I enjoyed a couple of hours on the Mid Torridge last evening with the river in perfect trim. As I fished carefully down a favourite run the line zipped tight and there was a flurry of spray as I lifted the rod. “Dam” I exclaimed as the rod sprung back and line hung limp. First hook up this season and its off in a few seconds. This bodes well though as there are plenty of salmon throughout the system and so long as we have few wet spells I am sure there will be more chances.
Day ticket opportunitys exist at Little Warham a couple of mile above where I hooked my fish.
Dan Miles Redmore landed this stunning 8lb 7oz bass from a local shore mark.
(Above) Ollie Passmore with a double figure conger from a local shore mark.
(Above) Ross Stanway with a fine bull huss of 11lb 9oz tempted whilst bass fishing with a light weight 2oz to 4oz bass rod.
John Shapland has a slender lead in Combe Martin SAC’s two month long species hunt sponsored by Ilfracombe’s High Street Tackle adding the a above gilthead bream to bring his total to 33 species. Dan Welch is currently on 30 species but will am sure be gong all out to catch up.
Stafford Moor regular Steve Pinn ( The BIvvy Tramp) sent me this awesome image of a mid double from Lodge Lake.
Above a couple more doubles for Steve Pinn.
Andy David Honey and friend Rob fished on the beach swim on Beattie’s and landed many carp out up to 29lb (Robs new pb) using C C Moore live system boilie.
(Below)John and Adam Atkins caught several carp from the back bays in Beattie’s Lake using Sticky Baits Krill boilies.
There is a winter ticket now available to buy for Stafford Moors specimen lakes Beattie’s and Lodge lakes. The ticket runs from 4th December until 2nd March (am Monday- am Friday). The ticket is £150 If you are interested in a ticket you can register with Jo now in which you then have 4 weeks to pay for your ticket. Call Jo in the shop on 01805804360
I once rather naively thought that fish farms were a good thing in that rearing salmon would reduce the demand for wild fish and eradicate the threat of poaching and commercial harvesting. Many years later I see fish farms as a menace and a very real threat to wild salmon stocks and other fish. The much publicized concerns regarding sea lice infestations and potential genetic issues with farmed fish mingling with wild stocks are just a couple of issues.
The Angling Trust have just publicized a campaign to halt the use of West Country Wrasse to control sea lice infestations in Scottish salmon farms.
Whilst I have not got any degree of scientific expertise I have grave concerns regarding other aspects of fish farming. I have recollections of statistics revealing that 5 kilos of fish meal is used to produce 1 kilo of salmon. Fish meal is basically ground down fish such as sandeel and mackerel both vital links in the aquatic food chain.
Whilst in Norway recently we caught cod and halibut with their stomachs full of pellets. These fish had undoubtedly been feeding from the spillings of food from the growing number of salmon farms. Many of the cod, coalfish and halibut also had large numbers of sea-lice on them. I do not know if this is normal or if numbers of sea lice have multiplied in recent seasons? At times there appeared to be an oily slick on the water was this pollution from the salmon farms? It is alarming if as I suspect this pristine arctic environment is being tarnished by commercial farming of salmon.
These issues are of course complex as we need to eat and we have probably all eaten farmed salmon and have not given any thought to the costs to the environment.
Jack Scott fished Lodge Lake with brother Ben. They fished on the double swim in the spit and landed 8 fish out up to 18lb using Sticky Manilla & Krill boilies.
Conner Nettleton fished on the inlet swim on Beattie’s using CC Moore live system boilies, he had 5 fish out in 24 hours.
Peter Tyjas of the Devon School of Fly Fishing tempted this fine salmon from a Taw beat earlier this week one of numerous salmon landed from the river and its main tributary the Mole. Chris Windsor landed a 16lb salmon from the Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats; one of many double figure fish caught over the past fortnight. John Kenyon and Richard Jewel tempted grilse estimated at 5lb from this same stretch of day ticket water. Information on fishing can be obtained from the Rising Sun at Umberleigh.
Matt Ling did a quick session at Jennetts for 4 hours on the point and after losing a fish and blanking in the previous two sessions he decided to give it another go before his holiday finished and was rewarded with 2 fish in the short session. The largest was a 22lb 6oz common the other being a 11lb 4oz common both caught on multi rigs cast to the reeds on 12mm pop ups with a small scattering of freebies.
Anglers Paradise recently held a Kid’s Fishing Day that was a great success raising money for the local school and also encouraging the younger generation to fish!
Here are some pictures of the recent Kid’s Fishing Day at Anglers Eldorado, where Angling Coach Tommy Flower offered his services for a day to help kids learn to fish and to help those that already fish to further their angling knowledge.
It really was a wonderful day, the kids loved it from ages 3 up to the age of 12, some had fished before and others hadn’t, but every single one of them loved it which is exactly why we wanted to do it.
Here are some of the magic moments we shared, we hope to do more Kid’s Fishing Days in the future to encourage and help, as they are the future of this sport and it’s great to see more younger ones enjoying the sport like we do!
Thank you to all the Kids that joined in, you were all FABULOUS and a Special Thank You to Tommy Flower and his assistant Adam May – What you did was what Angling should always be about – Enjoying the Sport, Helping Others and of course keeping the Angling Passion going! Also special thanks to Skretting for donating the bait for the event. All proceeds raised will go to Halwill Primary School.
