Luton Angling Club - Weekly News Reports: March 2023

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 26th March 2023

Here is the latest news, catch reports and information from Luton Angling Club, for the week ending 26th March 2023.

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 23rd March 2023 and we would like to thank all the members who took the time to attend and get involved. This is your club and your input is much appreciated. Lots was discussed regarding the past and coming membership year, and the specimen awards were also presented to the winners by our club president Ken Scott.

Dexter Allen with President Ken Scott at the AGM

AGM

North House Lake

John Sime fished a 24 hour session on North House and had a fantastic result landing Terry's Mirror at 33lb 5oz.

John Sime - Terrys Mirror 33lb 5oz

Sean Watts had a 20lb Common Carp and a 12lb 8oz Mirror Carp.

20lb North House Common - Sean Watts

12lb 8oz North House Mirror - Sean Watts

Beckerings Reservoir

The reservoir is fishing extremely well for the Roach at the moment with the bailiffs reporting that many anglers are catching Roach on the float all round the lake. Amer Jawad had a session on the reservoir in preparation for his next YouTube video and had a good bag of decent sized Roach.

Amer Jawad - Beckerings Roach

Darren Savage fished a quick 2 hour session after work on Monday and had a 20lb 12oz mirror on the float rod.

Darren Savage 20lb 12oz Mirror Carp

Several carp were also caught on Saturday including some of the new stockies.

Stockie from Beckerings

South Lagoon

The South Lagoon bailiffs report that the large perch are starting to make an appearance on the South Lagoon as they usually do around this time of year.

Wednesday Match Report

Match Report 22nd March Cooks Wharf Grand Union Canal (The muddy one)

As 12 anglers arrived at the Cooks Wharf car park and unloaded in heavy rain, we were hopeful, given the clearing forecast that by late morning the rain would stop! It turned out it was better than that as by the time we trekked along a by now very muddy towpath which made trolleys difficult to manoeuvre the rain had stopped and the sun and blue sky arrived, although there was a bothersome fresh breeze.

The afternoon clouded over, and the wind increased in intensity, blowing across open fields all the way from the Beacon. It was quite challenging this week!

The Canal was full and quite clear, although passing boats put some colour into the water. Starting water temperature was 10.5 degrees, rising to 11.2 degrees by the end. It was a day where a good draw paid dividend, 

Tony Hickmott our winner was fishing just short of Middle Seabrook lock landing and had one 3lb 10oz Bream which was caught in the pleasant late morning, it was quickly followed by another bite resulting in a missing bait and a clean hook. Andy Norgate in second place was in the cutting past the West Cost rail bridge with 6 small fish and a skimmer for 1lb 11oz. Third was Brian Shaw with 10oz of small Perch, taken close to the swing bridge, again a sheltered position. Fourth was Malcolm Ogden with one small Perch 2oz.

It was good to see some different anglers frame this week.

Results
1st Tony Hickmott 3lb 10oz
2nd Andy Norgate 1lb 11oz
3rd Brian Shaw 0lb 10oz
4th Malcolm Ogden 0lb 2oz

DNW Steve Lathwell, Ray Burton, Barry Roper, Les Burton, Terry Vickers, Dennis Hunt, Sean Leatherland & Roger Baker.

Thanks to the team who did the weigh in, an excellent job as usual. 

Next week we will fish the How End Fishery at Clophill, meet for 8-30 draw fish 10 till 3, How End Day ticket and £1 Wednesday peg fee and £5-00 optional pools.

Wednesday Match
Wednesday Match

Thats all we have for this week, 

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. Don’t forget every picture we receive is automatically entered in to our monthly photo prize which is judged by the committee and you could win £25.00. It’s not always the biggest fish that wins so well worth sending in any of your catch reports. Tight Lines Until Next Week! Dave M Luton AC www.lutonanglingclub.co.uk www.facebook.com/LutonAC www.instagram.com/lutonanglingclub

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 19th March 2023

Here is the latest news and updates from Luton Angling Club. Reports have picked up with the days starting to get longer, warmer and lighter.

Our members are reminded that this week saw the start of the close season for coarse fishing the close season starts on Tuesday 15th March and runs until 15 June inclusive.

The annual close season prevents fishing for coarse fish in rivers and streams across England, helping to protect fish when they are spawning and supporting vulnerable stocks. All Luton AC river sections are affected by the close season and are closed until 16th June. Our still-waters (North House Lake, South Lagoon, Beckerings Reservoir and the Grand Union Canal) remain open all year round

In Memoriam, Barrie Bashford

We have the sad duty to report the passing of one of our life members, Barrie Bashford on Sunday 12th March, after a prolonged illness. Barrie began fishing with his son and became a regular with Luton’s Match group fishing weekly, often representing the club in inter club and NFA national events. 

Barrie is remembered as being a hardworking, friendly and willing member of the Luton club by his fellow members.

He joined the club board in the early 1990’s and later assumed the role of Club match secretary, which he held for many years. In more recent years before his health deteriorated, he helped peg several heats of the CRT Canal Pairs competition hosted by the Club on the GUC.

Barrie was also a willing work party volunteer, and as a scaffolder by trade was the person credited with the idea to use scaffold frames to support the club platforms at Beckerings and later other club venues, simplifying the maintenance.

He also constructed the scaffold bridges at Biddenham and on occasions drove diggers and other equipment for the club.

Barrie was the first club member to qualify as a coach and spent many hours on Luton waters and at the old Browning Tingrith fishery, encouraging youngsters,

He was one of the founder members of the Luton Wednesday group 4 years ago, fishing the original fixtures. He is seen on the extreme left of the picture of a group fishing one of these events. 

Many of us have fond memories of Barrie and his little stories over the years; he will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Barrie is survived by his wife Jean, his son and daughter, who all have our deepest sympathy.

Rest in peace Barrie and Tight Lines.
Barrie Bashford (far left) with the some of his match group

Club AGM

The club's Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday this week 23/3/23 at Stopsley working men's club, Putteridge Road, Luton, LU2 8HG

Members are encouraged to attend to have their say and keep up with club affairs/finances and to find out what we have planned for the 2023/24 season.

We'll also be issuing the specimen awards and will be contacting the winners of these in due course. You must attend the AGM to receive your trophy if contacted. Please bring your membership book with you. Free Parking is available on site and a bar is available.

Beckerings Reservoir

Using a waggler, and Red Maggot as bait Darren Savage had a fantastic day at the reservoir this week and ended up with a superb haul of quality Roach.

Darren Savage with a superb haul of Roach from Beckerings

Other anglers have also reported catching good bags of Roach and also some of the anglers waggler fishing for the Roach also caught some of the recently stocked carp though unfortunately none of these were weighed or photographed.

Neil Cox had a nice wake-up call on Sunday morning from a Pristine 19lb Common. A madbaits pop up presented on a Ronnie trimmed down to neutral buoyancy did the trick.

Neil Cox with a pristine 19lb Common from Beckerings

North House Lake

Max Beresford had one of the 2021 stockies out of North House last night. Its weight was estimated at around 12lb. It looks to be stockie number 4 that was stocked at 9lb 4oz.

Max Beresford - Mirror Carp of around 12lb

Max Beresford's Carp at its original stocking weight

Patryk Maćkowiak fished a 24hr session and had a 21lb 4oz  Mirror. It is stockie 5 of the 2017 stockies which was introduced at a weight of 5lb 9oz so it has gained a fair bit of weight.

When he got there Saturday morning, he saw a lot of fish activity on the surface, so decided to go for a zig with madbaits Nutz+ . After just 15 minutes, he had the fish in the net. 
Patryk Maćkowiak 21lb 4oz Mirror
Patryk Maćkowiak 21lb 4oz Mirror
Patryk Maćkowiak Stockie 5 (When stocked in 2017)
South Lagoon - Wyboston
Wojciech Weremij sent in some pictures of his recent Pike catches the biggest weighing 14lb 7oz.

Wojciech Weremij - 14lb 7oz South Lagoon Pike

Wojciech Weremij - South Lagoon Pike

Match Report 15th  March Town South Grand Union Canal

On a frosty Wednesday morning, 15 anglers turned out to fish the Canal at Town South in Leighton Buzzard. It started a bright but cold day with white frost on the ground, which melted as the sun rose. The Canal water temp was hovering at a chilly but slightly warmer at 7 degrees.

Those present had a good match with all but one angler managing to weigh in. For a change, everyone managed to avoid the rain this week as it only started after we had all packed our kit away in the dry and made for home. 

Taking first place was Dave Abbot, who weighed exactly 6lbs, including a bream of 2lb 8oz. This week, there was a tie for second with both Chris Howard and Shaun Leatherland weighing mixed bags of 5lbs 8 oz. Colin MacBeth came third with 4lbs 12 oz. Barry Roper reported having a great first hour catching decent roach on punch, but then it died. He swapped to pinkie and caught for the rest of the match but really had to work for the bites. He ended up with 57 fish for 4lb 8oz.

Roger Baker was reported to have had a terrific day catching trees, apparently catching some great specimens which didn’t count of course, eventually recording DNW!

Results
1st Dave Abbott 6lb 0oz
2nd Chris Howard & Sean Leatherland 5lb 8oz
3rd Colin MacBeth 4lb 12oz
4th Barry Roper 4lb 8oz
5th Richard Darbon 4lb 0oz
6th Bart Bonito 3lb 4oz
7th Dudley Frankland & Ray Burton 1lb 14oz
8th Steve Lathwell 1lb 0oz
9th Andy Norgate 0lb 14oz
10th Malcolm Ogden 0Lb 9oz
11th Tony Hickmott 0lb 8oz
12th Les Burton 0lb 2oz
Roger Baker DNW

Thanks to the team who did the pegging out and the weigh-in, an excellent job as usual. 

Next week, we will fish the GUC at Cooks Wharf, meet in the car park for 8-30 draw fish 10 till 3,  £1 Wednesday peg fee and £5-00 optional pools.

Wednesday Match - Grand Union Canal

Tight Lines Until Next Week!

Dave M

Luton AC

www.lutonanglingclub.co.uk

www.facebook.com/LutonAC

www.instagram.com/lutonanglingclub

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 12th March 2023

Unfortunately, I have very little to report this week.It's not very unusual for this time of year due to winter weather less anglers have been out fishing and our waters have been quiet. in the run up to the end of the River season The bailiffs at Wyboston report that water levels in South Lagoon are high with a number of the swims underwater. The river is very high, fast and unfishable.

Eaton Ford is also currently flooded with no access to the banks. It is possible that this situation will remain for the remainder of the river season.

Biddenham is likely to be the same.

Match Report Wednesday 8th March River Ouse Wyboston

On Wednesday, we had lying snow on the ground as many of our anglers left home to meet at Wyboston. Seven anglers met for a last crack at the river before the close season starts on the 15th.

We had decided due to the cold weather to fish for 4 hours, 9-30 to 1-30. 

Wyboston was snow free, but cold, the air temperature being about 2C, but with the wind chill, it felt colder.  After we started fishing, the wind picked up, and sleety rain started falling. 

The Ouse had a surprising amount of flow considering how little rain has fallen recently, with just a trace of colour and a water temperature hovering around 5C. 

Anglers are by nature an optimistic bunch, and we all thought we would catch. How wrong we were! After three hours running a float through or looking at a motionless tip with a wide variety of baits tried to no avail we all decided to call it a day and retire home, a first for the Wednesday group. 

Dennis Hunt, Richard Darbon, Terry Wickers, Ray Burton, Barry Roper, Steve Lathwell and Malcolm Ogden all recorded DNW this week. 

Oh well, there is always next time!

Next week we will fish the GUC at Town South, meet by the white bridge for 8-30 draw fish 10 till 3 £1-00 Wednesday peg fee and £5-00 optional pools.

River Ouse at Wyboston

Tight Lines,

Dave M
Luton Angling Club

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 5th March 2023

Unfortunately, not much to report on this week, just a couple of match results.

Match Report - Grand Union Canal

Queens Works AC fished their sixth Winter League match on The Grand Union Canal at The Globe, Leighton Buzzard, last Sunday.

Despite a cold start to the day, all anglers caught fish, including Ian Proud. 

Steve Cooper won the day with a good bag of decent skimmers and roach for 8lbs 11oz.

Roy Chamberlain had a big perch in his runner-up weight of 5lbs 7oz and Micky Astle was third with 4lbs 14oz.

Paul Stokes won the first section with 3lbs 15oz and Mandy Dunham won section 2 with 3lbs 1oz,despite leaving her peg to use the Pub toilet and having a double brandy !

Richard Newman was awarded the Wooden Spoon for coming last with 6 fish for a pathetic 10oz

With 4 matches remaining, the Winter League table stands as follows :-

1.Paul Stokes................ 118 pts
2.Mick Astle...................114 pts
3.Paul Nicholls...............112 pts
4.Steve Cooper...............105 pts
5.Steve Dunham.............102 pts
6.Roy Chamberlain........ 100 pts

Match Report, Tuesday 28th February. Mill Cotton, Ringstead
This week we fished away against Wellingborough, on their lake at Mill Cotton. We had originally intended to fish the match on the River Nene, but due to low clear water and little flow its currently not fishing well so the decision was made last week to swap to a ‘Silvers only’ match on the adjacent lake.
Luton were a little light on numbers due to the change of day, several regulars having prior appointments, and some being unwell, resulting in only 5 of us fishing. 
The morning started cold with a drizzly overcast and little wind as we met our hosts at the lake. The weather warmed slightly during the day, the sun briefly appearing and the wind increasing, but it was pleasant enough for the end of February, 
Mill Cotton is around 1.5 Mtrs deep with the water temperature currently cold at 7ºC and was holding a nice greenish colour.
Wellingborough had the home advantage and managed to bag the highest weights on the day, the heaviest nets of consisting of quality roach and skimmers taken by anglers using hemp, fished fairly tight over to the far bank in 2ft 6in of water! The winner took 13lb 12oz with backup weights of 12lb+. 
Others fishing used maggot, pinkie and pellet and several carp (which didn’t count) were caught and returned, Bart Bonito took the highest Luton weight at 6lb 6oz having managed to sort out a method that worked! 
Richard Darbon fished pinkie and maggot in the track and down the near edge to net 4lb 7oz of roach and skimmers. 
All of those that fished really enjoyed the day, and we certainly learnt from the experience. Many thanks to our hosts Wellingborough, we fish the return match on the Canal in April.  
Luton Results
1st Bart Bonito           6lb 6oz
2nd Richard Darbon  4lb 7oz
3rd Dennis Hunt        2lb 13oz
4th Tony Hickmott     2lb 9oz 
5th Malcolm Ogden   1lb 2oz
Next week we will fish the River Ouse at Wyboston, meet behind North House Lake for 8-30 draw fish 10 till 3, £5.00 optional pools, and £1.00 Luton Wednesday peg fee.
Wednesday Match at Mill Cotton, Ringstead
Wednesday Match at Mill Cotton, Ringstead
Wednesday Match at Mill Cotton, Ringstead

That's All we have this week.

Tight Lines

Dave M 
Luton Angling Club