“Picked my tides and weather last month and fishing some new marks, payed off Nicely with four Tope to 37lb didn’t weigh the smaller ones nice smalleye and a pleasing white Huss”.
Congratulation to Nick Braunton who helped to organise this brilliant competition that attracted a a large number of local anglers.
1st Nobby Jefferys 1lb 9ozs winning £250
2nd Dick Talbot 1lb 8ozs
3rd Paul Burslem 1lb 7.1/2ozs
4th Tony Gooch1lb 7.1/4oz
5th Johnny Weeks 1lb 6ozs
6th Matt Horsham 1lb 4.1/2oz
7th Mark Jordan 1lb 4.1/4oz
8th Graham Parsons 1lb 4ozs
9th Paul Simmons 1lb 3.1/2
10th James Mayhew and Matt cleverly 1lb 3 1/4oz
59 seniors fished
The result of the juniors was
1st place Barnaby Raymont 1lb 5ozs
2nd Bailey Phipps 1lb 4ozs
16 juniors fished in total 75 fished the event..Tony Gooch and Dick Talbot won the blind pairs with a total of 3lb 5ozs..Great day but with minus 5 degrees it took some fishing..
Every junior won a prize donated by Summerlands Tackle, Angler’s Heaven, Quay sports and Sakuma Fishing & Bullet Bait.
Over £800 of cash prizes paid out and £706 raised for the Pollyfield Bar Refurbishment.
Michael Hammett won Appledore Shipbuilders December Rover with a whiting of 1lb 9.75oz. Josh Atkinson took second and third place with whiting of 1lb 7.25oz and 1lb 5oz.
I visited Ilfracombe Pier last Sunday evening and attempted to catch a squid on a jig. After half an hour of casting and retrieving my confidence started to ebb. Persistence sometimes pays off however and I eventually felt a strange weight on the line. I was delighted to swing a squid of perhaps 12oz onto the pier.
I was told that before I arrived several herring and mackerel had been tempted. It also seemed slightly surreal to watch a garfish swim past close to the surface. Mackerel and garfish were once considered to be summer fish but as sea anglers we are getting used to the blurring of the seasons. It seems that we should cast off the traditions and try to ring the changes to keep abreast of nature as climate change rewrites the rule books.
Another difficult year but it has had its moments , the Kelt run in March was spectacular ,all well repaired fish in the 6lb to 8lb range we had 14 reported in the first 2 days of the season before we asked for restraint and hope at least some make it back!! Also, Several good fish were caught during the year . I saw an old ghillie from the Tweed on TV recently explaining that salmon are called the fish of 10,000 casts .However we do actually have a new member who caught a salmon after just a couple of visits. This goes to show that Anything can happen at Newbridge but as ever “you have to be there”
A member sent an article from very first issue of Trout and Salmon in 1955 saying 100 fish were caught in the Taw Torridge tidal pools that year .They say it was a record and the result of restocking with Scottish fish a few years before. Food for thought.
We’ve had another year of low warm water ,leading to more angling restraint requested, the short spate in august brought a few fish up but the September spate was once again too late for us . Just as the fish started showing we had to stop.
Apart from Salmon ,Where are the sea trout? So, few have been reported even from traditionally prolific beats up river. It does seem that as the fish decline so does the fishing effort which doesn’t help with reported numbers.
We have good news ,as most are aware We have now finished the new club hut. This has been a huge effort by dedicated volunteers and the club are very grateful for it. It’s a lovely peaceful place to rest a while with a companion and watch the river pass by. We intend to have a formal opening on the first day of the season next year and Members will be notified nearer the time. Also, John and Hayden Kenyon led a working party for the installation of steps and a ladder to improve access to the railway swirl pit, now called the Chairman’s steps .They have our thanks for that.
You may not be aware but Earlier in the season our local wildlife trained police officer Lucy Robinson and our local EA bailiff Sam Fenner had a person excluded from our water due to antisocial behaviour connected to Elver poaching. This isn’t an easy process that included a difficult “home visit “and We are very grateful to them for this action. It’s good we have this level of support from our local enforcement officers. They always do as much as they can for us but they are under so many constraints and can only do what they are resourced for. The EA bailiff Sam Fenner also got involved with the cattle encroachment from just above the bridge .After a meeting The estate has now replaced the fencing and that is ongoing. The West Country rivers trust has installed water quality monitors just upriver from us and we’re all interested in any reports from that. Another item of interest is that Adi’s wife ,Caroline Podesta ,is in the citizen scientist project and takes monthly water samples at the bridge ,it all helps to keep the pressure up on abuse of the rivers and the genie is firmly out of the bottle in regard to that. Who does what about it is another matter though! We can but support any campaign we come across . We generally have a negative attitude to these agencies but mostly the people on the ground are on the same page as us and as frustrated as us when it comes to any deployment of resources. Please be patient with them if you have any personal contact, we have to support them too as they are doing their individual best under a lot of pressure .We are encouraged to call in incidents/events at least it will get logged.
As a club We always doing our best to protect and improve The Newbridge beat we’re but always happy for any suggestions. Very exciting news is the club is finalising the purchase of another beat further up river. All details regarding fees and access will be forwarded to all members ,hopefully in time for the coming season.
Club cups were awarded at the recent AGM and this year the committee cup went to Dave Winter for his efforts at Newbridge, Paul Meredith gets the most salmon cup for his 3 good fish, Chay Boggis gets the Bass on the fly cup for his lovely 7lb fish from Clovelly, and I was lucky enough to get the best Salmon 34inches estimated at 13.5lb.
Don Hearn
Newbridge river keeper
It couldn’t be easier 
The Taw estuary flounder fishing has been below par so far this season with specimen sized flatfish very scarce. Fish seem to in small pockets with some anglers finding up to half a dozen flounder whilst other have blanked. The estuary has a ceratin appeal even on a grey November day. I fished the town area of the river with Nick Phillips and his son Jack and moved around to several swims without any indications on the rod tip. The glimpse of a kingfisher brought a welcome flash of electric blue to the day. The cry of curlew, oyster catcher, geese and gulls drifted across the grey estuary. The unpleasant litter of society was strewn here and there a rat scurried on the bank. Urban fishing on a grey late autumn day. I looked up to the bridge and thought of the salmon that had hopefully migrated through in recent weeks to spawn high on the moors.
Appledore Shipbuilders held their Christmas Competition at Heanton Court on the River Taw where the twenty four competitors recorded fifteen flounder. The winner was with a flounder of 1lb 6.75oz.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club held their latest Match at Bulldog Fishery where David Richards secured top spot with three rainbow trout for 9lb 2oz the best a fish of 3lb 9oz.
Dave Mock was runner up with three for 7lb 15oz and Colin Combe third with three for 7lb 13oz. The club are holding their Christmas Competition at the venue on December 17th.
The club plan to hold a couple of lure fishing sessions in the summer of 2024 with the intention of sharing knowledge and social interaction.
(Below) Mark Jones runner up with three bass total of 199cm
as the overall CHAMPION by catching 5 species consisting of Tiger Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Perch and Rudd which made him…THE CHAMPION OF 2023
species consisting of Tiger Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout and Perch
