Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 21st November 2021

Here are this weeks catch reports and our weekly news reports from Luton Angling Club. Keep sending in your catch reports and pictures as at the end of each month the committee will be judging the best catch picture and the winner will receive a £25.00 cash prize. Send in your reports and pictures of fish caught from Luton Angling Club venues via our facebook page or website. All pictures submitted are automatically entered.

River Ouse
Following his 20lb 7oz Pike capture on the 7th November Fergal O'Kane returned to the Ouse at the weekend and had another 20lb plus Pike. This one weighed in at 20lb 3oz. This fish looks like it is blind in one eye so is an easily identifiable fish. He sends his thanks to the lure angler that wound in his other rod and assisted him to land the fish.
Grand Union Canal
After a walk along the canal at the Globe this week Steve Lathwell returned with his tackle the following day and tried his luck. He started down the near shelf on punch but it was very slow using a .4 DT slim 0.10 to 0.8 and a 20 hook. He then tried three quarters of the way across with pinkie over spotted fin canal using a .2 carbon slim 0.10 again to 0.8 and a 22 hook and he started getting some fish. He ended up with 6lb of silvers in the net.
South Lagoon - Wyboston
Bailiff Brian Turner has been back in touch about the "17lb" Pike we reported last week. He realised soon afterwards that he had made a schoolboy error and zeroed the scales using his own weigh sling which is a hefty 5lb 2oz when wet but then in the haste to get the fish weighed and safely back in the water the fish was weighed using his brother in laws sling that is only 2lb. He thinks as a result of this error the Pike was actually over 20lb. Even at the reported weight of 17lb it is still a PB for Brian as after going back over all his old pictures he has confirmed his previous PB stood at 16lb 8oz and that was a fish caught 25 years ago.

Wednesday Match Report
Grand Union Canal - Braggenham Side 18th November 2021
After a cold Tuesday night 11 anglers including Tony Hickmott who was joining us for the first time met on a very bright morning with a gentle breeze at Braggenham Side. The Canal was much colder this week, and the breeze freshened during the morning, blowing directly along the canal making conditions challenging while the glare from the low bright sun made watching floats difficult.
Despite the colder water Steve Lathwell reported losing a Carp, coming back with a large scale indicating it was foul hooked. Dudley Frankland also lost a carp which stretched his No 4 elastic to the max before letting go.
A number of other large fish were hooked and lost during the match with weights spread throughout the length.
Dave Abbot fished over and had an early decent perch, then bites dried up so he came to the middle of the track fishing bread punch, taking a number of decent Bream.
Dudley Frankland took a nice net of Bream, Skimmers and bits to weigh in 6lb 8oz, while Ash Bunnage took a Bream, and bits to weigh 6lb 1oz using double pinkie on the hook.
It’s a credit to the friendly spirit of those who fish these matches that in an emergency everybody rallies round and tries to help each other, whatever the problem.
When Dennis Hunt lost the Speed tip and a weed cutter top from his landing net handle today trying to cut a submerged bramble, a replacement net handle was immediately produced by one of the other anglers, enabling him to carry on, and Tony Sal the brilliant ‘retriever of things dropped in the canal’ who had come out for a walk to see us spent about 45 minutes prodding about before finally retrieving the tip and cutter from the Canal silt.
True angling comradeship and thanks to everyone for rallying around to save the day.
We have a lack of pictures today due to the speed of trying to do the weigh in before it got dark, we will do better next week!
Results
1st Dave Abbott 7lb 9oz
2nd Dudley Frankland 6lb 6oz
3rd Ash Bunnage 6lb 1oz
4th Bart Bonito 3lb
5th Steve Lathwell 2lb 6oz
6th Joint Dennis Hunt & Malcolm Ogden 1lb 14oz
7th Ray Burton 0lb 11oz
Next Weds 24th November will fish the Ouse at Eaton Ford, so the match is members only. We will meet for an 8.30 am draw, fish 10.00am to 3.00pm, £5.00 optional pools.

Coaching Team Update.
The coaching team ran what will probably be the last 2021 ‘Bankside coaching session last Saturday, they had three young people, two Juniors and a cadet attend as well as some of the parents. Rob Oakes who is James’ Oakes dad who wrote the recent blog piece for the Canal and River Trust about James' fishing journey (See previous post) has also been learning some skills from the coaches so he can fish with James. He had this nice net of between 3 and 4 pounds of Roach while we were there.
Another success story for our coaching team is Raymond Burton who has been with the club since May this year and has only been fishing for just over a year. He fished Biddenham this week and had 3lb 4oz of fish. As mentioned on the recent Wednesday match report he has had so much help from the guys on the Wednesday outings. With his original tutor being Mark Brooks and also Roger giving him some bits and pieces as well. He says he has made so many friends at the club and thanks them for all their help.

On Saturday 20th November the Club coaches held their first ‘Dryside’ coaching session of the year at a Luton Community centre. We had a number of young people aged from 8 to 15 attend and all really enjoyed themselves.
We had a session learning how to tie spade end hooks, a fishing quiz, and this was followed up with an introduction to feeder fishing, and how to put basic feeder setups together, followed by casting practice with a competition on who could get nearest to targets on the adjacent field.
All who came really enjoyed themselves and we had great feedback from our youngsters.
Future topics include more knot tying practice, quizzes and competitions and Stick and waggler floats and these sessions are great for any youngster wanting to learn more about how to fish.
3 hour sessions will be held between 13:30 and 16:30 throughout the winter months on the 3rd Saturday of the month until April.
If you know a young angler interested in joining in with us let us know, we charge £5.00 per head for the sessions to help cover the cost of room hire.


That's all for this week.

Tight Lines
Dave M - Luton AC

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 14th November 2021

Here is the latest catch reports and news round up from Luton Angling club for the week ending 14/11/2021. We will be resuming the £25.00 best photo prize at the end of November which has been on hold for a while due to work and other commitments of the volunteers that run the club.

The committee has been dwindling over the past couple of years with the sad loss of our secretary John in January 2020 and Membership secretary Dave in August this year and some other volunteers no longer available to devote their time to the club due to family and work commitments. A huge amount of effort and time is involved with the day to day running of the club. If any member would like to get involved and help out do let us know. 

Send in all your catch reports from our waters via our facebook page, the club website or by email as all pictures sent in are automatically entered to the monthly competition and the winning photo will be selected at the end of each month by the committee (It's not always the biggest fish that wins so it’s worth sending in your pictures!)


Biddenham River Ouse
Fergal O'Kane fished the Ouse at Biddenham last Sunday and caught a Pike weighing an impressive 20lb 7oz. He has been targeting this stretch for some time for a 20 plus Pike and finally his perseverance has paid off. He also had a 9lb 6oz Pike in the same session.

River Ouse- Undisclosed Stretch
Gareth Evans fished one of the Luton AC stretches of the Ouse and landed a 20lb 3oz Pike. He asked for the venue not to be mentioned as he has put a lot of effort into finding the right methods and hot spots at the venue. We always respect your wishes if you want any information kept secret but we really like seeing and sharing your catches so please do send in your reports so we know how our venues are performing.
Wyboston South Lagoon
Bailiff Brian Turner had a productive predator fishing session on the South Lagoon he landed 4 Pike up to 17lb and he also lost another three.
Beckerings Reservoir 
Just the one for Neil Cox from what seemed like a moody 24hr session on Beckerings, With no fish showing when he turned up Friday morning he went with his gut and opted for his go to peg and this 14lb 7oz Common decided to take a fancy to his Madbaits boilie at 11.45pm and it was an angry one and fought like a demon.
North House Lake
The bailiffs were out on Sunday carrying out general maintenance around the venue. The last of the Barley straw bundles used for algae control were removed using the club boat and other general maintenance tasks were carried out.

Luton Coaching Team Update
Luton Junior member James Oakes having only started fishing in August has made incredible progress under the tuition of the Luton Angling club coaches fishing a national competition in September!. A great write up of James' journey so far, written by one of his parents has been published on the Fisheries and Angling team section on the Canal and River Trust angling website - See the article at the link below. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/.../james-fishing-journey

Wednesday Match Report Wyboston Ouse
10th November 2021
Wednesday was a murky but mild November day, with very little wind. The River at Wyboston was carrying good colour and had a decent steady flow. The surface was calm, without ripple when we arrived, but the occasional gentle breath of wind sent the autumnal leaves flurrying from the trees onto the surface of the water. The light continually changed during the day from a gloomy overcast to a brighter spell when the sun briefly appeared, and the flow also increased and then dropped back again during the match.
The anglers that met for the earlier draw this week were joined by Colin Crane, a member who had never fished a match before but came along for the experience and to see if he could pick up any information. Colin was made welcome and soon joined in the pre draw banter with the others. He enjoyed the day and left after the weigh in saying he had enjoyed himself and hoped to come again.
The fishing this week was very close, and it was great to see the roach appearing in their autumn colours when the fins become redder and the bodies take on a more golden tinge.
Steve Lathwell returned to winning ways this week using his pole at 13 Metres fishing Maggot in about 7 feet of water over his favourite Spotted Fin groundbait to take a nice bag of roach. The fish were finicky, and he was constantly swapping hookbait colours to keep fish coming, and like others having to alternate between running the float through the swim and holding hard back, and depth and shotting patterns had to be continually changed to keep fish coming.
Chris Howard fished a long Bolo rod for his catch, having to swap baits between maggot and bread to keep the fish coming.
Dennis Hunt fished a Pole at 6 Metres, initially fishing red maggot with loosefed pinkies over groundbait, and had trouble keeping runs of fish coming to the net, he was also feeding a hemp and tare line, which eventually produced some better roach. However, to keep fish coming he had to continually switch baits lines and presentation.
Others fished running line or a tip, and several anglers reported Pike taking hooked roach during the day. All who came enjoyed themselves and there were no dry nets.
Perhaps special mention should be made of Ray Burton who having never really fished before this May and now comes out with us every week and gets better and better weighing in this time 3lb 7oz for 6th place, Ray has learnt a lot in a short time and I’m sure would encourage anyone else who wants some company and tips to give it a go one Wednesday.
Results
1st Steve Lathwell 6lb 9oz
2nd Chris Howard 4lb 14oz
3rd Dennis Hunt 4lb 9oz
4th Barry Roper 4lb 6oz
5th Colin Crane 3lb 10oz
6th Ray Burton 3lb 7oz
7th Dudley Frankland 2lb 13oz
8th Richard Gibbs 2lb 12oz
9th Malcolm Ogden 0lb 14oz
10th Roger Baker 0lb 11oz
This week, we will fish the Canal, Section 2 Braggenham Side. Because of the clock change we will meet for an 8.30am draw, fish 10.00am to 3.00pm £5.00 optional pools, non-members welcome on payment of a day ticket.

That's all for this week. Keep sending us your reports!

Tight Lines
Dave M - Luton AC