order of service.

      The Clubs AGM is coming up on Thursday April 6th. It will be in the Falcon Pub in Thame (Hook Norton Real Ale Pub) and is open to anyone who would like to attend, member or not. It starts at 7.30pm and if you have any matters you would like to be discussed there, please make sure it is submitted in writing to myself or any other club officer before March 23rd. We set the new seasons Permit price then and soon after the new membership secretary sends the new application forms out to all existing members. The new permit goes to print soon after the AGM so it has the newly elected officers on the front.

Thanks to all those who have attended my matches this season, I don’t remember cancelling a single one. It has been a hard ending to a tricky year with the wettest May, hottest Summer, driest February, all a bit much really. We could do with quite a bit of rain soon or the river will struggle for a decent level come June 16th but what will be will be…. Get out and wet a river line before the end of the season if you can, and if you catch a decent bag or a good individual fish, even a massive Minnow, take a pic and send it to me or Steve. I will be organising a few work parties in the closed season and so if you would like to put your name forward I’ll let you know when they are.

                    See you all at the AGM then Tight Lines Dave.

we had 9 pairs entered for the pairs match. The weather was set fair and has considerably warmed up since a couple of weeks ago to put a different feel to things. Although the fish aren’t really feeding properly yet the mix of species caught showed that things are heading in the right direction. The list of them goes Minnows, Gudgeon, Bleak, Chublett, Dace, Roach, Perch and Proper Chub.

It’s just been too cold for too long but they need to feed now to get ready to spawn, warmer nights and days and less pollution perhaps will bring them on.

      Without further ado here’s the results.

In 1st Place in the Pairs itself came Charlie Green and Des Burgess. Des in section A fished peg 36 and caught 5oz for second in section and Charlie fished peg 47 and came first in section with 1lb 14oz on peg 47. Combined total of a very creditable 3 points. They have the Shield for a year.

2nd Pair came Tony Sexton and Dave Lyne. Tony fished peg 43 and was 3rd in section with 3oz and Dave was 4th in section with 10oz 8dr. A combined total of 7 points.

3rd Place Gareth Mombrun and Sheldan Camden. Now then… Gareth won the overall match with 6lb 14oz of Chub pictured below caught from peg 32

but as Young Gareth didn’t enter the Superpool he had the section win and 3rd place in the Pairs but unfortunately didn’t back himself, so only picked up a few quid and not enough to buy Man United…. Oh Gareth!   Sheldan fished peg 44 and caught 4dr which earned him joint 7th in section. Well done lads. Combined total of 8 points.

A few Anglers did not weigh in, but the large majority did catch or at least get a bite, and even Martin Wiggins, Andy Allday and Ian Blyth lost some good Chub. One of Ians snapped his 6lb line….

Superpool winners Charlie Green and second place Martin Wiggins were pleased with their days winnings and overall I think with warmer nights and days in the coming couple of weeks, a bit of rain perhaps and our last match on Sunday March 5th against Tring may well fish OK.  

    Thanks to all our anglers who enter and commit their time to fishing our little matches as they are friendly events with a lot of banter and I do love running them. Here are some of the anglers below after today with the winners holding the spoils.

                               Cheers and keep fishing as much as you can till the season ends

                                                              Dave.

Good afternoon members, I’ll start this report with the very sad news that the Club’s long standing President Mr. Ray Neil passed away peacefully last Monday in Stoke Mandeville Hospital following a short stay in care. Ray had been a staunch supporter and very active member of our Angling Club for as long as most can remember. If you look at the image of the old permit from 1976/77 it shows he was on the committee as the Honorary Treasurer and Secretary even back then. He was always going to the ODAA meetings, the River Thames Consultative meetings and the River Thame Conservation Trust meetings right up to the start of Covid when he obviously took a back seat due to the risk it posed to his wellbeing. Ray had lived in Nelson Street in Thame a long long time, he only ever listened to the radio, no TV for Ray, his life was a busy one, he didn’t even own one! I’m sure he will be very sadly missed by his family and friends and fellow Anglers. We will keep the members aware of the funeral arrangements as soon as we know more.                                                                                                      RIP Thame Angling Club President Ray Neil 

    Secondly we have a growing, rather pressing problem. Barry, your Chairman has kindly put together the following for me.     “The Club regret to announce the departure of Kevin Moore from the Thame Angling Club Committee. Kevin has been a well-regarded member of the committee for a number of years and his calm, quiet and effective contributions to the club meetings and club activities have been much appreciated. Kevin will be leaving the committee with immediate effect, and, for the record, the club would like to express their appreciation for all he has done and to wish him all the best for the future.Unfortunately, the committee will now be one short and we will also need to find a volunteer to strim, from time to time, the access to the swims. If you would like to join the committee, please contact myself or any other committee member. The club only meet once a month, so the role is not onerous.
I must add to this news about Kev that your club could really do with a couple of new faces on the committee, as at times we struggle to all be there because of holidays etc. meaning there isn’t enough for it to be a proper meeting.Think hard about sparing a little time in an evening once a month in the Falcon in Thame as the beer is sound and the meeting only lasts an hour or so. Your club is run rather well so they are swiftly dealt with……. Think on, because no committee, no club!!                   Tight lines for now, Dave      

          Good evening all, the latest open today was extremely tough going. Very low and now run clear in places. The pegging I did yesterday was based on the results from the teams of four and I had a nicer time walking and picking the swims than fishing one…. 12 anglers took part and we had 2 lads unfortunately couldn’t make it for pain and illness respectively, so get well soon Des and Les. The results make for nearly as hard reading as the fishing, but here they are never the less.1st place and a very decent net of 7lb 4oz came Kevin Dowling on peg 55. Kev had 2 Chub and a big Perch with some bits. Lost another unseen leviathan in the hot peg at the moment. Very well angled sir Kev.2nd position with 2lb 8oz came Gareth Mombrun on peg 63. Gareth had some nice stamp Roach and a couple of weighty Perch with some bits.Joint 3rd catching 2lb 2oz came Sheldan Camden and Dave Lyne from pegs 57 and 60. Shel had 2 rigs to catch transparent Gudgeon with, and Dave had 4 rigs and a stick to catch Roach, Chub and Dace. That’s a stick float off course.5th came Chris Plumb with 1lb 12oz 8dr from 44.6th place Ian Blyth with 1lb 11oz 8dr on peg 517th Martin Chown on peg 53, Mart had 1lb 9oz 8dr8th Nick Newitt with 15oz on peg 47 with 18” of water9th place went to Nick Sawyer on peg 42 catching 11oz, Nick has L plates on at the moment, but it’s good to see him at the matches and he will keep learning and improving from us, he like anyone just has to ask the lads on the day how to fish the swim and they always help.All the rest caught obviously but did not weigh in.Please pray for rain all of you as the river is in dire need of weeks of it now.
Our next matches coming up are as follows,Sunday November 13th Open match at Thame. 8am draw fish 9 till 2. £10 entrySunday December 4th Tring V Thame at Shabbington Island 8am draw fish 9.30 till 2.30 £10 entrySunday December 11th Thame Xmas match 8am draw fish 9 till 2  £5 entry fee. £2 optional superpool. This one is fished for prizes, and everyone picks a prize at the end of the match depending on their finishing position.
Please book in with me if you would like to join us on any of these upcoming lotteries. I’m going to struggle to find the pegs soon if it doesn’t rain, I may have to put us round my pond in my garden otherwise! It’ll just be a few pegs though.
     Cheers for now Dave.

       Good evening Teams and Members, I have first got to thank all those who helped me yesterday make our Thame championship a success. Firstly to all the teams for entering. A big thanks to Thame Football Cub and the Snooker Club for their hospitality, A special thanks to Ian Horrocks for all his efforts even whilst feeling badly under the weather. Ian has decided to step aside from the organising after this year due to a number of reasons…….. so there is a big pair of boots to fill for someone! Thanks to Nick Newitt for all his help, Tony Gee and his club Old Waltonians at Wheatley, Julian Rayment and his club Cuddesdon Mill Village Anglers, Both Clubs have worked tirelessly on swim preparation for this match and none of the clubs take peg fees from the anglers entry fee. All the water is donated to the cause. The money is used to pay for the food in the evening, the trophies and the winnings. I would personally like to thank Martin Chown, Gareth Mombrun, Barry Mullen and my opo in a wet suit Robin Blane for their tireless efforts preparing our swims on our stretch. Sorry to bore you all but if I have missed anyone off that list I appologise and thanks to them as well. Not forgetting Debs off course.       Now to the results. Although it is a team event there is a few individual prizes on offer, namely the overall winner.Adrian Hawes catching 6lb 7oz on C1 at Wheatley had top individual weight, winning the superpool and the section.Dave Lyne was second overall catching 4lb 12 oz on C 15, coming second in the superpool.Dave Pether came in third with 4lb 7oz 8dr, also in section C on peg 12.Then there are 3 other section winners,Martin Chown took first in section A with 2lb 1oz on peg A5, number 34 at Thame.Alan Gee took first in section B with 3lb 15oz fishing peg 12, number 60 at Thame.Then Tony Gee won his section D with 4lb 2oz on peg D12 at Cuddesdon.The Team results are really what the day is all about, so they were as follows,In top spot scoring a measly 7 points from their days efforts came Ace Tackle and Bait  Very well fished Paul Bowers, Alan Gee, Dave Pether and Tony Gee. These boys had only just got off the boat from fishing all week in Ireland too, no mean feat, even though Alan had the bridal suit on the ferry back!Second place scoring 15 points came Tims Team, Tim Eele, Tony Aspell, Darren Simons and Chris Plumb.Third spot Kevs Team with 23 points, Danny Edwards, Martin Wiggins, Kev Dowling and John Wolfendale.Fourth position with a close 24 points came Cuddesdon A consisting of Charlie Green, Richard Borrell, Julian Rayment and Kevin Smith.     There you have it then for another year. The trophy goes to Tony’s team again, who bye the way is running his Waltonians’ Teams of Three this coming Sunday. If you wish to enter a team, please get in touch with him direct at the shop in Kiddlington, Ace Tackle and Bait.If there are any volunteers out there to step up and do the unenviable job Ian used to do so well on the biggest match we run, don’t be shy and let me know. Next years date is Sunday October 1st.      Our next open is in a fortnights time on Sunday October 16th. Please book in with me if you wish to attend. It’s 7.30 draw, fish 8.30 till 1.30. £10 entry. See you on the bank soon,                                                                               Tight lines Dave.

Join us for the agm at the falcon pub Thame on Thursday 7/4/22 at 7.30pm.

    Good evening all, we held our Xmas match yesterday, the first Xmas match for a good few years thanks to the usual floods and now Covid of course! There were 19 at the draw where all of us wore our masks…. Boris. With the draw done the anglers all headed off to their swims for the match, we had to use the entire stretch to get the fishable pegs in with social distance between us all….Boris. The river was rushing through on Saturday when Ian and I did the pegging and the boiling swims were left out. Some of them were our best ones too and were OK on Sunday morning but it’s too late to change then. The results weren’t too bad as no-one actually blanked, however the overall catches were down on our last open as it gets harder to pin the fish down in Winter, and even harder to get them to feed if it’s too cold. Without further ado or rule breaking Boris… the top ten are as follows, 1st place Danny Edwards from peg 48 had 7lb 11oz of mainly Roach. Lovely busy match for Danny from one of our best Roach pegs on our stretch.2nd place Martin Wiggins from peg 53 had 6lb 4oz 8dr of again mainly Roach and Chub. Wig lost 2 larger Chub both coming unhooked, one at the net. Another cracking all round angler on a cracking peg though.3rd position went to Martin Chown on his nemesis peg 36. Mart had some Roach and then a Chub on the stick for 6lb 3oz. He really didn’t want that swim but I just new at the draw it had his name on!4th place Tony Sexton with 4lb 10oz from peg 44. Tone had mainly Roach again a nice busy days fishing. Another good angler on a good peg. 5th position came Ian Blyth with 4lb 9oz on peg 55. Ian had a decent Chub in his net with some bits. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, Good angler, good peg. Oh by the way Ian had a 6lb 4oz Chub on a likkle caster from our stretch the other day. Biggest Chub I’ve heard of for a long time from our stretch of the Thame. You know the saying who ate all the pies, I reckon it should be who ate all the Reggies!6th place went to Dick Martin from peg 43. Dick had 3lb 12oz of bits.7th place went to Tony Aspel on peg 30, or was it 29? ummm So Tony had a Chub from slightly upstream for 3lb 5oz, ummmm yes….You’d have thought it was Boris in peg 30….8th place Sir Richard Cantwell on peg 41 catching 3lb 3oz, no Chub showing but 2 pike instead. Both don’t count and both went back in a different swim. Fair play Rich.9th position and 10th went to Mick Baston and Ian Horrocks both with 2lb 2oz we had to toss a coin to find which one of them chose the prize first. Mick on 45 and Ian on 38working hard for their catches.     I won’t bore you with any more stats as I know that’s enough, but just to reiterate we all caught which also is unheard of on most Xmas matches I’ve held in the past. Not only was it on, but we all caught !     Again I’d like to thanks all those anglers for attending and Ian and Nick for helping me sort the pegging, the draw and the prizes. It is very much appreciated by all anglers who come and have a day at our matches.      Our next match is the Graham Thompson Memorial pairs match on February 20th 2022. We have a couple of places left for a team, so please let me know if you want to enter one.   That’s me done for this year, I hope you all stay safe and well and get out there and fish over Xmas. Let us know about your catches, peg numbers pics and weight please over the festive holiday.   The club wishes all our members a very merry fishy Christmas and a very Happy fishy new year!           Cheers for now Dave.

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 Good evening everyone, we unbelievably ran our November open today. This has been cancelled for the last 2 years for flooding reasons, so it goes to show how the Autumn so far has been fairly dry in comparison and although it is a low river at the moment, we need to fish it and catch whilst we can as it will only take a couple of heavy rain days and we won’t have a choice.   We only had 10 anglers for this one as there was other things on, namely Remembrance Sunday. So at 11am all anglers stopped fishing for the 2 minutes and paid their respects. The results of the day are as follows.
In 1st place and in one of his favorite swims, peg 56, came Nick Newitt. Nick caught some bits and bobs then had 2 good Chub totaling 8lb 11oz. He lost another good one which was a shame as he’d have sailed past the elusive 10lb. Well done Nick….2nd place in peg 55 with 6lb 6oz came Danny Edwards. Danny had some bits and bobs too, with a proper Chub going 4lb 10oz! These fish take some getting out from a straight run, let alone a sharp corner with a hedge in the way. Top bit of angling Danny…3rd was Tony Sexton with 5lb 7oz on peg 52. The haircut bush. Tony had a nice net of mixed fish on the stick, a lovely way to catch fish.4th place came Martin Wiggins on peg 62 with an underestimated 4lb 2oz 8dr. Wig who always gives you an underestimated guess, had a lovely busy net of Roach and Dace. He also lost a nice dace to a pike which was a shame.5th came Tony Aspel on peg 51 with 3lb 2oz. Tony also had a busy match.6th was Dave Lyne with 2lb 13oz 8dr on peg 63A. Dave had a lot of fish and species, but they just weren’t big enough.7th place came Kevin Dowling with 15oz. Kev’s swim had unfortunately changed from when I pegged it Saturday and was boiling. This made it very hard to keep the bait presented correctly, so I make an apology to Kev as I would not have picked it if I’d realised it had changed. He’s a good angler and deserved better. Sorry mate!The other lads caught but did not weigh in.
     So that’s that for now. The next match for us is against Tring away at Shabbington Island on Sunday 5th December, river permitting, I need another few anglers to put their name forward and this one will be full. Following this back home is the Xmas match on Sunday December 12th. The river is closed on that day. The Match fee is £5, fishing for prizes with an optional superpool run on the day which is £2 per angler. If you wish to take part please book in with me by email or call eves 01844 761185.       Get out there and fill your boots before it floods! Tight lines Dave.