29 Oct 2021

FORTY SIX POUNDS TWELVES OUNCES FROM PARADISE

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KRACKING PB SMASHES PREVIOUS PB BY 23LBS!!
Massive Congratulations to Sam Whapshot who caught a personal best 46lb 12oz Mirror known as Parrot beating his previous PB by 23lbs!!!
With little previous experience in carp angling Sam didn’t expect too much action on the notoriously difficult Kracking Carp Lake on the Complex, but he had brother in law Tommy Flower there to guide him.
Sam and Tommy delicately placed their solid bags with minimal disturbance which where filled with K.S.C Pellet with a Banoffee Wafter hookbait.
Well as they say the rest was history….Sam went and totally obliterated his PB of 23lb with this monstrous mirror at 46lb 12oz!
Anglers Paradise
29 Oct 2021

BEAVERS ON THE WAY TO NORTH DEVON?

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     I have followed the debate surrounding the re-introduction of beavers with interest over recent years. Re-wilding is in vogue at present with a drive to bring back a wide range of species including white tailed eagles, beavers, storks and even lynx and wolves.
On the face of it resurrecting many of the species that once roamed the lands of the UK is commendable. Let’s face it we have done an awful amount of damage over the past 400 to 500 years. Taking a look around Waterstones bookstore the shelves are packed with commendable books on the joys of nature, re-wilding and climate change. Perhaps COVID has refocused many minds onto the more important aspects of life that anglers have been appreciating for hundreds of years? It’s as if the greater majority have suddenly woken up to the damage we have inflicted on nature and the planet and want to rush to put it all back as it was without considering that we have lost many pieces of the jigsaw. I am no scientist so my views are that of an observer who enjoys the countryside. I know that eco-systems are extremely complex and the creatures that live within are often inter dependant on other species and the vast range of flora and fauna that grows within.
       The re-introduction of species is perhaps different to invasive species imported from foreign lands. Grey squirrels, mink, signal cray-fish, Himalayan balsam are a few that spring to mind.
      It was with this cautious view that I attended the Beaver talk at Bishops Tawton Village Hall. As an angler one concern I have is that beavers might impair upstream migration. Chris Jones delivered a fascinating presentation about the reintroduction of beavers and I left the meeting erring on the side of reintroducing these huge rodents. The benefits they could bring seemed to outweigh the potential negatives. Beavers apparently live in harmony with salmon in Norway on some of that countries prime salmon rivers. They are now also widespread in Scotland on the River Tay where Miss G.W.Ballantine landed the British Record salmon of 64lb in 1922. Surely if beavers have been introduced there then far wiser persons than I believe that they are beneficial?
Many thanks to Don Hearn who also attended the meeting for allowing me to publish the report (Below) that he wrote for members of the Barnstaple & District Angling Club. I hope to learn more about the project in the coming years when perhaps I will catch a glimpse as a beaver swims past whilst I cast a fly for salmon on the Taw or Torridge.
I attended the meeting in Bishops Tawton regarding Beaver introduction in Devon.
Chris Jones is a founder member of the Beaver trust and has successfully introduced beavers on his farm near Truro. They have managed to alleviate flooding in his area and The figures and flow charts produced by Exeter university are impressive. The proposal is to introduce Beaver into the Caen catchment above Braunton to help with the Caen flooding problem. Our interest lay in the fact that they do populate other areas in time ,and without predators can do well, as they have in Scotland. They may even come up the Taw in future and i understand one has been caught in a camera trap much higher up. There is no suggestion they could populate the lower Taw but would have to be upriver and probably in tributaries. This could all be many years away and would have no effect on the Taw in the foreseeable future. I canvassed the E.A. on their opinion but the consultation has been led by DEFRA. I understand there will be a decision in 3 months with a licencing and long-term management plan to follow. The meeting was titled “Beavers in Bishops Tawton” and was well attended but there was no question of that happening. Wayne Thomas asked about dams impeding migratory fish and was assured they can still get through and haven’t been affected in other rivers. More info about this is available if you google “final report of the beaver salmonid working group” . Clearly A lot of research still needed . Chris Jones has invited us to view his land and beavers near Truro and this can be arranged via ” The Beaver trust” site. I hope to visit it myself in the near future with other interested members.
Regards
Don
28 Oct 2021

THE CHALLENGE OF WIMBLEBALL

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Late October and I am excited to be heading across Exmoor on a mild murky morning to target the hard fighting trout of Wimbleball. I am meeting with Snowbee Ambassador Jeff Pearce.

The news reports from the lake indicate that catches have been good in recent weeks with the lower Autumn temperatures encouraging the trout to go on the feed. Jeff had fished a match the previous day when some competitors had registered catches into the lower teens.

We were greeted at the boat pontoon by the ever helpful and enthusiastic Trevor who chatted about the day to day complexities of running the fishery and where we might find a few trout.

As we chugged out onto the lake it was soon apparent that the wind was going to be a bit challenging. A force 4 to 6 South Westerly was whipping up white horses on the water. We set up a drogue to slow the drift but even with this in place progress was brisk.

We commenced drifting the narrows casting our offerings close to the shoreline. Jeff was into a hard fighting rainbow first drift. Whilst I managed a couple of tugs. A repeat drift brought a second rainbow for Jeff and yet more pulls and tugs for myself.

On the third drift a savage pull resulted in connection to a pristine rainbow to my rod estimated at well over four pounds.

At this stage it looked like we were heading for a bumper day. But as the wind increased we decided to try our luck elsewhere on the lake. The wind was blasting into the shallows of Bessom’s and Rugg’s where we tried a couple of drifts before deciding to head up to the Upton Arm where we could enjoy more sheltered waters.

The wooded slopes of the Upton Arm were showing the distinctly Autumnal shades of golden browns. We drifted close to the shore where we tempted several beautiful wild browns each admired in the net before being released.

After a couple of hours without a rainbow we decided to head back into the wind. A drift across Cow Moor resulted in me hooking two good sized rainbows that came adrift after a lengthy and enjoyable scrap.

With the day ebbing away fast we headed back to the Narrows. A good sized rainbow teased as it followed the lure to the side of the boat before turning away at the last moment. This was repeated by a blue trout as we contemplated our last casts of the day.

Once again we had enjoyed a fantastic day with plenty of chances not converted into fish in the net. The strong wind had made everything hard work with difficult drifts, tangled lines and hard to find trout.

The joy of fishing these large waters is that they feel like truly wild lakes. The fish fight hard with their full tails and jewelled flanks. I hope to squeeze at least a couple more trips before the seasons end savouring the challenge of Wimbleball.

25 Oct 2021

Briefing from Jamie Cook of the Angling Trust

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The Angling Trust have been working hard to influence MPs to vote against the dumping of sewage into our rivers.

A personal view :-

The inadequate sewerage systems are a legacy of years of underfunding by water companies with much of the infrastructure outdated and unable to cope with the extent of development across the country. This is a complex issue and it is easy to blame the politicians and water companies in truth we all need to accept that it is us who produce the product and it is all of us who must foot the bill. The privatisation of the water companies in the 1980’s allowed the government to dodge the issues along with the successive governments that have followed. The need for housing in an ever growing world has exceeded the capacity of a sewerage system built for a much smaller population. The challenges of climate change and severe weather events add additional urgency to the situation.  Anglers at the waters edge are well aware of the state of the nations rivers and have long campaigned against pollution with some success. It is essential that the wider public appreciate what is happening to the Rivers of North Devon and beyond.

Wayne Thomas

Briefing from Jamie Cook of the Angling Trust

A big thank you to all those who took the time and trouble to write to their MPs on the issue of sewage discharges into our rivers and to everyone who supports the work of Angling Trust, Fish Legal and our Anglers Against Pollution Campaign.

As you may have heard, the Lords amendment to beef up the Environment Bill and force more action to tackle storm overflows was defeated in the House of Commons on Wednesday (20th October). But that’s not the end of the story.

Thanks to the many anglers and supporters who wrote to their MP, 22 Tory MPs defied their party whip and joined the Opposition in support of our campaign by voting for the Lords amendment. This will be key to us keeping the pressure on the government to act, especially if we can increase this number next time around.

You can see which MPs voted “No” to the government’s attempt to block the change here.

The Environment Bill now goes back to the House of Lords for further debate tomorrow (26th October). Discussion is taking place between campaign groups, including the Angling Trust, and members of the House of Lords around another attempt to secure action.

And Anglers Against Pollution continues to fight on other fronts. We are calling on the government to take bold action in giving new guidance to the regulator, OFWAT, to allow more investment in cleaning up our sewage systems and make water companies do more to tackle pollution. We set out the case in our recently published joint report, Time to Fix The Broken Water Sector which is gaining a lot of support and attention.

You can rest assured that we are not giving up the fight for cleaner rivers and will continue to press for meaningful action to tackle the scandal of sewage pollution. Thanks again for all you did and we will keep you informed every step of the way.

All the best,
Jamie Cook,
CEO – Angling Trust and Fish Legal

 

Download a copy of our Time to Fix the Broken Water Sector report HERE

To find out more about our Anglers Against Pollution Campaign click HERE

 

Lost treasures of childhood days

25 Oct 2021

Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Match Report 2021

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Many Thanks to Martin Turner for an excellent round up of this years Bideford Matches.
Our match calendar was, once again, interrupted by the continuing Covid restrictions. October’s 2020 match was our last competition at Tarka for the year, fortunately we were able to resume running regular monthly matches in May of this year. A fantastic attendance of 23, almost a full house, met up to once again compete on George’s Lake. Paul Elworthy had almost 30lbs to win the day, which reassured us that the measures taken to protect our fish stocks had been successful. With Covid procedures in place we were again in a position to begin our Wednesday evening competitions. Kevin Shears set the early pace winning with a bag of 20lbs mainly Skimmers. After 4 matches new member Steve Johnson and ex-Bude member Nathan Underwood were forging ahead in the league. The matches were mainly dominated by Bream, Tench and smaller Carp, 30lb plus needed to win most weeks. Halfway through the evening league Steve had withdrawn due to family illness, Nathan continued to score well. Mike Snudden using a chopped worm approach managed to put some good bags together and 3 consecutive wins, the best 54lbs 2oz in 3 hours! We averaged 18 attendants which was great, and the weather was fantastic allowing us to weigh in almost all 10 matches without head lamps. 26 different anglers fished throughout the league; the final scores were: first overall Nathan Underwood with 115 points; second Martin Turner 102 points and third Kevin Shears 91 points. Our last evening event was our pairs match drawn top to bottom from the final league. Kevin Shears and Craig Lamey 52lbs 2.5oz were the winners on the night; second were Anthony Bentley and Tyler Scott with 45lb 2oz.
We were once again able to fish our inter-club match against Plymouth and District Coarse Angling Club, our team travelled to their water at Cadover Lakes, a very deep ex-clay pit on Dartmoor. It proved tricky and we came away with a narrow lead 34lb to 29lb. We welcomed the Plymouth lads back for the return leg at Tarka; 2 teams of 12 fished. Led by Kevin Shears, 37lb top individual, we won the day with a whooping 230lb to PDCAC’s 63lb.The other team event was held at Stafford Moor, where we took a battering from North Devon Match Group Pros.
Bideford and District Angling Club’s aims and objectives are (from memory) ‘to promote and foster angling in the area’; with this in mind we ran some Junior events this summer. By running these as small matches I had hoped to be able to introduce new youngsters to our sport and to encourage those that already compete regularly. Saturday afternoons saw some excited youngsters eager to catch some fish, the over 14’s group was a very close-run affair this year with Thomas Scott edging out his older brother on weight count-back over 4 matches. Under 14’s section was won by 8-year-old Charlie Hedden closely followed by Brodie Allin. We must thank Thomas Downing for securing 2 magnificent boxes of goodies from his sponsor Bait-Tech, Summerland tackle for their generous support with prizes and Mervyn Beale for supplying the engraved medals.
As our monthly senior competitions continued to attract 20+ anglers the catches began to be dominated more by Carp, although Skimmers, Bream, Roach, Tench and Crucians always featured in the nets.
Currently, with 2 matches remaining, Kevin Shears and Nathan Underwood are tied for the lead with 77 points. Les Polden third on 59 points and a late run of 2 wins, has pushed Steve Craker up to fourth with 51 points.
As I write the ropes are being placed across the lake to protect our stock from cormorant attack throughout the winter months. Pegs will therefore be limited but I hope to be able to run the remaining matches on Tarka.
In conclusion the lake has fished exceptionally well this year, with great attendances and excellent bags being brought to the scales. All species seem to be thriving, particularly the Tench and Crucians. Hopefully if we can remain vigilant over the winter period we can look forward to a bumper, FULL season next year.
Obviously, I cannot conclude my report without expressing my thanks to Steve Bailey and all those who have made it possible for us to fish at Tarka. Personally, I would like to say how sorry I am to hear that Steve has decided to stand down from the role that he has held for many years. He will be sorely missed.
Martin Turner
24 Oct 2021

Thirties from Stafford Moor In fine form

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(Below) Bruce Julian and his friend Gary fished up on swims 6 (the outlet) and swim 1 the double (3 islands) and Albert square. They 12 fine carp , Bruce had a 30lb mirror and Gary now has a new personal best of 31lb 4oz mirror all caught on Mainline cell boilies

(Below) Gary Challinder  fished with son Aaron Challinder  on the beach swim on Beatties lake. Gary now has a lake record of 36lb huge well done to you Gary who caught on Vader baits and had 8 fish out , also Son Aaron also had 8 fish out too up to 25lb 8oz.

(Below) Phil Holt caught 17 fish out up to 30lb 2oz from the beach swim on Beatties lake. Phil was fishing with Vader baits Satan.

24 Oct 2021

Big Tope For Kyle

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Combe Martin SAC member Kyle Bishop tempted this fine specimen tope of 49lb from a North Devon shore mark earlier this Autumn. An indication of the dedication sometimes required to tempt such a fish Kyle commented that he has blanked on twenty five follow up trips.