Wood Lane Farm Fishery is based in Iver, Buckinghamshire and consists of two coarse and carp fishing lakes. We've been hearing some pretty good thinks about the fishery lately including this reader review that was submitted recently.

Wood Lane Farm Fishery Review: Chris Millar, August 2011

Top day out at Wood Lane Farm

Went to Wood Lane on Friday 02/08/2011 with a friend who's never been fishing before and had a great day off, avoiding going to work.

The staff were all very friendly and helpful, the surroundings were tidy and the water looked clean. Even though it was a week day the match lake was almost packed and in the short time it took us to walk round to a free swim almost everyone we could see was into a fish. We spent the first part of the day dangling maggots nice and high in the water and bagging loads of small roach and tiny perch until my mate hooked into the biggest roach I have ever seen. We didn't get a chance to weigh it but it was at least 2lbs if not nearer 3lb.

I switched methods to try and catch my first carp and tried all sorts of methods both on the bottom and mid water. They turned their noses up at 5 maggots on a hook, slices of peperarmi, sweetcorn and bread. As soon as I went and bought some pellets, within 30 seconds of casting out with a feeder and ground bait I was straight into a 2.5lb common carp.

Very happy but very sun burnt.

Score:

Environment Agency announces rod licence price freeze for three years. Anglers are celebrating this week following the news that rod licence prices will be frozen for the next two years.

The Environment Agency has confirmed that the cost of a rod licence purchased between April 1 2012 and March 31 2014 will remain the same as this seasons prices, with an individual adult coarse license remaining at £27.

The news follows last years similar price freeze, meaning anglers will have not seen an increase in the cost of rod licence for a total of three years.

Richard Whiteman, the EA’s Angling Participation Manager said:

The rod licence price freeze demonstrates the EA’s determination to offer anglers a balance between providing the service they want and expect, and value for money. It also shows that the EA recognises that everyone is finding it financially difficult at the moment so it is our intention to keep the rod licence price frozen for the next few years. I will say however, that things may change for example if licence sales drop or inflation rises significantly as we still need to deliver the service that is expected of the agency.

Rod Licence Prices until April 2014

Category	Non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels	Salmon and migratory trout (sea trout), non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels
Full season	£27.00	£72.00
Senior Concession	£18.00	£48.00
Disabled Concession	£18.00	£48.00
Junior Concession	£5.00	£5.00
Senior Concession	£18.00	£48.00
8 Day	£10.00	£23.00
1 Day	£3.75	£8.00

A salmon and sea trout licence covers you to fish for non-migratory trout and coarse fish as well. Failure to have a licence is an offence.

Remember: If you are fishing with 3 or 4 rods then you will need to purchase a second licence.

Concessionary licences

• junior concession is available to anglers aged 12 and under
• senior concession is available to anglers aged 65 and over
• you have a Blue Badge parking concession, or are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. You will need to provide your Blue Badge Number or National Insurance Number when buying your licence

Important information

• Anglers under the age of 12 do not need a rod licence to go fishing
• Full and concessionary rod licences expire on the 31st March each year
• 1-day rod licence is valid for 24 consecutive hours
• 8-day rod licence is valid for 192 consecutive hours from the start time and date

Be warned!

If you fish without a rod licence you are cheating other anglers, it is an offence to fish for freshwater fish and eels without a valid rod licence and if you are caught you may be fined up to £2,500.

The money raised through rod licence sales is invested directly in fisheries work that benefits all anglers.

Buy a rod licence online now >>

Following last years de-silting and restocking of Bonds Lake, this summer has seen some incredible action with the past week or so seeing anglers of all ages and abilities reporting arm aching action! Below are just a couple of the most recent catch reports.

Ollie tames the Bonds carp with feeder tactics

Young Ollie Thorn from Surrey is learning new fish catching tactics each time he goes fishing and when he is not fishing his local part of the Basingstoke Canal for roach and perch, he visits Bury Hill quite regular with his brother Nick to sample the mixed fishing on offer. On his recent visit accompanied by his grandfather, Ollie caught some cracking looking carp on peg 8 and this is what he had to say when he emailed details of his catch report and photos.

“I fished a 17gram cage feeder filled with super G green groundbait. For the hook bait I lasso rigged 8mm Cotswold carp pellets. I also hair-rigged white shellfish mini boilies and corn. I fished Peg 8 casting tight to the Island. I caught 13 carp for a weight of around 70lb, I was casting really well yesterday really tight to the island. Thank you Russ for all the help and advice which was the reason I caught all those carp and one of the best sessions ever.”

Josh and Richard go carp crazy on Bonds Lake

Joss Mitchison and Richard Burton had a simply carp crazy session on Bonds Lake recently catching well over 200lbs plus between the two young anglers from Surrey. Fishing from pegs 4 and 5 with two rods each, both anglers caught on 8mm lassoed carp Skretting pellets casting a ledger tight over to a bush on the far side of the island with small pva bags of pellets and groundbait as feed.

With 50 fish in total including three 11 pounders, the average size of the fish ranged between 5 and 9lbs giving the two fishing buddy’s some fantastic sport.

“We were catching so many fish at one time that we had to pop back to the onsite tackle shop for more bait as the fish we really in a feeding mood” reported the lads to our tackle shop manager Russ Evans.

Source: Bury Hill Fisheries

Gweryd Lakes provides Carp fishing, specimen silver fish and general coarse fishing and trout fishing on a choice of three lakes set in a 150 acre estate in the Clwydian Mountains Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Gweryd Lakes Fishery Review: L Mac, August 2011

Please don't refer to this venue as one of the leading carp venues in Wales. This just plain and simply isn't true.

There are over 30 pegs with sometimes up to 3 anglers on one peg, having 3 rods each. On one occasion I counted 80 rods in at the same time. We have used this lake for nearly 3 years and have only ever had 2 reasonably sized carp of 18 & 14lb. During a 2 week period there last summer we fished 3 days whilst another gentleman had booked for 2 weeks. All he caught was very small silver fish. He had both the experience and time to try every trick in the book, change bait, tactics, pegs etc and he was a carping guy who had spent 30 years at the game.

The facilities are horrendous as far as fishing goes for using bivvys. The pegs are not up to a good standard, are too close together and very uneven. I have yet to find the 'disabled' pegs - none of the pegs I have seen (and I have checked them all) could be safely used for disabled anglers. On the side of the lake which is reserved for serious anglers and where children are not allowed, there are no toilet facilities whatsoever, unless you can count the 'earth toilet' which is basically a hole in the ground with 3 pieces of wood around it. How is that a problem I hear you ask? Well as a woman, no door can be quite an issue. The reason I have to drive round to the other side of the lake every time I need to use the loo, even after all the hassle of doing that, you can guarantee that the toilets on the car park side are utterly disgusting.

None of the pegs are up to scratch, it's certainly a case of charging as much as you can but not actually giving a flying toot about the fish, lake, or the paying public who for me, have to shell out a lot more than most other places and for what? Very little as far as more than a few people have indicated. Talking to others at the lake it's clear that everyone knows that the owners are simply just not interested. Removing large carp and selling them has been a rumour which has been denied, obviously. Even if it's untrue, surely after 3 years would the 'at least 25lb plus' not have grown even slightly in 3 years?

There is it seems yet another peg being built.....maybe 2. I would have thought expansion would be the last thing on their minds. Probably best to reduce the amount of pegs for additional space? I can't tell you how many times I've heard arguments about one person crossing over onto others swims. The owners are clearly not carp fisherman and just want to take your £27 for 24 hours, oh and an extra £6 for anyone who's just spectating? If you have a dog, get your extra £2 out a night!

Gweryd is close to where we live. Yes we keep returning, we shouldn't, but until the place is either sold or is closed due to brazen health & safety concerns, disability issues or lack of customers through rubbish reviews not giving a true picture, then we will still go. We don't have the time to travel any further. Put up and shut up some might say! Buts it's our choice and we think that anything that can save a family money for extortionate rates or groups of anglers being forever paranoid that they've lost their touch .... then we're happy to fill you in on exactly what goes on. We don't either benefit or lose from this kind of review. People should just read around the reviews before parting with their very hard earned cash!

Score:

This years event took place on the 9th july at sandwich fishery and had 37 anglers fishing. The lakes used were Damson and Victoria which are stocked with carp and bream, Kingfisher which has a large head of smaller carp and Berry which has a main stock of Tench and Crucian with lots of silvers.

Draw was 8:30 fishing 10am-3pm
Total raised overall was £890-26

Results:
Overall: 1st Dan Warman - Kingfisher Lake 43lb of carp 0n pole and paste
2nd: John Warman - Damson Lake 28lb 10oz - carp and Bream on feeder and pole
3rd Bob Atkinson - Damson lake 27lb 6oz  - carp on the pole.

Section winners:
Damson lake - Tony Eversfield 26lb 6oz carp and bream  on pole and feeder
Victoria lake - Mick Powell 10lb 2oz skimmers
Berry lake - Dee Reed 4lb 14oz Roach and Rudd
Kingfisher lake - James Young 14lb 6oz carp

1st overall - Dan Warman

2nd overall - John Warman

Thanks to middy tackle, Cathedral bait, premier bait and south east water gardens for raffle prizes. And everyone who contributed on the day including my team and the musketeers angling club

Next Years dates sat 14th July 2012 Entry £20 fishing 10am-3pm

Luton AC offers fantastic fishing for most species with Carp to 37lb+, Tench 8lb+, Bream 10lb+, Chub 7lb+, Zander 16lb+, Pike near 30lb, Perch 3lb+ and Roach and Rudd over 2lb. All of the clubs stillwaters including 12 miles of the Grand Union Canal are open all year round and alot offer secure parking close to the venue. Unlike some clubs Luton AC do not charge a premium for night fishing or fishing between March and June.

Luton Angling Club Weekly Report 8th August 2011

The club requires reliable afternoon and/or evening bailiffs to patrol various stretches on the Grand Union Canal. Any person (members or non members) who carries out these checks will be entitled to half of the day ticket money collected to cover expenses, contact the club office on 01582-603466 for more information.

Roger Reeves visited Beckerings Reservoir for the first time catching a good bag of roach to 1lb on method fished mini tutti frutti boilies along with bream of 8lb 4oz and 7lb plus a 9lb pike. As you can see from the pictures supplied by Roger the water levels remain well below the platforms.

Matt Lloyd has been enjoying his short evening sessions on Woodlands & The Mere with a succession of carp and tench. Alec Sharp has also been getting amongst the carp, tench and bream with tench around the 5lb mark falling to meat baits. Tony Sessions fished the same venue and had some good bream on the pole.

Three generations of the Smith family fished the complex on Tuesday. Venue Bailiff Damon Smith fished with his son Peter (11) at Woodlands Lake and were rewarded with some fine tench, plus a number of commons all fish falling to pellet and corn. Grandfather Peter Smith Snr. fished the Mere and lost count of the number of roach and rudd he caught on pellet and meat.
Other anglers on the Mere have had similar bumper catches, one angler recorded over 170 fish in a 4 hour session! These aren't just small roach and rudd either with some of last years stock approaching 1lb 4oz a big weight can be expected in the right conditions.

Venue regular Reg Blyth from Flitwick has been giving his master class sessions at the Mere resulting in some fine rudd and crucians coming to meat fished close to marginal plants.
Would anglers please remember to take any litter home with them, and also remember that tin cans (sweetcorn, luncheon meat etc) are banned from all club waters - please open them at home and bring to the venue in a baitbox.

Peter Studwick fished a Luton AC canal stretch again this week. He was targeting the carp, but kept catching some decent bream to legered baits instead. A day angler had a little more success just 30 yards down the towpath, landing a 5lb common to legered boilie. His fishing companion also lost a carp and was catching quality roach and skimmers to 6m pole fished maggot.
Another large carp was lost during a match last Sunday after first breaking the anglers pole and then leading him a merry dance for 40 mins. before breaking the line!
The skimmers and roach were feeding very well all week, with plenty of 15lb+ bags reported with both pole and waggler fished maggots or corn scoring well.

Brett Herdman & Joanne Edwards did a 3.5 hour morning session on the canal catching four carp to low doubles and losing two others. Small boilies with light leads proved a successful combination for the duo.

Rupert Ash had a nice 2lb+ perch in his keepnet when I saw him along with roach and skimmers and another angler was catching roach on hemp plus skimmers on pellet although two carp had made light work of his pole rig.

On the South Lagoon Paul Williams had a hectic 24 hours with commons of 28lb 6oz, 21lb 3oz and 14lb 2oz plus a 25lb 3oz mirror, tench of 7lb 12oz and 5lb 3oz and also 23 bream to 7lb 12oz. The South Lagoon can be fished on a 24 hour ticket which costs £16 so its worth taking a non member along there at the moment.

On the adjacent North House Lake Chris Fannin tempted a 20lb 6oz common, Connor Fannin had Popeye at 25lb 6oz, Craig Stevenson banked Pecs at 30lb 7oz, Lawrence Taylor commons of 25lb 4oz and 19lb plus a mirror of 22lb, Matt Butler commons of 19lb 9oz and 18lb 1oz, Steve McInnes a 24lb 3oz mirror and Roger Perkiss a 13lb 3oz common.

Dave Murdoch snr visited one of the Barnet water share stretches of the Ouse and was rewarded with tench, bream and a nice rudd.

Set Lines have been found at one of the clubs fisheries. These lines are used with the sole intention of stealing fish and usually involve the use of a length of strong line attached to a stake hammered into the ground but can also be attached to such things as bottles. Please keep an eye out and if possible check the swims near you with a landing net handle or similar and report any lines found immediately to the club office.

Match Results

Luton AC fished an Inter Club match against Tring Anglers on Sunday 7th August on Section 1 of the Grand Union Canal at Stoke Hammond.

1st Pat Mills (Luton AC) 24lb 12oz skimmers to pellet
2nd David Moss (Luton AC) 7lb 2oz
3rd Dean Moore (Tring Anglers) 6lb 2oz
Beacon AC fished the South Lagoon on Sunday 7th August
1st Steve Gibbs 12lb 6oz
2nd Austin Maddock 9lb 10oz
3rd Les Smith 7lb 8oz

All the weights were made up of mostly skimmers.

A correction to last weeks report, I'm informed that the bulrushes and flowers were in fact Great Reedmace and Great Willowherb while the snake was an Adder and not a Grass Snake. Thanks to David Edwards and Alec Sharp for the correct information.

Mark Merola was the winner of the July photo competition with his picture of a swan taken underwater. Congratulations to Mark!

The winner of our August photo competition which closes on 31st August 2011 will receive 10kg of Starmer Baits Coconut Fish boilies. It is open to anyone (members and non members) submitting a digital photo taken on any Luton AC controlled water and it can be of absolutely anything eg a sunset on the canal, a nice fish, wildlife etc. The photos submitted cannot be over a month old, the judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered into regarding the result. So get snapping and forward your pictures to our usual email address catchreports@lutonac.org or send from your mobile to 07704462635.

Source: Luton Angling Club

2011 INTERNATIONAL FUND RAISING
A DAY’S FISHING FOR 2 PEOPLE WITH AN INTERNATIONAL OR TOP UK ANGLER

This is a unique opportunity to spend a day fishing with an angler of your choice for two people.

Commencing on Friday 19th August 2011  you can bid on Ebay for you and a friend, or you and a family member to fish and ask as many questions as you like of your chosen angler. The day will also include, meeting your coach, having breakfast (if available on site) talking about and discussing the venue, signing autographs, taking photographs, and discussing tackle etc.

The Angling Trust have secured a promise from some of the best anglers in England to spend a day with Ebay winners to help fund three of our International coarse angling teams, the Ladies, Veterans and Anglers with Disabilities teams in 2011.

All the proceeds from these auctions will go towards helping support these teams as they go for gold in the World Angling Games in Italy from 28th August – 4th September 2011.
The Auction will take place over a two week period on Ebay.

Each Star angler will stipulate a venue and the highest bidder will then be contacted by the angler to make arrangements and mutually decide on a date for the outing to take place.

The Ebay auction to commence at 9.00am on Friday 19th August 2011 will have a number of top anmgling stars. For more information and details of how to bid in this auction, please vsisit: http://www.anglingtrust.net/news.asp?section=29&sectionTitle=News&itemid=925

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

There were some surprises in the results this year for all the teams taking part in the European Coarse Angling Championships in Opole, Poland from 25th – 26th June 2011.

Drennan Team England consisted of; Mark Downes and Mark Addy (Joint Managers), Alan Scotthorne, Steve Gardener, Will Raison, Sean Ashby, Darren Cox and Steve Hemmingray.

Drennan Team England averaged around 250gm per angler per day on practice with some perch to be caught so the team targeted them and the bleak that averaged around 180 to the kilo. There were tiny fish to be caught around 0.07gm to 1.5gm (20 to the ounce) but the team thought with a target weight of 400gms these would not be big enough.

Day 1
The wind was horrendous and severely cutting England’s chances of a decent perch or two on the 6-7m and the 13m line, and the bleak were closer than the team expected at 4-5m but few in numbers. Spain ran out clear winners on 11pts fishing 4m for small fish, and catching a few small perch, France came in second with 16.5pts and England finished in 7th position with 27 Pts.

Day 2
A much calmer day, Drennan Team England were able to present their bait. The bleak completely disappeared, and the team all caught bonus fish (perch of 3oz to 8oz ), with six being caught between them. Spain and France maintained a tiny fish approach and consolidated their positions with France just taking the Gold medal for 2011.  Individually Steve's late bream on A section for 3rd in his section added to his end peg 2 chub, which gave him 4 points just out of the medals.

Mark Downes, Drennan Team England Manager said “Tactically France did it right, we underestimated the strength of these "bits", but we had 4 pegs over the two days with zero "inside" cover that meant we would not have caught bits as inside cover was essential. I expected Italy to do well but their similar tactics to the England team saw them amass 35 pts on day one.
Controversy reigned as the Polish officials said they would stock, then they weren't , and this continued , but evidently they did stock it on the Friday evening. We knew nothing about it and Italian angler, Jacopo Falsini caught 4 tench, plus other odd second day fish which confirmed some stocking had taken place.”

Angling Trust and Drennan Team England would like to offer their appreciation and thanks to Peter Drennan of Drennan International for his continued sponsorship and support of Drennan Team England.

Final team classification Total Points:

1st - France 35,5 points
2nd - Spain 38,5 points
3rd - Belgium 41,0 points
4th - England 49,0 points
5th - Italy 50,0 points

Final Individual classification Points:

1st Wiktor Walczak – Poland – 2,0 points
2nd Paul-Louis – France – 3,5 points
3rd Hans Slegers – Belgium – 4,0 points
4th Steve Gardner – England – 4,0 points
5th Roger Stranen – Luxembourg – 4,0 points

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

A DAY’S FISHING FOR 2 PEOPLE WITH AN INTERNATIONAL OR TOP ANGLER - This is a unique opportunity to spend a day fishing with an angler of your choice and it’s not just for you but it is for two people.

Commencing on 1st July 2011 you can bid on Ebay for you and a friend, or a family member to fish with and ask as many questions as you like of your chosen angler.
The day will also include, meeting your coach, having breakfast (if available on site) talking about and discussing the venue, signing autographs, taking photographs, and discussing tackle etc.

Over the next few weeks the Angling Trust have secured a promise from 12 of the best anglers in England to spend a day with Ebay winners to help fund three of our International coarse angling teams. The Ladies, Veterans and Anglers with Disabilities teams have been unable to find a sponsor this year, and have had to contribute themselves or to raise funds elsewhere.

All the proceeds from these auctions will go towards helping support these teams as they go for gold in the World Angling Games in Italy from 28th August – 4th September 2011.

Four top anglers will be offered each time coming from different parts of the country. Each Star angler will stipulate a venue and the highest bidder will then be contacted to make arrangements and mutually decide on a date for the outing to take place.

The auction will be in three separate stages with the first of these auctions taking place starting on 1st July followed by 15th July and finally 29th July.

The first Ebay auction will start with;

• Tom Pickering fishing at Lindholme
• Steve Gardener fishing at Willinghurst or Sumners
• Stu Conroy fishing at Brookside
• Des Shipp fishing at Ivy House Lakes Near Swindon

Further details of star anglers being offered for the next auctions will be published on the Angling Trust website and other media publications shortly.

Please take this opportunity to HAVE A GREAT DAY’S fishing and remember all the proceeds will go towards helping fund our International coarse teams.
EBAY LISTINGS.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL AUCTIONS ARE DUE TO START ON JULY 1ST AT AROUND 9.00AM AND ARE ACTIVE FOR 10 DAYS.

A Day's Fishing With Tom Pickering - click here >>

A Day's Fishing With Steve Gardener - click here >>

A Day's Fishing With Stu Conroy - click here >>

A Day's Fishing With Des Shipp - click here >>

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Woodlands Lakes, Thirsk can always be guaranteed to come up with close finishes and this year was no exception with just 12oz being the margin between first and second place. It fell to Nathan Watson last year’s Fish ‘O’ Mania Champion of Champion’s winner to take the honours from peg 20 on Partridge lake at the 15th Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier on Saturday 25th June 2011. Nathan took full advantage of his end peg to give him a winning weight of 118lb 9oz of carp up to 10lb, which was taken by continually moving between the method, long pole shallow, down the margins and pellet waggler to give him his match winning weight.

It was all go on the morning for Nathan as his return holiday flight was delayed by four hours which meant he only made it from the airport to the draw with just minutes to spare.

Nathan said after the match “It was great to qualify yet again and I hope I can take the title to add to my previous win as well as my Champion of Champion’s win of last year.”

The conditions on the day were warm and light wind and expectations were high for the 130 anglers that made their way to Woodlands Lakes for the penultimate round of this year’s Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifying match. With the likes of two time’s Fish ‘O’ Mania Champion Matt Hall and a whole host of former winners such as Steve Ringer, Steve Cooke, Nathan Watson, Marc Jones, and Geoff Ringer, and many more well known names were all vying for one of the last two places in this year’s grand final.

Narrowly pushed into second place was Paul McIntyre from Leeds from peg 16 on Skylark who fished corn over a bed of ground bait. He took carp up to 10lb to finish with 117lb 13oz. Third place fell to Steve Ringer pegged directly opposite Nathan on Partridge 17, he fished banded pellet shallow on long pole to finish with 17 carp for 110lb 6oz. Steve said after the match the only thing he was short of was “that one extra big fish”. To keep it in the family Steve’s dad Geoff who fished peg 19 on Skylark had a very slow match, until everything turned round in the last hour with him putting 80lb of carp in his net in the last hour to give him a final weight of 90lb 12oz, to give him the fourth spot. In fifth place was Steve Forster from peg 5 on Partridge with a weight of 89lb 6oz.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News