Melbury Reservoir is situated between Bideford and Bradworthy and contains some fine carp along with a good head of other coarse species. During the late eighties and early nineties it produced several specimen perch over four pounds along with eels close to 5lb and brown trout of over 5lb.
Rich Shaw paid a recent visit to Melbury Reservoir with a relative on a visit from Norway.This his account of the successful session.
“Weather was rather wet but the general fishing was exceptional plenty of good Roach,
Skimmers and Bream on the float and feeder. I managed the one carp that’s
weight certainly didn’t do justice to its frame, a touch over 19llb and
lovely condition a credit to any fishery. A lot of bait manipulating went
on between downpours but this one tripped up on two 10mm Crave Squabs and a
Bloodworm and Maggot crush.
Tony Welch enjoyed a cracking session at Upper Tamar recently with his friend catching a dozen fish between them to 18lbs in just 14 hours fishing. 9 commons and three mirrors made up the bag all falling to Mainline baits over Essential Cell hook baits.
Fishing Couple Sammy and Matt Davison had a really good week of Fishing at Anglers Paradise Landing some great Carp up to 23lbs. Matt had a 22lb 4oz Mirror, a 20lb Mirror and a 19lb 5oz Mirror all in just One Day on the Octopussy. His Wife Sammy then went onto catching a Personal Best 23lb Mirror and Matt also caught the rare ‘Golden’ Nearly Leather Mirror both from the Specimen Carp Lake. All Fish were caught using Paradise Baits ‘The Twist’ Wafters.
Sammy Davison (Above)
Tommy Flower decided to have a short hour’s fishing on the Main Carp Lake to do a bit of stalking and managed to land this Stunning 26lb Mirror! Not bad for an hour’s work!! Tommy Said – “An hour’s stalking was all that was needed as I targeted the fish in the Main Lake. A solid bag full of mixed skretting pellets tops with an Xcel baits Xcellerate wafter carfully placed in a small quite corner quickly resulted in a lovely old looking mirror of 26lb. Not a bad way to spend an hour!” Tommy then went onto the Octopussy and caught this Upper Double Mirror off the top with his 2 year old daughter Summer to bring him luck!
Tommy also caught a 30lb 8oz Mirror from the Kracking Carp Lake on a Banoffee Boilie and fed Xcel baits KSC in a small channel between an island and the margin.
Tommy Flower 26lb mirror (Above)
Tommy Flower 30lb 8oz mirror (Above)
Joel Dart, 15 was after his 1st Ever 20, so he went on a Guided session with Julian Chidgey and set up on the Main Carp Lake where he caught 2 New Personal Bests, a 22lb Mirror and a 21lb 13oz Leather using Plumb and Garlic Pop Ups from Burton Bait Rollers. Joel was one happy lad and also Won our Fish Of The Week Competition. You never forget your 1st 20!
Tom Steele caught a pristine 22lb Common from the Specimen Carp Lake using a Milky Toffee Boilie.
Carp anglers had to ensure that their bivvy’s were well secured at the weekend as gale force winds swept across the country. Being out in the elements is all part of the excitement however and makes success ever sweeter.
Amanda Curtis with her new PB of 19lb 8oz from lodge lake yesterday.
Kyle Stacey (Below) with his 19lb 8oz catch from Lodge lake using mainline cell.
Clover was banked on August 18th by Damien Beal at a massive weight of 38lb!! This fish is just unbelievable it just keeps growing and at this rate should be pushing 40+ by the spring… The weed here at the mo is not to everyones liking but this is what weed and clear water does to the fish!! never seen her looking so good 🙂🙂 Well done Damien on a great capture.
Paul Dunn has landed a fine mirror carp of 30lb fishing Stafford Moors Beatties Lake. Mainline cell boilie’s were once again the successful bait.
Paul Dunn
Brandon Galley fished Beatties Dam wall to land a 19lb Mirror using home made boilies. Brandon’s grandad Warren also enjoyed success as pictured below.
Harry Collins (Below) with 2 of his catches from Beattie’s lake using mainline cell one is a 22lb 10oz & 22lb 5oz.
Dave Forster smashed his personal best at Furzebray Carp lakes with Blackspot yesterday at a stonking 35.10!!! a great weight after spawning.
Tony Kingdom’s latest report from Furzebray tells of some superb specimen carp all in pristine condition as these pictures show
There have been some great fish out of Furzebray over the last few weeks including Dropscale at 34+ for Barny Jackson, Chris Bissett had Angies common and 3 scales both 30+, Lee-roy had a stunning 27+ plated mirror, and Dan coffey had dannys fish at 25+
Josh Vernon with his son Charlie fished Stafford Moor’s Beatties lake using Sticky Baits Krill boilies 16mm purchased from the sites well stocked shop. These are some of the specimen carp they tempted!
Phil Gilhespy has been among the fish at Upper Tamar Lake recently and proved his skill with both rod and camera sending South West Lakes Trust some fantastic images of fishing, wildlife and Common carp up to 20.02. Phil has had 8 fish in two sessions all caught on homemade boilies over a scattering of the same bait. The images illustrate perfectly the joys of carp fishing.
