Membership Details

Here are last Season’s Reading and District Association Match Statistics as supplied by the Match Secretary:

The Kennet showed a slight improvement on previous season’s poor results with match weights averaging 3-2-0 per angler against 2-15-0 last year. However only Beats 4 & 5 showed an increase in weights with Theale River, Burghfield River and Beat 3 showing a decline with a distinct lack of silver fish. Beat 5 was the most consistent with an average of 4-11-0 per man.

As last season, continuous heavy rain from July to September caused the Kennet to flood on several occasions, giving high water and strong flow for most of the summer, normally conditions for winter. The November senior match on the river produced the worst result recorded, with 38 dry nets on the day and an average weight per angler of only 7 oz.

The total weight on the Kennet this season was 880 lb from 279 anglers against 900 lb from 302 anglers last season, a slight drop of 20 lb but with less fishing.

The average Association Match weights per section on the River Kennet for this season were: -

Theale River: 1-12-0 [2-5-0 in 2007/8]. Calcot B: 2-1-0. Burghfield River: 2-6-0 [2-13-0].

Beats 3 A+B: 2-12-0 [3-10-0]. Beat 4 A+B: 2-15-0 [2-7-0]. Beat 5 A+B: 4-11-0 [3-8-0].

Similarly the Canal at Froxfield was very disappointing again this season. Match weights averaged 1-8-0 per angler against 1-10-0 last, with a distinct lack of roach and bream.

Once again the weather was against fishing with the coldest winter for 20 years from December to February. The canal had little colour in it and anglers had to endure sub zero temperatures usually coupled with a strong, cold easterly wind blowing up the canal. On the January match, ice up to 2 inches thick in places had to be broken, after temperatures down to -10º C overnight.

The total weight caught at Froxfield this season was 237 lb from 155 anglers against 301 lb from 182 anglers last season. A drop of 64 lb but with less anglers fishing these matches.

“A” Section – 1-14-0 [07/08 2-7-0] “B” Section – 1-9-0 [07/08 1-1-0] “C” Section – 0-13-0 [07/08 2-10-0]

The total match attendance for this season was 434 anglers against 484 last season, a decrease of 50.

The total weight caught on these matches was 1,117 lb against 1,201lb last season, a decrease of 84 lb.

The average match weight this season was 124 lb against 133 lb last season, a decrease of 9 lb.

The average weight per angler this season was 2.57 lb against 2.48 lb last season, an increase of 0.09 lb.

1^st – 288-4-12 in October 2008. 2^nd – 229-4-12 in August 2008. 3^rd – 173-6-12 in September 2008.

Beats 3A+B – 2; Beats 4A+B – 1; Burghfield River – 1; Theale River – 1; Froxfield A – 2; Froxfield B – 1; Froxfield C – 1.

The Trophy Winners for the season as listed below, will all be able to receive their trophies from Ian Welch, of “Angler’s Mail”, at the Dinner and Prize Giving at the Calcot Hotel on Friday April 24^th. Tickets are for sale at Tackle Dealers or from Alby Cohen on 0118 942 5268.

JUNIORS

Just to keep you all informed, I am going to have a rest from collating the results from Clubs and preparing this column, and I believe that Alan Hughes will be taking over. Thank you all for your collaboration over the past few years and many Tight Lines for the future.

Another frustrating Sunday of very poor results in the last matches of the season, on the canal venues as well as the rivers, only one club having to weigh in more than a couple of anglers.

Courage AC fished Salmon Cut and 11 fish were weighed, only 3 anglers not catching! Fred Jones had a perch of 2-8-0 plus one other for the winning weight of 2-9-0. Aaron Phillips caught 3 for second place with 2-5-0. The others who caught were Simon Copson, 1 perch for 1-10-0; Cliff Edwards, 1 perch for 1-8-0; Alan Hughes, 1 perch for 0-6-0; Mike Ketcher, 1 perch for 0-5-0 and Arthur Maybanks, 2 gudgeon for 0-2-0.

At Froxfield, Nine Elms anglers did not get a bite on B Section and on C Section, Reading Civil Service anglers did a bit better, Steve Alder winning with 1-12-0 [perch], Bill Blunden was second with 1-8-8 and Richard Sturgess was third with 0-14-0.

On the Thames at Mill End, Sundial anglers saw the rain coming and decided enough was enough, only 1 chub being caught on ledgered worm.

On the Kennet, Reading FC fished Beat 5, Dennis Swift catching a 4-11-0 chub to win with Pete Godfrey second, with a bullhead!

Worse on Beat 3A! Despite the promising look of the water, not one Prestcold angler had a bite.

Excelsior’s anglers managed 2 gudgeon between them on Lower Benyons Blue section after their pegger watched barbel being landed the day before!

Tring Anglers did not fancy the fast flow of the river at Ufton, so four of them went to the canal at Midgham. They went to the lower end and were surprised at the catches they made. Alan Johnson used punched bread and caught a Brown Trout of 4 lb plus, a rainbow trout of 2½ lb, and 2 chub, to finish with 10-8-0. Martin Rodwell had 3 chub for 7-8-0 and Tony Beadle was third with a trout of 2-8-0 on worm.

Pangbourne had ten anglers out on Hambridge Lake, nine of them did not get a bite, while Mark Slade landed 1 tench of 2-15-0 and then lost one.

Next week I’ll give the season’s statistics for the R&DAA matches together with a list of the Prize Winners who will be able to collect their trophies from Ian Welch at the Association Dinner on 24^th April. Tight lines if you are out on Saturday!

The R&DAA Senior Team Championship took place on Sunday utilising the whole of the Froxfield venue on the Kennet & Avon Canal and what a difference the better weather made to the fishing with catches from sections that had seemed barren for the last few months.

Fourteen Teams of Four took part and all 56 anglers turned out, producing a total match weight of 143-10-0, which was an average of 2-9-0 per angler, although 17 had dry nets.

The winning team was YOTAC/21 Club “Gold” [John Ambrose, Justin Mabere, Paul Mason, & Rob Stephens] with 46 points and a weight of 33-12-0.

In second place was Reading FC “Falcons” [Pete Godfrey, Ray Malyon, Steve O’Keefe, & Dennis Swift] also with 46 points but a lower weight of 22-10-0.

Third was Prestcold “Slapheads” with 44 points. Fourth – South Reading “Advanced Maintenance Blue” with 37 points. Fifth – Reading Civil Service “Hopefulls” with 36 points and a weight of 12-1-0, just beating Reading FC “Eagles”, also with 36 points but a lower weight of 10-8-8, into Sixth place. Seventh – King Heron AC “Gold” 29 points. Eighth – Reading FC “Hawks” 29 points. Ninth – R&DAA “Ringers” 25 points. Tenth – Courage AC “Expectations” 15 points. Eleventh – Prestcold “Red” 10 points. Twelfth – Adventure AC “Irregulars” 9 points. Thirteenth – Adventure AC “Regulars” 5 points. Fourteenth – Reading Civil Service “Dreamers” who did just that and did not catch!

Individual Winners – 1^st Justin Mabere, Yotac/21 Club “Gold”, 16-4-0 [perch from Froxfield B]. 2^nd Pete Godfrey, Reading FC “Falcons”, 14-4-0 [perch, skimmers from Froxfield A]. 3^rd Paul Mason, Yotac/21 Club “Gold”, 11-15-8 [perch from Froxfield A]. 4^th Mick Donohoe, King Heron “Gold” 9-8-0. 5^th Stuart Withey, R&DAA “Ringers” 7-15-8.

“A” [Froxfield A] Pete Godfrey, Reading FC “Falcons”, 14-4-0 from 63-4-0.

“B” [Frox B] Dave Sexton, Reading Civil Service “Hopes”, 6-8-0 from 31-13-8.

“C” [Frox B & C] Justin Mabere, Yotac/21 Club “Gold”, 16-4-0 from 35-6-8.

“D” [Frox C] Steve Drakeford, Prestcold “Slapheads”, 7-10-0 from 13-2-0.

Next Sunday is the last for the current river season and a lot of clubs are out hoping for a good day. Hopefully the weather will be kind although the forecast is not brilliant! Tight lines.

Yet another weekend with very little to report – not that many clubs were out so I hope you pleasure anglers knew where to go to find some sport.

Reading FC transferred its match from Beat 3A, which has been very poor recently, and went to its own water on the Thames at Child Beale, where several of the anglers caught decent chub.

South Reading AC decided to keep to its booking on the Kennet at Theale but not one angler found a bite!

Excelsior AC fished A Section of the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield, using the bottom of the section and the Short Pound. Colin Stone drew the peg at the outflow [which has produced the winning weight for the last two Association matches] and caught small perch and roach, to win with 10-8-0. Gordon Hancock was second with a similar catch for 5-12-0. Alan Cowell was third with 1-12-0 from the Short Pound and John Allum was fourth with 8 oz. Little was caught from the turning bay.

At least the fish are still there at Froxfield, so it could be promising for the R&DAA Team Championship this coming Sunday if the mild weather continues. Tight Lines.

Another disastrous weekend for fishing with many clubs cancelling or moving their matches on R&DAA waters through flooded riverbanks. It does seem from weather forecasts that a change is on the way and certainly water levels are dropping now that we have had a few days without persistent rain! We can but hope.

I have heard of only one fish being caught locally, a chub of 3-11-0, which won the match for Newtown’s Pete Foster on Burghfield River section of the Kennet. The nine anglers had been pegged on the boats. Mike Wright thought he was having a good day but finished with a straightened hook!

Courage anglers changed their match from Beat 4 to Beat 3A but to no good effect, Alan Hughes losing concentration to find his rod tip way round and failing to make contact with the “big one”. No one else caught either.

Excelsior AC anglers, having failed to catch the previous week on their own Thames water at Hardwick, visited Frobury Farm Ponds, where John Hallam had a spectacular all rudd catch to win the match with 14-8-0. Alan Cowell was second with 3-8-0, also all rudd. George Smith and Tony Capewell shared third place with 1-8-0 each.

And may I remind all this season’s trophy winners that the R&DAA Dinner and Prizegiving is to be held at the Calcot Hotel on Friday 24^th April, where they will be able to receive their trophies from Ian Welch of the “Anglers Mail”. Tickets are available [at the same price as last year, £22.00] from your tackle dealer. All are welcome but numbers are limited so put your order in soon.

The R&DAA Canal Championship took place on Sunday and although the competitors did not have to break ice this time, the weather was again very much against fishing with very cold temperatures and a strong easterly wind. Little wonder that only thirty-three anglers turned out! And only thirteen of those weighed in, to give a total match weight of 42-7-8 of which the winner caught virtually half!

This was Richard Sturgess of Reading Civil Service, who drew the first peg above the road bridge, [from where last month’s match was won], and weighed in 20-13-0 of perch to 2 lb.

Second was Steve Sainsbury of South Reading AC with 6-15-0 of perch and roach from the first peg below Lock 70 and third was Ged Shields , also of South Reading AC with 6-1-0 of perch from the middle peg of the turning bay. It would seem most of the fish that were feeding were in this part of the canal between the lock and the road bridge.

Fourth was Phil Beales of Reading FC with 2-6-0 and fifth was Steve O’Keefe of Reading FC with 1-10-0, both from the bottom end of the venue.

A Section [Wides and top of Short Pound] – Paul Wilding, Adventure, 1-3-0 from 1-9-0.

B Section [Bott of Short Pound to road bridge] – Richard Sturgess, Reading Civil Service, 20-13-0 from 34-14-0.

The top clubs on the day were: - Reading Civil Service 22-14-8; South Reading AC 13-15-0; Reading FC 4-0-0.

Club Championship – because of this result, Reading Civil Service are this season’s Champions, with 145-5-0, beating Reading FC with 135-15-0, at the post. King Heron AC were third with 110-10-0. Next month’s match is a Teams Championship match and weights do not count towards the general Championships

Therefore the Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy winner is Andy Chapman of Reading Civil Service with 29-8-8. Mick Donohoe of King Heron AC is second with 27-2-0 and Fred Jones, of Courage, third with 25-13-0.

The Individual Aggregate Points Trophy winner is Mick Donohoe of King Heron AC with 40 points. Andy Chapman of Reading Civil Service, Mick Stanley of Reading FC, and George Callaghan of South Reading are joint second with 36 points.

The only other match from the weekend that I know about was Excelsior AC on Theale River section on the Kennet. The anglers sat there in the freezing conditions for five hours without getting a bite!

Very little to report this week with just one club booked on R&DAA waters, Excelsior AC fishing Calcot where the now usual trend was followed with only one angler catching in the match, Tony Capewell landing 2 bream and a gudgeon for 9-0-0. I did not receive any information on the club’s last two matches and now learn that both were bite free!

The previous Sunday, Nine Elms AC fished “B” Section of the Canal at Froxfield, and although the catches were small, the figures were reversed with only two anglers not catching. Pete Schofield won with 2-4-0, Bob Bird was second with 12 oz and Adrian Parker was third with 3 oz. The others had to settle for 1-2 oz.

At least this should mean that most fishing the Association Canal Championship on Sunday coming will catch a fish, hopefully. Tight lines.

Last week I reported a ‘white out’ for the weekend – this week it was more of a washout with rising rivers after the torrential rain on Saturday night!

Nine anglers from Newtown spent 4 hours on Beat 3 on the Kennet before packing up without a bite between them.

Also on the Kennet, Reading FC was at Burghfield where Joe Baker’s one bite produced a barbel of 4-12-0 to win, Dave Bosher gaining second place with 3 gudgeon for 0-2-8! I am told that this was 400% better than last year when only 1 fish was caught!

At Ufton, another 4 lb fish won the day for Des Williams in the Camberley match, a bream of 4-9-0. No one else caught.

On the Thames, Prestcold AC arrived at Wallingford and thought the river looked perfect! But as the water rose, expectations dropped, and only Mark Steadman was able to catch a chub of 2-0-8 to win the match.

As yet I do not know how the canal at Froxfield fished but Courage AC had a poor day at Padworth only 1 crayfish raising Mike Wells hopes!

But the only club booking Salmon Cut A section for this season, Tring Anglers, found their trip to the local area worthwhile! They reckoned with all the well-used swims on the section, there are pleasure anglers who know where to go for a day’s sport and they will be booking the venue again! Joe Burtt fished at the bottom of the section and weighed in 4 perch for 8-15-0, the best being 3-2-0. Alan Johnson was second with 8-3-0, having a couple of perch to over 2 lb and quality roach to over 1 lb. Tony Beadle was third with 2-9-0 from the top end of the section towards the river, but he lost tackle pulling out broken line of some strength in his swim. And the other 5 anglers caught fish too!

Before relating the match results for the holiday period, may I wish all of you the very Best Wishes for 2009 and hopefully a quickly improving fishing season. The last few weeks have not really given us the best conditions for an enjoyable session on the banks.

Newtown anglers fished their Christmas match on “A” Section of the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on December 21^st and although the total weight was low – 11 braving the wind for 21-4-8 – there were no dry nets. Mick Hill won with 4-2-8, dick Ortzen was second with 3-0-0 and Vick Redding was third with 2-15-0, including a perch of 2-10-0. Everyone went home with Christmas goodies, Pete Foster with an extra bottle of Scotch for coming 5^th in the match, in memory of club member, the late Charlie Johnson who was 5^th in his last Christmas match at Froxfield before passing away.

The R&DAA Christmas Open Match at Froxfield was badly affected by the sudden onslaught of very cold weather which kept the day temperature down to almost freezing! Forty-eight anglers fished, thirty-four failing to weigh-in, producing a total match weight of only 27-4-8 from “B” and “C” Sections.

The winner was Gary O’Shea of Thatchers with 7-8-0, an all perch catch from the first peg below the Railway Bridge on “C” Section.

Second was Adam Smith of Oakwood Angling with 4-10-0 from the second to last peg on “C” Section, which included a 3 lb tench caught within the last 5 minutes!

Third was Dan McDonald of Turners Tackle and Bait with 3-11-0, 2 perch and a skimmer, from the peg below Lock 71.

Ian Wing of Raiders AC and Darren Wright of Reading FC were joint fourth with 2-10-0 each.

The match section winners weights and total section weights show what a poor day it was in the upper sections: -

This last Sunday saw the Association’s second Senior match on the canal at Froxfield for the Kennet (?) Trophy and Reading Angling Centre Trophy and the weather was even colder with overnight temperatures down to minus 10 degrees, freezing the canal with one inch thick ice in places, which had to be cleared from the swim before fishing could commence, and continuing cold meant some anglers had to keep their swims clear during the match.

Only 26 anglers turned up to fish the match and 16 of them did not weigh-in, the total match weight being 20-1-8.

First was Simon Japes [name sounds familiar!] of Reading FC with 5-1-0 of perch from the first peg above the Roadbridge where the inflow from the small stream kept his swim clear of ice [luck of the draw!].

Second was Mick Biles of Reading Civil Service with 3-13-0, a perch and small roach from the peg above the footbridge on “C” Section.

3^rd – Paul Bryan, Prestcold AC, 2-10-0. 4^th – Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 2-8-0. 5^th – Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 2-5-0.

Top clubs on the day – Reading FC 6-7-8; Reading Civil Service 6-6-8; Prestcold AC 3-8-0.

Current leaders - Club Championship: - Reading FC 131-15-0; Reading Civil Service 122 7-8; King Heron AC 110-8-0.

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy leaders – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 29-8-8; Mick Donohoe, King Heron, 27-0-0; Fred Jones, Courage, 25-13-0.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy leaders – Mick Donohoe, King Heron, 38; Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 36; Mick Stanley, Reading FC 36.

There is a rumour that it might be warmer at the weekend, -- probably only need one set of thermal underwear!

The rain of last Saturday brought high and fast water to the Kennet on Sunday with all the sluices open, which prevented flooding but gave anglers a very hard time.

Lower Benyons Red Section saw only four of the Sundial anglers catch and two of them did not weigh in their solitary fish! Malcolm Hawkins won the match with 1 dace and 7 roach for 8 oz; his brother Phil was second with 5 roach and a gudgeon for 6½ oz.

On the Yellow Section, only two of Excelsior’s six anglers caught, sharing the honours, with 5 gudgeon each for 1½ oz.

It was little better for Prestcold AC on the Burghfield River Section where Steve Bryan won with a roach and 2 gudgeon for 11½ oz from the top end of the boats and Mick Sheasby was second with a roach of 3 oz from the bottom end.

On the canal at Salmon Cut, only three of the seven South Reading anglers caught, Jed Shields having 2 bites and landing 2 perch for 3-4-0. Duncan Bales was second with a few ounces and Charlie Beddows was third with 1 oz.

As usual, at this time of the year, the best matches took place at Froxfield, although without any sizeable catches.

On “A” Section, all Nine Elms anglers caught but low weights only, perhaps affected by the venue being fished the day before. Adrian Parker won with 2-4-0, Mick Dance was second with 1-8-0 and Bob Bird was third with 0-12-0.

On “B” Section, Courage had four out of nine anglers weigh in, Mick Ketcher landing roach and small skimmers to win with 4-11-0. Andy White was second with 3-0-0 of roach with a perch of 1 lb, and Arthur Maybanks landed a perch of 1-2-0 for third place. Mick Wells was the only other to catch with a skimmer of 13 oz.

On “C” Section, Bracknell Avocets held their Fur and Feather match which John Smith won with 5-15-8 which included a perch of 2-4-8 plus roach and smaller perch. Second was Lee Richards with a very mixed bag of 3-4-4 and third was Mick Clark, also with a mixed bag of 2-8-4. Thereafter the anglers enjoyed a buffet with their prizegiving!

As the next Angling report will not appear until early January, may I wish you all the Compliments of the Season and tight lines if you are on the bank over the festive holiday together with a very fruitful New Year!

Another cold weekend and a real winter is definitely upon us. Good match results now depend on how soon anglers can re-learn how to catch in the conditions of yesteryear, instead of the mild winters we have been experiencing recently.

Sunday’s R&DAA’s Christmas Match took place on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield, after the coldest night of the year so far with temperatures down to minus 7 degrees centigrade! There was ice on the canal in places, but the bright sun on the day did not help matters. Forty anglers fished, all good anglers who know the water, but only sixteen weighed in, for a total match weight of 31-11-0.

The match winner was Mick Stanley of Reading FC with 5-5-8, which included a perch of 2 lb from the very bottom peg of ”C” Section. Second was Andy Chapman of Reading Civil Service, from the next peg upstream, with 3 perch plus bits, for 5-2-8. George Callaghan of South Reading AC was third with a mixed bag of 4-2-0 from the bottom peg on the “Wides” on “A” Section.

4^th – Aaron Phillips, Courage, 3-8-0. 5^th – Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 3-7-8. 6^th – Paul Bryan, Prestcold AC, 2-3-0. 7^th – Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, 2-2-8. 8^th – Rob Stephens, YOTAC/21 Club, 1-15-0. 9^th – Phil Lush, Reading FC, 1-7-0. 10^th – Phil Beales, Hanwell PoW, 0-15-8.

The section winners were – George Callaghan, Rob Stephens, Aaron Phillips, Paul Bryan, and Mick Stanley. The best total section weights were “E” section with 10-8-0 and “A” section with 8-9-0.

The current leaders in the Club Championship are – Reading FC with 125-7-8; Reading Civil Service with 116-1-0; King Heron AC with 108-0-0

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy leaders are – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 29-8-8; Fred Jones, Courage, 25-13-0; Mick Donohoe, King Heron, 24-8-0; Mick Stanley, Reading FC, 21-15-8.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy leaders are – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, and Mick Stanley, Reading FC, both with 36 points; Mick Donohoe, King Heron, 32 points; Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, 30 points.

NOTE: The R&DAA Christmas Open Match has been scheduled for SUNDAY 28^thDECEMBER 2008 on “B” and “C” Sections at Froxfield as “A” Section is booked for a club match.

In the adverse weather conditions of Sunday, some brave souls ventured forth to do battle with the elements, and to try and catch fish. Those that succeeded probably felt that it was all worthwhile but for those who stuck it out without getting a bite – they deserve special recognition for their dedication to the sport!

At the Reading & District Angling Association Open on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield only twelve of the twenty-four anglers weighed in, so the weather definitely spoiled the fishing. It could be warmer for the first of the Association’s monthly matches next Sunday. Let’s hope so! Sunday’s match was easily won by Association Match Secretary and Organiser, Mike Sheasby, who drew the peg below the lock above the turning bay and caught perch to 3 lb for his winning weight of 16-14-0. Andy Wicks was second with a mixed bag of 6-9-0 from the bottom peg on the “Wides” and Tony Tibble was third with 6-2-8. Tony won the “B” Section money, Carl Stefan won the “A” Section money with 2-12-0 from the Wides and Ron Cole won the “C” Section with 1-8-0.

The only club out on Association waters was Adventure AC on the Burghfield River section of the Kennet. Only three caught [or should I say five blanked], Scott Nelson landing a chub of 5-1-0 to win, Nick Sargeant landing one of 4-4-0 for second place and Keith Pentlow persuading a wee roach of 4 drms to give itself up to him for third.

One man had a good day on the Kennet on Sunday – Tony Beadle of Tring Anglers landed three good chub from two pegs down from the railway bridge in the club match on Beat 3, the best being 5-6-0, giving him the winning weight of 13-6-0. Dave Moore landed one of 3-5-8 for second place and Michael Lawrence caught a small one of 1-15-0 for third.

Courage AC fished its match on the Thames at Wallingford where Aaron Phillips caught small chub to win with 2-13-0. Mick Ketcher was second with 2-0-0, again small chub plus a skimmer, Fred Jones was third with 0-13-8 of small chub and roach, Alan Hughes managed 2 small chub for 0-12-0 and in fourth place was Ian Claridge with 1 chub for 0-10-0. No one else caught.

On the local canal sections, King Heron anglers fished Padworth and only three weighed in. Chris Humphreys won with 2-10-0 of silver fish, Steve Lewis was second with 2-0-0 of chub and Jeff Fisher was third with bleak for 1-8-0.

Pangbourne anglers fared even worse on Salmon Cut, only John Nicholls catching 2 perch to weigh 0-4-0.

It was somewhat better on the canal at Froxfield although the winning weights were not as high as last week. At least most should catch in the Association Open next Sunday.

Excelsior AC fished “A” Section and everybody caught. Dave Sexton won with an all perch bag of 7-10-0. Gordon Hancock was second with 5-11-0 [again perch], Ken Wright was third with perch and roach for 3-12-0 and Alan Cowell was fourth with a mixed bag of 2-4-0.

On “C” Section, Reading FC found it harder than previously, D Swift winning with only 4-3-8. Len Wilby was second with 3-12-0, Steve Tucker was third with 3-4-8 and Tony Tibble was fourth with 2-15-0.

I am pleased to report that there are fish being caught in the Canal at Froxfield, perhaps not so prolific as past seasons but at least far better than from the local river venues at present.

The result from Froxfield A Section is not yet to hand but will be included next week, however British Airways fished that venue the Saturday before last and R Gallagher won the match from the top peg by the lock with 15-8-0 of mostly perch [biggest 2-13-0]. R Withey was second with skimmers and roach for 6-5-0 and C Robinson was third from the “gate” peg with 5-3-0.

On B Section, this past Sunday, Nine Elms AC held its Roach Shield match and everybody caught although a lot of the fish were perch, gudgeon, skimmers etc which did not count towards the final weights. Adrian Parker won with 2-8-0 of roach, Les Parker was second with 2-2-0 and Bob Bird was third with 1-4-0.

South Reading AC fished C Section where Steve Sainsbury had a good day catching mainly perch to 2 lb from just below the lock, to win with 22-8-0. Tony Tibble was second with a mixed bag of 13-2-0 and Charlie Beddow was third with 7-7-8 of mostly roach. There were no blanks with weights down to 1 lb.

Another canal match was locally at Midgham where Prestcold’s anglers all caught something. Eric Oates landed a 3 lb bream, a decent chub plus bits to win with 6-6-8 as well as winning £100 on the peg pool! Paul Leek was second with roach and chublets for 6-6-0, Kevin Smith was third with a bream plus bits for 3-2-0, John Main was fourth with 3-0-0 and Mark Steadman was fifth with 2-10-0.

Newtown’s anglers had a disappointing day on the Kennet at Beat 4B, only 6 out of 10 catching for a total match weight of 9½ oz. Robin Reyonds won with 4 oz, Terry Smith was second with 2½ oz, Vick Redding had 2 oz and Stan Redding had 1 oz. But bigger fish were there – 3 anglers had rap rounds, Eddie Grayson actually having to retrieve his rod from the river!

On Saturday, the R&DAA Juniors Christmas Match took place at Longwater Lake but it was only the two keenest members of the Junior Section that turned out. Amy Longmuir, of Reading Civil Service, won with 3-14-0 comprising small roach, skimmer bream and hybrids, and Alex Jarvis of Courage AC was second with 1-13-0. Both received prizes of fishing tackle donated by Reading Angling Centre and Tadley Angling. As this is the last match for the Junior Section, the Junior Points Trophy has been won by Alex with 118 points with Amy, in second place with 114 points. Third was Ben Garroway of Courage with 85 points and all three will receive prizes at the Presentation Evening at the end of the season.

Another weekend of poor results in poor weather conditions except for a few – it does seem as though the fish have all shoaled up in plenty of time for the winter!

One of those who did find fish was Chris Bowman in the Bracknell Avocets match on “A” Section of the Wallingford reach of the Thames. He caught some 70 roach using stick float with maggot and caster for the winning weight of 12-0-0. Dermot Murphy finished second with 4-0-8, mostly roach with a 2-0-0 bream. Third was John Smith with 2-1-8 of bits.

The one match on the Kennet for which I have a result was on Calcot, which again fished badly. Sundial’s anglers struggled all day, one of them catching 4 small fish before deciding he’d had enough, packing up and going home. If he had weighed in, he would probably have won, as Malcolm Hawkins was declared the winner with 8 oz and Phil Hawkins was second with a small roach for 2 oz!

Reading Civil Service AC fished the Padworth Canal section where Steve Alder drew a peg towards the lock and happily caught fish all day. He lost a tench but landed a 2-3-0 perch to finish with 9-7-0. The others all struggled, Gordon McGee being second with 1-13-0 and Vic Turner being third with 9 oz.

On the canal at Froxfield, on “A” Section, the Hanwell PoW club members all weighed in despite the wind, but with very little. Chris Mahoney won with 5-12-0, Gary Wood was second with 4-3-0, which included a perch of 2-2-0, and Peter Finch was third with 3-9-0.

Pangbourne’s anglers were on “C” Section but they found fish hard to come by, Mark Slade winning with 2-11-0. Paul Hill was second with 1-2-0 and John Nicholls was third with 4 wee perch for 3 oz.

The R&DAA Match on the Kennet on Sunday must have produced the worst result in its history with an average weight of only 7 oz per angler. The heavy rains over the preceding days caused the river to rise by over a foot during the course of the match and the water temperature was the coldest of the year so far causing the fish to lie low and not feed.

The total match weight was only 21-5-4, thirty-eight anglers out of forty-eight not having anything to weigh in! Talking to Ken Willmott, he can remember only one match to compare, a canal match on the local canal sections with a total match weight of 11 lbs, where there would have been one hundred plus anglers – definitely a bad day – worse than Sunday!

The top clubs on Sunday were Reading Civil Service with 11-7-4, South Reading AC with 7-2-0 and Reading FC with 2-0-0.

The winner was Andy Chapman of Reading Civil Service, catching a barbel of 10-9-0 and a chub of 9 oz for a weight of 11-2-0, from the top peg of Burghfield River Section.

Second was George Callaghan of South Reading AC with 7-0-0, a barbel caught from the first peg on the moored boats on the same section.

Third was Terry Littlewood of Reading FC who landed a 1-5-0 roach from Beat 4B below Rose Kiln Lane bridge.

Fourth was Paul Wilding of Adventure AS with 0-11-0 from Calcot and fifth was Ray Malyon of Reading FC with 0-8-0, also from Calcot.

“B” – Burghfield River – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service – 11-2-0 from total 19-2-0.

“C” – Beat 3 – Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service – 0-0-4 = total 0-0-4.

“D” – Beat 4 – Terry Littlewood, Reading FC – 1-5-0 from total 1-10-0.

“E” – Beat 5 – Steve Sainsbury, South Reading AC – 0-2-0 = total 0-2-0.

Current leaders in the Club Championship – Reading FC 117-6-8; Reading Civil Service 108-12-8; King Heron AC 104-5-0.

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy leaders – Fred Jones, Courage, 25-13-0; Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 24-6-0; Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 21-0-8.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy leaders – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 28 points; Fred Jones, Courage, 26 points; Mick Stanley, Reading FC, 26 points.

This was the last of the Association Matches on the Kennet for this season, the venue for the last four will be the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield where the draw will take place at the Cross Keys Inn, Great Bedwyn.

Only thirteen anglers turned out for the R&DAA Open Match on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield last Saturday, and although it was a frosty morning, fish were caught. Dave Bosher of Reading FC won the match with 15-4-0, finding some good bream from the top peg on the Wides, just below the lock. Paul Leek of Prestcold AC was second, catching good perch from the bottom end of the Wides for 14-15-0. Mark Johnson, also of Prestcold AC was third with 8-13-0 of perch from the Short Pound and another Prestcold man, Martin Bradbrook was fourth with 6-9-0. Mark took the section money for B Section and Martin, the money for A Section. The next Open is on a Sunday at the end of November, so there could well be a lot more turning out.

On Sunday, on a rather wet day, King Heron AC fished Beat 5 on the Kennet where the top weights were fairly close, Jeff Fisher winning with 6-10-0, Pete Matthews being second with 6-3-0 and Chris Humphreys, third with 5-15-0.

On Beat 3B, Pangbourne anglers had a poor day with few fish showing. John Nicholls won with 2 chub for 2-6-0, Paul Hill was second with 1 chub for 1-13-0, but Clark Child could only manage 2 oz in third place.

On the Thames, at Mapledurham, Reading Civil Service anglers struggled to find 11 fishable swims and then struggled to find fish. Les Hannington won with 4 oz, Gordon McGee was second with 3¼ oz and Richard Munday was third with 1½ oz.

Tring Anglers fared a bit better at Northmoor on B section where 9 anglers managed 17-11-0 between them in gin clear water. Richard Gibbs took a while to land a 5-13-0 bream on stick float and very fine tackle to win with a total of 6-11-0. Tony Beadle was second with 2-6-0 while catching a trout on legered worm and Michael Lawrence was third with 2-1-0 of small roach. Joe Burtt was fourth with 1-15-0, his one bite being a barbel!

Next Sunday, the last of the Association Matches on the Kennet takes place before the transfer to Froxfield for the Winter. Tight lines.

Once again, the Kennet did not appear to fish well at the weekend, or so it would seem for the clubs fishing matches!

South Reading AC had 12 anglers out on Beats 3 A&B and five failed to find a fish. Justin Mabere won with 5-4-0 with George Callaghan in second place with 2-11-0. Duncan Bales was third with 2-0-0.

On Burghfield River section Courage/SE anglers had 2 dry nets and 4 with an ounce or less! Fred Jones landed a 4-14-0 chub plus bits from the top peg in Rushy Meadow to win with 5-8-0. Cliff Edwards was second with a mostly bleak bag of 2-6-0 from the road bridge peg and Mick Ketcher was third with 1-0-8 of small chub and roach.

Reading FC was on the next river section upstream on Calcot B, where Les Kemp had 2 chub for the winning weight of 8-10-0. Dave Bosher caught a perch of 3-2-0 plus roach for 3-14-0 for second place and thereafter it was a struggle, Pete Godfrey being third with 13 oz and Joe Baker, fourth with 12½ oz.

It was a similar story on the Thames, King Heron AC fishing Sonning River, Chris Humphreys winning with 4 perch for 1-0-0. George Harris was second with a small perch and roach for 0-9-0 and Tony Keel was third with 10 gudgeon for 0-6-0.

Newtown AC had the long walk to Wallingford A Section, which made the day worse, as the 10 anglers only managed a total match weight of 7-5-0 and most of this came in the last hour between 2 and 3 pm. Eddie Grayson won with 2-14-0, a perch of 1-4-0, 4 decent roach and bits. Vick Redding was second with 1-8-0 and Derek Carter was third with 0-14-0.

The only club to have a somewhat better day was Kennet Ospreys on Wallingford B Section, Sean Barrington winning with 16-0-0 of roach caught on stick float and caster. Second, also with roach on stick float and caster, was Brian Orchard with 10-2-0, third was Ian Jones with 8-6-0 [on waggler with maggot] and fourth was Mark Fryer with 6-10-0 of chublets.

The only club on canal water was Reading Civil Service fishing Salmon Cut B and here again it was a struggle to find fish, Gordon McGee winning with 1-2-0. Richard Munday was second with 1-0-0 and Steve Alder was third with 10 oz.

It will be interesting to see how the Canal at Froxfield fishes in the cold in the R&DAA Open on Saturday!

Last Saturday, R&DAA held another match for Juniors on Longwater Lake at Green Park where the coaching sessions have been taking place over the past couple of months. Unfortunately the fish were not as cooperative as they have been, Alex Jarvis of Courage AC winning with only 1-10-0. Amy Longmuir of Reading Civil Service was second with 1-7-8 and Ben Garraway of Courage was third with 1-6-0. These three are the leaders in the Junior Points Competition. The Association is looking forward to having more turn out for these matches as coaching progresses – watch the association website where there is a section devoted to junior angling.

On the Kennet on Sunday, it was a similar storey with catches being of small fish, the only match angler to land a specimen was Phillip Griffiths in the Sundial AC match at Beat 3 Backwater, who caught a barbel of 12-11-0 together with a pike of 4 lb plus [both on luncheon meat] to win with just over 17 lb. Second man, Doug Harrison, had only 2-0-0 of small roach and chublets, and the next weights were only 13 oz and 12½ oz.

At Burghfield River, Pangbourne had 11 anglers out with everyone catching. Pete Seward won with 7 lb of chub and bits, but thereafter, reasonable fish were sadly lacking, Mike Seward being second with 1-6-0 and Mike Childs, third with 0-12-5.

Nine Elms AC fished Calcot B but although conditions were thought to be perfect, the match was won by Adrian Parker with only 1 lb, Les Parker being second with 10 oz and Mick Dance, third with 6 oz.

On the Thames, Hanwell fished “A” Section at Wallingford and again, the weights were made up of small fish, Craig Townsend winning with 8-9-0. Chris Peel was second with 1-12-0 and John Wilkinson was third with 1-8-0. Five angles did not catch!

On “B” Section it was better for Reading Civil Service anglers although plagued by pike. Les Hannington won with 8-15-0, Vic Turner was second with 7-4-0 and Ian Marcham was close third with 7-2-0.

On the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield, there were fish to be caught until the sun came through when conditions became very difficult with exceptionally clear water. Prestcold AC was on “A” Section where Mark Johnson won with 12-15-0 of mainly skimmers from the boat turning bay at the bottom end. Kevin Smith was second with 12-0-0, which included two 3 lb tench, from the bottom end of the Wides. Mick Griffiths was third with 6-14-0 from the top of the Short Pound and Eric Oates was fourth from the bottom of the Short Pound with 5-12-0. Graham Hawkins was fifth with 5-4-0 from the Wides. 18 anglers weighed in a total of 70 lb.

On “B” Section, Bracknell Avocets anglers mostly opted to fish the lower end of the venue, where John Smith won with 8-8-0 of perch and skimmers. Second was Dermot Murphy with 7-14-4 of mainly perch and third was Mike Clark with 5-5-12 of bits. Dave Brooks fished the top end and was fourth with 3-5-4 which included a perch of 1-15-12.

The R&DAA Annual Championships for Teams of Six and Individuals took place on the Kennet on Sunday in the now normal conditions for Association matches this season, of heavy rain and strong, gusty winds. Ten teams and thirteen individuals took part producing a total match weight of 288-4-12, which was an average weight per angler of 4 lb, a good result in the conditions. Twelve anglers did not weigh in.

The winning team was King Heron “Gold” with 45 points, the six anglers being Roy Cheadle, Mick Donohoe, George Harris, Chris Humphreys, John Jackson and Dave Ward.

2^nd – Courage “Expects” – 41 points, comprised of Ian Claridge, Alan Hughes, Fred Jones, Mike Ketcher, Arthur Maybanks and Aaron Phillips.

1^st - Sean Barrington of Adventure “Regulars” with an all roach catch of 23-5-0 from Beat 4B.

3^rd – Paul Mason, YOTAC/21 Club “Gold” – 19-7-0, chub and roach from Beat 5.

These weights are not included in the totals for the Club Championship or the Individual Aggregate Weights and Points Trophies so these remain as last reported.

The R&DAA Open Match on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on Saturday had a very poor turn out with only 18 anglers fishing, so only “A” Section and the top couple of swims of “B” Section were pegged. It fished reasonably well until the sun came out, although none of the bigger fish showed. The winner was Daniel McDonald of Turners Tackle & Baits with 11-1-0 from the top peg in the Short Pound. Second was Darren Wright of Reading Fishing Club who had perch and skimmers from ‘The Wides’ for 8-9-0; close third was Carl Eland of Garbolino with 8-8-0 and fourth was Matt Herbert of Drennan Oxford with 8-6-0. The next Open on the venue is on 25^th October.

Matches on the Kennet on Sunday had mixed results. On Beat 5, Prestcold AC anglers averaged in excess of 5 lb per man, Jeff Eley winning with 10-5-0 of roach with 1 chub. In second place, John Lambourne had a roach bag of 9-1-0, and Mick Sheasby was third with dace, roach and perch for 8-8-0. Graham Hawkins was fourth with 7-12-0 of roach and perch, and Mark Johnson had 7-2-0 for fifth place.

The best bag of the day was in the Reading FC match on Beat 4B where Fred Jones landed 10 chub plus roach, on the float, for 36-14-0 and it wasn’t the favoured swim! Joe Baker was second with roach for 9-6-0 and Len Wilby was third with 5-14-0 of mostly roach.

Just upstream on Beat 4A it was a different story, only 4 of the Nine Elms anglers weighing in. John Creaney won with 2 chub for 5-8-0 while the others had to go for the small fish in order to catch anything. Adrian Parker was second with 2-12-0 of bleak and dace, and Bob Bird was third with 1-0-0 of small perch.

On Burghfield River section it was a similar tale of woe for Camberley WMC anglers. Pegged all the way through the venue, only John Bunyan caught bits for the winning weight of 3-3-0. Tony Money and Ray Lee were next best with 8 ozs each of smaller bits!

And well upstream at Ufton, Miles AC had the same experience [having found pegs to fish avoiding the moored boats]. Keith Philpott caught roach and dace and a multitude of bleak to win with 5-10-0, and then way behind was John Deacon with 7 oz for second place and Colin Thrower with 5 oz for third.

And for those of you fishing the Annual Championship on the Kennet on Sunday, the Section listing is: - “A” Section – Beats 5A+B; “B” Section – Burghfield River; “C” Section – Beats 4A+B, “D” Section – Theale River; “E” Section – Calcot A+B; “F” Section – Beats 3A+B.

It would seem the Thames is becoming more fishable after all those rains and high, rushing water. Reading FC anglers produced the best match result so far this season from Mapledurham. They were on Beat 1 and though the boats moored there were a bit of a problem, most of them weighed in and I understand that roach were the predominant species. Alan Prince won with 10-8-0, Peter Godfrey was second with 9-6-0, and Dave Bosher was third with 7-4-0. Steve Goddard had 4-10-0 in fourth place and John Goddard was fifth with 4-0-0.

Also on the Thames, at Sonning, Nine Elms’ members all caught, mainly roach and gudgeon, with weights around 2 lb. The winner was Bob Bird with 4-0-0, with Adrian Parker in second place with 3-6-0 and Pete Schofield, third with 2-13-0. No bigger fish showed.

On Saturday, Excelsior AC fished its own water on the Thames at Hardwick, where Ralph Sneddon won with 4-2-0 of bits. Dave Turner was second with 3-10-0 and George Smith was third with 2-0-0.

On the Kennet, King Heron AC fished Theale River Section where Ian Quelch landed 4 chub plus perch for the winning weight of 13-3-0. Mick Mills was second with 1 chub of 3-14-0 and Geoff was third with 3-4-0.

Tring Anglers were on Ufton section where Martin Rodwell pole fished the top of the venue and won the match with 8-3-0 including a chub of 2½ lb. Joe Burtt was second with 6-9-0 of skimmers from the lock cut and Andy Allday was third after a busy day landing 5-6-0 of very small fish.

Courage/SE AC held a Saturday match at Midgham canal but only 4 weighed in! Cliff Edwards landed a 4 lb bream in his winning of 4-10-0, Simon Copson had 1-11-0 in second place, Aaron Phillips was third with 1-7-0 and Alan Hughes just made the frame with 1-0-0.

If you’re fishing the R&DAA Open on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on Saturday – tight lines!

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Eileen Willmott, wife of Ken, the past Match Secretary of the R&DAA, died on Wednesday, 10 September. She died peacefully in hospital, at the age of 82, having lost her courageous battle against cancer. Our deepest sympathies go to Ken and her family and friends. She was a keen angler in her own right and was twice the Ladies National Champion. Eileen will long be remembered for her kindness, humour and love of life, and she will be sorely missed. Her funeral is being held at Reading Crematorium on Friday 19^th September at 12 noon.

The match results from last weekend do not make good reading with the Thames high and really rushing through, and the Kennet pushing hard, but both with a lot of colour. There was only one good weight from the canal venues – Bracknell Avocets switched from the turbulent Thames to the Kennet & Avon Canal at Midgham where Chris Bowman caught 7 bream to 4-1-0 plus roach and bleak for the winning weight of 26-5-0. Dermot Murphy was second with 4-7-0 of roach, perch and bleak and John Smith was third with 2-3-0. John also caught a 10 oz brown trout!

South Reading AC fished the Canal at Froxfield on “A” Section but the bream and skimmers did not show. The average weight for the 12 anglers was about 4 lb, George Callaghan winning with 7-8-8 of roach and perch, Jed Shields, second with 6-7-8 and John Montgomery was third with 5-12-8.

The most recently acquired Association water on the Thames at Mill End proved disappointing for Sundial’s anglers, only those finding a bit of slack being able to fish with any success at all! Alan Newman found the best spot, winning with 7-8-0 which included an eel. Most of the other anglers opted for an early bath!

Also on the Thames, at Wallingford, Reading FC anglers managed to find some fish, Terry Littlewood winning their match with 10-0-0. Dave Bosher had 5-7-0 in second place, Mick Stanley was third with 4-6-0 and Alan Prince was fourth with 3-10-0. Our commiserations for the Club’s squad in the NFA First Division National the previous weekend. Nobody is happy at coming last!

At Northmoor, on “B” Section, Newtown’s anglers braved the high and fast flow, Terry Smith catching 2 roach plus bleak for the winning weight of 2-6-0. Stan Redding had a roach plus bleak for second place with 2-5-0 and Vic Redding had 5 roach to 1 lb for 2-3-0 and third place. A close result in the conditions.

On the Kennet, on Beat 3 B, Courage’s anglers all caught, most of them only 3-4 oz, but Mike Ketcher successfully landed a 3-12-0 chub to give him first place with 4-15-0. In second place with 2-5-0 of bits, was Fred Jones and Aaron Phillips was third with just 0-12-8.

At Ufton, an inexperienced [presumably] narrowboat helmsman spoilt the day for Excelsior’s anglers, trying to turn round twice and getting stuck during their match. ‘Jock’ Turner caught a small tench, chub and bits for 4-5-0 to win, before the boater arrived, John Allum was second with 3-12-0 of roach, gudgeon, etc and George Smith was third with 1-0-0 of bits.

The second Association Junior Match of the season took place on Saturday at Longwater Lake on Green Park and 5 youngsters took part under the watchful eyes of the new R&DAA Junior Coaching Regime. Alex Jarvis won with 5-6-8, which included a 2½ lb bream as well as roach, rudd, skimmers and bleak. Ben Garroway was second with a mixed bag of 4-2-0, Amy Longmuir, of Reading Civil Service Juniors, was third with 2-12-0, Jack Mintern, of Reading FC Juniors was fourth with 2-7-0 and fifth was Henry Penton with 1-1-0. All these youngsters will receive Replica Trophies at the R&DAA Prizegiving.

And don’t forget the Association Open Match at Froxfield on Saturday 27^th September.

R&DAA are sad to report the sudden, unexpected and untimely death last Thursday night, of Dusty Millar, the Association’s Associate Members’ Secretary for some years past. He will be sorely missed.

The R&DAA Match for the Association Cup and Fericon Press Trophies was held on Sunday on a fast flowing River Kennet, necessitating the use of feeder tactics by most of the forty-nine anglers fishing. They produced a total match weight of 173-6-12, giving an average of 3-8-0 per angler, only six not weighing in.

The winner was Mark Johnson of Prestcold AC, landing his only bite of the day, a barbel of 9-14-0 from halfway down Beat 3 backstream.

2^nd Mick Mills of King Heron AC, also halfway down the backstream of Beat 3, with 1 barbel and 1 chub for 9-12-0.

3^rd John Ambrose of Reading FC, 9-4-0, 3 bream and 4 perch from the second peg below Hisseys Bridge on Calcot section.

“A” – Theale River – Ian Quelch, King Heron AC, 7-4-0 from total 12-14-4.

“C” – Burghfield River – Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 6-3-0 from total 23-7-0.

“D” – Beats 3A+B – Mark Johnson, Prestcold AC, 9-14-0 from total 34-15-0.

“E” – Beats 4A+B – Alan Tucker, Reading Civil Service, 7-4-0 from total 27-7-0.

“F” – Beats 5A+B – Andy Chapman, Reading Civil Service, 8-6-0 from total 47-6-8.

Top three clubs on the day were:- King Heron AC 42-9-0; Reading Civil Service 35-4-0; Prestcold AC 28-11-4.

Current Club Championship Leaders – Reading FC 115-6-8; King Heron AC 104-4-0; Reading Civil Service 97-5-4.

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy Leaders – Fred Jones, Courage AC, 25-13-0; Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 21-0-8; Mick Griffiths, Prestcold AC, 18-4-0.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy Leaders – Fred Jones, Courage AC, 26 points; Mick Stanley, Reading FC, 26 points; Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 24 points.

The River Thames is more of a torrent at the present time! Tring Anglers turned up for their match at Mapledurham on Sunday and only three of them decided to try their luck in the Mill Pool. The others went off on their own thing [home or whatever]. Just one small bream was caught in the pool!

Several clubs are out over next weekend so I hope you all have a good day. Very tight lines!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, there were few clubs out on matches so I hope you pleasure anglers took the opportunity to get some worthwhile time on the banks on your favourite swims and caught plenty! The match results could have been better!

Nine Elms anglers were on the Kennet at Ufton on the river section, where Pete Schofield won with 3-10-0. Chris Hinton was second with 2-9-0 and Les Parker had 1-10-0 for third place.

Tring Anglers were on the Thames at Wallingford on “B” section where 10 anglers had a total match weight of 59-8-8 [mostly roach]. Martin Rodwell had 13-15-0 in first place, Tony Beadle was second with 8-10-0, which included a bream of 4-0-0, and Andy Allday was third with 7-13-0.

On the Saturday, Prestcold fished Wylies Lake which has not been producing in matches so far this season. Graham Hawkins landed a 4-10-0 tench in his winning weight of 6-14-0, John Lambourne was second with 3-4-8 of bits and Mike Sheasby was third with 2-0-0.

Pingewood Lagoon was again the venue for the Paul Snookes Memorial Fish-in over the Bank Holiday weekend and once again the result was disappointing. Fishing from Friday evening to Monday afternoon, the 22 anglers were all striving to catch the best carp of the match, and whereas for the past few years just one fish has produced the winner, this year not one carp would oblige. I understand that a few perch were landed but they don’t count! The success of the weekend was the fact that £1200 was raised for cancer hospices. Well done to all those who took part.

King Heron AC held a match on “B” section at Wallingford on the Thames and Mick Donohoe won with 11-13-0. Steve Lewis was second with 9-15-0, Ian Quelch was third with 6-10-0 and John Jackson was fourth with 5-3-0.

On the Kennet, Reading Civil Service anglers fished Lower Benyons Yellow and Blue sections but only the smaller fish showed, Steve Alder landing a chub and bits to win with 7-12-0. Ian Marcham lost a barbel during the match but managed 4-15-0 of bits for second place and Les Hannington was third with 4-6-0.

Excelsior AC fished Red section on Lower Benyons on Saturday, John Allum winning with 8-2-0 of bits. George Smith was second with 2-11-0 and Dave [Jock] Turner was third with 2-5-0.

The R&DAA School Holiday programme finished its weekday outings successfully with “full” houses on the last two Tuesdays of August, after bad weather caused the cancellation of the first two. Saturday morning sessions are being held and all juniors are welcome. An Association Match for Juniors will be taking place on the 13^th September and I understand that any who have attended the instruction sessions will be welcome to take part.

Tight lines to them and all of you, especially those taking part in the Association Match on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be kind.

Once again, the results from the weekend are very mixed, with venues that have produced previously, not giving anglers a good day’s fishing. It would seem that wherever you pick to go, you have to take what comes and make the best of it, the next session elsewhere could make up for the bad times.

Working up the Kennet, Pangbourne and Whitchurch anglers were very disappointed at their day on Beat 5 especially after good catches during the previous week. John Nicholls won with 3-2-0, Mark Slade was second with 2-8-0 and Mick Seward was third with 2-6-0, the catches being predominately perch.

King Heron AC members had a somewhat better day on Beats 3A+B where Geoff Fisher had 2 good chub and bits for the winning weight of 12-4-0. Ian Crouch was second with 3 chub for 9-9-0, Pete Matthews was third with 7-10-0 and Chris Humphreys had 5-13-0 in fourth place. Barbel that were hooked did not make the landing net!

On Burghfield River section, Reading Civil Service anglers all caught during their match, Ian Marcham winning with an all roach bag of 8-10-0. Steve Allder had a mixed bag of 7-12-0 in second place and Pete Kersley was third with 6-8-0, which included a barbel of 5-10-0.

Courage AC fished Calcot B section and after recent good weights on the venue were disappointed that although everyone caught, the weights were minimal. Fred Jones drew the favoured bottom peg of the section but could only manage 1 small chub, roach, perch and gudgeon, to win with 2-1-0. Equal second were Simon Copson and Ian Claridge with 1-11-0 of bleak, small roach and perch.

At Ufton, Bracknell Avocets, had 11 members on the bank and all caught a variety of small fish. The winner was Mike Clark with 4-10-8, second was Chris Bowman with 3-14-0 and third was Richard Herman, Jnr, with 1-8-4. Richard’s father-in-law, S Goddard was down from Barnsley and fished as a guest, showing how it’s done in the north, catching 3 bream and bits to weigh-in 6-7-8!

On the Thames at Sonning, Tony Tibble won the Prestcold match weighing in 11-7-0, which included a tench of 6-8-0. Eric Coates was second with 4 bream for 8-7-0, Graham Walker had 2 bream plus bits for 7-8-0 and third place, and Don Tait was fourth with a similar catch for 5-14-0.

Adventure AC held a match on the Kennet & Avon Canal on A Section at Froxfield where 9 fished for a total match weight of 39-2-0. Pat McGowan won with 8-13-0, Bob Ponting was second with 6-1-0, which included a bream of 4½ lb, and Nick Sargeant was third with 5-14-0. There were boats around!

Newtown anglers were at Hambridge Lake and they produced the best match weight I’ve received so far this season from this venue, 11 of them weighing in a total of 45-2-0. It was made up of small fish, mainly roach and rudd, the only tench hooked not being landed. Mick Hill won with 9-1-0, Peter Foster was second with 8-14-0 and Vick Redding was third with 6-13-0.

Again this last weekend there were few clubs out on local waters and for those that were, the gusty wind made fishing difficult, not providing a good indication of where to go to have a fair day on the bank, whether you are a river or lake angler.

South Reading AC members did prove that Beat 5 on the Kennet is one of the most likely venues to provide some sport, twelve of them weighing in a total of 62 lb, which is an average of over 5 lb per man. Local tackle dealer, Tony Tibble won the match with 9-15-0, Rick Withers was second with 9-3-0, Barry Marshall was third with 8-12-0 and Dave Brent, fourth with 7-7-0.

The Thames provided more pleasure for the boat traffic than the anglers, Nine Elms members not managing to find anything worthwhile fish wise at Mapledurham, in line with other clubs’ results since the start of this season. Adrian Parker did get1-4-0 to win their match and Bob Bird had 4 oz for second pace.

At Wallingford, on B section, which generally gets a worthwhile result, Sundial anglers found the wind very difficult to deal with, Alan Newman winning with 6-8-0 only by landing a pike that took his small perch on the way to his net. Pete Griffiths was second with roach and perch for 3-8-0 and the third weight was only 1-8-0.

Tring Anglers missed out on their Sonning match by an error on the club’s match sheet, to the regret of several of their members who would have far rather fished this venue than the “pond” they went to! [So I was informed!]

Reading FC had a match at Wylies Lake, which also has not produced this season. Some fish were found, John Ellyatt winning with 6-6-8. John Berry was second with 5-15-0, Len Wilby was third with 3-0-0 and Don Cox was fourth with 1-0-8.

As usual, Excelsior AC anglers went where a good days fishing is always expected, to Gold Valley Lakes. Jep Attwood won with 114-2-0, Graham Melhuish was second with 78-7-0, Ken Wright was third with 74-8-0 and Nick Baker was fourth with 65-10-0.

It does seem, from the results so far this season, that life “ain’t like what it used to be” with poorer catches in club matches. The R&DAA matches have not been too bad but compared to other years, the club results are down. Is it the weather? Is it cormorants taking the fish? I cannot believe anglers have lost their touch. Perhaps it will all come right soon. Tight lines.

The second of the R&DAA matches of the season, for the Preservation Cup and Claw Scaffold Trophy, was held on the Kennet on Sunday, 58 anglers turning out in the mixed weather conditions and weighing in a total of 229-4-12, only 7 of them not bothering the scalesmen. The average weight per angler was 3-15-0 and no huge bags were weighed.

The winner was Jay Allen of Reading Civil Service with 5 small barbel and dace for 10-5-0 from the top peg of Beat 3 Backwater.

2^nd – Mick Donohoe of King Heron AC with a 3 lb chub, roach and dace for 9-13-8 from the peg below the concrete blocks on Beat 5.

3^rd – Aaron Phillips of Courage AC with roach and dace for 9-12-0 from two pegs above Berkeley Avenue Road Bridge on Beat 5.

“A” – Theale River – Steve White, YOTAC/21 Club, 6-1-0 from total 24-3-8.

The top clubs on the day were Reading Civil Service with 45-5-4, Reading FC with 37-10-0 and King Heron AC with 37-6-8.

So after two matches the Club Championship leaders are: - 1^st Reading FC with 88-3-8, 2^nd Courage AC with 62-9-0, 3^rd Reading Civil Service with 62-1-4 and 4^th King Heron with 61-11-0. Could be a close competition this season!

The Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy Leaders are Fred Jones, Courage AC with 21-11-0, Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC with 14-13-8, Barry Grubb, Reading FC with 13-4-0.

The Individual Aggregate Points Trophy Leaders are Fred Jones, Courage AC, 18 pts, Mick Stanley, Reading FC, 18 pts, Chris Humphreys, King Heron AC, 16 pts and Pete Kersley, Reading Civil Service, also 16 pts.

On Saturday, Excelsior AC fished its own water on the Thames at Hardwick and it was hard! George Smith won with 5-4-0 of bream and bits, Jock Turner was second with 1-0-0 of bits, Tony Capewell was third with 8 oz and Ralph Sneddon was fourth with 4 oz.

I think there must be a few sunburnt fishermen around after the scorching sun of Sunday and those clubs that were out on matches all had very mixed results on their various venues,

On the Kennet on Beat 3A, Bracknell Avocets started their match at 7.15 in the morning and all caught a variety of small fish with bleak being the most predominant species. John Smith claimed the peg at the top of the section and landed 2 chub to 5-0-0 plus roach, to be the clear winner with 10-6-0, mostly caught on the feeder. Mike Clark was second with 1-13-8 just beating Chris Bowman with his 1-13-4 into third place. Chris Kaye had a day to forget, losing 2 good bream at the net!

On Lower Benyons Yellow section, Reading FC did not quite match last week’s weights, but Dave Bosher landed a 10 lb plus barbel in his winning weight of 11-3-0. Tony Tibble was second with 6-1-0, Joe Baker was third with 5-4-0 and John Ellyat was fourth with 3-7-0.

Pangbourne and Whitchurch anglers seem to have been affected by the recent sun, thinking that their booking on Mapledurham was this last Sunday, rather than the one before! On realising the mistake they inspected Beat 2 on the venue but decided that they would hold a match on Calcot B instead. Match Secretary John Nicholls took full advantage of the change and weighed in 6 bream and 2 chub to win with 29-8-0, Pete Seward coming second with only 1-6-0 and Mick Seward being third with 1-1-0. One wonders who got the dates mixed in the first place!

The Thames at Wallingford did not produce as well as it can, South Reading AC members not finding one bonus fish. 12 anglers totalled 28 lb of mostly roach and bleak, Rick Withers winning with 4-11-0. Charlie Beddow was close behind with 4-9-0 in second place. Duncan Bales was third with 3-15-0 and Dave Brent was fourth with 3-7-0.

At Mapledurham, on Beat 1, the weights were miserable for Courage AC, M Wells catching small roach to win with 1-0-0. Ian Claridge caught very small chub for second place with 13 oz and Aaron Phillips was third with 12 oz of wee roach and perch.

Nine Elms had a good turnout at Wylies Lake, but only one tench [of 8 lb] was landed giving Adrian Parker the winning weight of 10-4-0. Bob Bird was second with 7-2-0 of small fish and Pete Schofield was third with 2-0-0.

The heavy rain of Monday night should put some life into the rivers for next weekend so you should have successful outings. Tight lines.

There were only a few clubs out over the weekend but the first of the R&DAA Junior Matches was held on Saturday in conjunction with an Association “Teach-in” at Longwater Lake at Green Park. Not many youngsters actually fished the match but with the success of the teach-in sessions under the expert eye of coach Steve Carvell, the number is likely to increase significantly through the season. The match winner was Jack Mintern of Reading FC Juniors, with 7-15-0, which included a bream of 3-0-0 caught just as the finishing whistle blew. Second was Alex Jarvis, as yet not allied to a club, with 6-4-0. Third was Ben Garroway, also not yet a club member, with 3-2-0 and fourth was Amy Longmuir of Reading Civil Service Juniors, with 2-2-8. A lot of small fish were caught from this ideal venue, giving the youngsters a very pleasant day.

On the Kennet, starting with the Town venues, Camberley WMC fished Beat 4B where most only caught small fish. Tony Alexander drew the bottom swim and landed a 3-6-0 bream to make up his winning weight of 4-12-0. Des Williams was fishing the next peg and was second with a 4-4-0 bag of small roach and perch. Malcolm Harvey was third with 2-0-0 and the others all weighed in with weights under a pound.

Working up river, Newtown anglers were on Beat 1 where the cold wind made presentation difficult. Stan Redding won with 4-4-8 of bleak and roach, Dick Ortzan was second with 3-14-8 of roach including a very good specimen of 2½ lb. Pete Foster was third with bleak and roach for 2-15-0.

Prestcold AC members were on Theale River section where John Main landed a barbel of 8-11-0 from the top peg to win the match. Geoff Eley was second with 3-4-0 of small fish, Graham Hawkins was third with 2-5-0, and Mick Griffiths was fourth with 1-3-8. Bonsals point does not seem to be fishing well at present, Mark Johnson only managing 1-11-0 from that peg for fifth place.

At Lower Benyons, on Yellow and Blue sections, the silver fish gave the King Heron anglers a very good days fishing, Chris Humphreys winning with 24-3-0. Mick Donohoe was second with 22-13-0 which included 3 chub and a small barbel of under a pound. Terry Keel had 15-2-0 for third place and then the weights dropped, George Harris having 5-10-0 for fourth.

Tring Anglers did not have a good day at Hambridge Lake, six of them having dry nets. Martin Rodwell won with 7-2-0 of silver fish, Joe Burtt was second with 3-10-0 and Tony Beadle was third with 3-3-0. I was told that it was a long way to travel and then have to struggle for five hours!

There were no clubs fishing matches on the Kennet this past weekend so I hope you pleasure angles made the most of it. I am told there are a lot of silver fish about at the moment.

On the Thames, Prestcold AC had a good day on Saturday. After worrying about previous reports of virtually no catches at Sonning River, the bream showed for the anglers, Mark Johnson landing 9, plus skimmers, using a ground bait feeder, to win with 44-10-0. Graham Walker landed 6 for 28-11-0 and second place. Don Tait was third with 9-0-0, Graham Hawkins, fourth with 6-3-0 and Mike Sheasby was fifth with 5-14-0. Eight anglers out of ten fishing weighed in a total of 109-9-0.

Also on the Thames on “B” section of the R&DAA’s water at Wallingford, Bracknell Avocets anglers found a plentiful variety of small fish. Dermot Murphy won with 11-0-8, which included 2 bream of 4 lb. Mike Clark was second with 4-11-0 and Chris Bowman was third with 3-0-0, just pipping Dave Brookes in fourth.

Most of the Lake venues proved very difficult except for Sonning Eye Pit where all Reading FC members [except one – sorry Barry] caught at least one bream. Terry Littlewood weighed in 46-10-0 to win the match, Andy White was second with 16-14-0 and Phil Lush was third with 14-14-0.

Wylies Lake again did not produce. Courage/SE had a match there on Saturday, [or four of its members did!] but only six fish were caught between two of them. Arthur Maybanks had 8 oz and Alan Hughes 6 oz. Miles fished the lake on Sunday and although I do not have a result, I was told that at least one of its anglers caught a lot of small fish.

At Hambridge Lake Reading Civil Service members struggled somewhat, Les Hannington winning with 3-5-0, Richard Munday being second with 0-11-8 and Bill Blunden being third with 0-9-0.

A similar story at Moatlands Pond, Sundial anglers not finding any decent fish. Duggie Harrison won with 1-9-0, a perch of 1-6-0 being most of this weight, several others just catching a couple of small fish.

The first of the R&DAA matches of the new season, for the Festival Cup and Chronicle Cup, took place on the River Kennet on Sunday, in conditions that were hardly conducive to fishing at any time of the year!

Fifty-two anglers fished for a total match weight of 168-1-8 giving an average of 3-3-0 per angler. Only seven did not weigh in.

The top clubs on the day were Reading FC with 50-9-8, Courage AC with 29-10-0 and King Heron AC with 24-4-8.

The match winner was Fred Jones of Courage AC from the top peg on Theale river section, who landed 3 chub to 4-8-0 and roach for a weight of 14-10-0.

Second was Barry Grubb of Reading FC with 13-4-0, 4 chub and roach from the bottom bend of Calcot “B” section.

Third was Roy Cheadle of King Heron AC with 8-1-0 of roach from the peg above Berkeley Avenue road bridge on Beat 5.

4^th Terry Littlewood, Reading FC, 7-12-0 from Calcot and 5^th Gordon Moss, Reading FC, 7-3-0 from Burghfield river section.

The Calcot section had been included in the match for the first time in five years, leaving out the Benyons waters, which have not produced in these matches for some time.

Excelsior AC anglers were at Upper Benyons “B” on Saturday where although the weights were low, they were pleased to see a lot of small fish. John Allum won with 3-2-0, mostly roach. Jock Turner, out for the first time after convalescence, was second with 1-2-0, George Smith, third with 0-9-0 and Tony Capewell was fourth with 0-8-0. Weights would have been well up if crayfish had been counted!

Pangbourne only had five anglers out at Sonning River and little was caught. Mark Slade won with 1-11-0, Ian Wicks had 11 oz and Mike Child had 8 oz.

Camberley WMC had a wet day at Wylies Lake, Bob Wright winning with a tench of 4-11-0. Paul Garraway weighed in 30 perch and 15 roach for the second weight of 1-14-0. Third was John Bunyan with 1-5-0 and fourth was Jeff Lewis with 4 oz.

Several clubs held their first matches of the season last weekend and it would seem that the fish are beginning to show on the rivers.

On Beat 5 on the Kennet, the 11 Courage anglers all caught although mostly small fish. The winner, Simon Copson did land a 3½ lb bream in his weight of 5-10-0, but this was the only sizeable fish. Fred Jones was second with 4-2-0 and Aaron Phillips was third with 3-8-0.

On the Backstream at Beat 3, Reading FC had 14 out on the day, John Ellayatt winning with 8-11-0 of bits. Mick Stanley had a couple of 2 lb chub in his 8-8-0 for second place and Phil Lush was third with 4-1-0. Dave Bosher landed the only barbel in the match, just 8 ozs!

Tring Anglers were at Lower Benyons on Yellow and Blue Sections where Martin Rodwell fished with his pole at 13 m in slack water on the far bank to win with 11-12-0 of bits. Alan Johnson was second with a pike of 5-3-0 caught on legered luncheon meat [Tring allow this to count as he was not actually fishing for pike!] Alan Allday was third with 4-12-0 of bits.

On the Thames, the Association’s Wallingford venue would seem to continuing its form of recent years, Prestcold AC fishing B Section and having a successful day. Geoff Eley landed 7 bream with skimmers and bits for a winning weight of 33-1-0. Eric Oates was second with 3 chub in his weight of 14-2-0 and Tony Tibble was third with a bream and skimmers for 11-14-0. Stewart Withey was fourth with 7-6-0 and Pete Leek, fifth, with 6-15-0.

South Reading AC had 14 out on the Kennet & Avon canal at East Towney but only very small fish were in evidence. Jed Shields won with 3-1-0, Tony Parker was second with 2-15-0 and John Montgomery was third with 2-1-0.

Very mixed results from the lakes – Reading Civil Service were at Wylies where virtually nothing showed. Les Hannington won with 14 oz, Gordon McGee was second with 10 oz and Richard Munday was third with 7 oz.

But Bracknell Avocets AS fished Sonning Eye Pit and weighed in a total of 147-11-12 of bream, the best being a fish of 7-13-0 landed by John Smith. The winner was Richard Herman, Jnr, with 50-3-8; second was John Smith with 39-13-0; third – Lee Richards with 32-13-2; fourth – Chris Bowman with 11-10-6 and fifth – Richard Herman, Snr, with 10-14-0. There were 6 dry nets!

A new season of river fishing is upon us and hopefully we can look forward to a decent summer without too much rain, floods, pollution, motorbikes on venues, and all the other things that are sent to try the patience of the angler and spoil a quiet days fishing.

Very few matches to report as it is so early in the season, most clubs letting their members get a bit of weekend practice, before the serious outings begin. However, perhaps it was just as well with the very strong winds on Sunday.

Sundial members were at Wylies Lake where they were surprised to find little weed and colour in the water but fish could not be found except early on, when Tony Jakowitz landed two tench of about 4½ lb each, and Phil Hawkins one of about 3½ lb. No one else caught. Tony was extremely lucky, in that having the choice of two swims, the one he did not use received the full impact of a 90ft tree, blown down by the force of the wind!

Nine Elms anglers on A Section at Froxfield were also hampered by the strong winds plus severe boat traffic, together with moored boats, and had a disappointing day. Adrian Parker won with 2-14-0, Pete Schofield was second with 2-0-0 and Brian Hindry was third with 1-4-0.

Newtown AC arranged a pre-season match in May, 16 members visiting Pond Wood Fisheries at White Waltham. They used Snake Lake and enjoyed a good days fishing catching carp to 6 lb and specimen roach. Eddie Grayson had a very good day winning with 24-5-0, Roger Saunders was second with 7-15-0 and John Parse was third with 7-11-0.

I am told the Reading and District Annual Dinner and Presentation Dinner at the Calcot Hotel on the 25^th April went extremely well with Robin Morley of Daiwa [an ex local angler] presenting the Trophies. Dave Bosher of Reading FC was announced as The Angler of the Year and Graham Hawkins of Prestcold AC was named Clubman of the Year. Well known local angler, Fred Jones, won the £500 Tackle Voucher donated by Daiwa.

The Statistics for Reading & District Matches during the past season, as supplied by Mike Sheasby, the Match Secretary are as follows: -

The River Kennet showed deterioration on the previous season’s excellent results.

Average per angler per match this season was 2-15-0 against 4-4-0 last. All venues except Theale River and Beat 3 showed a decline in weights with a distinct lack of silver fish being caught. Beat 3 was the most consistent section this season with an average weight of 3-10-0 per man per match. Last season’s excellent results from Upper Benyons A did not continue, the silver fish not showing, leaving anglers scratching for minnows or hoping for the large barbel or chub.

Overall this could possibly be due to the exceptional, continuous heavy rain that fell from July to September, causing the Kennet to flood on several occasions and suffer from high water and strong flow for most of the summer. Normally a winter experience!

The decline in silver fish catches meant that the total weight caught on the River Kennet this season was 900 lb from 302 anglers, against 1145 lb from 267 anglers last season, a drop of 245 lb from a higher number of anglers.

Upper Benyons “A” - 1-2-0 against 4-14-0 last; Upper Benyons ”B” - 1-2-0 against 2-13-0 last; Theale River - 2-5-0 against 1-13-0 last; Burghfield River - 2-13-0 against 3-1-0 last; Beats 3A+B - 3-10-0 against 3-4-0 last; Beats 4A+B - 2-7-0 against 3-2-0 last; Beats 5A+B - 3-8-0 against 5-5-0 last.

Similarly, for the last four matches of the season, the Canal at Froxfield was very disappointing after last season’s excellent results, average weights per angler being only 1-10-0 per match against 5-9-0 last season. All sections showed a huge decline in weights with a distinct lack of roach being caught. Unfortunately, BWB started dredging the canal just as matches were switched to the venue for the winter, including removal of all overhanging bushes, trees and other foliage from the far bank, extending from the road bridge on “B” Section to the bottom end of the venue, so certain prime pegs did not produce at all. BWB also decided to in-fill the towpath bank, so from the Ash Tree at the top of “B” Section to the Ash Tree at the bottom of “B” Section could not be utilised on match days, a loss of some 30 pegs. Low and clear water conditions and strong winds on match days meant conditions were always going to be against angling.

Average Association Match Weights per section on the Canal at Froxfield for the season were: -“A” Section - 2-7-0 [06/07 5-9-0]. “B” Section – 1-1-0 [06/07 5-9-0]. “C” Section – 2-10-0 [06/07 5-11-0].

The total match attendance for this season was 484 anglers against 565 last, a decrease of 81.

The total weight caught on these matches was 1,201 lb against 2,523 lb last, a decrease of 1,322 lb.

The average match weight this season was 133 lb against 280 lb last, a decrease of 147 lb.

The average weight per angler this season was 2.48 lb against 4.47 lb last, a decrease of 1.99 lb.

1) 227-13-8, August 07. 2) 194-4-12, October 07. 3) 180-4-0, July 07. 4) 178-4-8, September 07.

1) 23-7-0 - Sean Barrington, Adventure, August 07. 2) 20-7-0 - Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, July 07. 3) 17-15-0 – Aaron Phillips, Courage, August 07. 4) 17-12-0 – Steve O’Keefe, Reading FC, November 07.

The match winning venues were: - Beat 3 [1], Beat 4 [1], Beat 5 [1], Burghfield River [1], Theale River [1], Froxfield “A” [1], Froxfield “C” [3].

Not listed last week among the Trophy Winners, were the Specimen Fish awards for the season, which are: -

Barbel – 14-0-0 – M Sayce, Prestcold AC, River Kennet, Lower Benyons, Sept 2007.

Carp [Common] – 29-2-0 – M Griffin, South Reading AC, River Thames, Sonning, June 2007.

Chub – 8-1-8 – P Williams, Reading FC, Upper Benyons, River Kennet, February 2008. [New Association record.]

Tench – 8-12-0 – M Griffin, South Reading AC, Whistley Mill Lake, June 2007.

All of the above can collect their awards at the Reading & District Angling Association Annual Dinner and Trophy Presentation, which is to take place at the Calcot Hotel on Friday, 25^th April. Ticket prices for the three course dinner are the same as last year at £22.00 and are available from the local Tackle Dealers or direct from Alby Cohen on 0118 942 5268

The SPORTFISH FLY FISHING SHOW at Haywards Farm, Station Road, Theale, is to take place on Saturday, 11^th May from 9 am to 5,30 pm and Sunday, 12^th May from 10 am to 4 pm.

Experts will be giving Demonstrations, Talks, Casting Clinics, etc. and there will be a Manufacturers’ Marquee with all the latest in Fly Tackle to try and buy.

For further information ring the shop on 0118 930 3860 or check www.sportfish.co.uk

It would have been nice for the last Sunday of the season to produce good weights for everybody, to make up for the bad times on the river bank over the past few months, but it was not to be. We now have to look forward to next season to fulfil the promise that last year’s better weights on the Kennet indicated. However, these are the results that I can report.

Reading FC had thirteen anglers out on Beat 5 who produced almost 3 lb per man average, the best results coming from the pegs around Berkeley Avenue. But it was chub that gave the winners the edge. Alan Prince landed two to win with 7-1-0. Stef Holland had three and a small barbel for 6-9-0 and second place; Joe Baker had a good chub and a bullhead for 5-8-0 in third place and Dave Bosher had a chub and small barbel for 5-2-0 and fourth.

Courage AC found it had been double booked on the Loddon at Whistley Mill so changed at the last minute to Beat 3A but only four of its anglers caught. Alan Hughes won with a chub and a bleak for 3-10-0 but went home with his pockets bulging, having had his peg number pulled as the bonus peg for nearly £200. Mike Ketcher was second with 1-3-0, [2 roach and a chublet], and Cliff Edwards was third with two roach for 7 oz. Andy White landed a perch of 1 oz.

Upstream on the Kennet at Burghfield, Camberley WMC anglers caught 5 fish but only 3 of them could be counted in the match. Tony Alexander had a 5-4-0 chub and a 2 oz roach to win with 5-6-0, just beating Pete Watts dace by a chub – the dace was 2 oz! Jeff Lewis landed a pike of 8-5-0 and Gerry Alexander landed a quality 2 lb Rainbow trout. Exciting but disappointing matchwise.

Continuing upstream, on Calcot A Section, Sundial’s anglers thought they were in for a good day but Pete Griffiths was the only happy man at the end. He landed 4 chub to 4-13-0 and a barbel of 8-13-0 to win with 21-4-0. The only other fish caught was a chub of 4-8-0!

And on Theale River Section, it was a case of several good fish lost in the Prestcold match. Geoff Eley held on to one chub of 5-12-0 to win the match and Mike Sheasby managed one of 4-1-8 for second place.

Tring Anglers fished Ufton River, or one of them did! He decided to bleak bash and caught all day for a weight of 1-2-0. The other eight on the venue didn’t get a bite!

On Upper Benyons “B” Section Excelsior’s anglers struggled to find fish. Tony Capewell won with a chub of 4-13-8, Colin Stone managed a bream of 4-9-8 for second place and Ken Wright landed a small chub of 1-1-0 for third.

Mixed fortunes on the Thames! King Heron had a well attended match at Mapledurham on Beat 1 and not one angler caught! Yet the Kennet Ospreys match on Wallingford on B Section was the exact opposite! Ian Jones won with 2 bream and 4 chub for 24-6-0. Roger Gilbert was second with chub for 10-4-0, Dave Benning was third with 3 chub for 6-7-0 and Pete Howes was fourth with 2 chub for 4-8-0.

Adventure AC had 11 anglers out on the River Loddon at Whistley Mill and all of them caught, even the last man with a solitary minnow! As on the other river venues there was a noticeable lack of silver fish. The winning weight was 13-10-0 [3 chub], second was 4-6-0 [1 chub plus minnows] and third, a similar bag for 3-8-0.

On the canal sections at Salmon Cut, Reading Civil Service was on B section, where Les Hannington won with 1-7-0, Brian Kisbee was second with 1-3-0 and SteveAlder had 14 oz in third place.

On A section, South Reading had a slightly better result, Steve Sainsbury winning with 3-4-0. Dave Brent was second with 2-6-0 and John Montgomery was third with 6 oz.

It must be recorded that South Reading’s anglers have been getting some terrific results from matches on the club’s own water, the local Foudry Brook which runs into the Kennet at Beat 4. The water must be warmer or they have been adding a secret ingredient! Two weeks ago, 12 of their matchmen had over 120 lb, Steve Sainsbury winning with 39-3-0, John Montgomery being second with 22-7-0, and George Callaghan, third with 10-6-0, which included a superb perch of 4-14-0. The previous week John Montgomery had won with 21-5-0 and the week prior to that, Duncan Bales had won with 52-0-0. Apparently every peg is “home” to a different species only too willing give the anglers some sport.

To enable its members to enjoy the venue throughout the season, the club is engaging a specialist firm to treat the abundant summer weed in every peg. Whether this will prove successful, only time will tell.

Newtown cancelled its match on Beat 4B of the Kennet due to a small turn out of members and re-arranged a match with guests on the Basingstoke Canal from Ash Wharf to Heathvale. Ten fished and all caught for a total match weight of 19-8-0. The winner was Alan Phipps with 4-3-0, second, Peter Foster with 3-5-0 and third, Dick Ortzen with 2-9-0, everybody enjoying their day.

And a last thought – a small salmon was caught on a lure at Midgham Canal during last week!

This is the last match report of the season, but I shall be setting out the Association’s match results for the season and listing the Trophy Winners next week. Tight lines.

The R&DAA Senior Team Championship on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on Sunday, continued the current trend of poor match results, making it one of the worst seasons for results for many years. Thirteen Teams of Four were booked in, a total of 52 anglers, but only 37 caught anything to weigh in, the total match weight being 79-13-8.

1^st – Adventure “Regulars” [Sean Barrington, Rod Langthorne, Nick Richardson, Paul Wilding] 39 points

2^nd – King Heron “Gold” [Bill Gilham, Chris Humphreys, Peter Matthews, Dave Ward] 36 pts.

3^rd – Reading FC “Falcons” 35 pts. 4^th Courage “Expectations” 34 pts. 5^th South Reading “Advanced Maintenance Blue” 31 pts.

2^nd Rod Langthorne, Adventure “Regulars”, 5-4-0 from second peg below Lock 71.

4^th Steve Sainsbury, South Reading AMB, 4-6-0. 5^th Joe Baker, Reading FC “Hawks”, 4-5-8.

A Section – [Wides and top of Short Pound] – Joe Baker, RFC “Hawks”, 4-5-8 from 17-11-0.

B Section – [Bottom of Short Pound and Turning Bay] – Ric Withers, South Rdg AMR, 8-5-0 from 27-4-8.

C Section – [Top of Frox B and top of Frox C] – Dave Bosher, RFC “Falcons”, 3-0-0 from 7-11-8

D Section – [below Lock 71] – Rod Langthorne, Adventure “Regulars”, 5-4-0 from 27-2-8.

Only two clubs out on R&DAA waters last Sunday, so difficult to tell if the water temperature is improving or not. But at least some decent barbel made Excelsior’s anglers’ match on Lower Benyons Yellow section interesting! I understand that several had their hooks straightened when they found they were into a good fish and finished with nothing to show for their efforts. Tony Capewell won with a beauty of 12-4-0 from the first bend below the weir and Colin Stone was second with an 8-5-0 specimen from the weirpool itself. Ken Wright was third with 4 oz, having spent 15 minutes playing a barbel to his landing net and then finishing with a distorted hook! A trout of 1-4-0 was also landed during the day. These are the first barbel recorded in a match for some long while so I expect the leisure anglers to be claiming Fish of the Month specimens before the end of the season, but they’ll have to be quick.

The other match of the day was on the canal at East Towney but Gillettes’ anglers winning weights were not up to those above. Tony White only managed to land one of the four tench he hooked, to win with 2-10-0 and the rest of the field had to struggle, Trevor Hamblin having a perch of 4 oz for second place. Les Carpenter was third with 2 bleak and a gudgeon for 1½ oz and Dave Chard was fourth with 8 drams.

Two weekends to go, with the Team Championship at Froxfield this coming Sunday. Perhaps I will have something good to report before the end of the season.

And I will remind all the Association’s anglers that the R&DAA Annual Dinner and Trophy Presentation is to take place at the Calcot Hotel on Friday, 25^th April when Robin Morley, one of Reading’s most successful match anglers, will make the presentations. Robin is with Daiwa and as part of that Company’s 50^th Anniversary Celebrations, it is very generously donating £1,000 worth of Tackle Vouchers which will be drawn against Entry Ticket numbers as First - £500.00; Second - £300.00 and Third - £200.00.

Ticket prices for the three course dinner are the same as last year at £22.00 and are available from the local Tackle Dealers or from Alby Cohen on 0118 942 5268. Numbers are limited so early application is advised. You could have more luck that evening than on recent outings to the riverbank!

Yet another hard weekend! I shall make no predictions as to what may happen fishing or weather wise for further weekends this season!

Newtown AC had seven members out on Theale Canal A section, and reported 1 bite! Sundial anglers were at Ufton River and again no fish were caught.

However, Mick Ketcher was quite happy with his day in the Courage match on Calcot B. He landed 6 bream to weigh in 25-5-0! Dusty Millar was the only other person to catch, a chub of 3-7-0.

Tring Anglers were booked on Beat 5 and again, only two caught, Glen Miller winning with a chub of 2-13-8 from the wall [he lost two] and Dave Moore landing one of 1-14-0 for second. The other ten anglers just enjoyed the sunshine.

Out at Froxfield, Prestcold AC was on B section where the anglers were surprised not to have to break ice. But the weights were not good, Paul Risi winning with 1-12-0, 3 perch and bits. John Main was second with 0-7-0 of bits, Peter Abbey was third with 0-3-0, Mark Steadman was fourth with 0-1-8, and Geoff Eley had 0-1-0. Two others weighed in 4 drams and the rest….!

Reading FC was on C section, where 8 fished, Alan Prince winning with 4 perch and bits for 7-10-0. Phil Lush was second with 5-10-0, which included 3 perch, and Richard Arkle was third with 2-11-8 of perch and bits. Dave Bosher started catching late on in the match but not enough, he only managed 2-11-0 on this occasion. Joe Baker gave me this report whilst saying that in all the years he has been fishing, he has never known such a bad winter for results!

Excelsior AC was at Frobury Farm again and after the anglers had spent 1½ hours breaking an inch plus of ice on the pond, they did find small carp and rudd willing to take their bait. Gordon Hancock won with 16-0-0; Alan Cowell was second with 8-14-0, Nicky Baker, third, with 6-4-0 and Ken Wright was fourth with 5-8-0.

Another weekend of heavy frosts but, dare we say it, the forecast for next weekend looks good.

Excelsior AC went to Beat 5 on the Kennet and the anglers thought conditions looked quite promising, but not one of them had a proper bite! Even worse than the previous week when they fished their own water on the Thames at Hardwick in the extreme cold, where Colin Stone did manage a chub and skimmers for 5-8-0 and Ken Wright was second with 2 roach for 12 ozs.

On Lower Benyons on Red section, Bracknell Avocets had 8 anglers out and 4 caught, Dermot Murphy landing 2 out of the 5 chub he hooked to win with 7-5-8. Dave Brooks was second with one chub of 4-2-0. Thereafter the story changes with Mick Carpenter getting third place with 12 drms and Richard Herman weighing [??] 8 drms in fourth place.

On the canal at Froxfield, Miles AC was on “C” Section where Derek Fisher won with perch for 2-12-0. Colin Thrower was second with 2-5-0 and John Deacon managed 12 oz of skimmers for third.

On “B” Section, Pangbourne found that gudgeon and wee perch were available to catch, John Nicholls winning with 2-15-0, with Pete Seward, second with 2-4-0. Third weight was only 1-8-0.

Nine Elms were on “A” Section but I have not heard how good or bad their result was!

Results must get better! Or the Association’s Teams of Four Club Championship at the beginning of March might produce some strange and surprising results.

The R&DAA Canal Championship on Sunday at Froxfield, like previous matches, was again affected by the recent dredging work and bank clearance on Sections “B” & “C” so some thirty pegs were lost on the day. It is understood that “A” Section will now get BW’s attention!

Forty-one anglers fished the match for a total match weight of only 61-8-12 with fourteen anglers not weighing in anything.

The winner was Dave Bosher of Reading FC with 8-4-0 from the second peg below Lock 71, catching a 1½ lb bream, 4 decent perch, and roach. This gives Dave 2 wins and a second in three matches at Froxfield.

2^nd - Tony Tibble, South Reading AC, 6-8-0 from second peg below Lock 70, above the turning bay, with skimmers and perch.

3^rd - Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 3-15-0 from the bottom peg of the turning bay with skimmers, roach and gudgeon.

4^th – Phil Lush, Reading FC, 3-14-0. 5^th – Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 3-5-0.

“B” Frox A Short Pound & Turning Bay – Tony Tibble, South Reading, 6-8-0 from 19-6-0.

“D” Frox B&C, to Lock 71 – Jake Gallagher, South Reading, 2-12-0 from 6-13-0.

Top clubs on the day – Reading FC 25-3-8; South Reading AC 18-11-8; Reading Civil Service 7-5-8.

Final positions in Club Championship – Winners, Reading FC with 245-7-8; Runners-up, South Reading AC with 129-5-0.

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy – Winner, Dave Bosher, Reading FC, 43-10-0; Runner-up, Sean Barrington, Adventure AC, 39-5-8.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy – Winner, Dave Bosher, Reading FC, 50 points; Runner-up, Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 48 points.

Camberley WMC had eight members out for its match on Beat 4B on the Kennet, braving the cold and the wind. Only two fish were caught, both chub, Des Williams having one of 3-13-0 to win, and Bob Wright, one of 2-12-0 for second place.

Another bad Sunday for the rivers! Who opened the sluices late Saturday to release the torrent of water that appeared in the Kennet?

Reading FC had inspected its booked venue of Burghfield on Saturday, where pleasure anglers were catching all the various species and enjoying their day out, with the river looking in top notch condition. When the anglers arrived on Sunday they found the torrent had arrived and though they “gave it a go” the only success was an 8 lb pike caught on worm, and pike don’t count! No one else saw a bite.

Prestcold’s anglers switched from the Thames at Wallingford to the calm of the canal at Padworth but the ploy did not succeed from the fishing point of view. Only three anglers caught, the winner being Mick Sheasby with 0-9-0, which included a slightly better perch together with the little bleak and gudgeon. Fred Gill bleak bashed but only managed 20, gaining second place with 0-4-8. Graham Hawkins struggled to third place with 0-1-8 of bleak.

Excelsior AC decided to opt out of its Lower Benyons booking and went to Frobury Farm for the second successive Sunday. Tony Capewell won with 10-6-0, Ken Wright was second with 6-6-0, John Allum, third, with 4-12-0 and Nicky Baker was fourth with 4-8-0.

Next Sunday, the R&DAA match is again at Froxfield [just as well] and is the last of the season to count for the aggregate trophies, the match in March being the Teams Championship Match. Hope it will be fishing well for you, tight lines.

Conditions WILL improve but not for last weekend, the river beats being virtually impossible to fish, and the lakes being very uncomfortable.

To prove this last point, Jock Turner of Excelsior had a bad experience after the club’s match at Frobury Farm, when cleaning off the mud from his gear whilst standing in the water, he took a step back and disappeared completely under the surface – it took three of his clubmates to pull him out. The water did not taste pleasant, I understand! He had come third in the match with 8-12-0! The winner was George Smith with 9-4-0, second was Ken Wright with 9-0-0 and fourth was John Allum with 8-4-0.

On the Kennet, Newtown AC held its match on Beat 3 and pegged all its 7 anglers on 3A, the canal stretch. Everyone managed to catch giving a total weight of 12-12-8, John Clements landing a 2-15-0 bream in his winning weight of 6-2-0. Stan Redding was second with 4-0-0 and Mick Wright was third with 1-11-0.

Tring Anglers ducked out of their booking on Burghfield River, sensibly opting to fish a local canal in their home area and all catching good weights!

Courage AC also opted out of its booking, on the Thames at Wallingford, and 7 of its members went to fish the canal at Midgham. Dusty Millar won with 2 bream from the mouth of the brook for 7-2-0, Fred Jones was second with a bream of 3-10-0 from the next peg upstream, and Arthur Maybanks had a bream of 2-5-0 for third from the peg below Dusty. 5 bleak and a roach made up the rest of the day’s catch.

Camberley WMC was pleased with its booking on Salmon Cut B in the conditions. Jeff Lewis was 1^st with 3 perch [best 3-2-0] for 6-3-0, Des Williams was 2^nd with 2 perch for 3-7-0, and 3^rd was Bob Wright with a perch and a bream for 2-15-0.

The R&DAA Presentation Evening has been booked at the Calcot Hotel on April 25^th and Robin Morley, Head of Daiwa [UK], and ex local angler, is coming to present the Trophies.

This leads to a reminder that last years winners should return the trophies they hold to Mick Sheasby, the Match Secretary, as soon as possible please.

As I type this, the sun is shining, but the promise of more rain to come spoils the illusion of better days ahead. Tight lines.

The appalling weather continues! And the forecast does not bode well for the next few days, so just how much water there will be around for next weekend, is not difficult to imagine! Our old standby, the canals will be difficult and the lakes could well be overflowing.

Several of the clubs called off their river matches on Sunday having inspected the venues on Saturday, but some of Bracknell Avocets anglers went to the canal at Midgham where they caught bream to 4 lb, finishing with about 14 lb total.

Pangbourne had three anglers out on the canal at East Towney but only 1 perch of 6 oz was caught.

Reading FC had more success at Salmon Cut on B Section. Mick Fairey won with 3-0-0 of bleak, Phil Lush was second with two fish for 2-2-8, one of them being a perch of 2-2-4. John Berry was third with a small 0-12-8 bream and Les Kemp was fourth, also with a small bream of 11 oz.

Nine Elms AC had only 7 members out on “B” Section at Froxfield where the dredging and bank clearance has been, and still is, taking place. Mick Dance won with 1-9-0, Adrian Parker was second with 1-4-0 and Terry McDonald was third with 1-2-0.

Excelsior AC was brave enough to fish its own water on the Thames at Hardwick, where George Smith caught 2 roach to win with 1-7-0. Jock Turner caught 3 roach and a gudgeon for 0-8-0 in second place, Nicky Baker had a 2 oz roach for third and Tony Capewell was given 4 drams for 2 bullheads in fourth.

If you are going out over the coming weekend – may you catch something in the fishy line!

A disappointing start to the New Year following the dismal results at the end of the Old, in particular on the Canal at Froxfield. How you all got on with your leisure days out, I can only guess, but I hope some of you found some enjoyment for braving the weather conditions!

The Open at Froxfield on the 28 December was a fairly close match with several 4 and 5 lb catches from the 63 anglers. The winner was Linda Pallet of Newbury AC with 5-14-0 of roach. 2^nd was Richard Rosinski of Sensas A4, with a bream and bits for 5-13-8. 3^rd was Stephan Holland of Reading FC with 5-8-0; and 4^th was Steve Tucker of Thatchers with 5-1-0.

1-10 – M Elliot, Thatcham, 4-1-0. 11-20 – P Speakman, Team Squats, and R Withers, joint with 4-11-8. 21-30 – J Young, 4-12-0. 31-40 – C Telling, 2-13-0. 41-50 – A Smith, Oakwood, 4-12-0. 51-60 – S Drew, Bracknell, 2-1-0. 61-70 – D Wright, Sensas A4, 2-13-0.

The R&DAA Match for the Kennet Trophy and Reading Angling Centre Trophy on Sunday was perhaps even worse with only the top three weights above 4 lb. The dredging work and bank clearance and the re structuring of the towpath bank with the dredged sludge caused the loss of 20 pegs on the day. The very hard frost over Saturday night did not help matters.

Forty-four anglers fished the match with a total match weight of only 59-2-0, twenty-two anglers not catching anything to weigh in!

1^st Dave Bosher, Reading FC, 9-6-0, perch and roach, from first peg below the “Ash Tree” on Froxfield C section.

2^nd Steve O’Keefe, Reading FC, 6-0-0, skimmers and perch, from first peg below Lock 70.

3^rd Alan Prince, Reading FC, 4-8-0. 4^th Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 3-11-0. 5^th Mick Biles, Reading Civil Service, 3-6-0.

“A” Froxfield A Wides – Jake Gallagher, South Reading AC, 2-3-8 from 3-7-0.

“B” Frox A Short pound and Turning Bay – Steve O’Keefe, Reading FC, 6-0-0 from 22-14-8.

“E” Frox C below Lock 71 – Dave Brent, South Reading AC, 2-15-8 from 6-1-8.

Top Clubs on the day: - Reading FC 24-4-0; Reading Civil Service 12-6-0; South Reading AC 11-11-8.

Current leaders of Club Championship: - Reading FC 220-4-0; South Reading AC 110-9-8; Reading Civil Service 106-10-0.

Current leaders of Individual Agg Weight Trophy – Sean Barrington, Adventure AC, 39-5-8; Dave Bosher, Reading FC, 35-6-0; Paul Wilding, Adventure AC, 31-10-8.

Current leaders of Points Trophy – Paul Wilding, Adventure AC, 46; Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 42; Dave Bosher, Reading FC, 40.

Another poor weekend for all those Christmas matches, with ice on the canal venues and very cold water in the rivers, which had looked good at first sight but failed to produce.

Excelsior AC fished its own water on the Thames at Hardwick and no one had a bite, but they all enjoyed their buffet at the Oak Tree afterwards!

Reading FC was also on its own stretch of the Thames, at Child Beale, where a few fish were caught. Terry Littlewood won with 2 chub for 4-11-0, Mick Fairey was second with a 3-11-0 chub and Tony Tibble had a chub and a roach for 1-9-0 and third place.

Tring Anglers were on Beat 3A+B and four of them managed to catch a fish! Alan Johnson won convincingly with a chub of 3-8-0, caught on bread. Tony Beadle also used bread to land his chub of 0-14-8 for second place, Andrew Allday was third with a chub of 0-11-0, and Richard Gibbs was fourth with a 9 oz perch.

On the canal at Froxfield on “A” Section, Bracknell Avocets found a lot of ice but Robin Parker managed to claim the swim below the bottom lock of the Short Pound to catch 6 perch and 6 skimmers to win with 6-8-4. His travelling companion, Dave Brooks, was in the next swim and was second with a perch of 1-9-12 plus bits for 5-5-12. Third was Jeff Haddow with 1-14-0 of bits and John Smith was fourth with a 1-4-4 bag of wee perch. The 14 anglers then enjoyed the warmth and usual good buffet in the Cross Keys.

Courage AC members were on “C” Section for their Christmas match. 11 fished and only 3 blanked, but the size of the catches were disappointing, to say the least. Ian Claridge drew the peg below Lock 71 but only managed a chub and 2 gudgeon but won with 2-5-0. Aaron Phillips was second with 17 small roach and gudgeon for 8 oz! Fred Jones was third with 7 gudgeon for 3 oz, and Arthur Maybanks was fourth with 4 gudgeon weighing 1 oz. Alan Hughes was given fifth place with 2 gudgeon and a roach which did not register on the scales! 3 other anglers caught a gudgeon each.

Prestcold AC had its match on the canal at Midgham but only 2 anglers caught, Paul Risi winning with a bream of 4-11-0 from the bottom of the venue, and John Main landing a bream of 2-0-0 at the top.

And a reminder of the OPEN MATCH at FROXFIELD on FRIDAY DECEMBER 28^TH in AID of JUNIOR ANGLING. 60 pegs – paying 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th. Guaranteed £50.00 per 10 peg section. Optional £5.00 Superpool on the day. Tickets £20.00. BOOK IN WITH THAMES VALLEY ANGLING 0118 9428249 BY SAT 22^ND DECEMBER.

May I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a successful and prosperous New Year. Reports start again in January and let’s hope they will contain many large bags of fish.

At Froxfield, Aldermaston fished “A” Section on Saturday where, for the second week running, the Turning Bay proved to have the best pegs to draw, Martin Wickens winning with 18-12-0 from the top peg with perch and skimmers, and Mick Fordham having 7-0-0 from the bottom peg for second. Matt Herbert was third with 5-4-0 from the Wides and Eddie Hatch was fourth with 4-0-0. The Short Pound again did not produce. 17 turned out for a total match weight of 54-5-0

On Sunday, Nine Elms members fished the same section and paid the price of the venue being fished the day before! Those pegged on the Turning Bay all blanked, only three in total weighing in, the match being won with 12 oz and the second and third weights being 7 oz and 6 oz! And this from a club that knows and has fished the venue for years!

Newtown held its Charlie Johnson Memorial Christmas Match on “B” Section on Sunday, 11 anglers braving the awful weather and getting wet, but each going home with a bottle of wine and mince pies, and not concerned that the total match weight was only 9-5-0. John Clements was first with 1-14-0, Mick Wright was second with 1-4-0 and Eddie Grayson was third with 1-2-0. Fred Vick won a bottle of scotch for being fifth, the “Charlie Johnson Peg”.

On “C” Section, the Excelsior anglers also struggled, Colin Stone winning with 5-10-0, way ahead of the other competitors. Nicky Baker was second with 1-0-0, Ken Wright was third with 12 oz and Tony Capewell was fourth with 8½ oz.

On the canal locally, Gillette fished Salmon Cut “A” but found no decent perch showing although several good dace were caught. Les Carpenter won with 3-6-0, Tony White was second with 2-14-0, Roy Green, third with 2-1-0 and Frank Bursnell was fourth with 1-14-0.

And the one match on the Kennet produced two fish for the anglers of Sundial AC! They fished Lower Benyons Red section, the winner landing a roach of 3 oz and the second man, a roach of 2 oz.

The first of the R&DAA Senior matches on the Kennet and Avon Canal last Sunday, for the Ron Want Cup & Ron Want Shield, proved somewhat of a disaster as BWB has decided that, now the boating season is over, the time is ripe for dredging to take place [which is necessary] and the lower end of the venue has had all of the overhanging bushes, trees and foliage stripped from the opposite [north] bank, ruining a lot of the productive swims. Plus construction plant for the new marina moored at the bottom end of “C” section below the railway bridge!!!! Together with the awful weather conditions of rain and strong gusty wind [so much so that 15 of the 60 anglers booked in for the match decided not to turn out], it is not surprising that the total match weight was only 100-8-8, an average of 2-4-0 per angler.

It was also the Christmas Fare Match with the top ten anglers in the match and the Section winners all receiving a Christmas Prize.

3^rd George Callaghan, South Reading AC, 7-0-0, from the top peg of the turning bay.

4^th John Ambrose, Reading FC, 5-2-8. 5^th Paul Wilding, Adventure AS, 4-9-0. 6^th Simon Japes, Reading FC, 4-4-0. 7^th Rick Withers, South Reading AC, 4-3-8. 8^th Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 3-10-0. 9^th Tony Tibble, South Reading AC, 3-9-0. 10^th Trevor Rowe, Hanwell PoW, 3-7-0.

“A” – Froxf’d “A” Wides, Ged Shields, South Reading, 3-2-0 from total 6-8-0.

“B” – Froxf’d “A” Short Pound & Turning Bay, George Callaghan, South Reading, 7-0-0 from total 14-8-0.

“C” – Froxf’d “B” Top, John Ambrose, Reading FC, 5-2-8 from total 19-11-8.

“D” – Froxf’d “B” Middle, Rick Withers, South Reading, 4-3-8 from total 10-15-0.

“E” – Froxf’d “B” & “C” Lock 71, Kevin Roberts, Prestcold, 15-6-0 from total 33-4-0.

“F” – Froxf’d “C” below Lock 71, Paul Wildiing, Adventure, 4-9-0 from total 15-8-8.

The top clubs on the day were: - Reading FC, 30-0-8; South Reading AC, 21-11-8; Prestcold AC, 18-12-8.

Club Championship Leaders: - Reading FC, 196-0-0; Adventure AS, 101-12-8; South Reading AC, 98-14-0.

Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy Leaders: - Sean Barrington, Adventure AS, 39-5-8; Paul Wilding, Adventure AS, 31-0-0; Aaron Phillips, Courage AC, 28-14-8.

Individual Aggregate Points Trophy Leaders: - Paul Wilding, Adventure AS, 44 pts; Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 34 pts; Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 32 pts.

Another poor weekend for catching fish, probably due to the very cold night of Friday. The water temperature remained low on Sunday although the temperature of Saturday night had improved slightly.

The final Association Open of the season at Froxfield therefore, was not a huge success, with a total match weight of 47-7-8 from 20 anglers, although only 3 did not weigh in. The winner was Paul Leek of Prestcold AC with bream to 2 lb, skimmers, perch and roach for 9-5-0, caught with feeder tactics from the top peg in the Short Pound. Second was Martin Wickins of Thatcham AA, who used pole and waggler tactics at the bottom end of “The Wides” to catch skimmers, perch and roach for 5-2-0 [including 1 bream of 2 lb]. Joint third with 4-14-0, were Kevin Roberts of Prestcold AC [from the Wides] and Mick Stanley of Reading FC [from below the road bridge]. These two won the Section monies. Rick Withers of South Reading AC was fifth with 3-7-8 from below the road bridge. Hopefully everything will improve for the Association’s monthly match next Sunday!

The only success on the Kennet was John Nicholls 2 bream and a chub for 10-8-0 from the Foudry Brook peg in the Pangbourne club’s turn out on Beat 4. The only other fish caught was a gudgeon! On Beat 3A, Excelsior’s anglers fished all day without a bite! And only one man caught [15 ½ oz] in the Gillette match on Burghfield River section!

On the local canal sections, King Heron AC were at Midgham B where Chris Humphries won with 3-4-0, Pete Matthews was second with 1-8-0, Bill Gillham, third with 0-15-0 and Geoff Fisher was fourth with 0-10-8.

South Reading AC fished its match on the Padworth section, Duncan Bales landing a 2 ½ lb perch in his winning weight of 5-14-0. Charlie Beddowes was second with 1-6-0, Ron Cole was third with 1-4-8 and Roger Denison was fourth with 1-3-0. Thereafter it was only a few ounces or nothing at all!

Fifteen Westward Ho! anglers drove out of the London suburbs to fish the East Towney stretch and eleven finished with dry nets! J Hobbs had a 2 lb perch in his top weight of 3-0-0, the next weights being 10 oz and 9 oz. They said the weather was quite nice though!

It’s been said before, and no doubt it will be said again, things will improve! Tight lines.

Sunday was not a nice day for fishing and the only venue that fished to any reasonable standard was the canal at Froxfield.

King Heron AC was on “A” Section where the best results came from the lower end, Daniel Butler winning with 10-13-0 from just above the turning bay. Chris Humphreys was second with 7-13-0 from the bottom end of the Short Pound. Stuart Withey was third with 6-6-0 and Phil Lush was fourth with 3-6-0.

On “B” Section, South Reading’s anglers found the gin clear water difficult to contend with, but Ron Cole managed 7-2-0 to win., with Rick Withers, second with 6-3-0 and Tony Tibble, third with 3-12-0.

The more local sections of the canal did not fish at all well, John Deacon having 4 ½ oz and Tony Prior 2 ½ oz on the Miles booking on Padworth Canal before it was decided to call it a day. Similarly, Newtown AC packed up early on Salmon Cut “A” after Derek Cater had 2 oz and Mick Wright 1 oz. John Clements landed a 4-10-0 pike but could not persuade the match secretary to allow it to count.

The Kennet was again disappointing. Courage anglers were at Beat 4 where earlier in the week some of them had had success. Ian Claridge won with 4-12-0, Arthur Maybanks was second with 4-7-0, and dusty Millar was third with 1-5-0. Only 5 weighed in.

At Ufton, Prestcold had a bad day, Mark Steadman catching a perch of 2 oz to win, Mick Plank having a gudgeon of 8 drams for second and John Main being given 4 drams for an indiscernible specimen in third. No one else caught.

This coming Sunday, there is another Open at Froxfield and the following Sunday the Association Match transfers from the Kennet to Froxfield. Book in in good time. Tight Lines.

Generally, last weekend was very poor on Association waters with a lack of bites and many dry nets, although conditions had seemed favourable.

The worst results were for Sundial at Theale on the River Kennet, Hanwell PoW on the Thames at Mapledurham, and Pangbourne, also on the Thames, at Wallingford “B” where no one had a bite. Not even a sucked maggot I was told!

It was a little better on Wallingford “A” for Bracknell Avocets but 12 anglers caught only 12 lb. John Smith won with 3-9-8 of roach; Dave Brooks was second with 2-15-8 of mostly perch; Richard Herman had 2-5-4 for third place and Robin Parker was fourth with 1-8-12.

On the Kennet on Burghfield River stretch, there were 7 dry nets with no bites in the Nine Elms match but Mick Dance did manage to find 12 oz of small fish to win. Les Parker was second with 10 oz and Bob Bird had 7 oz.

Reading FC had a similar experience at Calcot with 10 dry nets for the 16 anglers but also had the success story of the day with Joe Baker, recovering from a virus early in the week, landing 9 chub to weigh in 42-1-0 from “B” section to win the match. He also dropped two! Nick Lambert had only 2 bites but they were both barbel, which he landed to weigh in 17-0-0 for second place. And Tony Tibble was third with 14-10-0!

At Froxfield, on the Kennet & Avon Canal, BACAS fished “A” Section on Saturday and although the result is not yet to hand, Gillette anglers, who fished the section on Sunday, were informed that good weights had been caught. Gillette’s result was not as good as expected, Mick Mack winning with 6-13-0 from the Short Pound, with Graham Spiller a close second with 6-6-0. Tony White was third with 3-9-0 from the peg by the gate and Roy Green was fourth, also from the ‘Wides’.

On Saturday, R&DAA Juniors fished their last match of the season on “C” Section, where Jake Gallagher of Reading FC, won with 8-4-0, landing a 2-9-0 perch with his first cast of the day. Amy Longmuir, of Reading Civil Service Club was second with 2-1-0. As this was the last match, the Junior Points Trophy was won by Amy, with 59 points, and she will receive her trophy at the Prizegiving next year. Jack Mintern, of Reading FC was second with 31 points, and Jake Gallagher was third with 30 points.

There are quite a few clubs fishing matches next weekend so may the fish be feeding. Tight lines.

The R&DAA Match for the Association Shield on Sunday was the last match of the season to be fished on the River Kennet as the next four will be fished on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Froxfield. It proved a little disappointing with a total weight of 119-8-0, an average of 2-2-0 per man. 65 anglers were booked in but only 55 turned up, and 25 of them did not weigh in! The early morning fog and cold water conditions could well have had something to do with this. The Match Secretary left out the upper sections of the Association water, pegging from Theale River Section down to Beat 5 in the town.

The winner was Steve O’Keefe of Reading FC with 17-12-0 from Theale River section, catching four chub to 4-½ lb and losing two. Paul Wilding of Adventure AC was second with 12-9-0 from above the weir on Beat 3A, landing three chub to 5 lb [also losing two] plus roach. Third was Justin Mabere of South Reading AC with two chub plus roach for 9-6-0 from the bottom peg of Burghfield River section. 4^th Rod Langthorne, Adventure AC, 9-0-0 from Beat 3. 5^th Nick Richardson, Adventure AC, 7-13-0 from Beat 3.

The Section winners were the first three above plus Aaron Phillips of Courage AC with 7-1-0 on Beat 4, and Pete Kersley of Reading Civil Service with 6-0-0 on Beat 5.

The total Section weights were: Theale River 21-15-8. Burghfield River 11-11-8. Beats 3A&B 37-9-0. Beats 4A&B 26-6-8. Beats 5A&B 21-13-8.

The top clubs on the day were Reading FC with 32-10-0, Adventure AC with 29-7-0 and Reading Civil Service with15-9-0.

The current leaders in the Club Championship Table are Reading FC with 165-15-8, Adventure AC with 95-10-8, Courage AC with 85-11-0, and Reading Civil Service with 85-8-0.

The leaders in the Individual competitions are: - Weight; Sean Barrington, Adventure, 39-5-8; Aaron Philips, Courage, 28-1-0; Paul Wilding, Adventure, 26-7-0.

Points; Paul Wilding, Adventure, 34; Aaron Phillips, Courage, 30; Sean Barrington, Adventure, 28; Graham Hawkins, Prestcold, 28.

Those members of Adventure AC not fishing in the Association match went to the Canal at Froxfield on “A” Section where they said the weather was great but the fishing was *****. N Sargeant won with 4-15-0, B Ponton was second with 3-8-0, S Gent was third with 2-10-0 and S Nelson was fourth with 2-6-0.

Hopefully the water temperature will stabilise soon and you’ll all be catching netfulls – except for those fishing the Associations Cottage Lane Lakes, Farnham Flint, Nursery Pool, Englefield Lagoon and Pingewood Lagoon where a restriction order is in place following an outbreak of KOI HERPES VIRUS on a neighbouring lake. R&DAA have banned the use of keepnets, carpsacks and unhooking mats and landing nets must be DRY for 24 hours before bringing on to the venues. Otherwise fishing can continue as normal as the virus has no effect on humans. Any dead fish found or seen on these venues should be notified to the Bailiff Hotline 0781 464 9564 immediately.

The R&DAA Open fished on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on Saturday, had difficult conditions for those pegged on the Wides of “A” Section with a gusty wind blowing making pole presentation virtually impossible. Therefore the best weights came from lower down the venue. Only 18 anglers fished but they produced a total match weight of 104-15-8, an average of about 6 lb per man.

The winner was Alan Prince of Reading FC, with 17-10-0 from the first peg in the Short Pound, with bream, skimmers and perch. 2^nd was Dave Bosher, also of Reading FC, with 11-8-0 from the first peg below the road bridge. 3^rd – Bill Gilham of King Heron AC, 10-8-0 from the Short Pound [got “A” Section money]. 4^th – Mark Johnson of Prestcold AC, 10-6-0. 5^th Rick Withers of Pangbourne and Whitchurch, 8-8-0 [got “B” Section money].

On Sunday, Reading Civil Service fished “A” Section, Scot Nelson winning with 10-13-0, second was Steve Alder with 8-8-0 and third, Ian Marcham with 6-14-0. Again the wind proved a problem for the pole,

The Hanwell POW club was on “C” Section where Russell Mudd won with 9-15-0, which included a perch of 2-4-0. Dave Mahoney was second with 7-5-0 and Trevor Rowe was third with 5-4-0.

On the Kennet, Pangbourne and Whitchurch anglers found some barbel on Beat 5, not huge, but they haven’t been caught in matches recently. John Nicholls won with 2 plus a chub and bits for 11-12-0, Pete Seward was second with 7-11-0, which included a barbel of 6-14-0, and Mick Seward was third with 3-1-0, which included some small barbel.

Reading FC had Beat 4 for its match and Nick Lambert enjoyed his day on the bream swim catching 8 for his winning weight of 23-0-0. Andy White lost 1 barbel but landed 2 in his weight of 17-4-0 for second place. John Berry was third with a bread caught, mostly roach bag of 7-4-0.

On the Thames, Adventure had a close fought match on Wallingford B, between themselves, the wind and the pike. It was mostly roach caught on stick float that made up the weights, Steph Gent winning with 11-15-0. Gerry Nickells landed a foul hooked bream of 6-8-0 on the feeder in his second place bag of 11-4-0, Keith Pentlow was third with 10-12-0, Graham Shadwell was fourth with 10-4-0 and Sean Barrington was fifth with 9-15-0.

Out in the sticks, Tring Anglers fished Northmoor “A”, losing 3 brollies to the elements in the process! 9 fished for a total weight of 37-11-0, Glen Miller winning with 11-0-0 including a 5 lb chub. Alan Johnson was second with 10-7-0 [landing a 3 lb bream] and Dick Gibbs was third with 5-9-0 [a 4 lb bream + bits].

This coming weekend is the last Association Match on the Kennet before the matches are transferred to the Canal at Froxfield for the winter. Lets hope the fish are feeding. Tight lines.

On the Kennet, eleven members of Courage AC competed at Upper Benyons on “A” section but only two caught! Mick Ketcher landed 2 chub in the last 30 minutes to win with 7-13-0. The other 6 fish caught were minnows giving Aaron Phillips second place!

King Heron AC fished Burghfield River where more caught but for less weight, George Harris winning with 3-9-0, Dave Ward being second with 1-9-0 and Mick Donohoe, third with 1-7-0.

Beat 5 was as bad, the Gillette match being won by Dave Chard with 5-3-0 of small fish. Mick Mack was second with 1-13-0, Les Carpenter, third, with 0-13-0 and Brian Holland, fourth with 1 perch of 0-9-0.

The Thames was pushing hard throughout the local sections, Prestcold finding the weirpool at Sonning just too much to handle and pegged its match on the reach above the weir where those who had some slack were able to catch. Paul Leek won with 5 decent bream for 15-9-0. Mark Johnson caught 5 lesser bream for second place with 7-0-8. Mark Steadman was third with 5-14-8 [2 bream + bits], Graham Hawkins was fourth with 4-15-0 [3 bream + bits] and Tony Tibble was fifth with 2-3-0 of bits.

Again on the Thames, Newtown AC fished Wallingford “B” where 11 anglers weighed in only 8-14-0. Peter Trundley won with 2 perch for 1-13-8, Peter Foster was second with 12 roach for 1-1-0 and Stan Redding was third with 1-0-8 of roach.

Reading Civil Service anglers were on Padworth Canal where everybody caught. Steve Alder won with 8-2-0 made up of nice perch and chublets. Vic Turner was second with 2-13-0 and Les Hannington was third with 2-2-0.

The previous weekend, Nine Elms fished the canal at Midgham where Mick Dance had 3-5-0 to win. Adrian Parker and Gary Robinson shared second place with 2-14-0 apiece.

There is another R&DAA Open Match at Froxfield on Saturday and the boaters are getting to the end of their season, so hopefully, if the frost stays away, there could be some good weights.

Once again, the fishing over last weekend was hard with club matches not producing really decent weights.

The Thames at Wallingford was not too disappointing for Kennet Ospreys with hemp and tare and caster producing the weights for the top men. Darren Brown won with 12-8-0 from the weirpool, Ian Jones was second with 11-14-0 and Pete Howes and Dane Turpin shared third place with 7-4-0. All used float tactics.

On the Kennet, South Reading AC fished Beat 4 where George Callaghan was happy with his day! He won with 5-6-0 but also won the Golden peg to add £30 plus to his winnings. John Montgomery was second with 4-12-0, Ken Millard was third with 3-15-0 and close fourth was Steve Sainsbury with 3-14-8.

On Beat 5, Hanwell anglers struggled, all only catching small fish, Trevor Rowe winning with 3-10-0. Steve Daly was second with 3-4-0 and Dickie Bird was third with 2-8-0.

On Burghfield River, Peter Seward won the Pangbourne and Whitchurch match with 2 chub for 7-1-0. Ian Wicks landed 1 chub for 3-10-0 and second place. Mick Seward was third with 2-5-0 and John Nicholls was fourth with 1-1-0.

Upper Benyons B again fished badly, this time the Sundial anglers only finding a few fish. Mick White caught 1 perch of 2-2-0 to win. The others only managed bits, M Hawkins having 1-0-0 for second, Philip Hawkins, a close third with 0-15-8 and Alan Newman, fourth with 0-6-8.

Bracknell Avocets fished “B” Section of the Kennet and Avon Canal at Froxfield and, having discovered the section longer than they thought, had quite a good day, especially at the bottom of the venue! John Smith won with 13-6-8, Richard Herman [Jnr] was second with 7-4-4 with Richard Herman [Snr], third with 6-4-8. Chris Kaye had a 3-10-0 bream in his 4-10-8 in fourth place.

The R&DAA Annual Championship for Individuals and Teams of Six was fished on the River Kennet on Association waters between Upper Benyons and Beat 5 in the Town last Sunday. The river has not been producing good weights for the past few weeks and Sunday was no exception, with a total match weight of 194-4-12 from 71 anglers, an average of 2-11-0 per man. Last year the average on the day was 4-14-0.

The team match, with 11 entries, resulted in one of the closest finishes for several years with only 2 points separating the top five teams, the final positions being decided by a countback on weights.

[Roy Cheadle, Mick Donohoe, George Harris, Chris Humphreys, John Jackson, Dave Ward].

2^nd – Reading Civil Service “Hopefulls” – 40 pts with 26-5-0 weight.

[Dave Brent, Geoff Eley, Mick Griffiths, Graham Hawkins, Ron Irvine, Mark Johnson].

CLUB	TEAM		SECTIONS					TOTAL	POSITION
		A	B	C	D	E	F	POINTS

KING HERON	"GOLD"	8	8	10	5	6	4	41	1st
READING CIVIL SERVICE	"HOPEFULLS"	10	0	9	8	5	8	40	2nd
PRESTCOLD	"RED"	6	11	8	4	2	9	40	3rd
ADVENTURE	"A"	5	0	11	11	10	3	40	4th
READING FISHING CLUB	"DODO'S"	3	0	5	10	11	10	39	5th
TRING	"A"	7	7	7	7	3	5	36	6th
BRACKNELL AVOCETS	"A"	0	9	2	9	9	6	35	7th
COURAGE	"EXPECTS"	0	10	6	2	4	11	33	8th
READING FISHING CLUB	"FALCONS"	4	0	4	3	9	8	28	9th
YOTAC	"21"	9	0	3	6	7	2	27	10th
SOUTH READING	"ADVANCED MAINTENANCE"	11	0	1	1	1	1	15	11th


Total Teams	11

The first of this season’s R&DAA Open Matches was held at Froxfield on Saturday using A & B Sections. Only 21 anglers turned out, weighing in a total match weight of 80-8-0, somewhat hampered by the end of summer boat traffic, and in spite of the lack of roach being caught. Some of the fish did appear to have some cormorant damage, so let’s hope that most of the roach are still there. The winner was Phil Speakman of Oakwood Angling with 11-1-0, 4 bream, skimmers and bits from the first peg below the lock on the Wides. 2^nd – Graham Swan, also of Oakwood Angling, with 10-6-0 from the first peg in the Short Pound, which included 4 perch. 3^rd – Stef Holland of Reading FC with 7-5-0. 4^th – Jason Goddard, Reading FC, 6-15-0. 5^th – Mick Stanley, Reading FC, 6-14-0.

On the Kennet on Sunday, Prestcold AC had Beat 5 where Graham Hawkins landed 3 bream, 3 perch + bits for 11-3-0 from the sedges below Berkeley Avenue Bridge to win. Kevin Harper had 4 bream, 4 perch + bits for second place with 9-8-0. Third was Fred Gill with 7-5-0 of bits; fourth, Eric Oates with 6-5-0 and fifth was Mark Johnson with 5-7-0.

Tring Anglers found Calcot B Section did not produce as well as it looked! Richard Gibbs won with 7-14-8 of bits; Glen Miller caught roach late on in the match for second place with 6-12-0; Tony Beadle caught a 4 lb bream and a few bits for 4-6-0 and third place.

Miles AC fished Ufton River section, or should have, but most of its members must have had forebodings and did not turn up. Those that did, caught very little, just ounces, and one third of them, namely Colin, decided he needed an excuse to go home at lunchtime, so fell in!

On the Thames, Newtown AC fished Beat 1 at Mapledurham where 10 anglers weighed in a total of 35-11-8. First was Derek Carter with a predominately roach catch of 10-8-0; second was Eddie Grayson with 5-4-0, and third was Dick Ortzen with 4-0-0.

At Wallingford on B Section, the big fish did not show for Reading Civil Service. Les Hannington won with 5-14-0, Pete Kersley was second with 3-12-0 and Gordon McGee was third with 2-6-0.

The R&DAA Annual Championship for teams and individuals takes place on the Kennet on the 7^th October [Sunday week] so make sure your Match Secretaries have entered your names and teams to the Association Match Secretary, Mick Sheasby. Tight lines.

No huge bags of fish reported from matches again this weekend but I hope you are all enjoying trying – it’s what angling is all about!

On the Kennet, South Reading AC’s anglers were at Beat 5 but without the success they usually get from the venue. John Montgomery won with a mostly perch bag of 8-6-0 from the wall peg; Rick Withers was second with 6-0-0; Brian Jones, third with 4-8-0 and Tony Tibble fourth with 3-14-0.

King Heron AC fished Ufton River where John Jackson won with 7-1-0 of gudgeon. Jeff Fisher had a roach catch of 4-15-0 in second place; Chris Humphreys was third with 4-1-0 and Dave Ward landed a tench of 4-0-0 for fourth place.

Hanwell PoW anglers found the fishing extremely hard at Upper Benyons A but then started to catch in the last hour. Dickie Bird had a bream of 4-4-0 in his match winning weight of 7-14-0 and Jim Hunt had one of 4-5-0 with 1-0-0 of bits in second. Dave Ashton was third catching 2 late chub for 3-11-0.

On the Thames at Wallingford, it was the turn of Courage AC’s anglers to “fight the pike”, Dusty Millar actually losing his plumb bob and float to one whilst setting up! Fred Jones and Aaron Phillips shared first place with 7-11-0 each, Fred having roach and skimmers and Aaron had a good perch and bits. Alan Hughes was third with 4-2-0 of waggler caught bits and Cliff Edwards was fourth with 2-10-0 of roach and bleak.

Excelsior AC anglers were somewhat affected, as was to be expected on a late summer day, by boat traffic during their match on “A” Section at Froxfield. Roach and skimmers gave John Allum his winning weight of 6-2-0 and Alan Cowell the second place with 4-4-0. George Smith had all roach in his weight of 3-8-0 in third place.

The R&DAA’s first Open of the Season takes place this coming Saturday at Froxfield with all three Sections booked for the match. To enter ring Mick Sheasby on 07802 414317.

Last weekend, conditions looked good for the clubs fishing matches but it just was not to be! And those fishing on the local reaches of the Thames want to know where all the pike came from. As soon as catches were being made, the pike moved in, taking fish from the hook and driving the others to shelter. I don’t think I’ve ever had as many reports of this happening on so many venues as this before!

Reading Civil Service anglers were at Sonning where Les Hannington managed 7-10-0 of roach and dace to win. Richard Sturgess was second with 4-10-0 of roach and bleak and Gordon McGee and John Carter shared third place with bleak catches of 3-0-0.

Excelsior AC fished its own water at Hardwick Stud where the winners managed to get some roach through the pike. First was Ken Wright with 8-3-0, second, Alan Cowell with 5-5-0, third, Brian Brown with 3-7-0 and fourth, Tim Edwards with 2-9-0.

Wallingford had Reading FC struggling to get bits through the pike, John Berry winning with 8-11-0. Close behind, Stef Holland was second with 8-10-0 and Stan Goddard, third with 8-7-0. Joe Baker was fourth with 5-15-8. I am told the club fishing the stretch downstream also had to fight the pike!

At Northmoor, Bracknell Avocets did not have the same problem and most of the 12 out caught for a match weight of 43-0-0. John Smith landed a 3-12-0 chub in his winning weight of 13-4-8, Norman French was second with 6-5-0 and Lee Richards was a close third with 6-2-0. Robin Parker was fourth with 3-5-0.

On the Kennet, South Reading AC anglers were on Lower Benyons Blue and they just could not believe that fish were missing in the good conditions, 13 weighing in a total of only 8 lb. Steve Sainsbury won with 2-13-0, John Montgomery was second with 2-9-0 and Barry Marshall was third with 15 ozs.

Camberley WMC also thought it was going to be a good day on Beat 4A but…! Jeff Lewis won with chub and small roach for 6-10-0; Pete Watts was second with small bream and chub for 4-2-0; Des Williams was third with 3-14-0 of small roach.

Hambridge Lake looked good to the Sundial anglers but the results were disappointing. Phil Griffiths relied on bread and won with 2 tench for 7-0-0. Little else was caught, Malcolm Hawkins having a few small perch for 1-4-0 and Pete Griffiths 1-3-0 for third place.

Last Sunday the R&DAA Match for the Association Cup and Fericon Press Trophies was fished on the River Kennet, but it did not produce the weights hoped for, the total match weight being 178-4-8, which was an average weight of 2-15-0 per angler. The top three clubs on the day were Reading FC with 47-11-8, Adventure AC with 21-9-8 and King Heron AC with 21-6-0.

The winner was Gordon Moss of Reading FC with chub, roach and dace for 13-13-0 from the second peg above the Berkeley Avenue Bridge on Beat 5B.

Second was John Jackson of King Heron AC with three chub to 4 lb, roach and dace from Theale River Section for a weight of 10-13-0.

Third was Phil Allen of Reading Civil Service with 7-13-0 from Rushey Meadow on Burghfield River Section.

Fourth was Alan Hughes of Courage AC with 7-11-0 from Beat 5 and fifth was Nick Richardson of Adventure AC with 7-4-0, also from Beat 5.

“A” – Upper Benyons A – Graham Hawkins, Prestcold AC, 5-9-0 from total 14-6-0.

“C” – Burghfield River – Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 7-13-0 from 34-6-8.

Current leaders in the Club Championship are – Reading FC 133-5-8, Courage AC 75-5-0, Reading Civil Service, 69-15-0 and close behind are Prestcold AC, South Reading AC and Adventure AC.

Leaders in the Agg Weight Trophy are Sean Barrington, Adventure AC, 39-4-8; Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 24-0-8; Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, 23-9-0.

There are four leaders in the Agg Points Trophy, all on 24 pts: - Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service; Sean Barrington, Adventure AC; Mick Fairey, Reading FC; Paul Wilding, Adventure AC.

Although several of the Adventure AC matchmen were involved in the Association Match, the club also held a match on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield on “A” Section where boat traffic caused some discomfort. The winner was B Atkinson with 11-6-0, second was T Clawson with 8-7-0, third was N Sargeant with 5-15-0 and fourth was T Tarrant with 4-15-0.

Very few clubs out over the Bank Holiday weekend, so if you were out for pleasure I hope you caught well! It would seem the Kennet was in good form!

Beat 5 only produced small fish for King Heron anglers but kept them busy for most of the day on Sunday. Dave Ward won the match with 15-6-0 of bits; Chris Humphreys was second with 14-0-0; Mick Donohoe was third with 12-14-0 and Bill Gilham was fourth with 7-4-0.

Nine Elms AC was on Ufton River section where Bob Bird had 9-14-0 of bream to win, with Adrian Parker in second place with 4 small chub for 4-14-0.

Hopefully the Kennet will produce well again on Sunday for the R&DAA monthly match.

Rather a mixed bag of results for the weekend, some anglers happy with their weights – others disappointed!

Courage AC fished Beats 5 A+B on the Kennet where Fred Jones won with 10-4-0 of roach. Aaron Phillips was second with 6-2-0, Andy White was third with 4-3-0 and Alan Hughes was fourth with 4-1-0.

Lower Benyons Yellow section had Westward Ho! anglers trying to find decent fish. Mark Edwards succeeded, landing 4 barbel [best of just over 9 lb] for the winning weight of 27 lb. Steve Williams landed 1 barbel of 9 lb for second place. Thereafter the weights were made up of small fish, the next being 2.5 lb.

Culvers FC fished Upper Benyons B section finishing with a total match weight of 17-4-0. Eric Seymore was first with 3-12-0, and Joe Finnies was second with 3-1-0. George Bagnell was third.

Bracknell Avocets were on the Thames at Wallingford, fishing B section and they appear to have had a good day, 9 anglers catching a total of 41 lb with the lowest weight being 2-4-0! Jeff Haddow won with 8-11-0, Richard Herman was second with 8-4-0, Mick Clark was third with 6-12-0 and John Smith was fourth with 6-2-8.

On the Canal Sections it was the same story, some sections being quite productive.

Newtown picked its East Towney match as its late starter and everybody got wet! Total match weight was 34-14-0 between 12 anglers, mostly made up with small fish. Pete Trundley won with a tench plus bits for 3-15-0, Derek Carter was second with 3-14-0 of roach and bleak and Dick Ortzan had a similar bag of 3-11-0 in third place.

South Reading AC fished Froxfield A Section but the only fish to be seen were in the Short Pound, Rick Withers winning with 15 lb from the bottom, Barry Marshall having 5 lb from the top and Jedd Shield having 4 lb in the middle! None of the favoured pegs on the Wides or in the Turning Bay produced anything.

However on B and C Sections, Prestcold anglers that drew the favoured pegs prospered! Graham Hawkins won with 4 good bream and a few bits for 18-10-0 from the bottom of the venue, Mark Johnson was second with 10-8-0 of skimmers, Fred Gill was third with 5-12-0 of smaller fish and joint fourth with 5-10-0 were Geoff Eley and John Main.

The only local lake match was at Cottage Lane where Gillette anglers fished Lake 1, John Berry winning with 3 carp for 24-12-0. Mick Mack was second with 1 carp of 14-10-0, Phil Lush was third with 4-10-0 of rudd.

Due to the problem of weed in Pingewood Lagoon, the PAUL SNOOKES MEMORIAL MATCH taking place this coming Bank Holiday Weekend has been switched to Whistley Mill Lake. May the Carp respond accordingly!

Last Saturday, current R&DAA local Champions, Reading Fishing Club, fished the NFA Division 1 National on the New Junction Canal, against 65 other teams from most of the best Clubs and Associations in the country, finishing in a credible 50^th position. Best individual performance was by Gordon Moss, who was fifth in his section with a weight of 2600 gm to get 62 points. Shane Davies weighed in 1420 gm for 54 points, Tony Scott weighed in 600 gm for 39 points and Dave Bosher weighed in 510 gm for 34 points. Well done chaps.

There were no matches on the Kennet at the weekend, which was a shame as it was fishing well. Association Match Secretary, Mick Sheasby, fished Burghfield section above the power lines and landed 2 barbel, 4 chub and 10 lb of roach for a weight just in excess of 30 lb!

Sundial AC fished the Thames at Sonning and all the anglers caught. Dougie Harrison won with11-8-0 including a 2-15-0 perch and 2 pike which obligingly refused to lose the roach he was landing! Ben Hogman was second with 7-8-0, all good roach and dace from the weir section. Pete Griffiths was third with a mostly roach catch of 5-10-0 and Alan Newman was fourth with 3-0-0.

At Wallingford, Tring Anglers got best results with heavy feeders across to the far bank. Glen Miller was first with 21-3-0 which included a couple of greedy pike and chub; Martin Rodwell was second with 10-8-0, catching small roach, perch and bleak all day from the near bank; Dave Moore was third with 9-9-0 from the far bank and Joe Burt was fourth with 8-15-0 of quality roach from close to the lock.

Reading FC had a match at Hambridge Lake on Sunday, where Phil Lush had 2 tench and 2 perch for 8-14-0 to win. Tony Tibble was second with a tench of 2-10-0, Steve Tucker was third with 2-6-8 of bits and John Goddard was fourth with 0-6-8 [5 wee perch].

The R&DAA Match on the Kennet for the Preservation Cup and Claw Scaffold Trophy last Sunday, saw the river still flowing rapidly after the recent heavy rain and floods, but still able to produce a total match weight of 227-13-8, giving an average of 3-13-0 per man. Eleven anglers failed to weigh in!

The top three clubs on the day were Reading FC with 43-2-8, Courage AC with 40-4-0 and King Heron with 31-10-0.

1^st Sean Barrington, Adventure AC, 23-7-0 from the top peg of Beat 3 backstream [2 good chub, roach and dace].

2^nd Aaron Phillips, Courage AC, 17-15-0 from the peg above the OPL on Burghfield River, [4 good chub, plus bits].

3^rd Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, 10-13-8 from first peg above Berkeley Avenue bridge on Beat 5B [roach, dace and small chub].

“A” Upper Benyons A – Mark Johnson, Prestcold AC, 6-8-8 from total 13-15-8.

“B” Theale River – Jay Allen, Reading Civil Service, 6-10-0 from total 24-13-8.

Club Championship leaders: - Reading FC 85-10-8; Courage AC 55-6-0; Reading Civil Service 54-1-0.

Individ Agg Wt Trophy leaders: - Sean Barriington, Adventure, 33-2-0; Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, 23-9-0; Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 21-10-0.

Individ Agg Pts Trophy leaders: - Mark Johnson, Prestcold, 20; Aaron Phillips, Courage, 20; Mick Fairey, Reading FC, 18; Paul Wilding, Adventure, 18.

Miles AC held a match on the Thames on Beat 1 at Mapledurham, John Deacon winning with an all roach catch of 7-10-0. Colin Thrower was second with 2-6-0 of mainly roach and Tony Prior was third with 2-1-0 of small chub.

Also on the Thames, at Wallingford, Jolly Anglers members only caught small fish, Phil Ansell winning with 6-4-0. 14 year old Ryan Macdonald was second with 6-0-0 and Warren Cave was third with 5-11-0.

Another weekend where the high water caused problems on some venues although the Kennet was perhaps not as bad as the Thames. From the weather forecasts it should settle down in time for the R&DAA match on the Kennet next Sunday and there will be good weights to be had.

As the backstream on Beat 3 was pushing hard and the bank was dangerous, Prestcold pegged all its anglers on the canal section at Fobney and everybody caught. As the chub did not show, it was roach and perch that provided the sport, Mark Steadman winning with 8-11-0. Mick Sheasby was second with 5-3-8, Graham Hawkins was third with 4-14-8 and Geoff Eley and Ron Irvine shared fourth place with 4-9-0 each.

Bracknell Avocets found the water lapping over the bank on “A” section at Calcot so fished their match on “B” section. Robin Parker was disappointed to drop a bream at the net at the final whistle, but he had already landed 6 plus a few bits, to win the match with 28-14-4. No one else found any bream so the other anglers had to scratch for whatever they could, Richard Herman being second with 2-2-12, Mick Carpenter, third with 1-15-12 and Rod Needs was fourth with 1-10-4.

Excelsior AC fished Lower Benyons Red section on Saturday, where John Allum caught a chub of 4-4-0 in his winning weight of 6-12-0. Jock Turner was second with 3-14-0 of small chub and bits, Alan Cowell was third with 3-0-0 and George Smith was fourth with 2-2-0.

Cancelled matches leave little else to report but I reckon the weights next weekend will really make up for the past few weeks on the rivers. Tight lines.

The weekend’s fishing was spoiled by the rain and high waters making the rivers unfishable, clubs having to seek alternative venues for their matches, and some of the lakes were affected with pegs under water.

Newtown AC transferred from Upper Benyons to Padworth Canal where 11 fished for a total match weight of 23-9-0. Eddie Grayson won with a bream, roach and chublets for 6-6-8. Robin Reynolds was second with a similar catch weighing 5-9-8 and Pete Foster was third with 2-7-0.

South Reading AC had to swap from the Thames at Wallingford and went to Froxfield “B” Section where 13 anglers landed just over 60 lb of fish, but finding it patchy with the fish feeding in spells. George Callaghan had 8-6-0 to win, with Ron Cole second with 7-12-0. Pat Pritchard was a close third with 7-9-0 and Dave Brent was fourth with 5-15-0.

On Saturday, Courage’s anglers had to drive round looking for roads clear enough to get to Cottage Lane. They succeeded in the end and fished Lake 1, Fred Jones landing a carp of 9-13-0 to win the match. Aaron Phillips was second with 6-2-0 of bits and Arthur Maybanks was third with 4-7-0.

The previous weekend [the one with reasonable water conditions] had Culvers AC fishing its first booking on R&DAA waters, on B Section at Calcot where everybody caught lots of small fish. One angler lost 3 barbel at the net, so they seem to be active this season. The winner was G Bagnall with 5-12-0, B Bucknell was second with 4-8-0, D Ardley was third with 1-8-0 and B Skipsey was fourth with 1-6-0.

Hopefully the high waters will have receded by the coming weekend, as quite a few clubs are booked on the Kennet. Tight lines wherever you are.

Several clubs were out on the banks this past weekend and most had a good day’s fishing, the Kennet in particular, producing weights all the way through, and there were some good weights from the lakes.

Gillette anglers were on Beats 4A+B and it fished well with everybody catching. Hemp and tare was favourite, Tony White winning with 13-9-0, mostly roach, and Dave Chard coming close second with 13-4-0 with a similar bag. Roy Green was third with a bleak catch of 4-11-0 and Les Carpenter was fourth with 3-5-0 of bits.

Courage AC fished Beat 3, the backstream fishing well for the top weights, Alan Hughes landing 2 barbel, 4 bream plus bits for the winning weight of 32-11-0 and Dusty Millar being second with 11-3-0. Dusty had 3 chub plus bits but lost a barbel which he reckons went all of 12 lb! Andy White was third with 7-10-0 from A section, and Richie Flower had chub and roach for 7-8-0 in fourth from the backstream. 10 anglers landed 78 lb of fish!

Burghfield River section again fished well, this time for Camberley WMC, Jeff Lewis landing 9-12-0 of mainly roach, including one of 1-13-0, plus a small chub, from the top of the venue. Second was Tony Alexander with a chub of 3-12-0 plus bits for 4-12-0 and third was John Bunyan with 4-4-0 of small roach. Everyone caught including the mink on the section!

At Lower Benyons, on Yellow and Blue sections, Mick Donohoe won the King Heron match with a barbel of 5-1-0 and 15-4-0 of small fish for 20-5-0. Terry Keel was second with 3 chub from the weirpool for 9-9-0. Dave Ward was third with a chub and bits for 6-4-0.

Bracknell Avocets fished Ufton River where Chris Bowman caught 115 roach for the winning weight of 8-14-0. Second was Robin Parker who caught two 1-3-0 roach in his weight of 6-13-12. Rick Herman was third with 5-7-8 of mostly skimmers and Mick Carpenter was fourth with a similar catch of 4-6-0. 11 anglers weighed in 41 lb, the lowest having 1-8-8!

At Upper Benyons, B section, Reading FC anglers could not find the barbel, Mick Stanley winning the match with an all roach catch of 7-3-0. John Ellyatt was second with a mixed bag of 5-15-0, with Tony Scott a close third with 5-14-0. Don Cox landed a 3-12-0 tench to be fourth with 3-14-0.

On the Thames, Pangbourne AC fished Beat 1 at Mapledurham where Bob Perry won with 5-15-0. John Nicholls had a tench of 3 lb in his 5-8-0 for second place and Mick Seward was third with 3-14-0.

Sundial anglers found the river pushing through at Wallingford on B section but Pete Griffiths managed 8-8-0 on hemp and tare to win. Doug Harrison was second with 7-12-0, both men only finding smallish fish.

Results from the lakes were rather mixed! On Saturday, Prestcold AC fished Lake 1 at Cottage Lane, Mick Sheasby winning with a carp of 9-13-0 caught just before the final whistle and still being brought to his net 10 minutes afterwards. Fred Gill was second with 6-2-0 of bits and Graham Hawkins was third with 1-10-0.

On Sunday, Reading Civil Service fished this venue and Steve Alder won with 33-10-0. Vic Turner was second with 15-5-0 and Les Hannington was third with 9-10-0. What a difference a day makes!

Tring Anglers had their first-ever visit to Hambridge Lake and will be going back! Tony Beadle landed 9 tench for 28-0-0 on sweetcorn [and 5 lb hook length to beat the weed] to win. Dick Gibbs had 2 tench in his second place weight of 10-12-0 and Joe Burtt had 1 in his 9-10-0 for third. Martin Rodwell was fourth with 7-2-8. All admired the quality of the fish caught.

Some of Miles AC members went to Wylies Lake where Colin Thrower landed a 4-13-0 tench in his winning weight of 5-12-0, Tony Prior was second with 5-0-0 of roach and John Deacon was third with 4-4-0.

Excelsior AC visited Oakfield Fisheries at Kingswood, Bucks for its weekend match. Tom Meadows won with 129-0-0, Ken Wright was second with 116-8-0, Mick Chandler was third with 102.0.0 and Chris Buckner was fourth with 83-6-0. I understand some of the anglers only managed single figures!

Very few matches to report for last weekend and therefore few fish. Perhaps things will improve over the next month or so.

Where have all the Juniors gone? On Saturday, the R&DAA match on Lake 1 at Cottage Lane, which used to be a popular venue for youngsters, had only two entrants – Amy Longmuir of Reading Civil Service AC who won with 5-0-0 of small fish and Jack Mintern of Reading FC who weighed in 3-8-0. Perhaps the Association should allow OAPs who are maybe in their second childhood to fish these matches to make up numbers!

On the Thames, South Reading anglers were at Northmoor but they were disappointed at their weights, Barry Marshall winning with 2-9-0. Dave Brent was second with 2-5-0 and Pat Pritchard was third with 2-2-0.

Jolly Anglers used B Section at Wallingford for their match and although the river was high and pushing, some fish were caught. Phil Ansell had a 6 lb plus bream in his winning weight of 15-14-0, and, in second place, Ryan Macdonald had a good chub in his 8-2-0. Martin Macdonald was third with 7-1-0.

Back at Cottage Lane, Nine Elms had its match on Lake 1 but again, the carp did not show in any number. Only one of 7 lb was caught by Bob Bird in his winning weight of 8-8-0, and 3 others were lost during the match. Adrian Parker was second with small perch and rudd for 2-8-0 and Les Parker was third with a similar catch for 2-6-0.

Reading Civil Service members were at Wylies Lake, hoping that the tench would feed but very few did. Richard Munday won the match with 1 tench of 7-14-0, his one bite of the day. Ian Marcham was second with 5-8-0, 1 tench and some small perch, having lost a tench early on. Steve Alder was third with 4-8-0, again 1 tench.

Congratulations to local lad, Jake Gallagher, who managed to fish for Boston & District AA in the 2007 NFA Cadet National on the Grand Union canal at Milton Keynes last Saturday and WON beating 41 others in this category. Jake weighed in 15.20 Kg. No wonder he gets so many trophies when fishing R&DAA matches. Well done, Jake.

Last Sunday saw the first R&DAA match of the season fished on the River Kennet, for the Festival Cup and Chronicle Cup. Unfortunately, following the heavy rain on the preceding days, conditions were not as good as had been expected, and the river was still rising during the course of the match. 55 anglers fished for a total match weight of 180-4-0, an average of 3-4-0 per angler. 10 anglers failed to weigh in.

The top three clubs on the day were Reading FC with 42-8-0, Reading Civil Service with 31-11-0 and South Reading AC with 30-0-8.

The winner was Bill Blunden of Reading Civil Service with a barbel and 4 bream for 20-7-0, from Rushey Meadow at the top of Burghfield River section.

Second was Mick Fairey of Reading FC with an all roach catch of 16-6-0, from the bottom peg of Beat 3 backstream.

Third was Graham Hawkins of Prestcold AC with a barbel of 7-12-0 plus roach from the peg above the power lines on Burghfield River for a total weight of 11-3-0.

A – Upper Benyons A – Phil Allen, Reading Civil Service, 1-10-0 from total 6-2-0.

C – Burghfield River – Bill Blunden, Reading Civil Service, 20-7-0 from 55-15-8.

After the first match the 1^st Division leaders are top clubs on the day, as listed above, with Prestcold AC in fourth place with 25-11-8 and Courage AC in fifth place with 15-1-8.

The leaders in the Individual Aggregate Weight Trophy are the first three in the match and the Individual Aggegate Points Trophy leaders are the Section winners, all with 10 points.

And last week, well known local lady anglers, Denise Hudgell and Sue Arkell, lived up to their reputations at the Walls Ice Cream sponsored Ladies Angling Festival, held over three days at White Acres in Cornwall, against strong opposition. Denise won the event [and £1000] with 14 points after a countback on weight from former Ladies Champion, north western based Wendy Lockyer, and Sue was third with 12 points. Well done, Ladies.

Last Sunday’s rain and wind did little to help the anglers’ efforts to find fish, and those fishing towpaths also had to contend with the summer boat traffic together with the usual hardy walkers and cyclists. But most did find fish!

The first weekend of the season saw Courage AC on the canal at Midgham with 8 anglers averaging 3-4-0 per man, mostly of small roach and chub. The winner was Aaron Phillips who landed a 4 lb chub in his weight of 7-5-0. Second was Fred Jones with 3-12-0 and third was Cliff Edwards with 3-3-0, which included a bream of 2 lb.

Excelsior AC had 2 matches that weekend, the first on its own water on the Thames at Hardwick, where John Allum landed 4 bream in his winning weight of 23-8-0. Colin Stone was second with 13-8-0, including a 3 lb eel, George Smith was third with 9-8-0 and Alan Cowell was fourth with 5-8-0. On the Sunday the club was on the Syndicate Lake at Gold Valley, Tony Scott weighing in 120-0-0 to win the match. M Biles was second with 104-8-0, John Allum, third with 83-8-0 and Jeb Attwood was fourth with 75-12-0.

Prospect AC had its opening match on its Holybrook water where 7 anglers weighed in a total of 25-9-0. Roy Beales won with 6-9-0 of bits, Martin Rafferty was second with 6-7-0 [inc a chub of 4-7-0] and Graham Daniels was third with 3-5-0.

Last Sunday, Reading FC fished Lower Benyons yellow and blue sections, and barbel showed for the first time in a match for some months. Sid Barnett was visiting friends in the area and took the opportunity to land 2 for the winning weight of 13-3-0. J Ellyatt was second with 8-14-0 of bits, Bill Tucker landed a barbel to be third with 8-9-0 and John Ambrose was fourth with 7-4-0, which included a bream of 5-9-0.

Prestcold AC had Wallingford B section for its first match and Mark Johnson drew the noted chub peg, landing 10 to win with 33-4-0. John Main was second with 13-14-0, which included 2 chub, John Coker and Graham Walker shared third place with 5-14-0, Fred Gill was fifth with 5-12-0 and Mick Sheasby was close sixth with 5-11-0.

On Froxfield A section, Nine Elms anglers were really harassed by the boat traffic but Adrian Parker still managed 12-8-0 to win. Gary Robertson was second with 4-0-0. I was told it was like fishing the M4!

Tring Anglers fished Padworth Canal section where some good roach to 12 oz were caught. Martin Rodwell won with 5-9-0, Dave Moore was second with 5-7-0 and Tony Beadle was third with 4-9-0.

On the lakes, Miles AC was at Cottage Lane on Lake 3, Tony Prior and John Deacon sharing first place with 4-5-0 each. Ron Fisher was third with 3-8-0 and Colin Thrower was fourth with 2-8-0.

Hambridge was the venue for Bracknell Avocets match where Dave Brooks landed a 6-14-0 tench in his winning weight of 8-6-0. Jeff Haddow had a tench of 2-10-0 in his weight of 4-3-0 in second place, Robin Parker was third with 2-8-0 and Brian Haddow was fourth with 2-0-4. Several good tench were lost at the net!

Sundial anglers were at Wylies Lake and tench made up the weights here, Doug Harrison landing one of 5-8-0 in his weight of 8-0-0. Alf Rocheford had one of 6-8-0 for second place and A Newman, one of 4-8-0 for third.

Prospect AC again fished its Holybrook water, catching a lot of small fish. Terry Littlewood had skimmers and small chub for 6-10-0 to win; Colin Day had 5-50 in second and John Crook 3-4-0 in third.

The R&DAA Annual Dinner and Prize Giving this year, is again at the Calcot Hotel, and is to be held on Friday, 27^th April. It is to be held in the Carvery, which is smaller than the main function room, and therefore tickets cost less than previously but numbers are limited and it is suggested that Trophy winners apply as soon as possible to ensure availability. The cost is only £22.00 and enquiries should be made of Alby Cohen on [0118] 942 5268.

The Match Trophy Winners are: - Festival Cup and Chronicle Cup – Don Tait, Prestcold AC. Preservation Cup And Claw Scaffold Trophy – Mick Stanley, Prospect AC. Association Cup and Fericon Press Trophies – 1^st Paul Mason, YOTAC; 2^nd Dave Forsdick, King Heron AC. Annual Championships, Team and Individual – 1^st Team, Adventure “A” [Sean Barrington, Nobby Branton, David Grant, Nick Richardson, Simon Waller, Paul Wilding]. Individual 1^st – Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC. Association Shield – George Callaghan, South Reading AC. Ron Want Cup – Steve Sainsbury, South Reading AC. Ron Want Shield – Phil Lush, Reading FC. Kennet Trophy & Reading Angling Centre Trophy – Tony Tibble, South Reading AC. Canal Trophy – Mick Stanley, Prospect AC. Senior Team Championship – 1^st Adventure “A” [Bob Ponton, Neil Ponton, Roger Sargeant, Trevor Tarrant]; 2^nd R&DAA “Slapheads” [Barry Grubb, Simon Japes, Mark Johnson, Paul Leek]. Novelty Shield – Duncan Bales, South Reading AC.

Other Trophy Winners: - Ken Willmott Trophy [highest ind match weight] – Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC. Senior Aggregate Points Trophy – 1^st Mark Johnson, Prestcold AC; 2^nd Tony Tibble, South Readiing AC. Senior Aggregate Weight Trophy – 1^st Mark Johnson, Prestcold AC; 2^nd Mick Stanley, Prospect AC. First Division Champions – Reading FC. Second Division Champions – Hanwell Prince of Wales.

Angler of the Year and Clubman of the Year will be announced on the night.

The Junior Trophy Winners [who are invited as guests of the Association] are: - Jack Mintern, Jake Gallagher, Lily Holland, Sam Holland, Harry Marsh, Dominic Russell [all of Reading FC] and Graeme Silk [of Reading Civil Service AC]. Jack Mintern is the Junior Aggregate Points Shield Winner.

Matches were won from Beat 5 [2], Burghfield River [2], Upper Benyons “A” [1], Froxfield “A” [2], Froxfield “C” [2].

Best total match weights – 391-2-8 October 06, 336-13-8 March 07, 334-1-0 December 06.

Best individual weights – 30-4-0, Mick Donohoe, King Heron AC, October 06. 28-12-0, Duncan Bales, South Reading AC, March 07. 23-8-0, George Callaghan, South Reading AC, November 06.

Total match weight this season – 2,523 lb [1,474 last year]. Average match weight per angler this season 4.74 lb [2.95 last year].

Majority of match and section winning weights were made up of catches of roach, dace and perch. The surprise of the season was that, after 5 years, the re-introduction of Upper Benyons “A”, did not lead to winning barbel weights but good catches of roach and dace.

A reminder that the first of the FREE coaching courses for anglers, run by NFA registered coach Joe Baker of Reading FC, start this coming Saturday at 10 am at the Cotswold Community Centre, Tilehurst. Any queries ring [0118] 942 8249.

And another date for your diary if you do, or have thought about, Fly Fishing – Sportfish Reading Show takes place on Saturday May 12^th [9 – 5.30] and Sunday May 13^th [10 – 4] with demonstrations and tuition of all sorts by many well known participants and with a Manufacturers Marquee! More details from Sportfish Reading 0118 930 3860.

The high water and fast flow spoilt the last weekend of the river season for many clubs who had to cancel their matches. Some did manage to find alternative venues

On the Kennet, the towpath on Beats 4 & 5 was flooded so fishing was impossible but higher upriver, Courage AC was able to peg its 12 members on to the canal section of Beat 3 but they found it a struggle to find fish. Only 11 were caught, six members not getting a bite. Alan Hughes won with 5 roach for 12 oz, Aaron Phillips was second with a 4 oz chublet and Fred Jones was third with a 3 oz dace.

King Heron decided to carry on with its match on Lower Benyons Blue section and Chris Humphreys landed 4 chub for the winning weight of 14-10-0. Everyone else struggled, Mick Donohoe coming second with 9 oz and Bill Gilham being third with 5 oz.

On Red section, Sundial anglers had better results, Phil Hawkins landing a 1½ perch plus roach for his winning weight of 6-8-0. John Hansell was second with 4-3-0, Pete Griffiths was third with a chub of 4-0-0, and Malcolm Hawkins was fourth with 3-8-0.

Excelsior AC opted out of fishing Yellow section and went to Bowsaw Lake at Odiham, where Ken Wright won the match with 47-0-0. Jock Turner was second with 22-0-0, Tony Capewell, third, with 21-12-0 and Paul Wright was fourth with 12-6-0.

South Reading AC had 18 members out on the canal at Midgham and only 4 did not weigh in. Tony Tibble won with 4 chub for 12-4-0, his best being 5 lb. Charlie Hoyle was second also with 4 chub but weighing in at 8-2-0. Rick Withers was third catching a bream of 4-1-0.

At Padworth Canal section, Gillette had 15 out for the last match of the season. Frank Bursnall was the winner with 8-6-0, a chub, a tench and perch. Roy Green was second with 4-12-0 of small fish, Bill Wallace was third with 2-14-0 and Paul Verney was fourth with 2-3-0.

Having had to transfer from Beat 5, Reading FC was hoping for a good result from its own water, Tapperns Lake at Theale. There were dry nets among the 13 anglers, but Stef Holland made the most of the day with 5 bream for 21-5-0. John Berry landed 1 carp for second place with 18-1-0 and Alan Prince was third with 4 bream for 10-14-0.

Prospect AC had a successful last match of the season on its Holybrook water at Southcote where 11 anglers turned out, 9 of whom weighed in a total of 54-9-0. Terry Littlewood won with 17-10-0 [including 4 bream weighing16-12-0]. Steve Allaway was second with 3 chub and bits for 9-10-0, Roy Beales had 2 chub and bits for 8-6-0 in third place and Martin Rafferty was fourth with a barbel and bits for 6-3-0. Apparently most of the fish were in superb condition!

Next week I hope to be able to bring you up to date with the statistics of the season’s Association matches together with the list of Association Trophy winners, who will of course be collecting their trophies at the Presentation night at the Calcot Hotel on April 27^th. I believe there are tickets still available from Alby Cohen [tel 0118 942 5268] priced at £22.00 which includes a Carvery dinner.

Last Sunday the R&DAA Senior Team Championship was held on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield, twenty Teams of Four braving rain and wind, but producing one of the top match weights of the season – 336-13-8. Only 7 anglers did not weigh in.

Team positions were – 1^st Adventure AC “A”[B Ponton, Neil Ponton, Roger Sargeant, Trevor Tarrant] with 66 points. 2nd Reading and District “Slapheads” [Barry Grubb,

1st	Don Cox	RFC “Dodos”	16lb	2ozs	0drm	Beats “”4A & “4B”
[5-13-0 chub and 4 bream to 3 lb from “Ditch Mouth” in first 2 hours before a boat did a u-turn in front of him]
2nd	Duncan Bales	SRAC “Adv Maint”	15lb	7ozs	0drm	Theale River
[5-8-0 chub and last minute 9-15-0 barbel towards top of section]
3rd	Phil Allen	Civil Service “Hopefulls	12lb	11oz	0drm	Theale River
[nine chub to 2-8-0 from middle of section]
4th	Mick Griffiths	Prestcold “Red”	10lb	2ozs	0drm	Upper Benyons“A”&“B”
5th	SeanBarrington	Adventure “A”	9lbs	3ozs	0drm	Beats “”3A & “3B”
6th	Mick Donohoe	King Heron “Gold”	7lbs	14oz	0drm	Beats “”3A & “3B”
7th	Pete Kersley	Civil Service “Hopefulls	7lbs	1ozs	8drm	Beats “”3A & “3B”
8th	Paul Mason	Yotac “21”	6lbs	6ozs	0drm	Theale River
9th	GrahamHawkins	Prestcold “Red”	5lbs	10oz	0drm	Beats “”3A & “3B”
10th	Trevor Tarrant	Adventure “A”	5lbs	8ozs	0drm	Beats “”4A & “4B”

“A”Section	Theale River	Duncan Bales	SRAC “Adv Maintain”	15lbs	7ozs	0drm
“B” Section	Upper Benyons “A” & “B”	Mick Griffiths	Prestcold “Red”	10lbs	2ozs	0drm
“C” Section	Beats “3A”, “3B” & “4B”	Sean Barrington	Adventure “A”	9lbs	3ozs	0drm
“D” Section	Burghfield River	Simon Waller	Adventure “A”	2lbs	7ozs	8drm
“E” Section	Beats “4A” & “4B”	Don Cox	RFC “Dodos”	16lbs	2ozs	0drm
“F” Section	Beats “5A” & “5B”	Simon Copson	Courage “Expects”	5lbs	4ozs	8drm

“A”Section	Theale River	42lbs	5ozs	4drms
“B”Section	Upper Benyons “A” & “B”	17lbs	4ozs	8drms
“C”Section	Beats “3A”, “3B” & “4B”	47lbs	10oz	0drms
“D”Section	Burghfield River	15lbs	0ozs	0drms
“E”Section	Beats “4A” & “4B”	39lbs	5ozs	0drms
“F”Section	Beats “5A” & “5B”	30lbs	12oz	0drms



Senior
Festival Cup & Chronicle Cup	1st Ind	Fred Jones	Courage AC
Preservation Cup &	1st Ind	Jay Allen	Reading Civil Service
Claw Scaffold Trophys

Association Cup	1st Ind	Mark Johnson	Prestcold AC
Fericon Press Trophies	2nd Ind	Mick Mills	King Heron AC

Annual Championships	1st Team	Roy Cheadle	King Heron "Gold"
Team Championship		Mick Donohoe
		George Harris
		Chris Humphreys
		John Jackson
		Dave Ward

Individual	1st Ind	Sean Barrington	Adventure AS

Association Shield	1st Ind	Andy Chapman	Reading Civil Service

Ron Want Cup	1st Ind	Mick Stanley	Reading Fishing Club
Ron Want Shield	2nd Ind	Andy Chapman	Reading Civil Service

Kennet Trophy &	1st Ind	Simon Japes	Reading Fishing Club
Reading Angling Centre Trophy

Canal Trophy	1st Ind	Richard Sturgess	Reading Civil Service

Senior Team Championship	1st Team	John Ambrose	Yotac/21 Club "Gold"
		Justin Mabere
		Paul Mason
		Rob Stephens

	2nd Team	Peter Godfrey	RFC "Falcons"
		Ray Malyon
		Steve O'Keefe
		Dennis Swift

Novelty Shield	1st Ind	Justin Mabere	Yotac/21 Club "Gold"

Ken Wilmott Trophy		Sean Barrington	Adventure AS
(Highest Ind Match Weight)

Senior Aggregate Points Trophy	1st	Mick Donohoe	King Heron AC
	2nd	Andy Chapman	Reading Civil Service

Senior Aggregate Weight Trophy	1st	Andy Chapman	Reading Civil Service
	2nd	Mick Donohoe	King Heron AC

Club Championship			Reading Civil Service

Angler of the Year		To be announced at the Presentation

Clubman of the Year		To be announced at the Presentation


Junior Stillwater Championship	1st Ind	Jack Mintern	Reading Fishing Club
(Longwater Lake)	2nd Ind	Alex Jarvis	Courage
	3rd Ind	Ben Garroway	Courage
	4th Ind	Amy Longmuir	Reading Civil Service

Junior Thames Championship	1st Ind	Alex Jarvis	Courage
(Longwater Lake)	2nd Ind	Ben Garroway	Courage
	3rd Ind	Amy Longmuir	Reading Civil Service
	4th Ind	Jack Mintern	Reading Fishing Club
	5th Ind	Henry Penton	Courage

Junior Canal Championship	1st Ind	Alex Jarvis	Courage
(Longwater Lake)	2nd Ind	Amy Longmuir	Reading Civil Service
	3rd Ind	Ben Garroway	Courage

Junior Christmas Match	1st Ind	Amy Longmuir	Reading Civil Service
(Longwater Lake)	2nd Ind	Alex Jarvis	Courage
	3rd Ind

Junior Aggregate Points Shield	1st	Alex Jarvis	Courage
	2nd	Amy Longmuir	Reading Civil Service
	3rd	Ben Garroway	Courage

40th RIVER KENNET TEAMS OF SIX CHAMPIONSHIP

CLUB	TEAM		SECTIONS						TOTAL	POSITION
		A	B	C	D	E	F	POINTS

KING HERON	"GOLD"	4	8	9	6	9	9	45		1st
COURAGE	"EXPECTS"	8	7	8	3	10	5	41		2nd
ADVENTURE	"B"	1	10	5	9	7	6	38		3rd
ADVENTURE	"REGULARS"	3	9	10	5	0	10	37		4th
YOTAC/21 CLUB	"GOLD"	10	4	6	0	8	7	35		5th
READING FISHING CLUB	"FALCONS"	9	5	1	10	2	8	35		6th
READING FISHING CLUB	"HAWKS"	7	6	4	7	6	0	30		7th
READING CIVIL SERVICE	"HOPEFULLS"	5	1	7	4	5	0	22		8th
TRING	"A"	6	2	2	8	3	0	21		9th
SOUTH READING	"ADVANCED MAINTENANCE"	2	3	3	0	4	0	12		10th
Total Teams	10

"A" SECTION	BEATS ”5A” & “5B”
"B" SECTION	BURGHFIELD RIVER
"C" SECTION	BEATS ”4A” & “4B”
"D" SECTION	THEALE RIVER
"E" SECTION	CALCOT "A" & "B"
"F" SECTION	BEATS "3A" & "3B"

JUNIORS

Junior Christmas Match

A

“A”Section

“A”Section