21 Aug 2024

SOUTH WEST LAKES CARP FISHING

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South West Lakes Reservoirs hold some stunning carp and other species and are well worth visiting.

(Above) Chris Tester  caught this 26lb Mirror at Upper Tamar.

(Above) Melbury produced a 23Ib 7oz Common, 20Ib 7oz Common, 14Ib Mirror, 14Ib 3oz Common for Mervyn Beale over a 3 day and night session this week 🎣 Well done Mervyn!
To celebrate National Fishing Month, we’ve currently got 15% off all day tickets, including Melbury Reservoir. Book via the Catch app and don’t forget to submit your catch report!
Following the previous success of our carp removal project at Roadford, we will once again be temporarily introducing carp fishing at Roadford Lake for September, with tickets for the first half of the month on sale now! 🎣
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.
For more information and to book, visit: https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/roadford-lake-carp1
19 Dec 2023

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

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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.

 
7 Nov 2023

South West Lakes Trust – Partner with Catch

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Message from South West Lakes Trust

Hello fellow anglers

We’re very excited to tell you that we have partnered with Catch to be our fishery management and booking partner.

From 16 November 2023 day tickets will only be available through Catch. Season tickets remain bookable through our website, but will be available through Catch from next year.

Catch are giving our season ticket holders a six-month free subscription so you can book day tickets via the app and enjoy the other benefits. If you already have a Catch account this will automatically be applied. If you don’t, Catch will be sending you an email shortly with details on how to access and begin your free subscription.

Download the Catch app from App Store or Google Play, create a free account and take advantage of all the great features straight away:

  • Interactive lake maps
  • Masses of information at your fingertips
  • Receive catch reports, news and events in real-time
  • Upload your own catch reports directly to our fishery pages
  • Book your next session days, weeks or even months in advance
  • Receive automatic reminders when your next session is due

… and much more!

These guys know what they are doing and have your (and our) best interests at heart. They’ve made the platform easy for everyone to use and we strongly believe that we’ve made the very best decision possible: by partnering with Catch we’ve brought our fishery administration bang up to date which will, in turn, benefit you as an angler.

We appreciate you may have questions so feel free to contact us directly or the Catch team at [email protected] for more information. There is also a live chat option on the Catch website.

Thank you
Ashley
Head of Angling

6 Jul 2023

A DAY AT THE WATERS EDGE

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Sometimes it’s good to just go fishing for the day no agendas just a day with a friend catching up. I had not fished at Riverton Fishery for several years and when Gary suggested a day there I was keen to revisit. There are three lakes at the fishery a float fishing lake, Willow Lake and the specimen carp lake that is run on a syndicate basis.

http://www.rivertonlakesandholidaycottages.co.uk/angling.html

            After a little deliberation we had decided upon Willow Lake a 2.5 Acre lake that was once a match fishing venue. The lake is now described as a pleasure lake with a wide variety of species stocked.

            The lakes have matured well with large trees partially surrounding the venue and plenty of platforms spaced out from which to fish. The only downside to the venue is the constant traffic noise from the link road. Fortunately this is soon forgotten as the vista of lake sky and nature takes the focus away from the buzz of the modern world.

            Gary and I set up in the first two swims on the lake and planned to alternate between float fishing and quiver tipping.

            I started feeding micro pellet and corn just over a rod length out. I set up a waggler float setting the depth so that the bait rested on the lake bed with a small shot 3” inches from the bait. I was fishing with an old centre pin reel loaded with 4lb b.s line simply because it is fun to use. The float sat pleasingly to attention before sliding delightfully out of sight within seconds.

            This set the pattern for the day with sweetcorn and small prawn segments bringing a variety of fish to the net from start to finish. Roach to 8oz, bream close to 4lb, carp on the float to 4lb and a few small perch.

            I catapulted pellets to the island and when I fancied a rest I put out banded pellet on a hair rig. On my first cast  the tip ripped around before I could place the rod in the rest. A hard fighting mirror of around 4lb was the result!

            I alternated between float and tip from midday until we packed away at around 4.30pm. Both methods pleasing in their own right. The delightful and frequent disappearance of the float and the savage dragging round of the quiver tip as the carp hooked themselves.

            We lost count of our catch but certainly had a great day’s sport and vowed to return for a rerun. It’s great to simply share a day at the water.

 

26 Jun 2023

Bideford & District Angling Rod N Reel Match

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B.D.A.C ROD AND REEL MATCH SUMMER LEAGUE RESULTS DATE 25.6.23. 12 anglers fished Sundays match at Tarka with some fantastic weights being weighed in, The sun was shining with a bit of wind from time to time all anglers caught fish. First place today went to Richard Jefferies on peg 16 with a net full of carp fishing the float for a weight of 66lbs 6oz. Second place was Steve Ashton on peg 6 with a nice mixed bag of fish for 58lbs 2oz on the feeder to the island. Third place was Darren Polden on peg 8 with a nice mixed bag of fish for 52lbs 7oz and forth place went to Nigel Spurr on peg 19 with 45lbs 11oz.

19 Dec 2022

Message from Ashley Bunning – SWLT

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Another year passes and we say goodbye to 2022! It has been a hard year for the reservoirs, not only in the South West, but all over the UK.  Low water levels and lake closures have been a frustrating factor to fishing through the summer, and we thank all of you for being understanding through these testing times. Having started my role in September, I would personally like to thank all of you for your kind words of support and I hope we can now push forward and continue the great work South West Lakes has been doing to improve the fishing on the waters.

There have been some great catches through the year with many great bags of silvers from many of the reservoirs to some special carp being caught.

Sadly, the lakes have lost two of its ‘A-team’, with Arnie from Porth and The Big Fully from Argal passing. These fish put many smiles on anglers’ faces, they will be missed!

Looking towards the future of the lakes, in November we stocked 39 new carp into Argal. These fished ranged between 13lb and 17lb, with 34 mirrors and 5 commons. Next year we are planning to stock other waters in the region to continue our work to improve all our waters. There has been some great swim building projects carried out on the lakes also, I would like to thank all the volunteers who have given up their time to help and make improvements on the lakes.

I am pleased to announce that we will be running the Mainline Pairs competitions again for next year the dates for this will be March 24-26, June 30-July 2 and September 29-October 1. We are looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces and welcoming new anglers to the competitions.

Also we will be having two event days in August, which will be part of the Angling Trust’s National Fishing Month, with the emphasis to get as many kids fishing as possible. The dates and places for this are the Royalty Fishery on August 5 and Upper Tamar Lakes on August 19. Please keep your eyes peeled for these events on the website, so you don’t miss out.

Once again thank you for all your support through this last year, may you all have a great Christmas and happy New Year. Look forward to seeing you all out on the bank in 2023.

Cheers
Ashley Bunning

13 Nov 2022

Bideford – Coarse Section Monthly Competition. Results:

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Coarse Section monthly competition. Results:
Tarka Swims.
1st Darren Polten 31lb 8oz
2nd Stephen Cracker  24lb 10oz
3rd Keith Mountjoy  22lb 7oz
4th Colin Cherrington 21lb 13oz
5th Sheilat Found  20lb 3oz
6th Les Polden  20lb 2oz
7th Warren Thornton  19lb 13oz
17 fished .
Club members met up at George’s lake, for our penultimate match, in our year-long series.
The unseasonably mild weather led to some very close weights. Darren scored his first victory with a great mixed bag from peg 14, the moderate Southerly wind encouraged him to fish the margins using maggot hookbait .
Second place went to Stephen on peg 16 , another net taken on maggot on the pole. Keith took third on peg 13.
Our next , and final , match of 2022 will also be the Christmas competition.
13 Jun 2022

HORWOOD LAKE – Update

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The main lake at HORWOOD has now been completely cleaned out and around 1,500 tons of silt removed, we have created a number of wide shelves all around the edges which should be perfect for bait presentation. The lake despite the dry weather has now almost completely filled and we are starting to gradually stock, 110 carp have been added for a total weight of 750lb, and we are looking to double this in a few weeks time when these have settled. The stocking so far has included 18 double figure carp up to 20lb. We now have toilet facilities on site which should be up and running by the end of next week.

The top lake is fishing very well and in a competition on Friday, June 10th over 400lb of fish came out with the top weight of 116lb going to Exeter angler Steve Barrel, mainly caught on the waggler at depth and on 8mm pellets, second was Graham Curno with 94lb 10oz and mainly caught on the straight lead and again pellet on the hook. Lots of tench showing as well and these will for now be kept in the top lake.

Horwood Fishery.
Set in rolling rural Farmland.
2 Stunning Lakes very well Stocked with just carp and tench.
Bottom Lake :-
Carp to double figures ranging from 2 lb to 19lb
Tench up to 3.5lb.
Top Lake:-
Carp ranging from 1lb to 19lb
small tench (lots of )
Drive to your peg so no walking ,
Come and relax at what are 2 stunning lakes .
Limited membership is available at £30 for the year from Neilsen Jeffery (phone 01237 421123) Please Note there are no day tickets available for this water.

 

20 Feb 2021

A Stubbornly Buoyant float

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I fished in hope of perch today suspending half a juicy lobworm beneath a sliding float. The six hours passed by all too quickly with the float remaining stubbornly buoyant throughout the day. It was sheltered in the old quarry as gale force winds roared above, the trees swaying vigorously too and fro. The dark and moody water hiding its secrets. Fallen trees lay rotting at the waters edge. It has been several years since I last fished here and it was good to be back finding that it was reassuringly familiar. Waters are like old friends that never seem to age.