BDAC Tarka Swims November Monthly Coarse Section Competition
1st Martin Turner 33lb13oz
2nd Steve Johnson 28lb 2oz
3rd Craig Crash Lamey 28lb 1oz
4th Roger Ackroyd 26lb 10oz
5th Stephen Craker 22lb 7oz
6th Keith Mountjoy 16lb 9oz
7th Colin Cherrington 16lb 8oz
18 anglers fished. Another well attended match on Tarka, unfortunately it was a match of two distinct halves, pegs in the deepest water dominated and shallower water struggled for bites.
Top weight on the day was peg 10, maggot over micros on the long pole. Steve drew on peg 5 and put a nice net together mainly on maggot over groundbait just 1oz behind on third was Craig on peg 11 and caught on worm . Fourth spot went to Roger on peg 18.
It was an incredibly mild day for mid November and a perfect tide for the estuary. Several clubs held flounder competitions and a large number of anglers were spread out throughout the estuary at all of the tried and trusted venues. I was fortunate to tag along with my good friend and fellow club member Dan Welch and his young son Solly. Dan certainly found a good spot with Dan and Solly catching close to fifty flounder between them to 1lb 10oz. I also enjoyed some good sport catching over a dozen flounder and a pleasing 4lb bass. One of the joys of flounder fishing is that it is perfect for dads and lads and families with big flounder likely to take anyones bait. No specialist tackle is required and no need to cast long distances. Just flick out a trace of ragworm and wait for that tell tale rattle on the rod tip. The estuary with its many wading birds, ever changing lights and shades is beguiling. I have added a few pics of the day after the results section.
Thank you to Nathan Clements for the Bideford results.
Cyril Petherick Memorial Competition results
1st Nick Braunton Flounder 1lb 12 1/2oz
2nd Andrew Clements Flounder 1lb 11 3/4oz
3rd Dick Talbot Flounder 1lb 11 1/4oz
Congratulations all its been a lovely day for it!!!!
47 angler’s fished a brilliant turn out with some reasonable fish caught 🎣
BIDEFORD CHRISTMAS COMPETITION ON THE 12TH OF DECEMBER
We have an absolutely massive prize fund for this one so don’t miss it.
Many Thanks to Martin Turner for an excellent round up of this years Bideford Matches.
Our match calendar was, once again, interrupted by the continuing Covid restrictions. October’s 2020 match was our last competition at Tarka for the year, fortunately we were able to resume running regular monthly matches in May of this year. A fantastic attendance of 23, almost a full house, met up to once again compete on George’s Lake. Paul Elworthy had almost 30lbs to win the day, which reassured us that the measures taken to protect our fish stocks had been successful. With Covid procedures in place we were again in a position to begin our Wednesday evening competitions. Kevin Shears set the early pace winning with a bag of 20lbs mainly Skimmers. After 4 matches new member Steve Johnson and ex-Bude member Nathan Underwood were forging ahead in the league. The matches were mainly dominated by Bream, Tench and smaller Carp, 30lb plus needed to win most weeks. Halfway through the evening league Steve had withdrawn due to family illness, Nathan continued to score well. Mike Snudden using a chopped worm approach managed to put some good bags together and 3 consecutive wins, the best 54lbs 2oz in 3 hours! We averaged 18 attendants which was great, and the weather was fantastic allowing us to weigh in almost all 10 matches without head lamps. 26 different anglers fished throughout the league; the final scores were: first overall Nathan Underwood with 115 points; second Martin Turner 102 points and third Kevin Shears 91 points. Our last evening event was our pairs match drawn top to bottom from the final league. Kevin Shears and Craig Lamey 52lbs 2.5oz were the winners on the night; second were Anthony Bentley and Tyler Scott with 45lb 2oz.
We were once again able to fish our inter-club match against Plymouth and District Coarse Angling Club, our team travelled to their water at Cadover Lakes, a very deep ex-clay pit on Dartmoor. It proved tricky and we came away with a narrow lead 34lb to 29lb. We welcomed the Plymouth lads back for the return leg at Tarka; 2 teams of 12 fished. Led by Kevin Shears, 37lb top individual, we won the day with a whooping 230lb to PDCAC’s 63lb.The other team event was held at Stafford Moor, where we took a battering from North Devon Match Group Pros.
Bideford and District Angling Club’s aims and objectives are (from memory) ‘to promote and foster angling in the area’; with this in mind we ran some Junior events this summer. By running these as small matches I had hoped to be able to introduce new youngsters to our sport and to encourage those that already compete regularly. Saturday afternoons saw some excited youngsters eager to catch some fish, the over 14’s group was a very close-run affair this year with Thomas Scott edging out his older brother on weight count-back over 4 matches. Under 14’s section was won by 8-year-old Charlie Hedden closely followed by Brodie Allin. We must thank Thomas Downing for securing 2 magnificent boxes of goodies from his sponsor Bait-Tech, Summerland tackle for their generous support with prizes and Mervyn Beale for supplying the engraved medals.
As our monthly senior competitions continued to attract 20+ anglers the catches began to be dominated more by Carp, although Skimmers, Bream, Roach, Tench and Crucians always featured in the nets.
Currently, with 2 matches remaining, Kevin Shears and Nathan Underwood are tied for the lead with 77 points. Les Polden third on 59 points and a late run of 2 wins, has pushed Steve Craker up to fourth with 51 points.
As I write the ropes are being placed across the lake to protect our stock from cormorant attack throughout the winter months. Pegs will therefore be limited but I hope to be able to run the remaining matches on Tarka.
In conclusion the lake has fished exceptionally well this year, with great attendances and excellent bags being brought to the scales. All species seem to be thriving, particularly the Tench and Crucians. Hopefully if we can remain vigilant over the winter period we can look forward to a bumper, FULL season next year.
Obviously, I cannot conclude my report without expressing my thanks to Steve Bailey and all those who have made it possible for us to fish at Tarka. Personally, I would like to say how sorry I am to hear that Steve has decided to stand down from the role that he has held for many years. He will be sorely missed.
October signals the start of sea anglings most exciting season with a wealth of opportunity for the angler. The choices are endless with the humble flounder offering consistent sport in the estuary along with a sprinkling of silver bass. The beaches are likely to reward persistent anglers with the chance of a big bass or ray. From rock marks tope, conger, huss and ray are all likely. Scaled down rigs can bring a range of species including red mullet, sole and whiting with Ilfracombe Pier well worth try. Rock marks and harbours will bring great sport for mullet anglers.
Bideford Angling Club
October’s 24 hour results
1st Andrew Clements Flounder 2lb 0 1/2 101.562%
2nd Terry Dymond Flounder 1lb 14 93.750%
3rd Tony Gussin Thornback Ray 8lb 5 92.361%
4th Terry Dymond Flounder 1lb 13 1/2 92.187%
Combe Martin SAC – Lyn Fish
Rob Scoines took the top two places in Combe Martin SAC’s Annual Lyn Fish boating Bull Huss of 11lb 3oz and a blonde ray of 11lb 15oz. Jack Phillips was third with a thick lipped grey mullet of 2lb 12oz. The competition was concluded with members enjoying a delicious platter of chips, sandwiches and drinks at the https://www.risingsunlynmouth.co.uk
Fifteen Bideford Club members fished the Tarka competition this month with some great weights being caught 14 people weighed in and with 11 people weighing in over 20lbs. First place went to Stephen cracker with a cracking bag of fish weighing 40lbs 10oz. In second place was John Lisle with 40lb 8oz third place was Roger Ackroyd with 39lbs 13oz forth place was Les Polden with 39lbs 4oz and fifth place went to Craig Lamey with 38lb 10oz Stephen Cracker was fishing on peg 21 and was fishing 13 metres to the island using worm over micro pellets to take today’s WIN well done.
Cooler temperatures a bit of fresh and the flounder season is well underway. Flattie fanatic David Jenkins has been targeting the Taw flatties catching close to 100 up to 1lb 8oz during a weeks fishing for his favourite fish. He also caught several bass with several over 3lb.
Steve Finn with a good sized Taw flounder.
Bideford Angling Clubs monthly Rover was dominated by flounder.
1st Julien Stainer – flounder 1lb 8.5oz 76.562%
2nd Andy Sanders – flounder 1lb 7oz 71.875%
3rd Dick Talbot flounder – 1lb 5oz 65.625%
3rd Julien Stainer flounder – 1lb 5oz 65.625%
Appledore Ship-Builders
Fourteen members fished the clubs October rover. Andrew Atkinson was victorious with a Pouting of 1lb 3 1/4ozs. He also claimed second place with another Pouting of 1lb 1 1/4ozs. Michael Hammett was 3rd with another Pouting of 1lb 1oz.
A reminder to club members that the Agm is on Friday 22nd. October. This will be held at The Royal Appledore 7pm start. Agenda will be emailed out to the members soon.
October is great month for the sea angler with a vast range of species available from both the estuary and the Open coast. The next two months offer the best chance of a double figure bass so I look forward to receiving a few reports from North Devons angling fraternity.
North Devons angler’ s had mixed sport over the weekend with a wide variety of species landed. There have been reports of good numbers of mackerel in Bideford Bay which is good news but very late in the season.
Bideford Angling Club – Competition Result
September 24 hour results
10 angler’s fished
3 fish caught
1st Antony Smith Small Eyed Ray 8lb 4 91.666%
2nd Julien Stainer Small Eyed Ray 8lb 2 90.277%
3rd Graham Snow Thinlipped Mullet 3lb 9 1/2 89.844%
Appledore Shipbuilders BASS COMPETITION
Seven anglers fished Appledore Shipbuilders Annual Bass comp at Westward Ho!
Three bass were caught along with a few Small small eyed ray and a Conger.
Winner was Owen Atkinson with a fine fish of 7lb 0oz 4dr he was also second with another Bass weighing 4lb 7oz 12dr
Combe Martin SAC – Competition
Kevin Legge won Combe Martin SAC’s early September competition with a bull huss of 7lb 3oz. Ross Stanway won the species challenge of the competition with four species that included a red mullet.
Andrew Clements secured victory in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly sea rover with a specimen thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 10oz. Runner up was Dick Talbot with a ballan wrasse of 4lb 11oz and third Graham Snow with a thick lipped grey mullet of 3lb 10oz.
Josh Atkinson won Appledore Shipbuilders rover with a black bream weighing 2lb 4oz. Richard Boon was runner up with a ballan wrasse of 4lb 13oz and Graham Snow third with his thick lipped grey mullet of 3lb 10oz.
Combe Martin SAC member Kevin Legge took a trip to the Somerset shoreline were he enjoyed sport with smoothound, sole, ray and silver eels.
