Luke Whitaker took advantage of some fish in the margins at Upper Tamar and went stalking for a couple of hours. This 24lb mirror was backed up by three fish of 19lbs!
Stafford Moor Carp
Stafford Moor is as ever producing some stunning carp catches as summer weather finally starts to settle.
(Below) Ben Smith fished on swim 12 up on lodge lake. Ben banked 9 fish up to 26lb 6oz, all fish were caught on Mainline Cell and our Stafford Moor house bait.
(Below) Darren Reeve who stayed at the Moor with Gemma & their boyz in Cherry Specimen lodge. Darren had 33 fish out up to 31lb 4oz.
Watt a Carp!
North Devon angler Lee Watts fished Colebrooke fishery at Cullumpton and banked the carp known as paw print at 35lb 4oz along with a a common carp at 25lb 8oz both caught on grizzly test baits and Lees home made leads.
Plan “B” Brings A Pleasing Twenty – Lower Slade
The weather scuppered the boat trip out of Minehead with the wind due to swing West to North West by midday. A difficult call for the skipper but the right one as the weather men got it right. And so it was plan B. I had loaded the carp gear into the van the previous night thinking I might set out early but it was 6.30am by the time I woke up and close to 8.00am by the time I was on the road with dark thundery clouds in the morning sky.
It was precipitating down profusely when I arrived at Lower Slade and I watched a fellow angler pushing his barrow into the bay. With this area no longer an option I settled on a roadside swim that gave access to areas where I had previously enjoyed success. Whilst I haven’t fished Slade much for carp in recent years I don’t believe they change their habits to dramatically frequenting the same old areas with the wind influencing this.
By the time I had three rods out and some bait scattered about it was around 9.30am. The showers had passed by and the sky was blue with wisps of white cloud and the lush green growth of late spring was all around. A robin alighted upon the rods and searched for crumbs of bait around my feet.
After an hour or so I decided to check one of the baits and recast. As I prepared to recast the bite alarm on the right rod blipped and the bobbin bounced a couple of times. I grabbed the rod and wound down to feel a heavy weight as a good fish shook its head. The fish gave a good run around giving a few anxious moments as it found some weed, becoming solid for few moments before steady pressure coaxed it free. Eventually it swirled close to the bank and moments later it was safely within the net.
The scales put a number on it of 21lb 14oz; a pleasing result and another carp ticked off my challenge to bank a carp from each SWLT North Devon Lake this season. I had charged my camera battery the previous night and had remembered to grab the camera on the way out of the house but had forgotten to put the battery in! Fortunately these days we always have our phone with a camera! Hence the slight grainy image.
The rest of the day drifted past and for a while it seemed as if summer had arrived as the call of the cuckoo echoed around the valley. I packed up late afternoon as a cool North-West wind sprung up as predicted.
Lower Tamar Lake Carp & bream catch
Lower Tamar’s most recent exclusive booking was enjoyed by Dave Bellew and friends. 16 carp caught with the best common at 26.06lbs and Mirror 22lb. The biggest bream was 11.04lbs.
Lower Tamar can be booked exclusively – 16 swims, toilet, shower, great fishing, stunning surroundings! Please drop Ben Smeeth a message at South West Lakes Trust.
Plenty of Personal bests from Stafford Moor
(Above) Drew Davey who fished up on Albert Square on Lodge Lake. Drew had 8 fish out up to 26lb which is a new pb !!
All Drew’s fish were caught on CC Moore 15mm pacific tuna boilies over 10mm Pacific tuna / house pellets and corn.
(Above) Dan Wallis banked 11 fish out from the inlet swim on Beatties lake. All fish were caught on CC Moore NS1 wafters.
(Above) Matt Thomas fished up on lodge lake in swim 15 (Albert Square) Matt had a total of 14 fish out up to 32lb 2oz which is now Matts new pb.
All fish were caught on Sticky baits krill boilies and house pellet.
First Visit Twenty @ Upper Tamar
(Below) Francis Hayden made a successful first trip to Upper Tamar and this 23lb mirror was his reward! Fishing from second point second using DNA the bug boilie topped with washed out pink pop up.
Big Slade Mirror!
Pete Roberts fished Slade in terrible weather and was rewarded with a very fine mirror carp weighing just over 29 lb. Recent weeks have seen some stunning fish banked at this picturesque water nestled in a valley above Ilfracombe beside the old Barnstaple to Ilfracombe railway line.
Lake Record!
Dan Carder continues his run of success at Lower Slade Reservoir banking what is believed to be a new lake record. I am hoping Dan will share a few more details of the capture in due course. In the mean time congratulations to Dan on catching such a stunning fish from one of the areas older more established fishery’s.
Early Morning Mirror
Dan Carder continues to enjoy success at his local South West Lakes Trusts Water banking this stunning 25lb 1oz mirror carp during his latest session shortly after daybreak.