Jon Patten and Reef Patten have recently returned from representing England in the World Championship Big Game Trolling in Mexico 2024. The dark grey skys of North Devon were undoubtedly a stark contrast to the tropical heat of Mexico. Reef and Indy were all smiles when I met them at Bulldog Trout Fishery on Christmas Eve enjoying a short session tussling with the venues hard fighting rainbow trout.
Many thanks to all who have supported North Devon & Exmoor Angling News throughout 2024. Below are few random images looking back on each month of 2024. If you would like to sponsor North Devon & Exmoor Angling News please get in touch.
I have ordered my copy and will write a review in the New Year
( Below) Border Country Belts are also available in the shop and make a superb Christmas gift.
https://www.bordercountrybelts.co.uk
Above) Joe Keating, Dave Chapman, Nick Tamlin, David Richards, Colin Combe, Tom Rushby, Tony Buckland, Bill Pink, Roy Pink, Andrew Facey, Steve Burnell, Brian Sedgebeer
Bulldog Trout Fishery held their first Christmas Competition with twelve keen anglers competing for the top prize of a Christmas Turkey and all the trimmings. I arrived shortly after 8:30am to find competitors tackling up in the fishery car park full of optimism for the day ahead.
Nigel and Tom assured all taking part that the lake had been well stocked and talked of a few special fish with a twinkle in their eye and shared their hopes for a grand days sport.
The fishing lodge was well stocked with coffees and teas to last the day with boiling water on tap. The competitors were briefed on the rules as bacon rolls were handed out and eagerly devoured.
The atmosphere was certainly full of Christmas cheer with a few warm spirits to warm the inner soul before heading out onto the lake.
The lake had been pegged out with twelve pegs with the peg number written on the bottom of the coffee cups which was an ingenious way of sorting the draw. The plan for all anglers to rotate around the lake with an air horn sounding every twenty minutes ensuring that all got a chance to fish each peg throughout the day.
Cast off was at 9:30am and the anticipation was tangible as anglers paced towards their pegs. It was a grey overcast morning with light drizzle driven by a light south west breeze. Pretty perfect conditions for fishing I thought as I watched on enjoying the opportunity to observe without taking part.
Most anglers elected to start the day with lure fishing tactics with black and white being the predominant colours along with the popular olive blue flash damsels.
I walked out onto the lakes central spit and stood beside Joe Keating who connected with the first trout of the day on his first cast just 15 seconds after the horn had signalled the start. a hard fighting rainbow of over 3lb.
I looked around the misty lake and noted that most had well bent rods as the lakes residents seized the anglers offerings. I dashed around keen to capture some of the action and share in the fun.
I noted that the angler fishing in the corner was locked in battle with a larger than average fish and walked around to witness the tussle. Brian Sedgebeer was carefully parrying the lunges of a good fish and I shared in the tension as the fish was slowly coaxed towards the waiting net. I sensed that Brian breathed a big sigh of relief when the trout, with its broad marbled flanks eventually slipped over the rim of the submerged landing net. A large fin perfect spartic trout that was undoubtedly one of those special trout stocked prior to the competition.
The action was frantic in that first half an hour with good numbers of trout succumbing to the early bombardment of large lures. Cats whiskers and black lures proving most effective.
It was no surprise to those of us who had fished small Stillwater competitions when the catch rate plummeted as the fish appeared to wise up quickly.
Nigel and Tom appeared mid-morning with a tray of hot mince pies and clotted cream.
I did several laps of the lake chatting with anglers some of them long-time friends and others total strangers who all chatted freely about all things piscatorial as anglers do. From time to time a line zipped tight and a rod bent as a hard fighting trout tested the anglers tackle and skill. I did my best to capture the moments of triumph and each anglers success.
Dave Chapman had certainly tuned into the successful tactics for the day being the first to complete his six fish limit bag just before dinner with the help of his young son Freddie wielding the landing net with a degree of skill and dexterity that would put many senior anglers to shame.
The warm fishing lodge and roaring wood-burner proved a welcome respite from the grey cool heavy drizzle of this winter day. Dinner was served; roast pork baps, apple sauce, stuffing, roast potatoes and crackling. The air was full of cheery laughter, tales of fishing, reminisces and those things that fishers and men talk about on such days.
With appetites satisfied the rivalry reconvened as anglers resumed their circuit of the lake. There was general expectation that there would be a flurry of sport after resting the lake over the dinner break. To my surprise this was not the case and for half an hour or so the trout proved difficult to tempt.
As the afternoon drifted by there were flurries of activity and trout began to rise around the lake from time to time. A wide variety of flies lures and tactics were employed with floating lines, intermediate lines and sinking lines all put to good use.
The last hour of the day saw Colin Combe complete the second six fish limit of the day, a bag that contained a brace of really chucky rainbows that would undoubtedly give him a good chance of victory.
There was a flurry of activity as the light faded towards the close of play and when the horn sounded to signal the competitions end there were at least three anglers in contention.
The weigh in revealed some superb bags of quality trout with the top three taking away some superb prizes consisting of food and fishing.
The winning bag of six trout was caught by Colin Combe and weighed a total of 24lb and included a fine spartic of 4lb 14oz along with rainbow trout of 5lb 7oz and 5lb 6oz. Runner up was Dave Chapman with six trout for 19lb 1.5oz and Joe Keating third with five trout for 18lb 10.25oz. The biggest trout of the day was caught by Brian Sedgebeer a stunning Spartic trout of 8lb 4oz.
Winter is often the best time to visit these smaller Stillwaters with the trout in peak condition in the cold clear well oxygenated water. Nigel and Tom will be hosting regular events over the coming months and are being supported by the Angling Trust as a venue to host Go Fishing and well-being events.
It’s December so it seems Ok to start talking Christmas. We are very fortunate in North Devon to have fishing tackle shops in all of our major towns and as local anglers we really need to support them. With Christmas just a couple of weeks away now is the time to buy that fishy present. It might be that you have to pay a little more as compared to the internet but there is no postage, a good after sales service, you get to see what you’re buying and you ensure that you have somewhere to buy fresh bait. Not to mention the vital social benefits of meeting fellow anglers whilst browsing those lines of tempting produce.
Barnstaple Bait and Tackle offers an excellent range of tackle for all disciplines and is convenienly located in Queen Street, close to the central Car Park and Bus Station. The shop is owned by Chris Connaughton a well known and respected local angler.
Danny Watson (Above right ) is a lure fishing fanatic a fact that is reflected when-ever you walk into his tackle shop in Ilfracombe High Street. Thousands of lures to tempt every angler and every fish. Danny supplies local charter boats with lures and tackle and has an extensive knowledge on how lures work and their design features. In addition to the vast array of lures the shop also carries an extensive range of sea tackle and coarse fishing essentials.
Anglers Heaven is owned by Tom Wade and has recently undergone a significant extension with a large retail area offering fishing tackle for all disciplines. Tom also stocks a range of shooting and country sports equipment.
The Braunton Bait Box is run by keen local angler Craig McCloughlin and offers a good range of sea angling tackle and quaility bait. The shop also has a range of coarse fishing tackle and is a stockist for Chillcheater clothing of Braunton.
Reed – Chillcheater is a North Devon Based company located in Braunton that offers a wide range of high quality outdoor clothing that has gained a reputation amongst local anglers for keeping them warm and dry in the worst of conditions.
Lance Nicholson’s shop is located in the lively Exmoor town of Dulverton and offers a wide range of game fishing tackle and country clothing. It is also an excellent source on information on where to fish and what is happening across the Upper Exe and Barle catchments.
The Arundell is a traditional country hotel on the Cornish Border that offers excellent river fishing throughout the year. The hotel has a tackle shop that stocks an excellent range of top end tackle from Orvis. This is undoubtedly the top venue for West Country winter grayling.
The Torridge Rivers Association
President: Lord Clinton
NEWSREEL: WINTER 2024
President: I am delighted to report that the late Lord Clinton’s son, who is now the current Lord Clinton, has agreed to be the President of our Association. This will continue our long standing relationship with the Clinton family and the Clinton Devon Estate. Our Chairman Paul and his wife Geraldine, Steve Phelps and myself attended the memorial service in July for the late Lord Clinton, who instigated the creation of our Association in 1979 and was our President for over 40 years.
The Salmon Hatchery: Great news: this week we have been able to trap our broodstock from the fish pass. After several weeks without any appreciable rain the rivers were almost down to summer level: then came the snow. Our first attempt at trapping coincided with the arrival of Storm Bert and we were in danger of being washed away. Three days later after the Okement had fallen back and cleared we tried again and in two sessions we netted 13 salmon from the holding tank: 8 hens and 5 cock fish. Three of the hens have been released leaving us with 5 hens and 5 cocks (the maximum number we are allowed to hold). All the hens are approx 9lb except one superb fish of at least 15lb. The cock fish are slightly smaller. We are confident that some if not all the hens will be ready for stripping in the next few days. Extra trays have been installed so that the eggs can be more spread out. Last year some of the eggs had to be taken to the Colliford hatchery in Cornwall but this year we will be keeping all the eggs at our own hatchery.
The Annual Egg Box Dinner and Raffle: over 40 members and guests enjoyed another wonderful evening at The Half Moon with good company and an excellent meal. We were delighted that our fishery protection officer, Sam Fenner, was able to join us. Our annual raffle to raise funds to support the salmon hatchery project was as usual extremely well supported. All the prizes were donated and the net profit was in excess of £1,300
Membership: we have recruited several new members during the year. If you know of anybody who fishes or has an interest in the well-being of the river please encourage them to join our Association. Our strength is in numbers.
The Fishing Season: for the salmon and sea trout anglers it was another frustrating season. After a very wet spring it was a cool cloudy summer with never enough rain to maintain the river at a good level for fishing. With numbers declining there is less incentive for us all to make the effort and go out and fish. Several salmon were caught in the last week of the season. In contrast the brown trout fishing has at times been quite outstanding. The trout don’t rise so freely as they used to so the fishing is more challenging but those who persevere are often rewarded with excellent catches including several fish in excess of 2lb coming to the net.
The 2025 AGM: the Association agm will be held at The Half Moon Inn on Friday 21st March 2025. Make a note in your diary, come to the meeting and get fired up for another season. We are all optimists and no doubt 2025 will be a bumper year!!
Winter well. Charles.
South West Fly Fair 2025
All too often there’s conflict between wild swimmers and other river users, such as boats and fisherfolk, but not me. The swimmers seem a decent enough bunch of people, mostly of my generation, or thereabouts, and with whom I could comfortably share a mug of tea and some friendly chatter. Male and female, they are as polite as I aspire to be (that’s a compliment). Socialising would be much easier were they not wracked by uncontrollable shivering.
And given that these days there’s rarely a salmon to be seen, let alone caught, there’s no harm in letting a swimmer in. Rocks, dogs and wild swimmers can all stir up the fish and breathe life into a slumbering pool. For the swimmers, so far so good. I’m sympatico.
Where this gets really discombobulating is that word ‘wild’. There’s nothing remotely ‘wild’ about Britain’s rivers. Mostly they are little better than open sewers that allow farmers, our water companies and the few remaining factories to move, at zero cost, huge volumes of human and animal shit from source to sea – and after years of inadequate investment there’s a lot being shifted. So the only thing ‘green’ about our rivers and lakes is organic phosphate pollution and the vivid algal blooms that choke the redds with slime and suck the oxygen out of the water. And, depending on the type of algae, kill animals, fish and make people very sick. Wild swimmers, when clumping, talk about this and compare notes on who got ill, when and where. They’re all unwelcome notches on their back-to-nature experience of life in the ‘wild’. Which seems a counter-intuitive reaction to me. I’d just stay out of the water because it’s toxic.
This phosphate pollution is a global phenomenon. Eutrophication is killing lakes and rivers from Windemere in the Lake District to Chesapeake Bay in the US and back the long way round. It’s a universal by-product of humanity. Just about everybody everywhere can point to local examples.
The various habitués of our rivers respond to this in different ways. Salmon, for example, have mostly given up. They like cold, clean water so there’s a double whammy: pollution and climate change. In the UK, they’re now a Red List endangered species and while I’m doing my best to kick the decision down the road, I think my salmon fishing days are over. Here, and perhaps everywhere.
Thankfully, fishing humans have some watery advantages over salmon and wild swimmers. I approach a river in a rubberised hazmat suit, of sorts, that lacks only the helmet and gloves. Chest waders, waterproof jacket, decorative neckerchief that makes me daddy-cool and so on. And for at least a decade I have been very careful not to get my fingers anywhere near my mouth while in or near the water. I am mindful of the pensioner who recently went down with sepsis after falling into the ‘pristine’ chalk stream I grew up on.
So what can we do? How do we make a difference? Some of this is easy: I donate to non-profits that fight pollution and support research into catchment management and the such like. This does some good. Over the past 4 decades, I have also written scores of articles and filed dozens of TV reports on the increasingly dire state of our rivers. I repeat: the increasingly dire state of our rivers. Except for an occasional break-out story, reporting rarely has a discernable impact and it all goes from bad to worse. So I’ll keep writing the cheques.
Not all the news is bad and there have even been some improvements. Remember acid rain? Nobody frets much about the acidification of our upland streams anymore, mostly because the heavy industry that caused it has collapsed into a land of uniformly bland shopping centres, car parks, cinemas and junk-food outlets where the grotesquely obese wobble short distances from car to sugar fix. Gimme a ‘shake with double sprinkles, syrup and chocolate sauce. And cake.
Meanwhile, back in the hills, there’s a winner and the insect life in our headwaters is recovering. So, provided they’re nowhere near over-stocked cattle or a village, there are aquatic insects and fry for their dependent birds, the dippers and kingfishers, to hunt. Ah … did someone say climate change? Well, you can’t have everything.
Here’s the grown-up bit: It’s important to understand that the high and mighty in politics and industry who decide the fate of our rivers don’t see them in the same way as us mortals. To them rivers are economic entities carrying trade, providing water and getting very expensive when they flood. It is entirely predictable that floods always happen before adequate (for which read ‘expensive’) defences have been planned, approved and constructed. Ideally, this would be done by restoring the wetlands upstream. Unfortunately, this memo has not reached the management. So our rivers remain part-asset, part-liability, wrapped in concrete and always an economic opportunity (bargain-basement waste disposal, for example).
I have heard this best explained, reductio ad absurdum, by a small-cog employee in the big wheel of water management. Early in my time as the BBC’s Environment Correspondent I was asked by a pollution control officer if I knew how drinking water from the many reservoirs in Wales, in the wet west, reached taps in towns in the drier east of England. There is no pipeline, no shared catchment and no visible way for plentiful Welsh water to get from wet A to needy B. The answer, he said with a twinkle, is that people in Birmingham drink a glass of water and then flush their toilets. Birmingham drinks Welsh water and drains eastwards, via decrepit sewage works. Like all good stories, this stuck in my mind for the ludicrous nature of its central proposition and the awful realisation that it could easily be true (it is). I wonder how many millions of gallons of waste-water the 4.3m people of Birmingham and its surroundings generate every day.
The times they are a’changing and, I fear, not for the better. I like being on rivers, but not nearly enough to swim in most of them. Meanwhile, they need all the friends they can get from the most humble of anglers and wild swimmers to the rich and politically powerful. And as for the Salmon? I wish I knew, but I fear the worst.
Grayling known as the ladies of the stream are not abundant in the rivers of the South West. A long established population thrives in the River Exe and some of its tributary’s and I enjoyed a day fishing one of Dulverton Angling Associations beats below Dulverton. The river was running low and clear and I was confident of success as I searched the river. After four hours of searching I failed to stimulate any interest from the elusive grayling and left the river as rain started to fall.
As always time at the water’s edge is never wasted and I was privileged to catch sight of a kingfisher as it perched upon an overhanging branch. An egret also flew past looking quite surreal in the stark winter landscape. Dippers, wrens and ducks also graced the river and its banks. The glorious colours of late Autumn decorated the banks as the river flowed relentlessly to the sea.
