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MARCH 2002
We would like to welcome all our members and future one’s to our inaugural Biggleswade, Hitchin, District, Angling, Association (B.H.D.A.A) newsletter. We hope this letter will inform you of what has been occurring to the Association and its waters over the last season.
STOCKINGS
As some of you may have read form the Biggleswade Chronicle we have continued our stocking policy of the Links pool and Gingerbread lake. The Gingerbread lake received 15 new carp between 8-14lb and one 28lb+ common having been removed from the pool. The Links pool received it’s fish from Gingerbread lake in the form of 200lb+ of silver fish, Roach, rudd, skimmer Bream , about 50 Bream between 2-5lb and 40 Tench. The lake also received approximately 3000 small carp between 4oz-2lb.
This coming season will also see our stretch of the river Ivel up stream of Langford mill (Bedfordshire) receive a stocking of good quality Roach, Dace and Chub. This stocking is in conjunction with the I.P.A ( Ivel Protection Association ) who have matched our contribution of £ 500.00 providing a total of £ 1000.00 to spend on restocking. Whilst on the subject of Langford Mill the stretch of river Ivel between the gate where the club shares with Shefford AA commences is owned by B.H.D.A.A.. Some anglers believe incorrectly that this is a free stretch, you ca now tell them that this is not the case.
WORK PARTIES
Working parties have been convened frequently at Gingerbread lake, some of which have been very well attended. Swim improvements have and will be ongoing. Four Swims in the Factory bay have been upgraded in the woods, having been constructed form sand bags filled with ballast and cement which have now set solid. These refurbished swims have have been back filled with crushed concrete, sand placed on top forming a perfect level fishing platform. Refurbishing and upgrading these swims has been expensive, costing £ 500.00. If any members have got any building materials they would like to contribute to the club ( e.g. sand, ballast, clean rubble, bricks, scaffold planks etc) would be most welcome.
The track surrounding the lake is also an ongoing project. Repairs to the track took place during Autumn 2001, improving the track 100%. We will continue with swim reconstruction , track repairs etc. during the course of 2002.,
Working party dates 2002
Dates for 2002 as follows:
Sunday 31st March Gingerbread Lake
Sunday 13th April Gingerbread lake
Sunday 28th April Gingerbread lake
Sunday 17th May Gingerbread lake
Whilst on the subject of swim construction Martin Crouch & Neal Hallybone of the match committee are looking for volunteers to help re-peg and build swims on the river Ouse at Tempsford (Cambs).
If you can help with these ongoing projects please phone :
Paul Ashley 07967 381955
Cliff Walker 01480 381762
For working parties on the river you can phone :
Martin Crouch 01767 681548
Neal Hallybone 01767 317615.
On a different note Pete Currell jnr, is retiring from his post as secretary due to work commitments. He cannot give the post the necessary time that is required, but intends to stay on the committee to provide help to his successor. As most of you will agree, Pete has has done a brilliant a brilliant job over the years, putting the Association in a better position than it was previously.
So thanks Pete for all your hard work and tight lines for the future.
Martin Crouch
WATER REPORT 2001
Gingerbread lake
This seemed to fish rather weird during the year, one minute the Carp fed, the next they didn’t. There were a some memorable catches for some.......... Fergal came out again to Stevenage angler Paul Hoseason “Mo” at a reduced weight of 32lb8oz in April who staked out of the “Pylon” rushes on sweet corn !!!!!.
Another fish hitting the headlines was “Cluster” who came out to Win Pogmore from Stotfold ( Herts) float fishing in “ Two Bar Bay” at 26lb12oz. This fish was stocked in 1996 at approx. 3lb. Some of you may thinking that’s a good growth rate. Now there’s better news as Tony “Troll” Goddard from Luton caught “Cluster” in November at 31lb 14oz !!!!!!!.In six years the fish has put on over 29lb’s-staggering !!!.
One of our bailiffs “little” Rob Packer, has had one of his better seasons landing 12 different carp over 20lb, with the best being a mirror of 27lb.
Regular angler and committee member Paul Ashley had a very mixed season, one minute blanking, the next minute blanking, but during his blank period he did manage to land 87 fish including the “cut-tail” common at 27lb. Club Treasurer, Anthony Pogmore had a slow season but he also landed the “cut-tail” for the fourth time just short of 28lb. Bernie “the bolt” Keeble landed his first 20 at 22lb and went onto land several more carp to 25lb. Bernie also managed to sneak a few carp out from the river Ouse, the best fish weighing over 18lb. The best brace of carp fell to Cliff walker both fish weighing over 24lb and caught within 30minutes of each other......
CARP MATCH “ENDURO’S”
There was also a 24 hour carp pairs match held on Gingerbread Lake in July which turned out to be a huge success with 12 teams entering. The eventual winners were Lewis Finley and hairy “gipsy” Steve with Bernie “the bolt” and Noel the “master baiter” in second spot.
There are 4 more 24 hour carp matches taking place in 2002 :
June 29-30th , July 27-28th, August 17-18th, September 28-29th.
For more details please phone : Cliff Walker 01480 381762 or Paul Ashley 07967 381955.
The Bream & Tench didn’t seem to show in any great numbers although the carp anglers landed quite a few. One carp angler who wishes to remain anonymous landed 18 bream one night, the best fish weighing just over 9lb. Well done Paul Ashley!. Other Notable catches went to Pete Stafferton from Sandy who landed 2 bream in one session 10lb2oz and 9lb8oz. Rob Packer used red maggot and corn for a 14 fish haul totalling 59lb; the best fish weighing just over 8lb. Match secretary Martin “rotweiler” Crouch had several bags of bream & tench to 7lb12oz. Once again the fish fell to red maggot & corn laced in balls of brown crumb. Andy Keeble landed an 8lb2oz tench and his dad bream to 8lb12oz.
Nets of roach went to just over the 25lb mark. St Neots angler Keith West used hemp & tares to land 28lb of roach from the Drift and 25lb of roach from the lake. Assistant match secretary Neil Hallybone, had several roach bags to 20lb from the lake and the river, the fish falling to hem, tares and bronze maggot over dark brown groundbait. Neil “Tomo” Thompson from St Neots also got into the silver fish, taking several double figure bags from both the lake and the river including a 5lb+ bream on a tare. George Stevens from Offley kept having his roach attacked by what he thought was a small pike until it woudn’t let go. He eventually slipped his net under a 3lb12oz perch,which we believe is the record for the lake.
The pike season got off to a slow start with few fish being caught. up to Christmas 2001 the best fish out was an 18 pounder. However, in the new year committee member Alan Davies has landed several fish over 20lb, with the best weighing in at 22lb8oz. Also getting in on the action was Paul Ashley who landed fish to 21lb. Bedford Veteran, Sid Dunn had a life times best pike of 22lb. Whilst on the pike front, the river Ivel at Sandy Mill has produced pike of 21lb, 23lb And 25lb. Not only is Sandy Mill producing big pike, it is producing big stripies as John Brown found out when he slipped his net under a 3lb12oz specimen perch. The Links pool has fished rather poorly this year due to the amount of weed in the water. The club intends to reduce the weed in both lakes this year to further improve the catch rates.
RIVER REPORT
The river Ouse at school Meadow fished very well for chub and roach from autumn onwards with plenty of double figure bags. Dave, Don and Neil Hallybone all got in to those roach, with several fish going over the 1lb mark. Dave landed several chub in one session the best fish being around 3lb8oz. Most of these fish fell to bronze maggot and hemp fished on stick float or waggler.
The bream in the jungle (Tempsford) stretch of the river Ouse fed well at times with Martin Crouch and Ray Albone getting in to some of the big shoals. These bream were averaging 6lb+ with the best fish weighing over 8lb. The best bag fell to Martin weighing over 42lb. A few chub to 4lb were also caught along with perch to 2lb and Ray’s big eel ( Yuk !!! ) which weighed in at 4lb6oz.
Anchor Meadow ((Tempsford) and Pylon Meadow stretches on the river Ouse produced a lot of mixed bags of roach, dace and chub. Nigel Porter from Biggleswade got in on the action catching roach to a pound on bronze maggot and hemp in nets up to 10lb. Ray Albone and his brother who returned to fishing after a 20 year break, caught chub of over 5lb’s, bream to over 7lb and perch to 3lb.
The Pogmore bothers fished the river Ivel at high romper, they reported it to be stuffed with chub in the 3-4lb bracket, the best fish falling to Winnie at 5lb.They both recommend a roving approach, with meat, bread flake and cheese paste the best baits. But a sad note as a few silver fish were caught along this stretch, cormorants are seen as the likely culprits. Sandy Mill (Sandy) on the river Ivel, the match boys haven!. Loads of silver fish to be caught here with regular nets of 15lb. Big perch are regularly caught to 2lb even in the matches along with bream, chub and carp.
The river Ivel at Langford downstream of the mill has also fished well, with 20lb bags not umcommon. Once again roach have dominated but the odd big perch and chub put in an appearance. Bob Hirst fishing the bread punch landed roach to 1lb8oz in a 25lb net and Neil Hallybone fishing hemp and tares had 15lb of roach in only 3 hours. Upstream of the mill the river has fished rather poor as the big roach have not shown neither have the chub. The planned restocking should improve the sport in the future.
MATCH REPORT
The match fishing this year had a bit of a set back at the start of the season due to the foot & mouth restrictions, The fishing on the rivers Ouse and Ivel at Tempsford did not get underway until October 2001. We did have a couple of matches on the Ouse at the Drift, which did prove quite eventful But unfortunately with rather low turnouts. Neil Hallybone won both matches, one bag weighed in at 15lb9oz of roach, the other 17lb12oz , with backup weights of 12lb and 9lb. The first points match in November was also held at the Drift but due to the first flood of the year fished poorly with Neil Hallybone weighing in 2lb7oz, George Ball 1lb7oz and Marin Crouch 1lb4oz. As the season progressed we entertained Letchworth AC, Brampton AS and St Neots AC on the river Ivel. The surprise being Ricky Perin of St Neots who landed a 3lb9oz tench on chopped worm from peg 4 on the dead river.
The club championship this year was won by Neil Hallybone, with Martin Crouch runner up and Alan Kealy in third spot. Mark Dickerson won the Presidents cup and Martin Crouch won the Ball cup.
Next Season will see a new points system in place, as well as a new summer shield and a winter shield. The best 10 results deciding each shield and the club champion being decided from the best 10 results from both shield added together. There will also be one other new shield, The Ouse Shield and also a new cup The Ivel Cup. Both of these will be fished for over 3 legs.
There will be some close season matches on the Links pool and Gingerbread lake. The dates are :
Sunday 24th March
Sunday 7th April
Sunday 21st April
Sunday 5th May
Sunday 19th May
Sunday 2nd June
The draws are scheduled for 8-8.30am fishing from 10am-3pm. Check details in the paper just in case they are changed, or ring Martin or Neal.
CARP MATCH “ENDURO’S”
There was also a 24 hour carp pairs match held on Gingerbread Lake in July which turned out to be a huge success with 12 teams entering. The eventual winners were Lewis Finley and hairy “gipsy” Steve with Bernie “the bolt” and Noel the “master baiter” in second spot.
There are 4 more 24 hour carp matches taking place in 2002 :
June 29-30th , July 27-28th, August 17-18th, September 28-29th.
For more details please phone : Cliff Walker 01480 381762 or Paul Ashley 07967 381955.
EDITORS NOTE......
Well we hope this first newsletter has given you some insight into what has been happening to and around the association in the year. We wish all our members all the best and tight lines for the coming 2002/2003 season and thank you all for your continued support.
Martin Crouch
NB.
B.H.D.A.A. operates an open membership policy and new members are always welcome. In addition there may be an opportunity to obtain a night permit to fish Gingerbread lake for its excellent carp which inhabit this prolific water.
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