Nathan Clements took first and second in Bideford Angling Clubs end of season competition with a small eyed ray of 10lb 4.5oz and a conger of 14lb.
Award winner for 2023 were as follows :-
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Runner up Jamie Steward
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Top four boat specimens
Mark Jones –
bass | 9lb 1oz | 113.281 | B |
porbeagle | 265lb | 151.43 | B |
tope | 36lb | 90 | B |
pollock | 7lb 4oz | 72.5 | B |
427.211 |
Species competition Format
Subsequent years will be as per calendar year
9 . Prizes upfront
1st, 2nd , 3rd
Season Ticket for aquarium ( Family TBC)
£25.00 Voucher High Street Tackle
Voucher for local butchers ( TBC)
Entries to be sent to Fish Recorder Wayne Thomas or Toby Bassett.
Photos required clearly showing fish, captor and location.
League will be kept updated by Fish Recorder and in addition to individual entries a tally will kept as a club tally as a collective team effort.
Will try and arrange a few pop up species days throughout the year to encourage social interaction with members.
I joined Dulverton Anglers Association in 2023 intending to explore the waters of the Exe and Barle that wind their way through the wooded valleys around Dulverton. As is often the case ambitions are not always met and I failed to make a single trip to their waters in 2023. We do however visit Dulverton on a regular basis and generally call into Lance Nicholson’s Tackle and Gun Shop to talk of the river or buy a few flies.
Having already sorted my 2024 subscription I was determined to start exploring their waters and pledged to pursue the grayling of the Exe and its tributaries as soon as conditions allowed.
Grayling are true fish of the winter months and give a great excuse to visit the water. The South West is not known for its prolific grayling fishing with just a handful of rivers supporting stocks of these enigmatic fish often referred to as the ladies of the stream.
The grayling of these Exmoor streams have been lingering in my mind for many years. Several decades ago, my wife and I attended a fishing event at the Carnarvon Arms. The Carnarvon Arms was a renowned Country Hotel that hosted many visiting anglers and country sports enthusiasts. A stand at the event was hosted by an elderly gentlemen who talked of grayling enthusiastically and fondly. Sadly, the Carnarvon Arms has now been converted into flats its legacy now just a distant and fading memory.
Fortunately, time has been kind to these rivers and whilst the salmon are in steep decline there is an everlasting and deep character that still flows. Negley Farson waxed lyrical about the Exmoor waters in his classic tome ‘ Going Fishing’.
“ I think the best thing to call it is a certain quiet decency. This almost unchanging English scene, with its red and green rolling hills, holds a romance that wild rocks, and wild flowers, or snow capped volcanoes could never give you. It has a gentleness, a rich rustic worth, and an unostentatiousness that is like the English character. An imperturbable scene which fills you with contentment.”
These streams are still inspiring authors to this day with Michelle Werrett’s latest book ‘ Song Of The Streams’, maintaining a rich literary vein that links the past to the present.
It was -5 degrees when I left home to drive across Exmoor. There was no hurry as I left home at around 9:30 hoping that the worst of the ice would have melted. The sun was well up in the sky as I drove across Winsford Hill yet the road glistened with white frost.
I arrived at Dulverton at around 10:30 and called into Lance Nicholson’s to get detailed instruction where to park to access my chosen beat on the River Haddeo. I purchased a hot pasty in Tantivy’s; a shop and café that I assume gained its name from the late Captain Tantivy an old English squire who rode with the hunt as mentioned in Farson’s “Gone Fishing’.
At the fishing hut I assembled my tackle whilst munching on a Cornish pasty and hot sweet coffee from my flask. I set off to the river unsure of the route to take. The Haddeo starts its journey high on the Brendon Hills its route punctuated by Wimbleball Reservoir that has become a mecca for Stillwater trout fishers.
The beat I was to fish runs through a Private Country estate and walking across the frosty field to the water I heard the volleys of shots from the shoot. The convoy of guns vehicles were parked up in the field across the valley. The pickers and their dogs worked away further up the valley and a team of beaters were undoubtedly working the woods and cover beyond.
The river was running fairly low and clear. I descended into the cold water carefully negotiating the barbed wire that will rip waders whatever the price tag!
And so, the search began with two gold headed nymphs carefully flicked into the rushing stream. It is a delight to explore a new water especially if it is wild and characterful as this beat is.
As I waded upstream a gamekeeper attired in traditional tweeds wandered across the field and made a friendly enquiry as to my success. I explained that it was my first visit to the water and that I hoped to catch a grayling. I don’t know if he was a fisher but he gave me encouragement telling me that there were some lovely looking pools up through the river valley.
I waded on clambering through the arch made by an ivy clad fallen tree. Icicles gripped the branches as they caressed the clear and icy water.
The river tumbled over a stony bed meandering through the valley. The signs of pheasant rearing were all around and I caught the occasional whiff of cordite from the shoot drifting in the cold frosty air.
I carefully made my way upriver searching each likely looking pool methodically. I was using a long rod adopting Euro Nymphing tactics. I focused intently upon the bright orange leader as it entered the water tightening the line each time it twitched as the flies bounced the rocky riverbed.
Luck was certainly on my side for the flies came free each time they snagged the bottom. And even the trees failed to rob me of the expensive nymphs that were tied to gossamer thin 3.5 b.s fluorocarbon that tested my ability to focus through lens of recently prescribed varifocals.
As I wandered the river bank I observed the occasional wren flitting through the branches and the ever present red breasted robin.
A buzzard mewed above the trees and cock pheasants strutted arrogantly in the frosty fields safe for a few days now and with just a week of the shooting season left likely to survive into the warmer days of Spring.
I peered into the flowing water hoping to glimpse my quarry but the river seemed devoid of fish. I knew that grayling were present yet connection seemed less probable as the number of fruitless casts mounted.
I flicked my flies into another likely spot struggling to see the leader as strong sunshine shone into my face. I perceived the pausing of the line and lifted the rod to feel the magical and delightful pulse of life. The grayling gyrated strongly in the water and I took a step downstream releasing the net from my back in anticipation. The prize was just a few inches from the nets frame when the hook hold gave, the silver fish disappearing back into the clear tumbling water.
Would this be my only chance? Grayling are shoal fish so I figured that there could be more in this small pool. I retraced my steps dropping the flies into the pool again. After a couple of casts, the line tightened and after a short tussle I netted a grayling of perhaps 8oz.
I admired silver flanks and crimson dorsal fin, grabbing its portrait before letting it flip away into its home water.
I fished on contentedly a blank averted and confidence restored so that I fished with belief and conviction. Covering some promising lie’s, I strolled until I came close to the top of the beat.
Woodsmoke drifted up from the chimneys of cottages across the valley. I savoured the rural scene as I worked my way back downstream revisiting promising pools. In a deep slowly moving pool the leader stabbed down and once again I connected to another grayling. This one was bigger than the first a fish of perhaps 12oz that was once again admired before slipping back into the Haddeo.
As the sun began to sink lower into the sky I fished on down with no further action. I reached the bottom of the beat and clambered over a style that allowed access to the river beside an old stone bridge. I descended into the river and waded beneath the old bridge contemplating the cars above racing around the troubled modern world.
I arrived back at the car poured hot coffee from my flask and reflected upon another perfect day beside a meandering stream.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s twenty pound plus cod were a regular feature of catches along the North Devon Coast. Recent decades have seen the fish almost disappear from this area. Cod numbers have been holding up further up channel but there is concern that numbers are starting to decline there too. The recent cod boat fishing competition held at Minehead saw just two cod registered from most of the Minehead Charter Fleet. This will undoubtedly result in the competition format changing in future years to reflect this and other species will be targeted.
Extreme weather in the form of a Polar Vortex is hitting the USA, Canada and Northern Europe. I see that while most sensible people are staying indoors, the climate deniers are out in force declaring the death of global warming. One moment it was all thaw and uninsurable ice-fishing tournaments, now they say it’s too cold for the delicate greenies to go outside.
So are they right? On the one hand, they insist climate change is all bull-feathers while on the other it’s ‘Do you remember the good old days when we had real winters’? To try and steer a path through the confusion, here’s a handy little cartoon strip that explains what’s happening:
So nostalgia wins. Winters really aren’t what they were back in the day.
Which begs a question: If the climate is getting warmer, and it is, then what does the future hold? After all, these same climate deniers are both stridently pro- their nostalgic old-cold winters and pro-coal, which is where a lot of the warming CO2 pollution come from.
Well, the good news is that our prospects for containing the worst excesses of climate change are improving. We are fast approaching peak carbon (maybe this year, maybe next) and coal is looking a bit, well, limp.
The world’s green energy generation increased by an astonishing 50% last year (IEA). Solar accounted for three-quarters of this. In the US, utility solar power is expected to grow by 75% in the next two years while coal is in steep decline.
Consider also that the amount of energy each of us consumes has fallen sharply. Everything from fridge-freezers and washing machines to TVs, cars and keeping our houses warm is more efficient. We might have more gadgets, but they consume a fraction of the power of what went before.
They may not know it, but the carbon footprint of climate change deniers is shrinking – so give them a pat on the back. Well done! They’re doing their bit (non-consensual wokesterism – whatever next?).
The global flight of investment capital out of coal and fossil fuels and into renewable energy is becoming a stampede. This is not about greenie sentiment. Renewables have plummeted in price while their technologies have become more and more efficient. Simultaneously, the huge and long-term investment needed for new coal mines and oil refineries is very risky. Would you sink $5-15 billion into an oil refinery with increasingly uncompetitive pricing and diminishing demand? How will you get your money back?
The IEA expects a 250% growth in global green power production over the next 4 years. The COP target is 300% by 2030, so it’s starting to look doable.
And while we are now certain to overshoot the 1.5C warming set at the Paris COP, 2C or thereabouts is looking achievable. This is better than many expected, and will still be disruptive. But, even so, we can do a lot to adapt to 2C, whereas the 5C+ we were heading for would have been calamitous.
We’re getting there. To be sure there’s a lot of work to do – but I’ll back us to get it done. The direction of travel is set, King Coal is fading and the denialists are coming along for the ride (shh…). Just follow the money.
With thanks to ‘Not the End of the World’ by the brilliant Hannah Ritchie. A great read about positive outcomes. Thanks also to Andrew Kessler for using the cartoon before me – which is how I found it.
There is something special about the first fishing trip of a New Year. Perhaps it is the expectation of a new journey to the water’s edge, a fresh start, a time to recalibrate.
This year’s trip proved memorable in part due to the influence of Storm Henk the latest of many named storms over recent months.
The trip was in truth as much a social session as a serious fishing trip starting with a Full English in The Globe Inn at Sampford Peverel conveniently situated a short distance from the Tiverton canal. Keith Armishaw, Lee Armshaw, Dr Mark Everard, Dominick Garnett and two other chaps, one called Sid and the other Mark.
The Met Office promised rain and an amber warning of wind! After negotiating watery roads, we had all arrived safely by just after 8.00am and tucked into an ample breakfast along with fresh coffee. The breakfast chat agenda was mostly of piscatorial matters and of course a few diversions into the tragic state of the world. After planning how to put this right we headed for the muddy waters of the canal.
Each of us had a plan on how to catch a few fish. I had decided to target pike figuring that a smelly dead-bait fished beneath a bright crimson float would give a good chance of a bent rod. Others chose to offer maggots, bread and lures.
The canal water certainly reflected the recent persistent rainfall and water clarity was undoubtedly not good. I chose to fish in the wide basin close to the pub and set up beside a hedge that gave some shelter from the gusty wind and drizzle.
The two floats indicated the position of the baits and I planned to keep recasting every twenty minutes or so to areas that I had a hunch could produce.
The rest of the party headed further along the canal to areas that had a good track record.
After fifteen minutes my right hand float bobbed and started to slide along the surface. I picked up the rod allowed the line to tighten before winding into the fish. I was using a single circle hook and cursed when the fish that felt reasonable came adrift after a few seconds.
I rebaited and flicked out a fresh bait. The wind strength was undoubtedly increasing with strong gusts bowing the trees. The electric blue of a kingfisher flashed past and patches of blue started to show in the Western sky above the village church. The church tower and resonate tolling of the bell within somehow seemed to add a sense of perspective as we embarked upon the journey into a New Year.
Dom came over for a chat and I told him of the lost pike. As we chatted the float on the right hand rod bobbed and the float again slid slowly away. This time the hook held and a pike of around 7lb graced the net. A pleasing start to the year.
By now the wind strength was increasing noticeably with some very strong gusts. Dom had spoken with Lee who had found some clear water on the canal at a location a mile of so away. As heavy rain was threatened and the storm intensified we decided upon a coffee break and a move to find the clearer water.
As we headed to the pub for a hot coffee the wind gusts were exceptional and we heard later that 80mph gusts had been recorded 20 miles away at Exeter!
Early afternoon and we set up a mile or so along the canal to be further buffeted by the howling gale. At least the rain had passed and brighter skies illuminated the scene. The water clarity here was good which gave far more confidence. I put out a bait near to an overhanging tree and started to prepare the second rod. To my amazement the float bobbed and I was in action landing a jack of 3lb before getting the second bait into the water.
I put the bait back into the same spot and made brief contact with another pike after ten minutes or so.
The rest of the afternoon passed by the howling gale swaying the trees. I savoured the winter scene and the rural landscape.
The light slowly ebbed from the day and we all packed away trudging back along the canal towpath to compare notes. A few perch and roach had been tempted along with a small jack.
We reconvened in the Globe for a final coffee and chatted about the day and past and future forays. We were all upbeat and had relished our day beside the water despite the rather meagre results. Plans to return in the warmer more tranquil days of summer in search of tench and rudd were discussed with a youthful optimism that was refreshing considering the fact that several of us were semi-retired.
Members of Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club assembled at Bulldog Fly Fishery on a calm cold winter’s morning. The bare trees of winter silhouetted against the misty morning light.
The friendly Winter Challenge competition was due to start at 10.00am and lines touched down on the calm lake surface as members cast their lures.
After half an hour I was surprised that I had not had a take as I searched the water with a damsel nymph fished in conjunction with an Intermediate Snowbee Line. As I looked around the lake at fellow competitors I was surprised at the lack of bent rods.
I guessed the fish would eventually switch on and this proved correct as members rods soon started to bend as the lakes residents started to feed.
Just as I pondered upon changing to a different fly a good sized rainbow appeared in the clear water and engulfed the fly as I was about to lift it from the water. After a spirited tussle my first trout of the day was safely netted.
I fished on keenly expecting more action but after half an hour I had received no more enquiries. I glimpsed a few trout moving close to the surface and changed tactics tying on a damsel booby with longish marabou tail. After a couple of cast’s, I watched as a good trout converged on the fly. A beautiful rainbow of close to four pound.
I persisted with the booby for a short while losing what felt like a good trout after a few seconds of contact. With several fish moving close to the surface, I changed to a floating line and lost a fish on a team of buzzers. After a further twenty minutes I tied on the damsel again and after a couple of casts I hooked into another good rainbow to complete my three fish limit.
By now most members had completed their bag. Club secretary David Richards arrived late at 1.00pm due to work commitments. This proved to be no disadvantage as his first cast produced the biggest fish of the day a well proportioned rainbow of 4lb 14oz. Within fifteen minutes David had completed his three fish limit and won the competition with 13lb 5oz.
It had been a good morning with the fish proving challenging enough to make the fishing interesting. It is far better when you have to work a bit to catch the days bag.
1st David Richards – 13lb 5oz
2nd David Eldred = 10lb 7oz
3rd Wayne Thomas – 9lb 13oz
4th Dave Mock – 9lb 8oz
5th Andre Muxworthy – 9lb 7oz
6th – Colin Combe 8lb
7th Nigel Bird 7lb 14oz
All caught 3 fish
South West Lakes – |
Title: New Stock Added
___________________________________________________________ Jennett’s has been stocked with 19 new additions to the lake! 15 mirrors between 16 -18lb and 4 bigger mirrors to just over 23lb Darracott has received a boost in stocks in 2023, to ensure there is a great future of sport in the lake for years to come. 72 fish have been added all together to 23lb. This should be a good venue over the winter to get a few bites and keep you busy on the bank! Melbury has received 4 new additions to the lake to improve an already impressive stock. Two mirrors were added from from the Roadford lake carp removals, both of these were doubles and two fish were added from Lana springs carp farm (19 and 20 Plus). These are stunning fish and will no doubt be target fish for the future!
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Combe Martin SAC member Kyle Bishop set a new club record when he caught a rare blue skate from the North Devon shoreline. The fish weighing 13lb 8oz beats the existing club record of 8lb 3oz caught in 2020 by Jamie Steward. Skate are a very rare catch from North Devon waters. These fish can grow to well over 200lb and were once common in the Bristol Channel with fish recorded from numerous North Devon ports in the Victorian era.
Kyle has also added specimen tope of 36lb 15oz and a spurdog of 10lb 5oz to his New Year tally following on from last season when he knotched up a very impressive list of specimen captures.