Highbridge Angling Association has been part of Somerset's angling community for nearly 150 years. Founded in 1878, the club manages some of the most well-known waters in the area — Walrow Ponds, Apex Lake, and Newtown Lake among them — and runs a regular programme of matches and events for members across the region.
But for a club with that much to offer, its digital presence hadn't kept pace. Anglers searching for Walrow Ponds weren't reliably finding HAA. Match fixtures weren't easy to access online. Permits and tickets required personal contact. And the club's reputation — built over nearly 150 years — wasn't translating into the online visibility it deserved.
That changed with Clubnest. In the months since launch, active users have grown by 156.4%, sessions have nearly doubled, and anglers are now finding HAA's venues directly through Google. The momentum is clear — and it's building.
About Highbridge Angling Association
Highbridge Angling Association is a member-led fishing club offering access to a range of quality coarse fishing waters across the Somerset Levels and surrounding area.
- Who we are: A community-run angling association founded in 1878, catering to pleasure anglers, match anglers, and fishing families across Somerset
- Our waters: Walrow Ponds complex (Factory Lake, Railway Lake, Silvers Lake, and Snag Pit), Apex Park, Newtown Lake, the River Brue at Mary Lane, and SLAC Water across the Somerset Levels
- Our match programme: Regular adult matches and club events throughout the season, with junior coaching sessions delivered year-round
- Our network: Working alongside the Angling Trust, the Somerset Levels Angling Club (SLAC), local schools, and community organisations to grow participation and protect Somerset's fishing heritage
The club had the waters, the history, and the membership. What it needed was a modern platform to bring all of it together — and make it visible to the anglers who were already searching for it.
The Challenges We Faced Before Clubnest
HAA had operated for years on a mix of personal contact, word of mouth, and informal digital channels. It worked — up to a point. As member expectations shifted and more anglers turned to Google before picking up the phone, the limitations became harder to ignore.
- Online Visibility — Anglers searching for "walrow ponds", "apex lake fishing", or "fishing in Highbridge" weren't consistently finding the club. We had no SEO foundation and no regular content output to build one.
- Membership & Permit Enquiries — "Highbridge angling association prices" and "apex lake fishing permit" were being searched regularly — but those searches weren't reaching us efficiently. Enquiries came through personal contact, which created inconsistency.
- Venue Information — Walrow Ponds, Apex Lake, and Newtown Lake are well-regarded waters, but detailed, up-to-date information on each wasn't available in one accessible place. Access details, rules, species, and facilities all had to be asked for directly.
- Match Management — Fixtures, results, and peg draws weren't published quickly or consistently online. Members had to know who to contact.
- Communications — Club updates, match reports, and venue news went out through a patchwork of channels. There was no central hub keeping everyone informed.
- Ticket & Permit Sales — There was no way to buy a day ticket or match entry online. Everything went through personal contact or cash, with no audit trail.
The club was doing the right things — it just didn't have the platform to show it.
Why We Chose Clubnest
When we looked at what Clubnest offered, it was clear this wasn't a generic booking tool adapted for fishing. It was built with angling clubs in mind — and every feature reflected that.
The features that mattered most to us:
- Venue Pages — Dedicated pages for every water in our portfolio, each with species guides, access information, rules, facilities, and maps. Up to date, always accessible, and optimised for local search.
- Online Permit & Ticket Sales — Day tickets, match entries, and membership all purchasable online. Payment handled, confirmation sent automatically, full records kept.
- Match Fixtures & Results — The full match calendar published online, with digital peg draws, same-day results, and live leaderboards.
- Club Website with Built-in SEO — A fast, professional site designed to rank in local searches from day one. The foundation that turns search traffic into membership enquiries.
- Blog & Match Reports — A proper news section for match reports, venue updates, and seasonal content. Content that keeps members engaged and builds search presence over time.
- Membership Management — Digital records, automated renewals, and QR permit validation. No more paper permits or manual cross-checking at the bankside.
- Communication Tools — Automated confirmations, match reminders, and club updates without anyone having to manage individual messages.
Everything in one place, built for how angling clubs actually operate.
Implementation: Getting Up and Running
Transitioning from informal systems to a full digital platform sounds daunting. In practice, it wasn't.
- Quick to launch — Venue pages, match fixtures, membership, and ticket sales were all live within days of setup
- Supported throughout — The Clubnest team were available at every stage and responded quickly to questions
- Members adapted fast — Once they saw fixtures, venue guides, and ticket booking all in one place, the response was immediate
- Results came early — Within weeks of launch, the committee noticed reduced admin time and increasing traffic to the site
Results & Impact
Here's what the data shows since launching with Clubnest.
📊 Growth at a Glance
- +156.4% growth in active website users
- +98.5% increase in total sessions — nearly doubled
- +43.9% growth in new visitors discovering HAA for the first time
- +64.1% increase in organic social reach
- +40.2% increase in venue page traffic
- 336 Google search queries now returning HAA results
Venue Discovery
Walrow Ponds and Apex Lake are two of the most recognisable fishing venues in the Highbridge area — and now anglers searching specifically for them are finding HAA directly. "Walrow ponds" alone generates 200 impressions per period in Google Search. "Apex lake fishing" returns 76 impressions. "Apex lake fishing permit" returns 60.
These are anglers who may never have heard of the association before, finding their way in through the venues. The 40.2% increase in venue page traffic reflects exactly that — new visitors arriving through specific searches and converting into membership enquiries.
Membership & Permit Enquiries
One of the most telling signals in the search data is the "highbridge angling association prices" query. People searching for that aren't browsing — they're looking to join or buy a permit. HAA now appears in those searches, and the ticket purchase page is seeing consistent, growing traffic. The gap between a Google search and a completed membership is closing.
Session & User Growth
The headline number — 156.4% active user growth — reflects a club that has genuinely found a new audience online. Sessions have nearly doubled in the same period. These aren't just existing members checking the site — the proportion of new first-time visitors is rising alongside it, driven by organic search and social reach growing in parallel.
Blog & Content
The early content output is already showing results. The Walrow Silvers Lake match report — showing strong weights and quality tench — generated 93.2% growth in views, demonstrating that timely, venue-specific content performs strongly. As HAA publishes more match reports and venue updates, the search footprint will continue to grow.
Search Presence
HAA now ranks across 336 different Google search queries — from branded terms to venue-specific searches, local discovery terms, and commercial-intent queries around prices and permits. That breadth means the site is working across the full membership funnel: awareness, consideration, and conversion.
Testimonials
"As Treasurer, the thing that stood out immediately was the audit trail. Every permit sold, every match entry paid — it's all recorded automatically. We've gone from cash-in-hand and bank transfers we had to chase, to a system that handles everything and gives the committee a clear picture at any point." — Chris Brewer, Treasurer, Highbridge Angling Association
"We've been running since 1878 and the club has always had a lot to offer — the waters, the matches, the community. What we lacked was a way to show that to people who didn't already know us. Clubnest changed that. New members are finding us through Google now, and the club feels like it finally has the presence it deserves." — Bryan Webb, Initiatives, Highbridge Angling Association
Future Plans
With the platform established and momentum clearly building, HAA's focus is on accelerating what's already working:
- Build out match report and venue content across all nine waters to grow the 336-query search footprint further
- Convert the growing "prices" and "permit" search traffic into completed online memberships
- Expand online ticket and day permit sales across all venues including Apex Park, Factory Lake, and the River Brue
- Grow the Walrow Ponds complex pages — Factory, Railway, Silvers, and Snag Pit — into the most detailed fishing guides for those waters in Somerset
- Expand the junior coaching programme and develop structured angling education pathways for young anglers across the region
Conclusion
Highbridge Angling Association has the waters, the history, and the membership to be one of Somerset's leading fishing clubs. What Clubnest has done is give all of that a platform — and the results speak clearly.
Active users up 156%. Sessions nearly doubled. 336 search queries indexed. Anglers searching for Walrow Ponds and Apex Lake finding HAA before anyone else.
For any angling association ready to match its reputation with a modern digital presence, Clubnest is where that starts.
