Give up on blogger

Hi I've had enough of trying to master this site. AS OF NOW THE AMAL HAS A FACEBOOK PAGE, just search Leicester and District Amalgamated Society of Anglers. Its all there guys, bye bye blogger

Lack of Time Hampers My Fishing

Hi Guys well the original plan was to update weekly , usually sometime after a fishing trip, let you guys know how that went and update you all on the comings and goings of the Leicester and District Amalgamated Society of Anglers. I hadn't factored in work commitments crippling my angling exploits , so I'll have another go at this blogging malarkey and try and keep it going again.
I did fish a match run by the AMAL's match organiser Dave Houlton, it was forecast to be a cold and wet day, well it wasn't, a warmish day greeted us, the match was well attended and the only slight snag was  the fish really shut up shop and a lot of time was spent watching motionless floats and rod tops, Russ from Bingham won after persevering on the method feeder and dead reds to take 6 fish , 4 in the last 40 minutes for 16lb odd, second and third both weighed 8lb odd and my 6lb was fourth. Disappointing was an understatement. Below is a report on AMAL business.


AMAL Business
Speaking from a committee members perspective I can safely say if it wasn't for the lease we hold on Fishpool lake the AMAL would have folded several years ago as angling trends changed from river fishing to more densely stocked still waters, our lease via The Canal and Rivers Trust for the almost uninterrupted angling rights to the River Soar from Swans Nest Weir in Leicester to Pilling Lock in Barrow on Soar, used to provide the setting for many matches and Winter Leagues, the fish are still swimming in the river, but water clarity and cleanliness has changed the fishes habits, the smaller fish have to hide from predators in the day and those predators are both water , land and airborne, this has lead to different species winning their little battles and changes the demographics in the old lady Soar, Zander are present throughout nowadays, roach shoals are tighter and need to be located in order to have a good day, bigger fish that are immune to most predators have started to become a viable target nowadays, carp, chub, bream and perch and even tench aren't the oddities they used to be.
Back to our Stillwater Fishpool, it now has become the AMAL's moneymaker, the carp are usually obliging and if not the bream/skimmer population along with the roach and perch will keep you happy, a massive thankyou has to go to our bailiff's, John and Alan who work together to ensure the waters are policed in a friendly and effective way, problems are thankfully rare and have to date been dealt with promptly. A day ticket can be purchased on the bank for £7 or if you hold an AMAL book, (either purchased from a tackle shop or an add on for members of one of the AMAL's member clubs ie Broome AS, Quorn AS, Bingham AC, 3M AC or Ratby AC ) you get a discount and the day ticket will only cost £5. Due to the AMAL's need to raise revenue, we run occasional matches on the lake or hire the lake out to local clubs for the day, to avoid any issues its always best to check this blog to see the dates the waters are booked on, failing that there will be a notice at the entrance to the lake, notifying all anglers if the lake is unavailable due to a match booking, below is a list of dates the waters are booked

Water Booked Date of Booking Booking Club

Fishpool Mon 26 May Amal

Fishpool Thurs 5 June Amal

Fishpool Sat 7 June Charnwood Hookers

Fishpool Thurs 12 June Amal

Fishpool Thurs 19 June Amal

Fishpool Thurs 26 June Amal

Fishpool Sat 28 June Amal

Fishpool Thurs 3 July Amal

Fishpool Thurs 10 July Amal

Fishpool Thurs 17 July Amal

Fishpool Sat 20 July Amal

Fishpool Thurs 31July Amal

Fishpool Bank Hol Mon 4 August Amal

Fishpool Thurs 14 August Amal

Fishpool Sat 17 August Bingham AC

Fishpool Bank Hol Mon 25 August Amal

Fishpool Sun 7 September Syston Wagglers

Fishpool Sun 21 September Jelson AC

Barrow Deeps Sun 28 September Bingham AC

Too Long since the last post ....................apologies guys

I cant believe how fast time flies by, it must be my age. Work is commanding my time at the weekends so my fishing has mainly been weekday afternoon sessions. Having said this the third round of Binghams Winter league was a sunday match on the Barrow Canal, I drew right in the middle of the match, an end peg is such an advantage on these cold water matches, and so it proved, with the end pegs coming first and second, my mate Dan was pegged nearest the locks and worked hard on punch and worm to take 3lb 5 I believe, second weight from the other end was 2lb 15of roach on pinkie, I was third5 fish 14 oz.
  With the final leg of Bingham AC's winter league due to be fished on a very fickle Fishpool, Richard Landon asked if I could have a quick session on the lake, to asses if the warmer days had prompted any fishy responces. I went to peg 13 as the wind was less of a problem than any other peg, 3 chucks with bomb and corn=3 carp, 3lb ish each, another angler on the lake had caught 60 odd roach and skimmers so I set up a light maggot rig fished 7m out,flouro pinkie was the bait, 2 and a half hours later 4 more carp and 3lb of silvers, this on top of news from our bailiff Alan Snow that he'd had 6 carp the day before and a guy sat on peg 13 had 5 carp. The phonecall to Richard was made and the decision was pretty easy to make, only a downturn in the weather would scupper the plan.
So it was to prove, the wind and rain was forecast to arrive early on the morning of the match. I fed 5 pole lines , one at 4m then 10m to an island and three lines at 14m in open deep water. I had a carp on the 10m line after an hour, it was the only significant fish in the match at that stage, and so the banter began, and so unfortuneately did the wind and rain, with the wind in my face a brolly was a no hoper as was holding a pole at 14m, the 10m line and the 4m line were wind whipped and by now just holding the pole was painful, my hands were so cold, but with 3 and a half hours to go I needed a plan, I went back to the car park to get an extra coat and some work gloves, I was now seriously cold and wet and really not feeling very well. I plonked a method feeder out into open water, the method carried 3mm swimstim pellets with double dead red maggots on a size 18, thankfully the tip went round after 15 mins, another carp of 3lb, that gave me confidence to just sit the match out, keep as warm as I could and to keep fishing up to the final whistle, I had 3 more carp and lost another, 16lb odd for first place in the match and a very pleasant win in the league table too. Thank you Richard and the other guys from Bingham for a thoroughly enjoyable league, plenty of banter and laughs, and a few fish too.
With the end of the river season galloping toward us , my fishing buddy Dan and I had a bit of a think where we could go and catch some fish, I rarely fish the Soar above Leicester and with this being Dans stomping ground I knew he'd have a place we could go, but his e mail confirmed the fishing over there was poor at best at the moment so after reading a match report from the Old Nene at March we thought we'd have a go, with great anticipation I purchased some squatt from Melton Angling Centre, and found all my old river rigs from the good old Soar Valley Winter League days, on arrival we found one angler on the stretch, he was piking, and he'd had 11 in two hours, hells bells I thought we might have some trouble today. Dan fished a worm feeder and a 10m pole line, he caught steadily throughout with some half pound skimmers and perch, plus some rudd. I fished 4m and 11m feeding groundbait and pinkies at 4m and hemp, caster and groundbait on the long line, Rudd came immediately with fish to 10oz throughout the day, switching between the two lines I ended up with 15lb odd, Dan had a big 6lb, the amazing thing was that despite our piking neighbour ending up with 20 pike , both Dan and I didn't suffer a single pike attack all day, surreal.
I'm not sure where I will spend my next couple of months fishing, Broomes BJ's lake probably.


AMAL Business This month's AMAL meeting will be the AGM meeting, all member clubs can send a representative, our treasurer will produce the balance sheet and answer any questions regarding the clubs finances, I will give a resume of the running of the club, and again answer any questions. The delegates will then vote to re elect or not, the present committee if those committee members wish to stand for another year. As a committee we have decided not to increase any affiliation fees or book/season ticket prices. Continuing financial pressures on Anglers pockets means for the time being we will strive to work with the budget we have in place. The AMAL match due to be fished on 22nd March at Fishpool has been cancelled
The following matches are booked on our waters ,

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club

 Fishpool                                                18th April                AMAL

Fishpool                                                26th April                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              11th May                  Bingham AC

Fishpool                                                 26th May                AMAL

Fishpool                                                 31st May                 AMAL

Fishpool                                                 5th June                   AMAL
 Fishpool                                               7th June                   Charnwood Hookers

Fishpool                                                 12th June                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              17th August              Bingham AC
Barrow Deeps                                      28th September       Bingham AC

1860 and Waterside                              5th October             Jones and Shipman
 Fishpool                                              1st November           Ratby AC

Barrow Canal                                        23rd November       Jones and Shipman
 Fishpool                                               29th November        Ratby AC

So that's about the lot for now, any questions, catch reports and the like please let me have them cheers Ian

Is it just me, but are the nights drawing out?

Its been a couple of weeks since the last post, nothing much to report from my fishing trips, two visits to the junction of the Barrow canal and the Soar below Barrow lock and above Barrow bridge, the thought was that it would be a fish haven , away from the "raging" Soar, its 6foot deep and pretty still, with a few house boats permanently moored, and hence throwing scraps into the water, I thought it had got to be fish soup in there.................nope. 10hours on a feeder, with worm or red maggot on the hook, one roach, gutted. I also had an afternoon on Broomes AS's BJ's lake, again coloured water with a wind blowing up to my end of the lake, one rod with pellet , the other worm.................no line bites let alone a proper pull. So my next trip will be with Bingham AC on the Barrow canal next Sunday, anyone wanting to fish should leave me a message on here. TTFN


Amal Business
Not a lot to report on the club front, a couple of match bookings to report, please see the list below. Also one of our member clubs Ratby had a match on Fishpool last Sunday a reasonable result despite the coloured water that we are experiencing at the lake at the moment.

In first place was Dominic Lanni  with 13.00 (peg 10) using corn on the straight lead.

This was Dominic's third consecutive win in the series  

 In second place was Geoff Winder with 11.12 (peg 6) and third was Jeff Bloxham with 5.10 (peg 13)

The following matches are booked on our waters ,

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club

 Barrow Canal                                      16th February           Bingham AC

Fishpool                                              2nd March                 Bingham AC
 Fishpool                                               22nd March              AMAL
 Fishpool                                                18th April                AMAL

Fishpool                                                26th April                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              11th May                  Bingham AC

Fishpool                                                 26th May                AMAL

Fishpool                                                 31st May                 AMAL

Fishpool                                                 5th June                   AMAL
 Fishpool                                               7th June                   Charnwood Hookers

Fishpool                                                 12th June                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              17th August              Bingham AC
Barrow Deeps                                      28th September       Bingham AC

1860 and Waterside                              5th October             Jones and Shipman
 Fishpool                                              1st November           Ratby AC

Barrow Canal                                        23rd November       Jones and Shipman
 Fishpool                                               29th November        Ratby AC

So that's about the lot for now, any questions, catch reports and the like please let me have them cheers Ian

 

A week of floods and fishing

As January passes us by, the rain seems to have been an ever present across the county. I fished on one of the Amal member clubs( Broome Angling Society ) lake called BJ's, its a true gravel pit,  normally clear, weedy and fishes pretty hard, mainly due I suspect due to the large amount of natural food,  the resident carp are averaging 12lb or so with some bigger girls from the original stockings pushing 20lb. Its not unknown to have blanks here, in fact several blanks on the bounce. I went to view the lake one afternoon after some days of heavy rain, the lake was top of the bank ie 18inches up and chocolate, I ran home and grabbed the kit, I fished for 3hours, the first fish a 14lb 8 beauty of a common carp caught on hair rigged pellet coupled with a PVA bag of 4mm pellets , came from the middle of the lake, the second fish couldn't have come to a more different method, freelined lobworm 2rod lengths out, again a common topped the scales at 10lb exactly. I didn't take photo's due to the fact my radio died so I put the camera batteries in the radio, and it was so wet and cold that they stayed in the radio. So chuffed with my evenings sport I went back two days later, and after 5hrs without even a line bite I retired to the warmth of home.
I was aware after a few dry days that water levels were dropping so not wishing to miss the chance I fished below Barrow Deep Lock, just where the canal outlet meets the main River Soar just yards above Barrow bridge. I fished two rods one with 14mm Halibut pellet and the other with white chocolate boilie. My left rod bobbin rose an inch after an hour, then the bite alarm light up the reel span, I thought it must be a carp....................no, an angry 3lb8 chub scrapped to the net, looking really washed out with all the coloured flood water, and defineately not the carp I'd hoped for.
My last trip out was a match on the Barrow canal with the lads from Bingham AC, I didn't get lucky with the draw bag in that I missed the end pegs, the canal was still coloured though not quite the filthy chocolate of two weeks ago. I didn't think bread punch would be a goer, but I fed it just to see, I was wrong it did get a bite or two but with the slight flow on the canal I feared my feed would be all over the shop, so I fished a metre and half further up the shelf in 3foot of water and less flow, and there I caught steadily, fish between 3oz and bottle top size, despite feeding some casters they just wouldn't have the shell's. The angler to my left had 3 netter perch in the last half hour and I feared a stuffing was on the cards, thankfully my 3lb 4 was enough to win, but luck played its part again, Dan on peg 1 nearest the lock had a nice deep peg with some potential for better quality fish, and so it proved today, Dan hooked a lump on worm hookbait, it snagged him then came free, only to have the hooklink break possibly damaged line caused by the snag, his mainly punch caught catch went 2lb10. Third was 1lb14, so the canal was defineatly coming back to form, I'm looking forward to the next match in two weeks.


AMAL Business


The Amal's Stillwater Fishpool near Waltham on the Wolds, is fishing as most lakes are at this time of year, someone's going to sit on the fish and trick a few into taking the bait, others are on an empty peg and despite some astute angling, fail to get any action. Member club Ratby AC fished there last week and the result was 

In first place was Dominic Lanni  with 17.11 off peg 6 using maggot on the pole.

 In second place was Paul Cayless with 10.14 (peg 12) and third was Billy Hill with 4.12 (peg 18) many thanks to Ratby chairman Geoff Winder for keeping me up to date with their results.

The Amal has just had its quarterly meeting, no major issues to talk of, the clubs finances look like showing a profit for the first time in several years, this is down to the hard work of a dedicated committee and member clubs who actively use the Amal waters as well as subscribe to the club. Thank you to them all. The match bookings for Amal waters are as follows

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club

 Fishpool                                              25th January            AMAL
Fishpool                                              1st February              Ratby AC
Barrow AC                                          2nd February            Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              15th February            Ratby AC
Barrow Canal                                      16th February           Bingham AC

Fishpool                                               22nd February           AMAL
 Fishpool                                              2nd March                 Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              8th March                 Ratby AC

Fishpool                                               22nd March              AMAL
 Fishpool                                              29th March               Ratby AC

Fishpool                                                18th April                AMAL

Fishpool                                                26th April                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              11th May                  Bingham AC

Fishpool                                                 26th May                AMAL

Fishpool                                                 31st May                 AMAL

Fishpool                                                 5th June                   AMAL
 Fishpool                                               7th June                   Charnwood Hookers

Fishpool                                                 12th June                AMAL
 Fishpool                                              17th August              Bingham AC
Barrow Deeps                                      28th September       Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              1st November           Ratby AC
Fishpool                                               29th November        Ratby AC

So that's about the lot for now, any questions, catch reports and the like please let me have them cheers Ian

One Week, Two Matches, One Fish, In The Payout Twice

Well that was a week that was, the first outing was the monthly Amal match at Fishpool, the lake was still carrying colour from the Christmas rains, but the morning of the match saw the thermometer go to minus 4 and cat ice had formed at the shallow end of the lake, 8 anglers had booked in, 6 showed up the other two had spoken to me the day before and there was no suggestion of a no show but they did, no call no text, sooo annoying. The match was hard, if you had any wind on the water in your peg you blanked, if it was still you stood a chance. My step son Ryan fished but decided he couldn't afford the pools, so I paid his pools on the proviso that I claimed half his winning should he pick up a brown envelope, suffice to say he drew probably the best peg on the lake ( 10 ) , fished it like a pro and won with 11lb odd four carp on bomb and corn ,

2nd weight from peg 12 was 9lb 5 three carp and some bits well done Geoff Bloxham, and a hard earned third by Dave Kimber with 12 fish for 1lb 12, as he wouldn't stop telling us , he had more fish than the rest of us put together lol. So ryan won and despite my biteless blank, I removed 20quid from his cold fingers, cheers Ryan ;-)
And so to the next Sunday and an invite from Bingham AC's chairman Richard Landon to fish their winter league on the Barrow Canal, as I'd mentioned a few weeks ago this water never floods even when the Soars "bombing through "and so it was proven on the day, the canal resembled cold tea and a cold wind with the promise of yet more rain meant we were in for a grueller. 5 hardy souls made the draw and I suspected end pegs would be a premium, I drew peg 2, oh no, so I planned a groundbait and pinkie line just going up the far shelf and a similar line on my near shelf but 6m to my left thus having my back to the wind and potential rain later in the match, at the all in I primed my lines and sat down for a coffee and Jaffa cake breather before fishing, this was disturbed by the guy to my right having a roach first chuck and I thought , well its either stuffed with fish or this guys lucky, he failed to worry the fish after that so it was the later lol. I couldn't buy a bite despite scaring myself with the size of the hooks I was using, 22's and 24's , help. Then I noticed some bubbling on my far shelf line so I switched rigs and put a tiny piece of worm and fluro pinkie over there, more bubbles and I feared it might have been a carp , which would have seen my tiddler rig off in the blink of an eye, the float dipped and I lifted into a solid thump, I drew the pole back and after a quick tussle netted a big bream, yeh, I cupped in a few dozen casters and some bubbling continued for another hour but no bites followed, the wind picked up, my fingers froze and the switch to my fish laden nearside line produced, not a single bite , so that was it. 4lb 1 went the big girl, with 4oz coming 2nd and 3oz third from end peg 1. I didn't have to endure more than an hour of ribbing after this, my new nicknames now "Spawny Twat" So I picked up the brown envelope through my own endevours this time.

AMAL Business
One of our member clubs Ratby Ac had a match at Fishpool on the 4th January, a great result came from the lake despite the coloured water and pretty rubbish weather, it went like this

 In first place was Dominic Lanni  with 21.14 off peg 10.

 In second place was Tom Watt with 14.07 (peg 6) and third was Billy Hill with 9.04 (peg 8)

There will be a delegate meeting on 21st January at the usual place, there are no issues that I know of but that's the idea of the meeting to get some feedback from the member clubs. Match bookings are as follows

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking     Booking Club

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                                               7th June                   Charnwood Hookers
 Fishpool                                              17th August              Bingham AC
Barrow Deeps                                      28th September       Bingham AC
Fishpool                                              1st November           Ratby AC
Fishpool                                               29th November        Ratby AC

So that's about the lot for now, any questions, catch reports and the like please let me have them cheers Ian

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