When the rivers are low and salmon and sea trout are hard to find many fly fishers are turning to the the estuary where the silver flanked bass can provide exciting sport on both lure and fly. Nick Hart provides tuition in Fly Fishing in both fresh and saltwater, in rivers and still waters. His latest pictures show some happy anglers making the best of ideal conditions where the estuary meets the sea. Investing in guided fishing can make a huge difference to your catch rates boosting success over many years into the future.
The first few bass of the season have been tempted by lure anglers and to celebrate the fact Danny Watson has launched a lure fishing competition. Details below.
High Street Tackle are running a lure fishing competition!
The first one to run from now until May 10th.
The winner will be the biggest fish caught from the shore on a lure that has been bought from High Street Tackle.
To enter you must submit a picture of the fish, details of the lure and weight of the fish.
Pictures will be displayed on our Facebook page – we will not disclose any location information even if it is provided.
IMPORTANT – please ensure that all pictures are sensible ones – blood etc is not a good look.
It will also be assumed that all bass are treated as per the requirements of the law – we do not wish for any controversy to be raised by any of your pictures.
I understand that there may be some openings for dishonesty but hope that all who are interested in taking part can help to ensure that the winner is deservedly judged so.
We have not decided on the exact prize yet but it will obviously be related to lure fishing and be worth the effort of sending an honest photo – we would like to think that this may continue throughout the year!
Please feel free to contact us should have any suggestions etc.
Zenia Drury Gregorek sent news of her young sons latest angling adventures.
Please find enclosed pictures of our eldest Son Zaine Drury-Gregorek, 6 who is proving to be quite the Angler! Zaine went Lure fishing with his Dad Joe on our Predator Lake Valhalla, and within just two hours he caught a Personal Best Perch AND his 1st EVER Pike!! A double Whammy and in just 2 hours!! His arms were aching when he got home after all that reeling in! He is definitely 100% ‘hooked’ into fishing!
Anglers Paradise’s Lure Weekend proved to be a great success with Andy Payne making the headlines with what could be the UK’s first ever catfish on a lure. The huge catfish estimated at over 60lb was tempted on the first day of the weekend and helped to secure a victory for the seven man team captained by Nathan Edgell of Fladen Tackle. The fully subscribed event attracted lure-fishing contestants from all over the UK and was generously sponsored by Fladen, Quantum Specialist, Fox Rage and Drennan. The Individual winner of the event was Tim Halls who landed four species including perch, rainbow trout, brown trout and blue trout. The individual biggest fish were won by James Thomas who landed the events biggest pike at 85cm, Phil Burke who caught the biggest perch of 31.5cm and Dominic Cooke who caught the biggest trout a fine brown trout of 69cm.
(Middle) Dominic Cooke with the weekends biggest trout(Above)Phil Burke winner of the events biggest perch(Above)James Thomas and team captain Ben Humber of Fox Rage with the weekends biggest pike(Above)Zenia Drury Gregorek, Ben Humber, Zyg Gregorek, Tim Halls(Overall winner),Nathan Edgell, Rob Williams, David Drake, Joe Drury
(Above )The winning Team
Anglers Paradise is one of the UK’s best known fisheries with a reputation for its specimen fish, luxury accommodation, famous anglers and most of all for its colorful founder and man at the helm Zyg Gregorek. The complex was founded after Zyg moved to North Devon in the late 1970’s transforming a marshland into the angling holiday and day ticket destination it is today.
The true heart of Anglers Paradise is the Safari Bar with its walls lined with pictures of big fish and memento’s of Zyg’s globe trotting exploits. It is to the bar that many anglers have returned after a day by the water to recount their tales from the waters edge. The room is certainly unique and oozes angling history with antique rods and angling related paraphernalia all around.
The 2017 Lure Fishing Weekend was certainly a friendly competition with lure enthusiasts who had travelled from all over the UK quickly making new friends and greeting fellow piscator’s from past events. The weather conditions over the two days proved to be a little challenging with cold winds and rain chilling contestants to the bone. However spirits remained high throughout the event with the warmth of friendship and plate fulls of hot food thawing out the chilled anglers.
(Above) The windswept trout lake
On the Saturday night the auction of a 1913 Fishing Gazette book and an Orvis rod raised over £150 for local charities. Since its formation Anglers Paradise are proud to have raised many thousands of pounds for local charities. Anglers Mail contributor Bill Rushmer who has visited many times was close at hand to assist with the auction.
The Saturday night auction raised over £150 for local charities.
The competition was fished on four lakes with the teams of seven rotating over the two days with constant tuition from the four team captains. As an occasional lure angler I certainly learned a lot about modern lure fishing techniques with information and tactics shared willingly between anglers.
(Above)The entire cast of the Lure Fishing Weekend.
Thanks go to the events sponsors, Fox Rage, Drennan, Quantum Specialist and Fladen Anyone can Fish
Many thanks also to Joe Drury for organising the event, to Zyg Gregorek for Anglers Paradise and to the Gregorek Family and all the staff at the complex.
Chris Lambert and Adam Moxey have had another great Perching session from the boat at Upper Tamar Lake. Chris had this to say about their day: The previous couple of visits have been really tough but we are yet to blank….famous last words! When we arrived it was a bit on the windy side. I wasn’t exactly beaming with confidence but the first drift produced a 3.08 perch to my rod on a 3inch black shad fished on a 7.5g jig head, the wind dropped off nicely allowing us to fish a lot more effectively. We went on to take a dozen good sized perch mainly fish in the low 2lb range topped by a brace of 3’s at 3.05 and 3.03 both caught by Adam on the 2inch spikey shad.
Chris Lambert with a fine Tamar perchAdam Moxey displays a superb Tamar perch
2017 Lure Weekend
Friday 24th February to Sunday 26th 2017 is the Dates you need to remember as it’s our Annual LURE Weekend!
Location – Anglers Paradise, Halwill Junction, Devon EX21 5XT.
Prices Start From £110 Per Person which includes – Accomodation for 3 nights, Fishing + Entry into All Competitions!
It’s a Weekend you will not want to miss, they’ll be great Team Captains who you will gain knowledge to better your future fishing, exclusive Lakes to Fish and Great Prizes to be Won, if you’re a beginner, intermediate or experienced – it doesn’t matter – ALL ARE WELCOME!
They’ll be plenty of help and advice throughout the weekend, so it doesn’t matter if you are new to Lure Fishing.
Amongst others we have Drennan, Fox Rage and Quantum Specialist as Sponsors
We have Limited Spaces Left for this Fantastic Event, so if you are interested, please don’t delay!
Local perch fanatics John Deprieelle and Martin Cox enjoyed a days perch fishing from the boat at Upper Tamar last week. John sent in this report to South West Lakes Trust:
‘It was a pretty windy day with high gusts and I almost called off but as it was the first warm day after a sharp frost it had to be worth a go. The water temp was really low which can make things difficult (can you hear the excuses building up?) but after an hour or so the first fish of the day was in the net. The choice of lures was a lot smaller than I would normally use and we had to switch to drop shotting on a very slow retrieve to get bites as the fish were hugging the bottom and in really deep water. After searching out most of the lake we got a slow but steady rhythm and ended the day with a bag full of small fish, lots of nips and plucks and 2 really good fish up to 3lb 6oz. A lot of effort from dawn to dusk but well worth the reward for these stunning hard fighting perch’.
A very proud Zenia at Anglers Paradise sent me this report on the early angling success for her two young son’s.
This is a very special latest catches as it is about my 2 son’s Zaine and Zeejay who both love fishing and our youngest who is 3 went for his first time with Joe at the weekend and is now hooked, please find enclosed the pictures and write up.
We have been waiting until our youngest Son Zeejay who has just turned 3, showed the signs that he was ‘ready’ to start his fishing journey, and now came the time that we felt he was ready for his first fishing trip! Joe aka Daddy decided to take Zeejay Lure Fishing at Valhalla in search of some Perch to wet his appetite and hopefully catch his 1st ever Perch on a Lure. The weather was cold, but Zeejay just loved being with his Daddy and Fishing for the first time so he didn’t care, he just wanted to catch a ‘Phish’!
They couldn’t believe their luck when they landed Zeejay’s 1st ever Pike!! Zeejay’s face was a picture, and he was speechless (which is VERY Rare) when they got it into the net!
It was then our eldest son’s turn, Zaine who is 5, and he managed to land himself this lovely little Perch on a Lure, so we had 2 very happy brothers with their catches! It’s so great to share our love of the sport with our sons and we hope that others will do the same with theirs and get out there!
Jeremy Johnson sent me a report of a cracking day on his friend Robert Hurst’s rib on Sunday October 30th targeting bass on the lure. Not sure of conditions so they decided at the last minute to change their minds from an early cod session up channel, to a bass session off Clovelly. Proved to be a good shout. As they landed 10 bass including a personal b on lure for Jeremy – (weight unconfirmed as the fish was released and had no scales but was certainly larger than an 8lb fish Jeremy had a couple of months back) They also had a perfect conditioned 6lb and 4lb bass and several round the 2-3lb mark.