Here is all the catch reports, news and information from Luton Angling Club for the week ending 17th May 2026.
Members Notice: On the evening of 31st May 2026 the locks will be changed at all Luton AC venues. Any member that has not renewed their membership must vacate North House Lake & Beckerings Reservoir by 8pm. Renewed members staying later or booked on overnight should ensure they have their new key with them for exiting the venue. We will patrol the venue shortly before the lock core is changed to advise anyone fishing.
Beckerings Reservoir
Darren Savage had a session mid week and caught a Mirror and a Common.
Darren Savage had a session mid week and caught a Mirror and a Common.
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| Darren Savage - Beckerings Mirror |
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| Darren Savage - Beckerings Common |
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| Duncan Pettican - Beckerings |
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| Duncan Pettican - Beckerings |
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| Duncan Pettican - Beckerings |
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| Duncan Pettican - Beckerings |
Carlo had a quiet Friday night on Beckerings only catching 1 stockie during the night, but he got a nice wake up call at 5:30 in the morning by a 23lb mirror
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| Carlo - Beckerings |
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| Carlo - Beckerings |
Water levels at Beckerings
As usual for this time of year water levels at Beckerings are dropping rapidly due to the irrigation pumping. Members should take care when landing fish as the banks can be slippery until they have dried out.
North House Lake - Wyboston
Jason Mash did another day session on North House Lake today, he had the lake all to himself. After an absolute pasting from the heavy downpours, the two fish he caught made it worthwhile.
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| Jason Mash - North House Lake |
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| Jason Mash - North House Lake |
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| Jason Mash - North House Lake |
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| Jason Mash - North House Lake |
One of our Junior Anglers Daniel Carr shared his experience from the CRT Let's Fish Regional Celebration that was held last weekend. Here is his report
"I fished my first regional of the year yesterday run by the CRT. Really happy how it went considering the peg I got.
I started the day not too happy with peg that I drew but it is what it is. So I set up two lines one 3m out fishing with hinder supercharged natural black ground bait and pinkies and the other one section of the far bank due to how shallow it was fishing ground bait with casters and chopped worm.
I started on the 3m line as per the rules of the match where I was able to pick of a few fish containing perch, roach and skimmers before moving over to the far bank.
But throughout the rest of the match the fish only came in short bursts and nothing for a bonus. Overall it was a decent day and can't be too unhappy as I was able to get 3rd place with 650grams"
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| Daniel Carr - Let's Fish Regional Celebration |
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| Daniel Carr - Let's Fish Regional Celebration |
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| Daniel Carr - Let's Fish Regional Celebration |
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| Daniel Carr - Let's Fish Regional Celebration |
Canal Pick & Choose Head‑to‑Head Knockout Competition - 2026/27
The Club is pleased to confirm that following the successful revival of the Canal Pick & Choose Head‑to‑Head Knockout Competition during the 2025/26 season, the event will be returning once again for 2026/27.
This popular format gives members the freedom to arrange their own match dates, choose their venue, and enjoy a friendly but competitive head‑to‑head challenge on our canal stretches.
Entry Details
Entry Fee: £5.00
This covers the cost of the trophy, with all remaining funds donated to our chosen charity: Prostate Cancer Research.
Competition Start: June 2026
Entry Deadline: Friday 5th June 2026
All matches must be arranged mutually between paired anglers. There are no fixed match dates — however, results must be submitted by the round deadlines listed below.
Round Deadlines:-
Preliminary Round
Deadline: Sunday 28th June 2026
Round 2
Deadline: Sunday 19th July 2026
Round 3
Deadline: Sunday 16th August 2026
Round 4
Deadline: Sunday 13th September 2026
Round 5
Deadline: Sunday 4th October 2026
More information and an Entry Form is at the link below - Please do note that places are limited for this event (Maximum 32 members).
Match Report for Wednesday 13th May 2026 - Report by Terry Vickers
The American singer songwriter, Demi Lovato wrote that” Expectations are just Disappointments waiting to happen “. The weather forecast for 13th May was changeable with sunny periods and occasional showers. Consequently 17 anglers turned up at the Town South Pound of the Grand Union Canal in Leighton Buzzard with expectations of such.
Expectation was reinforced with hope by benign weather being evident when arriving at the venue and drawing our pegs. Hope was bolstered by the absence of our Mentor, Leader and meteorological Jonah, Dennis Hunt, who normally puts a climatic damper on our proceedings.
Despite the recent cold snap at night, the canal looked piscatorally enticing. Tony Hickmott, our Climate Adviser, recorded a water temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, which roughly equated to the air temperature. The good weather continued until around 11 am.
Dennis Hunt had obviously decided that his garden needed water by then and donned the Goats Head to commence the rain dance. A heavy shower ensued and this was the pattern until around 2pm when the expected shower became a biblical rain and hail storm.
Once again, the overhanging trees adjacent to the towpath were of concern in the high wind and heavy rain. An example of this danger was observed by one angler when a tree upon the opposite bank of the canal snapped at the base of its trunk which proved to be rotten. Luckily nobody was nearby due to the weather, so no injury or damage occurred. Nonetheless this is becoming an issue of increasing urgency which the CRT / Local Authority should deal with as promptly as possible.
Once again, we are indebted to Barry Roper for his usual scouting mission to establish boat numbers moored in the pound and for setting out the pegs in the available gaps. There were several boats moored in the pound which made pegging less straightforward than it should have been. Thank you Barry. Also, thanks go to Tony Hickmott for standing in for Dennis to arrange draw balls, Match sheets, clipboards, pens and scales for weighing in. Additionally, Tony, ably assisted by Colin Holmes, undertook the weigh in at the end of the match – Thank you again Tony and Colin. We are truly blessed with such fantastic blokes who always pitch in to make matters as efficient and enjoyable as possible
Conditions on the Canal were good. There was some colour in the water and some signs of fish moving, which again enhanced our expectation. Fishing was disrupted by the passage of approximately 6 boats over the match period. These were, in the main, manoeuvred responsibly except one particular individual who insisted on passing through as tight up to the opposite bank as possible. One of our members advised him politely that the shallow water so close to the bank posed a risk of grounding the boat as well as disrupting the fishing. The response from the boat was not so polite. The counter response from the bank was equally curt and industrial accompanied by a dance of rage. The boat owner decided that discretion was the better part of valour and kept going to get away as quickly as possible. It is a shame that some individuals feel no responsibility for preserving the enjoyment of others enjoying the facilities which the canals offer to all.
The actual fishing along the stretch was somewhat patchy as the weights set out below illustrate. However, some anglers did manage to engage with some good-sized Bream in one particular part of the pound with top two weights coming from 2 consequetive pegs.
The winning weight deservedly went to Simon Foulkes. He drew peg 13 which held some good-sized mature Bream and Simon capitalised by fishing pinkie over groundbait at 12 metres. This resulted in the capture of 4 bream which weighed in at 11lbs 12oz,
In second place with 7lbs 1oz was Danny Worth on Peg 12, just below Simon which also obviously contained Bream of a similar stamp. Danny fished 2 lines at 6.00 metres and 11.00 metres respectively. Bread punch at 6.00m tempted one large bream and worm over Groundbait at 11.00m tempted another specimen.
Dave Whillock bucked the trend in 3rd place from Peg 10 using bread punch of 3mm – 6mm on a size 18 hook over liquidised bread at 6.00m to tempt a mixed bag of skimmers and roach for a weight of 5lbs 10oz.
Bart Bonito managed a valiant 4th place with 3lbs 14oz of small bream and perch. Quite an achievement considering that he had the great misfortune of a freak gust of wind causing a breakage to the No 7 section of his pole which limited the distance he could fish at for the second half of the match.
Two other anglers should be mentioned in dispatches. Sam Rose captured a good-sized hybrid fish which weighed in at 1lb. See Photo below. It is worthy of mention because none of us were sure what breed of fish it was. It has the characteristics of a chub, the fin colour of a Rudd and the head shape of a Bream. The only conclusion we could draw was that its mother was obviously of very loose morals.
Secondly, Les Burton on Peg 17 had some bad luck losing 6 fair sized fish over the 5 hours of the match. However, in true fisherman fashion, by the time he arrived back in the Car Park the 6 fair sized fish had grown into 6 Leviathans!!
The overall result of the Match was as follows: -
1st Simon Foulkes 11lbs 12oz
2nd Danny Worth 7lbs 1 oz
3rd Dave Whillock 5lbs 10oz
4th Bart Bonito 3lbs 14 oz
5th Dave Abbott 2lbs 13 oz
6th Syd Wilson 2lbs 9 oz
7th Colin Holmes 2lbs 4 oz
8th Tim Watts 2lbs 2 oz
9th Brian Shaw 1lb 13 oz
10th Sam Rose 1lb 11oz
11th Tony Hickmott 1lb 9 oz
12th Sean Leatherland 1lb 5 oz
13th Barry Roper 1lb 2 oz
14th Les Burton 15 oz
15th Mark Sessions 8oz
Joint 16th Dave Ridley & Terry Vickers 5 oz each
Finally, once again our thanks are due to the Tracey for her assistance with the weigh in and all the post-match record keeping including the hot fishin posting, as well as keeping Sean on the straight and narrow.
Our next match is on Wednesday 20th May 2026 which is to be held upon an away venue at Redbournebury Fishery Complex. Organisation for pegging, parking etc will be easier if people can advise the likelihood of their attendance at the earliest possible time.
Note that there is no admission to to the Fishery before 8.00am and the Fishery has strict rules on Tackle to be used. Draw at the venue at 8.30am, £5.00 optional pools plus £10.00 Fishery Ticket price. Fish 10.00am – 3.00 pm. The number of available pegs may be limited so book early.
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. 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 |
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| Wednesday Match |
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| Wednesday Match |
That's all we have for this week's report, please keep your catch reports coming in as every report we receive is greatly appreciated and helps us and other members see how our venues are performing. Publicity is key to keeping our membership and finances healthy enabling us to continue our re-stocking programs and improve our venues. You can send in catch reports via the club website or via our social media accounts (Facebook & Instagram).
Tight Lines until next week,
Kind Regards,
Dave
Luton AC
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