Here is all this week’s news and catch reports from Luton Angling Club. With the Coronavirus pandemic spiralling out of control and the new national lockdown announced on the 5th January it was not looking good for us anglers. Initial information provided to the Angling Trust by the cabinet office on 4th January suggested in no uncertain terms that fishing would not be allowed to continue during the third lockdown. This was a massive blow to the angling community as there is no doubt as to the benefits of fishing on individual health and wellbeing both physically and mentally.
Behind the scenes the Angling Trust continued to lobby parliament and present a case to the government and on 7th January there was somewhat of a U Turn and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed “fishing is allowed as exercise so long as participants adhere to the rules on staying local, gathering limits, social distancing and limiting the time spent outdoors. This has also been confirmed by DEFRA: “The Cabinet Office have now officially confirmed that angling / fishing (incl. sea fishing off private boats, water sports) can be considered exercise and are hence permitted.”
The Angling Trust have worked extremely hard to reach this position and we as anglers have a duty to abide by the strict conditions under which fishing is once again permitted. With infection rates and death tolls rising we must stick to the Government’s rules and ensure that angling remains part of the solution and does not cause problems.
Please bear in mind these key points and refer carefully to any restrictions in place these can be found by following the link on the home page of our website at www.lutonanglingclub.co.uk
This is a strictly limited resumption of LOCAL fishing and very different to how we have been allowed to fish since May.
- We are in a National Lockdown and this must be respected. The law requires a ‘reasonable excuse’ to leave your home or penalties will apply.
- The Government has recognised that fishing can be seen as exercise, which is expressly permitted under the lockdown rules, although other forms of outdoor recreation is not.
- Organised sporting gatherings are prohibited so no match fishing can take place.
- The exercise is limited to once a day so no overnight fishing whatsoever.
- To remain within the law you should follow the Government’s guidance, and only fish locally within your Town, Village or part of the city where you live. If you have no local fishing waters available then unfortunately you will have to take your daily exercise in other ways. Full guidance on travel can be found here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#travel
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South Lagoon Wyboston
Just before the lockdown Filip Dunaj had a new PB Zander at 12lb 8oz. There have been quite a few Zander caught recently so if you live local well worth a try for them.
North House Lake has been frozen over on a few occasions this week – I am told it has thawed and most of the lake is now ice free however further sub-zero temperatures will result in it freezing up again. We will try and post regular updates on the condition of our waters where we can however will not always be able to confirm immediately whether a venue is frozen over or not.
Gareth Evans fished Biddenham on Saturday and he reports that after the flooding the river is back to its usual gentle flow but is still quite murky he managed to catch a couple of small pike during his session.
Dave
Luton AC
