4 Oct 2020

An Autumn Spate

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What a difference a week makes! Last week I made my last casts of the 2020 river season for wild brown trout on the beautiful river Lyn with the river showing its bones following a dry September. This morning the river is a raging torrent a cold North Wind swirling in the valley. Salmon are undoubtedly forging up river ready to spawn in a month or so’s time.

 

 The East Lyn September 27th 2020

Note the debris on the footpath indicating where the river level was the previous day!

 

3 Oct 2020

South Wales Ray for North Devon angler

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Dan Spearman visited the South Wales Coastline ( Before the local lockdown) to target the fantastic ray fishing on offer. His journey was rewarded with this fine specimen blonde ray that pulled the scales to 17lb 5oz. The welsh coastline seems to be far more productive than the North Devon coast in recent seasons with ray, tope and smoothound fishing all making the headlines. Is this in part due to more anglers fishing or is it a better fishing area to due a healthier fishery environment?

3 Oct 2020

Carp anglers battle on through stormy conditions

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Carp anglers are enduring stormy conditions at Upper Tamar Lake fishing the Upper Tamar Mainline Baits Carp Pair Competition.

The gale force winds and heavy rain are proving to ideal catching competitions with a succession of good fish coming to the bank. The competition ends on Sunday when I imagine the competitors will all be a little weary and weather warn. Modern clothing and quality bivvies ensure that fishing in such extreme weather is viable.

Overnight Mainline competition update….
Matt Pepperell and Chris Hudson have landed two fish on peg 9 (end of the arm). A 13.06
Common and a lovely 24.02 common in the rain!
George West and Andy Woon land there fourth fish, a 7.07 common to move further away in the lead from peg 12.
Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke landed there second this time a 11.14 common from peg 26.
Jon Gibbons and Damion Braund caught a lovely 20.12 common from peg 14.
Dan Gay and Andy Pickering had a 9.09 fish from peg 31.
2 Oct 2020

Congratulations to young North Devon Angler Jack Welch

by | posted in: Coarse Fishing, Sidebar | 0
Congratulations to young North Devon Angler Jack Welch who has banked one of the largest Zander ever caught from UK waters. The full account from Jon Patten below :-
“I would like to say a massive congratulations to my eldest son
Because Jack has caught a fish of a life time… An immense freshwater fish… For my sea fishing friends this is the equivelant of a 74lb tope or 20lb bass… Freshwater wise a 44lb pike
Huge fish
Jack and I had spent the day fishing up country to no avail… So I mentioned to Jack about doing a couple of hours predator fishing on the way home as we still had 3hrs if not longer to run home…. Little did we know what this would lead on to
Rods and reels set up… My new Shimano 6000 Oc baitrunners came into play
Frozen Baits deployed
Jack and I yapped as we fished this new area for pike and Zander
My bite alarm registered a bite… Which I saw anyway as I’m always looking for a bite
The net saw a small pike quickly landed and returned
Now the stars aligned for Jack as he had several fine Zander which unhooked and carefully put back so as not to harm them… I had another pike
Jack was in the zone as several more Zs came to the net for him
We were side by side… Using the same bait and rigs
Jack was enjoying the fishing and banter so much that he nearly didn’t see a one toner… Amazing bite
He struck but alas into thin air… Best bite of the night….. Missed
I might aswell have packed my rods away lol
Now I have tried to teach Jack and his younger brother Reef everything I know… Even starting them off at a very young age whereupon they have fished all around the world… Very lucky boys but both very accomplished in there own right
Now jack was told that we were leaving in 30minutes… His head hung low as he knew that he had missed the best bite of the night
When luck is with you… Lady luck smiles
Not more than a few minutes later Jack had another one toner… His reactions were fast he was concentrating as he lifted the rod to strike…. Omg that rod creaked under the weight… Line scream out before settling into a very heavy dogged fight… Changing directions every few minutes
Jack said I have pike… I knew from the fight it was a big Z
It came at the net like a freight train where I has to give it a couple of scoops to get it in the net before it would go in all the way
Holy hell…. I had a big Z a few weeks earlier… This eclipsed that
Ah man such a lite hook hold
We allowed her to recover in the net and then when she was right we weigh her…. Omg 23lb which would break the record… We weighed her again and again 23lb
Lol I was really fatigued and I realised that we were weighing a wet weigh sling
A dry net bag… Re zeroed in the scales and Holy moly one of the biggest Zander ever caught at 19lb 4oz from the bank… Jack had said that he felt the line rubbing on some underwater snags… With at hook hold he was indeed lucky to have landed such a magnificent fish
Now I’m a firm believer that if its going to cause a fish harm to get them back very quick into the water… Especially the big ones
After a couple of pics she was released… Ah man she looked grand to have Swan away so strongly… I was emotional
I have search for a fish like that for years but couldn’t be happier than I was for my eldest son Jack that night… High fives and a massive man hug from Dad
I looked at Jack 23yrs old now proudly and thought you have been listening every word I said and everything that I’ve taught you
A massive congratulation Jacko on such an amazing fish brother… A true fish of a lifetime… A mahooosive fish from the bank with all the odds stacked against… Snag wise
A massive thankyou to all of my sponsors who sponsor me Especially Shimano who help me which in turn allow me to help others within our sport and to my England team mates which encourage us to keep going through all the tough sessions
For any of you that want to try Zander fishing
I fish the Thames.. The Trent.. The Severn… The Avon… The Oxford canal… The Glouster Canal and several other places aswell 😜
Motivation equals reward”
28 Sep 2020

Shore Caught tope – 47lb 13oz

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Jamie Stewards efforts were rewarded when he landed this specimen shore caught tope of 47lb 13oz. Tope are one of the shore anglers greatest challenges and often require many hours of dedication to hook and land. The landing of such fish is often a team effort as in this case with Jamies good friend Chay Boggis lending a hand at the critical moment.

28 Sep 2020

Sixty Perch four over 3lb – Roadford Bonanza

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Roadford Perch success for John Deprieelle with four fish over 3lbs!
“These were the best of the day. Only started late afternoon and ended up with 60 odd fish. Mostly up to a pound in weight but topped off with these 4 and lost an even bigger one close to the boat. Great sport on soft plastic lures fished at various depths. The key was to keep moving until you find them. If you’re not catching then don’t hang around.”
27 Sep 2020

Bude Canal Angling Club v North Devon Match Group . Bude Canal Overall

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Bude Canal Angling Club v North Devon Match Group . Bude Canal Overall

1st  Adrian Hill 13lb 2oz

2nd Simon John Allen 10lb 8oz

3rd John Forster 10lb 3oz

4th  Stuartshelley Burridge 10lb

5th Ryan Wiltshire 8lb 2oz

6th Nathan Underwood 5lb 6oz

7th Christopher Morris 5lb 2oz

8th David Allen 4lb

Many thank’s again to Martin Turner for his weekly Match Fishing Reports.

24 fished, BCAC 163:5 NDMG 136:5 Brisk northerly breeze and bright conditions proved challenging for most but the Bude anglers adapted best and came out deserved winners. Top weight on the day went to Arnie on the bottom basin his catch of skimmers fell to bread on the feeder, Bude’s captain ,Simon put on a master class on the long pole for 2nd place, top weight for NDMG was John 3rd overall on the bottom basin. Thanks to Bude for hosting the event and we hope to hold the return leg on Tamar Lake in October.