Dear Member
We are now starting the run down through autumn into winter, let’s hope it isn’t severe as the last two years were, I don’t know about you but I did very little fishing during last December/January. The leaves are now falling & to my mind a good time of year to fish, less pressure, the fish are in prime condition, beautifully coloured & feeding up for the winter.
An update to what’s going on…
Changes to the Officers & Committee:
In is with much disappointment that I have to announce that John Carter resigned in May &Kevin Hunter resigned in July each had their own reasons for doing so.
Membership Secretary:
Our Hon. Secretary Chris Knowler is now Membership Secretary as well as Treasurer, busy man, I’m also helping out on the data base side of things.
Barry Andrews continues as Match Secretary & Assistant Secretary.
Kevin Jenner still remains Vice Chairman and CPO (Child Protection Officer).
Please note: All renewals & new applications go to the PO Box numbered address.
This will be on the Renewal form we will send to you in December, it is also on the current membership cards you have.
Membership:
So far this year we are 15% down on last year’s final total, not good news, the recession still bites hard! Still, quite a few months to go. Once again we will be issuing Winter Tickets from 1st November 2011.
Rule Changes:
Dogs: This season April 2011 till March 2012 we allowed dogs on SOME venues.
This ONLY applied to Manor Farm Reservoir, Stallance Reservoirs, River Medway, River Beult at Stile Bridge only. To date we have not encountered any problems with this however our bailiff Jason Tuckey has reported a few occasions at Manor Reservoir where the general public’s dogs have been let loose & caused problems to our members fishing there i.e: letting them swim in the reservoir & crash through tackle & lines.
Parking:
Problems, we would prefer that members do NOT park in Wheelers Lane, more complaints from residents. How would you like someone to park across or opposite your gateway?
Please park your vehicle sensibly; don’t block tracks, drives or entrances especially in wet conditions.
Our “Bow Bridge” Wateringbury stretch of River Medway.
Disabled Drivers - As a special concession on THIS VENUE & STRETCH BLUE BADGE HOLDERS will be allowed to park by their swims (subject to track & weather conditions). ALL other members must park in the official car park. (We have obtained a ‘special concession’ that when matches are held there competitors can park by their swim.)
Existing Stretch of the River Medway at Wateringbury:
Good news, there will be two parking areas, the first by the gate as at present, the other is at the end of the first field, The ONLY access to this will be to DRIVE DOWN TO THE RIVER & ACCESS IT BY THE TRACK THERE NOT the track in the middle of the field; do not use the second car park in winter or when it is wet. The second field has been planted up for winter so no going across it, the gateway has been blocked to stop access.
Stallance Reservoirs: Under NO circumstances drive round the bank at the top of the Reservoir & park in your swim.
PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU PARK!
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Maidstone Victory A. S. Ticket exchange system.
We now have an arrangement with our friends at MVAS where we now jointly run an exchange ticket system where our members & theirs may fish each others water for a set period of time.
If you wish to take up this option you must first speak to Chris Knowler 01622-812502 as he alone runs this for us.
A word of warning, unlike us a lot of their waters have a number of differing rules (certain landowners have their own ideas) so you must read, agree & adhere to them.
A brief update on the fishing at our various waters.
Waters in general: At times these have produced very well with quite a number of good Carp from 20’s up to just under 30lbs.
There have been some cracking Roach catches with 1½ to 2 lb fish not uncommon.
The Bream on the Medway have been a bit patchy however some excellent bags from the LPL.
Certain waters fished very well. Toke for instance had some excellent catches of Bream & Tench, some being caught to 8lbs. At Linton & Manor Bream to 8. Perch to 3. Eels to 4 also some excellent bags of Bream (70lbs+), the Jack Pike provided good sport at Manor & Carp off the top & sub surface during the early summer months were particularly productive at Staplehurst. Stallance proved very successful with some really good catches of Carp & Roach.
Linton Park Lake:
Members are still catching plenty of carp there despite past problems of a few years back, fish up to 22+. With the big one still in there & spotted.
Again the big Bream catches especially from around the pads areas, some good Tench up to 7½ lbs, Excellent Perch with fish up to 3½ lbs. 5 lb Eel taken on boillie. Some good bags of Roach, 15lbs with a few now to just under 2 lbs. The Pike are now coming in up to 23½ lbs.
Stallance Reservoirs:
The small res. continues to produce with quite a number of carp up to 15lbs. so far the largest Grass Carp went 10½ lbs. excellent mixed bags with Roach, Rudd, Perch Wildies & small common carp.
The large res. fished well with a 17lb mirror reported with plenty of high singles, good bags of Roach with fish up to 2 lbs. The Crucians & Tench are doing well. The 1000 Perch recently introduced has helped the Stickleback problem. In the summer I had a Perch of 12ozs so they are growing!
Staplehurst Res:
Again a ‘Low water’ situation at the time of writing, despite this the fishing earlier in the year was excellent with great sport with the carp coming off the top, even on the pole, good catches of Bream with the odd large Crucian & plenty of Roach. The Carp certainly give good sport whether it be off the top on floater, the 4’ waggler/pellet method or margin bashing, recently Jason reported having twenty in 2½ hours from 4 – 14 lbs!
Manor Farm:
This venue continues to fish well with a good head of twenties coming out with fish of just under 30 being caught. There have been some excellent bags of Roach, some really good Perch & the Pike again give good sport.
We are continuing with the long term plan for this water; small silver fish were removed earlier in the year & we are proceeding with the stocking plan, most of the carp are getting on for 30 years old so we need to look to the future, we will keep you informed of progress.
River Medway:
Excellent fishing at times with the Bow Bridge stretch being popular, some really good mixed bags. Waggler down the middle again produced some good bags of Roach. Quite a few good catches of big bream & skimmers on the feeder also some rather nice Perch! Bleak can be a pain but a life line in a match. The Carp boys caught with quite a number of mid teen fish coming out. One or two fish were caught that some are keeping quiet about. Pike are being caught with fish reported up to 23lbs. No doubt the winter will produce some better fish.
River Beult:
The Duckweed was a problem this summer. The river didn’t seem to fish as well as previous years, saying that there were some reasonable catches of Tench, Roach & Chub, the Jack Pike again gave good sport. The River at Cross-at-Hand & Hunton proved to be productive… sometimes, a bit hit & miss! A case of finding the holes. It does need a good rain & flush through.
River Teise:
A walk & stalk water, a number of good Chub, Roach & Perch with the odd Trout & Pike!
There is good Chub fishing to be had in the winter months.
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Linton Park Lake - Night Fishing:
Just to remind you, we allow night fishing at Linton Park Lake seven nights a week.
Permits are STILL ONLY available from Jason Tuckey on 07983-569220 & must be purchased prior to fishing.
Don’t forget: NO GUESTS ARE ALLOWED AT LINTON PARK LAKE.
Keep the gate locked.
Linton Park Lake EA Update & future plans:
Further to previous years EA report & recommendations.
We did have tested & removed quite a number of small silver fish earlier in the year. We will not be stocking any further carp just yet; we need to monitor the situation regarding theses species.
We are continuing with the agreed plan with the owners & ourselves to “Siltex” the lake over the next three years in an effort to reduce the silt problem.
The first amount was put in April 2011 the next batch is going in October 2011.
Once again we are looking at treating the lilies & reeds in an effort to thin them out.
Working Parties:
A slightly better turn out than last year turn out so far with 41 different members attending, 11 of them were committee!
Don’t forget, all applicable members are requested to attend at least one of the remaining following dates: Sunday 2nd October & 6th November.
COMPETITIONS:
Our Match Secretary Barry Andrews reports that the matches have been very successful & extremely well attended with up to 21 competitors.
Congratulations to Alex Young & myself for sharing the 2011 Summer League Trophy.
(See various reports in Matches: Results section)
Summer Evening Matches:
There were 3 evening matches held with on average 10 members competing, a successful series that was enjoyed by all those competing. Congratulations again to Alex Young for winning the series!
(See report in Matches: Results section)
The LAS boys were beaten into second place by the home side. That Alex Young again!
East Farleigh A. S. - 21 lb. 5½ ozs.
Linton A. S. - 18 lb. 14 ozs.
Holmside F. A. (Sheerness) 3 lb. 15½ ozs.
(See report in Matches: Results section)
A good field of around 20 fishing both our bits of the Medway at Wateringbury.
We agreed before the match that we would add each teams weight and divide by the number of anglers to determine the winners. Maidstone Victory averaged 4.43lb per angler and Linton 4.39lb. Very close indeed.
Next leg on 9th October on their Barming section, should be interesting!
This year we fielded another strong team of 9.
It was on Tonbridge’s bit of the River Medway, beautiful stretch but boy it was hard with most of us weighing in just ounces! At least Colin & Alan did get into the lbs!
Carp Comps at Linton Park Lake:
Despite a lot of the entrants dropping out quite a number of Carp were caught & everyone who made the effort did enjoyed themselves. Because of the lack of interest next year we may have to amalgamate the two comps into the one in September.
(See report in Matches: Results section)
Our bailiff report that they are pretty pleased with members behaviour, don’t forget to sign your card & display your parking permit. They would remind you of the following…
Warning! Our bailiffs will be carrying out rig checks: Over the last two years a number of “Death fixed rigs” (for Carp & Pike) have been found. Be warned they will be checking terminal tackle & rigs from time to time; for the experts amongst you please do not take offence, nothing personal!
A reminder, you are all Bailiffs, do not be frightened to ask to see someone’s card however if you spot what are obviously undesirables do not bother! Better to live & fight another day! Discretion is the better part of valour!
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L.A.S. CLOTHING: Winter is coming fast… Good quality Fleece jackets, Tee shirts & hats are now available; these are a dark green with the Linton motif. Large & XL in stock but any size can be ordered.
See the web site for details or ring Chris.
WEB SITE: Please send in more of your Linton fishing photos, to say it’s a bit sparse this year is an understatement, we know your catching. Come on! What’s happened to the photo’s then?
The Forum Pages continues to be a great success with some good reports from members.
Please participate, it’s your club, have your say!
MONTHLY RAFFLE: The more entries we receive the bigger the prizes! You’ve had an entry form. It will only cost you £12 for a whole year’s entry; that works out at only 25p a week!
ANYONE can join ANYTIME & have as many entries as they like.
Here’s wishing you all good autumn & winter fishing.
Tony Spall
Chairman - for & on behalf of LAS Officers & Committee 1st October 2011
