Small eyed ray have dominated results across this weekends angling competitions with ray taken from both North Devon and Somerset Marks.
Bideford Angling Club Rover Results
1st Jon Stevens small eyed ray 8lb 14oz 98.611%
2nd Tarrant Wotton small eyed ray 8lb 13oz 97.916%
3rd Rob Harris small eyed ray 8lb 11 1/2oz 96.875%
Joint 4th Tarrent + Rob Small eyed ray 8lb 10oz 95.833%
6th Jon Stevens small eyed ray 8lb 5oz 92.708 %
Appledore Shipbuilders Monthly Rover
1st – Josh Atkinson – small eyed ray 10lb 35/8oz
2nd – James Atkinson – small eyed ray – 9lb 153/4oz
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section monthly comp @ Tarka Swims
1st Colin Gorman 11lb 2oz
2nd Pete Slade 9lb 3oz
3rd Richard Jefferies 8lb 11oz
4th Steve Bailey 7lb 2oz
5th Kevin Shears 6lb 11oz
6th Dean Siford 4lb 13oz
Todays competition was fished in bright warm conditions, 21 anglers took up most of the pegs on the Georges Lake .Colin Gormandrew peg J and made no mistakes to net 3 good carp for victory, it was his good fortune that this was the golden peg and he picked up over £100 . Second on the day with a lovely net of small skimmer bream on peg N was Pete all taken on the pole and single maggot. Peg O was Richard Jefferies who despite losing a number of carp in the weeds landed enough for third spot, 4th place went to Steve on peg Y in the shallows.Kevin had a bonus bream of 4lb 10oz in his net on peg M, for 5th place, Next comp is the beginning of the summer evening series Wednesday 15th May Draw time 5.30 fish 6 till 9
Graham Snow secured victory in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly Rover landing a fine specimen thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 113/4oz. Runner up was Antony Smith with a dogfish of 2lb 2oz and equal third were Phil Vanstone with a thornback ray of 5lb 7oz and Nathan Clements with a dogfish of 1lb 13oz.
Daniel Scott won Appledore Shipbuilders monthly rover with a fine small eyed ray of 10lb 51/2oz. In second was Josh Atkinson with a small eyed ray of 9lb 153/8oz and in third Graham Snow with his thick lipped mullet of 4lb 111/4oz.
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition @ Tarka Swims George’s Lake Results
1st Keith Copland 7lb 2oz
2nd Dean Siford 3lb 5oz
3rd Graham Currington 2lb 4oz
4th Martin Turner 1lb 13oz
5th Pete Slade 15oz,
16 fished this event in a bitter Easterly wind which appeared to switch the whole lake off . Leading up to this ,the first match of the year on Tarka ,most members were optimistic for a decent match. Keith was fishing his first match after an operation on his right wrist, he drew on the point peg F and fished a cage feeder with micros and red maggot for 2 nice bream late in the match to snatch victory from Dean Siford on the next peg who also found a nice bream and some roach on the tip.Third spot went to Graham Currington who fished the pole and maggot around 8 metres on peg Q for a net of small silver fish. Martin Turner drew in the shallows on peg A and landed some small carp for 4th place.
There are encouraging signs along the coast with smoothound showing from regular marks a couple of weeks earlier than expected. Ian Hooper and Nick Job fished a popular local shore mark and landed several hounds to almost 7lb and Cameron Atkinson landed a good hound in Appledore Shipbuilders Competition. ( See Results Below).
Combe Martin SAC Member Mark Jones ventured out with his lure rod and was pleased to Catch and release a pleasing bass of over 4lb.
Reel Deal Skipper Dan Hawkins took a party of anglers in search of an early shark and succeeded with Ross Needs from Bristol bringing a huge porbeagle estimated at 500lb to the side of the boat after a battle lasting 2hours and 10 minutes. The fine fish was carefully unhooked and released and swam away strongly. (Below) See video on Facebook Page).
(Above) Cameron Atkinson took the top three places in Appledore Shipbuilders Monthly Rover landing a dogfish of 2lb 71/8oz for first a smoothound of 7lb 81/4oz for runner up and a dog of 2lb 6oz for third. 19 fished the competition.
Bideford monthly rover results
1st Paul Downing thornback Ray 10lb 6 115.277%
2nd Dick Talbot bull Huss 9lb 101/2oz 96.562%
3rd dick Talbot dog fish 2lb 9oz 85.416%
4th Paul Downing thornback Ray 6lb 5oz 70.138%
5th Jon Stevens dog fish 2lb 0 1/2oz 67.708%
6th Andrew Clements thornback Ray 5lb 11 1/4oz 63.367%
(Above)Paul Downing with a fine thornback of 10lb 6oz
Kyle Blackmore travelled to the Chesil Beach to secure victory in Bidefords monthly Rover. I have heard a reports of several good local fish over the weekend and will publish as soon as I get full details.
Bideford Angling Club 24hour results
1st Kyle Blackmore – Blonde Ray 17lb 11oz 147.395%
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition Results @ Highampton Fishery
1st Nathan Underwood 38lb 8oz
2nd Martin Turner 31lb 13oz
3rd Steve Bailey 22lb 3oz
4th Richard Jefferies 17lb 3oz
5th John Lisle 11lb 13oz
6th Ian Sedgewick 6lb 8oz
13 anglers fished the match that went ahead despite the strong North Westerly wind and squally showers. The reduced field allowed us to peg the leeward banks of both lakes meaning that most competitors had the wind off their backs. Nathan Underwood drew the point on the second lake and after catching 3 carp on paste on the pole , switched to the method feeder with a chocolate orange wafter to take a dozen more for a convincing victory. Martin Turner landed 8 slightly better fish on the fancied peg 4 on the 1st lake on 8mm pellet and bomb tactics for second place. 3rd spot went to club coarse section Chairman Steve Bailey on the 2nd lake, peg 8, margin pole carp catch on corn. The league after 3 matches stands as : Martin Turner 29 points John Lisle 27 , Richard Jefferies 20 Nathan Underwood 20
Bideford and District Angling Club 24 hour sea results
1st Kyle Blackmore spur 11lb 110%
2nd Rick eavis rockling 1lb 8 100%
3rd Rob Harris bull Huss 8lb 14 1/2 89.062%
I was privileged to attend Bideford Angling Clubs recent presentation night where it was good to catch up with members of Bideford Club. The club has a long history and continues to thrive in todays ever changing world and has even managed to attract some valuable young anglers. The youth of today are an essential ingredient for the future of angling clubs and angling as a pastime that can enrich a lifetime bringing valuable engagement with the environment.
The match was held on the prolific Wooda complex , the 2 match lakes hosted the 22 competitors , the cold windy weather made fishing, for some ,quite tricky. The shallow end of the top lake produced the winner, John landed some of the larger carp fishing with paste at very close range beside the reed beds. Kevin had a hectic start catching over 30 carp from the dam end on lake 2 for 2nd. 3rd place was Craig with another pole catch on the top lake. Stephen Craker came in 4th with a pole and feeder catch from lake 2. John Lisle and Stephen Craker move into joint first in the championship on 19 points.
