Here is this weeks news, information and Catch Report round up from Luton Angling Club.
Planned for some time, this week the club took delivery of and installed a memorial plaque for former club chairman and president David Edwards at our Biddenham venue. David spent 65 years of his life devoted to the running of Luton Angling Club and held every and sometimes multiple positions on the committee over that time, there is no doubt that the club would not be what it is today without his dedication.
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| Plaque at Biddenham |
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| Plaque at Biddenham |
Martin Scholes had a good 48hr session at Beckerings on Sunday and Monday night, he had a total of 13 carp one of which was a new PB of 26lb 4oz the other weights were 20lb 12oz , 18lb 8oz, 9lb 14oz , 19lb 12oz, 22lb, 10lb 8oz, 17lb 2oz, 13lb 8oz 18lb 8oz, 12lb 12oz 9lb and 19lb 10oz
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
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| Martin Scholes - Beckerings |
Paul Burton caught a couple of commons from Beckerings on Thursday. The biggest was 18lb 7oz, which he has named Blackspot (for obvious reasons) and the smaller one was 10lb 10oz.
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| Paul Burton - Beckerings |
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| Paul Burton - Beckerings |
Abby-Leanne has been having some great sessions recently at Beckerings. In June, she had two lovely mirrors – an 18lb and a 21lb. She then went back for a birthday session on Saturday, fishing peg 10, and she managed three more – a 14lb mirror, an 18lb 6oz common, and a 14lb 5oz mirror, all fish were taken on Shrimp & Pepper and Papi-Nut from Mamba Baits.
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
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| Abby Leanne - Beckerings |
Canal Pick and Choose - Round 2 - Result Recap.
Our canal pick and choose knockout competition is proving very successful, with Round 2 now complete here is a round up of the results from each of the round two events. The draw for Round 3 will be completed shortly.
First to fish their round 2 match was Pair 5 - Keith Ward and Ian Orbell who fished the canal at the White Bridge down by the flats on the 4th July. Both caught Skimmers, Hybrids, Roach and Perch. They found the best bait was Squatt fished at 11m. They fished for 4 hours Ian Orbell and won the match and goes through to Round 3.
Pair 2 - Myles Tommey and Pete Mills fished 3 Locks opposite the boats below the lock on the 5th July. It was an Over cast day, with low boat traffic, Pete fed caster to the far side and caught on pinkie/caster. He had a mix of Hybrids/Skimmers/Roach and Perch. Myles fished similar methods but had two crossing boats which didn’t help the fishing, Pete won the match with 5lb 8oz.
Pair 4 - Jack O’Brien and Stephen Holliday were unable to complete their match as Stephen forfeited as he was not able to find the time before the 20th July deadline, This means Jack is awarded the win by default and is through to Round 3.
Pair 1 - Paul Carr and Danny Worth fished their Round Two match on Sunday 13th July, It was a revenge match of sorts after Danny had knocked out Paul’s son Daniel in round one. They met in the car park at Three Locks at 8:30am and proceeded to the canal above the lock, but due to the number of boats moored there they had to go further than the Chelmscote bridge before they were able to find space to fish. With their pegs chosen they got set up and started fishing at 10am.
Danny struck the first blow landing a nice sized skimmer as his first fish early on and continued to catch steadily, up until the last hour when it died off ending with 3lb 3oz.
Paul took a bit longer to start catching not having anything for the first 25mins before catching a skimmer of his own on pinkie before a change of bait to single red maggot and feeding pinkies and the occasional ball of ground bait, this bait change brought a run of fish that lasted for the rest of the match, with Paul ending with 5lb 1oz - a very mixed bag that included perch, roach, Rudd, skimmers, a gudgeon, a ruffe and a small carp hybrid.
Boat traffic was very heavy during the day with the number of boats in double figures and towpath traffic even heavier with cyclists, walkers and joggers all out enjoying the pleasant weather. At the end of the day, family honour was restored with Paul taking the victory and making it through to Round 3!
The last pair to complete their Round 2 match was Syd Wilson and Adrian smith. They fished their Round 2 match on the North section of the globe on Sunday 20th July whilst the Sunday Series was taking place on the South section.
This was the typical match of two halves where Adrian got off to a good start but saw bites dry up after a couple of hours, and then he needed to pick up odd fish from different lines. Syd's start was slower but as the match progressed he got into a nice rhythm to pick up fish.
The match turned out to be quite close with Adrian just shading it with 2lb 13ozs to Syd's 2lb 5ozs seeing Adrian through to Round 3.
Match Report for Wednesday 16th July 2025
Isaac Walton said, “Angling may be said to be so like mathematics, that it can never be fully learnt.”
With this in mind (to some more than others) 20 anglers turned up for this week’s midweek match which took place on the Grand Union Canal at Slapton. 17 anglers were fit and strong enough to undertake the endurance course to the allotted pegs upon the lower pound.
Dennis Hunt, the mainstay of our group could not be with us due to other commitments. However, it was really refreshing, as usual, to see others step up to the plate to ensure that a good day was had by all.
A special thank you to Barry Roper for putting on his hiking boots to carry out the pegging.
A highlight to the day was the introduction of Sam Rose into our ranks. Sam is a Firefighter, and she is a most appreciated addition, lowering the average age of the Wednesday Match crowd by at least 20 years!! Welcome Sam, we look forward to seeing you with us many times in the future. However, the welcome was short lived because the draw sentenced her to the longest walk to the far end peg beyond the overhead power lines. At least youth was on her side!
Water temperature was 21.5 degrees C so understandably any fish that were landed felt warm to the hand. Our Guru, Tony Hickmott witnessed the CRT lock keeper arriving in the morning just before the start of the match. He opened the paddles on both sets of lock gates, probably to control water levels during this run of current heatwaves. This led to the canal having a slightly stronger tow than usual all day.
Most swims below and above the lock were sheltered from the strangely warm North wind which arrived after the match had been underway for 2 hours or so, The last three swims beyond the power lines had to cope with waves later in the match.
Boat traffic was relatively light considering the time of year and those that did come through were well behaved keeping to the centre at reduced power, although one pair of boats tied side by side did require more power to progress, stirring up the silt. Those on the upper pound also saw this pair of boats. Apparently, the passage below the bridge before the lock was too much of a bend or the bridge had moved, because the lady driving gave the bridge wall a good thump. Also, those on the upper pound were treated to the sight of Captain Pugwash reversing his boat from heaven knows where to the Winding Hole to turn round. He then proceeded to execute a 58 point turn to get the boat facing the right way, churning the water to foam in the process.
However, everyone managed to find some fish with several quality Roach being landed. One other noted species was Gudgeon, Andy Frankum managing 10 in his net which is encouraging as they appear to be sparse on other stretches of the canal nowadays. Also, several keep nets were seen to have Crayfish clinging to them when removed from the water at the weigh in.
The weigh in was conducted by Tony Hickmott, Sam Rose, Danny Worth and of course the invaluable Tracey Leatherland. Thanks to those that provided scales and nets. And a special thanks to the irreplaceable Ray Burton for the part he played in running the match.
The Canal was at a reasonable level considering the recent hot weather and carried some colour. However, apart from the gusts of wind the weather was kind to us with the afternoon becoming very sunny and warm. The fishing turned out to be somewhat patchy and small fish were once again the order of the day for most anglers.
The winner of the match was the ever-popular Bart Bonito, who drew peg 3. Bart landed 8lbs 13oz of fish, which were mainly roach and skimmer bream. He fished at14.50 m finding some skimmer bream and a second line at 13.00 m produced roach. The successful bait was pinkie and squat over groundbait. Well done Bart.
Second place with 5lbs 6oz was taken by the in-form Chris Howard who tried the far bank and only managed small Perch on worm or maggot. He changed to bread down the track getting plenty of bites but only from tiny 2” Roach. He kept feeding hemp over bread and caught on hemp, moving on to tares for a mainly Roach bag.
The indomitable Syd Wison finished third with 4lbs 13oz 8 drams. There was some talk of a disqualification here as Syd had undertaken a sub aqua survey of the whereabouts of fish in the pound in a summer league match on the previous Sunday. He claims that he just fell in, so we took his word for it.
In a close Fourth place was Andy Frankum with 4lbs 10z also using pole tactics for roach, skimmer bream and gudgeon.
The result of the Match was as follows: -
1st Bart Bonito 8lbs 13oz
2nd Chris Howard 5lbs 6oz
3rd Syd Wilson 4lbs 13oz 8 drams
4th Andy Frankum 4lbs 10oz
5th Sam Rose 4lbs 2 oz
6th Sean Leatherland 3lbs 6oz
7th Colin MacBeth 2lbs 13oz
8th Tim Watts 2lbs 12 oz 8 drams
9th Danny Worth 2lbs 10oz
10th Dave Abbott 2lbs 8oz 8 drams
11th Graham Stringer 2lbs 6oz
12th Barry Roper 2lbs 1oz 8 drams
13th Tony Hickmott 1lb 10 oz
14th Colin Holmes 1lb 2oz
15th Dudley Frankland 1lb exactly
16th Les Burton 12 oz
17th Dave Ridley 9 oz
For the record the old timers on the upper pound managed 2lbs 12oz ( Terry Vickers ) 2lbs 10 oz (Ray Burton) and 8 oz (Malcolm Ogden)
Our next match is on the GUC at Three Locks on Wednesday 23rd July 2025. Draw at the venue at 8.30am, £5.00 optional pools plus £2.00 Pegging Fee. Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm.
For anyone thinking of joining us for the first time please message Dennis Hunt so we know you are coming before turning up. This will help us to manage the pegging of the venue. Please bring your club membership book with you as you will be asked to produce it for your first appearance.
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| Wednesday Match |
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| Wednesday Match |
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| Wednesday Match |
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| Wednesday Match |
If you would like to send us a catch report from a Luton AC Water you can send reports and pictures via our facebook page and other social media accounts, the club website or via what’s app message to 07940 229071.
Tight Lines
Dave M
Luton AC
