Dave Harwood from Luton had a brilliant overnight session at Beckerings. I will let Dave take up the story in his own words;
“I arrived at Beckerings fairly late on Friday afternoon and met up with Shane Welch for a few (alot) of tips (Shane thanks so much again). Opting for Peg 6 I managed to get the first rod in the water around 7pm, whilst tying up a few new rigs and preparing some PVA bags my bite alarm screamed into life and yards of line peeled off my baitrunner and after a fairly short fight I landed a new personal best carp in the shape of a 22lb 7oz Mirror. The only downside was I dropped two bags of PVA into the swim in my reaction to the bite. Literally my first cast with Innovate Baits Squid 2T and I was in business.
I spent the next 30 minutes preparing rigs and listening to a few Carp crash on the top, finally I had both rods into the swim and I settled in my bivvy for the evening. A few hours went by and I was convinced something was not right on my right hand rod, so I reeled in and re-cast out to 30 yards. Within 15 minutes the alarm sounded again and I was into another fish a 16lb 10oz Common, just as I released and sat back down to tackle-up the left hand reel screamed off within minutes I was covered in water but also a proud angler with a 21lb 2oz Mirror….. I thought my night couldn’t get any better. I set both rods back out and settled down for the night, around 01:30 the left hand rod let out a few tell tale indications and I waited patiently for the line to begin peeling off, but to my surprise nothing happened for about 5-10 minutes and then my right hand rod literally exploded off taking line faster than anything I have heard before, after a really short fight I held up a lovely Golden Common Carp of 15lb 12oz.
I got my head down and set my alarm for 6am, however I was woken about 2 and half hours (4am) later by a storming run off my right hand rod, I clambered out of the bivvy and banked a 19lb 5oz Common, within minutes of returning and setting the rod back out I struck into a run on my left hand rod which felt like a dead weight, it soon began shifting across the lake and after 25 minutes of fighting I landed my second PB of the session a 25lb 4oz Mirror.
I settled back down and finally managed some sleep, the next action was around 09:30 where I took my smallest fish of the session at 15lb 3oz.
All fish fell to the amazing Innovate Baits Squid 2T on Size 8 hooks with a combination of hand-tied Korda ID and Suffix Black Silt Stiff hooklinks on Korda quick release system. Korda Adrenaline Mainline loaded on Shimano 6000 Baitrunners and Shimano rods”.
At the same venue Shane Welch and Gary Westcott testing the new Innovate Squid 2t Hairaisers with excellent results catching 10 carp to 25lb 5oz.
Gary Westcott 25lb 5oz Common
Not knowing what a hairaiser was, I contacted Steve Slater at Innovate who told me that they are a watfer type bait a semi boyant pop up, barrel shaped and when used with a size 8 hook sit upright with the hook flat on the bottom which fools wary carp. The Beckerings carp are obviously fooled!
Peter Strudwick also fished Beckerings catching two carp to 19lb and David Monkaster had the best fish of the week catching two carp to 26lb.
At North House Lake on the Wyboston Complex near St Neots Jack Heather had a 30lb 4oz common on a Heathrow Bait Services boilie. Kevin Jeffery caught a 15lb 8oz common on Innovate Squid 2t and Mark Simmonds landed a 20lb common.
At Woodlands Lake on the Tingrith Complex near Westoning, Flitwick based venue regulars John Constantine and Nobby Parkes were rewarded with good midweek catches of roach up to a pound an a quarter and tench to 3lb. Another Flitwick based regular, Stuart Fellowes was also into the fish when fishing the hot end peg under the trees with a good mixed bag of carp, bream and tench.
Former Beckerings bailiff Kevin Chadfield also had a good mixed bag fishing his favoured peg 1 to the side of the overhanging tree.
Toddington based Damon Smith took some time out from bailiffing the water and was rewarded with a good carp, roach and tench bag, all falling to maggot fished over micro pellets.
The Tingrith fish can be a fickle bunch and anglers are advised to take a variety of baits with them as they tend to change their preferences daily!
On the Grand Union Canal some large roach are being caught and Mr Johnson fishing on a day ticket at the Globe had landed one of well over 1lb. The Globe stretch has produced a number of roach to 2lb 8oz in the last couple of seasons. Aptly named Mr Fisher was amongst the bream at Chelmscote catching them on float fished sweetcorn. At the members section at Slapton there have been large catches of quality roach and bream. Steve Lucas reports catching a couple of single figure carp from Grove Church.
Members and day ticket anglers are reminded to take their rubbish home with them as disgarded rubbish not only looks unsightly but it attracts rats which spread the potentially fatal Weil’s Disease through their urine.
Please note that the South Lagoon on the Wyboston Complex will be closed for essential maintenance from 6pm on Wednesday 16th September until 8am on Thursday 17th September.
Luton Angling Club Membership Books for the 2009/10 season are available from the club Membership Secretary telephone 01582-728114 or download an application from the web site www.lutonac.org . Application forms are also available in select tackle shops. Luton AC represents excellent value for money as ALL of their stillwaters are open for a full 12 months and there is no premium for night fishing.
Through a water share arrangement with Barnet Angling Club Luton AC members may also fish several additional stretches (not listed in the membership book) of the River Great Ouse, River Ivel and River Thames, maps that show parking areas etc are available to download from the club web site or by sending a request with an A5 sae (large size stamp please) to the club office. These waters offer excellent fishing for barbel, tench, bream and carp.
Please phone/text your catch reports from Luton AC waters to 07704462635 or email catchreports@lutonac.org and if you have pictures taken on your phone send picture messages to 07876331180. Remember to always use an unhooking mat when targetting specimen fish, keeping the fish as low to the ground as possible when taking photos.
Check out the Luton AC website at www.lutonac.org for all the latest catch reports, news, pictures and membership details.
Steve Sharp
