Match Results
Reading Chronicle (Thursday 15th March
Apologies for no report last week but the cold weather drove me to sunnier places. Bad planning (the wife) also meant I missed two Reading home games but we won so all is well and lets all ”back the boys”. What a year it could be for the town with promotion and “city status” (written before the result).
The weekend of the 5th March saw the RDAA Teams of Four Match on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield. This was the last RDAA monthly match of the season. The match day weather was overcast and cold, with a mixture of torrential rain and heavy snow during the course of the day and with a strong, cold northerly wind blowing. The Kennet and Avon Canal had a good colour and was towing slightly. Total match weight on the day was 223lbs 11ozs 8drms, (at an average weight of 4lbs 10ozs per Angler).
The Teams winners were Reading Fishing Clubs “Boshers Boys” who consisted of Dave Bosher, Terry Littlewood, Gordon Moss and |Tony Tibble. They amassed 40 points. Second place with 37 points went to
Reading Fishing Clubs “Joes Boys” and in third were South Readings “Advanced Maintenance” with 34 points.
The individual winner was Andy White of Courage “Expectations”. Fishing the first peg below the “Ash Tree” at the top end of Froxfield “B” section, Andy banked bream to 4lbs and perch to 2lbs during the course of the match, fishing pole tactics and feeding chopped worm and caster with single worm, caster and red maggot on the hook to record a weight of 17lbs 6ozs.
Tony Tibble of Reading Fishing Club ”Boshers Boys” was second overall. Fishing three pegs above “Lock 71” at the top end of Froxfield “C” section, Tony also banked Bream to 4lbs and Perch to 2lbs using the same tactics as the winner to record a weight of 16lbs 15ozs.
Paul Leek of Prestcold ”Red” was third overall. Fishing the first peg above Lock 69 on Froxfield “A”, (Wides), Section, Paul banked perch to 2lbs along with skimmer bream and roach during the course of the match, fishing short pole tactics to take 11lbs 10ozs to the scales.
Last weekend saw the last Club matches of the current season and Nine Elms were the only Club out on the Saturday. They fished the “A” section at Froxfield and small skimmer bream and roach put in an appearance and Pete Schofield made full use of this to win the match with 5lbs. Second place went to Darren Williams who put together 4lbs 12ozs. Bob Knight took third place honours with 4lbs 4ozs.
On to the Sunday and we will start at our normal point of Beat 5 on the River Kennet at Berkeley Avenue road bridge and here were Reading Fishing Club. Even though the air temperatures were up the river takes longer and chub were still the dominant species to target. Mick Stanley led the field with chub that took the scales down to 10lbs 13ozs. Second spot went to John Berry with chub that weighed in at 10lbs 8ozs. Joe Baker amassed 3lbs 14ozs for third place.
Newtown A.C. fished Burghfield River on the boats section hoping that some of the bigger chub that live here would show but alas they didn’t. Very small fish were the species to feed and John Allum managed to take 14ozs to the scales to win the match. Terry Smith managed one roach of 2ozs to take second place and just one ounce behind with three gudgeon was Robin Reynolds.
Ufton River was the venue for Excelsior A.C. and even though they found plenty of moored boats occupying the better swims the fishing was better than expected. Lloyd Moss took the honours with a bream and a tench plus some bits to weigh in 7lbs 4ozs. Second place went to Nicky Baker with 4lbs 3ozs that consisted of one tench plus bits. John Allum took the third place with 2lbs 12ozs of mainly dace.
Miles A.C. suffered badly at Calcot “B” section where not one angler had a bite.
The Kennet & Avon Canal hosted two matches and the first we go to is for Courage /SE at Padworth Rota. Alan Hughes found two decent perch plus bits to take 4lbs 15ozs to the scales and win the match. Andy White also had two perch plus bits to take the runners up spot with 4lbs. and in third place also with two perch was Fred Jones with 3lbs.
Prestcold A.C. were at East Towney where recent results have not been very good. Roy Green managed to find two big perch with the largest weighing a magnificent 3lbs 9oz and these won the match totalling 6lbs 8ozs on the scales. Don Tait managed one large perch for second place that weighed in at 2lbs 14ozs. One perch that weighed in at 2lbs 9ozs was enough to give Mick Sheasby third spot.
Moving over to the River Thames we found Bracknell Avocets at Sonning River. A very clear river with little flow and a day with bright sun was recipe for disaster and so it turned out with the only fish being caught, a roach of 2ozs but this was enough for Chris Kay to take all of the honours.
The Wallingford stretch of the Thames continued it’s recent good chub form with Tring Anglers being the visitors. All of the anglers caught fish but Martin Rodwell netted four chub that totalled11lbs 1ozs to take the top spot. Three chub and some small roach that took the scales down to 10lbs 13ozs gave Simon Foulkes the second place and 8lbs 12ozs (two decent chub and some small ones) gave third place to Joe Burtt.
The RDAA Tuesday Club used the report above to make full use of the very good fishing at Wallingford on the Thames and they were rewarded with the best match weight to come off the venue this season.
Ten anglers shared a total match weight of 123lbs of mixed fish. Alan Hughes won the match with eleven chub that weighed in at 28lbs. This included one chub of 5lbs 8ozs. John Berry took second place with three barbel and some small chub to take the scales down to 21lbs 11ozs. Gordon Moss also had an all chub catch that totalled out at 19lbs 8ozs.
I will return to give you full reports when the new season begins in June. Come on urzzzzzzzzz.
Reading Chronicle Thursday February 23rd
Last weekend saw the return of cold weather after a really mild spell. Temperatures dropped into the minus figures over the Saturday night and along with venues having to be altered due to the canoe race on the River Kennet from Aldermaston to Reading things did not look favourable for the Sunday matches.
Unaffected by the canoes were four matches on the Kennet & Avon Canal RDAA venue at Froxfield and on the “A” section were South Reading A.C. Ricky Withers caught from the off and won the match weighing in 7lbs 2ozs. Ricky’s catch consisted of perch and roach were all caught on the pole with worm and maggot as bait. A very close second was John Ager with a similar species net as the winner but unfortunately one ounce less. Dave Brent took third place with 4lbs 12ozs of similar fish but caught on caster and worm.
The “B” section hosted Nine Elms A.C. and with very similar weights to “A” section the winner was Bob Knight with 6lbs of quality perch. Perch seemed to be the order of the day on this section as second and third places all went to perch. Adrian Parker was second with 4lbs and in third position was Mick Gough with 3lbs 12ozs.
Pangbourne & Whitchurch A.C. were the club that fished the “C” section and completed the trio of similar weights with Aidey Cox weighing in perch and roach to take the scales down to 7lbs 7ozs. Paul Leek took the runners up spot with perch and roach to weigh in 6lbs 8ozs and third place went to Tony Tibble also with perch and roach to total 6lbs 3ozs.
Staying on the Kennet & Avon Canal we travel over to the RDAA stretch at Midgham where we found Courage / SE fishing their match. Things were not so good here as only three fish were caught by the anglers. Winning the match was Arthur Maybanks who landed on bream to weigh in 4lbs 14ozs. Second place went to Alan Hughes also with one bream that weighed 4lb exactly. Bob Wesolowski took third place with a chub of 2lbs 14ozs.
There were two matches on the River Kennet and again with low clear levels neither of the two Clubs caught a fish. The need for rain is now very desperate as this once very fine river is not a patch on what it used to be. Excelsior A.C. were one of the Clubs involved and their member Jock Turner was beaten by a barbell just as he was about to net it. Sundial A.C. were the other Club and here again one member namely Alan Newman lost a big fish after a short fight.
The last match on Sunday on a RDAA venue was at Wallingford on the River Thames where King Heron A.C. held their match. Martyn Wilcox was the conqueror here and as usual chub were the order of the day. Martyn lost two but also managed to net two of the species to weigh in 3lbs 3ozs. Second place went to Dave Wick who also lost two fish but managed to get one out that weighed in at 2lbs 5ozs. Bill Dunn took the third spot with one fish for 1lb 13ozs.
Away from RDAA venues Newtown A.C. travelled to the Barley Mo stretch of the Basingstoke Canal at Winchfield Hook to fish their match. This was very hard following the frost and Brian Charman managed to win the match with 5ozs of very small fish.Terry Smith took second spot with 2ozs and in third place with 1oz was John Clements.
The RDAA Tuesday Club fished their match on the New Barlows Lake on the Stacey complex at Tadley. The temperature was on the rise for the Tuesday and this was reflected in the weights. John Ambrose won his third match on the trot for the Club and the rest of the anglers are thinking of renaming it the Wednesday Club as John can’t fish on that day. John weighed in four carp and three bream to total 28lbs exactly. Dave Bosher took the second place with one carp of 19lbs 8ozs. This was landed after a thirty minute fight on a light pole.Dave was just two ounces in front of Darren Wright who took third spot with a mixed net of bream and tench.
Reading Chronicle Thursday February 2nd
There was a shortage of matches last weekend with only two being held on RDAA venues. There were no matches on the River Kennet and the prolific canal venue at Froxfield on the Kennet and Avon Canal hosted one of the matches with the other at Wallingford on the River Thames.
Excelsior A.C. fished the A section of Froxfield and although being rather cold Alan Cowell survived to win the match landing a mixed bag of roach and perch for 8lb 8oz. Ken Wright took the second spot with in excess of 2two hundred small roach that kept him busy for all of the match and weighed in at 6lb 12oz. Billy Lowe took third place with a mixed net of perch and roach that took the scales down to 6lb 8oz.
Tilehurst Royal British Legion took the short journey to look for River Thames chub at Wallingford and Liam Page – Smith has grown to like this venue as he won his last match here. Liam found the chub again taking 8lbs 8ozs to the scales to comfortably win the match. In second place was Reading Angling Centre’s proprietor Tony Tibble who weighed in 6lbs 2ozs of the same species. Richard Dearlove took third place with 1lb 14ozs.
King Heron held their match on the Kennet and Avon canal at Kintbury (between Newbury and Hungerford). Although very cold the match was won by Terry Keel with a very respectable weight of 20lbs 10oz which consisted of mainly bream caught on the waggler float method using red maggot as the main bait. In second place with a similar species net was Martyn Wilcox fishing a similar method to the winner but only managing to total 14lbs 10oz. Third place went to Dave Ward one below bridge who netted perch and roach to weigh in 7lbs 14oz.
The RDAA Tuesday Club fished the Milehouse Lake on Stacey’s complex at Tadley. Normally known as a prolific water in the better months it still fished reasonably well for a cold day at this time of year. John Ambrose managed to put three bream and two tench on to the scales to win with 9lbs 1oz. Gordon Moss took the second place honours with three bream and one carp to weigh in 8lbs 2ozs. Chris Humphreys netted three bream to take third place with 7lbs 3ozs.
This Sunday will see the second but last match RDAA match of the current season on the Froxfield venue. This may be touch and go as to whether it goes ahead with regards to the cold weather forecast that may leave the ice to thick to break but anglers please book in as normal.
Reading Chronicle Thursday 16th February
The winter of 2011passed with probably the warmest temperatures for some time and so we were due a spell of cold weather and February has provided it. The weekend before last saw the RDAA monthly match cancelled due to around three inches of ice on the Kennet & Avon Canal. With no other matches held locally I had no report to offer.
Last weekend was still bitingly cold with temperatures struggling to get above zero and only two Clubs had matches booked on RDAA waters. One of these was on the River Kennet and the other on the Thames. The target fish were going to be chub as they are one of the few fish that still manage to feed in cold temperatures and with this in mind Excelsior A.C. tackled the Calcot stretch. This venue has not fished well this season and hopes were not very high for success. Lloyd Moss elected to fish the bread or luncheon meat on the hook and managed to net four of the species to finish on top spot with 15lbs. His biggest fish took the scales around to 5lbs. The only other angler to catch in the match was George Smith who had one bite for one fish and netted a 6lbs 4ozs bream for second spot.
Bracknell Avocets travelled to Wallingford on the Thames and this venue throws up a chub or two when the river temperatures are down. Before the match their members heard the sad news that one of their members Norman French had passed away on the Saturday morning. Norman had been responsible for all of the Charity matches held in aid of the Heart Foundation that he organised during the 1990’s. Our condolences go to his family. As in the Excelsior match the winning weight consisted of all chub. John Smith was responsible for placing 15lbs 5ozs on to the scales to win the match and also the Club Winter Cup with his fourth match triumph on the trot. All of John’s fish came on the maggot feeder with red maggot as bait. Chris Bowman took the second place with one chub weighing in at 2lbs 13ozs. The unluckiest angler was Alan Powell who managed to let two decent fish to get away.
The RDAA Tuesday Club saw the start of the warmer weather but still had to break the ice in order to fish their match on the Milehouse Lake on the Stacey’s venue at Tadley. This was the second match in succession held on this venue and John Ambrose who won the last match drew the same peg again and managed to win again.
John netted four skimmer bream and one proper bream to take the scales around to 7lbs 4ozs. Gordon Moss who had finished in second place at the first match repeated the feat again weighing in one bream for 3lbs 1oz.
The only other angler to weigh was Arthur Maybanks with one skimmer that registered 1lb 6ozs on the scales.
This weekend several Clubs were due out on RDAA venues as we approach the end of the fishing season (March 15th) but some have elected to move to the following weekend due to the presence of around two hundred canoes on the River Kennet from Aldermaston to the Thames. They will be practising for the Devizes to Westminster race due to be held over the Easter weekend.
Reading Chronicle Thursday 26th January
What a difference the weather makes to results in the fishing world. The cold weekend before last saw frozen canals and situations where no fish were even seen let alone caught on the rivers. This weekend the wind caused a few problems especially for the canal anglers but with temperatures up the fish started to get hungry and some decent catches were made on RDAA waters.
There were two matches on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Froxfield and we start at the “A” section where Newtown A.C. held their match. Derek Carter topped the contestants and took 7lbs 11ozs to the scales to win the match. His catch included silver fish and one perch of 2lbs 3ozs. Second place went to Terry Smith with also a silver fish catch that weighed in at 5lbs 15ozs. Mick Hill took the third place finishing just two ounces behind Terry Smith. They reported a good days fishing despite the strong cross winds which made presentation very difficult at times. A lot more fish would have been caught if it had not been so windy as fishing tight to the far bank cover where most of the larger fish reside was suicide.
South Reading A.C. had the “B” section for their match and George Callaghan had a huge smile on his face when he drew the end peg by the Ash tree. This peg has won most of the recent matches on the venue and it is where a large shoal of big perch have been residing. However they did not show in any numbers but George still won the match fishing pole and maggot and catching mainly roach to weigh in 5lbs 11ozs. Ron Cole took the second spot with 4lbs 11ozs. His catch consisted of small perch plus a few skimmers and were caught on the pole using worm as bait. Duncan Bales claimed third place with a mainly silver fish net that totalled 3lbs 11ozs.
Prestcold A.C.took on the Wallingford venue on the River Thames. This is normally a very good match venue but it surpassed itself on Sunday. With a little bit more water in the river following recent rain the barbel decided to put in an appearance with three being caught along with the normal chub. Liam Page-Smith netted one of the barbel along with a bream and eight chub to take the top spot with 23lbs 15ozs. This is the highest match weight this season on this venue. In second place was Don Tait who also caught a barbel along with three chub to take the scales down to 11lbs 4ozs. Alan Hughes weighed in two chub plus a perch to take third place with 7lbs 3ozs. The other barbel caught and weighing in at 6lbs 9ozs was enough to give John Main fourth place.
The RDAA Tuesday Club fished the Kennet & Avon canal at Kintbury and were faced with heavy rain best part of all of the day. John Berry and John Ambrose tied for the top spot both weighing in 7lbs each. Both Johns had one decent perch plus some skimmers and roach. Gordon Moss took sthird place with a roach and skimmer net all caught on bread punch and taking the scales down to 5lbs 4ozs.
Away from RDAA waters Excelsior A.C. travelled to the MBK Coloured Ponds near Liss. With the warmer weather the carp went on to the feed and Colin Stone took advantage putting 60lbs 8ozs on to the scales to win the match. Second place with 36lbs 12ozs was claimed by Graham Melhuish and John Allum claimed third spot with 30lbs.
RDAA members will now have to apply for their own crayfish trapping licences as the Environment Agency have stopped the issue of a bulk licence to RDAA. The new licence runs from January 1st and will be valid for three years. You will need to apply for each venue that you wish to trap crayfish.
The forms are downloadable on
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/119096.aspx