





North Devon Quay Sports AC latest Match at Oaktree’s bottom lake saw Graham Curnow making no mistakes to win with 20lb just beating Paul whitehead.. with Kevin coming third.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club met at Wimbleball Lake for their first competition of the new season and were faced with challenging conditions during the first part of the day.
A cold South Easterly Wind was blowing down the lake into Bessoms and Ruggs which was the area the majority headed.
My own day got off to a flier when a rainbow seized my cormorant dropper on the first cast. I then waited over three hours before catching the next fish. A small black lure fished on an intermediate line being the successful method that accounted for the final four fish of the day.
Paul Grisley caught a rainbow early in the day and also went several hours before catching three more rainbows in the last half hour of the competition. The best of these was a stunning rainbow of 7lb 12oz that took the fly line out to the backing twice.
Early Spring can be challenging and on this day we seemed to have several seasons in one day. The morning was bitterly cold in the South East wind with heavy showers and short spells of sunshine. Late in the day the wind dropped away and the lake took on a mirror like appearance reflecting the dark sky and colours of the landscape.
Result – 1st Paul Grisley – Four Rainbow – Trout 15lb 4oz – Best 7lb 12oz
2nd Wayne Thomas – Five Rainbow – 10lb 11oz
3rd – David Eldred – One Rainbow – 2lb 8oz
Heavy rain has brought the river up a bit and brought some turbidity, if it was late Spring I would welcome this but somehow in early Spring the murky water does not inspire. I drift a big brass tube across the favoured spots. Its good to be back despite the cold wind and less than perfect river.
Salmon have been sighted leaping further downriver so its only a matter of time before someone strikes silver!
As I arrive a large bushy tailed fox scrambles into the hedgerow. I note the Spring flowers, daffodils, Primroses and celandines in what I often think of as Springs yellow phase.
I catch a movement in the corner of my eye ! A branch drifting downriver, but its strangely moving across the river? It somersaults in the river a tail slapping the water as it dives. My first glimpse of an otter this year. Whilst otters generate a lot of anger and debate amongst anglers I always thrill at the sight on this River made famous through the writings of Henry Williamson and Tarka the Otter. Otters belong here on this river; it is mankind that has upset the balance decimating the stocks of fish upon which the otters feed. Nature has a fine and complex balance that we so often upset.
It was great to be back once again swinging a fly across familiar salmon lies on the River Torridge. The river level was just about perfect with the first week of the season hampered by high flows and turbid waters. Spring salmon are a great prize that have become increasingly hard to win in recent seasons. Ten years ago today I was lucky to hook and net a beautiful fresh run fish from the Middle Torridge. I have fished every March since without repeating this. I will keep trying savouring the spring flowers and the hopes of a new season.
An out of season brown trout brought a welcome pull on the line. I hope to target these wild browns later in the Spring when they will hopefully take well presented dry flies or nymph.
North Devon based Dan Spearman and Mark Jones travelled to the Canary Islands to target the specimen fish that hunt the shoreline. Fishing from beach and rock marks they fished hard making the most of their time and existing on only a few hours sleep each day. The biggest fish caught was sting ray caught by Dan estimated at 250lb. They also landed butterfly ray to 88lb, smoothound to 25lb and several white skate to 40lb.
Fluff Chuckers trout bank day at colliford lake, Cornwall.We will be meeting in the main car park at 8am for a 9am to 5pm event.There will be a prizes for the most trout landed and for the longest trout landedMeasurement from the nose to the fork of the tail.This will be C&R event and barbless hooks only and all other swlt rules apply.The idea of the event is to be a ideal chance for anglers old and new to sample the brown trout fishing to meet up and have some laughs and get on the water and have a great days fishing.Colliford lake is a vast area to cover and you can fish where you fancy and we meet up at 5 pm to award the prizes at the main car park.This event is not designed to be a ultra competitive competition more of a great fun day with a few prizes.For the largest fish please provide your own measure tape and take a photo of the fish with the tape shown on the fish from the tip of the nose to the inside of the fork of its tail.For the total amount of fish landed please account for them as you would for a normal catch return.There is no big buck prize to give in false amounts of fish landed, and at the end of the day you are only cheating yourself by giving a false declaration.But photo evidence will be required for the largest fish landed.There is no entry fee to compete just let us know that you will be coming and please pay your day ticket in advance to swlt in the normal way.Look forward to seeing you there.
The bass lure fishing season shouldn’t be long now as the water starts to warm up bass will be on the prowl and High Street Tackle Ilfracombe has a wide selection of the latest lures. Well worth calling in for a chat with Danny who is always ready to assist with lure choice.
New IMA Lures Colours – Available Now….
The first of this years new colours from IMA Lures have now arrived and are available to order…
First, and my personal favourite is the Chappy 100 in Pearl White – the Chappy is an excellent surface lure with a long casting ability that is very easy to walk across the surface, making as much splash as you dare and always backed up by its internal rattles…..
Several new additions now – this time it’s all about the colour. Previously only available in the Sasuke 105 we now have exclusive to the UK Aji (Horse Mackerel) available in the following models….
Hound Glide 125F
Sasuke 120 Reppa
Komomo 2
Komomo 2 90
Komomo SF125
Chappy 100
Lipper 90
At High Street Tackle we now consistently have over 150 different IMA Lure variants – without a doubt the largest selection in the UK constantly available, as well as lures we also keep the whole range of IMA storage boxes and the high quality aluminium pliers too – click on the pictures above to start viewing these products.