7 Oct 2020

Appledore Shipbuilders – End of Season Rover

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Appledore Shipbuilders last Rover of their season coincided with a weather forecast that was atrocious which must have put a few people off as only 9 people fished the comp. Well done to those who braved the weather.
Congratulations go to James Atkinson who managed to Catch 3 fish to weigh and these gave him all 3 places. A fine Specimen Bull Huss of 11lb 8 1/2ozs was the best fish. Another Bull Huss of 6lb 13 1/2ozs gave him 2nd and a Dogfish of 2lb 6ozs was enough for 3rd.
Michael Hammett had a lovely wrasse of 3lb 10ozs which was 0.5% short of the places and Steve Ford managed a nice Flounder of 1lb 6ozs.
James effort today helped him to secure the Shore Championship.
He went into the day needing at least first and second place to overtake Jazza Johns at the top and by securing all 3 places ended up with a 6 point winning margin!
6 Oct 2020

North Devon Match Group Winter League No.1 Wooda lakes ; Results

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North Devon Match Group Winter League No.1 Wooda lakes ; Results

1st Martin Turner 61lb 13oz

2nd Tim Brown 58lb 9oz

3rd Bruce Hunt 57lb 8oz

4th Graham Currington 51lb 1oz

5th John Lisle 48lb 2oz

6th Nathan Underwood 47lb 0oz .

Sell out 20 fished in atrocious conditions, constant heavy rain and gale force winds. The slightly more sheltered corner of lake 4 allowed winner , Martin to present corn and red maggot over micros in the margins. Second place Tim , fished the feeder to the island also on lake 4 , third spot and best weight on lake 3 was Tiverton’s Bruce Hunt.

4 Oct 2020

West and Woon scoop £2000 with Mainline Pairs win……in brutal conditions

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West and Woon scoop £2000 with Mainline Pairs win……
What a weekend here at Upper Tamar for the Mainline Baits carp open pairs!
42 carp caught by 19 pairs in brutal conditions!
Massive thankyou to our sponsor Mainline Baits and John Kneebone in particular for their ongoing and generous support. The prize winners were:
1st place George West and Andy Woon peg 12 with 7 fish for 84lbs. They win £2000
2nd were Ben and Matt Cooper with 7 fish from peg 20 for 74lb 13oz. They win £1000
3rd place were Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke who had 5 fish for 63lb 10oz from peg 26. They win £500
Largest fish (not finishing in top 3) was Jason McEvoy with a 24lb 11oz common. He won a box of Mainline PVA and spod mix and a Baseball cap.
Smallest fish (not in the top three) was Matt Pepperell with a 7lb 15oz mirror. He won a box of Mainline PVA and spod mix and a Baseball cap.
Section winners winning 5kg of Mainline freezer boilies were:
pegs 1-9 were Chris Hudson and Matt Pepperell. 4 fish for 60lb 15oz peg 9
Pegs 10-18 were Barry Hazleden and Mark Brett with 2 fish for 32lb 11oz
Pegs 19-26 were Scott and David Bowden with 2 fish for 23lb 8oz
Pegs 27-35 were Karl Yates and Allan Jones with two fish for 30lb 13oz
Full results are in the pictures.
Next competition is Mainline singles 6-8 November. Entries on 01566771930
4 Oct 2020

An Autumn Spate

by | posted in: At the Waters Edge, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

What a difference a week makes! Last week I made my last casts of the 2020 river season for wild brown trout on the beautiful river Lyn with the river showing its bones following a dry September. This morning the river is a raging torrent a cold North Wind swirling in the valley. Salmon are undoubtedly forging up river ready to spawn in a month or so’s time.

 

 The East Lyn September 27th 2020

Note the debris on the footpath indicating where the river level was the previous day!

 

3 Oct 2020

South Wales Ray for North Devon angler

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Dan Spearman visited the South Wales Coastline ( Before the local lockdown) to target the fantastic ray fishing on offer. His journey was rewarded with this fine specimen blonde ray that pulled the scales to 17lb 5oz. The welsh coastline seems to be far more productive than the North Devon coast in recent seasons with ray, tope and smoothound fishing all making the headlines. Is this in part due to more anglers fishing or is it a better fishing area to due a healthier fishery environment?

3 Oct 2020

Carp anglers battle on through stormy conditions

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Carp anglers are enduring stormy conditions at Upper Tamar Lake fishing the Upper Tamar Mainline Baits Carp Pair Competition.

The gale force winds and heavy rain are proving to ideal catching competitions with a succession of good fish coming to the bank. The competition ends on Sunday when I imagine the competitors will all be a little weary and weather warn. Modern clothing and quality bivvies ensure that fishing in such extreme weather is viable.

Overnight Mainline competition update….
Matt Pepperell and Chris Hudson have landed two fish on peg 9 (end of the arm). A 13.06
Common and a lovely 24.02 common in the rain!
George West and Andy Woon land there fourth fish, a 7.07 common to move further away in the lead from peg 12.
Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke landed there second this time a 11.14 common from peg 26.
Jon Gibbons and Damion Braund caught a lovely 20.12 common from peg 14.
Dan Gay and Andy Pickering had a 9.09 fish from peg 31.
2 Oct 2020

Congratulations to young North Devon Angler Jack Welch

by | posted in: Coarse Fishing, Sidebar | 0
Congratulations to young North Devon Angler Jack Welch who has banked one of the largest Zander ever caught from UK waters. The full account from Jon Patten below :-
“I would like to say a massive congratulations to my eldest son
Because Jack has caught a fish of a life time… An immense freshwater fish… For my sea fishing friends this is the equivelant of a 74lb tope or 20lb bass… Freshwater wise a 44lb pike
Huge fish
Jack and I had spent the day fishing up country to no avail… So I mentioned to Jack about doing a couple of hours predator fishing on the way home as we still had 3hrs if not longer to run home…. Little did we know what this would lead on to
Rods and reels set up… My new Shimano 6000 Oc baitrunners came into play
Frozen Baits deployed
Jack and I yapped as we fished this new area for pike and Zander
My bite alarm registered a bite… Which I saw anyway as I’m always looking for a bite
The net saw a small pike quickly landed and returned
Now the stars aligned for Jack as he had several fine Zander which unhooked and carefully put back so as not to harm them… I had another pike
Jack was in the zone as several more Zs came to the net for him
We were side by side… Using the same bait and rigs
Jack was enjoying the fishing and banter so much that he nearly didn’t see a one toner… Amazing bite
He struck but alas into thin air… Best bite of the night….. Missed
I might aswell have packed my rods away lol
Now I have tried to teach Jack and his younger brother Reef everything I know… Even starting them off at a very young age whereupon they have fished all around the world… Very lucky boys but both very accomplished in there own right
Now jack was told that we were leaving in 30minutes… His head hung low as he knew that he had missed the best bite of the night
When luck is with you… Lady luck smiles
Not more than a few minutes later Jack had another one toner… His reactions were fast he was concentrating as he lifted the rod to strike…. Omg that rod creaked under the weight… Line scream out before settling into a very heavy dogged fight… Changing directions every few minutes
Jack said I have pike… I knew from the fight it was a big Z
It came at the net like a freight train where I has to give it a couple of scoops to get it in the net before it would go in all the way
Holy hell…. I had a big Z a few weeks earlier… This eclipsed that
Ah man such a lite hook hold
We allowed her to recover in the net and then when she was right we weigh her…. Omg 23lb which would break the record… We weighed her again and again 23lb
Lol I was really fatigued and I realised that we were weighing a wet weigh sling
A dry net bag… Re zeroed in the scales and Holy moly one of the biggest Zander ever caught at 19lb 4oz from the bank… Jack had said that he felt the line rubbing on some underwater snags… With at hook hold he was indeed lucky to have landed such a magnificent fish
Now I’m a firm believer that if its going to cause a fish harm to get them back very quick into the water… Especially the big ones
After a couple of pics she was released… Ah man she looked grand to have Swan away so strongly… I was emotional
I have search for a fish like that for years but couldn’t be happier than I was for my eldest son Jack that night… High fives and a massive man hug from Dad
I looked at Jack 23yrs old now proudly and thought you have been listening every word I said and everything that I’ve taught you
A massive congratulation Jacko on such an amazing fish brother… A true fish of a lifetime… A mahooosive fish from the bank with all the odds stacked against… Snag wise
A massive thankyou to all of my sponsors who sponsor me Especially Shimano who help me which in turn allow me to help others within our sport and to my England team mates which encourage us to keep going through all the tough sessions
For any of you that want to try Zander fishing
I fish the Thames.. The Trent.. The Severn… The Avon… The Oxford canal… The Glouster Canal and several other places aswell 😜
Motivation equals reward”
28 Sep 2020

Shore Caught tope – 47lb 13oz

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Jamie Stewards efforts were rewarded when he landed this specimen shore caught tope of 47lb 13oz. Tope are one of the shore anglers greatest challenges and often require many hours of dedication to hook and land. The landing of such fish is often a team effort as in this case with Jamies good friend Chay Boggis lending a hand at the critical moment.

28 Sep 2020

Sixty Perch four over 3lb – Roadford Bonanza

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Roadford Perch success for John Deprieelle with four fish over 3lbs!
“These were the best of the day. Only started late afternoon and ended up with 60 odd fish. Mostly up to a pound in weight but topped off with these 4 and lost an even bigger one close to the boat. Great sport on soft plastic lures fished at various depths. The key was to keep moving until you find them. If you’re not catching then don’t hang around.”