6 Jul 2017

More on the record catfish from Anglers Paradise.

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Anglers Paradise is undoubtedly North Devon’s premier venue for big catfish with numerous specimens caught every year over fifty pounds.

Zyg Gregorek sent me this report today that follows on from my initial report on the new complex record. This fish being born and bred in the UK should undoubtedly qualify as a UK record.

The record for Wels Catfish was discontinued in 1990 because the Record Committee believed monster fish were smuggled in from the continent at over 60lbs (but Carp were and still are)
I had official permission to stock Wels Catfish from MAFF (this was after 4 years of trying) and bought the Catfish from Neville Fickling in 1994. They were small Catfish born and bred or rather spawned in this country, the biggest about 10 inches, well under 1 lb. Over the years the Cats grew 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 etc but I was not going to claim a record until we had an 80lb plus.
As I said to them, as I have done everything by the book the Record Committee should recognize the fish. The captor was Dion Cook-Martin one of my employees who is “over the moon” about it. If I hadn’t told him to go in the water and untangle the line from around the bushes the fish would not have been landed.
It’s great for the South West and Devon to have produced a record fish.

Anglers Paradise(Above)Previous complex record catfish of 74lb 2oz.

 

3 Jul 2017

Huge Catfish is Paradise complex best!

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The latest news from Zenia at Anglers Paradise.

FROM BABIES TO THIS…A NEW COMPLEX CATFISH RECORD HAS BEEN CAUGHT, AND IT’S MASSIVE!!!

Huge Congratulations to our Estate Team Member Dion Cooke-Martin, 38 who has caught the Biggest Ever Complex Cat Record at a whopping 82lbs from the Main Carp Lake!!

Dion caught the Monster Wels Catfish using a 6ft Stalking Rod, size 6 barbless hook on a basic hair rig, with a Single Paradise Baits ‘The Twist’ Boilie fishing just off the island nearest the Boat House.

Dion caught the beast during the 5C’s Syndicate Match which he won too!

We are very proud that we have bred these fish from babies to THIS!! We stocked the Cats 20 years ago and introduced them to Anglers Paradise as Kittens the size of your finger which are now as big as this 82lb Cat – That’s some growing!!

WELL DONE DION – WHAT A MASSIVE FISH AND ANGLING ACHIEVEMENT!!! ANOTHER NEW CAT RECORD WITHIN WEEKS!!

Anglers Paradise
30 Jun 2017

Cats on the prowl in Paradise

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Well Done to Julian Winspear and Partner in Crime Caz Osborne who both had a great session on Eldorado’s Bottom Cat and Carp Lake catching 5 Cats to 30lb+ and 4 Carp to 20lbs, all on the popular and faithful Paradise Baits Catastrophic!

Caz caught her Personal Best and Biggest Ever Fish to date with this 25lb Wels Catfish and Julian had his Personal Best 30lb+ Cat and a 20lb Mirror to put the icing on the Cake!

Euan Mclachlan, 19 from Sunderland who caught his Biggest ever Fish, a Personal Best 41lb Catfish from the Day Ticket Specimen Cat Lake.

Euan’s Story –

“I have never ventured much further than the Easy Access on my previous visits to Anglers Paradise, with my catfish PB being a little over 25lb, however after consulting with some of the members of staff me and my two friends decided that the Specimen Catfish Lake was throwing up the odd fish and that’s what we’d like to target. Before I came I said to my dad that I’d like to beat my Catfish PB by at least 5 pound and reach the 30lb barrier, however a 40 would be out of this world!

At the start of the week we did a night where I managed to get a 32lb 4oz from down the margins on meat, however after seeing this fish I knew I had to give it another shot for a bigger one. So Thursday came, and we hiked all of the gear back down to the Specimen Cat and I pitched up in the same corner swim (peg 3) as I did before and flicked a meat rod down the left margin. After hours upon hours of single bleeps from little Perch etc, I decided I’d try and get some sleep. I managed to zone them out until about 6am in the morning when I was awoken to about 5 or 6 continuous beeps on the alarm and then a massive drop back. I struck into it and knew I had a decent fish on, and after taking me round the back of the island and through the reeds on the far side, a 20-30min fight resulted in a new personal best catfish of exactly 41lb, Anglers Paradise really living up to its name and reputation once again.

I just want to say thank you again to you guys for making the holiday so
special, from the help in the tackle shop all the way up to the welcoming
and accommodating nature of all of you down there.
I’ll sure be back again,”

WELL DONE EUAN – ANOTHER GREAT WINNER!!

Here he is with his Winning Fish and being presented his prizes by Zyggy

Anglers Paradise
30 Jun 2017

Bideford and District Angling Club midweek coarse competition.

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Match No 5 results

1st Chris Lovell 22Lb 8oz ,

2nd Colin Gorman 21Lb ,

3rd John Lovell 15Lb 8oz ,

4th Pete Slade 4Lb 8oz.

It was a very wet match 9 anglers braved the weather , hence no pictures taken , it turned out to be the Lovell show & Mr Gorman did not read the script. Well done all.

Match report from Martin Turner who was away catching barbel on the River Severn, ( Below) How could I resist putting up a picture of a barbel a first for North Devon Angling News!!

30 Jun 2017

A first Twelve months – Thank You

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North Devon Angling News has been up and running for just over twelve months and I hope that it has been of benefit to the local angling community. My intention has always been to entertain and inform. The site would not work without regular news stories from anglers in North Devon and with huge support from my sponsors who have placed adverts with me. I try to give good value and welcome any new supporters who would like to come on-board.

 

I was going to put up a few highlights from the past year but on reflection this would be difficult as there are so many and I would undoubtedly over look so many so perhaps I should just encourage you to take a look back over your particular area of interest. And don’t forget  to send your latest news and images. If you want to comment you can always do so via the Facebook or twitter feed or even using the telephone.

25 Jun 2017

Really Good eels – At Stafford Moor

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(Above)Ian Philimore with his eel catch from Beattie’s lake this weekend , Ian didn’t know the weight as he didn’t weigh it but fabulous catch !

(Above) Eddie Baldwin with a fine eel of 7lb 3oz!

Carp anglers at Stafford Moor sometimes get more than they bargain for ! The above eels were accidental catches but I know of eels to over 8lb caught by design. The attraction with eels to some is the mystery that surrounds them for these are wild fish that live hidden within our waters and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that eels in excess of the British Record live in waters in North Devon.

14 Jun 2017

Joy for Young at Anglers Paradise

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Jacob Judges aged 9 from Rochester, Kent, caught not ONE but THREE PERSONAL BESTS!! Jacob caught a PB 18lb 4oz Grass Carp and a 3lb 10oz Golden Orfe both from the Main Carp Lake on a simple knotless knot hair rig with a ABS Plan B wafter. Jacob then caught a PB 26lb 15oz Catfish from the Octopussy caught on a double frankfurter bait. Jacob didn’t stop there, he also caught some Stunning Koi from the Koi Lake – landed all by himself at the age of just 9 Years Old!! What amazing catches in just 1 week!

 

(Below) Molly Cook, age 7 from St Austell, Cornwall caught a Personal Best carp of 10lb 13oz on the Beginners Carp Lake, so she decided that she then wanted to catch another big fish like her Dad and Grandad. She told her Dad to get out the Spam and showed him where she wanted it to be cast to. Then all of a sudden, the bite alarm went off, Molly jumped up and struck it. After a healthy fight, Molly’s Dad helped her land it, Molly had caught her 1st Ever and Biggest Fish to date, a 14lb 14oz Catfish from the Easy Access Lake.

(Below)Sophie Oxehnham, 11 from Charfield, Gloucester, caught her 1st ever Tench from the Tench Lake and it was a special Two Tone Golden Tench too! She caught it all by herself after being taught how to cast, bait up and safely unhook the fish. She baited with sweetcorn and hemp and had a grain of corn on the hook. Sophie made sure she gave the fish a Kiss goodbye before returning her back to the Lake.

Anglers Paradise

 

24 May 2017

Latest reports from Anglers Paradise – Including a massive catfish!

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(Above) Zenia Drury-Gregorek, 33, (-; I got a rare window to fish on my favourite lake, the picturesque Koi Lake and just before leaving to pick the kids up I caught this stunner, using a cocktail of maggots float fishing on the bottom. God I love fishing and it was so GREAT to be out there.I really hope to encourage more ladies to fish as it’s simply magical.

Gavin Simpson, 40 from Wellingborough caught an amazing Personal Best 6lb 12oz Golden Orfe from the Main Carp Lake which is just 1lb 9oz short of the British Record! After about 4 hours of fishing he had a great bite, and he knew this fish felt different straight away. Gavin Said – “As I played it towards the net I saw this huge orange flank and thought WOW! I put the net under it and couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the most enormous Golden Orfe I had ever seen, what an amazing fish! It weighed in at 6lb 12oz, I had to check what the British Record was as I was sure it couldn’t be a lot more. I was right, the current record is 8lb 5oz, this fish was just 1lb 9oz off of the British record!
What a great fish and what a great memory for a trip that was a present from my wife Kerry for my 40th Birthday. I am sure there is a British record to be had in that lake for someone. Get yourself to Anglers Paradise, buy yourself one of Zyggy’s magic hats or hoodies and get yourself in those record books! I’m ‘Orfe’ there again soon myself to try and catch a bigger one!”

Paul Shepperd from Southampton is now the NEW CATFISH COMPLEX RECORD HOLDER – with a 74lb 8oz Catfish from the Main Carp Lake beating Sean Tacy’s weight by exactly 1lb that was caught 2 weeks after!!!
Paul went from 8 years of trying to catch Cat with no success until last year when he caught his 1st to then catching this Monster! Paul baited his swim with 14ml pellets, soaked overnight in Korda halibut goo, using a nine inch hook link with a long hair, with a korda size 6 curved shank hook. Paul Said – “Thank you to my wife and all the lads who helped with netting and weighing this monster. Also, Joe, the estate manager, the rig clinic guru, said this cat only has to eat a 10lb carp to be 84lbs. So there’s the challenge ladies and gents, beat that!
Thank you to the Paradise family for making this dream come true. See you next May. Also just to add to this great weeks fishing, I also met my fishing hero’s Ali Hamidi and Dean Macey at Anglers Paradise. Certainly a Week to remember!”

Anglers Paradise

 

 

 

22 May 2017

Two – four pound perch highlight of Lure fishing day at Upper Tamar!

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An excellent report from John Deprieelle on the recent lure competition at Upper Tamar.

 

Upper Tamar kayak comp

 

The first kayak event on Upper Tamar reservoir has been and gone and despite all attempts from mother nature, the event was a success.

 

When fishery manager Ben Smeeth gave me the thumbs up to organize a kayak comp on the stunning venue set in Cornwall near Bude, I was delighted. This 80 acre reservoir is home to some of the biggest Perch in the Southwest but locating them can be tricky at times. With Kayak lure fishing becoming increasingly popular this was the perfect opportunity to get afloat and see if we could find a few of the dark destroyers.

 

The eve of the comp wasn’t looking good though as 50mph plus winds howled across the venue. That night I lay in the tent worrying that all my plans might be shot down in flames. As expected some people cried off as for some it was a long journey to just turn around and go home but the die hard anglers were there on time and it was left to the group to decide what to do. We decided to at least head out and give it a shot and test the water so to speak. I might add at this point that Savage gear had kindly donated free goodie bags consisting of T tail fat minnows and cannibal shads for all entrants. On top of that there was a prize for the biggest fish caught on one of the said lures.

We all launched into the white water being blown around like paper hankys but just 10 mins into the comp Bristol angler George Osborne hooked into a fish that not only smashed his previous PB but also caught it on the cannibal shad. The fish weighed in at 4lb 5oz and 44cm. One very happy angler and an incredible fish to set the pace. From there on people started to catch steadily and fish of almost every size graced the boats from just ounces going up in every pound class right up to another fish of 4lb 4oz caught by Lee Garner.

It wasn’t all fun and games though as the weather did claim some of us and over a thousand pounds worth of fishing tackle now sits at the bottom of Tamar reservoir. Four rods and reels, a box of lures, a set of car keys and lots of tears(mainly mine) were the price to pay but everyone took it in good spirit and the fish gods returned us with big fish as compensation.

As the afternoon came the winds finally gave up and for an hour we sat on a flat calm lake as if nothing had ever happened. The fishing slowed up but one final fish just under 4lb marked the end of an enjoyable, eventful day. We ended with two fish over 4lbs, ten fish over 3lbs and loads of fish over 2lbs.

I had hoped for a fun event which wasn’t too competitive with a lot of laughs and I think I achieved just that.

The biggest single fish of the day went to Tony Chesworth with a massive spawned out fish of 47cm(3,14).

The biggest fish caught on a Savage gear lure went to George Osborne measuring in at 44cm (4lb,5oz).

Dom Garnett kindly donated a signed copy of his book for the smallest fish and this was also caught by George Osborne at 14cm.

In 3rd place was George Osborne who looked like he was going to clean up.

In 2nd place was Adam Moxey with a string of fish to low 3’s

And 1st place went to Lee Garner who certainly had the lions share .Everyone who placed went home with goodies from Savage Gear, Costa, Cash and vouchers from Culm Valley angling.

Plans are already in place for an autumn event but these competitions can only exist with your support so watch this space. Massive thanks to Ben and Gary at SW lakes, Richard Taylor at Savage gear, Danny Parkins for the Costa prizes and Culm Valley angling.

John Deprieelle

(Northern John)

Competition Organiser