Predator 2 took a party of local anglers to explore the lure fishing opportunities off the spectacular North Devon Coast. I expect to see plenty more from Predator 2 over the coming seasons.
“Great evening out with a group of mates on the lure gear this evening catching bass, wrasse and pollack.”
Mainline Baits Pairs competition – Friday 19 July – Sunday 21st July 2024 The Mainline Baits Carp Pairs competitions are held at our fantastic 81-acre fishery, Upper Tamar Lake. This is a fun, friendly competition, open to all, with some fantastic prizes up for grabs! The competition is limited to 34 pairs so book your place now to avoid disappointment 👇https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/mainline-baits-carp-open-pairs-competitions or 01566 771930 1st Prize – £2000 2nd Prize – £1000 3rd Prize – £500 There are also prizes for biggest fish and section winners up for grabs. Each person who enters will get a goody bag with some fantastic Mainline products inside. All tackle and equipment is transported to and from your swim. There is also a full menu for the weekend with food delivered directly to your swim!
June 2024
The weather continues to warm up, as have the water temperatures (in spite of unseasonably cold nights and some cooler breezes), with steady insect activity, and fish feeding well either on or just below the surface; some wet days and heavy downpours of rain have meant that most of the reservoirs are still all at top level.
Fishing:
Kennick – Anglers averaged 2.6 fish per rod over the month, with fish continuing to be well spread out around the lake. Bank anglers enjoyed slightly more success than the boats, with The Narrows, The Lawns, Boat Bank, Laployd, Smithacott and Poplar Bay banks fishing particularly well, and boats catching well in the deeper central water. Natural airborne beetles, caddis, crane-flies and hatching Damsels have meant that many fish have been feeding on or near the surface, with anglers catching well using Foam Beetles, Black Hoppers, Daddies, Sedges, Hawthorns, Claret Snafflers and Emergers on the surface, using floating lines with long leaders and a slow retrieve. Subsurface feeders have been caught on Damsel Nymphs, Buzzers, Montanas, Bloodworms and Diawl Bachs, while lure anglers caught using Cats Whiskers and Boobies. Peter Gilpin (from Newton Abbot) caught ten rainbows to 3lb 9oz in one session, mainly on Black and Green Boobies; Ben Garnett (from Kenn) caught a 2lb 9oz rainbow while fishing in the early evening, casting to a feeding fish in Boat Bay, using a Diawl Bach; Alex Jackson caught a bag of four fish to 2lb 8oz, casting to topping fish along the West Bank. The annual Peninsula Classic bank competition, sponsored this year by Turralls, was won by Alex Venn, catching a bag of seven fish, weighing in at 13lb 12oz; Alex Jackson (from Australia) took second place with five fish, weighing 9lb 12oz; John Hern (from Exeter) caught the biggest fish of the day – a rainbow of 2lb 8oz.
Siblyback – This fishery continued to provide some excellent fishing, with anglers averaging 4.7 fish per rod, with the North Bank, Two Meadows, Stocky Bay and Crylla Bay producing the most consistent sport (although fish have been caught all over the lake, and seem to be well spread out). Plenty of air-born beetles and hatching buzzers meant that the fish were eager to look up to the surface to feed, with Beetles, Hawthorns, Sedges, Coch-y-bondhus and Hoppers all catching well. Deeper feeding fish were caught on a selection of nymph patterns (Damsel Nymphs, Gold Head Hares Ears, Montanas and Diawl Bachs) and lures (Boobies, Tadpoles, Orange Blobs, Orange Baby Dolls and Vivas). Ron Wilday (from Liskeard) had some excellent sessions, the best producing a bag of twelve rainbows (to 2lb) and one brown while fishing one morning in Stocky Bay, with fish feeding close to the surface.
Burrator – Anglers averaged 2.34 fish per rod over the month, with Longstone, Bennetts, Sheepstor and Pig Trough producing the best sport. Sedge hatches produced the best surface feeding activity, when fish were caught using Black Gnats, Daddy Longlegs, Hoppers (black and red) and Beetle imitations. Fish could, however, be caught at all depths, when Montanas, Crunchers, Damsel Nymphs, Orange Blobs and Tadpoles all succeeded in catching fish. Roger Prout (from Pensilva) caught a bag of ten rainbows in a session of very mixed weather conditions, using a floating line with a midge-tip, either with fast strips using a Cormorant, or a static line with Buzzers and Beetles. Allan Lawson (from Plymouth) caught a bag of five rainbows to 1lb 12oz and a brown using both a floater and slow-sink line; Andy Lawson (from Plymouth) caught a bag of six rainbow to 1lb 8oz, either stripping white lures on an intermediate line, or using dry Black Caddis and Beetle patterns fished very slowly.
Stithians – The lake continued to produce some excellent sport, with anglers averaging 3.6 fish per rod, and fish still well spread out around the lake (Pipe Bay, Yellowort, Goonlaze, Pipe Bay and Sailing Club Bank all received regular mentions on catch returns). Buzzer hatches and air-born beetles meant that there was plenty of surface action, with dry Daddies, Hawthorns, Hoppers, Black Gnats, Beetle patterns and buzzer emergers all catching well. Damsel Nymphs, Hares Ears, Diawl Bachs and Black and Peacock spiders all caught deeper feeders, mainly fished on a floating line.
Fernworthy – Most of the fish caught this month have been on or near the surface, either on dry patterns (Beetles, Hoppers, Bobs Bits, Sedgehogs and Black Gnats), or nymphs (Diawl Bach, Pheasant Tail and Spiders) and larger patterns (Soldier Palmer, Invicta and Bibio) fished just under the surface and cast to feeding fish. The most productive areas included Brownhills, Thornworthy, Permit Hut bank and near the dam.
Colliford – The fishing continued to improve this month, with rods averaging five fish per angler, with the preferred locations including Fishery Hut bank, Lords Waste and the banks by the dam. The browns were looking to the surface to feed on beetles blown onto the water, and floating lines with long leaders produced the best results. Coch-y-bondus and foam beetle patterns, along with Sedges and Hoppers, caught well on the surface, otherwise pulled lure patterns (Soldier Palmer, Zonker, Black Mini muddler, Bloodworm and Bushy Blob) fished just under the surface attracted fish. Included in the nice bags caught in the month were Chris Tillyard (from Fraddon), catching eleven browns to 1lb 8oz in an evening session, using Black and Peacock spiders and Hoppers; Dean Boucher (from Gunnislake) caught eleven browns, all on pulled wets in one session, and twelve fish to 15” on Beetles, Hoppers and slow-retrieve team of nymphs in another; Paul Mockford (from St Wenn) caught eight browns to 1lb 8oz on beetle patterns.
Roadford – Floating lines with long leaders proved to be the best combination, with fish taking a variety of patterns, including Humungous, Sedgehog, Buzzers, Damsel nymphs, as well as the more traditional Coachman and Whickhams Fancy. Fish were well spread out, with Wortha, Shop Inlet and Grinnacombe all proving popular. Rodeny Wevill (from Lifton) caught four browns to 2lb, using a floating line with a long leader and fishing slow and deep, with the best sport in the last hour before sunset.
Please see the Trust’s website (www.swlakestrust.org.uk/trout-fishing) for more information on buying tickets, boat availability and booking, and forthcoming events. The Trust, in conjunction with Fluff Chuckers, will be running a Brown Trout Masters competition this season, to be held over three dates at Colliford, Fernworthy and Roadford – please see the website for more information.
Chris Hall (June 2024)
ENDS
LATEST REPORT FROM BULLDOG TROUT LAKE
As luck would have it he landed not one but two Tigers on his 6 fish ticket!
Heady June Summer Days |
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Warm sun, the heady scent of honeysuckle in the hedgerows, the excitement of the first sea trout coming through and it seems those bitter northeast winds of last week have been relegated to nothing but a distant fading memory. Thank goodness summer is finally here!
There has been much excitement after a very successful, slightly windy but warm and balmy day up on the North Devon shoreline, with several well sized sea bass caught. Slightly closer to home on the Lower Lyd, it was the sea trout coming through that had the Fishing Shop buzzing with excitement. A total of 5 were caught last week with the largest coming in at 3 lbs and a couple in at 2.5 lbs. More generally, on the rivers there are still plenty of hatches to be found and when they come it can be fantastic with some 20 wild brown trout caught in just a couple of hours.
The Arundell gardens are now well and truly in their full June glory. Rambling pink roses, the delicate green of the euphorbia, the exotic aroma of the yellow yarrow and the occasional bright flash of the lupins. An English country garden at its best and its wonderful to see the Afternoon Teas on the terrace are in full swing!
For those with young children, don’t forget that on the last two Saturdays in July (20th & 27th) and most Saturdays in August (3rd, 10th, 24th & 31st) we will be offering our 1 hr introduction to fly fishing lessons down at the lake. Booking essential.
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Combe Martin SAC member Toby Bassett enjoyed great sport fishing on Bluefin out of Ilfracombe baoting tope and bull huss.
After getting lucky enough to catch a salmon in April from the Torridge this year, many further fruitless sessions followed, leading me to switch my attention to bass fishing earlier in the season than I normally would. It was obviously a lucky April for me, as somehow on my second session of the year I managed a 67cm fish, and I am yet to catch a bigger one this season in the pursuit of a 70cm+ fish on a lure. However, because of all the time and effort I have been putting in, I have managed some nice fish, albeit not monsters for some, which can be seen in the pictures shown. The excitement never wears out for me with these fish, particularly when caught on surface lures.
As I’m sure is the case with many others in the North Devon area, bass are probably my favourite fish to target throughout the season and I feel we are blessed as anglers to have so much different ground to fish from the estuaries to the open coast. I’ve been a member of the North Devon Bass Lure fishing page on Facebook for a couple of years now, but last year I started to post fish I caught on the page. This resulted in me getting chatting to a couple of good lads who I’ve subsequently done some sessions with, sharing marks and as always learning new things about people’s preferred tactics and lures etc. As much as I love the solitude of fishing, going out with others has been thoroughly enjoyable and I believe social media pages such as this are going to be crucial in getting the younger generations into fishing going forward.
In addition to the local page, I would also give mention to UKBLF where people from all over the UK chat all things bass lure fishing and share their catches. Through this Facebook page, I discovered we are lucky enough to have one of the leading stockists of bass lures in the UK in Ilfracombe at Highstreet tackle. A lot of the fish I have caught so far this year have been on Savage Gear gravity stick paddle tails or the IMA Chappy, both of which I purchased there. It really is like a sweetshop in there however and easy to get carried away as a prewarning.
As is usually the case, I anticipate the bass fishing to only get better as the season progresses and hopefully, I’ll surpass the 70cm mark as it gets towards September/ October. Whilst Bass fishing can be hard graft at times, it is all made worth it when you put the leg work in and it pays off in the end.
Combe Martin SAC member Ollie Passmore has been targetting gilthead bream and enjoyed success with this awesome specimen of 6lb 10oz. The fish has a local specimen rating of 220%.
