More rainfall throughout the week has left rivers in flood, with high water levels, heavy colour and moving with considerable pace.These conditions have limited opportunities for anglers and curtailed activity across several venues.
This week’s catch report and news round‑up whilst lacking in catch reports, provides a clear overview of recent club activities, current conditions, and matters of note as we await a return to more settled weather and water levels.
A Welcome Return for the Wednesday Match Group After Their January Break
Wednesday saw the return of the Mid week matches after the groups usual pause throughout January. Here is their report from Wednesday 4th February
The author John Buchan said “The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable – a perpetual series of occasions of hope “The match report from this week shows that most of the anglers attending were in pursuit of the elusive but with very little being attainable.
It was originally planned to fish upon the Town North stretch of the Grand Union Canal at Leighton Buzzard. However, the match was very well subscribed, due to the growing popularity of the Wednesday Match Group and also being the first Wednesday of the 2026 programme, with 23 anglers wishing to fish.
In the event due to illness and family commitments, 4 anglers had to withdraw at short notice. Consequently, with 19 bodies remaining it was decided to split up into 2 sections, one on Town North and one on The Globe stretch because of the Boat situation and the parking considerations.
Thus 10 anglers fished a separate match at the Globe and 9 anglers fished on Town South.
Two of the withdrawals were due to illness and we wish Dennis Hunt and Richard Darbon a speedy recovery. The upside was that as Dennis Hunt was absent and too poorly to rain dance (naked except for his Goats Head), we enjoyed good weather with sunshine and no rain!
In addition to this, the indispensable Ray Burton who we rely upon so much for financial duties and administration was also unavailable this week. Ray, you were greatly missed. However, we are blessed with great people who happily step into the breach to fulfil the duties required. Grateful thanks go to Tony Hickmott & Colin Holmes for administration, organisation and weighing in together with Barry Roper and Bart Bonito for pegging out duties. Their considerable efforts ensured that the matches at both venues proceeded smoothly.
The canal appeared to be in good condition with a little colour and very little tow. Our meteorological Guru Tony Hickmott advised that the water temperature was 7 degrees centigrade which more or less matched the air temperature at the time of the draw.
After one hour of fishing at both venues, it became apparent to everyone that fish would be scarce. The pegs that did find some action found that the fish stocks present had shrunk to about 2 -3 inches long!
At The Globe, pegs 1, 3 & 4 produced the best weights with Sean Leatherland on peg 1 prevailing with 2lbs 5oz 8 drams of very small Roach punctuated with 2 small Perch. Bait was mainly red maggot fished over crumb groundbait at 11m with pinkies and squat thrown in for good measure. In second place was Barry Roper with 1lb 5 oz. Barry hooked a large fish at the start but did not manage to land it. After a period of no action, he did eventually find some small roach on pinkie which he had to land quickly to avoid the attention of Pike in his swim. In third place was Keith Ward with 1lb 1oz 8 drams of small roach caught on red maggot over groundbait laced with squat fished at 11m across. Keith also reported trouble with very hungry Pike. Overall, the venue fished poorly with 4 anglers not troubling the scales at all
At Town South, the position was even more dire. The aggregate weight of all 9 anglers could not match the winning weight at the Globe. Bart Bonito topped the list with 12 ounces 8 drams of tiny roach fishing against the far bank. He used pinkie and squat over groundbait to tempt 32 fish. Tim Watts staggered into second place with 8 ounces 4 drams, a catch which again was made up of very small fish caught mainly on bread punch. Peter Mills struggled to 3rd place with 5 ounces of small roach using bread punch, hard against an opposite boat.
The overall results of the Matches were as follows: -
THE GLOBE
1st Sean Leatherland 2lbs 5oz 8 drams
2nd Barry Roper 1lb 5oz
3rd Keith Ward1lb 1oz 8 drams
4th Dave Abbott 9oz
5th Andy Frankum 3oz 8 drams
6th Dave Whillock 2oz 8 drams
Dave Ridley, Les Burton, Simon Foulkes & Tony Hickmott DNW
TOWN SOUTH
1st Bart Bonito 12oz 8 drams
2nd Tim watts 8oz 4 drams
3rd Peter Mills 5oz
4th Chris Howard 2oz 8 drams
5th Colin Holmes 1oz 8 drams
6th Dudley Frankland 1oz
7th Colin Macbeth 8 drams
Terry Vickers & Graham Stringer DNW
Finally, once again our thanks are due to the indomitable Tracey who not only does all the post-match record keeping and Administration but brightens our day as a ray of sunshine on the bank, even after a difficult time.
Our next match is at on at Luton’s premier venue, Beckerings Reservoir near Ampthill Draw at the venue at 8.30am, £5.00 optional pools plus £2.00 Pegging Fee, Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm. It is likely that there will be a rush to reserve places. The venue is likely to be very busy during this match.
For anyone thinking of joining us for the first time please message Dennis Hunt or Ray Burton so we know you are coming before turning up. This will help us to manage the booking of pegging of this venue. Please bring your club membership book with you as you will be asked to produce it for your first appearance.
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| Wednesday Match Group |
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| Wednesday Match Group |
Beckerings Reservoir
Little in the way of catch reports however the bailiffs reported members were catching a few decent Bream.
A reminder as already mentioned above The Wednesday match group will fish Beckerings Reservoir on Wednesday 11th February. A significant number of members now take part in these matches so the venue and especially the car park will be extremely busy on that day.
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| Match Weds 11th February - Beckerings |
Slipe Lane Pits - Work Party
The first of the 2026 Turnford (Slipe Lane Pits) work parties is on Sunday 15th February. Luton members are encouraged to attend and help out.
The lakes will be closed for fishing from 7am on the 15th, and reopen mid-day once the work party has finished.The volunteers usually meet in the car park at around 8am.
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| Boot pit at Slipe Lane |
Fishers Green - Access
Some info from our contacts at Fishers Green that National Grid are about to start another phase of works starting on Wednesday 4th February through to the 12th February. There will be stewards in place for safety but you should be given full access to the venue at all times during this work. Please follow any guidance from the stewards.
Wild Birds Through the Lens of Howard Birley
Howard Birley who is an avid wildlife photographer has sent in some more fantastic pictures of wild birds that were taken at a Luton Angling Club venue. More of his work can be seen on his Flickr Page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/birleyinfocus/
That's all for this week, If you do get out fishing please send in your catch reports as they are very much appreciated. You can send them via our social media pages and through the club website.
Tight Lines
Dave M
Luton AC
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