28 Nov 2019

LURE FISHING – SUCCESS IN PARADISE

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Lure Weekend which was another great success with lots of fish caught! Please find enclosed the Winners and pictures attached.

Aaron Chuck won the overall Competition and caught 6 Species consisting of Pike, Perch, Rudd, Golden Rudd, Rainbow Trout and an amazing 15lb Common Carp with a total of 210.5cms!! To catch a Carp on a Lure is pretty special! Runner up was Michael Molloy with 6 species and Third place was Thomas Wilson with 5 species.

Biggest Cat was caught by Thomas Wilson who managed to land a 133.5cm Wels Catfish which gave him the fight of his life and also his Team Captain Ben Humber caught a Catfish within the same hour measuring 130cm, great angling!

Biggest Trout was caught by Dominic Cooke, a Rainbow Trout measuring 50cm.

Biggest Perch was 37cm caught by Mark Hawitt, 2nd biggest was 36.5cm caught by Alan Dicks.

Biggest Pike was 65cm caught by Lee Paynton.

Winning Team was Team Fox with 7 Species totaling 359cms.

So lots of Fish were caught throughout the weekend a jolly good time was had by all having fun, making friends and fishing – what more you could you ask for!

Anglers Paradise

 

27 Nov 2019

MELBURY RESERVOIR CARP

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Aaron Jones sent us in this catch report from Melbury at the weekend. ‘After work session on melbury Friday night produced these 4 lovely carp to 18.14lb, all caught using Nash scopex squid off of the pre baited spot. 2 large hand fulls of 18mm baits over the spot after each capture kept them feeding’. Nice one Aaron…

Aaron Jones did a quick overnight session at  Melbury  and had been hauling again!!! Aaron said ‘After my Friday night session I decided to have another go last night and again they kept coming, all fish caught off the same pre baited spot of Nash scopex squid again topping up after each fish with 2 large handfuls of 18mm baits’. Aaron’s fish were 20lb 3oz, 17lb 4oz, 17lb and a low double.

26 Nov 2019

An Evening with Chris Yates

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In 1986 I remember eagerly collecting my copy of the book ‘Casting at the Sun’ by Christopher Yates. I read the book enthralled  from cover to cover as it described angling adventures on mystical lakes where great carp glided through mysterious waters. In my view the book is the best piece of angling literature ever written encompassing much of anglings true essence.

Thirty odd years later Pauline and I set off to listen to a talk by Chris at Pentridge Village hall in Wiltshire.

We left our farmhouse B & B on a  wet and misty evening in late November driving through tree lined rural village lanes. On such an evening the sat nav was a welcome guide to our destination. As we entered the village of Pentridge we were guided by signs to Chris Yates that eventually brought us to a chaotic assembly of randomly parked cars.

We entered the village hall that was packed with an audience predominated by men. It was pleasing to see a wide mix of ages with several younger faces smiling enthusiastically as they chatted, swapping tales of a predominantly piscatorial nature. The hall proved the perfect venue with its high ceiling and timeless décor that would I imagine have changed little in recent decades unlike many village halls that have been modernised and sanitised.

This was the third evening talk featuring Chris with each event selling out and raising substantial funds to assist in cancer research. Anglers had travelled from far and wide to listen to the talk with visitors from the Netherlands, South Wales and North Yorkshire to name a few.  What entices people to travel so far on a cold wet November night?

Chris arrived receiving a warm welcome from the packed hall and chatted warmly to all signing books and other paraphernalia. Winners of an auction to spend a day fishing with Chris were given special certificates and raffle prizes were announced as those present dug deep into their wallets in the hope of winning a valuable prize.

The event organiser Neil Martin introduced Chris to the audience who immediately adopted a hushed tone of anticipation. And so, the talk began with Chris announcing that he was not sure where the talk would lead. Starting off with his latest passion for marsh harriers Chris delivered a mesmerising talk that flowed easily reminiscing about fishing in rivers and lakes whilst weaving in fascinating stories of ghosts, lost friends and other adventures. The core essence of Chris’s delivery was one of fun, humour and a connection with the natural world.

After a lengthy break with more book signing it was time for the raffle draw with some stunning and memorable prizes on offer. I was delighted to win a Lucky Crucian carp float donated by Chris. A treasured memento of a special night.

The raffle was followed by a fascinating question and answer session between Chris and the audience covering more fishy tales, tactics and ghostly goings on.

 

And so, the evening drew to a close and we set off into the night our minds swimming with fish and countryside visions. Mr Yates is certainly an antidote to the negativity of this modern world.

 

Below – My recent book ” I Caught A Glimpse” Is available from – https://thelittleegretpress.co.uk

25 Nov 2019

Stafford Moor Carp

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Alan Clarke  fished up on swim 2 on lodge lake and had 11 fish out all caught on DT Baits n blend boilies & CWGB white wafter hook Baits.

(Below) Rob Shann caught this fine mirror carp of 23lb from Lodge Lake using Sticky baits Krill Boilies.

 

 

 

25 Nov 2019

Stafford Moor Charity Match – Raises £1100

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*Report from an amazing 48hr Charity Carp Match in Aid of Dean*

Well what can I say! Back from An absolutely fantastic weekend at the awesome Stafford Moor Fishery.

Raising money for my good friend Dean who has recently had a life changing injury where he lost all of his fingers on both hands.

Over the weekend pairs battled it out in a charitable carp fishing match at Stafford Moor Fishery in Devon. All monies raised from this weekend will help Dean and his family during this difficult period and help aid in his recovery.

31 fish were landed over the course of the 48hrs.

The winners were Mat and Cody Mitchell with 15 fish for 248lb 10oz

Second place went Jack Gabriel and Thomas Rushby with 10 fish for 189lb 2oz

Third place went to 3rd Matt and Ian Andrews. With 4 fish for 62lb 13oz

Biggest fish of the match fell to Thomas Rushby with a 32lb 10oz mirror.

Thank you very much to Jo and Paul and Stafford moor fishery for having us. A stunning fishery and extremely well run. Can’t wait to return.

A great weekend was had by all and massive thank you to everyone. congratulations to all the winners.

As part of this weekend, alongside the charity match, there was a raffle with many fantastic prizes on offer.

There was also an auction with a fantastic prize on offer for the highest bidder.

Thank you to all who entered and supported the raffle and auction.

A staggering and truly incredible amount of money has been raised over the course of the event. The sum raised was an amazing £1100. All of which has now been transferred to Deans crowdfunding page. Absolutely overwhelming! I can’t thank you all enough.

An absolutely huge thank you goes to the amazing people and companies for donating so many fantastic prizes in which encourages people to enter. Please see below and check them out for all your fishing, bait, tackle and golf. Truly awesome venues and companies and please look them up and support them.

Huge Thanks goes to

CR Baits, Crete lakes, Dreamlakes,Carp Society,Linear Fisheries, Bluebell lakes, White Springs Fishery,Digger Lakes, Stanwick Lakes, Caerphilly Angling Club, Lavender Hall Fishery,South West Lakes Trust, Stafford Moor Fishery, Cypography, Angling Direct,Pro Baits UK, Barr’s Angling, Lakebed leads, Big Fish, little fish tackle shop Liskeard, Fox Int,Wernduu Golf Club, Borringdon hall golf club, Arron Fisher, Leon Sprague, Andrew Riste,Tom Colloff, Ade Holmes.

Thank you all. It’s truly incredible and overwhelming and has gone a long way to helping aid Dean on his long road to recovery.

 

24 Nov 2019

Spurdog off Ilfracombe – Bluefin Charters

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Keith Armishaw enjoyed a Red letter day off Ilfracombe on Bluefin . Thanks to Keith for this report .. I had the chance to escape for days fishing with son  Lee who had never caught a spurdog – so we got on board Bluefin out of Ilfracombe with John Barbeary. I took plenty of muppets seeing the difference they made to the catch rate last time out. We started trying for bass but only had a couple on the flood tide, so it was on to the spurdog. Lee had a two bait rig and I used a single bait and what a trip it turned out to be, we had around 90 on the boat between 7 of us with Lee catching 30 up to 14lbs against my meagre 18. Jonathan weighed in with a couple of good huss and a conger but what a session. We then tried for bass on the return trip catching around around 30, and only 5 dogfish caught all day. We even headed in early as we were all fished out and didn’t fancy an inshore mark after the bass as this is where the dogs were taken. An unbelievable day…

24 Nov 2019

FLOUNDER COMPETITION RESULTS

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The flounder fishing season is in full swing in the estuary with several competitions this weekend. Results were mixed during the competitions with flounders prolific in some areas and very scarce in other areas. A few bass were also caught and returned in line with present regulations.

Combe Martin SAC

Matt Jefferey secured the top three places in Combe Martin SACs Flounder competition winning the competition with a fine flattie of 1lb 12oz.

1st Matt Jeffery 1lb 12oz

2nd Matt Jeffery 1lb 7oz

3rd Matt Jeffery 1lb 5oz Joint

4th with 1lb 2oz Jamie Stewart Dave Jenkins Daniel Laird

 

Jamie Steward with fine brace of flounder.

 

Ross Stanway with a pleasing 4lb + bass

Braunton Small Boat Club

1st Tracey Phipps 1lb 4oz

2nd Tracey Phipps 15oz

3rd Tracey Phipps 14oz 3rd Ian Anderson 14oz

TRIPLE HOOK CLUB – OPEN FLOUNDER

John Passmore secured victory in Triple Hook Clubs Open flounder competition with a flounder scaling 1lb 105/8oz. In runner up spot was Mark Beer with  flounder of 1lb 101/8oz and third Joan Cairns with a flounder of 1lb 71/2oz.

Late Result – last weekends Triple Hook Club – Croyde to Foreland  –

1st John Passmore – Bull huss 11lb 51/8oz and dogfish 1lb 11.5oz

 

 

21 Nov 2019

TORRIDGE FISHERY ASSOCIATION – NEWSREEL

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The River Torridge Fishery Association

President: Lord Clinton

 

Chairman: Paul Ashworth                                                                   Secretary: Charles Inniss

e-mail: [email protected]

 

NEWSREEL: WINTER 2019.

The salmon hatchery:  

            On Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th November we successfully trapped our 10 broodstock (5 hens and 5 cocks).  Four of the hens are about 9lb together with one superb fish in excess of 13lb. All the cock fish are in the 4.5lb range.  All the fish are in excellent condition  and are now being looked after back at the hatchery. We were concerned that with the rivers having been in full spate for the last six weeks all the salmon may have gone through the fish pass, but our worries were unfounded. Indeed there seems to be a steady run in the Okement which is very encouraging.

The lid of the main broodstock tank needed repairing and this was completed by Ken Dunn and David Williams in time to receive the broodstock.

Last year there was a high mortality from the eggs of one of the hens, so the team will be looking closely at out procedures for stripping and fertilising the eggs to minimise the risk of high mortalities.

Juvenile Surveys:

            During the summer the EA carried out juvenile surveys at a limited number of sites on the main river and major tributaries. The results were encouraging. The site at Okehampton Castle on the River Okement always produces good results but this year it was quite outstanding particularly with the numbers of salmon parr.

The Annual Dinner and Raffle:

Another superb evening at The Half Moon. 47 of us enjoyed an excellent meal followed by the raffle and auction. Once again member support for the annual raffle was tremendous and over £1,500 was raised which will go towards continuing our efforts to improve the fishing on this beautiful river. In particular this money is used to finance the running of the hatchery. Particular thanks to Paul Ashworth, our Chairman, and his wife Geraldine who organised the raffle and the auction which as always went off without a hitch with the usual wonderful array of prizes.

The Fishing Season:

Following on from 2018 the salmon anglers were hoping for more water and more fish: but it was not to be. It has been another season with predominantly low flows with few salmon caught. We were all hoping that the autumn rains would arrive in time to provide some good fishing at the back end of the season. The rains did arrive but our weather went from one extreme to another. The river was in full spate for the last 10 days of the season and since then there has hardly been a dry day. In the last fortnight there have been two large floods, with the river over the top of the hedges at Sheepwash on 25th October.

The brown trout fishing in May and June was at times quite outstanding. Often although there was little surface activity anglers who persevered with a dry fly were rewarded with some excellent catches. As in 2018 several trout upwards of 2lb have been caught.

There seemed to be a better run of sea trout this year. A small spate in June encouraged fish to move upstream and they spread throughout the system. I haven’t heard of any very large sea trout being caught and the main run seems to have been in the 2/3lb range with some fish up to 5lb.

 

21 Nov 2019

A Bit of Flounder Fishing

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The humble flounder of the estuary have a certain appeal that I had somehow forgotten having neglected the species for several seasons. Our son James seemed keen for a short session so having gratefully secured a pound of worms from a local bait digger we found ourselves surveying the bleak cold and grey expanse of the estuary. We had arrived just before the flooding tide and the first hour passed by without any action. But it was  good to be by the water watching the plentiful bird life on the exposed mud banks.

I have fond memories of fishing the area back in the late seventies with my cousin who would take me fishing on cold frosty evenings to fish from the railway line that was at that time still in partial use running to Bideford. As the tide started to slow the downstream flow I caught the first flounder of the day that was quickly slipped back.

Shorty after retreating onto the higher bank my rod tip gave a couple of nods. A few minutes later I was pleased to feel a weighty flattie pulsating on the line and hanging deep as it approached the shoreline. A plump flounder of 1lb 11oz was a good result and a good omen for Combe Martin SAC’s Flounder competition and Triple Hooks Open Flounder Competitions this weekend.

Having caught a couple I was hoping James would get in on the action before we packed up.  His rod tip gave a few gentle nods resulting in a double shot of flounder to end the session.

I really must make sure I enjoy a few more sessions after these obliging flatfish that will often give sport when little else is happening. I intend to try caching a few on ultra light LRF tactics as I have caught them on the open coast using jig heads and Isome worms. The latest book on Lure Fishing by Dominic Garnett has a chapter dedicated to this type of fishing. I have also caught flounder in the past trotting a bunch of ragworm beneath a float using ultra light coarse tackle; great fun!