Luton Angling Club - Weekly News Reports

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - 9th August 2026

Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, venue updates, and catch reports from across all Luton Angling Club waters week ending 9th August 2026.

Another warm and settled week across Bedfordshire, with only the lightest touch of rain here and there. Most anglers enjoyed dry banks and comfortable conditions, although the midweek match group did get caught out by an unexpected shower — almost certainly due to the attendance of Dennis Hunt, whose long‑standing reputation for summoning rain remains as reliable as ever.

There haven't been a huge number of catch reports this week so please do send them in if you get out fishing.

South Lagoon

Amer Jawad had a short two and half hour session on Monday evening which was his first time on the bank since May). He had 3 nice bream and a skimmer with plenty of bites from skimmers too.

Amer Jawad - South Lagoon

Beckerings Reservoir

Declan Phillips and his son Billy have been fishing Beckerings over the last few weeks and have had some great sessions and sent in multiple pictures from across their sessions. Here are a selection of their catches

Beckerings Reservoir

Kieron had a 14.7lb Ghosty looking Carp out of Beckerings Sunday evening on a little short evening session with his partner before work tomorrow. He tried out a new bait and it paid off just as they were about to pack up.

Beckerings Reservoir

Roy Blacker and his pal Adam did 24hrs at Beckerings, It was Adam’s first session at the reservoir and he was mainly targeting the cats but did switch one rod for a few hours for carp and managed 2 nice commons 16lb and 17lb. For Roy after 5 bream in a row he switched tactics and managed to land 6 Carp with the biggest being 22.6lb and the smallest 13lb, no cats on this occasion but Adam is now on a mission to catch one so watch this space.

Beckerings Reservoir

Biddenham - River Ouse

Steve and Bill had their first visit to Biddenham. They fished Pegs 7 & 8 and managed a few fish Roach,Perch, Skimmers and Jack Pike caught on maggots and corn down the margins but they were hindered by scum on the surface.

Biddenham - River Ouse

Report from the 4th Round of the 2026 Sunday Series

Sunday 19th July 2026 staged the 4th round of the Sunday Series on the River Gt Ouse at Biddenham.  A lovely venue, with good parking and easy access to the river.   Thanks go to the club bailiffs for looking after this venue so well.

11 anglers took part and once again, were met with warm and very sunny conditions which made fishing tough.

Winner on the day was Sean Leatherland.  Drawing peg 11, Sean fished the pole at around 10 metres and fed maggots, casters and pinkie over ground bait to catch over 100 fish for 5lb 12 ozs and an easy win on the day

In second place was the ever consistent Myles Tommey.   Myles has a knack of drawing well in the Sunday matches and this match was no exception.  Drawing end peg 19 Myles demonstrated his great fishing ability to catch 4lb 1 ozs and keep himself at the top of the leagues leaderboard.

Myles was followed closely by Dave Whillock in 3rd place who is also keeping up with Myles on the leaderboard .  Dave fished mostly worm over chopped worm and ground bait to catch mostly perch for a weight of 3lb 3ozs 8 drms.

The 2026 Sunday Series will continue on 16th August 2026 on the Grand Union Canal at Slapton.  Draw 8:30am and fish 10am to 3pm.

This is a friendly league and anyone interested in joining, please let the organiser know. The matches are open to eligible club members and if you are joining us for the first time can we ask that you message us so we know you are coming before turning up.  You will be asked to produce your Club book at first appearance, so please have it with you 

Match Result - Sunday Series

Overall Standings - Sunday Series

Match Report 5th August Danni’s Lake How End

It was warm and bright with a nice blue sky as we met at How End on Wednesday, but after our draw the dark clouds appeared, and we all realised our rain god Dennis was back on the bank with us after several weeks away. 

True to form as we were setting up the wind got up and a brief but heavy cold rain shower caught most unprepared, a few had taken umbrellas and jackets but most of us just got wet. 

However, the sun soon came out again accompanied by a stiff breeze and we all managed to dry out!

Danni's was low due to lack of rainfall, but was holding good colour, and most fishing were in for a real red letter day with four weights over 100lb recorded, the Carp being in full on feeding mode.

Colin Kidd had top weight using a top kit and top kit plus one. For bait he was using 6 mm banded pellets, while feeding micros, 4mm and 6mm pellets, Colin ended the session with 189lb 3oz, a Luton Wednesday record weight. Colin who is a bit of a commercial specialist commented it was a thoroughly enjoyable day on a brilliant venue

Jim Tookey spent the first 90 mins fishing shallow for the big Ide but then changed to fish the margin for Carp with pellet. Jim decided to change as with lots of Carp being caught by others he realised he wasn’t getting enough weight in the nets by staying on the silvers and needed to get some bigger fish to stay in contention. He finished second taking 137lb 2oz  

Dave (The Bream) Whillock started on a method feeder using corn on the hook and had a couple of fish on this method early on. While fishing this way Dave was continually feeding the margin with caster, pellet and corn and after about an hour and a half he switched to pellet in the margins, and caught carp almost continuously for the rest of the session ending with 129lb 6oz for third

Colin Holmes started by putting two balls of ground bait, pellets and hemp either side of his keepnets in the margins. Initially he caught a few skimmers, Ide and roach at top kit plus 2. He was mortified later when he came to weigh in to find most of these silver fish had escaped through big hole in net he had chosen. Colin said as soon as he saw movement around his nets where he had been feeding, he went onto paste (made with fishery bought 2mm pellets soaked) and started to catch the Carp.

Colin was very honest at the end of the day, owning to 3 big mistakes, he should have used a pole pot to feed as he thought he had too much bait spread around and this resulted in foul hooking fish, checked more frequently the line was not caught around top of the pole, and the biggest one of all carefully check the fishery nets you choose for holes!

Many thanks to Phil Tanya and Pip for making us welcome and to all those who assisted with the admin and the weighing in, the scales crew had a hard job with multiple weighs on many of the nets yesterday.

Results
1st Colin Kidd 189lb 3oz  
2nd Jim Tookey 137lb 2oz  
3rd Dave Whillock 129lb 6oz  
4th Colin Holmes 118lb 1oz  
5th Keith Ward 66lb 5oz  
6th Ray Burton 63lb 9oz  
7th Les Burton 63lb 3oz  
8th Sam Rose 54lb 3oz  
9th Simon Foulkes 49lb 10oz
10th Sean Leatherland 48lb 1oz  
11th Graham Stringer 45lb 0oz  
12th Andy Frankum 39lb 12oz  
13th Dennis Hunt 21lb 7oz  
14th Mark Sessions 20lb 0oz

Our next match is Wednesday 12 August and is on the GUC at Braggenham Side, meet for an 8.30 draw as usual, £5.00 optional pools, 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.
How End - Danni's - Midweek Match
Fixture Updates for Members
A couple of late additions to our fixtures list to be aware of:
Oakwood Summer League – Round 5 has been relocated from Northampton to the GUC at Slapton & Ivinghoe. The match will take place on Sunday 23rd August 2026.
Biddenham will be closed on Sunday 6th September 2026 for an external WDNAC match.
These fixtures aren’t in the printed membership books, so please make a note if you’re planning your weekends. We have updated the website events calendar accordingly.

That's all we have this week, please keep your catch reports coming in, you can submit them via our social media pages or via the catch report section of the club website.

Tight Lines,

Dave M
Luton AC

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - 2nd August 2026

Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, venue updates, and catch reports from across all Luton Angling Club waters week ending 2nd August 2026.

It has been another scorching week across the region, with unrelenting sunshine, high daytime temperatures. Forecasts indicate that Bedfordshire will experience temperatures in the mid - high twenties again this week with mostly dry weather with only a small chance of light rain or drizzle on Tuesday.

A reminder to take care of yourselves and our fish during the hot weather, Prolonged hot weather causes low oxygen levels putting additional stress on fish. Our fisheries teams are keeping a close eye on our waters and the club will take any steps necessary to protect our fish stocks.

FISHERS GREEN - RIVER LEA CLOSURE & PIKE FISHING RESTRICTIONS
The committee at Fishers Green have informed us that due to critically low water levels and reduced oxygen levels, the river is closed to all fishing with immediate effect until further notice.

Conditions will be monitored closely, and the situation will be reviewed on a daily basis. We will provide updates as soon as it is safe to reopen.

To help protect the welfare of the fish, this closure also includes all pike lure fishing on the lakes and the relief channel.

In addition there has been several reports of dead and distressed eels in waters throughout the Lee valley between Broxbourne and Waltham Cross. Our waters Slipe Lane Pits and Fishers Green are in this catchment.

If anyone observes a dead or moribund eel please take a photo and provide us with a what 3 words location or National Grid Reference so that we can provide these details to the EA. Alternatively please call the EA incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60.

The EA Fisheries team have recently obtained a freshly dead eel to take to their National Fisheries Laboratory, to be screened for several eel specific pathogens, but they would welcome more specimens for examination.

Molly's Magic 100

Firstly this week we have another Let's Fish success story written by Sue Brown who is Molly's Grandma. Although this catch wasn't from a Luton AC water we are always pleased to report on the progress and success of the juniors that have attended our Let's Fish Events! - Well Done Molly!

"Molly first discovered fishing through the Let's Fish initiative last summer. She enjoyed it so much that she soon joined Luton Angling Club and later attended the winter coaching sessions run by the club’s volunteer coaches.  Those sessions developed her skills enormously and, just as importantly, gave her the confidence to keep learning.

She's certainly not from a fishing family, although her Grandad has learned a great deal alongside Molly and he now takes her out whenever there is a chance. Most of our trips have been to the canal at Slapton, which is quite a journey for us. 

However, with the Tring Anglers section of the canal at Broughton being only a mile from our home, we thought we would see what it had to offer.

Armed with fresh pinkies collected from Aylesbury that morning and some Sensas 3000 Canal Groundbait, we found a nice shady spot on what turned out to be a sweltering hot day. After mixing the bait, plumbing the depth and assembling the rod, Molly was ready to begin.

She started fishing at 9.00 a.m. By 11.30 she had already reached the target we had optimistically agreed beforehand—20 fish. But, as every angler knows, there's always the temptation of "just one more!"

That one more became 30… then 40… then 50… and before we knew it, Molly had reached the magical milestone of 100 fish! Considering that previous outings had produced seven or eight fish, with perhaps 20 on a really good day, this was nothing short of remarkable. Her catch included a lovely mix of perch, roach, rudd and bream—although she was slightly disappointed not to add a gudgeon to the tally! She finally packed away at 4.00 p.m., tired but absolutely delighted.

Perhaps even more rewarding than the number of fish was seeing how much Molly's confidence has grown in such a short time. She now handles fish carefully and confidently and has become much more proficient at unhooking them herself..

One of the real strengths of Luton Angling Club is that the coaching doesn't stop when the sessions finish. A quick message to the junior coaching WhatsApp group asking for advice on why fish were coming off the hook during the landing process brought several helpful replies almost immediately. 

That ongoing support is an invaluable resource for both young anglers and their parents, providing encouragement, practical advice and regular contact with the coaches throughout the summer.

We simply wouldn't be fishing today without the time, patience and generosity of Dennis, Roger, Richard and Mark and Neil. 

Their enthusiasm, knowledge and willingness to support both juniors and complete beginners have opened up a wonderful new hobby for our family. 

Watching Molly achieve her first 100-fish day was something we'll all remember for a long time, and it's a testament to everything the club's coaching programme is achieving.

Thank you, Luton Angling Club, for inspiring the next generation of anglers"
Molly's Magic 100
Molly's Magic 100
Upcoming Let's Fish Events
Let's Fish - Upcoming Summer Events. Each year in conjunction with the Canal and River Trust, Luton Angling Club host several learn-to-fish introductory taster events called Let's Fish! 

They're suitable for adults and children aged six or over. Details on our upcoming events can be found at the links below.

4th August 2026
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../lets-fish-leighton...
13th August 2026
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../lets-fish-berkhamstead...
18th August 2026
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../lets-fish-stoke-hammond... 
28th August 2026
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../lets-fish-berkhamstead...

Let's Fish Events
North House Lake
Having not fished at North House for 25 years Andy Childs had his first fish of the year a 17lb 13oz dark Common. He said "It's great to be back, Love it"
Andy Childs - North House Lake 17lb 13oz
Beckerings Reservoir
Members should be aware that water levels at Beckerings are currently very low. Please take extra care when fishing, minimise handling, and carefully consider the amount of bait you use to avoid any water quality problems.
Beckerings Low Water Levels - 01/08/26
Abby Williams had a great session at Beckerings with 8 carp on the bank! The biggest fish was a 25lb 8oz mirror. Voodoo Baits Dark Spell topped with Citrus spell wafter was the standout combination, accounting for 6 of the 8 carp, while Voodoo Baits Forbidden Fruit landed the other 2, including the biggest fish of the session.
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Abby Williams - Beckerings
Nathan Edwards had a new PB at 24lb from Beckerings last Saturday. It was caught on a bottom bait - double 15mm red robin boilie. He also had another Common of 22lb on an 18mm Scopex.
Nathan Edwards - Beckerings
Nathan Edwards - Beckerings
Nathan Edwards - Beckerings
Nathan Edwards - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell had his first trip to Beckerings this week and wasn't disappointed he fished Peg 3 and caught 5 in total but lost another 3, Most of them were caught after dark. The biggest being a 24lb 6oz common and a lovely mirror to finish the session all caught on OMC paella boilies with paella pellets and ground bait and some paella gravy
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Anthony Ansell - Beckerings
Match Report - Wed 29th July 2026. 
River Nene - Barnwell Plantation.
The Wednesday group were due to fish Wellingboroughs section of the R. Nene at Barnwell Marina, but due to heavy weed growth, and despite the best weed clearing efforts of Wellingboroughs work party, it was deemed unfishable and an alternative venue was hastily offered by Wellingborough Chairman, Ivor Stokes.  
So it was to the Nene at the Barnwell Plantation section that 16 Wednesday group members headed to brave the 4th heatwave of the year. As this section of the River is a fair distance from the road we made our journey along a track through pleasant plantation woodland until eventually arriving beside the river around half a mile later. 
The recent and ongoing drought conditions were having an obvious effect with the river gin clear and with very little flow. Despite this there was the usual enthusiasm and good banter, the latter surely one of the best reasons for being there! 
The initial enthusiasm though, somewhat predictably given the conditions did not result in anything resembling a 'red letter' day. 
There could be many adjectives to adequately describe the day, for example tough, demanding, tricky or arduous, but  let's just stick with challenging and disappointing. Predictably weights were low and bites were hard to find, especially from the famous River Nene Roach. The Waltham Abbey raider, otherwise known as Dave Whillock took top spot using a combination of groundbait feeder with worm hookbait and pole at 11m to take Rudd, Perch and Gudgeon and a lovely Tench of around 2lbs.
Second placed Barry Roper fished a 9m whip alternating hookbait between worm, caster and hemp to take chublets, perch and roach. Barry fed hemp in the last 2 hours and was one of the few to find the roach. 
Third placed Andy Frankum fished groundbait caster and worm down the middle and hemp and caster 5m out to take chublets, perch and gudgeon mostly on worm.
Full Result
1. Dave Whilock    4. 9. 8.
2. Barry Roper       4. 8. 0.
3. Andy Frankum  3. 10.0
4. Simon Foulkes  2. 5. 0.
5. Bart Bonito        1. 15.0.
6. Graham Stringer 1.10.0.
7. Dave Abbott       1. 9. 0.
8. Keith Ward          1. 7. 0.
9. Tony Hickmott    1. 6. 0.
10. Dave Ridley          1. 3. 8.
11. Richard Gibbs      1. 2. 0.
12. Les Burton            1. 0. 0.
13. Colin Holmes       0. 12.0.
14. Pete Smith           0. 10.0.
15. Ray Burton           0. 9. 8.
16. Richard Darbon    DNW
Once again, and as usual there was a team effort with members stepping up to assist with pegging, thank you Andy Frankum and Dave Whilock and to Ray Burton for conducting the draw. Thanks also to Colin Holmes and Dave Ridley for weighing in pegs 1 to 8 and additional thanks to Andy Frankum and Dave Whillock for weighing in pegs 9 to 16. No photographs again this week as preferring instead to return fish as quickly as possible given the weather conditions. 
We are grateful to Ivor Stokes for arranging the change of venue and for visiting us on the bank, It's always a pleasure to see him! 
Next wednesday we are at How End Fishery on Danis Lake. Please do not get to the venue before 8am. 
Draw as usual at 8.30am fish 10am to 3pm. 
Lastly our best wishes go out to regulars Terry Vickers and Malcolm Ogden who have not been able to join us lately. We look forward to seeing them both back on the bank soon.
GUC Summer Evening Series - Round 3
The third round of the GUC Summer Evening Series was held at The Globe on Thursday 23 July.
Eight anglers (including two Luton juniors) gathered for the 5pm draw & were welcomed by a large number of boats moored nose to tail from the pub towards Leighton Buzzard, possibly due to the Linslade Canal Festival at Tiddenfoot over the following weekend. 
Plans adapted, the anglers made their way towards their pegs on the “soldier blue” side of the pub. All anglers caught small skimmers roach and perch throughout the match with bonus fish absent. 
Winning angler, Sean Leatherland, started the match on a 3.5m line and caught small skimmers from the start on pinkie over groundbait. 
When this line slowed, further skimmers small roach and perch on pinkie and large red maggot were found on 9m line for a winning weight of 6lbs 4oz.
Results:
1st - Sean Leatherland 6-4-0
2nd - Tim Watts 5-3-0
3rd - Pete Mills 2-8-0
4th - Chris Howard 2-5-0
5th - Paul Carr 1-11-0
6th - Dylan Carr 0-11-0
7th - Daniel Carr 0-8-8
8th - Mark Sessions - DNW (tipped back)
Next round - 13th August - The Globe (boats permitting!). Please note the draw for this one will be at 4pm, fish 5pm to 8pm, so we don’t need torches to see the scales next time.
This competition is a four round evening series of matches of 3 hours duration to be fished on the GUC on Thursday evenings. The best 3 points results out of the 4 matches will count and standard Luton Match rules apply.
League standings after three rounds:
Chris Howard - 56 points (3 matches)
Dudley Frankland - 38 points (2 matches)
Sean Leatherland - 37 points (2 matches)
Pete Mills - 36 points (2 matches)
Mark Sessions - 35 points (3 matches)
Colin Macbeth - 19 points (1 match)
Tim Watts - 19 points (1 match)
Richard Darbon - 16 points (1 match)
Paul Carr - 16 points (1 match)
Dylan Carr - 15 points (1 match)
Daniel Carr - 14 points (1 match)
GUC Summer Evening Series - Round 3
STRICT FIRE BAN & Fire Safety Reminder
Unfortunately we are seeing evidence of open fires at some of our waters. In particular Biddenham and Eaton Ford - it is likely these were the work of people who should not be at the venue, often arriving on boats, canoes and paddleboards. 
The banks, surrounding fields, and grass banks at ALL our venues are currently tinderbox-dry. A fire can quickly get out of control and cause major damage to surrounding properties, farmland as well as harming wildlife. We have a strict fire ban at ALL our venues.
No Open Fires or BBQs: Under no circumstances are open fires or charcoal/disposable BBQs permitted anywhere on club property or leased waters.
Cooking Stoves: Only stable, raised camping stoves are permitted. Ensure they are set up away from long dry grass or overhanging vegetation and are never left unattended.
Cigarette Butts: Please ensure all smoking materials are completely extinguished in a metal container or tin and carried home with your litter. A single stray ember poses a massive risk to wildlife, surrounding farm crops, and our venues.
Evidence of a fire at Biddenham

WORK PARTY - SLIPE LANE PITS 08/08/26 & 09/08/26
The Slipe Lane Pits complex will be closed on the 8th & 9th August for work parties.
Any members that attend the work party are more than welcome to fish in the evening/overnight.
If you are able to lend a hand it would be appreciated.
Meet in the car park at 8am on each day.

That's all we have this week, please keep your catch reports coming in, you can submit them via our social media pages or via the catch report section of the club website.

Tight Lines,

Dave M
Luton AC