New Stock for North Devon’s South West Lakes Trust Waters

South West Lakes –
Title: New Stock Added

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Jennett’s has been stocked with 19 new additions to the lake! 15 mirrors between 16 -18lb and 4 bigger mirrors to just over 23lb

Darracott has received a boost in stocks in 2023, to ensure there is a great future of sport in the lake for years to come. 72 fish have been added all together to 23lb. This should be a good venue over the winter to get a few bites and keep you busy on the bank!

Melbury has received 4 new additions to the lake to improve an already impressive stock. Two mirrors were added from from the Roadford lake carp removals, both of these were doubles and two fish were added from Lana springs carp farm (19 and 20 Plus). These are stunning fish and will no doubt be target fish for the future!

 

 

 

Coarse fishing end of year newsletter December 2023 – South West lakes Trust

Coarse fishing end of year newsletter
December 2023

Dear fellow anglers,

Where has 2023 gone? Another brilliant year of angling on our coarse fishing venues has flown by. There have certainly been some highlights this year and it has been fantastic to see the reports and photos sent in of people’s captures this year.

It was a great start to the year for pike fishing on College Lake, with the lake recently allowing limited pike fishing tickets through the winter season. All the anglers that took up the opportunity to pike fish the lake had a great time with multiple fish caught over the colder months. These tickets are available again this year, please ring the office for details on 01566 771930.

New format a success for Mainline Baits

Soon, spring was upon us and with the pike season coming to a close the other species started to wake up in in the reservoirs with multiple catch reports coming in from Argal and Upper Tamar in early March.

The end of March saw the return of the Mainline Baits Pairs competitions on Upper Tamar. There was a rule change this year on how the final result is taken, where a pair can register their three biggest fish and the final weight is taken from that. This led to a much more competitive and close competition which could be won at any time by anyone.

Over the year we offer three pairs competitions on Upper Tamar with £3,500 of prize money up for grabs. All anglers get a goody bag from the match sponsor Mainline Baits. We look forward to running these again in 2024 (dates to be announced at the start of the year).

Upper Tamar on top form for matches

Springtime also marked the start of the matches on Upper Tamar. Upper Tamar is such an amazing venue and once again it showed its form with some cracking weights of bream, perch and roach from the matches through the year, it’s no wonder it is regarded as one of the best venues in the country. It was great to see familiar faces this year and once again there was some top banter to go with it.

The match calendar for Upper Tamar is already full for 2024, we apologise for any disappointment. There are still dates available for Jennetts and a couple of other venues, please get in touch for details.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the match organisers and competitors for their support in 2023. We hope 2024 will bring another successful year of matches on our reservoirs and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Get Fishing Awards at Porth and Darracott

As summer started, plans were well under way to try to show a wider audience just how amazing our sport is. Through the month of August, we aimed to roll out the Angling Trust ‘Get Fishing Awards’ at Porth and Darracott. This was a gateway for newcomers to try fishing and have the confidence and knowledge to get out there and go fishing by gaining a Bronze, Silver and Gold award after three sessions.

A massive thank you to the volunteers who helped at the events, we aim to carry on these sort of events in 2024 and plans are in place to try and kick on from this to encourage more into the sport.

Carp removal project at Roadford Lake

September saw the start of the carp removal project at Roadford Lake. Due to fish spawning in the first week of May we had to put a hold on it until September. This gave the opportunity for people to fish the 700+ acre venuefor carp for the first time.

Due to agreements and legislation when Roadford was created, the lake can only be run as a brown trout fishery. Therefore, the aim of the project is to remove carp to improve the brown trout fishing and at the same time use the fish to improve the stocks in some of our reservoirs. Throughout September, over 200 carp were caught and moved to other venues to improve the stocks of the lakes.

Pike, Catch and stock: a busy end to the year! 

As the year draws to an end it has seen the matches finish on the venues until next year, the pike season has started again, the day tickets have moved onto the Catch app and we have invested in some new stock for the lakes, with over £15,000 of carp being stocked (including this stunning mirror at Melbury, below).

A big thank you to all those that took part in the season ticket survey.

Notable catches and results on the lakes

There have been some notable catches and results on the lakes this year. Longham has been on fine form producing a bream of 20lb to Chris Harrison and a new lake record 48lb 4oz carp to Alan Thurlow.

Lee Kerry was crowned the Feeder Masters champion for the third time at Upper Tamar. The close competition was won with a winning weight of 65lb 10oz after two days, beating second place and last year’s champion Zak Williams by 2lb 6oz.

Lower Tamar has once again produced some fantastic bream (see photo below) with multiple double figure fish getting caught through the year. The lake has also been producing some cracking 30lb carp and some great tench to over 7lb.

Trenchford has had a great start to the winter with a 24lb pike making Julian Fraser’s day, it was his first ever pike! Porth and Argal have seen some stunning carp landed this year, Jennetts has been producing some lovely carp with a good number being over 20lb and the silver fish fishing has been fantastic on the venue with a 20lb plus bag of silvers not uncommon.

There are many other great catches on the lakes this year but we can’t list them all.

 

Winter Carp from South West lakes Waters

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Quay Sports Mr Biso with a lovely old common caught recently from Jennetts Reservoir which is part of the Coarse Fishing South West Lakes Trust. Biso used the newly released ‘DS1’ Boilie from Remix Baits alongside a Sticky Baits Signature wafter with his rig choice being his ever faithfull blowback rig. Pop in for a chat with Biso he will share any tactics/spots and even show you how to tie this if required.
All orders online are 24H delivery with any orders over £25 being free postage.
(Below) Aaron Bunning enjoyed success Melbury banking these fine carp

FURZEBRAY FIFTY

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 17 years ago Furzebray Carp Fishery near South Molton was created and Island lake stocked, The fishery has gone on to be the crown in the jewel of North Devon carp fishing. This week its has produced a superb carp of over fifty pounds.

Massive well done to Scott Pollard on smashing his PB and setting a new lake record with the mighty Dropscale at 50lb 10oz!

CARP SUCCESS ACROSS NORTH DEVON

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As we pass the Autumn equinox carp anglers are enjoying success across North Devon with some stunning bronze flanked specimens caught.

(Above) At Lower Tamar Lake Oli Dietrich banked common carp of 33lb 10oz, 32lb 8oz, 28lb and a mirror carp of 21lb.

(Below) At Hacche Moor Fishery Dave Jenkins banked carp of 30lb 14oz and 29lb 8oz.

(Below) Chris Budd banked nine carp to 29lb during a session at Stafford Moor.

 At Torridge carp lakes Kai Smith banked a 26lb carp and Joey Gould banked a 34lb 10oz mirror.

(Below) Shaun Thorne fished the lakes to bank a mirror of 29lb 12oz.

(Below) Bull Dog Carp Lake is also fishing well with Adam Atkins banking several carp including a new personal best of 29lb 3oz.

 

ROADFORD CARP REMOVAL PROJECT

 

It was an hour before dawn and I was going fishing at Roadford Lake to take part in South West lakes Trust carp removal project. A fox dashed across the road as I drove through the quiet undisturbed Devon countryside. These early mornings often offer glimpses of creatures as they head for cover after their nocturnal meanderings.

I was fishing with my good friend Bruce Elston who like me is just an occasional carp fisher. Roadford is a vast lake of over 700 acres and offers great sport fly-fishing for brown trout. https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/roadford-lake

At some point carp have got into the lake and have thrived providing South West Lakes with a problem for there has never been any intention to have coarse fish within the lake. The lake is the main source of water for North Devon so it can never be drained and netting the fish is not a viable option. SWLT have therefore open up a limited carp fishing removal project. Anglers paying to fish for these carp over a limited period are funding game fishing improvements for the future. The health checked carp are being carefully relocated to waters across the South West lakes portfolio where they will provide improved sport.

Following its introduction in May, we are excited to announce the return of carp fishing at Roadford Lake for September

Just off the A30, Roadford Lake is a naturally beautiful location perfect for anglers living in both Devon and Cornwall and this unique opportunity should not be missed!

Throughout the month, we’ll be removing carp from the lake for restocking purposes elsewhere, and we ask that all fish caught are placed in the floatation pen situated in the water, where they will be collected each morning.

Carp fishing will only be available in a designated area of the lake and all anglers are advised to bring a pair of waders.

Find out more and book: https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/roadford-lake-carp

#ItsYourOutdoors

Bruce and I arrived at the lake as the sun rose in the eastern sky bathing the entire scene in a rich golden glow. Some anglers were already bivvied up and it looked like they were enjoying some early morning sport.

We hurried to the water’s edge and started to set up. The normal process of plumbing the depth was undertaken using a marker rod and float. After deciding what contour to fish over we both embarked upon the task of spodding out a bed of bait. I was using a mixture of pigeon conditioner, sweetcorn and maize.

Hook baits of maize and tiger nuts were fished amidst the particles on standard hair rigs. This process of getting fishing took well over an hour and it was good to eventually sit back and take in the view.  Swallows and martins swooped above as the early autumn sun heated the day. It seemed a little spiteful that as many children returned to school a heatwave was forecast and due to last at least a week.

 

We didn’t know what to expect as each day is different and the lake has not been extensively fished for carp. We knew that some outstanding catches had been made with fish to over twenty pounds.

There is always an added excitement when fishing a water for the first time and with a water as big as Roadford you just don’t know what will turn up, if anything?

At around 8:30am my right had rod was away the alarm screaming as line was torn from the bait-runner. I jumped up and grabbed the rod disappointed when no contact was made.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long before another screaming run resulted in a hard fighting common carp of around 7lb. This was the start of an exciting mornings fishing for me with four more carp banked to 12lb 8oz. I also lost two fish to a hidden snag that I assumed was a tree long since submerged when the valley was flooded back in 1989.

During the morning Bruce had only hooked one carp, a small common of around 3lb.

It is always frustrating fishing with a friend if all the runs seem to come to just one of you. The rest of the day panned out much as expected with the carp going off the feed and neither of us getting any runs after early afternoon.

We were curious to witness Ashley Bunning and fellow ranger Mervyn Beale arrive to remove some of the carp already residing in the retaining enclosures close to the bank. The carp were pristine full tailed fish that will provide welcome stockings across South West lakes Trust Coarse Waters.

Ashley Bunning Head of Angling at South West Lakes Trust displays carp destined for other waters.

It was relentlessly hot for early September and I was glad that I had brought along a brolly to provide some welcome shade.

I was due to leave at 7.00pm and as the day drifted past I envied Bruce who had extended his ticket to allow a night of fishing. At close to 6.00pm Bruce had a screaming run to a bait fished in the margins to his right. After a good tussle I slipped the net under a stocky common carp that pulled the scales to 15lb.

I left the lake as the sun started to sink beneath the horizon. Bruce went on to bank another dozen carp overnight to mid doubles. He told me of a tropical night sleeping under the stars. Shortly after the break of dawn he was thrilled to watch an osprey gliding majestically over the lake.

 

A carp fisher dawn enjoyed by Bruce after a sleepless tropical night that saw him bank a dozen carp.

Carp and catfish at Anglers Eldorado

Shuan Thorne enjoyed a succesful session at  Anglers Paradises El Dorado Carp and Cat lake 2. Shuan banked six  carp in 24 hours including a  29lb 8oz mirror a 26lb common, 19lb 12oz mirror an 11lb fully scaled a 13lb common and 12lb catfish. The venue hold catfish to well over fifty pounds and carp over thirty.

Anglers Paradise