16 Nov 2018

Shore sport update

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There are some good fish coming in along the North Devon coast at the moment with conger, bull huss, blonde ray and spurdog, It is important that those reading this get a true perspective as these fish generally require effort to catch. I obviously get to see lots of good fish to report on and I too sometimes get over optimistic when I set out onto the shoreline. Last night was a typical session when I joined fellow CMSAC member Rob Scoines at a local rock mark. We were both optimistic on arrival at our chosen mark but after close to five hours we had managed seven or eight small conger (commonly known as straps or bootlaces) and a solitary pollock. My own catch rate was undoubtedly impacted upon by my choice of 8/0 hooks and wire trace with several traces coming back as twisted tangles following the small eels attempts to eat the large baits.

There are often plenty of trips to the shoreline that bring little reward but its all part of the long term game. Put in the hours; sit back watch those rod tips for before long they will nod, the reel will scream and the rod will bend. Below are a few catches from this week.

(Above)Paul Lorrimore landed several eels to 18lb 8oz
Chay Boggis with a good huss

 

Dan Welch – blonde ray of around 9lb.

15 Nov 2018

Squabmoor Success

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Squabmoor near Exmouth is a little out of North Devon but with fish like this less than two hours drive away it could be well worth a visit.

Carina Bush and her partner had a great session on Squabmoor reservoir, near Exmouth in Devon. It was their first visit to the venue and they were rewarded with 8 carp from 18lb to 28lbs. They also lost a couple of fish! Successful tactics were 16mm Richworths s-core pop ups and 10 freebies around each hook bait.

14 Nov 2018

Upper Tamar Lake stock some BIG Carp!

by | posted in: Carp Fishing, Sidebar | 0

The future looks bright at Upper Tamar lake were some big carp are being stocked to make this large water one of the best in the West.

Upper Tamar Lake stock some BIG Carp!

South West Lakes Trust have stocked some more huge carp into Upper Tamar lake. This is the second year in succession where stocking big carp has taken place and there is more to come.

Recently fifteen carp up to 26lbs 4oz in weight were stocked and in 2017 twenty-five carp were stocked up to 36lbs in weight. The plan is to introduce another 40 carp all over 20lbs in weight over the next two years. The fish which were stocked in 2017 have done really well with some gaining as much as 4lbs in weight in the first year. Its anticipated many of these fish will continue to grow well over 30lbs within the next few years.

Upper Tamar forms part of the Tamar Lakes complex of fisheries with Lower Tamar only half a mile down the road. At 35 acres, Lower Tamar is home to a large head of 20lb+ carp, bream to 15lbs, tench to 8lbs, perch to 4lbs and specimen roach and rudd.

These new fish were sourced from our local supplier Lana Springs Fish Farm in Devon. Owner Chris Mannifold has a great reputation for supplying premium carp.

Ben Smeeth, Head of Angling for South West Lakes Trust said “I am delighted to announce this recent stocking and with the fish we have already stocked, these new ones, and the fish to come it re-enforces Upper Tamar as the leading fishery in the South West. The majority of fish have been Mirror carp to complement the large population of Common carp already in the lake. These fish will continue to grow with the aim of producing a large head of 30lb and 40lb fish within the next 5-7 years.”

 

Upper Tamar has produced a lot of fish for anglers in the last few years with some catching as many as 20 carp in a single 24 hour session. There are so many swims to choose from each giving a different perspective of the beautiful lake and each presenting different challenges and features.

Upper Tamar is a spectacular venue, set in peaceful rural countryside, spanning two counties with the Devon and Cornwall border running down the middle of the lake.

The fishery benefits from outstanding facilities with a café, showers, toilets and a camping field – perfect if the family also want to come along! There is an onsite self-service permit room so you can arrive at your leisure and start fishing! The venue also benefits from a level stoned path all the way around which makes access to swims for everyone really easy. A taxi service to any swim is also available if its pre booked

There are also two angling lodges which sleep two people and are bookable through our central office on 01566 771930.

Our fishing website www.swlakesfishing.co.uk provides a map of Upper Tamar fishery including swim names so you can familiarise yourself before even visiting. We also have a very active Facebook page called ‘Coarse Fishing South West Lakes Trust’ so please LIKE our page for regular catch reports, pictures and information about all of our coarse fisheries in the South West.

Anyone who would like to come along and see the fish stockings are very welcome.

Ben Smeeth

Head of Angling 01288 321262 [email protected]

 

 

ENDS

Issue date: 13 November 2018

 

 

 

 

For more information, please contact:

Alice Peters

Customer Communications and Marketing Officer

South West Lakes Trust

01566 771930

[email protected]

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

The South West Lakes Trust is the region’s largest combined environmental and recreational charity, managing reservoirs on behalf of South West Water for conservation and recreation purposes. Its 50 inland water sites, encompassing 5,000 hectares of land and water spread across Devon, Cornwall and West Somerset, attract in the region of 2million visits annually. It is listed as being in the top 3,000 of the country’s 150,000 charities. In 2015 South West Lakes Trust accumulated 3647 days of assistance by volunteers and in return training was offered in relevant skills (66 days in 2015). In 2015 SWLT attracted over 14,000 new entrants to sport.

South West Lakes Trust manages large tracts of moorland and significant areas of woodland, with Forest Stewardship Council accreditation.

12 Nov 2018

LURE FISHING WEEKEND IN PARADISE 2018

by | posted in: Coarse Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Looks like a crackinglure fishing weekend at Anglers Paradise – Full results to follow as soon as Zenia compiles a full report!

WHAT AN AWESOME 2018 LURE WEEKEND!!

The Lure Weekend has officially finished, and what an amazing Weekend it was!!! The Anglers fished their socks off and the Captains did their Teams PROUD!

I honestly don’t know where to start, I’m missing everyone already, it’s a weekend where Anglers from across the Country join us and we all share the passion of Fishing, make friends, laugh (alot!!), Fish, and have a ‘Ruddy’ good time!

This was the BIGGEST 5th Lure Weekend at Anglers Paradise and it couldn’t have gone better, I want to thank every single one of you for being a part of our Lure Family, I honestly feel so blessed to have the opportunity to Host such a great Event and meet such wonderful people doing it, thank you for making my job such a pleasure!!

A MASSIVE Thank you to the Team Captains who did us so so proud – Nathan Edgell aka the Pike King who represented Team Fladen, Ben the ‘Stinky’ Humber who represented Team Fox Rage, Robbie Northman who represented Team Savage and Kev Cox who represented Team Fox Rage who sadly couldn’t make the presentation as had to be taken to Hospital. The poor chap had Flu all weekend but tried his best to battle the Weekend out but it defeated him on the last day and turns out he has severe Pneumonia on both lungs, he’s now back and home resting and on anti-biotics – Kevin – thanks for doing an awesome job despite feeling how you were – we wish you a speedy recovery and please rest!!

The Team Captains did a SUPERB job yet again and the results of the Lure Weekend will be trickled out throughout the week – so watch this space, I need a day to recover and then I’ve got 100’s of pictures to sort!!

Thank you to John Deprielle from Fladen who was our Professional Photographer of the Event, he’s taken some amazing pictures that I can’t wait to share with you!!

Thank you to the Costa Boys – Adam Sinclair and Ben Bagham who joined us and gave some amazing Prizes for the Winners inc 5 Pairs of Sunglasses!!

Thank you to all the Sponsors – Fladen, Fox Rage, Savage, Costa, Quantum and Drennan – The Prizes were absolutely Phenomenal this year and the Winners went home with massive smiles with all their goodies!!

Thank you to the Adjudicators – George Crisp, Paul Oglesbee, Ashley Bunning, Paul Tegg and Jamie Noone – You ALL did a superb job and made sure everything went to plan!

Thank you to the Staff at Anglers Paradise – Especially Kit Edmonds the Chef who made sure the Anglers were fed – the Food was amazing and Kit didn’t stop from 6am right the way to 8pm!!

Not forgetting my husband who helped me massively to make sure everything ran smoothly – I couldn’t have done it without him!!

There were some great catches and you won’t believe the surprise catches until you see them!! All to be announced and REVEALED in the coming days!!

Anglers Paradise
12 Nov 2018

Stafford Moor – Winter Carp catches to 29lb 2oz

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(Below)Nigel Bassett travels from Cornwall to fish at Stafford Moor with Tara & Mark. Nigel had 3 fish out up to 21lb 6oz from swim 3 on the dam wall up on Lodge lake this weekend all caught on Sticky Baits Manilla boilies, caught 2 from the far bank tight to the margins and one out in the open water.

(Below) Karl Hutchinson and his friend Jake  had five fish out from the summer hut swim on Beatties lake . Karl has this fabulous ghostie and Jack had a few out caught on Sticky Baits Manilla, Karl was using his home made orange & pineapple pop ups.

(Below) Dan Rickett fished  on the  double beach swim on Beattie’s lake  with his friend Tim Pearson. They had 10 fish out including this 29lb 2oz beauty which is Dan’s new personal best.

11 Nov 2018

Sea Angling News Update – Tope tops weekend catches!

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Dave Brooke landed a fine tope of 34lb 1oz to secure first prize in CMSAC’s Autumn Rover. Matt Jeffery was runner up with a flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz. Equal third were Rob Scoines with a bass of 7lb and Wayne Thomas with a rockling of 1lb 81/2oz.

(Below) Matt Jeffery with his flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz

(Below) Rob Scoines caught this personal best bass of 7lb from a North Devon mark along with two other bass, a codling and two pouting.

I was fortunate to be fishing with Dave and Kevin Legge when the tope was hooked. Always good to share in the excitement of such a moment. The fish gave a hard fight running over my lines in the process which caused a few anxious moments  before Kevin could lift the fish from the water. Always a good idea to get all lines out of the water when someone hooks a tope. Fortunately neither of my rigs snagged the bottom as the fish was encouraged towards the shoreline. We also landed dogfish, small conger, huss, pouting,pollock and rockling. The best rockling weighed 1lb 9oz and fell to my whole squid bait fished close in hoping for bass or huss.

The next few months are amongst the best in the Sea Anglers year with a wide range of species to target. Tope, spurdog, huss and conger are all to be expected with large fish baits and wire traces advised. Top baits for tope are flounder. fresh rockling, Launce or whole mackerel.

 

(Below)Mark Jones fished a North Devon Beach to land a personal best small eyed ray off 11lb 10oz.

(Above) Still time to catch bass on lures. This fish was tempted by local lure enthusiast Mark Jones.

Baits, Ingredient to Success: Frozen Baits

 

 

 

Bideford & District Angling Club – 24hour Rover Result

1st Andrew Clements flounder 2 lb 1oz

2nd Rob Harris bull huss 7 lb 10oz

3rd Andrew Clements dogfish 1 lb 14 1/2oz

10 Nov 2018

Lower Slade Pike

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Richard Ball braved the weather at Lower Slade to do a bit of pike fishing and caught a stunning 12lb pike caught on frozen roach.

Anglers fishing for pike are reminded that they must use a wire trace and carry suitable long nosed forceps for un-hooking, an un-hooking mat and a 42″ landing net.

9 Nov 2018

South West Lakes Trout Fisheries Report (October 2018)

by | posted in: Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

South West Lakes Trout Fisheries Report (October 2018)

The latest report from South West Lakes Trust not much from North Devon but some news from South Devon and Mid Devon might be worth a trip away for a change of scenery.

General:

With a couple of early winter storms hitting the South West recently, the waters have been stirred up, levels started to rise and water temperatures continued to drop in the reservoirs across the region. Daddies and sedges on the water have meant that fish have been looking up to feed, and dry patterns have produced some excellent results. The South West Lakes Trust’s Brown Trout waters (Roadford, Fernworthy, and Colliford) closed for the season on12 October; the season at its stocked rainbow waters (Kennick, Siblyback, Stithians, and Burrator) will be extended until the end of November.

Fishing:

Kennick – Catch rates picked up as the month progressed, peaking with a weekly catch rate of 3.2 fish per rod. Clampitts Bay, Smithacott, The Narrows and The Lawns have proved the best locations for bank anglers, while boats had the most success fishing into the margins of the more inaccessible banks. With Buzzers and Daddies on the water, surface-feeding fish were most active in the mornings, and anglers caught fish on Claret Snafflers, Hoppers, Daddies, and Black Spiders fished in the surface film. Sub-surface feeders could be caught on Gold-head Damsels, Diawl Bach’s, and Montana’s, with a few deeper fish being caught on Boobies and Tadpoles.

The best fish of the month was a 4lb 7oz rainbow, caught by Dave Perks (from Newquay), which helped him secure top place (and a prize of £1000) in the South West Lakes Trust’s ‘Best of The Best’ annual competition, held on 7 October; runner-up was Paul Jones (from Wadebridge). Chris Bolt (from Newton Abbot) caught the best Brown trout, weighing in at 3lb 8oz).

 

Siblyback – Mornings and evenings continue to be the most productive times to fish, and with plenty of midge activity on the water (particularly in the evenings), and a lot of surface-feeding fish off the North Shore. Two meadows has produced consistently good fishing, with fish coming up to take Hoppers, Black Gnats and Ants, and Black and Peacock Spiders. Buzzer patterns fished at various depths have proved effective, especially in teams with a Damsel Nymph or Montana on the point.

Burrator – the water temperatures continue to drop (now around 16 ºc), and plenty of fish can be seen moving on the surface in the mornings – small black dry patterns (such as Black Gnats, Ants, and Black Buzzer emergers) have produced some good bags. Sub-surface feeders have been caught on Damsel Nymphs, Diawl Back’s, and small Montana’s, with deeper fish taking Boobies, Black Lures, and Olive Nomads. The most productive bank areas have been the point and banks on the Longstone Peninsula, while boats have consistently picked up fish between the two dams.

 

 

 

 

Stithians – Yellowort Bay has produced the best fishing, and with plenty of sedges about, dry patterns proved the method of choice – a selection of flies, including Klinkhammers, Sedges, Dung Files, and Bibios all caught fish. Brown Sedge Pupa caught sub-surface feeders, with a few fish also taking pulled lures in the deeper water.by the dam.

 

Colliford – Floating line tactics, often with pulled patterns such as Soldier Palmers and Bibios fished close to the water’s edge in the mornings produced some good results, especially along the east bank and by the dam, with anglers averaging three fish per rod. Dean Boucher caught the best fish – a brown of 2lbs.

 

Fernworthy – Surface fishing produced the best and most exciting sport, with a variety of dry patterns (including Light Sedges, Foam Beetles, Black Gnats) producing excellent results – G.Vernon caught eight fish using a Dry Adams, and Paul Ackland (from Plympton) caught six fish on dry Sedges. Sub-surface wets and nymph patterns also caught well (including Buzzers, Bibios, Kate McLarens, and Pearly Invictas.

 

 

Roadford – the season at Roadford finished with some excellent bank fishing, with a lot of fish showing all over the fishery, and fish being caught at Grinnacombe, Shop Inlet, Daveys Bank, Wortha Bay, and in the deeper water by the dam. Dean Boucher had a great session pulling teams of wets (the best combination consisting of Soldier Palmers and Bibios on droppers and a Black Tadpole on the point), catching twenty brown trout up to 2lbs, with the best results coming from fishing the rougher areas of water.

 

Chris Hall (October 2018)

 

ENDS

Issue date: 6 April 2018

 

For more information, please contact:

Alice Peters

Customer Communications and Marketing Officer

South West Lakes Trust

01566 771930

[email protected]