Luton Angling Club - Weekly News Reports: January 2024

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 28th January 2024

Here is all the latest news, information and catch reports from all Luton Angling Club waters for the week ending 28th January 2024.

Beckerings Reservoir

Edgaras Balaika did a night session on Beckerings and had this scaled Mirror carp which was 15lb. He also had 3 big Bream.

Edgaras Balaika - 15lb Mirror from Beckerings

Other anglers have had multiple carp catches during their sessions this week.

Don't forget that Fordfield Road, which is the road we access Beckerings from, is closed Mon-Fri (5th Feb to 8th March) between 9am and 4pm. We have been informed by South Beds Council that access to Beckerings should still be possible however it will be easier all round if you can arrive before the closure at 9am and leave after 4pm when it re-opens as otherwise there may be delays and you might have to wait for access.

Fordfield Road Closure

Biddenham

Fergal O'Kane fished Biddenham and had a Pike on a Mackerel deadbait it wasn't weighed, He also had a few Roach and Dace on maggot.

Grand Union Canal

Steve Lathwell spent a few hours on the canal on a cold morning, he had 5 lb of small roach and skimmers taken on pinkie over ground bait. Best rig 4x12 DT Nevis 0.8 main line to a 0.6 hook length and a 24s hook.

Steve Lathwell with his Canal catch

Wednesday Match Group Report - by Adrian Smith

Following the postponement of the first winter league match last Sunday due to the ice, the Wednesday group made arrangements to hold a match on the canal at The Globe. Once again, we are grateful to The Globe Pub for allowing us to use their Car Park.

14 anglers turned out for the event and despite dry and generally calm conditions and good water colour, the match turned out to be a struggle for all with only half of the anglers catching. The match was pegged from the Globe bridge towards Sandy Bridge.

Top weight of the day went to Dudley Frankland on Peg 1, whose weight of 1lb 6ozs not only gave him an unassailable win, but his weight was also more than the combined weight of all other anglers. Dudley did not have a bite for the first 4 hours but maintaining a bread punch line at the bottom of the far line shelf, he caught a nice skimmer and roach plus some smaller fish in the last hour on bread.

Second and third was a closely run affair between Simon Foulkes on peg 4 and Ash Bunnage on peg 5. Both anglers caught small perch with Simon just nudging ahead with 6oz for second place with Ash in third with 4oz. Ash lost a large perch at the net.

All but one weight came in the first 8 pegs nearer to The Globe.

Full Result:

1st - Dudley Frankland 1lb 6ozs Peg 1

2nd - Simon Foulkes 6ozs Peg 4

3rd - Ash Bunnage 4ozs Peg 5

4th - Adrian Smith 3ozs Peg 13

5th - Terry Vickers 2ozs Peg 8

6th - Barry Roper 8drms Peg 6

7th - Richard Darbon 4drms Peg 3

DNW - Colin Macbeth, Colin Holmes, Les Burton, Ray Burton, Andy Frankum, Tony Hickmott, Sean Leatherland

Our next Match is Wednesday 31st January on the GUC at Town South (Leighton Buzzard), meet at the venue (White Bridge) for the draw at 8.30am am. £1.00 peg fee and £5.00 optional pools, fish 10am till 3pm.

For anyone thinking of joining us for the first time can we ask that you message us so we know you are coming before turning up, so we can ensure we have room as this will allow us to better manage the pegging. You will be asked to produce your Club book at first appearance, so please have it with you.

Dudley Frankland - Match winner

Wednesday match group on the Canal

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 21st January 2024

Here is our usual news, information and catch report round up from all Luton Angling Club waters.

North House Lake, Beckerings and the canal have been frozen over this week. However they are now thawing and should be fishable again. Finally, the rivers are looking in good condition again and we are starting to see anglers out on the banks again.

Lavendon Mill - Downstream

Over 80 Barbel were stocked into the Ouse at Lavendon Mill downstream on Tuesday,the fish were mostly between 8 and 12 inches long, but there were a few bonus fish weighing around 1.5lbs.

These were stocked as part of an inter club stocking project, which includes Luton Angling Club, Olney & Clifton Fishing Association, Milton Keynes Angling Association, Newport Pagnell Fishing Association, Biggleswade & Hitchin Angling Association, Northampton Nene Angling Club and Weston Underwood Angling Club.

These particular fish were jointly funded by Luton AC and Sam Richardson, the organiser and brains behind the project.

The plan is to introduce Barbel of this size in various sites on the ouse over the next few years and hopefully get them established as mature breeding stock.

Knowing fish will move where they want to, with all these clubs on the upper river pulling in the same direction, hopefully we will see results in a few years time with a few more fish caught and sustaining themselves.

Many thanks go to Sam Richardson, the organiser and Ian Barnes of Olney & Clifton Fishing Association.

Mark Zan fished at Lavendon Downstream this week and caught a Pike that was 88cm and 4Kg (8lb.

Grand Union Canal

The Three Locks Flight at Soulbury is drained for work on the lock cills and gates at the moment, refilling is scheduled for early February. A full fish rescue was undertaken as part of the drain down process.

The flight being closed hasn't helped the ice situation as there are no boats moving through the sections to break it.

Winter League Match - Round One

The organiser extensively walked the stretch on Saturday and had to make the difficult decision to postpone this round of the league. Although very disappointing we feel this was the right decision to take as the ice had not melted enough and wasn't showing enough signs of easing overnight to make the event any kind of fair match for all.

With the changing weather forecast, we gave it the best chance to allow the match to proceed but conditions have not been favourable.

We will look at an alternative date to restage this round but the next round will be on Sunday 4th February on Town North.

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 14th January 2024

Here is our usual news, information and catch report round up from all Luton Angling Club waters.

Very little to report this week I am afraid, but the good news is the rivers are getting back to normal with the bailiff reporting that The river at Lavendon has now dropped to a nice level, good colour and flow. The issue though is getting across the fields as the ground is still very waterlogged and you'd struggle with a trolley or barrow. Downstream is still pushing through at a fair pace and the platforms are still under water.

At South Lagoon the water levels have also dropped back to normal and all the pegs are now accessible again and the bailiff reported an angler catching a 15lb Pike from Peg 25 over the weekend.

Please take care at the river venues as banks/bridges and platforms are still likely to be very slippery due to silt from the floodwaters.

Regional Coaching Conference

On Saturday the Club hosted a ‘Lets Fish’ regional coaching conference on behalf of CRT at the Bushmead Community Hub in Luton. This was a well-attended event, which gets better every year, with coaches and prospective coaches coming from all over the southern region, with some parents and young anglers from as far away as Leicestershire also attending.

John Ellis the CRT National Fisheries and Angling manager, ran the day, supported by ‘Lets Fish’ supremo Peter Henery, the man who does all the hard work behind the scenes! Simon Mottram a leading Canal angler, past winner of the Canal Pairs and keen supporter of ‘Lets Fish’ travelled from Telford to give us practical demonstrations and join the discussions. Simon gave technical tips on making Canal rigs, giving insights that were new to even experienced Canal anglers and Coaches.

The rig making demonstration was significantly enhanced by putting a live "close-up" video feed via the club projector onto a large screen, which ensured everyone could easily follow it.

This was the first time we had tried to do this and many thanks to Dave Murdoch for giving up his time and to attend to set up the equipment and ensure this worked OK.

After our buffet lunch, during which there was a considerable amount of networking and exchanges of ideas between those attending, we then moved on to discussion about future ‘Lets Fish’ strategies with a very insightful talk by Mike Heylin, a former Angling Trust Chairman, about the importance of running the ‘Lets Fish’ welcome desk correctly, a task that is often overlooked by coaches but is an extremely important part of the overall delivery.

All those attending really enjoyed the day, there was some great feedback, and all took away some useful knowledge and tips.

Luton club coaches along with CRT have a full ‘Lets Fish ‘ taster program planned for 2024 along with our own Luton Kingfisher ‘Follow On’ coaching events, two CRT Regional Canal matches, and supporting our Successful teams in the CRT Celebration and Global Communities events in Staffordshire in September.

The years highlight for many of our young anglers is winning a Gudgeon mug at the CRT Celebration, they become very treasured trophies.

If you know of someone interested in a Lets Fish’ taster session and perhaps joining our successful Kingfishers juniors, or helping us by becoming a fully qualified and licenced coach please contact the Club or watch the Club website where details of this year’s events will be published very soon.

Tight Lines Until Next Week!

Dave M

Luton AC

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Week Ending 7th January 2024

Here is our usual news, information and catch report round up from all Luton Angling Club waters.

It has been rain, rain and more rain and as soon as the rivers look like they start to get back to normal we have another deluge. River levels have been very high with the River Ouse reaching record levels in some places. Did you know you can check the river levels on the Environment agency website using the link below - this is quite handy this time of year if you are planning a river session

https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/river-and-sea-levels

On Saturday when I had a drive around and visited some of our venues I discovered that Biddenham, Lavendon, and Eaton Ford were inaccessible with around 2ft of water in the Biddenham car park, At Lavendon Mill the fields were all underwater and at Eaton Ford the river was up to the first access gate and was flowing past it at quite a rate. At Wyboston the swims on the lagoon were all underwater and several inches of water across the track between North House and the river meaning North House was only accessible with a high 4x4.

The bailiffs at Wyboston contacted me on Sunday to say what a difference a day makes, as although the levels are still very high they are now starting to drop quite quickly.

Over on the club facebook page and also on the club youtube channel there is a video taken with a drone showing the extent of the flooding.

It does look like we might have seen the last of the rain for a while so with any luck we can get back out fishing the rivers soon! We'll try to keep you updated as the conditions change.

Entrance to Eaton Ford

Biddenham Car Park

Pegs underwater at South Lagoon - This is Peg 20

Flooding on the Wyboston Track

Beckerings Reservoir

Harry Albone had his first Luton AC Carp since joining as a Junior Member, It weighed a fraction over 12lbs. Neil Cox the bailiff thought it may be a Stockie and having looked at the stocking photos he is right, as this is one of the 2022 fish (No. 18 stocked at 10lb) all our stocked fish are weighed and photographed when they are stocked and all the pictures are on the club website at

https ://www.lutonanglingclub.co.uk/events-work-parties

Harry Albone - Carp just over 12lb

Martin Scholes fished his first session of 2024 at the reservoir, he started on maggot feeder and had a roach of between 6 & 8oz, at midday he changed 1 rod to method feeder and 10mm boilies and he had 3 bream 6lb 8oz, 5lb 12oz and then a PB of 9lb 10oz

Martin Scholes 9lb 10oz PB Bream

Luton AC - WInter Coaching Conference

Luton Angling Club are hosting a winter coaching conference on behalf of Canal and River Trust and their successful ‘Lets fish program’ on 13th January, in Luton.

If we have any members who are interested in becoming licenced coaches and helping with our expanding Luton Kingfishers our successful junior section who have had considerable success this year , this is the ideal opportunity to understand how you get started and what this would involve.

There is a small charge of £5.50 to attend but its going to be an interesting day, and buffet lunch is included.

To find out more and book your place please follow the Eventbrite link below.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk

Coaching - encouraging youngsters to start fishing

Luton Angling Club Winter League January / March 2024

The Club is looking to run an Individual Sunday Winter League this year It will be held on the Grand Union Canal, using locations in and around Leighton Buzzard. The league will start in late January and end in March, You must be an existing Luton Club Member to enter, and we have several anglers already indicating they wish to take part but we are looking for a few more members to join them. Adrian Smith has kindly volunteered to manage the league.

The proposed dates of the rounds are :

Date Venue

Round 1 Sunday 21st Jan Town South

Round 2 Sunday 4th Feb Town North

Round 3 Sunday 18th Feb Town South

Round 4 Sunday 3rd March Town North

Round 5 Sunday 24th March The Globe

The plan is to run an individual league of 16 anglers. We can go to 20 if demand is there, but you do need to be able to commit to the 5 dates (illness will be a valid excuse)

The concept is to run the match in the normal way giving 1st, 2nd, 3rd each round to pay out the weekly match pools which will be £5.00 per angler. There will be a £1.00 levy per match to pay for prizes and admin. In addition, in every match, each angler will fish against three nominated others and be awarded points from 4 down to 1 for the best weight in each group, so that over the whole 5 rounds, an angler would have fished against all the other 15 anglers.

We have a simple matrix for this, and once all the participants are confirmed, the whole league draw will be made, so each week, you will know who you are fishing against. If an angler can not make it, then they will not score a point for that week, but the other 3 in their group will still fish for points 4,3,2. Also, DNWs will not score a point, so its worth weighing in even if you only have the tiniest of gudgeon.

The winner of the league will be the one with most points, and if a tie at the top, weight will then decide final placings.

There will be a separate prize for the league winner and runner-up.

Anyone requiring further information or interested in entering should contact the league organiser, Adrian Smith using the form on the website (click link below)

www.lutonanglingclub.co.uk/contactasm

Join the Winter League - Jan- March 2024

Tight Lines Until Next Week!

Dave M

Luton AC

Luton Angling Club Weekly News Report for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & St Neots Cambridgeshire Area - Covering 18/12/23 to 01/01/2024

Here is the news, information and catch report round up from Luton Angling Club covering the period from 18th December to 1st January 2024.

The club would like to wish all its friends and members a very happy new year and we hope the year brings you many PB's and memorable catches!

North House Lake

Luke Hatchett fished a 48hr session on North House over Christmas and had a 29lb 11oz Mirror Carp. This fish is a named fish known as "Shotgun Billy"

Luke Hatchett - North House Lake

The bailiff reported two lovely commons being caught from North house overnight during the storm on the 27th night both were under 20lb but in superb condition.

South Lagoon

Having not fished on Luton AC's waters for a couple of years, Filip Dunaj returned for a social on South Lagoon with some friends over Christmas, The fish must have missed him as this 28lb Mirror welcomed him back.

Filip Dunaj - South Lagoon

Graham Bailey did a night on South Lagoon at Wyboston, he had one fish, a Pike weighing 16lb 4oz.

Graham Bailey - South Lagoon

Lavendon River Ouse
With the ongoing wet weather most of our river stretches have been barely fishable for most of the Christmas period, on the 23rd December, Neville Hunt fished Lavendon Upstream, river levels were high and pushing through and it was also very choppy in the wind but he did manage a 2lb 10oz Bream.

Neville Hunt - 2lb 10oz Bream - Lavendon Mill

Beckerings Reservoir

Sean Watts just missed the deadline for the last weekly report on the 17th December, but over that weekend he had a 24lb 10oz Common during a 24hr session so I have included it in this report.

Sean Watts - Beckerings

Liam Murphy finished the year off with a 23lb 8oz Mirror Carp during a 48hr session on the 30th and 31st December.

Liam Murphy - Beckerings

Info from the bailiffs report that a member had 2 carp, the biggest of which was a 25lb Common and another angler was catching Roach to 1lb 6oz the catch also included a large Perch and good sized Ide.

Wednesday Group Match Report
22 anglers arrived at The Globe on the Grand Union Canal for the LAC Wednesday group Christmas Match on the 20th December which was also their last Wednesday match of 2023.

The canal was carrying some colour but with the mild winters day and dry conditions there was an air of excitement in the car park and an enthusiastic draw took place. However, the enthusiasm may have been more related to the Quality Street sweet draw process that Richard Gibbs had arranged.

Having drawn a selection of Toffee Penny, Orange Crisp, Milk Chocolate Block and Caramel Swirls the anglers made off for their pegs. This week's match was fished from Globe Bridge back to Sandy Bridge and finished an hour earlier than usual at 2pm in order to weigh in and for the anglers to make their way back to The Globe for the annual Christmas buffet, drinks and presentation.

The general feeling at the end of the match was the canal had fished better than expected and all caught. But for 1st and 2nd, the other weights in the top half were very close.

There was not much boat traffic to report. However, the comedy moment of the day came when, having caught a far bank tree with his pole rig, one of the anglers almost decapitated the passing boater as he tried to retrieve his rig. The boater took the surprise "attack" in good faith and stopped his boat in the next peg and reversed back to help retrieve the pole rig. Unfortunately, in our good samaritans haste to help build boater and fisherman relations, he reversed his engine with the thrust of an ocean going oil tanker and unfortunately could not retrieve the float in the tree. But at least he tried.... It would be fair to say the two affected pegs did not fish so well afterwards.

So to the result..

Simon Foulkes on peg 12 had a superb day and fished his way to a catch of 7lb 4oz and an easy and deserved win.

Second was our own canal wizard in Tim Watts who continued his excellent run of form by fishing pole and breadpunch for 6lb 9oz on peg 8 of mainly skimmers and roach.

Adrian Smith was third on peg 5 with 4lb 14 1/2oz made up of a few fish close in on breadpunch, before switching to the far side boat where he caught a couple of quality perch on worm and odd roach and skimmers on pinkie.

Ace canal angler Sean Leatherland maintained his ability to frame in most matches this year and his mostly skimmer and roach catch landed him in fourth place with 4lb 14oz from peg 16

Full Result:
1st - Simon Foulkes 7lb 4 ozs Peg 12
2nd - Tim Watts 6lb 9oz Peg 8
3rd - Adrian Smith 4lb 14-1/2oz Peg 5
4th - Sean Leatherland 4lb 14oz Peg 16
5th - Dave Whillock 4lb 12oz Peg 4
6th - Colin McBeth 4lb 6oz Peg 19
7th - Myles Tommey 3lb 14oz Peg 18
8th - Keith Ward 3lb 12oz Peg 6
9th - Richard Gibbs 3lb 8oz Peg 7
10th - Bart Bonito 3lb 5oz Peg 13
11th - Steve Lathwell 3lb 4oz Peg 15
12th - Dudley Frankland 2lb 14oz Peg 17
13th - Terry Vickers 2lb 13oz Peg 10
14th - Dave Smith 1lb 14oz Peg 22
15th - Dave Abbott 1lb 12oz Peg 11
16th - Ray Burton 1lb 3-1/2oz Peg 3
17th - Roger Baker 1lb Peg 2
18th - Andy Norgate 15oz Peg 9
19th - Richard Darbon 13oz Peg 20
20th - Les Burton 10ozs Peg 1
21st - Malcolm Ogden 8oz Peg 14

22nd - Chris Howard DNW (but did catch a couple of fish)

Following the end of the match, all anglers and a few spectators enjoyed a fabulous buffet in The Globe which was followed by the prize giving and annual secret santa.

Richard Gibbs also gave a speech thanking the staff at the Globe for their hospitality and for allowing the club to use the car park for the match. Richard also gave a few interesting facts about this years Wednesday Match fishing:

43 different Luton AC members have taken part in the Wednesday matches this season.
20 different venues have been fished
The top 8 attendees in reverse order are in:

8th - Steve Lathwell - 27 matches
7th - Dennis & Malcolm - 29 matches
5th - Richard Darbon - 30 matches
4th - Les Burton - 32 matches
3rd - Sean Leatherland 34 matches and Tracey (his logistics support and club weighing in manager)
1st - Ray Burton - 35 matches

A great effort by all involved. Thanks to Richard Gibbs and Dennis Hunt (the latter was missing due to illness - Get Well Soon Dennis) for all the organisation, to Ray Burton and Bart Bonito for arriving at the crack of dawn to peg the venue, to the guys for weighing in at the end of the match and to Tony Hickmott for providing some lovely prizes for the top 3.

For anyone who is left wondering what happened to the float that found its way into the tree and whether it would be spending Christmas alone among the leaves, fear not, for we can report that some Christmas cheer arrived when it calmly floated back down into the canal and was fished out by a fellow angler and returned to its rightful owner...

A Happy Ending....

Merry Christmas to one and all and we wish you a happy & healthy New Year and successful fishing for 2024.

Our next Match is Wednesday 31st January 2024 on the GUC at Town North (Leighton Buzzard), meet at the venue for the draw at 8.30am. £1.00 peg fee and £5.00 optional pools, fish 10am till 3pm.

Wednesday Match - 20/12/23

Wednesday Match - 20/12/23

That is all we have for this week, remember that 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