Here is a round up of this weeks news, information and catch reports from Luton Angling Club. This report covers the period from 3rd November through to the 16th November as I was out of the country on holiday so was unable to do the report last weekend.
Beckerings Reservoir
Family Trio, Damien Fitzpatrick, Daughter Poppy and Abby Leanne fished Beckerings, and all of them had success, For Poppy her first fish of the session was a lovely 15lb mirror, the second fish was a 19lb 2oz common, followed by the third a 14lb mirror
Her fourth fish was a 16lb mirror and to end the session Poppy caught her 5th fish another common of 15lb caught just as they were packing up, it's one of her best sessions yet. She caught all fish using the following baits 3 on shrimp and pepper 14mm with a small red topper and 2 were caught on a 18mm papi nut with a trimmed down pink pop up all rods baited with a pva mesh and a few boilies over the top both rigs a slip d multi rig with a Mamba Baits and tackle size 6 offset krank.
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| Poppy - Beckerings Mirror |
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Abby Leanne had her first fish at 7pm, a lovely 24lb common on a single 18mm Papinut with a PVA bag. The second followed at 10pm a tidy 19lb fish on Papinut with a trimmed down pink pop-up and a size 4 Mamba Crank. To end the session, Fish number 3 came at 4am a lovely 16lb mirror on shrimp and pepper with a small red topper and a size 6 curve shank. Fish number 4 was a common, again falling to Papinut with a trimmed pink pop-up on a size 4 Mamba Crank. In total she had six runs and landed four.
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| Abby Leanne Williams - Beckerings |
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Just before bed he changed the right rod to half an 18mm shrimp and pepper boilie with half a pop up on top, he put a bag on it and sent it to a new spot where he had seen fish showing.
At 3 am the rod screamed of and he knew he had a good fish on the end of his line it felt like he was pulling in a log it came in very slowly and put up a good scrap all the way to the net - a beautiful 27lb 6oz big scaled Mirror.
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| Damien Fitzpatrick - Beckerings |
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Liam Newton caught 2 pike, one small Jack and another that was 13lb and 95cm long.
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| Liam Newton South Lagoo |
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| Liam Newton - South Lagoon |
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| Liam Newton - South Lagoon |
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| Grzegorz - South Lagoon |
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North House Lake
Paul Parkinson fished North House on Saturday for a 24 hour session and managed this lovely Common, he didn’t weight it but reckons it was around the 24lb mark, it was caught on a wafter and chopped boiles.
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| Paul Parkinson - North House Lake |
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Damien Zabrzanski did a 48 hour session and managed to get this lovely pike at 87cm it was caught on dead bait a nice looking fish in good condition.
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| Damien Zabrzanski - North House Lake |
Grand Union Canal
Lee Waring spent a couple of hours on the canal legering worms. The session produced around 10 Perch around the size of the one in his hand and then another at 2lb 12oz (he lost one of a similar size at the bank 5 minutes previous to this one!)
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| Lee Waring - Grand Union Canal |
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| Lee Waring - Grand Union Canal |
Coaching Update
Kingfisher Junior Coaching - On the bank at Town South (8th November)
We had Molly, Noah, Thomas, Daniel, Joe and Alex attend, and all were really keen to practice fishing bread punch with liquidised bread or fishing Pinkies, loose feeding pinkies or squatt. All our young anglers caught well and really appreciated the brief session.
Molly’s Gran Sue, said Molly enjoyed the suspense of finding out which fish she might catch next, with 6 perch , 5 roach , 1 skimmer and a gudgeon plus her biggest achievement so far of two decent bream, she definitely hadn’t caught anything that big before!
John Ellis, the brains behind ‘Lets Fish’ paid us a visit on the bank and watched our young anglers fishing, unhooking and handling their fish and was very impressed, saying Luton have some really talented young anglers.
We don’t know when the next bankside session will be as it’s so weather dependant at this time of year, but we have our next indoor session at Bushmead on Saturday 22nd when we will be making rigs, mixing groundbait, playing angling games and a whole lot more, and our young anglers are really looking forward to attending.
Thanks to all the parents for helping our young anglers, we couldn’t do this without your support, if you know a young person keen to learn to fish, get in touch with us, I’m sure we can help.
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| Molly with a Grand Union Canal Bream |
Match Report for Wednesday 12th November 2025
13 anglers made the journey to St Neots with some trepidation for a match held upon one of our best stretches of the River Ouse at Eaton Ford. The worry was the state of the traffic at the Black Cat Roundabout at the junction of the A421 with the A1, together with a weather forecast for rain for most of the day. In the event our fears turned out to be groundless as the latest improvements to the Black Cat Roundabout ensured a painless transition to the Northbound A1. Additionally, the weather forecast of rain did not significantly materialise as the Met office had not allowed for the fact that our great Progenitor, Dennis Hunt was not with us. Thus, the Rain God showed mercy.
The venue has some problems with fallen trees which made certain pegs unfishable, hence the reason for only 13 anglers as that is the number that we were advised could be accommodated. However, we must mention that Malcolm Ogden was again not well enough to join us. Our best wishes go to him for a speedy recovery to good health and we look forward to seeing his cheery face on the bank very soon.
Once again, the indispensable Ray Burton - to whom we offer again our sincere gratitude, stepped into the breach to administer matters practical and financial to ensure that the match went ahead smoothly and efficiently. Eaton Ford is permanently pegged with no moorings, so Barry Roper was excused his usual jaunt to reconnoitre and peg the stretch, although he did check to see which pegs were fishable. After that it was nice that Barry could relax for once.
The river appeared to be in good condition with a little colour and a steady flow. Our meteorological Guru Tony Hickmott advised that the water temperature was 12 degrees centigrade which more or less matched the air temperature at the time of the draw. However, these conditions did not last as the pace of the flow increased as the match progressed and despite most anglers experiencing a good start to the match with a few fish, some began to struggle after the first 2 hours.
Even so all the pegs did find some fish. Pegs 1 and 2 produced the best weights as will be seen in the list below. Richard Darbon put his fingers into his Jam Pot and drew peg 1, a renowned flier. He put his wide experience to good use, opting to fish with a heavy maggot feeder with 2 red maggots on a size 16 hook, casting about one third of the way across the river (a method commonly known as “Chuck it and Chance it). This method produced a good number of small Chublets, some quality Roach and 2 reasonable sized Perch. That mixture weighed in at 5lbs 6oz which was long way ahead of second place. We do suspect that Richard had another incentive because he had wangled a day’s fishing on his wife’s Birthday, so he needed the winnings from the pools to buy Flowers and Chocolates to get him out of the Doghouse!
Nonetheless, well done Richard, a deserved win for being the only one to read the water conditions correctly.
In second place on peg 2 was Paul Carr. Paul only just arrived in time for the draw as he got lost on the way to the venue. He blamed the Sat Nav – he had to blame something for staying in bed too long! Paul opted to fish with a pole rig of 4 sections feeding 2 large balls of groundbait at the start and loose fed maggot and hemp. This short line produced some Bleak. The bleak went off after 90 minutes of the match with only one perch coming after that time. Paul then switched to a feeder rig which still only produced 2 Perch, so he switched back to his short line which did produce more small Roach and Bleak for the remainder of the Match. His total weight for 30 fish was 2lbs 1oz 8 drams.
In Third place with 1lb 14oz was Colin Holmes. Colin bucked the trend of early pegs by drawing peg 16 and opted to try for Perch, using lobworm on the hook. As this proved to be fruitless, Colin declared that the Perch in his swim were vegetarians and so he had to rely on maggot for small roach like the rest of us. Nonetheless, he was rewarded for his perseverance and did produce enough fish to get into the frame. In fourth place was Barry Roper with 1lb 6oz
The weigh in was conducted jointly by the indefatigable Ray Burton with assistance from Tony Hickmott. We are blessed with so many good people who readily pitch in to help with all matters relating to the day.
A deep felt Thank you to all those mentioned.
The overall result of the Match was as follows: -
1st Richard Darbon 5 lbs 6oz
2nd Paul Carr 2lbs 1oz 8drams
3rd Colin Holmes1lb 14oz
4th Barry Roper 1lb 11oz
5th Graham Stringer 1lbs 7oz
6th Simon Foulkes 1lbs 6oz **
Joint 7th Tony Hickmott 11oz & Mark Sessions 11oz
9th Terry Vickers 9oz
Joint 10th Les Burton 7oz&Dave Ridley 7oz
12th Ray Burton 3oz
Andy Frankum DNW
Our next match is at on a foreign venue on Twin Lakes Fishery at Biddenham on Wednesday 19th November 2025. Draw at the venue at 8.30am, £5.00 optional pools plus £2.00 Pegging Fee, plus the Day Ticket Cost of £10.00 Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm.
For anyone thinking of joining us for the first time please message Dennis Hunt or Ray Burton so we know you are coming before turning up. This will help us to manage the booking of pegging of this 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 12th November |
Match Report – Town South, Grand Union Canal – 5th November
This week we were fishing Town South and, having checked the venue earlier in the week, we knew the length had few moored boats, so we had plenty of space for the 17 pegs needed.
We met as usual by the white bridge to do our peg draw on a fine and unseasonably warm November morning with an air temperature of 12C, which rose during the day. There was initially no wind, but around lunchtime a strong breeze blowing directly along the cut from the south gave the day a much colder feel, despite the rise in air temperature.
The canal had some colour, but is clearing as the temperature drops, the water temperature being measured this week at 12C—still high for the time of year—and we thought the canal might fish well. We had a few boats pass which gave no trouble, going quietly down the middle of the cut. Sadly, there were few fireworks, as it soon became apparent that for whatever reason the fish didn’t really seem keen to feed, and known banker swims failed to produce.
Colin McBeth started by feeding three lines at around 3m, 8m and 11m. He started on the 11m line with pinkie over groundbait and caught small perch and roach, and lost a big fish after about 40 mins (thought to be a perch), but continued to catch on this line for a while, getting a further two nice perch. Colin topped up with more groundbait when it slowed up and then fished the inside with punch while that line settled, taking a couple of skimmers. He then went back to the 11m line and started catching again, including a nice perch. Despite trying the 8m line for a while, he had nothing on that, so Colin went back to 11m and continued catching roach, perch and a few skimmers till the end of the match, ending the day with 7lb 15oz to take first place.
Chris Howard started by fishing bread punch down the track for skimmers and small roach, with fluoro pinkie down the edge for bits. He also opened a line with worm for large perch and skimmers. Chris reported losing a couple of larger fish during the match due to lost hook holds, which was disappointing. Chris, however, managed to put 6lb 15oz on the scales to finish second.
Jim Tookey finished 3rd, and started brightly fishing pinkie over groundbait early, switching to loose feeding pinkie later. After the first couple of hours, however, the swim fizzled out, and Jim said he struggled during the afternoon but had enough to take 3rd with 3lb 4oz.
Mark Sessions and Barry Roper tied for 4th place. Barry started on punch fishing two lines without a bite. He then switched to maggot and pinkie and caught mainly perch and roach with about a dozen ruffe.
Mark fished just over the first shelf on the pole using a size 18 hook, feeding pinkies and groundbait. Mark’s bag was mainly skimmers with roach, with perch making up the rest of the weight. Mark reported having had pike attacking his net with about an hour and a half left, which completely killed his swim, so he changed and fished the waggler on the far shelf and was able to catch a few more roach and perch which also fell to pinkies, ending with 3lb 3oz.
Thanks again go to our pegger Barry Roper, Ray Burton for his sterling work with the admin, and all those who helped with the weigh-in, including Roger Baker who was back helping after falling over recently on a patch of wet slippery leaves.
While the day wasn’t easy, we all enjoyed the company and our day out on the canal—and best of all, we didn’t get wet for once!
Results
1st Colin McBeth – 7lb 15oz
2nd Chris Howard – 6lb 15oz
3rd Jim Tookey – 3lb 4oz
4th (Joint) Mark Sessions & Barry Roper – 3lb 3oz
6th Andy Francome – 2lb 11oz
7th Sean Leatherland – 2lb 9oz
8th Colin Holmes – 2lb 5oz
9th Tim Watts – 2lb 2oz
10th Richard Darbon – 2lb 0oz 8drm
11th Dennis Hunt – 2lb 0oz
12th Simon Foulkes – 1lb 11oz
13th Terry Vickers – 1lb 6oz
14th Dudley Frankland – 1lb 5oz
15th Ray Burton – 0lb 8oz
16th Noah Summerfield – 0lb 6oz
17th Tony Hickmott – 0lb 2oz
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Next Match
Wednesday 12th November
Eaton Ford
Draw: 8.30am at the venue
Fish: 10.00am – 3.00pm
Pools:£5.00 (optional)
£2.00 Luton pegging fee
New participants (must be club members) are welcome! Please message us in advance so we can peg accordingly. Don’t forget your club membership book—it must be shown at your first match.
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| Wednesday Match 5th November |
Pairs knockout final- Sunday 2nd November - The Globe Inn.
The final was fished from 9:45am to 2:45pm and the weather was mild.
A couple of early boats put some colour into a clearish canal, but this soon fell away with only two more boats passing through during the match. Leaves were very troublesome for both anglers throughout the match. Pete’s peg got the brunt of it and for the mid part of the match the peg was completely covered in a dense mat, to the point where Ian stopped fishing and kindly came over to assist, both spent 20 minutes clearing, scooping leaves onto the bank with landing nets.
Pete started on the 4m line with punch and caught a few 1oz roach in a row, which raised hopes unnecessarily! it then quickly died and the fishing got harder.
Persevering on the inside line on punch for 3 hrs, whilst intermittently potting in caster on the far shelf, saw odd bites from small hand sized skimmers, but surprisingly no micro roach showed. When possible (subject to leaves) a try with caster on the far shelf didn’t produce, a switch to flouro pinky improved things adding a few small perch before going quiet. The last hour was spent back on punch on the more productive 4m line, adding another 6 small skimmers before the whistle.
Ian drew the peg nearer to the swing bridge and started on the inside line on punch, producing a few roach before tailing off quickly. A switch to pinky on the same line added some small perch. After the hour mark, having potted chopped worm onto the far bank swim, Ian went across and started catching smallish perch and roach.
Ian stuck to this line for most of the match, alternating between the shallow far bank and dropping down the shelf, topping up with worm as the bites slowed. A couple of ‘bonus’ 5oz perch from this line were taken, but also a couple of longish blank spells made for a frustrating day.
Both anglers agreed prior to the match that they wanted a fair section without any ‘flyers’ and this is how it panned out, Ian’s net taking the scales to 3lb 5oz. Pete’s went 3lb 8oz. A small winning margin, probably one fish either way, saw Pete through.
Hand shakes all round and a long walk back!
Finally a quick word for the unfortunate Jack O’Brien who was also a finalist but was unable to fish due to a last minute call up to play rugby on the Sunday.
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| Pairs Knockout Final |
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| Pairs Knockout Final |
That is all we have for this week, Keep your catch reports coming in via all the usual methods.
Tight Lines,
Dave
Luton Angling Club
