The annual netting has been taking place at Anglers Paradise and the weights of the venues biggest cats should be revealed later this week!! Something for those catfish anglers to dream about over the cold winter months as they wait for next summer when the catfish will once again go on the prowl.
Steve Pinn landed this stunning 25lb 10oz mirror carp from Stafford Moor using Uber-krab boilies fished tight to the lake margin.
Well done to Bideford’s ‘A’ team who won the latest North Devon League competition this weekend
1st Graham Snow – grey mullet 4lb10 1/4oz
2nd Graham Snow – grey mullet 3lb 14 1/4oz
3rd Antony Smith – flounder 1lb 8 1/4oz
Lottie Ava Kinnear aged 8 caught her first brown trout on a cats whiskers lure from Bratton Water. Her parents say that she really enjoyed herself and can’t wait to go again.
Bratton Water will start to fish well now as the cooler waters of late autumn and winter arrive. Last winter saw some stunning brown trout caught from the fishery with several over 5lb. (Below) Danny Ford with one of last winters stunning brown trout caught at Bratton Water.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club fished the last day of the season at Wessex Water’s Clatworthy Reservoir where the rainbow trout that the fishery is renowned for played hard to get. Only three of the ten members taking part in the event fishing for the Secretary’s Shield managed to land trout. This was despite the lake being well stocked with good numbers of trout that were times visible in the clear water.
David Rudman was the winner with a rainbow trout scaling 1lb 151/2oz. Dave Mock and Danny Ford tied in runner up spot both landing rainbows of 1lb 15oz. (Below) The three successful anglers.
Despite the lack of fish members enjoyed a day in beautiful countryside with trees surrounding the reservoir in splendid autumn colours.
As members gathered at the Fishing Lodge reflecting upon the past season they were treated to a delicious offering of Lemon Drizzle Cake from the local Clatworthy Fly Fishing Club. We all hope be to back at Clatworthy in the spring when it generally offers superb sport with some of the West Country’s hardest fighting rainbow trout.
With the reservoir trout fishing season at an end it is time to turn to the small still waters where sport is at its best through the colder months.
Autumn is a prime time for the sea angler with a wide variety of species to target. The past week has seen local anglers enjoy success along North Devon’s rocky coast. Dan Spearman (Below) was among these anglers landing a bull huss of 9lb 3oz and a conger of 18lb.
Fellow Combe Martin SAC member James Thomas landed good pollock of 2lb 13oz along with numerous conger whilst fishing a rock mark near Ilfracombe. (Below)
Kody Chugg landed a small eyed ray (Below)
I targetted grey mullet that are one of my favourite sea fish and tempted a specimen of 4lb 13oz using quiver-tipped bread flake.
Rob Kendall and his daughter Brooke enjoyed 2 days on the beach swim on Beattie’s lake. Rob had a top weight of 21lb 4oz and Brooke had a new personal best of 20lb all caught on Robs home made bait.
(Below)Keith Green and Matt Bennett who had 17 fish out in a 48 hour session on the inlet swim on Beattie’s lake using a combination of Sticky Baits pineapple & B
utyric pop ups , Uber crab & nut boilies & cc Moore equinox boilies.
(Below) Nikki Danielle Parker and partner Karl Hutchison who had 10 fish out between them up to 24lb (which was Nikkis new PB ) on the double swim on Lodge lake dam wall using home made boilies .
Pauline and I joined volunteers at Crow Point on a beach clean organized by the West Country Rivers Trust. Organizer Kathi Bauer told me that they counted 14 full bin bags of rubbish at the end of the event,lots of the usual waste but also some sharps. Whilst around 20 people signed in they counted a lot more – Jodie and Cat of the WCRT estimated between 45 to 60 people overall, including children.
It was great to join in clearing the debris from the estuary and to my relief there wasn’t too much angling related litter. The event commenced with an informative walk and talk with Dave Edgcombe, who gave a very informative talk about the Taw and Torridge Estuary explaining how mankind industry has shaped the landscape. I have been visiting the White house area for close to fifty years and was astonished how much the landscape has evolved as a result of natures relentless forces. The Whitehouse was originally built in conjunction with the ferry that once linked Instow, Appledore and Braunton. The location being the original mouth of the River Caen a river that once had a significant run of salmon and sea trout!
The breaking through of the sluice gates has certainly transformed the area known as Horsey Island behind the Whitehouse! ( Below)
(Above) Volunteers at the beach clean.
(Above) A wide range of debris
(Above) Bags of litter
Litter is something that really annoys me and it was great to get out in the fresh air and do our bit. I have raised the issue of angling related litter before and will do so again but its not just anglers who leave litter its a problem that blights the whole of society. I challenge any one to find any where that’s not blighted by litter. Even on a beautiful beach on the West Coast of Scotland there were bits of plastic debris on the shoreline.
Next time you go fishing make sure you take your litter home and any that others have left. If we all pick up a bit it will make a difference.
http://www.summerlands-tackle.co.uk
Dan Rickett with one of 11 fish caught from the beach swim on Beattie’s a new pb of 26lb 5oz using Sticky Baits Krill boilies.
Still on a role after winning the £3500 Pallatrax Pairs Open in September Karl Yates has banked one of our newly stocked fish from Upper Tamar Lake. Karl caught the sparsely scaled mirror at 36.08. The fish was stocked in early September along with another 25 Carp including 3 over 30lbs and 15 fish over 20lbs. Its great to see the fish doing so well and it has gained 1lb in weight since stocking. As it stands this is the largest fish caught from Upper Tamar for several years, although there are larger in the lake! It’s a new PB for Karl beating his previous best by over 12lbs. The fish fell to a Mainline wafter with a 4oz Hex lead from Westcountry Leads. Congratulations to Karl who has been rewarded for putting some time in at the venue and well done to his young son Alfie for taking the pictures.
(Below)Jason McEvoy and Leanne Rule have been back on the banks at Upper Tamar lake landing a few fish. Leanne banked the first of their four fish at 16.02 and the Jason managed the next three fish with commons of 10.00 and 14.02 and one of our newly stocked fish, a mirror of 20.02. The fish fell to either mirage baits king crab boilies or Marcus Watts scopex and pineapple.
