Joe Dietrich was woken from his slumbers on a cold spring night by this 44lb catfish at Anglers Paradises Day Ticket Eldorado Catfish Lake.
Catfish wake up at Paradise
Reel Deal Charters – Summer Schedule
Reel Deal Charters have the big game, Lundy, tope and bass,The 1k tope competition on predator and the Cornish reefs as well as over the Easter holidays we will be running 2 hour local reef (Mini deep sea) and half day (4hr) deep sea trips on predator every day from the 11th April until the 22nd if you looking for things to do with the kids perfect time to get out for a taster session hope to see you all soon all trips available online at www.reeldealcharters.co.uk or call 07850984933 message me and for half term trips go to www.ilfracombeseasafari.co.uk to book.
Stafford Moor Carp – Catches Latest
Jack Lord banked four fish out in 24 hours from the gap swim 4 up on lodge lake all fish caught on Mainline cell boilies.
(Below) Sam White fished on Beatties lake swim 1. Sam had 2 fish out caught on high attract pop ups & Mainline essencial IB Boilies.
(Below) Tim Vick who fished on lodge lake on swim 13 ,Tim had 4 fish out caught using solid bags and wafters.
(Below) Dan Peirce, Ian Sharp, Ian Moore, Adam Berry and also Pete Penfold who had a 30lb stunner out (6 fish in total for Pete) the guys also had a few out from lodge lake.
North Devon Match Group – Upper Tamar Result
North Devon Match Groups match at Upper Tamar lake’s was won by Paul Elworthy who put together a net of silvers for 22lb . A hard frost the previous night undoubtedly made the fishing more difficult than normal.
Sea Angling Round-up
Appledore Shipbuilders
11 members fished Appledore Shipbuilder’s April Rover and three fish were registered at the weigh in.
Andrew Atkinson secured the top three places with a ballan wrasse of 3lb 8.5oz and a brace of 2lb dogfish.
Bideford Angling Club
April Rover results
1st Antony Smith Small Eyed Ray 8lb 1oz 89.583%
2nd Elliot Clements Dogfish 1lb 15 1/4oz 65.104%
Combe Martin SAC
Wayne Thomas took top spot in Combe Martin SAC’s April Rover with a boat caught small eyed ray of 7lb. Nick Phillips was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 2lb 3.5oz.
Prospects
Hopefully with the oncoming Spring and warmer temperatures sport will start to pick up along the coast. Smoothound will be caught from all the familiar marks over coming weeks along with a few bass. The estuary will be well worth trying for bass and mullet with the chance of gilthead bream.
Small eyed ray will be worth targeting from surf beaches with Woolacombe and Putsborough favourites.
Thick lipped grey mullet are already being caught from local harbours and offer excellent sport on light tackle.
Fly Fishing in saltwater is growing in popularity with bass and grey mullet offering some exciting and at times challenging opportunities from the estuary and local surf beaches.
Minehead Boat – Fishing Trip
With a Combe Martin Club Competition over the weekend, I was looking at a plan when Rob Scoines suggested a trip out on Steve Webbers Osprey. There were two places available and the weather forecast was spot on. It took a few moments to come to a decision and within five minutes the trip was secure and plans in place.
The boat was due to sail at 10:00am so there was no crack of dawn rise. I picked Rob up at 07:30am and enjoyed a scenic drive across Exmoor arriving at Minehead Mc Donald’s for a Breakfast roll and coffee before grabbing some bait from Speedbait the new fishing tackle and bait outlet situated close by on the Industrial estate.
We climbed aboard Osprey shortly before 10:00am and met with our fellow anglers, Colin Shepard, Rich Leonard, Lee Buck and Joe Woodward who had travelled down from the Bristol area.
It was one of those rare days with a mirror calm sea and a bright sky. There was a chill in the air after a few days of cold North East winds with overnight frosts. Anticipation was high as we headed off down channel.
First stop was in Porlock Bay hoping for an early smoothound. Within minutes dogfish were swung aboard in profusion.
After our first brew of the day from Steve’s son Will it was a unanimous decision to up anchor and head down to a well-known huss mark beneath the spectacular cliffs of the Exmoor coast.
After a few moments rod tips were nodding as scavenging predators below located our baits. I hooked into what felt a reasonable fish that plodded about at the end of the line as I persuaded it towards the boat. The head of a very large bull huss appeared ten yards behind the boat as Will stood ready with the net. Skipper Steve commented that it was a very good huss or words to that effect. At that moment the huss opened its mouth and spat out the bait, the terminal tackle flying back towards the boat. B******** or words to that effect. These nearly moments often seem to stick in the mind longer than success stories.
A flurry of huss to around 10lb followed along with strap eels and the occasional dogfish. As the tide began to ease the catch rate slowed and the decision was made to head back up channel in search of ray.
We dropped anchor a short distance off Selworthy and put out our baits into what was very shallow water. A small eyed ray was brought to the boat by Lee Buck within a minute or so of settling at anchor.
A good start that was to prove a false promise as just one other small eyed was tempted from the location. All remaining very quiet with just the occasional dogfish showing and a solitary conger of perhaps five pounds to my rod.
A move of a few hundred yards to a new position brought a few more dogfish and a small thornback ray.
As the day ticked past all to quickly it was very apparent that the fish were not feeding, perhaps as a result of the easterly air flow and high pressure?
Steve as ever kept trying and moved to another mark a mile closer to Minehead. The rod tips remained frustratingly still with even the dogfish scarce. As Steve called time my rod tip nodded and I lifted into a small eyed ray of 7lb. A reminder that success can come at the very last moment.
It had been an enjoyable day afloat with good company and the spectacular scenery of the Exmoor coast. Results had not lived up to expectations but this was no reflection on the skill of the skipper for we all knew that on another day these same marks would have brought a steady stream of quality fish.
The River Torridge Fishery Association – News Reel
The River Torridge Fishery Association
President: Lord Clinton
Chairman: Paul Ashworth Secretary: Charles Inniss
Beeches Sheepwash Beaworthy Devon EX21 5NW
tel: 014109231237
e-mail: [email protected]
NEWSREEL: SPRING 2022
Subscriptions for 2022 are now due. Please forward your cheque for £20 to the Secretary at the above address making cheques payable to The River Torridge Fishery Association.
If you prefer to pay by BACS:
account name: Torridge Owners Association: a/c no 00827770: sort code 51 70 16
Our AGM: for the first time for three years we were able to hold our agm. It was an excellent meeting with over 30 attending and The Half Moon laid on a superb buffet at the conclusion of the business. Paul Carter was our Fishery Officer for over thirty years before his retirement in 2020. In appreciation for all Paul has done for our river the Chairman presented him with a retirement gift from the Association: a £100 Snowbee gift voucher.
Election of Officers: the agm re-elected the officers and committee “en bloc”.
Chairman: Paul Ashworth, Vice-Chairman Steve Phelps, Sec/Treas Charles Inniss, T. Harper,
J. Burden, S. McClaren, D. Betts, D. Williams, P. Coles, K. Dunn, J. Graham. T. Birkbeck
Our President, Lord Clinton, is an honorary member of the committtee.
Hatchery Update: having not allowed the hatchery team to trap broodstock from the fish pass at Monkokehampton Weir last year for health and safety reasons, your committee is hopeful that the EA will give us the go-ahead this autumn. The Association continues to support the South West Rivers Association with its ambition to use the hatchery at Colliford Reservoir as a hatchery hub for all the rivers in the South West.
Health and safety issues: at the agm our vice-Chairman, Steve Phelps, outlined how important it was for the Association to make a thorough risk assessment for any work undertaken with regard to the hatchery and to general river maintenance.
EA proposal for 100% salmon catch and release: this will apply to all the rivers in Devon and Cornwall. Salmon stocks in all the South West rivers continue to decline and the EA feel it necessary to make catch and release compulsory. There will be a consultation period when we will all have an opportunity to express our views. Mandatory catch and release will probably be implemented for the 2023 season. There was a lively discussion at the agm with opinions evenly split for and against. With Torridge stocks of salmon and sea trout continuing to decline your committee strongly recommends that all fish are released without where possible removing them from the water.
The season so far: the river was high and coloured for the first ten days of March but then settled down to provide some excellent early season salmon fishing. It has been a most encouraging month with 5 salmon caught so far: 2 from Beam and 3 from Madeira, including a superb fish of 15lb.
Callum Underhill: our new fishery officer, Callum, will be looking forward to seeing many of you on the river bank over the coming season.
Big Coastal huss
Ollie Passmore fished a North Devon rock mark to tempt several huss to over 10lb. A great catch for this time of the season.
Fluff Chuckers – Brown Trout Bank Day – Colliford
I joined the Fluff Chucker’s group event at Colliford Lake on Saturday March 26th in search of wild brown trout. Cast off for this informal competition was at 9:00am with pre meet at 8:00am.
I arrived on time at the car park to meet with fellow fluff chucker’s who were eagerly debating the day ahead and recent excursions with their fly rods. It was my first visit to this vast lake of 900 acres situated high on Bodmin Moor and my first impression was that it was a little daunting. These fears soon evaporated after chatting with fellow anglers who assured me that the trout were often found close to the margins.
I had undoubtedly been lulled into a false sense of security over recent days of warm sunshine as I had underestimated how cold it was likely to be. Whilst there wasn’t a cloud in the sky a bitter east wind was blowing across the lake creating many white caps.
We all donned our waders and set off shortly before 9.00am eager to cast a line with the majority heading for a bank that gave some shelter from the wind.
The lake is surrounded by ancient moorland with craggy granite outcrops and wind swept stunted trees. Sheep grazed here and there with old stone walls and fences dividing this harsh yet beautiful landscape. The water clarity was good and peat stained resembling the finest malt whiskey.
I approached the water’s edge with a degree of stealth and put out a short line with a small black lure on the point and a black spider pattern on a dropper. As I retrieved and lifted the fly ready to recast there was a swirl in the water and the glimpse of a golden flank. This gave my confidence an immediate boost.
It was however three hours before I actually made contact with one of the resident trout after moving to a bank that was being battered by the strong wind. A pleasing wild brown of 12” bringing welcome reward for my efforts. I had spoken with a few other anglers as I wandered the shoreline and knew that no one seemed to be catching a lot which was not surprising in the conditions.
I wandered back and forth along the shoreline trying different retrieves and searching the water. I had confidence in the flies on my leader and stuck with the tried and trusted.
Success came once again as I stripped the lure to suddenly feel that delightful connection as a good fish hit the fly leaping from the water in a somersault of spray.
I was relieved when a pleasing 15.5” wild brown was safely within my net. After a quick photo and careful measuring the fish was returned and swam strongly away after holding in the cold water for a few moments.
The remaining hour or so was a little frustrating with four more trout being hooked briefly before shedding the hook.
It was all back to the car park for 5.15pm and the prize giving. The event was generously sponsored by Partridge of Redditch, Yeti, Hooks and Hackles and South West Lakes Trust.
I was delighted to receive the runners up prize for the second biggest fish of the day.
Full results below with thanks to Rodney Wevill who was the events main organiser.
Fluff Chuckers / Partridge of Redditch Brown trout bank event.
Not a great day for pictures at the event today.
Bitter cold easterly winds made it a day of heads down and try very hard to find some fish.
A very good turnout with anglers travelling from North Devon, Somerset and the usual pirates from Cornwall.
The overall winner was Roger Truscott with the longest fish and the most fish caught.
The runners up being Jack Welshman, Wayne Thomas and Jon Allen.
Even though it really wasn’t ideal brown trout weather there was a good amount of fish landed with respectable fish from 13” to 17”.
Fluff Chuckers would like to thank all the anglers that supported the event a great turnout and most importantly the sponsors for their great generosity providing the prizes.
Trout Fishing South West Lakes Trust
Hooks & Hackles
CASTING A LINE ACROSS THE LOWER TAW
Details on Membership for B & DAA can be found at https://barnstapledistrictangling.co.uk
I cast a line fly across familiar lies on the Lower Taw and as always lingered a moment beside the old club hut. Its sad demise continues with a large tree fallen across its roof and graffiti scarring it front. There are few anglers who will remember those anglers who once rested and shared a tea and chat at this spot. Wild garlic grows in profusion in front of the hut filling spring air with its heady aroma as nature endures.
In front of the hut the remains of an old bridge give Buttress Pool its name.
A hundred yards above the hut is Newbridge that spans the river and as I look up I contemplate the salmon and sea trout that have passed beneath its arches over the years.
As I fished lower down I caught a couple of smolts on their journey back to the sea. These gleaming miniatures give hope that they will return to the river as silver salmon in a few years time.
I have also received news from the Torridge where Seth Tuson landed a salmon from the Lower River.