Ben Smeeth Countryside and Angling Manager – Sent me these reports of stunning fish and images from our local South West Lakes Trust Waters
John Deprieelle spent some time on day ticket venue Lower Tamar last week and had this to say about his session:
‘Well the carp fishing didn’t go quite to plan so I took bailiff Bobs advice and went to the very end peg which looked great and had fish everywhere in front of me. I lost a big fish within 30 mins of casting out and that was it. I had a few bream though and this 9lb fish was the best of the bunch taken on an 8mm pinapple pop up. The sunset was amazing!’
Ryan Wilshere caught this cracking 27.10 Common from day ticket venue Jennetts Reservoir recently. Ryan fished the far margin from the first few pegs and the fish fell to a Mainline Essential IB pop up fished over a scattering of essential cell boilies. (Below)
Blakewell’s Fly fishing Lake will re-open on Saturday 10th September ’16
Blakewell thank all customers for thier patience during the past couple of weeks,saying “time to dig out your gear, grease up your line and get down here to bag yourself some hard fighting trout!”
As autumn descends and temperatures drop these small still water trout fisheries come into their own providing the opportunity for great sport and a means of keeping in practice when the rivers close for salmon and sea trout fishing.
Shore fishing has been hard going in recent weeks from what anglers have been telling me though some excellent fish have been landed. The next few months are generally the most productive of the year with a wide range of specimen fish available for those prepared to put in the hours and effort. I hope to have plenty of pictures and reports on here in these coming months.
Appledore Shipbuilders & Bideford Angling Club Monthy Rovers
Terry Dymond won Appledore Shipbuilder’s monthly Rover with a bass scaling 6lb 141/2oz. In second place was Heidi Green with a rockling of 1lb 61/4oz and in third Graham Fisher with a gilthead bream of 3lb 81/4oz. Chelsea Babb dominated the junior section with wrasse scaling 3lb 7oz, 3lb 5oz and a bass of 3lb 3oz.
Terry Dymond’s bass also took top spot in Bideford’s Monthly Rover.
Combe Martin SAC Fish of the month –
1st – Liam Stevens bass 15lb 8oz
2nd – Derek Ferret – bass 13lb 3oz
3rd – Ross Stanway – rockling 1lb 13.5oz
Kevin Legge has enjoyed some success in recent weeks landing a blonde ray of 10lb 1oz and several smoothound.
Dan Spearman targetted grey mullet and landed a fish of 3lb 14oz. (Below)
The latest report from Zenia at Anglers Paradise demonstrates the wide range of beautiful fish to be caught at the complex.
Sam Whapshott, from Bexley, Kent caught a Personal Best 11lb Koi from the Koi Lake caught on Dog Biscuits, what a beautiful Fish! (Below)
Steve Macdonald from Woonton, Herefordshire had a BIG Surprise when he reeled in the Big Koi from the Specimen Tench and Orfe Lake at a whopping 15lbs!! Jackie Charlton caught him during the first week of July at 13lb 8oz so he’s put on a lot of weight in just a few weeks! Steve said – “Caught this cracking fella on the last day of our holiday with you. I had wanted to catch a double figure carp and a Koi so I was made up when my last cast of the day on the Specimen Tench and Orfe Lake resulted in this 16lb beauty, making it my new Personal Best!
The rig was a very simple 11mm bait-tech pellet banded onto a size 8 hook on a running ledger rig cast close to the lily pads. We had enjoyed a great day on the lake with loads of Golden Tench, Blue and Golden Orfe and an 11lb 14oz Grass Carp. It was a day well worth braving the wind and rain for!”. (Below)
Tommy Flower and his Wife Stevie from Bexley, Kent, had a rare fishing session together on the Specimen Tench and Orfe Lake. Tommy normally targets the Carp and Stevie is new to fishing, so this was a change from the Norm! Tommy and Stevie caught many Colourful Specimens including Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Koi Orfe, Golden Tench, Two Tone Tench and Grass Carp using Maggots as the hook bait. Here are just a few of the Specimens they caught! Watch Out Tommy, looking at the size of Stevie’s Catches, she’s one to watch! Always great to see Couples enjoying the Sport, hopefully the start of many Fishing Days out together. (Below)
Simon Poytner won North Devon Tackle Clubs latest match at Harepie with 59lb 8oz. Norman Martin was runner up with 40lb 5oz and Kevin Wilton third with 39lb 13oz. Small carp made up the majority of the nets.
Experienced Taw rod Roger Bickley has caught his biggest salmon and the best of the season so far. The huge fish measuring 39″ and estimated at 22lb was tempted from a middle Taw beat using a stoats tail variant tied on a size 6 single hook. Roger described the large cock fish as having its flanks shaded in colours of autumn with a large kype indicating that it had been in the river for some time. The fish was undoubtedly stimulated by a slight rise in the water following isolated thunder storms at the weekend. The fish took around twenty minutes to land making several powerful runs that tested Roger’s 12lb leader to the full. After a few minutes of cradling carefully in the rivers flow the mighty fish gave a kick of its tail and swam strongly away. Hopefully this fine fish will be spawning on the redds high on Exmoor before Christmas as anglers sit beside log fires recalling tales of seasons past.
Len Francis also enjoyed success lower down river landing a 4lb grilse from the day-ticket Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats near Umberleigh. Tickets are available from Ivan Huxtable on 01769540835 or call into the Rising Sun at Umberleigh and speak with Jules.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs Annual Fun Fishing event on Ilfracombe Pier was once again a highly enjoyable event with twenty competitors taking part and plenty of onlookers taking an active interest. Special guests for the event were Libby Ross from IFCA and representing the local coastguard Deputy Station Officer Dave Mannering and Coastguard Rescue officer Jodie Smith.
Jodie Smith & Dave Mannering from the local coastguard.
The event was unfortunately delayed as a result of a delay in the birthing of the Balmoral which was running late after a delay on the Welsh side due to inclement weather. This gave the opportunity for the coastguard officers and Libby to engage with the fishers discussing fish conservation, regulation and safety at sea.
Libby Ross – IFCA Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority
When fishing eventually got underway competitors soon started to get a few bites and swing fish ashore to be admired briefly before being returned to the water. Species caught included tub gurnard, pollock, wrasse, rockling, shore rockling, poor cod,pouting,smelt,grey mullet,rock goby, tompot blenny, and mackerel. Despite the small size of many of the fish caught beaming smiles on young faces made the event well worth while.
Charlie Stanway – Winner of the Event
A little light rain began to fall at the end of the event but not enough to dampen enthusiasm as everyone gathered for the presentation that was kindly carried out by Jodie Smith from the coastguard.
Winner of the top prize was young Charlie Stanway who caught five species for 7 points. Runner up was Sam Davison who caught four species for 7 points. Winner of the over 18’s section was Lyn Wilson with 7 points and runner up Ali Laird with 5 points. The heaviest fish was a 1ln grey mullet caught by Dan Welch. Special thanks go to High Street Tackle who kindly sponsored the event. Prizes were also provided by Combe Martin SAC and North Devon Angling News.
Despite some lumpy sea conditions, Rob Young didn’t waste any time finding the fish on a recent trip to North Devon after making the lengthy trip from South Wales for a 7.00am start with Stefan Jones. The day afloat with Stefan resulted in this remarkable bull huss that was weighed afloat registering somewhere between 14 and 16lb! The following day Rob fished from the coast with local angler Kevin Legge and landed a good bass of around 6lb as well as several other fish.
(Below) Stefan release a hard fighting conger at the side of the boat.
Autumn has to be one of the best times for the carp fisher as temperatures start to drop the carp sense this and start to feed harder in preparation for the cold winter months ahead. The leaves take on their bronzed and golden hues mirroring the flanks of the carp illuminated by the sunlight or beam of the torchlight.
Wayne Grinney with one of his 12 catches from the summerhouse swim on Beatties lake (Wayne had 12 fish out in 12 hours ) using home made boilie’s this one is a 29lb 8oz (below).
Steve Pinn who is a regular at Stafford Moor (he calls it his second home ) caught this fine mirror carp on CC Moore Pacific tuna boilie’s a new personal best of 21lb 6oz . (Below)
(Below )Alexander McDonald who had 21 fish out in 48 hours using DNA baits up to 23lb 3oz.
