WEST AND THE FENS: River anglers in West Norfolk will pay less for their fishing but have more water available to them next season.

Those fishing King's Lynn AA's prime stillwaters will pay slightly more in return for an extra seven weeks' sport, as the club brings in a new system of tiered membership charges for the first time in its 120-year history.

Lynn AA has not increased its prices for two years, while income has fallen by 20pc. Officials say the club is looking to boost membership, with a new pricing structure aimed at offering anglers a choice of options, based around the waters they like to fish.

The cost of a basic Lynn AA book will be cut from �40 to �36, giving access to the Ouse at Ten Mile Bank, the Middle Level, Relief Channel, and parts of the Little Ouse, Old Bedford and Cut-Off Channel.

As well as the Cut-Off between Denver and Wereham, the Lynn ticket will now include fishing on the Stoke Ferry stretch of the drain, which in recent years has been closed to anglers.

Members will be able to fish the section around Stoke Ferry Waterworks, which will doubtless feature in a few predator anglers' plans for next winter. No day tickets will be available for this sought-after stretch.

Stillwater anglers can opt to pay �44 a season for a 'bronze ticket', which includes fishing at Lynn's Tottenhill fishery; and �54 for a 'silver ticket', which includes fishing at Shepherd's Port, at Snettisham – which in recent seasons has become one of the best club-run stillwater complexes in the region.

While those choosing to include the stillwaters will pay more for the privilege, the club's lakes will open on April 1, offering an extra seven weeks' fishing.

Concessionary memberships will cost �24 (basic), �28 (Tottenhill) and �38 (Shepherd's Port).

Junior books will cost �7, �9 or �11 respectively.

• Lynn AA chairman Kelvin Allen was elected chairman of the Angling Trust's Easter Region Freshwater Forum at a meeting in Littleport on Saturday.

Similar forums up and down the country will feed into a national freshwater forum, which will debate issues and lobby policymakers.

Nationally, the trust now has 12,000 members – about 1500 of them in the Eastern region. Match anglers now account for 25pc of trust membership.