26 Jan 2018

Otters – A controversial issue!

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Otters have become a controversial topic within the angling world with the reintroduction of the species into areas where their numbers have dwindled proving disastrous in some instances. I have no expertise in this area so can only give my own views and feelings without any scientific facts. I have seen otters on the rivers around North Devon on many occasions and I am always thrilled when I glimpse them as they hunt the river. Otters have been present on North Devon rivers for many years and have a big place in peoples hearts this is in part due to literature like Henry Williamson’s famous tome “Tarka the Otter” and the film ‘Ring of Bright Water’.

I believe that wild otters are part of North Devon’s natural Eco-system and belong as the damage they do on the river is acceptable. Sadly eel numbers have plummeted as have salmon and sea trout numbers and this undoubtedly forces the otters to look elsewhere for food. When they find a lake stocked with big meaty fish like carp they undoubtedly feel that they have stumbled upon a natural bounty. The fact that a specimen carp can be worth several thousand pounds is of no consequence to the otter. To the fishery owner an otter visit can be devastating which is why responsible fishery owners are investing thousands of pounds in building otter fences around their lakes.

The River Torridge – otters natural habitat

Anglers Paradise are investing many thousands into the building of an otter proof fence to protect the valuable stock within their lakes.

See post below from Anglers Paradise.

PROTECTING ANGLERS PARADISE
Sadly, with the ever increasing threat of Otters being released in the UK, means that all Fisheries need to take action in protecting their stock.
We have commenced work on our Otter Fence which will protect the Anglers Paradise Lakes, it’s a BIG job but we have had to do it for the future of Anglers Paradise.

Otter Fence
Construction on the Otter fence has progressed. The fence now runs from the Trout Lake to Easy Access Lake and beyond, a mammoth project in order to protect our stock from Otters and other predators. Evidence of Otter damage is a constant reminder that the population has soared in recent years.
The fence should hopefully be completed within the next couple of weeks.

Anglers Paradise
7 Dec 2017

Fancy luring a Pike?

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Opportunities to fish for pike are limited in North Devon with only around half a dozen venues holding the species. If you fancy a try at pike fishing Anglers Paradise has a good stock of these toothy critters available to target with lures. See report from Zenia at AP below.

PIKE ALERT

Ashley Bunning used his day off work to have a couple of hours on Valhalla. Ashley caught 3 Pike in total with this being the biggest and used a Ecogear Ikajaco Lure to catch them.

Remember our Predator Lake Valhalla is now open for all to fish until February, time to get some Winter Lure Fishing in!

Call 01409 221559 to book.

Anglers Paradise
28 Nov 2017

Paradise Carp

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(Above)Nicholas Rayment, 61 from East Sussex joined us for his free week after his 10th year in a row holidaying with us and decided to target the Specimen Carp Lake as the Main Carp Lake is being prepped ready for the fish to return.
Nicholas was made up when he caught a 22lb 12oz Mirror and a 23lb 8oz Common making his week! Nicholas fished from the Pagoda, using a bottom bait presentation size 6 wide gap hook with a 20mm Krill Boilie fishing over a small bed of hemp, sweetcorn, 10mm boilies and 15mm half baits.

(Above)Oli Dietrich, 43 from Virginstow was a very happy chappy after landing a 26lb 8oz Common also from Nirvana’s Day Ticket Xanadu Lake. Oli used a 18mm bottom bait on a simple blow back rig, with two kilos of freebies around the hook bait in the margin, and was caught on a Robin baits new test bait TT.

(Above)Alan George 39, from Treharris, South Wales caught a 21lb 14oz Common from Nirvana’s Day Ticket Xanadu Lake. Alan caught the Common using Mad Baits Nuts snowman on a Fluro D Rig, fished over boilie crumb and whole boilies.

 

Paul Craddock from Southampton fished the Specimen Carp Lake and caught a PB 27lb 2oz Mirror off the top on a Sticky Krill Floater. After a 20 minute battle through the patches of Lily Pads he finally landed the fish, Paul couldn’t believe that he beat his old PB by 10lbs! Paul said – “New PB was now 27lb 2oz… That one fish made the whole trip worth it. Thank you for the opportunity to fish such a fantastic venue.”

Anglers Paradise

 

24 Nov 2017

Carp off the surface in November

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EASY ACCESS COMMON OFF THE TOP


5C’s Member Maggot Mick Whitfield recently had a few hours on the Easy Access Lake and managed to catch this lovely 12lb Common off the top on dog biscuits.
It just goes to show that if you get the conditions right then you can fish off the surface any time of year!

Anglers Paradise
20 Nov 2017

Big Cat from day ticket catfish lake

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Adam Elsbury, aged 26 from Reading, had a Holiday to remember at Anglers Paradise after catching his biggest ever fish, a Monster 62lb Catfish from the Specimen Cat Lake beating his previous Personal Best of 14lbs which he caught just 2 years ago meaning he’s beaten it by 48lbs!! This is the New Cat Record for this Lake too as the previous was caught by Ryan Owen at 60lbs.

It is unusual to bank a catfish so late in the season but with mild conditions the season gets extended.

Adam caught the Beast at midday just 3 hours after casting and used a simple running rig with a 22mm Halibut Pellet and a 20mm Halibut Boilie on the hair with a small PVA bag full of Micro Halibut Pellets.

Anglers Paradise
17 Nov 2017

Lure Weekend – Full Report from Zenia

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Anglers Paradise just held their annual Lure Weekend which was a great success. Full report from Zenia.  The weather was testing, rain, wind and hail but every Angler still stuck it out till the end of the Competition!

 

There were 20 Lure Anglers that took part and the 4 Teams were Captained by Nathan Edgell from Fladen, David Watkin-Smith from Quantum, Kevin Cox from Fox Rage and David Drake from Drennan. The Competition ran over 2 days of fishing on 4 different Lakes that consisted of our Predator Lake Valhalla, the Specimen Cat Lake, the Trout Lake and the Bottom Cat and Carp Lake at Eldorado of which all Teams fished each Lake in rotation.

In total, there were 11 Pike, 14 Perch, 2 Trout and the 1st ever Anglers Paradise Lure caught Koi and Golden Orfe to come out in the annual Competition, there was also a big Catfish lost, so no Cats were landed this year!

The Winner of the whole Competition was Damon Braxton who caught 3 different Species at a combined length of 108cm, Damon caught a 39.5cm Koi (which is the 1st ever Koi to be caught on a Lure here!) a 10.5cm Rudd and a 58cm Pike. Fladen and Anglers Paradise Sponsored this Event meaning Damon Won a Week’s Holiday for 2 at Anglers Paradise and a huge range of Fladen Predator Tackle, including a Rod, Reel, Lures and Clothing. Damon’s Team Captain was Fladen’s very own Pike King – Nathan Edgell, who was very proud of his Team Member to Win the Competition!

The Runner Up was Lee Paynton who had a Perch and a Pike at a combined length of 92cm, Sponsored by Quantum. Third Place was Tom Wilson who also had a Perch and a Pike with a combined length of 80.5cm, Sponsored by Fladen.

Tom Wilson took the Crown for the Biggest Pike with a respectable 68.5cm Pike from the Specimen Cat Lake, although Nathan Edgell actually caught the Biggest Pike measuring 86cm but as he’s a Team Captain – it doesn’t count!! Tom was in Team Quantum with Captain David Watkin-Smith leading him to Victory! Tom won some pretty special prizes from Quantum including a Spinning Rod, a Spinning Reel, a Specialist Bag, a Rod Guard and other goodies – Thank you so much to Quantum for the amazing Prizes.

Ben Taylor Won the Biggest Trout Category with a lovely 45cm Rainbow Trout, it was hard going on the Trout Lake all weekend but in the end he and Joe Drury were the only 2 to catch Trout on the last day of fishing!! Ben was in Team Fox with Kevin Cox from Fox as Captain (and Joe Drury as stand in Captain on Sunday) who both gave Ben plenty of tips and inspiration to help him win this title! Ben won a Fox Rage set up of a Rod, a Reel and some Lures – Thank you to Fox Rage for the great prizes and for sponsoring this Category.

Lee Paynton caught the biggest Perch measuring 33cm from the Specimen Cat Lake. Lee was in Team Drennan with the wonderful Dave Drake as his Team Captain, Lee won an absolute superb selection of Drennan Lures – he could start up a new Lure Shop with them!! Special thanks to Drennan for the amazing prizes and for sponsoring this category. This was Lee’s 1st ever Lure Weekend with us, and we are so happy that not only did he win but he also shared with us that he loved every minute and will be back for next year’s Anglers Paradise Lure Weekend!

The Winning Team was Team Fox – which consisted of Jim Williams, Ben Taylor, Bex Nelson and Father and Son Dominic and Dylan Cooke, Captained by Kevin Cox, (with help from Joe Drury as stand in on Sunday) knocking Team Fladen’s Nathan Edgell off his Thrown!! They won with 5 species, Pike, Perch, Rudd, Trout and the winning/deciding fish was a Golden Orfe caught by young Dylan Cooke just 10 minutes before the end of last session!!

Anglers Paradise
14 Nov 2017

Anglers Paradise – Lure Fishing Weekend Results

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Congratulations to all the winners and competitors at Anglers Paradises lure weekend.  Latest results direct from Zenia.

THE WINNER OF THE NOVEMBER 2017 LURE WEEKEND IS…
**Sponsored by Fladen**

DAMON BRAXTON – Who caught 3 different Species at a combined length of 108cm, Damon caught a 39.5cm Koi (which is the 1st ever Koi to be caught on a Lure here!) a 10.5cm Rudd and a 58cm Pike making him the WINNER OF OUR 2017 LURE WEEKEND!!

Fladen and Anglers Paradise Sponsored this Event meaning Damon Won a Week’s Holiday for 2 at Anglers Paradise and a huge range of Fladen Predator Tackle, including a Rod, Reel, Lures and Clothing.

Damon’s Team Captain was Fladen’s very own Pike King – Nathan Edgell, who was very proud of his Team Member to Win the Competition!

Special Thanks to Fladen for being so generous with the Prizes and a MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to Damon for WINNING THE LURE WEEKEND!!

THE BIGGEST PIKE Sponsored by Quantum

Tom Wilson took the Crown for this Category with a respectable 68.5cm Pike from the Specimen Cat Lake, although Nathan Edgell actually caught the Biggest Pike measuring 86cm but as he’s a Team Captain – it doesn’t count!!

Tom was in Team Quantum with Captain David Watkin-Smith leading him to Victory!

Tom won some pretty special prizes from Quantum including a Spinning Rod, a Spinning Reel, a Specialist Bag, a Rod Guard and other goodies – Thank you so much to Quantum for the amazing Prizes.

THE BIGGEST TROUT Sponsored by Fox Rage

Ben Taylor Won this Category with a lovely 45cm Rainbow Trout, it was hard going on the Trout Lake all weekend but in the end he and Joe Drury were the only 2 to catch Trout on the last day of fishing!!

Ben was in Team Fox with Kevin Cox from Fox as Captain (and Joe Drury as stand in Captain on Sunday) who both gave Ben plenty of tips and inspiration to help him win this title!

Ben won a Fox Rage set up of a Rod, a Reel and some Lures – Thank you to Fox Rage for the great prizes and for sponsoring this Category.

THE BIGGEST PERCH Sponsored by Drennan

Lee Paynton caught the biggest Perch measuring 33cm from the Specimen Cat Lake.

Lee was in Team Drennan with the wonderful Dave Drake as his Team Captain, Lee won an absolute superb selection of Drennan Lures – he could start up a new Lure Shop with them!! Special thanks to Drennan for the amazing prizes and for sponsoring this category.

This was Lee’s 1st ever Lure Weekend with us, and we are so happy that not only did he win but he also shared with us that he loved every minute and will be back for next year’s Anglers Paradise Lure Weekend!

Anglers Paradise
23 Oct 2017

A Kracking 41lb carp

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(Above)Damien Chambers, 31 from Southport caught a 24lb Mirror and a Personal Best hard fighting 33lb Mirror from the Main Carp Lake , he was after his 1st ever 30 and he caught it!! Both Carp were caught on Inception Boilies.

Julie Kingsman, 56 from Peterborough has a pretty special story because recently Julie received a phone call from the Post Code Lottery to tell her she’d just WON it!! Julie literally couldn’t believe it, she’d never even dreamed that she’d ever win, and it wasn’t until the T.V Crew turned up with Jeff Brazier to present her with the Cheque that it truly sank in!! After winning Julie thought what better way to spend some of her winnings than to treat her friends to a Holiday at Anglers Paradise and that is what she did! Julie booked 3 Villa’s for her and her best friends and had a week of making memories including Julie catching a Personal Best 20lb Common from the Main Carp Lake which won Fish Of The Week!!

(Above)Steve Elsbury, 34 from Holsworthy has been putting in the hours fishing Nirvana’s Kracking Carp Lake in the mission to beat his previous Personal Best 38lb Common that he caught from the Lake back in June…Well, the saying – “Good things come to those that wait…or bait!!” – is TRUE!! Steve has only gone and beaten that 38lb Common with a 41lb Mirror known as the ‘Z FISH’ as it has a Z Scar on it’s side.
Steve said – “After many a thoughtful night, I finally managed my second personal best carp from Anglers Paradise. The fish fell for a cr1 pop up fished over a large bed of cr1 boilie, hybrid curve shank hooks holding strong as always.”
(Above) Damien Chambers, 31 from Southport caught a 24lb Mirror and a Personal Best hard fighting (Above) 33lb Mirror from the Main Carp Lake , he was after his 1st ever 30 and he caught it!! Both Carp were caught on Inception Boilies.

Anglers Paradise