CHRISTMAS TURKEY’s for Triple Hook Club Winners
CHRISTMAS TURKEY’s for Triple Hook Club Winners
A personal account of the day
The winding Devon roads took me over hills and through misty valleys as the sun slowly broke through illuminating the frosty landscape. It was a classic winter morning, sounds of the sixties on the radio and a day’s fishing to look forward to.
I arrived at my destination the Arundell shortly after 8:00am and joined Rodney Wevill and other Fluff Chucker’s in the car park as the days shooting party scurried around in readiness for their day ahead.
After a brief catch up we headed into the historic Cockpit building for bacon baps and freshly brewed coffee. Anticipation for the day ahead was high and fuelled by tales of previous trips and adventures.
In addition to several miles of river fishing for salmon, sea trout, brown trout and grayling the Arundell has its own lake. The lake is an old flooded quarry with crystal clear water that is regularly stocked with brown and rainbow trout. Despite the average stock size being between 1lb 8oz and 2lb far larger trout are known to lurk within the deep dark waters.
James Christoforou is head of fishing at the Arundell so before heading to the lake to compete with fellow Fluff Chucker’s I sought James advice as to tactics and flies. Following his advice I set up two rods one with a duo set up as James thought it likely that the fish would be near to the surface. The other rod was set up with a rather drab gold-head lure on the point with a flexible tail dressing that would flutter attractively in the water.
The competition started at 10:00am with each angler on their drawn peg. Every half an hour each angler would move two pegs ensuring that by the end of the day each peg had been fished.
I had drawn peg one with Roger Truscott to my right on peg two. Shortly after cast off I glanced over to see Rogers rod bent as a trout splashed about on a tight line. Within a few moments of releasing this trout Roger was in again and I wondered just how he has such a knack of connecting with the trout!
I cast my line and watched the leader intently lifting the rod briskly when it twitched slightly as the lure sank in the clear water. It was good to connect and get a fish under my belt. As we moved pegs I asked Roger how many he had caught and he replied “eight or nine I think”. By this time I had managed a brace of rainbows and browns.
As expected the catch rate started to drop for all and by the end of the morning I think Roger was on nine whilst I was on seven.
We stopped for lunch at midday and James delivered hot pasties and coffee to those who requested it. For half an hour we all chatted and analysed the mornings fishing. It was obvious that Roger and I had received a big slice of good fortune as pegs one to four were undoubtedly well populated with recently stocked fish. The two end pegs at the lakes far end producing no trout.
The afternoon was surprisingly slow and I only added one fish a 43cm brown trout that was the biggest of the day. Roger once again proved his dominance of Fluff Chucker events ending the day with eleven trout.
We retired once again to the warmth of the Cockpit for the prize giving and a hot coffee. Rodney Wevill does an exceptional job at organising these friendly events and securing sponsorship from Yeti, Lakedown Brewing co & Tap Room. And of course the Arundell whose waters are always a joy to fish.
The flounder fishing season is in full swing with last weekend’s BBT Dan Miles Redmore Open attracting over one hundred competitors who raised over £1200 for Children’s Hospice South West. The competition was won by Mario Manley with a fine flounder of 1lb 15oz. David Atkinson was runner up with a flounder of 1lb 14oz and David Jenkins third with a flounder of 1lb 10.5oz. The best brace was caught by David Atkinson with two for 3lb. olive Atkinson was top junior with a flounder of 1lb 5oz with AJ Woodger runner up with a flounder of 1lb 4.5oz.
Bulldog Fisheries November Trout Fishing Competition was won by Ian Conabear with six rainbow trout for a total bag weight of 15lb. Aiden Revie was runner up with six for 14lb 15oz and Nick Tamlin fourth with six for 14lb. The biggest fish of the day was a fine tiger trout of 6lb 14oz to Aiden Revie.
Bulldogs monthly trout competitions are very much a social occasion with plenty of coffee, biscuits, bacon rolls to start the day with burgers and chips for midday lunch. The events are limited to twelve anglers and generally sell out quickly. Novembers competition was blessed with sunshine and light winds which may not have been ideal for the trout but were certainly perfect for the competitors.
Bideford Angling Clubs latest Rod and Reel Match on their home water Tarka swims was won by Colin O Hagan with 39lb 2oz. Runner up was Ian Sedgewick with 24lb 9oz and third Keith Copland with 23lb 15oz.
Anglers Paradises Lure Fishing weekend was hotly contested with a wide range of species tempted from the complex. Sixteen year old Harrison Woodham was the weekends champion landing seven different species including pike, rudd, common carp, mirror carp, perch, brown trout and rainbow trout. Runner up was Scott Way with five species. The biggest pike of the weekend was caught by Nikki Williams and measured 89cm. The biggest perch of 35cm was caught by Matthew Colegate. Nat Worsfold banked the biggest catfish at 78cm. Thomas Wilson caught the first chub to be tempted during the lure fishing competition. Fox Rage were the winning team with nine species. The event was generously sponsored by Capital Angling, Rapala, Fortis Eyewear, Fox Rage, Okuma Europe, Devon Baits and Okuma Freshwater UK.
Bulldogs monthly trout competitions are very much a social occasion with plenty of coffee, biscuits, bacon rolls to start the day and burgers and chips for midday lunch. The events are limited to twelve anglers and generally sell out quickly. Novembers competition was blessed with sunshine and light winds which may not have been ideal for the trout were certainly perfect for the competitors. Heavy rain showers had hit hard the previous day and weather warnings were in place for the following day.
The competition got underway shortly after 9.00am and the trout were obliging for the first hour with most anglers catching a brace or two with lures working well.
My own morning session resulted in four rainbow trout to 3lb 12oz all tempted on my favourite olive damsel. I enjoyed an hour chatting with fellow anglers and capturing a few images of this last day of Autumn.
The afternoon session proved hard going with just a few trout tempted a fact that proved frustrating for Tom and Nigel who had recently stocked some very large brown trout, spartics and tigers. These large fish will undoubtedly succumb to anglers over the coming weeks or maybe at the Christmas Competition on December 14th.
