North Devon Match Group Winter League No. 4 Wooda Lakes Results:
1st Shaun Stenton 68-14,
2nd Craig Crash Lamey 48-07,
3rd Colin Cherrington 47-08,
4th Tom Downing 45-15,
5th Nathan Underwood 45-11,
6th Paul Morris 45-07,
7th Chris Morris 45-00
8th Stephen Craker 26-08.
Today’s match was held at the ever popular wooda Lakes complex with 24 anglers in attendance. With all of the lakes frozen over in the lead up to the match, fishing was always going to be a bit tricky for some. Nathan kindly went out and broke the ice on most of the pegs on the first couple of lakes the day before to make it a little easier to sort this morning so a big thankyou to him! A milder night Lastnight helped thaw a lot of the ice but a few pegs remained covered to break in the morning. Top spot on the day was Shaun who fished a really tidy match on peg 17 lake 4 on the long pole around the island. Fishing bread, corn and maggots over micros. 2nd was Craig from peg 15 on lake 3 fishing maggots to the back of the lillly bed and 3rd overall was Colin, also on lake 3 peg8 fishing 8mm soft pellets down to the stick ups. Lake 1, unfortunately fished the harder of the 3 but winning the lake was ian gray from peg 1with 21-08.
Many people reported that the fishing was a struggle and that that the cold NE Wind had put a lot of fish off from feeding.
There were some good fish weighed in with the Winning fish being a 1lb 14oz 4dr Whiting caught by Andrew Atkinson
Second and third with Poutings of 1lb 6oz 4 dr and 1lb 2oz 12dr was James Atkinson.
Combe Martin SAC December Results
DECEMBER COMPETITION RESULT
David Brooke won the December competition with a specimen conger of 26lb 10oz.
Runner up Kevin Legge with his bass of 10lb 12oz and third Mark Jones with a conger of 23lb 2oz.
General round up.
The bitter cold North East Wind has undoubtedly impacted upon both the fishes willingness to feed and the anglers enthusiasm to chase them. Despite this a few fish have been caught including a few codling to 6lb.
2020 ! Well what a year; a year that will remembered for the global pandemic that changed the way we live. I am sure that in the future we will reflect upon those pre-pandemic years with a certain yearning for what we will perceive as a golden age.
It has certainly been a scary year in many ways but life will move on and a new normal will eventually prevail. There are positives in that we have perhaps been forced to realise the value of the great outdoors and how nature is a reassuring constant in our lives a fact that we as anglers have been able to savour.
When the year began who could have imagined the restrictions that would be imposed upon us. But apart from the three months of tight lock down fishing continued and we all had to focus on what is on our own doorstep.
January
The promise of early casts
An early session on the rocks and I meet a hungry bird.
Winter mullet have become a common catch in winter
February
Winter pike fishing – The true essence of winter fishing the bright glow of optimism upon cool dark waters.
And of course there are also winter carp!
In the middle of February we headed for Dorset for a short break beside the River Frome. The river was out of sorts but it was still good to be beside the water.
At this time we had no idea that times were about to change!
Little did we know that fishings social aspect would be banned under strict COVID restrictions! Tiers, bubbles and face masks were not on the agenda!
MARCH
The salmon season was underway but with swollen rivers there would be no silver spring bars.
The Wimbleball Trout were obliging and put a pleasing bed in the rod as a coid wind swept across Exmoor.
April
Into lockdown and April and May we walked the country lanes and glimpsed wild brown trout in clear waters.
MAY
As lockdown was lifted what a joy to once again smell the salty sea air. Breathe in and enjoy a new found freedom.
At Wimbleball crowds flocked to the shoreline and the British public relished the great outdoors like never before.
It was a joy to once again ponder upon those important matters like what fly to use?
JUNE
Carp are very much a fish of the summer though I don’t always catch! Its fun waiting though….
A boat on Wimbleball brings hard fighting rainbows and summer Rudd
In mid June I join Steve Dawe on a one off trip to catch the mysterious eel from a water that has never been fished for eels before! We prove that there are some big trout present!
JULY
Summer bass on the lure
Summer salmon fishing on the Taw & Torridge its not just about the catching its good to just drift a fly across the river.
AUGUST
A trip to Cornwall and the delights of mackerel on light tackle…
Followed by bent rods and aching arms far off Lands End
And summer drifts into autumn
SEPTEMBER
Success is sweet when it comes my first salmon for several seasons after many hundreds of casts comes that delightful tug and well bent rod..belief is restored!
Autumn is a time for mullet but sometimes they’re not there or are rather small!
It was a good year on the lure…I just love it when they hit that lure. Sublime!
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A carp fishing interlude at Hacche Moor Carp Fishery
And then shark adventure number two with Jason Barrow and others
The trout seasons ends with the rivers low. I enjoy a last day nymphing on the Lyn. A week later the river is a raging torrent.
October
A good time to hit the beach as the sunsets earlier.
As winter approaches grayling are a fish that spring to mind and once again the Dorset Frome beckons..
A 2lb 12oz grayling my fish of the year!!
(Above) And when the seasons over there is always time for a riverside walk.
A last trip to Wimbleball
December
Winter Trout and Christmas at Blakewell
And as the years ends those familiar home waters call…..
Combe Martin SAC member Ross Stanway set his alarm for the early hours of 2021 and embraced the icy conditions to get his angling year underway. Fishing from a local rock mark spurdog, bull huss, conger or cod were the expected catch. The first fish to rattle the rod was small conger of around 6lb. Then Ross hooked into a good fish that fought hard and swam deep in the water. Ross was hopeful that he had hooked a rare double figure cod. To his surprise the culprit was a specimen smoothound scaling 12lb 9.5oz a fish more often associated with the spring, summer and autumn!
Bull Dog Trout Fishery is fast establishing a reputation for quality trout fishing with some superb trout caught over the Christmas period. The Day ticket water offers a variety of trout to double figures and is a sheltered venue just minutes from Barnstaple. Day Tickets are £30 for 4 fish or £35 for 5 fish.
Laurie with a Magnificent 8lb 12 oz rainbow. Reef Patten with a double figure rainbow(Above)Jon Patten with a fine brown trout(Above) Sean Mutch with a pleasing 3.5 lb brownie(Above) Harry Liddle with a fine bag of trout including rainbows 8 lb, 5lb 14oz, 6lb 6oz and 2lb followed by a 3 lb brownie.
Combe Martin SAC members enjoyed a trip with Steve Webber out of Minehead and caught a variety of species including, ray, conger, thornback and two double figure cod. Nick Phillips boated the best at 14lb and Stef Jones a cod of 11lb.
Dan Spearman tempted a fine brace of spur dog during a recent session on the North Devon coast. The spurs scaling 11lb 4oz and 11lb 2oz are reward for many hours spent on the dark rocks waiting for that distinctive rattle of the rod top.
I would like to wish all the readers of North Devon Angling News a Merry Christmas and fish filled New Year. Hopefully 2021 will bring a little more freedom. Special thanks to this who have supported North Devon Angling News since I started the website back in 2016.
Gary Strachan and his son Harry enjoyed a 36 hour session at Anglers Paradise’s Day Ticket Fatboy’s Lake where they banked 12 carp too 14lb. All of the fish were in immaculate condition and caught using 12 -mm pop ups. This was a welcome return to angling for Gary who has found his love of the sport rekindled with the opportunity to share fishing trips with his son. Gary commented to me on how the amount of gear carp anglers now carry contrasts to his younger days when you would take; “a flask, some sandwiches, a sleeping bag and perhaps a plastic sheet depending on the time of year? Fast forward 50 years and two trips with the carp barrow to set up. Yes it’s more comfortable without a doubt, but is it really that much more enjoyable?
I guess the essence still remains though perhaps its has all become a little formulaic with many anglers following a text book approach. I doubt it would seem more enjoyable if you turned the clock back to use those floppy old fibre glass carp rods and sun loungers that collapse as your trying to sleep. I recall with fondness camping in a pub car park close to the River Thames. I climbed into my tent after a visit to the pub and my sun lounger collapsed in a tangle of aluminium frames and canvas. Strange how looking back there is always a sense that things were better but I suspect thats just the joy and enthusiasm of youth.
Jamie Steward fished an up Channel mark and hooked into a surprise fish in the shape of a rare skate. The skate believed to be a blue skate (Common skate) is a very rare catch from the South-West of England and sets a new club record for the Combe Martin SAC. The skate weighed 8lb 3oz which its not big in skate terms as these fish grow to over 200lb’s. I wrote about the huge skate that were once caught off Lynmouth and the North Devon in my book “I Caught A Glimpse”. coast it would be exciting if these fish could once again establish a population in our region. I have made enquiry’s to try and establish a definite identification of the skate and will update this story when I have further expert opinion.
The skate has a large chunk missing from its wing indication that it has been attacked at some point by a large predator.’possibly a seal or shark. This is of course one of sea anglings great attractions in that you never know what lurks pithing casting range.
Jamie was fishing with fellow club member Ali Laird who caught a 20lb 3oz specimen conger.
