Combe Martin SAC members Martin Huntingdon and Stef Jones enjoyed some exciting spurdog fishing on a Private boat off the North Devon Coast. The best at 16lb 8oz fell to Stef with Martins best scaling 15lb 8oz.
Stefan also enjoyed some excellant pollock sport off Beer aboard Orca Charters boating a pollock of 9lb 2oz.
Charter boats Reel Deal and Predator 2 are taking anglers to the deep waters off Ilfracombe where huge numbers of spurdog are intercepting baits. Bull huss and conger are also featuring in catches.
Chris Connaughton who works at Quay Sports has banked a carp known as the bullet at a weight of 44lb 12oz from Hacche Moor Fishery near South Molton. The capture of such a fine carp highlights the journey carp fishing has been on over the past 70 years. In 1952 Richard Walker banked a carp weighing 44lb from the legendary Redmire Pool on the Welsh Borders. The carp made headlines and beat the previous record of 26lb caught by Albert Buckley in 1930. Walker’s record stood until 1980 when Chris Yates caught a carp of 51lb 8oz from the same pool. The record has been broken on numerous occasions since 1980 and I like I suspect many others have lost track of the carp record. Today’s carp anglers are very fortunate to have carp dwelling across the country that exceed those old milestones in fishing history. In North Devon there are numerous waters that contain carp of over forty pounds. This is a reflection on fishery owners, fish breeders, anglers’ baits and the potentially changing climate.
In North Devon we have several waters that would rival Redmire’s stock of carp.
Combe Martin SAC member Shaun Quartly fished a beach in Somerset targetting ray and was surpised when he reeled in a small red coloured fish that swallowed the hooks down deep. The fish is believed to be a bluemouth a rare visitor to English waters. The fish weighed 6oz and is the first one ever recorded by a club member.
Shaun also landed a spotted ray and a dogfish.
Lee Mutter fished the Taw estuary offering worm baits purchased at Quay Sports. He was delighted to catch and return a fine bass of close to 6lb.
Bass are present in the estuary throughout the season but are strictly catch and release until March 1st when two bass per day can be retained.
Grayling are scarce in Devon with the River Exe and a few of its tributaries the only stronghold for these ladies of the stream. When I saw that well known South West Angler John Deprieelle had acquired a stretch of fishing on the Exe near Tiverton I was keen to try for the grayling that resided within the fishery.
See below link to video of the fishery produced by John Deprieelle.
Trotting a float down a river seemed the ideal opportunity to catch up with my good friend Martin Turner so on a cold and frosty morning Martin and I both full of cold set off for a stretch of river below Tiverton. Thick mist lay in the river valleys as we travelled to Tiverton stopping off at Wetherspoon’s for full English and a couple of coffees. This was no intensely serious fishing trip just two mates catching up putting the world to rights and hopefully catching a rare Devon grayling.
The fishery consists of around a third of a mile of river much of it difficult to access with steep wooded banks that added a sense of mystery and wildness I had not expected so close to the town. It is always exciting and perhaps slightly daunting to visit a fishery for the first time. John had described a salmon pool in the centre of the stretch that had a deep run that produced grayling on a regular basis.
We scrambled down the bank having located a well-worn fisherman’s path. This was no manicured fishing location but the river and the deep pool looked promising. We fired a few maggots to the head of the pool and set up our trotting tackles. Both of us had elected to use centre pins, mine an ancient Grice and Young Avon Royal Supreme. I paired this with a15ft Dr Redfin roach rod. https://cotswoldrods.co.uk/product/dr-redfin-15ft-float-rod/
I threaded a crimson topped grayling float onto the line, Martin set up with a more streamlined stick float. I waded out onto the rocks at the head of the pool whilst Martin fished from the rocks at the base of the bank. A steady trickle of maggots were introduced and we searched the deep water trotting maggots beneath floats that we struggled to see as the bright sunlight beamed through the trees.
After ten minutes or so my float dipped delightfully and the rod pulsed in my hands. A grayling of perhaps 8oz was guided into the net. Ten minutes later Martin’s float sank and he too enjoyed the plunging of a grayling as it used its large dorsal fin to sail to and FRO in the strong current. The grayling was probably close to a pound and crowned the day a success as we had both caught our target species a rare Devon grayling.
We fished on savouring the delights of trotting a float as dippers flitted past and warm winter sunshine shone into the swirling clear waters of the Exe. From time to time, we managed to tangle our lines as we fished a swim that was really only suitable for one; a good job we are good friends.
We missed a few bites but eventually decided to move on after a couple of hours. We moved to a faster shallower stretch in the Open fields where we could explore a few new swims. I hooked an out of season brownie of around 12oz and lost a reasonable fish hooked at the end of a long trot.
The sun slowly sank beneath the hills and a chill air descended upon the valley. Expectation had drained away and we were both content with our day having caught our target fish. We viewed a spectacular sky decorated in red and golden hues as we headed for home plotting further forays to waters both old and new.
A full English at the George Inn at Brompton Regis with fellow fly fishers was the perfect way to prepare for a day afloat on Wimbleball on February 2nd, day 2 of the 2023 season. We talked of tactics, trout fishers, trout flies and the complexities of modern society before heading to the lake full of expectation.
News from Opening day gave confidence that the fish would be likely to oblige with some anglers catching over twenty trout.
Wimbleball Report – Opening day Report
What a start to our 2023 season… Beautiful start to the day, bit of a shame about the fresh cold westerly breeze, but some fantastic fishing was had with over 30 anglers fishing the opening day, & some great pics from the first couple of days will be posted over the next few days… Tactics included intermediate or sink tip line, small black flies & black & green lures seemed the top takers… Some great returns & some struggled while watching others next to them pulling them in, a few noteworthy catches included James March with 25 fish, Clive Blacker 19 fish, Phil Giles 18 fish, Don Mansell 16 fish, Richard Earnshaw 15 fish, with many others in the 5 to 14 fish bracket, best fish weighed was just over 4lb, many reporting fish in the 3 to 4lb bracket… Happy days & thank you for your support!
I was sharing a boat with Snowbee ambassador Jeff Pearce an option that would allow us to explore a large area of water without having to wade out into the chill waters of late winter. Early season fishing at Wimbleball is often as good or better from the bank providing the shoals of fish can be located.
It was great to be back out on this vast expanse of water nestled within Exmoor’s undulating landscape. Trees towered stark and bare around the lake that was now brim full with water following a wet winter. The last time I had visited the lake was desperately low following the severe drought of 2022 when the reservoir had dropped to around 20% resulting in a premature end to the trout fishing season.
The 2022 drought and heatwave proved extremely challenging for fish farming across the UK and will inevitably create issues for the coming season across the country. Anglers will need to accept moderate increases in permit prices and a shortage of big stock fish. It is to be hoped that 2023 brings a more normal summer with average rainfall.
I opted for an intermediate line with a black woolly bugger on the point and a small black and green nymph on a dropper. This followed advice from my fellow anglers at breakfast who suggested that any fly pattern would work providing it was predominantly black with a touch of green.
After a short unproductive drift into Cowmoor Bay we headed for the shallow end of the lake and dropped anchor in a sheltered bay close to an area of dense withy. Jeff and I started the process of searching the water.
It was reassuring to get into the steady motion of casting and retrieving. The line alighted upon the clear cold water and was allowed to sink for a few moments before commencing a slow figure of eight retrieve. It wasn’t long before the line pulled tight as the satisfying pull of the first trout of the season hit my dropper.
Turbo charged full tailed Wimbleball trout are amongst the hardest fighting fish in the country putting a pleasing curve into angler’s rods and ripping line through chilled fingers.
It was supposed to have been a bright day with sunny intervals but on this occasion Carol Kirkwood’s cheerful predictions on BBC Breakfast had proved over optimistic as a chill westerly wind with grey skies and occasional drizzle persisting throughout the day.
The consistent sport kept our spirits up as we savoured the start of a new season looking forward to the warmer brighter days of spring ahead. We ended the day sharing a catch of fifteen hard fighting rainbows the best estimated as close to 5lb.
I look forward to my return trip when those hard fighting rainbows will thrill again on what is widely recognised as the West Countries top Stillwater trout fishery.
At the end of the day pan fried trout with a sprinkling of Cornish Sea Salt -Lemon Pepper
