Bideford Angling Club members are saddened at the death of Arthur Johns aged 71 who had been a keen member since joining as a junior in the early sixties. He was a keen sea angler and specialised in catching the wily grey mullet. He was the secretary of the North Devon Sea Angling League for over twenty years and I enjoyed my regular chats with him when collating reports for the NDJ.
Many thanks to Bideford Angling Clubs Pete Skinner who sent me this warm tribute to Arthur.
(Above) Michael Squires (Left) and Arthur Johns – Two greatly missed members of Bideford Angling Club.
Arthur (Art) Johns 1949 – 2020 (71) Arthur first joined the club in the 1960s as a junior before joining the merchant navy, he rejoined in the mid 70s and has remained a member ever since. He was a hard worker for the club and held many posts in his time including junior cup organiser, Xmas comp and festival organiser, fish recorder and cup custodian, Chairman , president and Vice President the post he held when he passed away, he also worked hard for the club when we had our clubhouse behind the bar and various other jobs. He was secretary of the North Devon Sea Angling league for over 20 years, a job he was very proud of. Arthur was a keen sea angler, fishing a lot with his great friend Mike Squires, another Angling club stalwart who sadly passed away a short time ago, after which Arthur stopped fishing, he told me once that it wasn’t the same anymore, Arthur liked all types of fishing but he particularly enjoyed the intricacies if mullet fishing at which he excelled, winning many club competitions with specimens of the species. He was a great member of the club, with a keen interest in encouraging youngsters into our sport, he will be sorely missed.
Aiden Prouse age 7 from Barnstaple fished Anglers Paradise with his dad mark and caught his first catfish 20lb 10oz He was delighted to have tempted a fish of such a size; it will hopefully be the first of many big fish he catches.
Lower Tamar – Well done to Steve Owen who between him and his friend Matt they had 11 runs with this 24lb 2oz common being the best of the bunch and the smallest 14lb. They Also had several big bream!
(Below) Thomas ‘Rushers’ Rushby & Harry ‘HBomb’ Collins had a productive few days on the glorious Lower Tamar Reservoir in Devon.
The pair ended on 10 fish between them with a couple of unfortunate loses aswell. Tactics wise the boys put their faith in Sticky Baits Krill boilies fished alongside Lakebed Leads products.
(Above)Tarka Swims – General Coarse Lake – Bream, carp, tench, perch and roach.
Bideford Club was founded in the early sixties and is one of North Devons’s largest and most successful clubs with a multi discipline membership. The club runs two lakes for the use of members and has done a great deal to promote angling for local juniors.
The clubs lakes are disabled friendly, with all platforms being accessible.They are currently in the process of replacing existing platforms, with specific wheelchair friendly ones as recommended by the British disabled Angling association, who have accredited our site.
They run regular Coarse, Sea and Game fishing competitions.
Membership can be obtained by contacting Pete Skinner :- [email protected]
or by calling into Summerlands Tackle or Anglers Heaven.
2020 season. These must be paid before fishing TARKA swims or entering club run competitions.
Juniors Under 12. Free
Juniors. 12—18. £5 Sea , game competitions £10
Concessions 65+. £5 TARKA new members. £55 Concessions 65+.
TFFC was formed in 1959 & controls the fishing at Gammaton Reservoirs near Bideford.
The reservoirs are two lakes each being about 4 acres .They are set in a very picturesque location with views stretching to Bideford bay.
The lakes are predominantly stocked with rainbow trout although there are a few resident browns. The fish are fed for a week or so after stocking but then feed naturally on the abundant wild food in the lakes.There are plans to stock some more,
brownies as well as spartics , cheetahs & blues in September to add variety to the fishing.
Annual membership is limited to 40 anglers & costs £175. Members can catch up to six fish a week which can be taken or released.
Day tickets are £20 for 3 fish & are available from Summerlands in Westward Ho! Or Tarka Outdoor Pursuits in Torrington.
Lower Gammaton Treasurer, Jim White
Secretary/ Membership Secretary , Mike Ball 07899 742757 , [email protected]
Chairman & Facebook coordinator , Robert Chugg, 07491 931003, [email protected]
Treasurer, Jim White, 07843 628381, [email protected]
Ross Stanway has enjoyed a sublime evening off the North Devons spectacular coastline landing pollock and wrasse on his latest sortie.
The 3lb 3oz Ballan wrasse picture was tempted using a black minnow lure bounced along the bottom and sets a new boat caught Ballan wrasse record for CMSAC
Combe Martin SAC members Daniel Welch and Ross Stanway have enjoyed some great inshore boat sport from their Private Boats fishing out of Ilfracombe boating Pollock and smoothound.
Dan Welch with 12lb 8oz smoothound(Below) Ross Stanway – 6lb + pollock
It’s seems I have lost the knack of catching fish in these post lockdown days. The top priority in a fishing session is of course to enjoy it and to that end I am generally a highly successful angler. But it is nice, indeed essential that at some point connection is made with a fish!
After a difficult day at the wonderful Wimbleball reservoir and a couple of unsuccessful lure fishing trips after a bass. A day at the ever reliable Blakewell was planned with James. James was also in need of actually catching a fish having shared my lack of success with the lures.
Blakewell has been fishing exceptionally well since reopening with several stunning double figure trout caught.
I received the below report from Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club secretary David Richards :-
I fished Blakewell on Saturday you have to pre- Book £40 for six fish pay over phone so you don’t need to meet anyone, arrived at 8.30 two others guys fishing (max 12) although there wasn’t 12 there. Weed free fishing good sample 2x3lbs 4×2.5lbs. Fishing at the top of finger using a little black and blue dancer. The chap down about 20ft away hooked into a big trout after about 20 mins I helped him land a 13.2lb fish looking immaculate.
John Jobson below :-
Terri said can we have some trout please, always happy to oblige, opening day Blakewell get in ! biggest 14lb 2ozs, 13lbs 6ozs, new pb total wt 6 fish was 40lb 1oz. Freezers full , I’m shattered happy days , fantastic day out , thank you Richard and John, trout for tea I guess.
James and I arranged to meet in the carp park at 9:30am and with a strong south west wind( gale) blowing with intermittent cloud I was confident of success. We promptly tackled up and headed for the lake choosing a spot well away from the other four anglers.
It was an awesome late spring day beside the lake with bright yellow flag Iris lining the banks, electric blue damsel flies, birdsong reverberating all around and the fresh green leaves shimmering in the strong breeze. The lake had a tinge of colour and a well riffled surface.
We cast our lines expectantly and after just a few casts James glimpsed a big rainbow in the margin as it followed his lure. I fished a team of small imitative patterns a PTN on the point with two buzzers. I was surprised when after an hour we had both failed to connect.
Joint fishery owner Richard Nickel strolled over for a chat and talked eagerly about their plans for the fishery. As we chatted I missed two opportunities as the line tightened momentarily in a signal of successful deception. As with most recent conversations modern phrases dominated with COVID-19, lockdown, social distancing, post pandemic and the few positives of reduced air pollution the embracing of local business and a refocusing on family life. Richard and his brother John have great plans for Blakewell in the coming months and have some super specimens ready to stock over the coming weeks.
James hooked a trout that struggled free after a few moments giving hope that success would come. As we fished on we caught the occasional tantalising glimpse of large trout rising but our offerings failed to tempt.
As confidence started to ebb a strong pull brought momentary contact followed by that despairing moment of slack line. Next cast and I was in action and after a brief tussle secured a rainbow of a couple of pounds. At least I had avoided a blank!
We searched our fly boxes for inspiration and began to swap and change searching in vain for that effective combination of right fly, right retrieve and right depth.
Eventually we ran out time and had to admit defeat. It’s not often I have a bad day Stillwater trout fishing and I generally bank on Blakewell producing the goods relatively easily. Perhaps it’s good to have that occasional hard day to raise the appreciation of the good days.
To round the day off I arrived home to find that I had forgotten to replace the cameras memory card last time I downloaded and so I had no photos of those beautiful flag Iris.
(Above) A fine Blakewell Double of 14lb 8oz for an angler called Paul
