Christmas Has Been and Gone, it's Time to Catch Some Fish

I hope everyone's had a good Christmas and not too much festive cheer lol, I managed a trip to Fishpool, as I got to the lake the sun was shining over the lake and even though I may be biased the lake looked a picture, the bare tree's and the starkness of the different tree types was quite a sight.

 It was a very blowy day after two days of wild and wet weather so I wasn't too surprised to see the lake was well coloured, and with the mild temperature (12`C) for the last three days I did fancy a fish or two, I had the good sense the previous wet evening to go out on the lawn and collect some lobworms, the thought process went along the lines of, if the carp don't oblige, I can have a go for the big perch that are in the lake, my PB perch came from Fishpool almost 12months ago at a weight of 2lb 12 and quite lean with it I think a 3lb er is defineately on the cards. So I set up a bomb rod and fished 10mm punched bread or sweetcorn, pinging some 6mm pellets over to the spot I'd put my bait, I didn't have to wait too long for the tip to smash round and the 1st carp of about 3lb graced the net, followed by four more, they all looked in tip top condition, fit and obviously in fighting condition judging by the way each one tried to pull the rod into the lake. One fish in particular was a cracking mirror carp, maybe a pound, but gorgeous scales and colouring, this fish is one of our "ownbreds", they are the smallest in the lake but they are worthy of a photo or two.

So I thought ok the carp are having a go, lets see if the perch want to play too, fishing a small waggler in the middle I hooked one of the lobbies, pinched off his tail and cast in, 20mins before it moved, and it was soon apparent it wasn't small, suffice to say in the next hour I had some fantastic sport, I caught 6perch the best went 2lb 8, I was gutted and felt sure it was 3lb as it was so chunky

the best four perch went 7lb 8, I was chuffed and frozen by then, so I packed up one happy little camper.

AMAL Business
The AMAL are constantly in need of financial support, we are an umbrella organisation who's affiliate clubs pay a subscription to belong to the AMAL and their members can reap the benefits, those being the fishing rights to almost the entire length of the River Soar from Abbey Park, Leicester to Pillings Lock at Barrow on Soar, the ability to fish at Fishpool once a day ticket or season ticket is purchased. Back in the 70's the AMAL boasted 40 odd clubs and river matches were 100peg affairs and the revenue received easily paid for the water rents, nowadays the subscriptions we receive fall some way short of our outgoings so we actively lease out Fishpool  to our member clubs for matches and also the AMAL are running a monthly Saturday match, I make no apologies for the fact that the lake is occasionally unavailable for day tickets or our season ticket holders, without the extra revenue generated by these matches, the AMAL would have folded long since and no one would be fishing our waters. So below is the new match booking list and its a bit busy for a couple of months

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club
Fishpool                                              4th January                Ratby AC
Barrow Canal                                      5th January               Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              18th January              Ratby AC
Barrow Canal                                      19th January             Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              1st February              Ratby AC
Barrow AC                                          2nd February            Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              15th February            Ratby AC
Barrow Canal                                      16th February           Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              2nd March                 Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              8th March                 Ratby AC
Fishpool                                              29th March               Ratby AC
Fishpool                                              11th May                  Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              17th August              Bingham AC
Barrow Deeps                                      28th September       Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              1st November           Ratby AC
Fishpool                                               29th November        Ratby AC


Thanks for reading and if anyone's got  any news please let me know, cheers Ian

As Winter bites, so do the roach on the AMAL waters

As far as my fishing goes, I have to confess I haven't wet a line since the Fishpool grueller of the 24th November, work is still coming in as fast as I can complete it, which for a gardener in December. really is something and with the season of goodwill just around the corner and the unknown fickleness of the  weather in January and February, I'm taking all the work I can get thank you.

AMAL Business

I'd like to thank Dan for letting me know about a fishing trip to  a section of AMAL water on the Soar in Thurmaston, down Mill Lane to be precise,  there is a turning basin and locks here with a small weir pool too. Dan fished a sloping grass bank he affectionately calls " The Grassy Knoll" which seeing as he fished on the anniversary of JFK's assassination, makes him a braver man than me :-) his peg offered depths between 6 and 12ft and he caught roach on punch on a short pole line but after seeing another angler snare a 3lb bream, Dan tried his longer pole line into the deep water, to no avail, and on return to his roach line it too was devoid of fish, so a bit of chopped worm fishing produced some nice perch to finish off his net for the day. Dan kindly e mailed me a photo of his catch too, thanks Dan

 

One of our members clubs had a match on our canal length at Barrow on Soar, Bingham Angling Club fished on the 8th December, it was typical of the Barrow canal of late, a really close match where angling skills are rewarded with some cracking nets of fish, in 1st place M Fielding caught some nice roach on punch for a total of 5lb4oz, 2nd place G Adams had 4lb9oz and with 3lb10 , 2lb11 and 2lb8 filling the rest of the frame it was a match in the truest sense of the word. Richard Landon is the chairman of Bingham, and he rang me to say he would like to run a series of matches that switch between Barrow canal and Fishpool, we decided it would be best to limit the matches to 14 anglers as this number can fish both venues comfortably without being sat on each others knee. I'll be in touch with Richard to confirm the matches will go ahead, and I know the places will be snapped up quickly, with ME being on the list please Rich ;-).

The Soar Valley Winter League has now finished, and with some of the weeks coinciding with a rising river the SVWL have used quite a few pegs on our Deeps section and so when the match organiser sent me the cheque in respect of pegging fees I was pleasantly surprised with the total, I'd like to thank Brian Hull for his promptness in letting me have the cheque and his honesty in respect of letting me have an in depth breakdown of pegs on the AMAL waters, cheers Brian.

So my last bit of news is that I will be running a match at Fishpool on the 29th December, anyone wanting to fish please let me know via this page, cheers for now guys , Ian

Here's the latest match bookings for AMAL waters

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club


 Barrow Canal                                      22/12/2013                   MatchCatch
Fishpool                                                29/12/2013                  AMAL

 

The Highs and Oh so Lows of Winter Fishing

We've reached that time of year when if high pressure weather systems are over the country for any length of time the temperatures plummet quickly, leading to cold water and also clear water through the lack of rain during these high pressure periods, and as we all know cold clear water doesn't make for great fishing generally. This was particularly the case at the AMAL's Fishpool stillwater fishery near Walton on the Wolds, on the 16th of November, one of our member clubs , Ratby AC had a match, it was just at the start of the colder weather and they did have a great winter match, won with nearly 34lb followed by 15lb then 11lb and two 9lb weights, really good weights for the time of year. Fast forward a week and I was running a match on Fishpool on the AMAL's behalf, with 4 guys cancelling within 48 hrs of the match , I wasn't the only one who anticipated a grueller. I made the match a "rover" so all those fishing at least had the opportunity to pick a peg they fancied fishing. I had seen the weather forecast that promised sun throughout most of the day , and so picked peg 12 with an island to fish to , and the sun would hopefully warm the island margins and Mr Carp would oblige me with some action, well the weather forecast missed all the cloud we had and so the island wasn't a sun drenched haven and I had 1 mirror on popped up bread and two liners for a total of 1llb 14, bad bad bad, but I then found out two anglers had remained fishless, and the eventual winner on peg six had TWO carp for 4lb 2. 2nd place on Fishpool with less than two pound is I believe unrivelled low weight. Not 2 miles away another of our member clubs (Jones and Shipman) were on the AMAL's only canal length, the  Barrow Canal, in its entirety, probably 400metres long its the navigable link for the Soar when the river goes over a weir near The Navigation pub in Barrow on Soar , it then winds its way through a section known as the Brinks (Quorn AS control this water) from here its meanders round the fields at the back of Quorn and then under the new A6 and onto a length of river approaching Barrow Bridge again a Quorn AS length known as The Greens, just as the Greens length goes under Barrow Bridge the Barrow Canal rejoins via the Deep Lock at Procters Park, so the river does about 2miles, the Barrow Canal 400metres, but on its day its a seriously fishy piece of water and so it proved on the day in question,  Jones and Shipman enjoyed some quality sport on what was a low clear cold canal, but ideally suited to bread punch, and so the match was won with 8lb and this was followed by a 5lb and out of 10 guys I believe only one weight was below 2lb, mainly roach was the target of the day, but rudd perch and tench are all possible on this deeper than average canal, which fishes even when the river is flooding.
So the two extremes of our pastime were exposed not two miles from each other, in hindsight I should have asked if I could guest on the canal match :-)

AMAL Business
We had our bi monthly this week, no real dramas, our bailiff team reported a downturn in anglers at Fishpool, but as we know the weather has now turned and a lot of guys just don't do "the Cold" I will be running a match at Fishpool between Christmas and New Year, on Sunday the 29th December, if you want to fish, please message me on the blog page. Guys please note Fishpool is closed to fishing on the 30th of November, its extremely important that no one is on the water on this date, many thanks
Here's the latest match bookings for AMAL waters

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club

 Fishpool                                               30/11/2013        Private function
 Barrow Canal                                     01/12/2013                    MatchCatch
Barrow Canal                                       08/12/2013                   Bingham AC
 Barrow Canal                                      22/12/2013                   MatchCatch
Fishpool                                                29/12/2013                  AMAL

Winter's almost here, get the gloves and skee-tex out of the shed

Well autumn seems to have been a very short season this year , one minute the temperatures were holding at 13degrees at night , the saying Indian summer was never more true, all the tree's were holding on to their leaves as though there lives depended on it, then we catch the tail end of some tropical storm and that's it we're galloping toward winter, with gales, endless rainy days and suddenly naked trees. All in all a pretty sharp change in both water temperature but add in the shortening day length and yep its winter you can hear galloping over the horizon.

 I took advantage of the sudden influx of water into the Soar and squeezed in two evening sessions at the joining of two major flows, which created a slack area right under my own bank where the flows where at their slowest, it screamed out as a fish holding feature, 6ft deep and the most coloured the water had been for weeks, both rods had a 2oz feeder holding groundbait stuffed with hemp and pellets with a splattering of maize, one rods 12inch hooklink was baited with 14mm drilled halibut and the other hooklink had a white chocolate boilie, both baits have potential to catch any of the species the river holds around this feature, carp bream chub tench, any one could have had a nibble on the first night, none of them felt the need to wear out the batteries on my bite alarms, so I balled in 6 Jaffa's of the groundbait , looking to return the next day and empty the river of its specimens, the fish yet again had other ideas and another blank ensued, with my confidence smashed I've decided that worms will be the focus of my next visit, at least that way I've got the added chance of a perch to pull my string, I'll keep you informed as to how it goes but my luck must be due for a change soon.

AMAL Business
The AMAL are running their monthly match on Fishpool, its on Saturday 23rd of November and if you would like to fish please give Dave Houghton a call on his mobile 07721493306
There is a delegates meeting this month so we can all have a mull over the fishing issues that we've got, there are no major isssues within the AMAL at present but it does give all delegates an opportunity to ask questions . The AMAL are currently hosting quite a few matches on our waters of late and I think this blog is the ideal opportunity to see where the matches are being held so pleasure anglers don't go on the waters that are booked by the various clubs. Below is an updated match list
  As ever guys your input adds an extra dimension to the blog so any pictures/catch reports/reminesence's are all welcome, cheers for now Ian
Water Booked                                   Date of Booking         Club Booking Waters
R Soar  Deeps                                                 9/11/2013         AMAL
Fishpool                                              16/11/2013        Ratby AC
 R Soar 1860 + Cobbles                     17/11/2013        SVWL                                          
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013       Jelson AC
Fishpool                                                          23/11/2013       AMAL
 Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               24/11/2013        SVWL
Fishpool                                               30/11/2013        Private function
 Barrow Canal                                     01/12/2013                    MatchCatch
Barrow Canal                                      22/12/2013                   MatchCatch

 

Fishpool Pleasure Fishing

With the continuing milder than usual weather I thought that between my ever growing work load I'd pop over to fish the AMAL's one and only Stillwater Fishpool, its a great lake with 26 numbered pegs, its around an acre in size with three islands so every peg has some island to fish to and at least on near bank bush to try a catch their quarry, and there are plenty of fish to go at, the main quarry are carp and I thought there were two age groups in the lake, the original commons were stocked into a nearly virgin water some 15years ago they were 2 to 3 lbs and had a real hankering for bread as their previous home was a holiday park with lots and lots of ducks and you guessed it , lots of willing people with their Mothers Pride, the next stock were purchased at 4 to 6 oz they were a mix of mirrors and commons and those went in 7 ish yrs ago, theses fish are 3 to 6lb and there are plenty of them,  I earlier said I thought there were two age classes, that was until my latest visit when I caught 4 small carp 4oz and in fin perfect condition, I was chuffed, this means our water is now self stocking and the fry are obviously now surviving, thanks I'm sure in part to the fact that John ( one of our bailiff's) religiously fed the lake during those cold winter months with some wheat based animal feeds, and to watch the carp feeding in the area just a few minutes after being fed in the clear cold January waters you just knew it was a great idea, thanks John. There are plenty of silvers to have a go at too, bream around 3lb are not uncommon and these fish have had a great breeding year with a stack of 2 to 4inch skimmers in the lake, perch are present with some big girls lurking in there my best is 2lb 10oz and after a fish kill under the ice three years ago , we removed 3 big perch that together weighed 10lb, gulp. Roach are there for those who want to fish and feed lightly.
So to my pleasure session, after 5 hours on peg 15 feeding micro pellets and home cooked chilli hemp at 10m I fished 4mm expanders or dead red's on the size18 with a 4 x 12 float, slack 10's elastic to allow me not to bump the silvers, fish came through out, seven carp from 3 to 4lb and 4 baby carp, 6lb of silvers included 2 big skimmers of a pound each, our other bailiff Alan was fishing peg 18, and after a slow frustrating start he did manage to land a few of the lakes zoo creatures at 9lb each, mainly fishing meat in the margins. I did however curse myself because for the last 30 yrs of fishing I only took photos on an as and when basis, but now I do this blog I should be taking more and just as my last fish swam away from the margins I thought "oh crap " no photos Ian, doh.
Day tickets are available from Match Catch of Syston or Bennetts of Mountsorrel, or on the bank through our great bailiffing team, £5 on presentation of your AMAL book or £7 if your not a member, I personally don't charge juniors who fish on our lake, I feel its important to encourage the young uns. The lake is located  400m along Big Lane going towards Walton on the Wolds, travelling away from Paudy crossroads on Paudy Lane near Barrow on Soar ( google maps show you the way so much easier than I've just tried)
The AMAL are running a series of monthly matches on Fishpool, if anyone would like to fish them please contact me via a comment below. the next one is November 23.

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking         Club Booking Waters Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013       AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar Barrow Deeps                                     27/10/2013       SVWL
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               3/11/2013         SVWL
R Soar  Deeps                                                 9/11/2013         AMAL
R Soar 1860 + Cobbles                     17/11/2013        SVWL                                          
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013       Jelson AC
Fishpool                                                          23/11/2013       AMAL
 Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               24/11/2013        SVWL
Barrow Canal                                     01/12/2013                    MatchCatch
Barrow Canal                                      22/12/2013                   MatchCatch

 As ever guys your input adds an extra dimension to the blog so any pictures/catch reports/reminesence's are all welcome, cheers for now Ian

Falling between two stones

After the 8lb 8 Zander PB of last week my appetite was well and truly wetted, so a couple of days later I finished work early and got on the Soar, with no rain she is rather slow and clear , and with temperatures in the high teens and the promise of a cold front moving down the country in the next couple of days I didn't want to waste the opportunity. On my trip earlier in the week I'd seen a couple of carp showing and with the area having quite a few features I thought I'd split my options and fish one rod for carp and the other for the Zed's. Carp wise it was hemp, maize and pellets for freebies with either maize, 14mm Halibut or boilie on the hook, my record for Soar carp isn't the best, some 15 rod nights and one 16lb common to show so I'm used to blanking (apart from bream, chub and tench disturbing my sleep ) and suffice to say this rod stayed unbent again.
 The other rod however didn't ,  in fairness I wasted the Zed rod because it was in the river , primed and ready at about 4 pm, several hours too early for my quarry to be feeding, time would have been better spent carp/bream fishing, but hey ho. So the Zed rod didn't move till 8pm when a lean mean pike snaffled my half roach on retrieve, I had a 5lb 8 zander at 9 and then at 11pm a very quick bite was met with solid resistance that then moved off, after a good tussle in the dark , a white submarine glides to the waters surface and slide into the now , a bit too small landing net. I must admit I thought I'd got a double as the fish lay in the net, the scales scoffed me as she went 8lb 12 ,

a new PB and that warm feeling you have when you succeeded in your quest, if only I'd have had both rods out for Zander.........Doh,  I stuck it for all of half an hour then shot off before the chippy shut lol. I did meet a like minded soul on the bank that night, Dan had fished a couple of nights before and had a 4lbish carp after some prebaiting which spurred me on too, on the night in question we had a chat and his fish tally stood at one bream, but as they say, you don't catch fish sat on the sofa, nice to see you Dan keep in touch.
So with autumn really rolling in I'm thinking the carp wont feed quite as freely as the predators, Zeds and pike fpr me for a while then.
AMAL BUSINESS
This time of year brings the Soar Valley Winter League to the fore, and I received the match dates and water booking's from Loughborough Soars Brian Hull, this series of matches really does bring the prime east midlands river anglers together and believe me the competition is fierce. I fished this league for quite a few years and I thought I could fish, but some of these guys could catch fish in Beaumont Leys Leisure pool. So to date the following AMAL stretches are booked for matches , so please don't use them on these dates.


Water Booked                                   Date of Booking         Club Booking Waters Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013       AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar Barrow Deeps                                     27/10/2013       SVWL
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               3/11/2013         SVWL
R Soar  Deeps                                                 9/11/2013         AMAL
R Soar 1860 + Cobbles                     17/11/2013        SVWL                                          
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013       Jelson AC
Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               24/11/2013        SVWL

As ever guys your input adds an extra dimension to the blog so any pictures/catch reports/reminesence's are all welcome, cheers for now Ian

Catching some Zeds ;-)

Well as the autumn goes on thoughts of predators come to mind, and having caught some tiny roach I thought I'd have a go for the Soars Zander, I as bailiff/secretary/part time speci hunter have heard tales of good Zander from the river, including a 12lb "golden" specimen from the Pillings section. Zed's are well documented in the stilwaters that flood into the Soar around Syston, I myself had a couple of half right fish from the Syston Soar, but with a 20yr old son boasting of his 10lb King Lear fish the pressure was well and truly on, so with the other half off on a girls night out I seized the chance to get out into the local layby's , park up and march off to the river ;-), I always thought that them alien species fed as dusk decended and stopped an hour after lights out ala perch. Well I set up with an hour of daylight left and having found I'd forgotten my wire trace's I had to fanny about making up some 14inch traces, single size4 attached to Drennan 12lb wire, dead small roach was the bait, I cut the tail off and cut into the body cavity to pop the swimbladder and release them there juices. Crayfish are a bit of a pain here and I will take a net next time to catch them so if anyones got a good recipe I'm all ears. Daylight passed and to be honest if it hadn't been for a new DAB radio and a shiney new I phone to play with I'd have been back in the lay by much earlier, but hay ho come 10pm the right hand rod gave a couple of bleeps and the improvised shower curtain bite indicator rose nicely and I struck into what I thought was the bottom, then the bottom thumped and I thought hell I've got one on, after a couple of false attempts the white submarine rose to the waiting net and with all the satisfaction that comes with catching your chosen prey I lifted the net, after some cafufle I got the fish weighed 8lb 8 she went, elation PB beaten by 2lb8oz. I slipped her back after a quick pic on the new phone rueing the mistake of leaving the camera at home, 10 mins later little brother's gracing the net, about 3lb, I don't know I was a bit blasey now, I mean I've smashed my PB so this was small fry lol. I packed up just before the chippy shut after all the good lady wouldn't be cooking a hearty meal after her night out ;-) . The Soar's zander are obviously growing well, maybe that's why the roach fishing is in decline, who knows, all I can say that there's a cracking bit of sport to be had if you want to park up in lay bys and get your tackle out.

 All 8lb 8 of Soar Zander

 I for one will be out again and I'm hoping to make my son's PB look small with a true river fish.
To change the subject the AMAL have some 2000 associate members and I'd love to receive some reports from our guys/gals who are fishing our waters, please message me with reports and I'll enlighten the world of our exploits. Cheers for now

Fishpool Match Results and more Goodies

We're now into October and the autumns well on the way, but hopefully the change of season will also bring some much needed rain and give the rivers a flush through, at the moment the Soar is low and clear ( Something we couldn't have called the Soar 20years ago, more like low and purple would be a truer statement), but the clarity isn't all bad, the Soars roach population are feeding up for the winter. I fished a length controlled by Broome Angling Society last week, the day was wet and windy so short pole was the preferred method, 9m into 5ft of water. Feeding hemp and a nugget of Sensas Roach groundbait, with bread punch or fluro pinkie on the Kamasan B511 size 20 I ended the day with almost a bite every run through and 8lb ish of prime roach most over 2oz with several at 6oz, a

proper angler would have emptied it. The photo was taken when the light was good and I fished on for another hour adding 3lb or so to my net, a great day and so different to carping on the stillwaters.
 Change of venue, the Amal hosted an open match on Fishpool last Saturday, the results went like this
1st  Andrew Houlton 29lbs 14oz
2nd Dave Kimber 27lbs zero oz
3rd Gary Cooke 26lbs 12 oz

it was a tough match, the wind moved through 90 degrees during the match and went from flat calm to buffeting wind in the space of an hour, the carp were absent in my peg, I fished maggot with the thought process of feed off the silvers and the carp will move in. I'd got 6pints of red's just in case it went really well, it didn't, I had a foul hooked 4lber in the first hour which on slack 10's elastic gave me a real tussle and a legitimate 4lber in the fourth hour, apart from that it was the odd roach and skimmer it was dull, hey ho . Some of the guys had a nice day, Andy caught on the method and Dave gave a heroic display of long pole fishing, being rewarded with some nice fish from the far island, personally Dave I'd have fished 4m away from my keepnet in the reedbed and saved my back from days of pain after the match lol.

Some members clubs have booked some matches with the AMAL and I'll endeavour to post these so season ticket holders can see where they should avoid and when.
Water Booked                                   Date of Booking                         Club Booking Waters
Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013                            AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013                           Jones and Shipman
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013                           Jelson AC
Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013                           Jones and Shipman
If anyone wants to fish the Fishpool match on the 26th of October please contact our match organiser Dave Houlton on 07721 493306 the match draw is 9 fish 10 til 3 with £15all in.

As always any comments or input is very welcome, thanks for looking and see you all soon

Bi Monthly Meeting

Back in the good old days the AMAL used to have monthly meetings, with plenty of match bookings and the associated workload for the secretary and treasurer, it was pretty busy at those meetings. Nowadays with the drop in matches being fished on our waters, the fact that the committee consists of three main people, and the amount of business that needs attending to , the committee put it to the member clubs that the monthly meeting should be exiled and replaced with a bi monthly, thankfully they agreed. So the next meeting is 17th September at the Brookside Club in Syston. The meeting is strictly a delegate meeting, that being individual members are not invited and each member club provides a delegate to voice the member clubs opinions/concerns. The chairman of the AMAL Shaun Myles runs the meeting with me filling the dual role of secretary and match booking secretary, and Bob Fossey who is our treasurer also doubles as his clubs ( Jelson AC ) delegate. I produce minutes for the previous meeting and furiously jot down the minutes for the present meeting as it happens.
Our bailiffs to whom the AMAL owe a great deal also attend and give concise reports ( Sometimes ) of their last couple of months duties. Luckily for me, one of our bailiffs Alan Snow also doubles as my assistant and he actively contacts local newspapers with match results usually from Fishpool, and we all feels its this increase in publicity that is responsible for increased footfall at Fishpool and so increased revenue, which is most welcome as club funds are constantly under pressure and the saying "keeping the wolf from the door" is extremely pertinent.

Some members clubs have booked some matches with the AMAL and I'll endeavour to post these so season ticket holders can see where they should avoid and when.
Water Booked                                   Date of Booking                         Club Booking Waters
Fishpool                                                          21/09/2013                           AMAL
Fishpool                                                          29/09/2013                           Jelson AC
Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013                            AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013                           Jones and Shipman
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013                           Jelson AC
Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013                           Jones and Shipman


So if there is  a match you'd like to book please contact me and I'll gladly book you in and highlight your booking so as to avoid any pleasure anglers being on the waters before you start your match. I'll post any points of interest from our meeting too, so as many people as possible can get involved with our club. Tight lines guys and gals

not sure how this works yet

Hi my names Ian and for my sins I'm the secretary of Leicester and District Amalgamated Society of Angler's. The Amal as it shall forthwith be referenced is 102 yrs in existenceand I could write a heap of text about the history of this great old club, and I probably will as time goes on, but for the time being this blog will be a catch up and reference point for our members. The Amal is an umbrella organisation that way back in the 70's had an affiliate membership to rival any club in the country, alongside the mighty BAA and other huge clubs. Now we have slipped to the die hard few, the total affiliate membership stands around the 2000 mark via 12 clubs. We hold the almost exclusive fishing rights of the River Soar from Swans Nest weir ( next to the mighty Leicester City's King Power stadium) to Pillings Lock at the downstream end of what we know as Barrow Deeps. Fishing goes from urban canalised river to some fantastic meandering deep wide river stretches. Fish are wild and unstocked, so not the now common place broken mouthed oft caught hungry souls we see so often in the well stocked commercials of today. We lol the Amal do have one still water, Fishpool,  a little seen haven of carpage, which to be honest is probably the reason the Amal is still in existence. Very few matches are now booked on the rivers and our main source of revenue after affiliation fee's comes in the form of day/season tickets on Fishpool. We lease this water from a local poultry farmer and to have seen this muddy hole mature over the last 10yrs is a pleasure, I have pictures from the inception of Fishpool when its banks are only just covered with grass and the biggest piece of cover is some tufty grass on the far bank. jeez how things change, its a major job to prune the trees and shrubs that now surround our "jewel"
I Digress, the main point of this blog is to inform members and future members of the Amal's activities, and the first thing I'd like to make people aware of is the Saturday match that will be on Fishpool on the 21st of Sept, draws at 11 fish 12 till 6 and there's a few spots left if you want to have a go, £15 all in. leave me a message and I'll put you down on a first come first served basis. Only 14 people will fish leaving every other peg out so giving all plenty of options. Thanks for looking and please leave any feedback/questions here and I'll sort them. Future posts will hopefully show our waters and give some insight into the Amals events which will hopefully include some "River Matches" now theres a novelty. Cheers all Ian