2024-25 Season is officially upon us.

Please be informed that all current memberships will expire on Sunday, May 12th, 2024, at 9:00 PM. Consequently, all gate codes will be changed between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM on May 12th. Anyone found fishing without a valid 2024/25 membership after the expiration time will be required to leave the club waters until they renew their membership; no exceptions will be made. New memberships will commence at 6:00 AM on May 13th.

Furthermore, no fishing will be allowed until new membership cards are received, which typically takes 4-5 working days to process.

Additionally, new members who purchase a 2024/25 membership will not be permitted to fish any club waters until 6:00 AM on May 13th, 2024, when the new season officially commences. Thank you for your cooperation.

End of the Season

Please note all current memberships expire on Sunday 14th May at 18:00 (6pm) upon which all gate codes will be changed between 6pm and 9pm on the 14th. Upon changing of the codes anyone still fishing without a new 2023/24 membership will be asked to leave the club waters until they renew their membership. (No exceptions are available). New memberships start at 6am on the 15th May.

New members who purchase a 2023/24 membership cannot fish any club waters until the 15th May 6am when the new season officially begins!

PLEASE REMEMBER IT CAN TAKE UPTO 4-5 WORKING DAYS FOR MEMBERSHIP CARDS TO BE PROCESSED.

Hall Lakes – Great Yeldham (old mill pond)

This season we have negotiated use of two lakes in Great Yeldham named The Old Mill Ponds. The Larger of the two lakes is just under one acre in size with depths of up to ten feet with varying heights throughout the entire lake. It has been extensively stocked with various silver fish ranging from 1 to 5lbs in size. The smaller pond is 1/4 of an acre with depths of up to 10 feet like her larger sister, the lake is stocked with approximately 300 silverfish again ranging from 1 to 5lbs to provide a small but intimate water to fish. Please note, NO AUDIBLE BITE ALARMS, NO BIVVIES/TENTS, NO NIGHT FISHING,

Gentle Reminder

Hello All,

Gentle reminder to all that as of 9pm tonight, all gate codes will be changed ready for the new fishing season starting tomorrow. Thank you to those of you who have already completed your membership for this season already. If you haven’t yet paid for your membership you can do this online at www.hhac.fishing
Please remember that it can take up to 4-5 working days for your membership card to be processed and delivered. You MUST have your membership card before you can go fishing.
If you do not have your photographic membership ID card, you will not be able to fish. ALL members MUST have their ID card on them at ALL times to fish on the club waters.

Many Thanks,

Abbie – Club Secretary

Catley Cross Lake is officially open!

The Catley Cross Lake is officially open on April 1st (tomorrow) however, due to weather conditions, and the delay in delivery of materials, the car park is uncompleted. If members wish to go fishing over the next week the car park is usable but uncompleted and at your own risk. We are hoping to complete it by the end of next weekend, Sunday 8th April (Weather permitting)
Kevin the Club Chairman has worked tirelessly for the last three weekends, in his own time and at his own cost, in the constant bad weather to try and complete the car park for the club. I’m sure you can all appreciate what he has been up against and all of the effort that he has put into it. Please bare with us while we try and complete the remainder of the car park.

Many Thanks,

Abbie – Club Secretary

Changes For 2018

NEW LAKE FOR 2018 – CATLEY CROSS LAKE. Please see CLUB WATERS PAGE for information on this beautiful new water!

YELDHAM LAKES | CANNEY, COBLANDS AND WILLOWS – Unfortunately the land owner for Canny, Cobblands and Willows has decided to sell the lakes and we will not be able to renew our lease for this coming year. We still have the lease to Partridge however and this lake will still be available in the next coming season with a brand new road across the joining field making access now easier during the bad weather months.

CHANGE OF CLUB SECRETARY – Unfortunately due to full time work commitments Mariea Johnson will no longer be club secretary and instead Abbie Merlehan will be taking over her position. Mariea has been with the club for the past three seasons and we are all sorry to see her leave. I’m sure you will all join us in wishing her the best of luck in her new venture.

CLUB MOBILE – Due to the amount of phone calls the club has received regarding information that is readily available on the website, we have had to make the club mobile for EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY. For any further required information regarding membership, club waters or upcoming events that is otherwise not available on the website, please contact the Club Secretary via Email, Text message or the contact us form on the website.

Netting of Halstead Reservoir:

The long awaited netting of the Halstead Reservoir finally took place on Saturday 18th February 2017. This activity was led by the E.A. and was a total success. With help from our bailiffs and committee members we managed to pull the net through 3 times, below are a few photos from the day!

The first time was a great success catching in excess of 3000 small silver fish which were all under 1lb in size. Ben from the E.A was completely shocked at the number of silver fish in the water and felt that the water was definitely over stocked and unhealthy for all the fish and felt that the number of fish stocked definitely needed to be reduced.
The silver fish which were removed were safely released into the club stretch of the river Colne in an attempt at helping to restock the river after the contamination which occurred a few years ago killing most of the fish.

The second attempt at pulling the net through was a no go, completely missing any shoals of fish, and Ben from the E.A confirmed this is completely normal, and not an indication of numbers of fish in the water.

The third and final time however produced over 70 carp varying in size and health conditions approximately 40 carp were put back into the Halstead Reservoir as they were in good health and approximately 30 were removed.

Ben From the E.A was again completely shocked again at the state of some of the carp and felt they should be removed and placed in one of our less fished waters, therefore they were taken to our club water Coblands and released to the excitement of the members fishing there that day.
The fish which were in extremely bad states, Ben felt should be removed and put in our stock pond for breeding purposes only and to live out the remainder of their lives in peace.

Ben was keen to point out that the state of the fish was merely a result of years of being fished and feeding hard not necessarily poor fishing.
The E.A have recommended that we still need to reduce the number of small fish in the water by even more and will be in touch with us to arrange another netting.

All in all it was a very successful day and we would like to thank Ben from the E.A our committee members and bailiffs for their hard work.
We would also like to thank the landowners of both the Halstead Reservoir and the River at Hull Mill for allowing us to move fish around and help the environment by restocking the river.