We have had several reports of some decent Chub being caught in the last fortnight. Two fish over 5lb and several others to around the 4lb mark. Archie Loveland, fishing with his Dad, caught a very impressive fish of 5lb 8oz at Ensfield Bridge. Match regulars Lee Wakeman and Larry Howard enjoyed some good Chub fishing below Cemex, both catching fish around the 3lb mark. Lee had the biggest at 3lb 11oz and Larry had fish to 2lb 14oz. Lee also had a bonus Carp of 14lb 6oz.
Lee being on a bit of a roll of late, decided to visit Ensfield Bridge with Larry and Martyn Hill on Saturday. Although things were tough and it being very cold, there was always the chance of a greedy Chub showing up. Not much was caught but Lee did manage to bag another very impressive Ensfield Chub of 5lb 4oz.

     

This season’s Pike match was well attended with 14 participants. Anglers were allowed to rove between The Old Ballast Pit, Barden Lake and the river from the Flood Barrier down to the Bungalows and The Shallows. Conditions were not great as it was a high pressure with no wind and the water on the lakes was very clear, plus it was very cold.

Steve Twort got off to a flying start, landing a very nice 10lb 13oz fish on his first put out. Just above Steve in the Ickney Ockney was Larry Howard who managed to land a smaller fish of 3lb 6oz a little later on. As the day went on, things got tougher and there was no action to be had apart from the odd dropped run. Late on though, Match Secretary, Martyn Hill, fishing just below Steve Twort, managed to land a scraper double of 10lb 3oz.

These were the only 3 fish recorded this year which led to Steve Twort taking the honours , Martyn Hill took second spot and secured this year’s All Rounder Cup and Larry took third spot.

Martyn Hill with his catch that secured 12 match points, which was enough to take this year’s All Rounder Cup

There have been some good catch reports coming in regarding Pike on the River and the Lakes. Society bailiff, Ben Jones had a fantastic fish of 26lb from Barden Lake recently, using float fished dead Roach close in was the successful approach.

Other catches of note were several doubles from the river around the Country Park. Pete Groombridge had a break from the match fishing to target the Pike and was rewarded for his efforts. Other members have reported double figure fish from different sections of the river.

Well, this one was a real grueller, bites were really hard to come by and that’s if you could even see them. There was plenty of extra coloured water pushing through and it was only the slacker areas that seemed to hold any fish that were prepared to have a nibble.
Mick Smith took top spot with 15oz of small silvers, 2nd with 10oz was Dave Williams and third spot went to Derek Butcher, Paul Mitchell, Mick Orum and Roger Trask who all weighed in 6oz apiece.

The river was running a bit and still had a bit of colour in it from the recent rain. Bites were hard to come by for most but Bob ‘The Bream’ Doyle took top honours with a winning weight of 4lb, made up of Bream and some smaller silvers. Steve Parker took 2nd spot and narrowly missed out on the Golden Peg kitty, weighing in 3lb 6oz and Austin Battell and Ditch Howard tied for third with 2lb 14oz apiece.

Considering the state of the river Medway at the weekend, it was still a good turnout with 21 regulars attending the last official match of 2021. The river was up and running coloured  but was well fishable. Bream took the top spots as Colin Fowler caught 4 for a match winning total of 10lb 1oz, including one Bream of 5lb 14oz. Second spot went to Larry Howard who caught 3 Bream for 6lb 4oz and third spot went to Roger Trask with some small silvers for 1lb 15oz. Another notable catch was that of Pete Groombridge’s fourth spot with 1lb 9oz which was a solitary Barbel, lovely to see in a Society match.

This stretch not being the most popular of match venues due to it’s lack of swims and shallow water only tempted six brave regulars. The river was lower than normal and dropped throughout the day, was very clear and most of the anglers were pestered by Pike.
With a very impressive mixed bag of Roach and decent Bream, Steve Parker took the day’s honours, fishing bread punch for 15lb 2oz. Second spot, fishing up against the bridge went to Austin Battell with mainly Roach for 6lb 14oz and Mick Smith took third spot with a net of Roach for 4lb 1oz.

This match really was a grueller, with a cold easterly wind plus low and clear water conditions made this really tough for most anglers. The top three weights came from the first three swims downstream of Hartlake Bridge, these being the most frequently fished by pleasure anglers. Austin Battell made good use of his comfortable out of the wind spot, fishing the waggler right across and using maggot as hook bait. Although he lost a couple of good Chub fishing light, Austin did manage to land a 2lb fish of the day Chub plus a few Chublets and Roach for a 6lb 4oz winning total. Second spot in the second swim went to Dave Williams who managed 2lb 5oz on the maggot feeder and third spot, fishing nearest to the bridge went to Stuart Cottingham with 1lb 12oz.

22 regulars turned out for this one which is part of the series of six rover matches. The river was low and fairly clear and most expected it to fish hard.  The three top weights came from the long walks upstream, while 4th spot was an impressive 12lb by Pat Galpin in the lock cut. Most anglers caught fish, mainly Roach, with samples to over 1lb. Roger Trask and Austin Battell shared the fish of the day prize with a Roach each of 1lb 4oz. Derek Butcher took the other fish of the day prize with a cracking 2lb 1oz Perch.
Top spot was Austin Battell with a mixed bag of Roach and Chub for 16lb 4oz and ten points towards the Cup. Second spot with another impressive mixed bag, which included some rarely seen Dace, was Derek Butcher with 14lb 12oz. In third place was the consistent Steve Parker, also with an impressive bag of mainly Roach for 13lb 6oz.

It was a very tough day on the Medway for this annual meet against Edenbridge. It was inevitable that some anglers would drop out with the forecast so bad. The first hour the river was comfortably fishable but from then on, the river continued to rise, get more colour in it and lots of debris then came downstream.
Some anglers had some slack areas in their swim and were able to catch the odd Bream to help bump up their weight but for most, it was very hard going and some anglers even packed up before lunch. Top individual honors went to Lee Wakeman with 6 Bream for 12lb 12oz fishing right across to a nice slack bit of water. 2nd and third spots went to Edenbridge anglers Keith Turner 8lb 6oz and Bob Wallace 7lb 14oz. The clubs shared the section wins with two apiece and Tonbridge won the team event by just over 7lb with the top 7 weights from each team counting. Edenbridge hope to host us on one of their waters before the season ends.

WELL DONE LEE