WHO AM I?

Our who am i ? is a little different this month as our club chairman Graham has given us an insight into his fishing, history and committee work

My name is Graham Bugler, professionally I am a Chartered Engineer, but more importantly I am your Club Chairman.  I have been a member of Yeovil & Sherborne Angling Association from about 9 years old some 54 years.  My uncle, George Abbot was a founding member and Chairman of the original Sherborne Angling Association.  Les Sherley a past secretary of the club said that he thought it merged with the Yeovil club in 1968 which sounds about right.  George introduced me to angling from an early age and used to take me to a small lake at Upton Noble near Bruton which was club water at the time.  We would fish for perch, crucian carp and tench from my memory.

Before the club had fishing rights at Sherborne Lake I recall my uncle organising a time when Sherborne Lake was drained completely. At this time the lake was very silted up and there was a short tunnel that led to the sluice gate, the club had several members with landing nets and as the water was drained they caught several fish and put them into tin baths and then we took them to Upton Noble to stock the lake.  There were several large Pike, a lot of Tench, Roach and some large eels.  Although some fish were taken to Upton Noble many of the fish were released into the River Yeo at several locations.

I went to the Annual General meetings at the Liberal Club, Middle Street, Yeovil from the age about 14, they were very well attended, probably because many of the angler’s wife’s would provide food for attendees after the meeting.  I was voted onto the committee from the age of about 18 about 45 years ago.  Later meetings were held at the Wessex Club this was located as you come off the hospital roundabout in Park Road, it was a club for Southern Electricity employees formally Wessex Electricity Company. In the early days on the committee were some familiar names such as Alfie Miles (who wrote a regular article in the Western Gazette) Ross South, Tony Garrett and Tom Alden which are no longer with us but great anglers.  Also, some of our current life members such as Bob Northover, Nigel Garrett and Ron Sams again all top anglers. I have to admit my time on the bank has been limited in recent years due to various reasons but as retirement gets closer my plan is to spend more time fishing and hope to see you at Sherborne Lake sometime soon.

Sherborne Lake

My uncle George was a builder in Sherborne and did a lot of work for Sherborne Castle estates, through this relationship he would take me to Sherborne Lake and he would teach me to cast a fly with a fly rod, this was my introduction to fly fishing at Sutton Bingham and Chew Valley reservoirs.  Through the relationship that my uncle had with the Sherborne Castle Estates was how we started fishing at the castle, there was Pike fishing on Boxing day and I recall firstly fishing there in a committee match where we caught some good bags of Roach.  Later the club negotiated fishing rights at the lake and that is how we are able to fish it today.

Match Fishing

I was a former Match secretary of the club, pegging the bank, running the pools and looking after, collecting and cleaning the Cups & Trophies ready for the AGM presentation.  I also prepared the membership tickets ready for printing and distribution, these were all things which I managed over the years.

Before the days of match fishing at Sherborne Lake the club held matches on land of one of our former Presidents, Mrs Rawlings of Newton Surmaville House, Yeovil on the River Yeo at Newton Park, this was before Yeovil Golf club expanded their operation. In those days matches could attract up to 75 members and were very popular events.

We also held Junior Matches at Newton Park, which attracted about 10 or 15 junior members.  As a junior member myself I recall an outing organised by the club where we were taken to a junior match at the Huntspill, a good Bream River near Bridgwater.

I remember match fishing in the Mini League, fishing on the River Yeo at Yeovil & Ilchester, Parret at Langport, and Isle at Ilminster.  My Uncle would pick up anglers all around Yeovil in his builders Transit pickup truck.  I got in first in Sherborne, so got a seat in the cab where it was warm but those getting on in Yeovil would sit on the fishing boxes back, Health and safety what is that, it must have been freezing cold on a winter morning travelling from Yeovil to Langport sat in the back of the truck, something which you could not do today.

Club Waters where I fished in my youth but some are no longer

As a junior member there were some lovely little places where we would fish during our summer holidays. I would spend many hours fishing at the Waterfall on New Road Sherborne, there was a deep pool where fish getting out of the Sherborne Lake usually in flood conditions they would make their way downstream to the pool.  We would catch Roach, Tench and Pike, there was a tree which we would climb up and could see where the fish were located in the pool, we would then cast the bait in the area and often get a take,

We had a small pond near Rimpton, I would cycle to the pond with my rod tied onto the cross bar with a bag with tackle, my lunch box and a drink on my back. I believe that there were Tench, Crucian Carp and Roach in the pond. There was also a small pond just of the Sherborne to Marston Magna road, it looked like a bomb crater but was used as a stock pond and had Tench and Crucian Carp.  This pond is no longer and has been filled in.  There was also a small stock pond near Trent, I cannot remember exactly where it was but I remember taking fish there with my uncle, it was up a hill where we went just off the Marston road going towards Trent.

Thank you

Finally I want to thank you for the nomination and approval to become a Life Member of your club at the AGM.  I hope you can see my heart is in this club and I want to see it prosper into the future.  I would like to thank all our members for supporting the club, for the officers and committee past and present for volunteering their time to make this such a wonderful club with some fantastic water.