They now have 2 dedicated competition lakes which are also perfect for people to come down and catch loads of fish from.  Canals 1 and 2 have been joined to create a new over 16's Carp Lake.  This lake is quite tricky but holds 190 stunning carp.  The Top Lake is now home to all our Ghost Carp and LOADS of other carp which will keep the runs coming day and night. 

FLE have also built a brand new Kingfisher Pond which has a 15 metre coaching platform and is perfect for juniors and adults to come and try fishing for the first time.  It is free for juniors to fish this pond and just £5 for adults so why not bring someone to FLE and introduce them to the sport.

The last 12 months have been very tough for us at FLE but they are so pleased to be back open and able to welcome you back to the fishery.

Please check out the website at www.flefishing.net for all the info and also like their Facebook page www.facebook.com/flefishing.com.  

Since opening the Carp Lake has done 7 x 20lb plus fish in the last three weeks and FLE have also seen a near match record on the first Open Match of the season when young Aiden fished his first ever match with us and bagged 230lb!  They have had loads of families down enjoying the great fishing and they hope to see you soon.

Source: FLE

Salmon & Trout Conservation Scotland (S&TCS) is mounting a concerted campaign aimed at restoring what was formerly the finest sea trout fishery in Scotland. Sea trout stocks in Loch Maree collapsed in 1988, one year after the start of salmon farming in Loch Ewe, the sea loch into which Loch Maree drains via the River Ewe.

The launch of the S&TCS campaign was marked last week by a Parliamentary reception at Holyrood at which the new S&TCS film The demise of Loch Maree, once the world’s finest sea trout fishery was premiered. The film is a powerful and graphic illustration of how a poorly sited salmon farm can have a devastating impact on what was previously a prolific and entirely sustainable wild fishery.

The film and full story may be viewed at http://www.salmon-trout.org/stcs-launches-campaign-to-restore-iconic-sea-trout-fishery-to-its-former-glory/news/426

Source: Salmon & Trout Conservation

The NAS is the brainchild of three everyday guys that feel anglers in the North deserve an angling show they can attend - without having to drive 4 hours south to get there.

The support from their visitors has been fantastic since the launch in March '13 and they feel this is why more and more of the market leaders and angling manufacturers are joining them in Manchester each year!

The Northern Angling Show is one of the biggest angling exhibitions in Europe.

For further details and to purchase tickets, please visit the NAS website at www.northernanglingshow.co.uk

NEW TEMPLE MEMBER BANKS NEMO AT 40LB...
The last few weeks has seen anglers bagging plenty of early season fish on Temple which has included 8 thirties, and the word was that a forty is due out any time. New member Sam Doherty fishing his very first day session on Temple took the honours and bagged Nemo at 40lb on the nose. Weighed and witnessed by Bury Hill supremo Matt White, Sam was fishing peg 15 catching on a 16mm Sticky Baits Krill boilie which he fished to the mid water to the left hand side of the island.

With the activity on Temple building, Sam also lost a nice fish during his short day session as did the angler on peg 12 who lost two!

STUNNING 36LB 15OZ TEMPLE MIRROR...
Temple regular Adam Rogers banked a stunning 36lb 15oz mirror from peg 12 on a 15mm single Cell Wafter, which he fished over a few freebies from close to the island margins. Thought to be one of the original Big Italians, the fish is in great condition.

NEW TEMPLE MEMBER BANKS STUNNING 32LB MIRROR...
New Temple member Joshua Knight bagged his first Temple thirty on his first trip. Fishing peg 2, Joshua fished an 18mm Source boilie towards the island point catching a stunning 32lb 8oz mirror over 4/5 free offerings.

CRACKING 3OLB MIRROR BANKED TWICE IN AS MANY WEEKS...
Mick Warren beat his Temple duck with a stunning 31lb 10oz mirror after a long wait. Fishing peg 5, Mick was fishing Cell and a small pop up to the island using a blowback rig, snowman style.

Second time out in as many weeks, Barry Spencer managed a stunning 30lb 8oz lump of a mirror which he caught on double fake corn fished over a bed of hemp from peg 9.

CRACKING 30LB COMMON...
Fishing a day session, Brian Nicholls was rewarded with a stunning 30lb 2oz common. Witnessed and weighed by Bury Hill Fishery manager Chris, Brian fished an 18mm Cell bottom bait which he fished to the mid water.

STUNNING 30LB SCALEY MIRROR...
Joe Concanon caught a stunning 30lb scaley mirror from peg 14 catching on 18mm Cell bottom baits close to the island margins.

Source: Bury Hill Fisheries

The Feeder team are to remain the same as last year's line up as;

Tom Pickering (manager)
Glenn Lawrence (coach)
Steve Ringer
Phil Ringer
Mick Vials
Rob Wootton
Dean Barlow
Adam Wakelin

Tom Pickering, England Feeder manager said "There are no changes this year as all the lads have worked well and done a great job over the last few years.  We will all be working hard for a podium place this year, and it would be great to beat our silver team medal place win last year on the Novisad canal in Serbia."

The England Feeder team would like to thank Preston Innovations for their sponsorship and continued support, and the Angling Trust would like to wish all the team the very best in the World Championships this year.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The U20s Youth World Championships are due to be staged at Innascarra, Southern Ireland on 12th/13th August 2017, and a team is required to represent the Angling Trust and team sponsors, Sensas for the under 20s.

Where and When

The Angling Trust Sensas Team England youth assessment trial for the under 20s will take place at Shatterford Lakes, near Birmingham on Saturday 1st April 2017.

Applicants must have been under 20 years of age on 31st December 2016 to apply and be individual members of the Angling Trust.

Applicants who are invited along must impress the Angling Trust Sensas U20s England Manager, Steve Sanders who will be looking for talented anglers who have the ability to fish under pressure and to international rules.  Rules are available on the FIPSed website at; http://www.fips-ed.com.  The venue will be mainly pole fishing with the possibility of some slider and whip fishing.

How to apply 

Anyone wishing to apply for the assessment trial MUST complete an England youth assessment trial form by contacting Sandra Johnson, Competitions & Events Manager at the Angling Trust.  Email; sandra.johnson@anglingtrust.net or telephone; 0115 822 4519.

Completed forms must be returned by no later than Friday 3rd March 2017

Application forms will be automatically sent to anyone who applied for the assessment trial last year.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Applications for tickets will open on 13 March 2017 from 9.00am via the Angling Trust new online booking system at a cost of £40 per pair per qualifier.

Prize money for the 2017 competition final, which is subject to entry, could total up to £16,000 between the top four pairs.

John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager for the Canal & River Trust comments: “The aim of the competition is to inspire match anglers to experience the great fishing that can be found on their local canal.  

“The 2016 event was a great success and proved really popular with anglers from across the country and I’m expecting 2017 event to be just as big a success.”

David Kent, Chair of Angling Trust Competitions said; “The 2016 event was our biggest yet and it was great to see club and open anglers from across the country of all ages taking part. Canal fishing is a great branch of the sport and I’m sure this year’s championship will help inspire even more people to get involved and give it a try.”

The dates, venues and host clubs for the qualifiers and the final are listed below:

• Saturday 1st July -  Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Liverpool & District Angling Society
• Saturday 15th July - Forth & Clyde Canal, Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling
• Sunday 16th July - Basingstoke Canal, Basingstoke Canal Angling Association
• Saturday 29th July - Grand Union Canal (Aylesbury Arm), The Tring Anglers 
• Sunday 30th July - Newry Canal, Edenderry Angling club
• Saturday 5th August - Shropshire Union Canal Soudley, Hodnet Angling Club
• Sunday 13th August – Shropshire Union Bretton to Audlem, Hodnet Angling Club
• Sunday 20th August - Kennet & Avon Canal, Reading & District Angling Association
• Monday 28th August - Aire & Calder Canal, Boothferry Joint Angling Committee
• Saturday 2nd September - New Junction Canal, Doncaster Angling Association
• Sunday 3rd September -Trent & Mersey Canal, Pride of Derby Angling Association
• Sunday 10th September - Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, Winget Angling Club  
• Sunday 24th September - Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Wombourne Wolverhampton Angling Association
• Saturday 30th September - Grand Union Canal, Northampton Nene Angling Club
• Saturday 7th October - Llangollen Canal, Whixall Hodnet Angling Club
• Sunday 8th October - Trent & Mersey Canal Middlewich, Middlewich Angling Club                   

Grand Final and National Junior Canal Championship:

• Saturday 21st October – Erewash Canal, Long Eaton Victoria Angling Society

To find out more about the Canal Pairs Championships go to www.anglingtrust.net 

Source: Canal and River Trust

The 72 hours competition took place at Lac Du Bourdon in France from 21st - 24th September 2016, and is the official FIPSed World Championships. A record breaking 26 nations took part, the largest field ever in an international carp fishing match, with England as defending champions.

The format is a team event, with three pairs representing each country. Such a large number of participants this year meant the sections were split into 2 groups, and all eye’s were on the big 5. The draw saw England facing favourites France in all three sections, heavyweights Russia and Croatia in one, but avoiding Romania altogether.

Hot and flat calm weather made for difficult angling conditions but England went into an early lead on day 1 and looked strong. Home nation France were immensely powerful and took the lead in two sections by the end of day 2. They put on an impressive display throughout the match to take individual gold and silver honors. A poor draw for their final section meant that they could not amass enough points to take the overall win. England battled hard throughout, but simply could not get the fish to feed in the numbers required to take the gold for a second time.

“It was an amazing exciting exhilarating and disappointing competition all at the same time” announced England Manager Rob Hughes. ‘One extra fish in two of our sections could have put England on the podium, but the same could be said for a number of teams. The positions around us were changing all of the time, and one minute we were out of the running, the next back in. Conditions were tough, nothing like practice, and the result was influenced as much by what other teams were doing rather than what we were. It was a scratching match and fished hard, and so did we but at the end of the day we were not good enough this year to win. A massive well done to Russia and France for their amazing performances”.

As with last year, when England won the title, there was drama right at the very end. Lithuania took the lead on the final night, and led Russia by 1 point with Romania 1 point below again. On the last morning with the clock almost run down, Russia caught a fish in C Section that would gain them a point, tie them with Lithuania, and they would win on a weight count back. Russia had snatched championship victory with 1 hour left to go.

The England team members were;
Rob Hughes (Manager)   Graham Mabey ( asst Manager)
Mark Bartlett (captain)   Harry Charrington
Billy Flowers     Jamie Londors
Tom Maker     Kev Hewitt
Wayne Mansford     Ryan Need
Neil Rivers     Chris Holmes
Karl Pitcher

Top 6 Team Results;
Gold Russia   7
Silver Lithuania   7
Bronze  Romania   11
4   France 13
5   Croatia 13.5
6   England 14

Individual results;
1 Matthieu Farge / Matthieu Neyrat   Fr
2 Olivier Renaud / Anthony Hennequin  Fr
3 Dalibor Danaj / Hrvoje Jakopcevic   Cr

Report provided by Rob Hughes, Team England Manager

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Administered by the Angling Trust in partnership with the Environment Agency, the AIF reinvests income from rod licence sales into ventures that aid freshwater fishing nationwide.

With every project also attracting financial or in-kind support through match-funding, it means that schemes totaling over half-a-million pounds have benefitted from the fund.

The latest winning applications include projects to protect fisheries from predation, encourage more people to go fishing, improve facilities at clubs and fisheries, and to safeguard venues. They were awarded under the following foutr themes:

Otter-proof fencing:

Unsustainable predation by otters can have a devastating effect on angling venues and has become an issue of major concern to anglers. Applications from commercial fisheries and clubs for otter-proof fencing projects were invited and eight projects have been selected for funding (bringing to 11 the total number supported through the AIF) and will share awards worth £31,926. Fencing projects are an expensive undertaking and the match funding secured by these projects, worth more than £158,000, is critically important.

Best unfunded proposals from previous rounds:

More than 300 applications were submitted to the first two rounds of the AIF, many more than could be funded. Aware of the large number of good projects it had to decline, the judging panel reviewed past entries and awarded funds totalling £77,931 to 21 projects, including 17 focused on junior angling. Most of the winning projects are now in place or are close to completion and the amount of match funding secured by the applicants totalled over £81,000 in this category.

Community waters:

As a key part of making fishing much more accessible to those new to the sport, funding was allocated to projects involving park ponds and other types of ‘community water’, such as fishable rivers and canals in towns and cities. Being close to urban areas they offer unparalleled opportunities to get out fishing, safely, cheaply and close to where you live. However, they tend to face a number of challenges, including poor water quality, litter and general neglect, and their creation, protection and development is a key objective of the National Angling Strategy.

In judging the entries, the panel wanted to see a clear demonstration of the issues facing the venue and the benefits the projects would bring.

Eighteen projects have received an offer of a grant, sharing £75,784 of AIF funding. They include six councils, two well-known charities in the National Trust and the Canal & River Trust, two park Friends Groups, an enterprise focusing on popularising canals, and seven angling clubs. With partnership and in-kind contributions totalling close to £80,000, the total value of these projects is over £155,000.

Schools and colleges:

Intervention projects involving angling have an uncanny ability to connect with children, boosting confidence and offering valuable learning opportunities and life skills. It would be great if fishing could be offered in all schools and that was the motivation behind this theme.

The fund received lots of very promising applications, however the most sustainable in the long-term included a clear role for the school or college. Offers have been made to seven projects with awards totalling £25,462. Two projects will involve students taking land-based college courses. 

Sarah Chare, Deputy Director for Fisheries at the Environment Agency, said: “If you buy a rod licence from the Post Office then you are helping to protect and improve fisheries through the Angling Improvement Fund. These 54 projects will improve the facilities that anglers tell us they want most and encourage new people to try fishing.

“Angling is great for people’s health and anglers help to protect the environment, so we want to get as many people involved as possible.”

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust, said: “The Angling Improvement Fund has been a great success in ensuring that there is a transparent and fair process for clubs, fisheries and community groups to apply for the funds available. The funding awards have been given to those who can demonstrate that they will make the biggest impact for the good of fishing, not only by attracting match funding but also by working in partnership and involving the local community in their plans.

“It’s vital that we get the best value for money from the funds raised from anglers buying rod licences. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to the success of the fund and I look forward to hearing about more excellent projects in the next round.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Glorious sunshine ensured a great turnout for an action packed day on the water at Strand on the Green, Chiswick.

The Tideway Angling Championship saw a record weight of bream for the winner Martin Davies who feeder fished maggots alongside Oliver's Island below Kew Bridge.

32 anglers fished the two zones at Barnes and Strand on the Green and despite hot sunny conditions and the presence of over 2000 people enjoying walks, paddle boarding, kayaking, river cruises or simply strolling along the towpath, the bream fed well. 

Three weights of over 30lbs were recorded, with the winner, Martin Davies landing 46lb 11oz of bream up to 8lbs from the zone at Strand on the Green - a TideFest match record. In second, with the top weight from the Barnes zone, was Ricky Tomala with 32lb 11oz, followed by Steve Edwards with 30lb 9oz then Gordon Bullock with 20lb 8oz. The top four shared a £1000 pay out.

The event was sponsored by Tideway - formerly Thames Tideway Tunnel - and Thames Water and the match was organised by the Angling Trust, with invaluable support from Will Barnard, Angling Development manager at Thames Water.

Organiser Martin Salter from the Angling Trust said:
"Another great TideFest took place on the tidal Thames in London on Sunday. It was fabulous to see so many Londoners enjoying the day and learning more about this fantastic river. We had some stunning weights in our Tideway Angling Championship with good bream to 8lbs showing well in both sections.

"The roach were quiet this year although there have been some great pleasure catches of redfins this summer. The guys doing the seine netting by Kew Bridge even managed to catch several baby bass which now use the tidal river as a nursery area. This all goes to show what a great river, wildlife and recreational corridor we have here in the heart of London - a river that will be even cleaner and better once the Thames Tideway Tunnel is built."

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News