Tanners Top 4 & Silvers winner
1. Christopher John Lovell 105lb 2oz
2. Tom Downing 89lb 1oz
3. Paul Heywood 68lb 12oz
4. Adam Toomey 55lb 10oz
Silvers Winner – Simon John Allen 15lb 10oz
Woodpecker
1. Rob Dixon 84lb 11oz
2. Andy Dare 81lb 15oz
3. Nigel Rhodes 67lb 11oz
4. Dave Stockton 67lb 1oz
Many Thanks to Martin Turner for the North Devon Match Group report from Jennetts Reservoir where they enjoyed to fabulous silver fish sport.
1st Martin Turner 28lb 9oz
2nd Christopher Morris 25lb 11oz
3rd Kevin Shears 18lb 11oz
4th John Lacy 18lb 6oz
5th Peter Slade 17lb 9oz ,
A mild spring day with April showers , made for good sport on the South West Lake Trusts Jennetts Reservoir in Bideford. The bream failed to show in numbers but the roach fed well. Martin Turner landed quality fish on hemp and caster on the pole and whip from peg 8 , beside the elderberry bush , Christopher Morris had a similar net from peg 12 near the point also on the pole. Kevin drew end peg on the far bank for 3rd just pipping John Lacy who drew peg 4 near the dam.
Report from Joanne Combes at Stafford Moor
Hey well done to everyone who entered our first ever Pairs carp competition here at Stafford Moor. A huge apology from Paul & I for not being present we just needed a break before the crazy season kicks in especially Paul but the guys were left in more than capable hands with Peter Randle and Wayne Grinney and Wayne’s dad Paul who cooked the barbecue thank you so much for looking after everyone.
1st prize Winners were Mark Downing and Wayne Grinney who between them had 12 fish out and a total weight of 194lb 10oz well done guys ! Mark fished on swim 6 (the outlet ) up on lodge while Wayne fished swim 6 (rodi bush) on Beatties. Caught on Sticky Baits Manilla.
In second place 🥈 was Aaron Rundle and Michael Toms who between them had 7 fish out and had a total weight of 147lb 2oz well done ! Aaron fished on swim 8 (the inlet) on Beatties lake and Michael fished swim 3 (spit bay) up on Lodge lake.
In third place was Jason A Hammond and Jack Gabriel who between them had 6 fish and a total weight of 119lb 4oz well done! Jason fished swim 7(the beach right side) on Beatties and Jack fished on swim 10 (outback) up on lodge lake.
Our largest fish winner was also Jason Hammond who had a 26lb 8oz beauty well done Jase !
Jo thanks all for being a part of Stafford Moors Carp Comps more are coming up !! Will keep you all posted thank you Paul & Jo
1st Martin Turner 22lb 1oz
2nd Ian Owen 14lb 15oz
3rd John Lisle 14lb 6oz
4th Peter Slade 11lb 14oz (silvers)
5th Stephen Craker 6lb 6oz
6th Antony Bentley 5lb 5oz
Fifteen anglers showed up to fish the first match on Tarka since last year on a lovely warm spring day that tempted a few carp to show, Martin Turner drew the shallow end on peg X and fished bread on a long pole for victory with 4 carp . Ian Owen caught 2 good mirror carp on a method feeder on peg Q for second, John had a big common on the next peg on a pole for third. Pete Slade took fourth and the silver bag with a nice net of skimmer bream from the deeper peg N on the long pole and soft pellet.
Jennetts Reservoir
Top 4
1st Simon Poynter 27lb 10oz
2nd Kevin Wilton 22lb 15oz
3rd Andy Gratton 22lb 6oz
4th Steve Maynard 6lb 1oz
Nice to see the top 4 weights spread across the lake yesterday, also on varying methods…..
Simon caught on the long pole targeting larger fish, Kev was 2nd fishing for roach shallow on the pole, a close 3rd was Andy who fished the whip, with two bream and a perch included in his total, 4th place went to Steve who fished long pole for roach & skimmers.
The pictures below sum up the Spring so far. Many thanks to Martin Turner for his new report from the enduring North Devon Match Group!
1st Kevin Shears 57lb 12oz
2nd Christopher Morris 52lb 13oz
3rd Martin Turner 42lb 13oz
4th Tom Downing 41lb 11oz
5th Paul Morris 41lb 6oz
6th Nathan Underwood 31lb 2oz .
Silvers James Grogan 7lb 1oz .
Despite our efforts that man Shears has secured yet another victory! Kevin drew on the road side on lake 4 and landed 20 carp on corn on the pole in the margins. Christopher drew on one of the reed beds on lake 3 for second also on corn on the pole. Martin was next peg to him , and caught on bread and maggots. The spring day started well for the 17 competitors but deteriorated in to sleet by the time we weighed in .Thanks to Start Sharp for allowing us to use both lakes and providing breakfast rolls.
It was a very cold weekend at Upper Tamar lake for the Pallatrax Carp Open pairs competition. This was the first competition of 2018 with two more to follow in July and September.
There was £3500 up for grabs for the top three finishing pairs and no one could predict which swims would do well this time around. The weather had been frankly horrendous leading up to the weekend with more than two feet of snow covering the majority of the lake at the beginning of the week!
The sun did eventually come through on the Sunday during the last few hours of fishing and it was rather pleasant during the BBQ and presentations.
The anticipation and nervousness for the draw on Friday morning was evident with some anglers arriving to get a couple of laps around the lake in the hope of spotting a few fish!
A fantastic breakfast was provided by Wendy Shore and her team in the Froghopper café at Tamar and we were all set for the draw which started at 1pm. Anglers names were drawn in turn from the draw box and they chose their swims until everyone had picked. There were 30 pairs of anglers and they were then transported to their swims either by boat or trailer.
The horn sounded at 4pm to start the competition and the first fish was lost very quickly by Roy and Greg Jones from the quarry swim.
The first landed fish and an early lead was taken by Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan from West Bay, peg 27, on the Cornwall Bank with a 7lb 13oz common. Just minutes after Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their first from peg 33 by the dam at 5lb 11oz.
This was followed on the first night by Mike Trew and Roger Smith, peg 23, on the Cornwall Bank who had an 8lb 7oz fish and Rob Champness and Kevin Smith who were on peg 18. They landed a 6lb 15oz fish. Rob and Kevin also lost a couple of fish during the night.
It was fishing really hard, as the March competition always does! The wind changed direction a couple of times and there was a mild frost both nights and cold wind during the days.
At 6:30 am on the Saturday Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their second fish which proved very decisive. A 13.09 pristine common gave them the lead from peg 33.
Jamie Rusling and Nick White moved into contention from peg 16 on the Devon Bank, they had a 13lb 5oz common.
Saturday evening provided a couple of fish, a lovely 15lb 14oz common for Jason and Leanne McEvoy from peg 21 to move them into second and Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods from the lookout tower banked a 7lb 6oz fish.
It was all to play for and anticipation of a few more fish which would change the entire competition around.
Saturday night went without any more action until early Sunday morning when Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods managed their second fish, this time at 10lb 6oz, to move into second less than 2lbs behind Haggarty and Thomas.
With the sun now shining we thoughts a few more would be caught but how wrong I could be!
The remainder of the competition didn’t provide any bites.
With every single pair in with a chance right up until the hooter at 1pm it made for a really close competition which was well contested and enjoyed by everyone. The presentations were made during the free BBQ for competitors provided by Gary Vogel, warden for Tamar Lake.
Only 9 fish were caught and we look forward to the July competition when there will be plenty more!
It was great to have some new champions and runners up. Congratulations to Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty for winning and Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke for finishing second. 2016 runners up Jason and Leanne McEvoy won third place.
A huge thankyou to our fantastic marshall team Terry Reid, Bob Davey, Ian Ellis, Steve Gliddon, Amy Maunder, Roger Maher and Bob Oates and to warden Gary Vogel.
Full results:
7th – 1 fish for 6.15 in peg 18 was Rob Champness and Kevin Smith
6th – 1 fish for 7.13 in peg 27 was Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan
5th – 1 fish for 8.07 in peg 23 was Mike Trew and Roger Smith
4th – 1 fish for 13.05 in peg 16 was Jamie Rusling and Nick White
3rd winning £500 with 1 fish for 15lb 14oz was Jason and Leanne McEvoy
2nd wining £1000 with 2 fish for 17lb 12oz was Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke
1st winning £2000 with 2 fish for 19lb 4oz was Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty
Next competition: 6-8 July pairs
Entries on 01566771930
Ben Smeeth
Head of Angling
Winner of Stafford Moors March Silvers Festival 2018 is Mark Goddard who won with just 5 points and a total weight of 98lb 8oz ! Mark also won the Largest bag of 37lb 9oz from peg 10 on Pines. In second place was Des Shipp who had also 5 points with a total weight of 85lb 6oz. In third place was Dave Smith with 9 points and a total weight of 82lb 15oz. Jo at Stafford Moor said “Thank you all so much for a fantastic week, really enjoyed seeing you all again and meeting some new faces. Thank you for your amazing support.
Its seems that spring is slow to arrive and just as we think its getting milder another cold snap is forecast. But any day now we will get that first real day of spring when warmth prevails and balmy air descends.
There are of course signs that spring is here as daffodils, primroses and celandine’s line the hedgerows and roadside verges. Frogs spawned a couple of months ago now and their spawn is already transforming into tadpoles. It will be soon be the turn of the toads to converge onto lakes and ponds their birdlike croak echoing around. Any time now we could glimpse that first sand martin and then that true harbinger of spring and summer the swallows.
As anglers we are of course very aware of nature that is around us and this is all part of what fishing is all about. I am always filled with optimism as the days grow longer and the chance to fish evening sessions in daylight arrives. Of course many plans are made and time is as ever less plentiful than desired. In just a couple of weeks the clocks spring forward.
There will be the chance to cast a fly across the river for spring salmon. Flick a dry fly upstream for wild brown trout or fish a buzzer on a Stillwater for hard fighting rainbows.
Carp anglers will relish the warming water knowing that carp will become more active and as a result will search for food maybe even coming onto the surface where a chum mixer will be slurped down with that delightful sound of summer evenings.
If you’re a sea angler your thoughts will be turning to bass, smoothound and ray. It will of course depend upon your favourite angling style what you seek. The bait angler will enjoy sitting back waiting for the nodding rod and screaming reel. The lure fisher will be more mobile searching for fish casting here and there searching for that electric tug on the line.
I could ramble on but I am sure you get the vibes that I am trying to convey that excitement at the arrival of new a season and fresh piscatorial adventures. I hope to report on your catches over these coming months, not just the fish but also an appreciation of all that angling means. So please feel free to send me your successes, stories and any images of the angling world you enjoy.
Many thanks go to those who sponsor this site and support this project.
