Luton Angling Club - Weekly News Reports

Here is this weeks round up of News, Information and Catch Reports from Luton Angling Club.

A work party took place at Beckerings on Saturday, Despite a disappointing turnout and only the usual same old faces attending, a lot of work was carried out today at Beckerings. A number of rotten platforms were replaced today also the narrow bridge from the car park to the ramp was also removed and replaced with a wider track. Much to the annoyance of the wasps that had made their nest underneath it.

As promised, Nebojsa cooked up Hungarian Beef Goulash served with sour cream and french stick bread. It tasted amazing and was enjoyed thoroughly by everyone. Thanks Nebojsa.

Further improvements to platforms will be carried out soon, but we need to order more materials.

Thank you to Nebojsa Gal, Dave Nicholson, Neville Hunt, Andrew Elliman, Mark Sessions, Rob Thomas, Rob Dunthorne, Colin Holmes, Barry Stevenson and Bob Burdiak and Dave Murdoch for the hard work.

Beckerings Platform Repairs

Hungarian Beef Goulash

Nebojsa - Cooking Hungarian Beef Goulash

Beckerings Platform Repairs

Beckerings Platform Repairs

Nick Lynch fished Beckerings this week pulling in six carp, with the biggest one weighing 27lb!. He also snagged a fantastic 1lb 4oz Roach and a 40lb Catfish! The Roach was caught using a Papi-Nut boilie, while Shrimp and Pepper boilies was the magic bait for the rest of the

haul.

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Beckerings Keepnet Restrictions

Due to the very hot weather and low water levels at Beckerings, we have made the decision to restrict the use of Keepnets at Beckerings until further notice. This is to protect the welfare of our fish

Beckerings - No Keepnets until further notice.

Wednesday 2nd July, Match Lake - St Albans Lakes

We had 11 Anglers met on Wednesday at St Albans Lakes in London Colney, a new venue for us. We had arranged to fish the match lake, a venue of around 6 Acres, an old gravel pit which is very deep in the middle.

The weather was cooler than recent days but still at around 20C and overcast, but the water in the venue was warm. As the whistle went at 10am. it started to rain and we all put our umbrellas up. The rain was unexpectedly heavy for a while, however it had stopped by 11am, and the sun appeared later in the afternoon.

We had an exciting days fishing in store! It really was hold on to the rod stuff as the fish fight long and hard in the clear water.

Colin Kidd triumphed this week weighing in 102lb 2oz. Colin caught one carp on the pole and one on the method and then switched methods and had the rest of his fish split between a pellet waggler and a slow sinking bomb. Colin used Red Robin 8mm pellet as bait and fed about two and a half bags during the day. He just kept feeding and casting, and said it was all simple stuff, nothing complicated, and the fish just kept coming.

Second place was taken by Dave Ridley, who said he spent the first two hours trying to catch 6 carp that were right in front of him in the shallows. This turned out to be a complete waste of time! He then set up a method feeder at and fished it short at about 6 metres. Dave, who was using fishery 8mm & micro pellets as bait then started to get bites, but said he kept bumping them off.

He increased the hook size and finally started to land fish, to finish on 72lb 5oz. Dave said it was just a shame he wasted the first two hours!

Third was Simon Foulkes who fished 2 lines, a pellet waggler at approx. 25 yards pinging out 4/8 6mm pellets every cast, and one line down the edge on worm, all but two fish coming on the pellet waggler line, the biggest going a shade under 13lb. Simon said, ‘I've never known such hard fighting carp!’ The two Carp he had on the pole down the edge when hooked went straight out into the middle of the lake and took around 10 mins each to land !! Simon had 54lb 14oz at the weigh in.

Terry Vickers landed a small Wels Catfish which took double maggot bait and was a first for us in one of our matches.

Mention must also be made of our birthday boy this week, Roger Baker who also had an exciting days fishing, weighing in 23lb 1oz. Roger said he would have doubled that weight if they hadn’t kept falling off! Better luck next time Roger.

Thanks to everyone who assisted with the pegging, admin and scales week, I think we all agreed this was a venue we would like to fish again in the future

Results

1st Colin Kidd 102lb 2oz

2nd Dave Ridley 72lb 5oz

3rd Simon Foulkes 54lb 14oz

4th Dennis Hunt 42lb 5oz

5th Mark Sessions 32lb 7oz

6th Stephen Holliday 30lb 10oz

7th Richard Darbon 26lb 10oz

8th Roger Baker 23lb 1oz

9th Colin Holmes 20lb 6oz

10th Terry Vickers 10lb 0oz

DNW Andy Francome (had a mare and went home!)

Our next match is Wednesday 9th July. The venue for this is Eaton Ford and pegs for this are limited.

Draw at the venue at 8.30 as usual, fish 10am till 3pm. £5.00 optional pools plus £2.00 Luton pegging fee, Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm.

For anyone thinking of joining us for the first time you must message us, 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.

Wednesday Match - St Albans Lakes

Wednesday Match - St Albans Lakes

Pick and Choose Knockout - Round 2

We have had the first couple of results in for Round two of our Pick and Choose Knockout competition.

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. Both caught Skimmers, Hybrids, Roach and Perch. The best bait was Squatt fished at 11m.

They fished for 4 hours and Ian Orbell won the match

Result

Ian Orbell - 6lb 11oz

Keith Ward - 4lb 8oz

Also fishing their Round 2 match this week was Pair 2 - Myles Tommey and Pete Mills. They fished 3 Locks opposite the boats below the lock. 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.

Result

Pete Mills - 5lb 8oz

Keith Ward - 3lb 8oz

Still to fish their round 2 matches are:-

Pair 1 Danny Worth & Paul Carr

Pair 3 Adrian Smith & Syd Wilson

Pair 4 Jack O'Brien & Stephen Holliday

All round 2 matches must be completed by Sunday 20th July.

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 Until Next Week!

Dave - Luton AC

Here is this weeks round up of News, Information and Catch Reports from Luton Angling Club.

Wyboston Venues (North House, South Lagoon and the River Ouse)

This week we had one of the regular visits from our area Fisheries Enforcement Officer from the Environment Agency. It is good to see them regularly at Wyboston keeping our waters safe and ensuring that everything is in order.

EA Enforcement Officer Patrolling at Wyboston

Biddenham River Ouse

One of our fisheries team looked into the bushes behind peg 4 at Biddenham today and found 40 or so metres of fishing line discarded. Unbelievable and disgraceful behaviour. We are absolutely fuming. If the culprit is reading this, you are an embarrassment to the club and angling in general.

Discarded Line at Biddenham

Discarded Line at Biddenham

North House Lake

Paul Parkinson had a 24 hour session on North house on Saturday with a few mates and he managed to get this mirror. He didn’t weigh it. It was caught on a snowman rig with a pink pop up.

Paul Parkinson - North House Lake

Paul Parkinson - North House Lake

Beckerings Reservoir

The reservoir will be closed next weekend to allow essential platform repairs to be carried out. Volunteers are needed to assist. We hope to enlarge the platforms we are replacing but that is dependent on the number of people that come to help out.

The reservoir WILL BE CLOSED and no night bookings will be accepted for the Friday and Saturday. Depending on progress the work party may run into Sunday as well so we have reserved both days. DO NOT IGNORE THE CLOSURE NOTICES AS YOU WILL BE MADE TO LEAVE.

Anyone helping us on the work party can book on and fish Friday or Saturday night.

Let us know if you can come along. Club member Nebojsa will be there on Saturday and has offered to cook up a big pot of Hungarian beef Goulash so it would be good to get an idea on the numbers so he can ensure he brings enough. Bring a deep bowl and spoon.

Here are a couple of recent catches from Beckerings by Nick Lynch, He finally caught the 'Half Lin'

At 30lb 2oz she becomes his NEW P.B and my his 30lber! Likely to be the biggest carp in the lake he has been keen to get his hook into her!

She was caught on a short overnight trip on Monday between 12 hour shifts, he almost bailed on this overnighter, but he is glad he went through with it now! Proof that fortune favours the brave and those who dare win!! Caught on a Papi-Nut Boilie with a size 6 Mamba Krank, The second pic is of a common he caught on Friday night

Nick Lynch - 'Half Lin'

Nick Lynch - Beckerings

Carlo had a busy morning at Beckerings this weekend, he landed 4 and lost 2

Carlo - Beckerings

River Ouse - Wybsoton

Mark North fished Wednesday afternoon on the river. He fished using a waggler with hemp and had a few nice roach.

Mark North - Wyboston River Ouse

Mark North - Wyboston River Ouse

Nobby Clarke also had an enjoyable afternoon and early evening on the river at Wyboston on Wednesday. He packed up at 7pm. He did not have anything too special, but a good bit of sport none the less. He used big hemp & Tares, stick float and a 506 on the acolyte 17’ float rod which was a dream to use. It was far from easy but he doesn't want easy, he said that another month and he thinks the better quality roach will start showing.

Nobby Clarke - Wyboston River Ouse

After seeing tthe reports on facebook from Mark North and Nobby Clarke, Bill Ridgway went and fished the River at Wyboston on Thursday afternoon, he fished from 3pm until 8pm and had Roach and chublets all on sweet corn

Bill Ridgway - Wyboston River Ouse

Fergal O'Kane fished the river on Sunday afternoon from 3pm until 8pm, he caught a mixed bag. Perch, Chublets, Roach and Dace, but thankfully only the one bleak , after 7pm, I started to catch a few Rudd.

Luton Kingfishers participate in Division 2 National Trial

On a warm Sunday morning two of the senior Luton Kingfishers, Jack O’Brien & Daniel Carr made the two hour trip to fish the Ouse near Downham Market for the Let’s fish CRT ‘Emerging prospects’ team assessment, to try out for a place in the team fishing the Angling Trust Division 2 national match.

When they arrived at the EA headquarters the groundbait was mixed up and the draw done, before heading down to the river. It was a warm day and calm to start but a strong breeze did pick up as the day went on.

The lads described how their day went in their own words:

Jack

Jack said he had a brilliant day’s fishing on the Great Ouse at Downham Market today. It was a practice with CRT for team selection before the Division 2 National in September. We fished a match, but it was mainly just a practice day. I think I’m still getting used to the river as it was only my 2nd time fishing one, but I’m getting comfortable quickly and have got plenty of time to practice until the Div 2 in September.

I started the day balling in on a 13m pole line, fishing maggots over the top with five particle-rich balls and topping up every 25 mins or so with a smaller ball. The stamp of fish on this line was very good as well. When it went quiet, I swapped lines. In hindsight, I should’ve just stayed on the original line rather than wasting lots of time on a feeder and snag line for some perch. If I had I might’ve done a lot better in the match, but no bother—know for next time.

Overall, Jack finished with 2 kilo 490g for 4th place out of 18. He can’t wait to get back!

Daniel

I started out on 11m line potting 4 balls of groundbait out with loose feed. I then was catching steadily but I then noticed that most of my bites came when I was shipping out from close in. So, after an hour I moved in closer to a line about 5m out to the edge of the lily pads and was catching about 2 fish a minute, occasionally using bait dropper to top up bait in the spot. It then started slowing down, and I was only getting tiny fish so I checked my 11m line but nothing unfortunately didn’t find fish

I then tried feeder to the far bank but nothing. So I tried on the lily pads on the other side of my peg, and again nothing, not having any luck on any other lines, I headed back to the original lily pads for the rest of the match occasionally catching.

Daniel ended on 1.360kg for 11th out of 18.

Thanks goes to Mark Brooks for his support and for a last minute river coaching session at Wyboston on Saturday morning, and as always to the parents for their unstinting support and for providing the transport.

This is a wonderful reflection on how far our Kingfishers have progressed in recent years and shows that we are making true progress and are not just Canal Anglers.

The best news is that they have both been awarded places via a national selection process to fish alongside other talented young anglers, including England Under 15 internationals.

They will represent ‘Lets Fish’ in the CRT ‘Emerging Prospects’ teams, who will fish in the Angling Trust Division 2 National competition to be held on the River Great Ouse & Middle Level Drain, on Saturday 27th September.

https://anglingtrust.net/.../division-two-national.../

This is a fantastic opportunity for them to fish in one of the biggest and most prestigious matches of the year.

Jack will fish in Emerging Prospects Red, and Daniel will be Vice Captain of Emerging Prospects Blue.

This is a fantastic achievement, and the lads have done well to be selected. We sure they will make the most of the opportunity.

The Club Coaches are extremely proud of what the boys have achieved, and we are sure they will do extremely well and gain tremendous experience by fishing this event.

Daniel Carr

Jack O'Brien

Jack fishing the Div 2 Trial at Downham Market

CRT ‘Lets Fish’ Regional Match River Nene Peterborough

This Saturday two of our Juniors, Jack and Daniel were out representing the Club again in the CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event held on the Nene near Peterborough. Both lads again turned in blinding performances.

Jack sent us this account of his day and says he went for a simple approach after overcomplicating things at the Division 2 Team try outs last week, so initially decided to have a close in whip line with balls of groundbait, maggots and hemp. This line got him a few nice roach and chublets early in the match, but it wasn’t electric.

He then went on to my other line at 11.5 metres where he cupped in rich balls of groundbait with casters maggots and hemp in them. This line produced straight away, with a mix of fish which all good size, and he also had the odd big hybrid or skimmer which was nice.

It went a tiny bit quiet for a moment, and he was confused until he looked down at his keepnet to see a big pike staring at it (it made a return later in the match as well) but the line started producing again and shortly after it was back to normal.

In the last hour and a half he had bites from 2 big fish which he thought were both perch (he saw one) so in the last 45 minutes he added a ball of groundbait rich with chopped worm and casters and straight away had another big perch (lost again to weed, there was loads to keep the perch away from) but then he went in again and straight away he hooked another one, and this time managed to get it out.

Overall, Jack said it was an amazing days fishing, and he wonders what weight he would’ve had if he had got those other Perch out! However, he still weighed in 3 Kilo 600, came first in the match and beat the rest of the field by 2Kilo!

Jack said, ‘It was one of the best matches I’ve fished and was on a beautiful venue.’

Daniel however didn’t have the greatest of days, starting off well and then being beset by ‘Technical issues’ a broken top kit and another top kit that sank when it dropped off shipping back. He also lost a large fish (unseen but either a perch or a big bream). Daniel said he has had better days, but even after these disasters he still didn’t come last! Well, we have all had those sorts of days, haven't we?

Very Well done to both Lads!!

CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene
CRT ‘Lets Fish’ regional event - River Nene

Match Result - Wednesday 25th June GUC Town South.

We had 16 Anglers meet on Wednesday, and we were pleased to welcome newcomer Graham Stringer for the first time. Graham said despite having a challenging day he enjoyed the company and will be out with us again soon.

Our peg draw was by the White Bridge this week on a warm and initially overcast morning which later turned into a hot and sunny day with a very gentle breeze. The Canal water was warm with a recorded temperature 21C and was holding good colour. We had a good number of boats this week as is to be expected with the warm weather and the holiday season getting underway, most behaving extremely well and keeping to the centre track.

The canal fished very moodily with bites at a premium, a number recording DNW and known ‘Flyer’ swims proving extremely difficult. Roger Baker fishing his pairs match against Syd Wilson had a frustrating day losing two very big fish, one unseen and the other a decent bream which rolled off the hook as he was trying to land it. Roger lost his pairs match ending with 2oz and said he had known better days!

Dennis Hunt fresh from his holiday turned up without a keepnet, a replacement being hastily borrowed from Syd Wilson on condition it was returned dry! This didn’t happen as it needed to get wet for Dennis to take the win with 6lb 11oz. Dennis fished at 6 sections to take a skimmer and a hybrid on pinkie and fished 11 Metres to the far bank to bag a big bream on Caster, which put up an extremely good show and was nearly lost as a speeding boat went past. Dennis went straight back over after the first bream and hooked another which was unfortunately lost when it threw the hook, it really was one of those days! After that Dennis alternated between the two lines taking another perch oin the track but the bites dried up and he didn’t have a bite in the second half of the match.

Colin Holmes struggled for bites but bagged a decent bream 15 Mins from the end on red maggot to take second with 3lb 3oz. Sean Leatherland took third with 2lb 5oz and Pete Mills fourth with 2lb 2oz

Thanks to everyone who assisted with the pegging, admin and scales this week

Results

1st Dennis Hunt 6lb 11oz

2nd Colin Holmes 3lb 3oz

3rd Sean Leatherland 2lb 5 oz

4th Pete Mills 2lb 2oz

5th Dudley Frankland 1lb 10oz

6th Barry Roper 1lb 8oz

7th Les Burton 1lb 3oz 8drm

8th Tony Hickmott 1lb 3oz

9th Ray Burton & Richard Darbon 0lb 14oz

11th Chris Howard 0lb 13oz

12th Syd Wilson 0lb 11oz

13th Stephen Holiday 0lb 9oz

14th Roger (Unlucky) Baker 0lb 2oz

DNW Graham Stringer and Terry Vickers

Our next match is Wednesday 2nd July. The venue for this is St Albans Lakes London Colney. Draw at the venue at 8.30 as usual, fish 10am till 3pm. £5.00 optional pools plus £2.00 Luton pegging fee, £10-00 fishery peg fee Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm.

Dennis Hunt - 6lb 11oz

Colin Holmes - 3lb 3oz

Pick and Choose Knockout - Round 1 Update.

All the matches for Round one have now been completed and a summary of the results is below.

Pair 1 - Keith Ward and Myles Tommey

Myles and Keith fished their round 1 match on the canal near Tiddenfoot on the 21st June

This was a very close match.Keith Ward took victory with two decent fish of around a pound on chopped worm in the last 30 minutes, They were caught by the far bank after he lost another rig on the snags in the middle track.He caught both fish on chopped worm.Keith is through to Round 2 well done Keith.

Result

Keith Ward 3lb 13oz 8drm

Myles Tommey 3lb 6oz

Pair 2 - Jack O' Brien and Terry Vickers

Jack and Terry fished at Slapton on 15th June and Terry took the approach of a waggler rod and a feeder rod while Jack went for a pole approach along with a feeder rod. It was a very enjoyable day and both had a great time catching quality canal fish. Jack took the win with 4lb 11oz and is through to Round 2. Terry had 1lb 12oz

Result

Jack O'Brien 4lb 11oz

Terry Vickers 1lb 12oz

Jack O'Brien - Pick and Choose Round 1

Pair 3 - Daniel Carr and Danny Worth

Daniel and Danny fished on the 3 Locks Upper section on the Grand Union Canal on 14th June. They fished for 5 hours. Danny Worth took the win and is through to the next round.

Result

Danny Worth 3lb 12oz

Daniel Carr 1lb

Pair 4 - Syd Wilson and Roger Baker

Syd and Roger fished their round match on the canal at Town South oin the 25th June. Syd took the win with 11oz, and Roger had 2oz. The result could have been different if Roger had not lost 2 fish, he was smashed up and lost the rig and his elastic was snapped by a carp, he also dropped a bream, which was potentially between 3&4lbs. But at least he did not blank for a change. Well done Syd on the win and getting through to Round 2. Roger said he is looking forward to competing again next year.

Result

Syd Wilson 11oz

Roger Baker 2oz

Pair 5 - Dennis Hunt and Paul Carr

Dennis and Pauls chosen venue on 27th June was the canal at Grove Church, and they fished from 4:35pm till 8:35pm. Dennis was catching mainly roach at 7m but came off that line to go for larger roach or a bonus bream in caster at 11m the roach were slightly bigger but no bonus fish finishing with a weight of 2lb 6oz. Paul was fishing at 5m for most of the match catching mainly small skimmers on single red maggot over ground bait a switch to single caster brought a couple of nice sized canal roach (both of which were vicious takes) finishing with a weight of 2lb 11oz 8drm. Both found bites hard to connect with at times, with most just being small dips of the float. Both anglers were also plagued by crayfish. Well done Paul who is through to Round 2.

Result

Paul Carr 2lb 11oz 8drm

Dennis Hunt 2lb 6oz

Dennis Hunt - Pick and Choose Round 1

Paul Carr - Pick and Choose Round 1

Pair 6 - Richard Gibbs and Stephen Holliday

Stephen Holliday, is automatically through to round as unfortunately his opponent Richard Gibbs was unable to compete due to illness and they were unable to reschedule before the deadline (29th June).

Result

Stephen Holliday - Not Fished (automatically through)

Richard Gibbs - Unable to fish due to illness.

Pair 7 Sean Leatherland and Peter Mills

Fished their round 1 match during one of the usual Wednesday matches on 11th June. The water was low and clear on the day with minimal boat traffic. Fishing proved to be very difficult, but a quirk of the draw bag saw Sean and Peter actually pegged next to each other in the middle of the overall match. Peter caught one large bream (bread punch) early in the match and together with a few smaller fish outweighed Sean who caught one smaller bream (red maggot) and a few bits to finish slightly behind at the final whistle.

Result

Peter Mills - 4lb 7oz

Sean Leatherland - 3lb 3oz

Pair - 8 Adrian Smith and Richard Darbon

Adrian and Richard fished at Braggenham Side towards Three Locks on the 26th June. A very pleasant evening match with both anglers adoping similar pinkie over groundbait methods. Richard got off to a flying start and caught first but his next bite was from a crayfish which seemed to affect his swim. Adrian fished at the bottom of the far shelf and following a short wait for a bite then managed to pick up small fish in his catch to take the win with 2lb 7oz and is through to the next round. But all is all with great company and friendly banter it was a great way to spend a sunny evening.

Result

Adrian Smith 2lb 7oz

Richard Darbon 5oz

Pair 9 - Colin Holmes and Ian Orbell

Colin and Ian were the final pair to fish their round 1 match. They fished today at Grove Church. It was very sunny and hot with lots of boat traffic. Ian Orbell claimed his place in Round 2 with 4lb 6oz, and Colin had 1lb 12oz.

Result

Ian Orbell 4lb 6oz

Colin Holmes 1lb 12oz

The anglers through to Round 2 and their pairings are......

Pair 1 Danny Worth & Paul Carr

Pair 2 Myles Tommey & Peter Mills

Pair 3 Adrian Smith & Syd Wilson

Pair 4 Jack O'Brien & Stephen Holliday

Pair 5 Ian Orbell & Keith Ward

Round 2 Matches must be completed by Sunday 20th July.

Thats all for this weeks report.

Tight Lines Until Next Week!

Dave

Luton AC

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 6th July 2025

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 29th June 2025