Many Thanks to Martin Turner for the report on this eventful match!
Kevin Shears 145 Nath 140 me 135 very
Winner of winter league Kevin Shears145 points 2nd Nathan Underwood140 points 3rd Martin Turner 135 points The match was held in beautiful spring weather, although half the field really struggled , even the small rudd did not seem to feed. Nathan , and Paul Elworthy got off to great starts on paste on the pole ,as their swims dried up , Paul Ware began to catch in the neck of the Narrow section and continued till the end. As you can see the match was not without incident , Ben Hathaway’s peg was invaded by a boy racer in a red Ford !! Breaking his pole in the process!
The Torridge Fishery Associations Annual General Meeting was held at the Half Moon Inn at Sheepwash on March 31st and was very well supported by its membership. I always look forward to attending this meeting as this and the Annual Dinner is the time when most members get to meet up and share in their passion for the river and its health.
As always the river Environment was at the top of the agenda and of course the fish stocks. Paul Ashworth gave an update on the hatchery. The clubs project to attempt to stem the decline in salmon and sea trout numbers. The past winter has proved a successful one with brood stock successfully caught stripped and returned to the river. The result has been 30,000 fry stocked out into tributaries of the Torridge. It is impossible to know for sure if previous years stockings have proved fruitful but with a 95% survival to swim up fry stage there has to be a chance that a few eventually make it back as adult fish.
Environment Agency Fisheries Officer Paul Carter gave a report on the latest regarding staffing levels with the agency and highlighted the need for anglers to act as the eyes and ears of the river bank. Any environmental concerns or suspicious activity should be reported immediately either direct to Paul or via the agency’s hotline – 0800 807060. Paul expressed concern at the apparent lack of salmon spawning activity on the upper reaches of most local rivers. My own hope is that this is a temporary situation with a poor return of salmon as a result of the extensive and severe floods of 2012 washing out large areas of the salmon’s redds. In light of the ever decreasing stocks Paul emphasized the importance of catch and release and in particular ensuring large fish of over 70cm are returned to the river even later in the season as these fish are often the ones returned by anglers fishing earlier in the spring. Provisional 2016 returns for the Torridge indicated 58 salmon and 206 sea trout.
Izzy Moser from Devon Wildlife Trust gave an enlightening talk on the successful attempts to breed freshwater pearl mussel with the intent of reseeding areas of the Torridge where the species is threatened with extinction. These mollusks can live for over 100 years and require pollution free waters to survive. The creatures can also contribute to the rivers health by filtering large quantities of water as they feed. For more information on this fascinating project visit http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/freshwater-pearl-mussel-project
One of the major factors impacting upon the Freshwater mussel is that of sedimentation caused largely by farming practices. Devon Wildlife Trust is working with anglers towards a purer river that will benefit both mussels and salmon.
Adrian Dowding and his colleague Phil Turnball of the West Country Rivers Trust gave a presentation reporting upon an extensive fry survey undertaken last season. This did not make good reading with fry numbers very disappointing throughout most of the Torridge catchment despite extensive work over recent years to improve habitat. The survey highlights the urgent need for extensive efforts to address habitat issues on our rivers. The loss of salmon and sea trout in any of our West Country Rivers would be a tragedy.
Invasive species are also a major concern with Himalayan Balsam one area that anglers can make a difference. A campaign encourages anglers to pull up ten of these plants every time they visit the river.
Despite all of this concern for the river anglers remained upbeat and optimistic for the season ahead with river levels now dropping after several spates some fish should be caught. John Hellyer caught a fine 10lb salmon from the lower river, the second so far this season showing that a few salmon have already moved in.
The Half Moon Inn has for many years been the hub of fishing on the Torridge and fortunately this is set to continue as the new owners Andrew Orchard and Alan McIntosh have vowed to continue the Inns future as a premier fishing Inn that will undoubtedly be well supported by Charles Inniss whose years of knowledge and enthusiasm has provided inspiration for generations of visiting anglers.
Two time Pallatrax Open winners Phil and Sam Gilhespy Phillip Gilhespy banked the first fish of the competition with this 13.08 common.
A cold North East wind made fishing difficult for competitors in South West Lakes Trust’s Pallatrax Carp Open at Upper Tamar Lake where Chris Hudson and Adam Martin secured the top prize of £2000 with five carp for a total weight of 43lb 12oz. Runners up were Alan Jones and Karl Yates who banked five carp for 39lb 15oz to win £1000. Third place and £500 was secured by David Bellew and Steve Lovell with three fish for 31lb 3oz. Fourteen fish were landed from four of the twenty five pegs a clear illustration of that old saying “when the wind is in the East the fish bite the least’. South West Lakes Trust were grateful to their sponsors Pallatrax, Anaconda Unlimited systems and Saengar Top Tackle System.
Stafford Moors open match on Sunday 2nd April saw a field of twenty eight fishing on Tanners and Woodpecker lakes. The event had a continental payout.
Here at the results:
1st was Mark Cullerton with 217lb 5oz from peg 11 on Woodpecker 6mm pellet down the edge
2nd Freddie Roberts with 150lb 5oz from peg 18 on Tanners feeding 6mm pellet down the edge
3rd Steve Ford 150lb 6oz from peg 16 on Woodpecker
Thirty anglers gathered at Blakewell Fishery for their Spring Competition a day that was to be blessed with warm spring sunshine. It was certainly a jovial atmosphere that pervaded the morning with old friends and new talking eagerly about the days fishing ahead. These competitions are little more than an excuse for a bunch of anglers to get together for a social with a bit of banter and a bent rod.
After the draw and a coffee we all set out to the lake that was tinged with colour after heavy rain two nights previous. This was probably a good thing as bright sunshine is seldom good for trout fishing. The morning session saw anglers enjoy steady sport with the fish fighting hard in the cool water. Glancing around the lake it was apparent that a multitude of patterns were producing fish. My first peg proved challenging and I only managed the one trout a handsome brown that was to be the heaviest brown of the day at 3lb 5oz.
My next peg proved more productive and within the second hour I had completed my mornings quota of five trout.(below)
This gave me the opportunity to wonder around the lake and capture a few images before lunch.
(Above) Gary Matthews with a handsome brown trout
The hour-long lunch break saw the hungry anglers tucking into a hearty meal of sausages, potato stew, salad, fresh bread and red cabbage and onion. This was washed down with a cool can of beer followed by a slice of delicious homemade cake.
All of this was of course punctuated by plenty of tales of fish and fishy places.
(Above)Brian Howarth with a 3lb brown trout
The afternoon session is often the hardest and that one fish can often prove hard to tempt. But with a blue sky and fresh green buds all around it was not too much of a problem if it took a while to complete the days bag.
The competition came to a close at 4.00pm and all but two of the thirty anglers had completed their six fish limit. The scales showed that it had been a very close event with just three pounds separating the top twenty-five anglers.
Andy Facey with two of the brown trout from his winning bag
Result
1st Andy Facey – 6 fish – 15lb 7oz
2nd John Buxton – 6 fish – 14lb 15oz
3rd – Phil Martin – 6 Fish – 14lb 10oz
4th = Wayne Thomas – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Colin Matthews – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Paul Grisley – 6 Fish – 14lb 9oz
Is there a better looking trout than the brown?
Whilst none of the big trout for which the fishery is renowned were caught several were glimpsed in the lake. A fine 13lb double figure rainbow was landed the previous day.
The fisheries facilities have been upgraded with a new toilet, fish weighing room and extended decking that will prove a hit on summer evenings when John and Richard Nickel plan a few summer BBQs and fishing events.
Richard Nickel feeding next years trout
Next month sees the fishery host a Snowbee Open day when the latest tackle will be on display and available to try out with casting instruction from the Snowbee and Blakewell teams.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club traveled to Wessex Waters Clatworthy Reservoir where they enjoyed some exciting sport. David Eldred won the competition with a five fish limit bag totaling 23lb 6oz that included a superb rainbow of 9lb 10oz. In runner up spot was Danny Ford with 21lb 12oz and third Richard Hopson with five fish for 18lb.
The latest catches reported to me from Stafford Moor with anglers relishing the warm spring sunshine that is encouraging the carp to feed hard.
(Above) Josh Vernon who fished on Albert square up on lodge lake in under 24 hours . He had 9 fish out up to 20lb fishing with home Krill boilies.
(Above)Maddison Holdsworth with her new pb of 22lb 1oz from the dam wall on lodge lake . Maddison had 4 fish out using Sticky Baits Krill and Sticky Baits Manilla boilie’s. Maddy is only 11 years old and comes fishing with her dad Steve. (Above) Here are the carp busters Jeff Waring and Chrissy Waring and Julie Carnell with some of there catches up on lodge lake in a day session. They had 6 fish out today up to 20lb 4oz using good old Mainline cell boilies.
“Riverfly Partnership tutors deliver one-day workshops to fishing clubs and other organisations committed to establishing a group to monitor the biological water quality of their local waters.
Anglers are natural guardians of the river environment, and are in an ideal position to monitor the health of the watercourses they fish, by using the riverflies they aim to imitate with their artificial flies. Many angling and other interested groups expressed an interest to be able to carry out health checks on their waters. The Riverfly Partnership spearheads an initiative to allow interested groups to take action that will help conserve the river environment. This initiative provides a simple monitoring technique which groups can use to detect any severe perturbations in river water quality and puts them in direct communication with the local Ecological Contact of the Environment Agency (EA) / Scottish Environment Protection Agency – participating areas (SEPA) / National Resources Wales (NRW) / Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). “
I joined a group of enthusiastic volunteers for a days training on the River Fly Initiative at The Fox and Hounds Country Hotel near Eggesford. The course was run in conjunction with the North Devon Biosphere and our tutor’s for the day were Matthew Edworthy from the North Devon Biospere and Izzy Moser from the Devon Wildlife Trust.
The group of volunteers was a mix of anglers and members of the community with a passion for Devon’s wildlife. All understood the importance of a healthy river and how the river fly population can act as a natural barometer to its health. Fly Fishers of course have a long established link to a rivers fly life as it is these creatures that the anglers mimic when trying to tempt the trout that live within the river.
It was observations by anglers that had helped to establish the vital link between the abundance of fly life and the richness of the river habitat. Observations over many decades revealed an alarming decline in fly populations. It was this that had lead to the River Fly Initiative.
The sampling of a section of river and careful gathering of data relating to fly life populations is a proven way of detecting any decline in the river health. This can show up problems long before any fish kill or visible signs of an issue.
The first part of the day was spent in the classroom where we were given a thought provoking briefing on health and safety and the risks we may encounter at the waters edge including the ever-present threat of Leptospirosis/Weils disease and lyme disease. We were then briefed on the identification of the fly groups we would be looking for within the river.
The life cycle of these river dwellers proved to be a fascinating insight into the rich variety of the life within our rivers and as an angler for close to fifty years I was somewhat dismayed at my lack of knowledge. Though this was one of the reasons I had enrolled on the course as knowledge of the river life enhances each day spent by the waters edge fishing.
The previous night had seen heavy rain fall over much of North Devon resulting in a brown and swollen River Taw. It seemed that our all-important practical session would be impacted upon but fortunately one of our party owned a delightful property with a small stream running through its meadow. After lunch we all tramped down to the river with our nets and buckets. Along the way we were delighted to see numerous rare snakehead fritillary flowers in the meadow.
It was refreshing to share in the joy of messing around in the river with a group of like-minded people. Whilst the exercise had a valuable purpose I could not help but remember childhood days spent exploring a babbling brook. My angling life began with this fascination for rivers and the life within.
Izzy Moser, Devon Wildlife Trust and Matt Edworthy
The sampling method involves 3 minutes of intense riverbed kicking and a minute of rock turning. This resulted in several buckets full of river life and detritus to take away and analyze.
To our delight it soon became apparent that we had struck upon a rich vein of river life with all our target species present in good numbers. Sorting the fly larvae into their respective groups proved a fascinating exercise and there were plenty of enthusiastic exclamations as various larvae were revealed.
We returned to the Fox and Hounds for a briefing on logging our data and how this vital information would be used by the Environment Agency to monitor river health. There is of course a political background to this citizen science for a significant reduction in funding means that those that care about the environment have to get out there and work for the protection of the riverside habitat. It is my belief that the rivers are the arteries of our green and pleasant land. As an angler I of course have an additional link to the river in that I cast my line into it in the hope of connecting with its fish.
Many Thanks to Martin Turner for the report on this eventful match!
