15 Aug 2016

BRIGHT AND SUNNY SLOWS GAME SPORT

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Game Fishing, Sidebar, Uncategorised | 0

The recent dry, bright sunny weather has brought fishing on the rivers to a virtual standstill with water now crystal clear. The only realistic chance of catching salmon or sea trout is early and late in the day when the sun is off the water. Before the rivers dropped several grilse and sea trout were landed from both the Mole and Bray.

A few fish are trickling in however and a couple of salmon have been tempted from the Torridge. I fished the Weir Marsh and Brightly beats of the Taw last week and saw several salmon show as I fished down through this splendid stretch of prime day ticket water. Two fish were caught from these beats including a 6lb salmon to the rod of David Rice and a 4lb grilse for David Carhart.

Weir Marsh & Brightly Beats of the Taw

Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Clubs Rogers and Guard Shield was contested by six keen club members on a bright sunny day not conducive to trout fishing. Winner of the event was Colin Combe with tow browns totalling 27inches. Runner up was Steve Edmunds with one quality brown trout of 15”.

Wimbleball catch reports show 1.6 fish per rod day.

14 Aug 2016

Top Tope Sport

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

Boat anglers are enjoying some top tope sport off Ilfracombe with packs of these hard fighting fish hitting baits. The season is shaping up to be a good one for the species with mackerel numbers encouraging the fish into the Bristol Channel. Toby Bassett was one of the anglers to share in great days sport aboard John Barbeary’s Ilfracombe based Charter boat ‘Bluefin”. The anglers landed in excess of 80 tope the best scaling 34lb to the rod of John Passmore.

Daniel Stone

Daniel Stone fished aboard James Gubb-Fradgley’s boat off Lynmouth and landed a personal best tope scaling 36lb. They also landed bull huss to 15lb, conger to 25lb, several smaller tope and numerous mackerel.

14 Aug 2016

MARTIN TURNER IS BIDEFORD’S MATCHMAN OF THE YEAR

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Match Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Martin Turner's winning net of silvers. — *Martin Turner – Match Man of the Year*

Martin Turner has won Bideford Angling Clubs Match-Man of the Year award with 105pts eight points ahead of runner up Steve Bailey 97pts 3rd Craig Crash Lamey 83pt. The clubs Final Match of the club year was held at Tarka Swims. Results below.

Steve Bailey

Final Monthly Competition Tarka Swims – 14th August

1st Steve Bailey 26lb 4oz

2nd Kieth Copeland 19lb 9oz

3rd Craig Crash Lamey 7lb 7oz

4th Antony Bentley 4lb 4oz

5th Martin Turner 3lb 13oz

Keith Copeland

Craig Crash Lamey

Bideford Match-Man of the Year to Martin Turner 105pts runner up Steve Bailey 97 3rd Craig Crash Lamey 83pts

13 Aug 2016

Another Big Bass

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

Combe Martin SAC Member Derek Ferret fished a local beach to land this superb bass scaling 13lb 3oz. The fish was tempted using Ammo Frozen mackerel and was returned alive after weighing and photographing. This is the third big double I have heard of so far this season a promising omen as we are still early in the season regarding bass with the best yet to come!

I hope to have better pictures of this fine fish in a couple of days.

Derek Ferret - bass 13lb 3oz — *Derek Ferret – bass 13lb 3oz*

11 Aug 2016

Its big bass time!!!

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

Liam Stevens has landed one of the biggest bass so far this season a fine specimen of 15lb 8oz that was landed from a shore mark in the Ilfracombe area. The fish was tempted using mackerel presented on a 3/0 hook on a running ledger set up. Liam had persisted after suffering from a large amounts of weed fouling his line the previous night. The fish was weighed and witnessed by Peter Read and photos taken by Ben partridge. Liam is a member of Combe Martin Sea Angling Club.

The remaining months of the year are sure to turn up large specimen bass with many marks along the North Devon coast capable of producing fish to make anglers dreams come true.

10 Aug 2016

NORTH DEVON TACKLE MATCH RESULT

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Match Fishing, Sidebar | 0

North Devon Tackle Clubs latest Match at Oaktree Fisheries bottom lake saw carp feeding well and providing great sport. Simon Poynter took first place with three fine nets of fish totalling 104lb 7oz. Kevin Wilton was runner up with 56lb 1oz and Pete Seaward third with 41lb 3oz. Simon’s haul is new Match lake record for the bottom lake.

10 Aug 2016

The Joy of Carp Fishing

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Carp Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Phil Gilhespy has been among the fish at Upper Tamar Lake recently and proved his skill with both rod and camera sending South West Lakes Trust some fantastic images of fishing, wildlife and Common carp up to 20.02. Phil has had 8 fish in two sessions all caught on homemade boilies over a scattering of the same bait. The images illustrate perfectly the joys of carp fishing.

9 Aug 2016

ROCK DWELLING WRASSE

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

Andrew Parish used King ragworm purchased at Braunton Bait Box to tempt this handsome ballan wrasse from a mark near Combe Martin. Ballan wrasse were plentiful along the North Devon coast during the 1980’s but catches have not been as good over recent seasons. A contributory factor could be that less anglers target the species these days as they tend to reside in among thick kelp and rock that deters some anglers. It would be great to see some pictures of these fine fish. Crab baits were always favourite for the bigger specimens though king ragworm was always a great bait for numbers of fish. Recent developments have seen wrasse targeted with great success using lures a method that is perhaps underused in North Devon?

8 Aug 2016

Stafford Moor – Sunday Open Results

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Match Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Sunday Open – August 7th Tanners lake.

A great weight from Mark Hayman peg 3 with 139lb 14oz fishing 11mm on the lead.
In second place was Paul Tidball peg 32 with 131lb 7oz fishing also 11mm on the lead.
In third place was Lee Thomas peg 1 with 112lb 3oz fishing 8 & 11mm fishing 14mtrs

Silvers winner was Bruce Hunt peg 13 with 31lb 1oz of silvers !

Section winners were:
Dave Stockton peg 25 with 80lb 7oz and also Martin Heard peg 9 with 94lb 9oz

8 Aug 2016

Salmon and Sea Trout Sport on Taw and Torridge

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

The rain that fell at the beginning of August proved a welcome tonic for the areas salmon and sea trout anglers who enjoyed a hectic few days on both the Taw and Torridge. The day ticket Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats on the Taw saw eleven salmon caught on Friday and four on Saturday. Steve Meach landed six, Nigel Clist and Richard Jewell two and John Kenyon, Edwin Barclay, Michael Martin. Chris Steer and Bob Lewington one each. There were also ten sea trout caught from the beats. Numerous other salmon have been landed from beats on the Taw including a superb salmon to the rod of Emma Tyjas estimated at 12lb. Emma is married to Peter Tyjas who teaches with the Devon School of Fly Fishing based at the Fox and Hounds, Eggesford. http://devonschoolofflyfishing.com/devon-school-fly-fishing-courses/