PERSONAL BEST FOR 9 YEAR OLD JACK AND LOTS OF OTHER ELDORADO BEAUTIES FOR THE PAINTER FAMILY!
Paul Painter and his sons Harry 16 and Jack 9 decided to brave the weather and have a weekend fishing at Anglers Eldorado – and it certainly paid off seeing the youngest of them Jack catch his personal best at 27lbs 8oz!
Paul shared – “Myself, Harry, and Jack, had a good 48hrs on the Eldorado complex even though the weather was very rough!! We had quite a few Carp out of the bottom lake and had a few hours float fishing on the top lake which produced some lovely carp including Koi. Jack had a really memorable session when he smashed his Carp PB by 7 and a half pounds when he caught a 27lb 8oz Mirror on Saturday morning!!! He also managed to stalk out some Koi on floating crust from the Koi pond.”
MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS JACK – TO CATCH A FISH OF THAT SIZE SO YOUNG IS PRETTY AWESOME!! GREAT TO SEE YOU HAVING QUALITY FAMILY TIME ON THE BANK!
Anglers Paradise are delighted to share with you that from a year’s fundraising at Anglers Paradise with Raffles, Quizzes and Netting Events we have raised over £7000 and have given to the following Charities –
Over and Above – Cardiology supporting the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, Air Ambulance, Active Halwill, Emergency Volunteer Drs, Halwill Primary School and the Okehampton St.Boniface Church. We are very thankful to all our customers that helped us raise this and help so many worthy causes. We look forward to raising more in 2020!!
Lure Weekend which was another great success with lots of fish caught! Please find enclosed the Winners and pictures attached.
Aaron Chuck won the overall Competition and caught 6 Species consisting of Pike, Perch, Rudd, Golden Rudd, Rainbow Trout and an amazing 15lb Common Carp with a total of 210.5cms!! To catch a Carp on a Lure is pretty special! Runner up was Michael Molloy with 6 species and Third place was Thomas Wilson with 5 species.
Biggest Cat was caught by Thomas Wilson who managed to land a 133.5cm Wels Catfish which gave him the fight of his life and also his Team Captain Ben Humber caught a Catfish within the same hour measuring 130cm, great angling!
Biggest Trout was caught by Dominic Cooke, a Rainbow Trout measuring 50cm.
Biggest Perch was 37cm caught by Mark Hawitt, 2nd biggest was 36.5cm caught by Alan Dicks.
Biggest Pike was 65cm caught by Lee Paynton.
Winning Team was Team Fox with 7 Species totaling 359cms.
So lots of Fish were caught throughout the weekend a jolly good time was had by all having fun, making friends and fishing – what more you could you ask for!
Chris Flook from Ivybridge in Devon caught his biggest ever Wels Catfish at 72lb 2oz from the Specimen Carp Lake at Anglers Paradise. Fishery owner Zyg Greogorek believes that this is the biggest Wels Catfish born and bred in the UK which is one of the offspring of an original stocking in the early 90’s following a long fight with MAFF to get official permission to stock them. The original fish were stocked as 10” babies which were born in the UK. A couple of original fish are now over 100lbs.
HUSBAND AND WIFE CARPY ACTION – Pat and Liz Curley always love fishing together and this year wanted to target the bigger Carp on the Main Carp Lake and that they did! Pat caught a pristine 26lb 9oz Leather Carp and a 22lb 3oz Mirror, while Liz caught her personal best Mirror at 25lbs 13oz! We’ll send Pat for some photography lessons though!!
PB GOLDEN TENCH – Russ Robertson-Browne was a very lucky man catching this beautiful personal best 5lb Golden Tench from the Tench Lake as the hook pulled right at the last minute when he was fighting it out of the lillies, but he still managed to have it in the net!! He hasn’t a clue how he managed to still have it in the net but said “he was the luckiest man in Anglers Paradise that day!!”
MAIN CARP LAKE BEAUTIES – The Main Carp Lake just continues to produce! Matthew Pearson joined us for his annual family holiday and had a session on the Main and caught this stunning 21lb 12oz Common and a 25lb 8oz Mirror. Both fish fell to mainline wafters in pva bags and made a great holiday memorable despite the weather!
Tom Leighton after 10 years of coming to Anglers Paradise finally caught his first ever ‘Twenty’, a 21lb 8oz beautiful Mirror from the Main Carp Lake and won our Fish of the week competition too!
Tom’s story –“I have been coming to AP for 10 years now and for the last 5 I have wanted to get a 20 pound Carp but always fallen just short. Having had lots of help and advice from friends I headed to Main Carp Lake to have another go. Setting the alarm for 5 o’clock I managed to get the swim I wanted Nevs point. I set up in the half dark and rain and started feeding the swim.
In the morning I hooked into a heavy fish. It fought hard and I got her in close and up to the surface to see a beautiful fish that must be a 20, then she came off! Much despair at the missed fish but I got the rod back out. This was followed by catching an 18 06 which cheered me up and then it went quiet.
At 16:00 the rod twitched a little and I struck it expecting a small fish to find there was a lump on the end. The fish new what it was doing burying me in the lilies 3 times but eventually it went in the net and weighed at 21 08. Jim said I looked like a kid on his birthday that came downstairs to find his new bike. Finally done it and great to do it on my birthday week!”
Sarah Robertson-Browne caught a personal best 20lb 2oz scaley Mirror Carp from Anglers Eldorado’s bottom Cat and Carp Lake 2. She’s only been fishing for the last couple of years and now she’s hooked for life!!
If Carlsberg made Fishing weeks then this would be right up there!! Scott Brown had a week he’ll never forget and achieved Angling dreams he never thought would come true!! The start of the week he had a 65lb Cat from the Specimen Cat Lake. Then he went on the Main Carp Lake and had Carp 22lbs, 21lbs, 20lbs, 18lbs & 16lbs. He had Catfish of 27lbs & 20lbs from the Easy Access, 12lb Grass Carp from the Tench Lake as well as lots of big Golden Tench, Koi, Crucians, Rudd, Orfe and a Blue Tench for Dad too!
Scott’s story –
The highlight of the entire holiday was a 72 hour session on The Kracking Carp lake here’s my story. Arriving early morning the lake had two other anglers on in peg 1 and peg 2 so I decided to head to the total opposite end of the lake hoping that the lower angling pressure that end would increase my chances.
After some careful baiting of crushed Nash Scopex Squid, hemp and sweet corn I got my casts spot on with a good land. The first day and night went without a bleep but I knew I’d got everything right so I decided to not recast or add more bait yet the patience paid off as at first light the left hand rod slowly beeped away I struck into it and immediately knew this felt a good fish. A slow and ponderous fight which normally indicates a big fish took place as the fish rolled I couldn’t believe my eyes with the sheer size of it, i knew straight away I’d hooked the legendary Silverback! Guiding her over the landing net was one of my greatest angling moments I was buzzing! 52lb 3oz a new Pb and my first ever 50lb carp.
That afternoon the Baliff came to see me and I said I’d had Silverback so the Parrot was next on my list, never in my wildest dream did I think this would become reality. But about the same time the next morning the alarm screamed off and a much more aggressive fight took place. A much darker fish came up to surface and I saw the distinctive mouth that gives the fish it’s name. Knees shaking at this point I managed to land the beast at 47lb 2oz! That session will live long in my memory as one of my greatest angling achievements, 11 oz off a 100lb total from just two fish will more than likely not be repeated fir me ever again. Both fish came on Nash Scopex squid absit I have had total confidence in ever since its release and after results like this I can’t see me deviating from any time in the near future. A brilliant holiday and one that’s going to take some topping, but I’ll be back again next year as always and give it my best shot.”
Dan Cornwall caught a personal best 25lb 4oz Mirror and 24lb Common from the Specimen Carp Lake and won our JRC Fish Of The Week competition. Dan’s story –
“Having waited all year for my holiday at Anglers Paradise, the time had finally arrived! I had booked Julian Chidgey to help me during my trip, and we started on the Koi Lake. We patiently fed the swim, and I was over the moon when my first cast resulted in an 8lb 4oz Koi. I was keen to try for a big carp and Julian suggested the Main Carp Lake, I was really excited as this was only my second ever night fishing session. We looked at various rigs, methods and the Shimano Isolate boilies Julian suggested smelt amazing. We caught two Carp, the biggest was 18lb 8oz only just short of my PB.
Rounding the session off with my first Catfish. One method I really wanted to improve my skills with is surface fishing. Julian suggested trying Fat Boys and through steady feeding we soon had some carp feeding. We used a controller set up, and Julian showed me how to mend the line to allow for the strong wind and tow. We landed two doubles to 13lb 8oz before heading back to the lodge for breakfast.
After this, we went to the Specimen Carp Lake and Julian explained that free lining was really effective here. The carp were very wary but eventually we got a bite, only for the fish to snag me up. Julian was straight in the lake with the net and was soon swimming back with the fish of my dreams a 25lb 4oz dark, scaley Mirror! We then moved to another spot on the Lake and it was a repeat performance as it took ages for the carp to gain confidence. This time a big Common took the bait and again headed straight for the lillies, Julian was on hand to paddle out again and this time my prize was 24lb. Having spent all year trying to get my first 20lb, it was amazing to get two in a day! My trip to Anglers Paradise has been amazing, and I’m already looking forward to coming back next year!”
(Above) Chris Trethewey has been coming to Anglers Paradise for 20 years now and in all those years he’s been trying to catch a 8lb+ Koi but never succeeded…Until THIS year!!! Here he is with his personal best 10lb 8oz beautiful Koi from the Koi Lake.
(Above) Regular to Anglers Paradise David Trethewey had a session on our day ticket Xanadu Lake and caught not 1 but 3 Carp! He had a 19lb 12oz Common, a 18lb 14oz Mirror and a 15lb 6oz Common. David also caught a 27lb 8oz nad 26lb 5oz Mirror from the Specimen Carp Lake, he went home a very happy chappy!
(Above) Here is the charming Billie Jobi, age 4 with myself (Zenia Drury-Gregorek) who caught her first ever Perch from our recent ‘Nash Getting Kids Fishing Days’ at Anglers Eldorado, caught using some lovely wriggly maggots on a whip. She’s now hooked for life!
GIRLS FISH TOO AND DO IT BETTER!!
(Above)Here we have the lovely Eloise Wyatt with some of her stunning Koi catches from the Koi Lake giving her husband a run for his money again!! It really is great seeing so many more females enjoying the sport, here’s to seeing many more!
(Above) Great to see another couple enjoying Fishing together. Emily Wearden is new to Fishing but now she is loving it more than ever along with her partner James. To put the icing on the cake, she caught her 1st ever Catfish at 19lb 2oz from the Easy Access and her partner James also caught his first ever Cat of 19lbs.
James also proposed to Emily during their stay and she said YES!! Congratulations to you both!
Anglers ParadiseNEW KRACKING 30! This Carp clearly loves to munch as has put plenty of weight on in just 2 years and is now another Thirty at 33lbs 14oz from Nirvana’s Kracking Carp Lake caught by Dom Smith. This particular Fish was caught by Lee Drury 2 years ago as a low double and now it’s 33lbs 14oz!! Well Done Dom and thanks for sharing! Here’s a picture of Dom with the Mirror and Lee with it 2 years ago!
BIG CAT ALERT!
(Above)Scott Brown had a session on Nirvana’s Day Ticket Specimen Cat Lake before starting his week’s holiday with the Family at the Anglers Paradise Complex and caught a personal best 65lb 2oz Catfish using big chunks of luncheon meat
(Above) The newest 5C’s Member Dean Garland caught a 23lb 6oz Common from Nirvana’s day ticket Xanadu Lake.
Dean shared – “After being rained off from work on wednesday, I turned up at anglers paradise knowing I’d be fishing 1 of the day ticket lakes but not sure which 1. After speaking to Richard in the shop, I decided to go down to xanadu. I had un-finished buisness with this lake…I have caught some stunning carp from there previously but the 20 pluses had always evaded me!
After a quiet first day and night and the possibilty of going home blanking i decided to change a few things up. Within 30 minuites my rod went off.
It fought very hard and i knew i was in to a decent fish. And when i pulled it out i saw why, it was like the fish hadn’t grew into its own fins.
It weighed in at 23.6 lbs and seriously was in prestine condition. Gorgeous fish. Safe to say it made my session!!”
(Above) Pheobe Deacon has been coming to Anglers Paradise with her Mum and Dad for years but normally doesn’t fish until this year…And now she’s hooked! She managed to catch this amazing personal best 5lb 1oz Golden Tench too!
(Above) Nick Dudaniec not only won fish of the week with Silverback at 52lbs but he also caught a 26lb 8oz Common and 30lb Mirror during his epic session on Nirvana’s Kracking Carp Lake. Nick caught all fish using Essential Baits Shellfish B5 boilies fished over hemp and sweetcorn.
(Above) Rob Steele caught this 24lb Mirror Carp from the Specimen Carp Lake using a hinge stiff rig with Cell as the hookbait. He said it’s one of the prettiest fish he’s ever caught.
(Above)Paul Richmond from Plymouth fished the Kracking Carp Lake and had this stunning personal best 31lb 4oz Leather Carp from peg 1.
Paul was using a bloodworm pop up trimmed down topped off with pop up corn. Using minimal bait, a few handfuls of corn crushed boilie and 4mm pellet.
(Above) Dean Wyatt caught this absolutely stunning 6lb 6oz Koi from our famous Koi Lake, it may not be the biggest fish, but size is irrelevant when they look like this especially!! And you know the saying…Size doesn’t matter!!! He caught the beauty on a 12mm Nash strawberry crush boilie. Dean also won our Fish of the week competition with this beautiful catch!
SON OF SILVERBACK AND 1ST EVER CATFISH!
Well done to Aaron Trethewey who caught what looks like Silverback’s son – a 10lb 14oz Mirror and his first ever Catfish at 21lbs 6oz both from the Easy Access Lake.
Famous Actor, who has starred in Two Pints of Lager and a packet of crisps, No Offence, Line of Duty and Hollyoaks to name just a few joined us at Anglers Paradise with his beautiful wife Michelle and their son and daughter to enjoy a few days Fishing and relaxing in the beautiful Devon Countryside.
They caught lots of Fish, and simply enjoyed quality time as a Family of 4 and in the evenings enjoyed the delights of our famous African Safari Bar along with our residents of the week.
Will is a regular to Anglers Paradise, he has a pretty hectic schedule being an actor so this was a well needed break for him and his family.
Anglers Paradise isn’t just about fishing, they also enjoyed our indoor heated swimming pool and visiting the local delights of Cornwall & Devon and the beautiful beaches we have to offer nearby.
Nick Dudaniec here with his partner Sarah from Manchester. Nick has been visiting Anglers Paradise for many years, even before Kracking Carp was built. He fished our Kracking Carp lake and managed to catch a stunning 52lb Mirror Carp. Here is Nick’s story:-
“We chose to spend our week at Anglers Paradise fishing the Kracking Karp lake, where the largest carp on the complex are resident. I setup in swim 2, and on Tuesday morning had a screaming take from the right hand rod. After a long fight (and some luck) the large mirror known as ‘Silverback’ slid into the landing net. The fish weighed in at 52lbs exactly – a new PB and my first ever UK 50. I managed to land two other fish during the week: a 26,8 common and a 30,0 leather carp. Needless to say I am delighted with this result! Essential Baits Shellfish B5 boilies fished over hemp and sweet corn produced the runs”.
