9 May 2022

North Devon Quay Sports AC Results

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MATCH REPORT
  Highhampton Lakes was this months venue, very warm day and carp beginning to think about spawning so very moody and playing hard to catch at times… well done today to everyone very good turn out for the group today.. more actual fish were caught today but few anglers did decided to tip back rather than weight so sheet shows alot of D.N.W. does give people more points in the long run amd push people up the final league table by doing so, would be nice to see everyone weight out on further matches please even if it’s just ounces as could give u position points.
All in all great day, cracking fishery with some huge carp showing up today keeping us all on our toes! Great performance from kev wilton made no mistake up in the corner peg with some.cracking fish and biggest fish of the day with a 10lb 15oz common.
Results 
1st Kevin Wilton  85lb 10oz..
2nd Barry Lee  82lb 1oz..
3rd Paul Whitehead  35lb 14oz.
4th KevinGrant  19lb 3oz…
5th Andrew Gratton  19lb 1oz.
6th Pete Seward. 6lb 12oz…
Biggest fish. Common carp 10lb 15oz Kev wilton.
Well.done today guys great banter all over the lakes nice to see you all today and next match will be held at Melbury reservoir on June 12th. All welcome once again..
9 May 2022

AWESOME EEL

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Eel enthusiast Alan Jump tempted this awesome 6lb eel from an undisclosed North Devon Stillwater. The fish was tempted on a roach deadbait on a dyson rig.

Big eels are elusive fish with a big sense of mystery being totally wild they often lurk undetected within a water with no one aware of their presence. This mystery is the allure of eel angling a total contrast to the commercial side of modern coarse angling.

8 May 2022

Bideford and District Angling Club monthly competition results :

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Bideford and District Angling Club monthly competition results :
Tarka Swims 20 fished.
1st Nathan Underwood  34lb 3oz
2nd Keith Copland 29lb 9oz
3rd Keith Mountjoy  18lb 14oz
4th Paul Elworthy  16lb 14oz
5th Steve Ashton 15lb15oz
6th Martin Turner 13lb 13oz
Conditions were warm with light southerly breeze.
Carp and tench have dominated this month’s match, top three wieghts have all fallen to strong pole tactics around the Lilly pads, corn meat and maggot hook baits. Nathan’s winning catch was made on peg 13 and Keith’s second place on the shallower peg 26.
This Wednesday see’s the start of our midweek evening series.
8 May 2022

Bratton Water – Wistlandpound Club Monthy Competition

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Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club visited Bratton Water for their monthly competition and all those attending caught their three fish limit despite challenging conditions. It was a beautiful day to be beside the water but a bright blue sky and crystal clear water are always likely to prove difficult. The margins were alive with tadpoles, lush greenery all-around the occasional mayfly hatching. A perfect day in early May; is there a better place to be than England in late spring?

The trout could be seen cruising slowly just beneath the surface with the occasional fish slurping down surface flies. Shortly after arriving I dropped a  goldhead PTN on the nose of a cruising trout that took the fly without hesitation. A pleasing brown trout of over 2lb.  This proved to be   the exception for I failed to get another take for a couple of hours.

A fresh stocking of trout were introduced whilst we were fishing. I did not move to this area for a while but eventually moved to the half of the lake that had been stocked. With the help of polaroid glasses I observed a shoal of freshly stocked trout and dropped  the PTN into their midst. There was a swirl on the first drop and on the second connection with a rainbow of around 1lb 8oz. I fished on in this spot for 15 minutes or so but the trout appeared to have wised up taking no notice of the fly.

By now my fellow members had bagged up fishing from the dam. I decided to move and drop my fly amongst a fresh selection of trout. A couple of casts and couple of follows then a good brown turned, the white of its mouth showing as the stillwater dinkhammer moved ( dry fly indicator) I lifted the rod and watched the trout react in the clear water. After a spirited tussle the fish was safely in the net.

It was time to weigh in.

Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club – May Competition Result

1st Wayne Thomas  3 trout 6lb 10oz

2nd – Colin Combe 3 trout 6lb 9oz

3rd David Eldred 3 trout 4lb 14oz

7 May 2022

Short Sessions with Brown Trout

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A cool South West wind ruffled the surface of Wistlandpound and mist descended upon the tree lined perimeter as I waded out into the lake. I had left the rod set up since my last visit with a black tadpole on the point and small black pennel variant on a dropper. I commenced to search the water and after ten minutes hooked into my first brown trout of the evening a valiant scrapper of perhaps 10″. This was only a short session but proved to a good one. During the next hour I banked ten trout up to 12″ and on one cast even managed a brace with one on each fly.

I wondered if the rudd would still be present in the shallow inlet and wandered up for a cast or two. Six rudd later I returned to the trout area and added another brownie to the total as the light faded from the day.

The following morning I decided to head for a short session on the Torridge once again targeting brown trout as with river levels now very low there was little chance of a salmon.

It was a delight to be wading in the cool waters with lush green growth all around. I started out with a new Zealand style set up and hooked a brown trout of perhaps 8oz after a few casts but it came adrift after a brief tussle.

It was good to see plenty of fry darting about in the margins and a few toad tadpoles. I was hoping to spot a few rising fish but they were very few and far between. At the top of the beat I changed over to a pair of nymphs and tried drifting these over promising lies to no avail. With only a short time left a few fish started to rise and I hastily changed over to a dry fly. I flicked the fly into the streamy run where I had spotted the rising fish. A glance at the time and I realised that my time was almost up.  One more cast… a splashy rise and I was into a 12″ brownie to save a blank session.

One of the joys of fly fishing is the lack of preparation required. Just pick up the rod and head to the waters edge.

6 May 2022

Quay Sports – New Opening Hours

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Quay Sports are amending their opening hours to offer an even better service. This friendly tackle shop boasts a vast range of tackle for all disciplines with good solid advice available from experienced local anglers.

 

 

Mon-Wed 8:30am-5:30pm

Thurs 8:30 – 6pm Late opening

Friday 7:00am – 5:30pm Early opening

Sat 8am – 5pm

Sun 10am – 1pm

“We are condensing the hours so we can have 3 or 4 members of staff in the shop more of the time at the busier periods. This will mean we will have more time to offer advice, demo products and serve customers more efficiently.”

 

 

4 May 2022

A Short Session at Wistlandpound

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As I walked down to the dam at Wistlandpound I was surprised to see just how low the reservior was so early in the season. After a long dry spring and a relatively dry winter it will need a lot of rain to regain the levels with water pumped from the River Bray near Challacombe.

This was only a short session that was to prove far more productive than I expected. I tied a small black lure on the point and black spder pattern to a dropper. Walking to the point on the West Bank I started putting out a line and started a slow retrieve. After each cast I took a step to my right planning to cover plenty of water. After half a dozen casts I was encouraged by a boil on the surface as a fish swirled at the fly without connecting.

A few cast later came a solid tug as I connected with a brown trout that gave a spirited account spending plenty of time leaping high out of the water before coming to hand. During the next 45 minutes another five trout followed all pristine looking fish of around 10″.

I decided to walk to the far end close to the inlet to see if any rudd were showing. After a couple of casts another brown trout siezed the fly and was brought protesting to Hand. I caught sight of swirls close to the weeds and put the flies into the area. The line pulled tight and I lifted into my first rudd of the season. During the next thirty minutes a dozen or so rudd were brought to hand. These were beautiful fish the light bouncing off their scales and fins glowing red. Th size of the rudd was encouraging with the average size bigger than those caught last year. The best was around 12oz and I have heard runours of fish well over 1lb.

I walked briskly back to the car after a short but rewarding session.