Steve Pinn sent me this stunning image of mid double carp caught from Stafford Moors Beatties Lake. Steve also landed a 21lb 12oz mirror but size isn’t everything with this stunning fish a pleasing capture for any carp fisher!
NORTH DEVON TACKLE CLUB – WINNERS
Kevin Wilton was North Devon Tackle Clubs club champion and received his award at the club first presentation night at Cedars Inn. Norman Martin was runner up and silverfish champion,Simon Poynter won biggest fish/best specimen cup with 17lb 9oz carp,and he also picked up overall weight cup.
The clubs first match of the season is at Slade this on Sunday 5th February.
VENUE PIKE RECORD
Dave King on his second trip to Simpsons Valley smashed his previous personal best pike of 12lbs to take a huge and new lake record pike of 24lb 8oz.
Float fished sprat did the trick for Dave in the shallows.
Spurdog and ray on the coast
James Atkinson enjoyed success when targetting spurdog tempting a specimen of 10lb 13.5oz using squid, mackerel and herring cocktail.
Late winter is a good time to target specimen ray as Combe Martin SAC member discovered when he hooked this specimen small eyed ray of 10lb 4oz. (below)
Blakewell Fishery – January Competition – Sunday 29th
Sixteen anglers braved heavy rain to enjoy top rate sport at Blakewell Fishery where they landed ninety-six trout a mixture of hard fighting browns and rainbows. The six fish bags averaged 14lb 8oz.
1st Nick Martin
2nd John Sheppard
3rd Paul Grisley
North Devon Match Group -Championship No 1 Champion of champions
Championship No 1 Champion of champions
1st Kevin Shears 69lb
2nd Neilsen Jeffery 59lb 4oz
3rd Martin Turner 54lb 14oz
4th Nathan Underwood 50lb 15oz
5th Ian ‘Cosmic’ Croxton 44lb 4oz
A very wet day !! Match held on Oak pool Stafford Moor , fished very well smallish carp dominated the catches , long pole fished corn or maggot proved the best tactics .
Match next weekend on the bottom pond at Oaktree
BRATTON GROWING REPUTATION FOR QUALITY BROWNS
Bratton Water’s stature as a first class brown trout water is growing with some stunning fish being tempted. Chay Boggis visited the fishery and had a fine bag of trout to just over five pounds. Successful tactics were a white dog nobbler fished close to the surface with a fast erratic retrieve. Nick Hart and top angling photographer Henry Gilbey paid a recent visit to the fishery and their work should appear in a top trout fishing publication this spring!
STAFFORD MOOR – IMPROVEMENTS BRING PROSPECTS FOR A GREAT SEASON
(Above) Adrian Carnell AKA Carpbusters who came with friend Geoff Waring who had out 2 fish to 16lb 8oz from the beach swim on Beattie’s using good old Mainline Cell boilies.
(Above)Simon Hartman who fished for 24 hours on ‘big fish corner’ on Beattie’s using cherry carps poker pop ups , Simon had out 3 fish up to 21lb 14oz.
Some major work has been undertaken on lodge lake making it deeper at the back where the the mangroves have been removed! Many over hanging trees and branches have been removed and several new swims created. .The line found in and around the lake was extreme so it was good to get it removed .There are many 27, 28 & 29lb carp in Lodge so fishery owners Joanne and Paul are predicting some excellent sport during the coming season. Below Wayne Grinney with a carp that weighed in at 31lb 2oz
SPURDOG PACKS OFF ILFRACOMBE
John Barbeary’s Bluefin visited some of Johns proven local favourite marks to catch plenty of spurdog with the biggest 3 at 16lb all fish were double figure fish. Several hard fighting conger to 29lb wee also boated along with bull huss.
The cold grey and damp conditions were a stark contrast to the far off climes John had returned from after a well earned break from Ilfracombe chartering. The next few months should see offshore sport continue with spurdog, huss and conger dominating catches.
LATEST SEA ANGLING NEWS
There is still time to hook into a spurdog from shore marks all along the North Devon Coast and with things roughing up this week and evening tides and expect to get a few reports. Kevin Pike rose early at the weekend to tempt a fine spurdog of 10lb 4oz. Many thanks to Kevin for letting me use this excellent image.
Combe Martin SAC members fished their roving match at Clovelly on Saturday 28th January and it was Matt Jeffery who won the mixed brace competition with a plump dab of 11.5oz and a whiting of 1lb. The hoped for spurdog failed to materialize though Matt confided that something grabbed a whiting on his last cast of the night.
