Archived News from Banks Jan 05 to June 05

At the time of writing, Shefford & District A.A members are eagerly awaiting the re-opening of the club waters on the 16th following the two week break to allow work to be carried out. The waters look to be in good condition with plenty of carp seen cruising on the surface at Broom Lake and the Airman Pit. Also, at Willington Lake it will be very interesting to see whether the near '50' big carp caught just before the closure will put in an appearance early in the new season. There are other large carp in the water which have become specific targets for the dedicated carp angler. On the rivers, many fry have been seen 'topping' and so it will be find a patch clear of weed and the rewards should be there. On the match scene the first of the Evening League matches will take place at Broom on Monday 22nd with the draw at 5-45pm. There are also a series of night matches planned on various club venues with the first one on 2nd July at the Kingfisher Lake in Harrold Country Park. Because of limited numbers it is essential to book your place with Colin Wright (tel.01462 835450 0r 07796 935267) before the event.

In the week leading up to the closure of Shefford & District A.A waters last Saturday night very few reports were received of specimen fish being caught on the waters. However several carp in the twenties have been caught at the Airman Pit and at Broom Lake the best reported was a mirror carp of 22lb landed by Dale Welham from peg 12. The new membership cards priced as last years subscriptions are now available from all the local tackle shops. There has been much interest in the new water, Willow Pool, which is a gravel pit with secure parking situated on the Cardington to Willington road. In the last few weeks silver fish and crucian carp have been introduce to the lake and there are plans for a further stocking of roach.

He's back !!

With water temperatures on the increase Shefford & District A.A. waters have been producing excellent sport in the last few days before the waters close on the 4th June. Top of the list again is Willington Lake where anglers have been landing some great specimens. Several carp over 30lb have been landed with again the lakes biggest carp being taken, this time at a monstrous 48lb 10oz! Mick Smith who had previously landed the fish at 45lb 8oz wasn't to be outdone because in one session he had fish of 37lb and 29lb. It is not only the carp that have been feeding, with reports from several members of heavy bags of rudd being taken. Rod Wiles and his mate had nets in excess of 15lb. At the Airman Pit lots of carp in the twenties have been taken along with the occasional catfish (best reported to date at 33lb). The general angler has also been catching good nets of roach with several fish over 2lb being taken on the pole or waggler. Broom Lake has also seen good catches of carp with multi fish bags including fish to 20lb being caught from swims all around the venue. In addition, bream to 7lb and tench in excess of 6lb have been reported from swims on the riverside of the lake. Although weed is a problem at Stanford Pit those members who have taken the trouble to rake a swim have been rewarded with excellent mixed bags of fish including crucians, tench, roach and perch.  Will members please note that all club waters are closed from the end of play on the 4th June until the 16th June to allow work to be carried out.
 

Week ending 22nd May 2005

Sorry he's still away

No report this week our roving reporters in Peru on holiday.

Amongst Shefford & District A.A. waters it is the Airman Pit that has taken the headlines this week with member Ted taking an excellent mixed bag of fish including 31 carp, 8 tench and a bream. Ian Webb also got in on the action with 2 carp over 18lb, one of 13lb and a catfish of 11lb as well as 5 tench. The catfish are now showing in greater numbers at the venue with Andrew Chamberlain fishing on a guest ticket at peg 19 taking one of 26lb 7oz and Mr Hammersley on peg 5 landing one of 21lb 4oz. Although carp, tench and bream are being taken down at Broom Lake it is pleasing to report that bags of silver fish are being caught again on pegs down at the far end of the venue.
 

With the temperature of the water now increasing daily as the days lengthen the carp have suddenly started to feed at Shefford & District A.A.'s Broom Lake. Numerous fish in excess of 15lb have been caught in the last week from all areas of the venue with the best fish reported to be a mirror of 26lb landed by Mr Potter fishing on the riverside of the lake.
Mr Capon fishing at the top end of the lake had a multifish bag with the best specimen going at 18lb 12oz. The carp are also responding to surface baits with Clive Gilbert taking 5 fish to 12lb 8oz using this method. Tench continue to feed at the lake with Ross Fairy taking fish to 7lb. At the Airman Pit, venue regular, Colin Wight has taken an excellent best of the year catfish of 32lb in addition to a mirror carp of 23lb. In fact several twenties have put in appearance in the last few days including a specimen of 21lb 4oz in a 3 fish catch by Ron Stapleton. Mr Webb reports a tench haul from the same venue which included fish to 7lb 11oz. Not surprisingly, after the excellent carp fishing reported from Willington Lake it has been a quieter week but tench to just short of double figures been being landed by the carp anglers on the venue.
 

The breaking news over the last few days has been the capture of yet another forty-plus carp from Shefford & District A.A.'s lake at Willington. Member, Michael Smith, caught the fish of a lifetime, which is probably one of the best specimens ever to come from a genuine club water. The mirror carp weighed in at 44lb and general opinion suggests that it is a different fish from the specimen reported at 45lb 8oz which was landed a couple of weeks ago. Large bream and tench are also reported to be feeding at the lake but no particular specimens have come to press. On the club's other prolific water, the Airman Pit, it has been the silver fish that have been dominating catches with John Wigg having a superb days fishing on the pole netting a 30lb plus bag which included 70 roach, a few rudd and perch and two tench of over 5lbs. Several other members have also had bags of silver fish in excess of 10lbs. At Broom Lake the carp are still proving difficult with only odd fish being caught. Tench averaging over 5lbs are picking up the baits intended for the carp and members are getting several of the tincas in a days fishing.
 

Shefford & District A.A members are reporting reasonable catches of good tench and bream from Broom Lake with fish of both species to around 6lb. In addition, although the larger varieties of carp are still proving elusive Mr Braham reports the capture of one of the excellent crucian carp that appear from time to time with a specimen of 3lb 10oz. Last week we reported on a bag of roach including an excellent fish of over 2lb caught from the Airman Pit. Well, the same angler, Mr Waller, late on in the same session had a better fish of 3lb 4oz. This is an exceptional specimen and illustrates what an excellent mixed fishery the water is proving to be.
Carp are also beginning to be caught in numbers with the best fish from the venue reported to date being a mirror of just over 24lbs. It would also appear that the catfish are beginning to wake from their winter slumber with the first fish of the year, albeit a small specimen being reported in the last week.  Members should note that because of the amount of work needed to be carried out on this water the venue will be closed for several hours from around 8-30am on Sunday 1st May whilst a working party tackles some of the jobs. Any member would be most welcome to join the the few regulars who currently are carrying out maintenance work on a number of the club waters.
 

Following last weeks report on how well Shefford & District A.A's Willington Lake has been fishing in recent days it is now the turn of the Airman Pit to yield some good bags of fish. During the last week, Ian Webb fishing on peg 4 had several carp including an excellently conditioned common of 20lb. In addition, another member also had a multi fish bag including a 21lb mirror and not to be outdone the silver fish have been responding with plenty of 6-8oz roach being caught in bags of over 10lb.
One member reports an excellent specimen of over 2lbs in a good net of roach taken on the pole.
 

The AGM of Shefford & District AA saw the departure from office of stalwarts John and Pat Leath who have served the club in just about every capacity for over thirty years. They have been wonderful ambassadors for the club and the sport of angling in general. Club President, John, said that with the club in the process of undergoing much change it was perhaps the right time to pass on all the duties they have done to persons new.
The two major trophies for the year went to Bob Warren for his splendid 36lb 4oz catfish from the Airman Pit and Pete Hennigan who became the club match champion. The important change in the club explained by chairman Pete Allen was the unopposed proposal to make the club a limited company by guarantee thereby giving greater legal protection for the membership which now numbers over 800. 
Club member, James Sedghill, last Tuesday, had the fish of a lifetime when he landed a monster specimen carp of over 45lb from Willington Lake. In addition to this capture the water is producing some great all round fishing with bags of rudd and roach to 10lbs on the pole, and specimen bream and tench to over 7lbs reported in the last few days. At the Airman Pit, Ron Stapleton and his son Andy have been rewarded for the time they have put in on the water with the capture of several double figure carp
> including a mirror of 18lb 8oz and a personal best bream of 9lb 4oz for Ron. The carp and tench are also beginning to show at Broom Lake with double figure carp and tench to 6lb being landed from the water which is now showing some colour.
 

Although there were quite a few anglers venturing out over Easter on the Shefford & District A.A stillwaters that are open all the year round nothing of note has been reported. Perhaps the changeable weather over the weekend put paid to any chances of large catches. A few carp are being caught down at Broom Lake but no one seems to be catching the silver fish that were prolific at this time last year.

Following the recent excellent match result on Shefford & District A.A.'s Airman Pit, Club President, John Leath, returned for an afternoons fishing on the venue and took a roach bag of over 10lb using red maggot on slider float tactics. Furthermore, gossip around the Airman is that a common carp of over 28lb has been landed in the last week which is a record for the venue. Although the water down at Broom Lake is still 'gin clear' the regulars are starting to take one or two carp from the favoured swims.

Members should note that the club AGM will be held at the Shefford Memorial Hall in Hitchin Road next Tuesday 29th March starting at 8-00pm. This is a very important meeting regarding the future of the club so members are urged to attend.

The last weekend of the traditional season saw an upturn in catches by Shefford & District A.A members. However, ironically the improvement was seen mainly on the lakes because the rivers desperately need a good flush through. A number of anglers ventured out onto the local river venues but reported low levels and lack of colour which led to only a few catches of a few roach and chub. On the river Flit in the town section small bags of roach and rudd were reported and Bob Izzard had a chub catch with fish to 4lb 4oz taken on breadflake from the narrow section downstream of the Horsebridge Weir.
The match group fishing on the Airman Pit in their last match of the season fared much better with a very close finish at the weigh-in. John Leath took the honours with an all roach catch of 7lb 4oz followed by Nigel Gilbert with a another bag of redfins of 7lb 3oz. John Wigg took third place with 7lb 0oz which included an excellent perch of 2lb 2oz. John commented that whilst practicing earlier in the week he had taken a bag of roach of over twenty pounds with several fish over the pound mark.
 

The penultimate weekend of the traditional season saw very few Shefford & District A.A members out on the banks.  It wasn't surprising with the very cold weather continuing throughout the weekend. It was reported that a few roach and perch were caught by hardy souls on the River Ivel behind Broom Lake but the few anglers on the lake trying for carp reported 'nothing doing'. The lake continues to be 'gin' clear and as a result it is difficult to even get a bite from the silver fish. With the weather forecast better for the last week on the rivers let's hope we have something worthwhile to report next week.
The match group hold their final match of the season at the Airman Pit this Sunday 13th March with the draw at 9-00am.   As usual please give Tim Ridge a ring on 01462 812947 to confirm details.
 

The continued sub-zero temperatures seems to have put off even the most hardy of Shefford & District A.A. members with no reports coming to hand this week. For those who have ventured out they have found both the rivers and lakes (if not frozen) very clear. Even  the regulars fishing the recently prolific Broom River venue have found it hard to catch a few small fish.
The match group hold their final match of the season at the Airman Pit on Sunday 13th March with the draw at 9-00am.   As usual please give Tim Ridge a ring on 01462 812947 to confirm details.
 

With the cold weather and flurrys of snow it has only been the hardy members of Shefford & District A.A that have ventured out during the last week. Not surprisingly it has been mainly pike and chub that have been reported.Colin Smith and Alan Thomas shared a bag of chub to 4lb 8oz caught on a day wandering the narrow section of the River Flit downstream of the Horsebridge weir and the Stanford Canal. An exception to the chub and pike catches was a bag of roach to 1lb 8oz caught by a 'father and son' during the school half-term whilst trotting a stickfloat and maggot on the old 'Tring' section of the River Flit.
The next club match is planned for Broom Lake this Sunday, 27th February with the draw at 9-00am. As usual please give Tim Ridge a ring on 01462 812947 to confirm details.
 The Herts/Chiltern Pike Anglers Club welcomes everyone to an evening with specialist angler and writer Mick Brown. The event will be held at Shefford Memorial Hall in the Hitchin Road, Shefford at 7-30pm on Thursday March 3rd. Entry will be £4 on the door.
 

Alan Thomas

Small rivers do have big fish

Although Shefford & District A.A's stillwaters are still like 'tapwater' members are still determined to have a go for the carp. Colin White, a regular at the  Airman Pit has been rewarded with a mirror carp of 22lb 4oz. Until the rain of recent days the rivers and particular the River Ivel at Broom has continued to fish well for both the big perch and bags of roach. Odd tench are also being reported from the Jordan's Mill end of the venue. On the River Great Ouse Chris Jenkins, the club's Head Bailiff, continues to catch excellent fish from his favourite venue at Harrold Country Park. This week he reports an 18lb 6oz pike from the river caught on sprat presented on light tackle. Because the River Great Ouse was virtually unfishable the match group moved their match from the main river to the backwater at Willington. Pete Hennigan took the honours with a mixed bag of 11lb 1oz which included a tench of 4lb 8oz. Nigel Gilbert was second with 4lb 2oz followed by John Wigg in third place. The next club match is planned for Broom Lake on 27th February with the draw at 9-00am.
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As reported last week the Shefford & District A.A stretch of the River Ivel at Broom continues to be in top form. During the past week there have been numerous reports of  perch in excess of 2lb being landed. Vic Jackson began his week with a 23lb bag of perch with his best fish being 2lb 8oz. It wasn't only perch that tested the strength of his pole elastic because a 14lb 8oz carp picked up his lobworm and proceeded to 'walk' Vic up and down the bank before he was able to net the excellently conditioned fish.
Later in the week Vic went back to the river and fishing a different swim had another bag of perch with the best fish going 2lb 9oz. At the other end of the venue behind Broom Lake, club president, John Leath has been taking netter roach on breadpunch but in other sessions fishing the worm he has taken good bags of perch to 2lb 13oz. Other anglers have been taking good bags of small silver fish in addition to unconfirmed reports of a good roach of 1lb10oz and bream to 5lb being landed in recent days . Nothing has been reported from the club's lake venues which continue to be 'gin' clear.  Shefford match secretary, Tim Ridge now confirms that the match this Sunday has been switched to the River Great Ouse at Willington with the draw taking place at 9-00am. Those intending to fish should give Tim a ring on 01462 812947. There are reports that the venue is fishing well for roach.
More information and news on the club waters can be viewed on the recently launched website www.SheffordDAA.org.uk
 

The talk amongst Shefford & District A.A's members that the club's river venues have been in top form this last few weeks has been confirmed by an excellent winning match weight of 17 lb 15oz recorded by John Wigg in last Sunday's club match on the river Ivel at Jordan's Mill. John had two lovely conditioned perch of 2lb 10z and 2lb 2oz in addition to two others of over a pound and several bream in his catch. He also lost what was probably one of the big carp known to be in this section of the river.
Other members have also been enjoying the long awaited resurgence of the roach fishing on the venue with breadpunch taking the better fish from many pegs all along the club's stretch of the river. On the river Great Ouse in Harrold Country Park the club's Head Bailiff, Chris Jenkins had his best ever chub catch when he landed fish of 6lb 4oz, 5lb 13oz, 5lb 2oz and 4lb 1oz in an afternoon session. In contrast to the rivers, the lakes are still like 'tapwater' and except for a good pike of 18lb 4oz from Broom Lake very little else has been reported. Shefford match secretary, Tim Ridge informs of a possible venue change for the next club match arranged for Sunday February 13th.  Although the venue will be confirmed in next weeks issue it is advisable to give Tim a ring on 01462 812947 if you are planning to fish the event.
 

The good news from Shefford & District A.A. waters is that silver fish are once again showing at the Kingfisher Lake in Harrold Country Park. This, after a fish survey carried out last year revealed that cormorant predation appeared to have had a devastating effect on the venue. Recent reports indicate that good roach bags are being taken on the quivertip. Head bailiff, Chris Jenkins also continues to catch good fish from the river Great Ouse at this venue reporting an excellent chub of 5lb 8oz. At the other end of the county, Broom Lake is still like 'tap water' and the carp anglers are having a hard time on the venue. Over the last weekend one angler reported that a 14lb fish caught that day was his first in four outings on the water.  On the Horsebridge pleasure anglers have been getting good bags of silver fish with both roach and dace being caught in good numbers. However, last Sunday, when the match group fished a club match on the venue it was found to be fishing 'very hard'. Match secretary, Tim Ridge who only recently has had good bags whilst pleasure fishing took the honours with only 1lb 7oz followed by Les Reed with 7oz. The next match is on the Broom River at Jordans on Sunday 30th Jan with the draw at 9-00am.

No reports of specimen fish have been received from Shefford & District A.A. in the last week yet the talk amongst members is that good carp are still being caught by the patient and persistent anglers at the Airman Pit. Good dace are also coming out of the River Flit particularly in the town stretch. However it seems that one day they are there in numbers yet on another day it is difficult to get a bite. Interestingly over the last few weeks several anglers have been experiencing the return of silver fish to the River Ivel at Broom. Generally, reasonable bags of roach have been caught in many pegs along this stretch of the river. Pike continue to be reported from most of the club's lake venues but most are of small size with fish to low doubles.
The match group have their next club match arranged for this Sunday, 16th January on the Horsebridge with the draw at 9-00am . Those interested should ring match secretary, Tim Ridge (01462 812947) to confirm details.
 

Week ending 2nd Jan 2005

The fluctuating temperatures of recent days has done nothing to improve the fishing on the Shefford & District A.A waters. Most of the still waters and some of the river venues are like 'tap water' with the result that silver fish are hard to come by. Most anglers are having to fish really hard for a few fish. The only positive reports are from the pike anglers who are still taking fish from Broom Lake and the River Ivel behind the lake along with Willington Lake and the Grebe Lake in Harrold Country Park.
The match group have their next club match arranged for the Horsebridge on Sunday 16th January. Those interested should ring match secretary, Tim Ridge 01462 812947) to confirm details.
 

Week ending 26th Dec 2004

The sharp frosts around the Christmas period continued to have an adverse effect on most of Shefford & District A.A. lakes and rivers. There has been very little reported from anglers trying their luck with silver fish.

However on the river Flit in the shelter of Shefford town, club president, John Leath, bagged up on good roach and rudd with a sprinkling of good dace. He had roach to a pound and several netters amongst the dace and rudd.

Head bailiff, Chris Jenkins, a regular on the waters in Harrold Country Park reports a catch of chub from the river which included two good fish of 5lb and 4lb 4oz. Furthermore, he then spent a day piking on the same venue and had fish to 17lb 6oz followed by another specimen of 18lb 10oz in a session on the Grebe Lake. It appears that most of the club waters are fishing well for pike with some of the better fish from Broom Lake and Willington Lake including good doubles to 18lb.