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.
Stef Jones enjoyed his first trip of the summer out in his Private Boat to land several smoothound and a fine tope of 41lb.
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.
Chris Ayre fished a 48 hour session on the Inlet swim on Beatties lake and had 9 fish out including a new lake record of 36lb along with other carp of 31lb and 29lb. All the fish were tempted using Mainline Hybrid boilies.
(Below) Nigel Bassett fished on swim 2 (sunset swim) on lodge lake. Nigel had out 14 Carp to 29lb 12oz. Nigel was fishing with Sticky baits Manilla 12mm wafters.
(Below) Clive Ashford who has had 7 carp out up to 27lb 13oz from swim 14 (beach 1) on lodge lake yesterday . Clive was fishing with Sticky baits krill and CC moor pacific tuna boilies.
Dan Spearman enjoyed an action packed session spinning for thin lipped grey mullet on a North Devon Estuary.
Combe Martin SAC member Ross Stanway caught this stunning wrasse of 3lb 7.5oz on a recent trip to a North Devon Rock Mark. Big wrasse have become harder to find in recent years. During the 1980’s wrasse of over 5lb were a regular feature in fishing competitions. It is unclear why the population of these beautifully marked fish have declined. They are caught in large numbers and shipped to Scotland for use in fish farms where they control the sea lice that infest the salmon but I am not aware of a large number being taken from the North Devon coast.
I had been itching to get back to Wimbleball after lockdown and booked half a day off work mid-week hoping it wouldn’t be too busy. It probably wasn’t the best day to have chosen; the hottest day of the year so far with a cloudless sky. Despite this I arrived full of optimism despite the conditions and headed for Rugg’s bay where there was plenty of room to fish and maintain social distance.
The far bank was full of families and young people soaking up the sun and whilst at first this seemed a little concerning I deemed that several groups may well be from single households. In any case the sounds of fun and laughter drifting across the water was welcome after months of doom and gloom. I am growing increasingly tired of the bitching and blaming that has manifested itself as the COVID crisis has unfolded. Apply a bit of common sense follow the rules and accept that there is always a bit of risk in life.
The walk to the lake along a buttercup lined footpath with young lambs playing in the fields was a delightful start to the afternoon and it was truly good to be alive and out in the English countryside.
I set up a floating line and a team of imitative patterns, a gold-head PTN on the point, a buzzer on the middle dropper and a diawl bach on the top dropper. I was surprised just how far the reservoir had dropped since my last visit back on opening day on March 1st when the lake was full to the brim.
Wading out into the cool clear water I extended the line across the water. Paused to allow the flies to sink a little and started a slow figure of eight retrieve. I expected a pull at any second as I settled into the session. Swallows and martins swooped over the water and birdsong resonated all around.
I kept an eye on other anglers around the lake and caught sight of the occasional bent rod and flurry of foam as a fish neared the net. After about an hour starting the line zipped tight and a hard fighting rainbow of around 3lb posed for the camera.
I fished on optimistically changing the flies from time to time but sticking to the slow imitative approach because that is what I had expected to work.
Slowly as the afternoon slipped into evening I began to lose some of that early confidence. Whilst the occasional fish rose further out it was clear that the hoped for evening rise was not going to happen.
I should perhaps have changed to slow sink line and gone deeper with a lure but on this occasion I had perhaps become too content just enjoying the day going through the motions of fishing the fly.
I drove home as the sun set over Exmoor thinking of my return to the lake in the not to distant future.
David Jenkins banked this thin lipped grey mullet of 3lb 12oz during a recent session on the Taw Estuary. Fellow Combe Martin SAC member Graham Snow banked a thin lip of 3lb 12.5oz.
(Below)Ian Geary with banked this stunning 26lb 8oz carp from Lower Slade near Ilfracombe.
Dave Bellew (Below) fished Upper Tamar and banked this amazing mirror at 18lb and followed it up with a new 30 at 32lb 4oz! This common was stocked 18 months ago at 26.02lbs.
