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"
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| 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.
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| Filip Dunaj - South Lagoon |
Graham Bailey did a night on South Lagoon at Wyboston, he had one fish, a Pike weighing 16lb 4oz.
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| Graham Bailey - South Lagoon |
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.
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| 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.
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| Sean Watts - Beckerings |
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| 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.
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| Liam Murphy - Beckerings |
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| 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.
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.
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.
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| Wednesday Match - 20/12/23 |
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| Wednesday Match - 20/12/23 |
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| Wednesday Match - 20/12/23 |
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
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