FLUFF CHUCKERS STILLWATER EVENT – ARUNDELL 2025
Rodney Wevill – Report
That’s a wrap for Fluff Chuckers Events 2025…
On Saturday, December 13th we held the Arundell / Fluff Chuckers Still water event at Lifton on the Arundells lake.
We met at the Arundell Hotel to sign on and Tea/ coffee and Bacon Rolls in the old cock pit.
All well fed and watered we were off to the lake for a 10am start, fishing peg numbers for 30mins and moving on to the next .
Fishing a 2 hour session in the morning, 45 minutes for a on the bank lunch and then a further 2 hr session in the afternoon.
The lower pegs fished extremely well for the morning with more than 20 fish , Browns and a few Rainbows to the net.
The afternoon session was a lot harder with only a handful of fish being caught
Tactics ranged from sink 6 to floating lines, nymphs, lures, and all in between.
Roger Truscott was on fire for the first 45mins landing lots of fish with Wayne Thomas close behind.
At 3pm it was back to the Arundell to tally up the scores, some more Tea/ Coffee in front of the wood burner.
The winners ended up being in first place with 11 fish Roger Truscott
With Andrew Watson being the runner up
The winner of the biggest fish of the day a very nice Brown trout 43cm going to Wayne Thomas
A great way to end the year and a big thank you to YETI Europe , Lakedown Brewing Co. & Tap Room, The Arundell for your continued support with the prizes.
A special thank you to James Christoforou from the Arundell for his time and wonderful hospitality not only today but also the previous 2 events held at the hotel , anyone looking for a fishing break in the South West no need to look further, some great fishing all year round with Grayling, Trout and sea trout in their seasons.
Great guides and fly fishing casting instructors if required.
The Arundell fishing shop with everything you will ever need plus wonderful accommodation and food.
And it’s situated in some of the most stunning parts of this fair Island and where I call home so I am a little biased.
Thank you to all that have supported the events throughout the year and we hope to see you all in 2026 starting with the Fluff Chuckers / SWLT Brown Trout Masters round 1 at the end of March.
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.
Bulldog Fisheries Christmas Fly Fishing Competition – Match Review
TOM EARLY’S Match Review
Our annual Christmas fly fishing competition at Bulldog Fisheries proved to be another memorable day, even if the fish didn’t quite follow the usual Bulldog script.
The morning session started slower than expected, but it didn’t take long for the excitement to kick in. Colin Combe was well and truly put through his paces when an impressive 8.09lb tiger trout took him on a wild ride—charging into the neighbouring swim, burying itself deep in the weed, before finally surrendering to the net. Colin quickly followed this with another quality brown trout, and at that stage his day was shaping up very nicely.
As the morning progressed, bites came steadily if not spectacularly. Pegs 2 and 3, positioned near the main water inlet, proved to be the most productive areas, with fish coming to the net at a consistent rate.
By lunchtime, rods were down and spirits were high. Nigel did a fantastic job in the kitchen, serving up a full turkey roast dinner, complete with Christmas pudding for dessert. A festive nip (or two) of whisky followed—carefully monitored in the hope that nobody took an unexpected swim!
After a hearty feed, the peg redraw saw anglers return to the water for the afternoon session. This proved to be a testing few hours. Persistence paid off for some though, with several cracking spartics landed. The standout of the afternoon was a 5.15lb spartic landed by father & son team Dave and Freddy Chapman!
Results
1st – Roy Pink: 5 fish – 16.13lb
2nd – Colin Combe: 3 fish – 16.02lb
3rd – Dave & Freddy Chapman: 13.01lb
Biggest Fish of the Day – Colin Combe: 8.09lb Tiger Trout
While the fish weren’t quite on form by usual Bulldog competition standards, plenty of fin-perfect trout were landed throughout the day, even the smaller rainbows gave a good account for themselves! This combined with excellent food, festive cheer, and great company, all added up to a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas competition.
A huge thank you to everyone involved, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 
Weekly ANGLING REPORT – December 11th 2025
ANGLING REPORT
Sixty Pound Carp from Paradise
Jay Harper has banked what is believed to be the first carp over 60lb to be caught from Devon or Cornwall. The huge carp was tempted from Anglers Paradise’s Nirvana Syndicate Lake and tipped the scales at a fraction over 60lb. The fish was weighed and verified by fishery manager Joe Drury and sets the bar for anglers fishing the venue over the coming months. The carp was caught less than a month ago at a weight of 59lb 2oz and was believed to be Devon’s largest carp. Carp are very often at their top weights throughout the winter months and with a seemingly milder climate expectations are that potential weights for carp and other fish will climb over the coming years.
When I started fishing for carp back in the early 1980’s Winter fishing for the species was still looked upon as pioneering with the fish still regarded as a fish of the summer months. A combination of climate change and significant improvements in weather resistant bivvy’s and warm and waterproof clothing has revolutionised the sport. Anglers can now camp out in the wildest of weather with little discomfort. Modern effective self-hooking rigs mean that anglers can wait in comfort only dashing out when the bite alarm signals.
A group of eight anglers from Plymouth enjoyed their Christmas Social event at Bulldog Fishery banking two carp over thirty pounds and ten over twenty pounds. Such a catch from this sometimes tricky venue during early December highlights just how productive winter carp fishing can be.
Combe Martin SAC’s Christmas Rover was won by David Brooke with a bass of 5lb 13oz. Kevin Legge was runner up with a smoothound of 6lb 15oz and myself third with a bull huss of 6lb 3oz. Members caught dogfish, spurdog and conger.
Michael Hammett secured top spot in Appledore Shipbuilders monthly Rover with a bull huss of 9lb 9.5oz. Josh Atkinson was second with a huss of 8lb 3oz and Chris Slade third with a huss of 8lb 2oz.
North Devon Match Group fished their latest Match at Stafford Moor where members combatted challenging conditions with strong winds and heavy rain. Paul Morris won the Willow Lake section with 89lb 7oz with Warren Thornton runner up with 69lb 7oz. Tom Downing won the Oak lake section with 62lb 10oz with Dave Wood taking runner up spot with 55lb 2oz.
South Molton Angling Club fished their latest Mac Trophy Competition at Bulldog Fishery where Edward Rands was first to bag up with six fish by 9:30am including the biggest fish for the day a fine brown trout of 4lb 8oz. Breakfast was served up at 10:00am by which time some members had already enjoyed excellent sport.
The Torridge Rivers Association – Newsreel – Charles Inniss
The Torridge Rivers Association
Chairman: Paul Ashworth. Secretary: Charles Inniss.
Beeches Sheepwash Beaworthy Devon EX 21 5NW
e-mail: [email protected]
tel: 01409231237 (m)07464190944
The Salmon Hatchery: I am pleased to be able to report that the hatchery team have been able to trap the broodstock from the fish pass at Monkokehampton Weir. We have five hens (largest 11lb) and four cock fish. The first hen we trapped three weeks ago (a superb fish of 13lb) had to be returned: she was ripe and ready to be stripped of her eggs but at that time we only had two cocks and the EA are insistent that the eggs must be fertilised by three cocks for factorial mating. Hopefully within the next fortnight all the hens will be ready for stripping and we will have over 25,000 eggs laid out in the shallow egg-holding trays.
One of our members recently gave me a copy of an article in the Daily Telegraph magazine which outlines the amazing work of Bob Kindness on the River Carron in Inverness Scotland. For thirty years he has run a hatchery very similar to ours and each spring releases the young salmon at the swim-up fry stage. He has a cylindrical trap set on a pontoon which each year catches the smolts migrating downstream. I quote: “when I look at a smolt caught in the trap, I can determine whether it is a wild fish or a hatchery fish and from which hatchery batch it came from”. Over the last twenty five years salmon stocks on the River Carron have increased dramatically. The amazing work of Bob Kindness has not only increased the numbers of adult salmon returning to spawn but has shown that artificial rearing and stocking retains the genetic quality of the Carron salmon. The editor of the Trout and Salmon magazine wrote: “the debate over the stocking of salmon rivers is hotly contested but the work of Bob Kindness proves that when done correctly artificial stocking can lead to successful and sustainable outcomes and could form a blueprint for artificial stocking as a viable tool for helping other rivers were salmon stocks are in decline”.
Graham Dunn, one of the hatchery team, has completed some essential health and safety improvements. The bridge over the mill leat at the entrance has been strengthened with new handrails and a safety rail has been erected by the leat next to the egg trays.
The Fishing Season: yet another season dominated by hot dry weather and low river levels. The salmon season got off to a wonderful start with a 13lb fish caught at Madeira in the first week of the season: but sadly only a handful of springers were caught in March and April and the salmon anglers had to wait until the last fortnight of the season when after a welcome rise in river levels several salmon were caught mostly from the middle river beats. Rod catches for the season totalled somewhere between 15 and 20: very similar to recent years. The sea trout run was again disappointing, but a spate in June encouraged a run of fish and several were caught again mostly from the middle river beats. As in recent years the saving grace has been the excellent brown trout fishing with several fish over 2lb being caught.
The Annual Egg Box Dinner and Raffle: over 40 members and their guests enjoyed another wonderful evening at The Half Moon with good company and an excellent meal. Sam Fenner, our fishery protection officer, joined us for the evening. The raffle was done online this year to save the cost of printing tickets and postage. It worked very well and raised over £900 to help with the costs of running the hatchery. Thank you for your support. Prize winners: 1st: Chris Payne: £100 Sportfish voucher. 2nd Graham Henderson: case of wine voucher. 3rd Ron Burton: £50 Half Moon voucher 4th Adam Barron: a days fishing at Brightlea. 5th Andy Wadham: teacloth painting of Mill Leat.
The 2026 AGM: will be held at The Half Moon on Friday 27th March. Please make a note in your diary and make every effort to attend.
My best Xmas wishes to you all. Winter well. Charles.
ANGLING REPORT – December 4th – 2025
posted in: Articles, At the Waters Edge, Casting around North Devon, Coarse Fishing, Game Fishing, Lure Fishing, Match Fishing, Sea Angling, Sidebar |
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ANGLERS RAISE OVER £1200 FOR
CHILDRENS HOSPICE SOUTH WEST
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.
A Danglers Diary – November 2025
November can be a great month for angling full of opportunity. But as is often the case these days I struggle to get out to the waters edge as often as I would like.
Late afternoon flooding tide.
Mullet fishing in late Autumn and at night would once have been unthinkable.
Not that mullet always take the bait.
A big Spring tide and a full moon casts its light across Lynmouth Bay. Its sights like these that make it worth getting out there.
Out with Kevin and the big rods… dogfish, small conger and hopefully one of those nights something better…
An afternoon on the rocks where once there were cod…..
A trout competition at Bulldog Fishery to end the month….
BULLDOG FISHERIES – NOVEMBER COMPETITION
Bulldog Fisheries November Trout Fishing Competition was won by Ian Conabear with six rainbow trout for a total bag weight of 15lb. Aidan 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 Aidan Revie.
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.
I Caught A Glimpse – Six Years on
posted in: Articles, At the Waters Edge, Casting around North Devon, Coarse Fishing, Game Fishing, Sea Angling, Sidebar |
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Back in 2019 I was proud to have my book ‘I Caught A Glimpse’ Published by the Little Egret Press. Six years later I often skim through the book to refresh my mind on local fishing history. I believe there are a still limited number of copies left from the original limited print run. These are available at https://thelittleegretpress.co.uk/product/i-caught-a-glimpse-ltd-edition-hardback/
Anglers Paradise 2025 – Lure Weekend Results
posted in: Articles, At the Waters Edge, Coarse Fishing, Game Fishing, Lure Fishing, Sidebar, Uncategorised |
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The 2025 Anglers Paradise Lure Fishing Weekend once again proved to be an enjoyable and productive event that proved that awide range of species can be tempted using artificial lures. Lure Fishing is perhaps the fastest growing aspect of UK angling. Congratulations to all the winners below and credit to Anglers Paradise for being creative in running the event across their many lakes.
The event was generously sponsored by Capital Angling, Rapala, Fortis Eyewear, Fox Rage, Okuma Europe, Devon Baits and Okuma Freshwater UK.
THE WINNER OF THE 2025 LURE WEEKEND
The Champion catching 7 different species was HARRISON WOODHAM! Not only was this Harrison’s first ever Lure Weekend with his Dad, but he’s the youngest to have ever won it at 16 years of age!!
Harrison caught – Pike, Rudd, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Perch, Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout.
Absolutely amazing angling Harrison, massive congratulations from us all!! What an achievement beating 35 other anglers!!
Harrison has won a week’s holiday for two to Anglers Paradise, 3 rods (from Okuma and Fox Rage), a £200 voucher from Capital Angling, a pair of Fortis Finseeker sunglasses, a reel from Fox Rage, LOTS of Lures from Rapala, and LOTS of other goodies from our other amazing sponsors!!
WELL DONE HARRISON – OUR YOUNGEST EVER WINNER
THE 2025 LURE WEEKEND WINNING TEAM & CHAMPION OF THE CAPTAINS Was…Team FOX RAGE and the Champion of the Captains was BEN HUMBER!
The Team won with 9 species caught between them which consisted of – Pike, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Perch, Rudd, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Catfish and Chub!
That is some amazing angling, massive congratulations and well done to you all, very well deserved.
Teamwork makes the dream work and you guys all fished your socks off and certainly worked as a Team!
Massive thank you to our sponsors for the amazing prizes!
BIGGEST CATFISH
The Winner was…NAT WORSFOLD! Nat caught a 78cm Wels Catfish from the Easy Cat Lake after losing one.
Congratulations Nat and WELL DONE! Great angling!
This was a close one with just 1cm between the 2 Catfish that were caught by participants, shortly after Nat caught hers, fellow team member Tom Wass also landed a Cat but his was 77cms!!
Certainly an action packed Lure Weekend that’s for sure!
BIGGEST PIKE
The Winner was…NIKKI WILLIAMS, who caught a 89cm Pike from Valhalla!
Congratulations and well done Nikki! There were plenty of Pike caught and you caught the biggest!! Great angling!
BIGGEST PERCH
The Winner was…MATTHEW COLEGATE who caught the biggest Perch measuring 35cms from the Specimen Tench & Orfe Lake!
This was the 1st Fish caught in the competition too, Matthew had all the anglers trying to beat it but they just couldn’t quite beat 35cms!!
Congratulations and well done Matthew!! Amazing angling and an awesome Perch to win this category!!
FISH OF THE WEEKEND
The Winner was…THOMAS WILSON who caught a CHUB from the Mystery Lake!
This is the first ever time that a Chub has been caught during the Lure Weekend and was without a doubt the Winner for the Fish of the Weekend Category!
Congratulations and well done Tom!! Amazing angling and you have now made Lure Weekend history in being the first angler to catch a Chub
