ARUNDELL – Summer Memories

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There is a beautiful quiet moment at the end of summer, when the schools and businesses have all gone back and the roads have cleared but the air is still warm and slightly languid, and those wonderful summer memories hang hazily in the air. We have had a wonderful summer at the Arundell, with visitors from across the UK and Europe fishing, walking and enjoying the beauty of West Devon but we are savouring the quieter, calm that has now descended.  The rivers are slightly low but with trout and sea trout (and some peel) taking the fly and the late summer evenings still light there is plenty of fishing to be enjoyed.

Some of the Arundell team were incredibly lucky to be invited to fish on the Snake River in Idaho this year and it was an absolute delight to experience this incredibly beautiful place and catch the lovely Yellow Cutthroat trout.  In Jackson Hole we caught up with the Orvis team and what a wonderful opportunity to exchange stories and ideas and find out about fishing in another part of the world!

In mid August, we had our first Gin Tasting evening in the Arundell garden, which was a fantastic success and plans are afoot for a Whisky Tasting evening in our new Cockpit Bar…details to be confirmed so please check our social media and website.  On 25th September at 7pm we are very excited to be hosting our second book event in the Tamar Room with renowned wildlife artist, Angela Harding.  Her stunning book, Still Waters and Wild Waves, features illustrations of dramatic seascapes and reflective rivers and will be available for purchase after the talk.  Bookings for an early supper in the Bar available from 5pm.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/lifton/the-arundell-arms/the-arundell-lifton-still-waters-wild-waves-an-evening-with-angela-harding/e-eqymqo?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=September%20Newletter&utm_medium=email

Bideford Angling Club & Appledore Sea Results

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Graham Snow won Bideford Angling Clubs monthly sea rover with a fine specimen thick lipped grey mullet scaling 5lb 3oz. Andrew Clements was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 9oz and Dale Kiff third and forth with smoothound of 8lb 8oz and 7lb.

 

         Graham Snow’s specimen mullet of 5lb 3oz also took top spot in Appledore Shipbuilders Rover. Andrew Atkinson was runner up with a smoothound of 11lb 9oz.

Trevor Telling Memorial Competition – Sunday September 8th 2024

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Wimbleball Lake, Sunday the 8th September 2024…


2 Fishing competitions in 1, from the boat and the bank, trophy & prizes for each.
Normal price for fishing plus £5 donation to charity.
The charities being supported are the South West Fishing for Life and the Exeter Hospicecare team.
For those that knew Trevor, and for those that didn’t, we are holding this match to commemorate a man who simply loved all fishing but especially fly fishing. His local knowledge of Wimbleball, Trout feeding habits and what flies and line to use and when, were readily shared with fellow anglers, he was much respected and a “one of a kind”.
The day will start with registration at the gazebo by the boat ramp between 8:00 and 9:00. The Fishing Competition will start from 9:30 with a weigh in at the end to be determined.
Entries on the day can be paid either by cash or cheque, boats should be booked in advance as normal, bank fishers can book online or turn up on the day & pay in the hut.
Some of Trevor’s “recommended” and favourite flies will be on sale on the day, all monies raised will also go to the charities.
2 shields are awarded, one for boat fishing and one for bank fishing. The winner keeps the shield for the year and is asked to ensure it is returned ready for the competition next year.
Karen, Charlotte, Matthew and Arthur thank you for supporting these 2 charities which meant so much to them during Trevor’s illness and hospice care and Trevor of course supported the south West fishing for life charity, teaching ladies to cast and enjoy the peace and tranquility of fishing after their own personal experiences of cancer.
Please share and get as many anglers who knew Trevor to come along, enjoy a fish and pay their respects…

 

 

HORWOOD MATCH – RESULTS

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A beautiful day at Horwood for their latest Match, the fishing was not bad either, fantastic weights from both lakes and topped with a near lake record by Paul Morris, Paul weighed in 242lb 11oz and was just 10lb below Stephen Barrels record👏👏

Fish came to just about every method and Paul’s winning weight was mainly caught on corn.

Weights as follows,

Bottom lake:-

Paul Morris 242lb 11oz

Stuart Russell 100lb 2oz

Graham Curnow 88lb 11oz

Top lake:-

Colin Cherrington 88lb 3oz

Mark Lynch 84lb 2oz

Steven Craker 57lb 15oz

Predator 2 Ilfracombe – Species Hunt

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Many thanks to Daniel Welch for this report on the first of two species competitions this Autumn.

Predator 2 Species hunt.

On Monday 2nd September we held our first species hunt on predator. We were joined by 4 anglers and left ilfracombe at 0900 in calm and misty conditions. We headed up channel against the strong ebbing tide to the Combe Martin Bay Area. Conditions were perfect allowing us to accurately anchor the boat and fish with some finesse. 

Species hunting is often a case of fishing as light as possible but not to the extent that you lose any larger species that are hooked. Various rigs from light 8lb paternosters and one ounce weights to heavy 150lb mono running ledgers for larger species. Anglers brought their own baits which included squid, mackerel, ragworm, king rag, lug, crab, limpet, welks, scad, prawns. Different baits and different rigs need to be utilised to exploit the different feeding characteristics of the fish we were targeting. 

The first mark we fished was a shallow reef on the edge of the tide this produced a number of wrasse, pouting, poor cod, rockling and an octopus but not the bream or trigger fish we had hoped for.  We moved slightly further out into more tide and slightly deeper water and fished back towards a large rock. Bigger weights and slightly scaled up gear was used to catch a number of conger eels and Huss as the tide eased expectations were high for possible trigger fish and bream but the bites became few and far between and the rain began to fall. 

We moved again and tried  different tactics of drifting with lures, baits and baited feathers to target bass and pollack. No bass were caught but pollack were taken on baited feathers. Bites were few and far between and after searching around the reef the fish finder confirmed there was very little life on that particular mark today. 

We moved further offshore to anchor on an area of mixed ground for slack water. The anchor was set, the boat swang round with the tide and the mist and cloud began to lift unveiling the surrounding cliffs and coastline. As soon as baits went down the bites began and the sun even tried to come out. Over the next two hours we caught smoothhound, conger, Huss, scad, mackerel pouting, poorcod, dogfish and tope.

As the boat swang round and the tide increase we moved again this time further inshore back into an area of reef that had quite a bit of tide on it but this just produced more of the same species we had already caught earlier in the day. 

The last hour and a half was spent fishing  on clean ground in the sheltered waters inside Combe Martin bay with the hope of ray, flatfish and gurnard. There were a lot of scad over this clean ground and again plenty of poor cod but we did manage some new species which included multiple dragonets and spectacular coloured red mullet and a tub gurnard.

Before we knew it was 15:40 and time to head home, species were tallied up and the winner for the day was Clive Baddick with 15points second was Rob Pearson with 8 points.

Clive took the first place prize which was a £70 voucher for future trips on predator.  In total there was a modest but respectable 16 species different caught and an octopus. 

 

We are holding another species hunt on Monday the 16th of September if you fancy giving it a go please make contact.

CMSAC – FUN FISH 2024

 

         Hard to believe that its Autumn and yet another CMSAC Fun Fish is over. Twenty three anglers braved the initially inclement weather to join the fun of fishing. The forecast gave a warm calm morning with the slight chance of a shower! Wrong; the fishing that commenced at 10:30am was greeted by heavy rain, grey sky and a gusty east wind. Many like myself had looked at the forecast and not even packed a waterproof! After forty odd years of fishing I really should know better!

         Despite the weather there were broad smiles as anglers of all ages cast their lines into the harbour from the landing stages of the old pier. The Fun Fishing Competition was run on a simple points basis with 3 points for the first of each species, 2 for the second and 1 for the third. There were also prizes for heaviest fish, longest fish and family with most points.

Mat Mander and Club Secretary Nick Philips

         Combe Martin Sea Angling Club give grateful thanks to the events sponsors, High Street Tackle, Barnstaple Bait and Tackle and Ilfracombe Aquarium. Our guest Mat Mander Chief Officer of Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority once again made the long journey from South Devon to join us all on the pier. Mat gave valuable advice to young anglers and was on hand to take any questions about the sterling work undertaken by D & S IFCA.

https://www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk

         There were good numbers of fish caught from the start with ballan wrasse, pouting, poor cod, pollock and small red bream among the catch’s. The stars of the day were the young anglers who delighted in catching the fish with some catching their first ever fish!

         I was asked by several about what tackle and tactics to employ for starting off and my advice is to start off with a cheap LRF outfit and target the small fish that abound close to pier. It is possible to get set up with a serviceable outfit for less than £100. I will try and put together a short feature on this in the near future.

         Our local tackle shops High Street Tackle and Barnstaple Bait & Tackle are  great places to call in for advice with a wide range of suitable tackle and bait in stock.

         The exciting thing about the fun fish is seeing what each year produces. This year the appearance of small red bream was a first for the event. There were no mackerel or garfish caught which was a surprise as this summer has been quite good. One year a big fish will undoubtedly show!

         Ilfracombe Aquarium donated a family entry to the event and were delighted to receive red bream and corkwing wrasse to house in the aquarium.

         Hopefully Nick and I will be dashing around the pier again next Sea-Ilfracombe Festival with camera and clip board. Thank you to all who joined in to make this year another success.

An Array of prizes from High Street Tackle & Barnstaple Bait and Tackle.

Winning Family – Stanway Family  – 46 points

Heaviest Fish – Jake Stanway – Ballan Wrasse 9oz

Longest Fish – Ted Childs – Corkwing wrasse – 20.5 cm

Winning Angler Ben Clark – 32 points

Runners up

Ross Stanway – 29 points

Solly welch – 23 Points

Ted Childs – 20 Points

George Gove – 18 Points

Jake Stanway –  17 Points

Dave Welch  – 14 points

Finlay Stanway – 13 points

Ollie Hunter – 11 points

Callum Gove – 11 points

Bella Mitchell – 11 Points

Beth Hunter –   9 Points

Archie Cameron – 8 points

Louis Cameron –  8 Points

Aaron Birchall – 3 points

Jack Philips – 3 points

Lila Mitchell – 3 points

Species Caught : –  12

Pollock

Pouting

Poor Cod

Ballan wrasse

Corkwing wrasse

Red Bream

Whiting

Shore rockling

Rock goby

Tompot-blenny

Shanny

 Number of fish –  96 Fish – 23 Anglers

A Luring Day on Predator 2 – Ilfracombe

Ilfracombe Harbour an oasis of calm as a glow appears to the East as the sun starts to climb from its overnight absence. The sounds of voices drift across the calm waters of the harbour as boats are readied for the day ahead.

         Dan Welch and Ross Stanway are already on board Predator 2 readying the boat for another mates trip to continue the exploration of the Bristol Channels potential.

As I arrive at the Quay I speak to three anglers sat waiting to board Dan Hawkins Reel Deal. They have driven overnight from Oxford and are hoping to connect with the porbeagle that prowl the waters at the mouth of the Bristol Channel.

         We are heading out to fish with lures hopping from wreck to reef and watching for signs of feeding birds that could indicate shoals of silver bass. Dan Hawkins on Reel  Deal had found some quality bass the previous day whilst travelling back from an unsuccessful foray to the shaking grounds.

         Todays friends group consisted of Skipper Dan Welch, Ross Stanway, Shaun Quartly, Shane Murch, Paul Lorrimore, Callun Gove and myself. Dan is keen to continue to explore the lure fishing potential and today we are heading West to fish marks off Baggy Point and Bideford Bay.

         There is a still a bit of chop on the sea, residue from the previous days stronger winds. We were all full of hope and optimism for the adventure that lay ahead as we bounced over water watching the spectacular sunrise above towering cliffs up channel from Ilfracombe.

         We passed the familiar rock outcrops of Bull Point and Morte Point before reaching the first mark a good distance off Baggy Point. By now the sun was higher in the sky its warm rays illuminating the seascape.

         We all tied on the lures that we had confidence in sending them down into the deep clear water to connect with the fish that lurk around the rusting wreck.

         There are surprisingly many wrecks scattered around the Bristol Channel, symptoms I guess from an era when navigational equipment and modern safety was less advanced. Wrecks provide shelter and food for many fish and I ponder if we could create artificial reefs to improve upon fish populations. Perhaps the new seaweed farms, and off- shore windfarms will create some protected habitat that will benefit fish populations?

         Within seconds of the lures reaching their destination rods hooped over as hard fighting pollock smashed into the lures diving for sanctuary within the rusting hulk. The first drift produced some stunning pollock to around 4lb and bass to 3lb.

         There is a great deal of skill involved in manoeuvring a boat into position so that the anglers lures can be presented to the fish. The wreck or reef is shown on the boats navigation system, but the strength and direction of tide has to be factored in with the wind direction as to the boats starting position that is calculated to give maximum time drifting over the structure.

         It is noticeable that each drift tends to bring diminishing returns as the fish seem to wise up quickly. Changing lures sometimes seems to bring increased success though I’m not sure if this is my perception or simply luck on the day? I change to a Seadra slow jig decorated with a stunning mackerel flank. It looks good to me and I work the lure with confidence catching several bass and pollock.

         Ross Stanway hooks a very powerful fish that powers off testing his light spinning tackle to the limit. Dan assisted by following the fish whilst we all pulled in our lines to watch the drama unfold. We all speculated upon what Ross has hooked hoping that we would at the very least get a glimpse before the gossamer thin braid parted. My guess was a tope as Shaun had had a pollock bitten in half by a hungry tope a few minutes before the fish appearing with the pollock within its jaws before swimming free after shaking its head to tear the fish in half.

         We all peered into the clear aqua water, suddenly a shape appeared below the boat. A sleek and powerful tope of around thirty pounds hooked foul hooked in the tail! Dan scooped the fish into the net and swung the fish aboard. Ross wrestled with the powerful fish and held it aloft for a quick photo before dropping it back over the side where it disappeared back into the mysterious depths with a flick of its tail.

         After a couple more drifts sport eased off and Dan suggested a move to a rocky pinnacle in Bideford Bay. Half an hour steam away we chatted and watched for birds working that could indicate bait fish.

         There is always anticipation on arriving at each new mark asking the question with our lures. Sadly this mark proved to be a pouting haven with these plump fish seizing our lures. Whilst these fish have little sporting value they are a valuable source of food for many predatory fish and their flanks of pearl and beige have a rich beauty in life. Sadly they often perish as their swim bladders are unable to cope with the pressure change as they are brought to the surface. They can be kept for bait or at worst provide a welcome meal for the sea birds that always follow fishing boats.

         The light breeze from earlier in the day had by now dropped off leaving the sea a tranquil calm that seems so rare this summer. A commotion a few hundred yards away caught our attention. Was that a huge tail slashing the water amongst a pod of dolphins? A thresher shark perhaps? There have been several sightings recently.

         We moved closer, the dolphins swam gracefully rolling in the calm sea. We put out lures hoping for a bass whilst we enjoyed the marvellous spectacle of the dolphins.

         After the hectic sport at the start of the day we were now struggling to find feeding fish. We headed back to the wreck where we had started the day. Part way across Bideford Bay we spotted a mass of birds a sure indication along with a couple of fishing boats that bass were in the area.

                  Indications on the fish finder confirmed the presence of fish and so we sent down our lures. I hooked a hard fighting bass of around 5lb and several other smaller fish were added to the days tally before the birds dispersed and the fish disappeared.

         By now a brisk east wind was sweeping down the Bristol Channel creating  white caps on the waves. Judging by the Beaufort scale it was indeed a fresh breeze.

The Beaufort Scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale.

5 Fresh Breeze 29-38 19-24 17-21 Small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters. Moderate waves, many white horses 2.0 2.5 4

The Beaufort Scale like the shipping forecast holds a certain resonance and connection with maritime history. That provides me with sense of historical enchantment and fascination with Great Britain’s connection the sea.

         Connection with fish seemed harder to find now as the flood tide pushed against the wind. Natures roulette spins continually and we fished the shallow waters off Morte Point in our last roll of the dice. Shaun foul hooked a specimen mullet that fought hard in the tide. Dan tempted a ballan wrasse before declaring time to head back to Ilfracombe.

         Ilfracombe on a warm summers day at Summers end was a stark contrast to the peace and tranquillity of the early dawn. Hundreds of tourists rested on the beach, strolled around the shops, licked ice creams and savoured those last few days of the tourist season. How quick this summer has flown.  Our son James plays his last game of league cricket as I type this, it is hard to believe, its seems such a short time since he was wielding his bat for the first game of the season.

         September brings much expectation for the sea angler of North Devon with so much promise if natures roulette wheel obliges and we play our hands wisely.

END OF AN ERA – SUMMERLANDS TACKLE TO CLOSE

I was saddened to learn earlier this week that Summerlands Tackle Shop at Westward Ho! is closing soon a big surprise, it seems that they have always been there. No longer will  we be able to pop into Summerlands whilst visiting Westward Ho! In fact Summerlands was generally the main reason for us to visit Westward Ho!

Nick Laws founded Summerlands Tackle back in 1985 close to forty years ago and for as long as I can remember there has always been a cheery welcome from the family run business. Nick has lived in and around Westward Ho! all his life and has fished the local shore since his childhood days when he would fish the beach with his father taking home the occasional bass for his mother to cook.

Nick Laws and his father fishing for bass at Westward Ho!
One of Nicks first fish a tasty bass to take home.

Summerlands became the social hub of the local angling community with anglers of all disciplines meeting  to swap tales over a coffee and the occasional slice of cake. Local tackle shops are at the core of anglings social network and many a friendship and trip to the water’s edge has been forged.

The original Summerlands Tackle Shop

In recent years Nick and Louise have taken a back seat with the business their daughter Heather and her husband Simon taking the reign’s and keeping it very much in the family.

Simon McCarthy with a smoothound from a few years back.

On hearing the news that Summerlands was closing I headed down to wish the family well for the future. The quick visit soon became a couple of hours as other local anglers  called into the shop chatting about the good times they had enjoyed over the years. Heather told me that she was heartened by the warmth that had been evident from the well -wishers who had called into the shop having heard the news.

I asked Heather if she had a message for customers and this is the piece she carefully prepared for the shops social media page.

“So as our family now moves on and explores new possibilities and the founders of Summerlands get their well earnt retirement. All that is for us to say is THANK YOU. It has always been about you the customer and you are the part we are saddest about leaving. The friendships we have made with customers and also within the trade we will always cherish and it has been an absolute honour to serve you and work with you over the last four decades. We hope to see you to say goodbye and celebrate our final chapter with you as we close the book on the best fishing tackle shop adventure ever. Tight lines always we will miss you the Summerlands Tackle family over and out.”

Many local anglers are featured on the shops photo gallery bringing back many happy memories. Heather welcomes anglers to come and collect their photos from the gallery.

Much has changed in the world of angling and beyond in the past forty years and we reflected upon this as we chatted. Nick reminisced fondly about fishing forays to Ireland where he had enjoyed fishing those famous surf beaches for bass. The tackle of the day was very basic in comparison to many of the state of the art rods sold in Summerlands over the past decades.

Nick holds a fishing rod and reel from his formative years as a life long angler.

Over the coming weeks starting on Saturday 31st August there will be an EVERTHING MUST GO SALE.

On a personal note I wish all those at Summerlands the best for the future and would like to thank them for their support with North Devon Angling News since 2016. The closing of Summerlands will leave a void in the local angling scene but we are fortunate that we have several excellent tackle shops across North Devon.