Since Mark Underhill and his family have been managing Wimbleball Trout Fishery it has gained a reputation as one of the West Countrys best venues. Its hard fighting trout and spectacular scenery bring anglers back time after time. Trevor Telling was a very well-liked and respected member of the Wimbleball Fishery team giving valuable advice to visiting anglers inspiring them with his positive and friendly demeanour. Trevor has undoubtedly played a significant role in building Wimbleball’s reputation. Trevor loved Wimbleball and it’s anglers and was remembered at a Memorial Competition at the reservoir on September 8th, 2024. The competition was organised by Alan Cross a close friend of Trevor. Below is Alan’s full report.
The competition was opened by Karen Telling (Trevor’s wife) who thanked everyone for their turning out in weather that only fishermen could appreciate.
Total money raised on the day from fishing entries, raffle and donations was £305.
That is all going to the South West Fishing for Life charity. Trevor was a fishing instructor with them, helping ladies who are going thru cancer treatment.
Sale of Trevor’s fishing tackle and donations previously total of £1,565 went to Exeter Hospice Care who looked after Trevor in his final week’s and supported Karen and Charlotte.
A Total of 3 bank fishermen and 22 boat fishermen took part in the competition.
The winners were
Martin Williams with 8 fish total and a biggest fish of 6 lbs 9oz’s for boat fishing and Andrew Hill with 2 fish and his biggest fish was 4 1/2 lb’s.
Both fishermen were presented with a memorial shield by Jeff Pearce from Wimbleball Fishery.
A total of 56 fish with a combined weight of 119 lb’s 6 oz.
Winners of the raffle prizes of boxes of flies from Trevor’s own selection were
Wayne Middleton
Andrew Hull
Neil Jones.
Three ladies and their instructors from the South West fishing for Life charity turned out to fish as well, they didn’t want to enter the competition but enjoyed their fishing catching a further 4 fish.
Karen closed the competition by drawing the raffle and congratulating everyone on their catches and again thanking them for turning out to remember Trevor. This will be an annual match to celebrate Trevor and of course allow us fishermen to talk about how big the one that got away was.
I shared a boat with Snowbee Ambassador and Wimbleball team member Jeff Pearce and as always enjoyed a great day of fishing and fishing talk. The fishing proved to be challenging but with the combination of determination, trial error and experience we managed to catch five superb hard fighting trout. It rained pretty well all day but this failed to dampen our enthusiasm as the misty vistas still gave a certain dramatic back drop to proceedings.
The warm and convivial atmosphere at the start of the day and conclusion were a fitting tribute to Trevor whose spirit lives on at this jewel in the crown of Exmoor Fly Fishing.
