Scott Bowden enjoyed a recent trip to Lower Tamar lake catching a lovely brace of fish. A 23.06 Common was backed up by a 23.12 Mirror both caught on homemade boilies using a small stick of crushed boilies with Korda semi stiff silt braid N Trap and lakebed Leads.
Norman Martin won North Devon Tackles Match at Mill Pond with a net of roach totalling 7lb 10oz. Close behind was Barry Lee with 7lb 4oz. The cold conditions suppressed the appetite of the ponds residents as winner Norman Martin told me a few weeks ago he landed close to 40lb of roach from this prime silver fish water.
Andrew Atkinson secured victory in Appledore Shipbuilders Rover with a fine flounder of 2lb 21/4oz. In second and third place was Graham Snow with a flounder of 1lb105/8oz and 1lb 87/8oz. The Junior section was taken by Cleo Babb with a flounder of 1lb 1oz. Twenty seven keen members fished the event in a bitter East wind with temperatures barely above zero.
Appledore hold their Christmas Competition at Heanton Court on the Taw Estuary next week fishing 9.00am until 1:30pm.
TRIPLE HOOK CLUB FLOUNDER OPEN
Winter League No2 Oaktree
1st Paul Morris 53lb 12oz 2nd Nathan Underwood 30lb 5oz 3rd John Forster 18lb 12oz 4th Kevin Shears 13lb 14oz
11 hardy soles turned out in freezing conditions , Paul Morris scored a resounding victory after a break from match fishing, Paul caught a dozen carp on long pole and maggot tactics, Nathan took his bag on similar tactics.
Thanks to Martin Turner for the results and write up.
(Above) Paul Morris
(Above) Nathan Underwood
(Above) John Forster
Blakewell Fishery’s Christmas Competition is always a highlight of the local game fishing calendar and this year competitors enjoyed some great sport beneath the winter sunshine. The trout seized anglers fly’s from the start of the event with rods bent all around the lake during the first hour. The twenty eight anglers landed a total of 168 trout; twenty eight six fish limit bags!
Four double figure trout were landed the best to the rod of Peter Fairclough weighed a touch over 13lb.
Peter Fairclough – 13lb Rainbow Trout
Phill Colwill landed an 11lb 2oz rainbow trout, Peter Furze a rainbow of 11lb 1oz and James Thomas a rainbow of 10lb 9oz.
James Thomas – Rainbow Trout 10lb 9oz
The winning bag of the day was taken by Pete Furze and totalled 28lb 4oz, runner up was Phil Colwill 25lb 14oz, third Peter Fairclough 24lb 5oz and forth James Thomas 23lb 6oz.
Double figure trout for Phil Colwill, James Thomas and Peter furze
Several brown trout were also brought to the scales the best a fish of 3lb 14oz to the rod of Brian Howarth.
A pleasing brown that seized my damsel fly nymph.
The competition was punctuated by a delicious stew cooked by the Blakewell team and the packed tea room was filled with chatter as friends old and new exchanged tales and experiences.
Mulled wine, stew and minced pies!
Reflections in the lake
Moorhens are just one of many birds at Blakewell
Richard and John Nickel were pleased to have Simon Kidd sales and marketing manager at Snowbee, fishing the competition and donating some great tackle prizes for the end of day draw.
Simon Kidd of Snowbee
The path to the lake
There are fish everywhere at Blakewell
There are rewards for those who are prepared to brave the cold and venture out onto the rocks and beaches along North Devon’s coast.
Whiting,dogfish, conger and huss are dominating catches with a few spurdog beginning to show and don’t write off the chance of a big bass.
Kyle Bishop landed this 28lb tope back in October after numerous blank outing in search of these hard fighting shark. (Above) Still every chance of one of these before the end of the year!
Several bull huss have been tempted over recent days including this fine specimen to the rod of Ollie Passmore that weighed 9lb 1oz. ( Below)
(Above) Young Archie Porter with a fine 7lb bull huss caught from a local beach.
There is no place better for buying tackle than your local tackle shop and before Christmas I intend to visit the local shops that have supported North Devon Angling News in its first six months. I started today at Summerlands Tackle at Westward Ho! This well established family run tackle shop has been trading for as long as I can remember and has a fantastic range of products for all angling disciplines. In my view its far better to walk into a shop and see the products. Tackle shops are also at the heart of the angling social scene a place where anglers often bump into old friends and swap tales from the waters edge.
Among the many offers in the store on the run up to Christmas are :-
PENN 525 Mag Reel RRP £169.99 on offer for £89.99 with free Rovex line
Preston Innovation Thermal Suit RRP £139.99 on offer for £119.99
Chub RS Flat bed+ Bed-chair RRP £109.99 On offer for £54.00 “Limited Stock”
All Subject to availability.
Blakewell Fishery hold their popular Christmas Competition on Sunday December 4th and there should be plenty of quality trout caught if previous competitions are anything to go by. This 6lb rainbow was part of a four fish bag weighing 14lb to the rod of Rodney Daniel. It will be interesting to see the total winning weight at the Christmas Competition. One big double can make all the difference!
Full report on the competition to follow Sunday or Monday night!
Jon Patten has allowed me to post his latest exploit here on North Devon Angling News. This is the second spurdog I have heard of from the shore so far this year which is a promising sign so early in the winter season.
Decided on a little evening session the other night based on the hunch that there may have been a spur or two about from one of the local beaches,With temperatures failing to minus 5 we hoped that we would be busy thus keeping us warm. Baits were sent out into the murky depths of the Bristol channel where hopefully something would dine on our scrumptious offering, Barely 10 minutes had passed and the first of our bites came, in fact a flurry of bites consisting mainly of dogfish, eels,whiting and huss……Nothing big but enough to keep us occupied which was very pleasing watching the rods continuously nodding amongst an array of shooting stars coming down from the skies
Our session was almost over when i saw a bite that after a couple of pulls the line fell slack almost to the floor,a couple of turns of the handle saw tension regained and a swift movement of the rod top saw weight at the end of my line
After a little bit of a scrap i could see eyes at the waters edge signalling the reflective eyes of our intended quarry the spurdog, it might not have been a big one ………but the account was open and hopefully the first of several this winter as this once rare visitor now visits our shores more frequently than years gone by
Varivas sport 20lb main line, 130lb flouro carbon trace and 8/0 BMX hooks
Bait used ……squid, sandeel, mackerel and bluey
Many thanks to Toby Bassett who sent me this report and pictures of a very enjoyable day on John Barbeary’s Bluefin off Ilfracombe .
I am sure the bigger spurdog will start to show soon and there is every chance as the winter progresses that someone will hook that elusive big cod or fifty pound plus conger.
Fishing aboard the bluefin..with john Barbeary, Dave Clements. Pete Gregory, Troy Laing .loads of huss..and small female spurs…cracking weather with the sun shining all day long….also caught were. Eels. Dogfish, a thornback ray…Good fun had by all with plenty of banter and early Christmas cheer.
