The South West Fly Fly Fair has become a very popular fixture on the game fishing calendar and is eagerly anticipated each year as a seasons eve event show casing everything Fly Fishing including Fly Tying, Fly Casting and Fly Fishing.
Significant Changes for Underperforming Wimbleball!
Wimbleball Reservoir has been a splendid location for trout fishers for many years but sadly its days as a premier trout fishery appear to be over as South West Lakes Trust have today sent out a letter indicating that the fisheries future is to change for the worse.
Dear All
May I take this opportunity to thank you for supporting Wimbleball fishery during the 2016 season.
I am writing to inform you that there will be significant changes next year and wanted to make you aware of these at an early stage before you plan your fishing for next season.
Unfortunately the fishery at Wimbleball has continued to underperform in the face of rising costs and as a charity we cannot continue to operate in this unsustainable way. Therefore in 2017 we will not be stocking the lake while we take the time to review the operation and identify the best way forward. We all know what a great fishery Wimbleball can be and its future remains important to us. However we also believe that it should only operate as a premier rainbow trout fishery if we are able to offer the very best experience to our anglers, so we are going to take this time to make the right decisions, both for the Charity and you, our customers.
During 2017 we will be offering low cost fishing for over wintered Rainbows, Blues and natural Browns. Browns will remain as catch and release to protect the very good natural stocks. In 2016 we stocked Rainbows to 7lbs and some cracking Blues, many of which were not caught and we anticipate there will be plenty of fish to catch in spring and early summer and some terrific brown trout fishing in August and September. There will be one type of ticket available (day permits) at £10.00 for up to 3 Rainbows. Catch and release is optional.
We will not be operating the boats for 2017 so fishing will be from the bank only. Some new areas of bank have been cleared by our Wardens.
The permits will be available online at www.swlakesfishing.co.uk or from the permit room on site.
For clubs and group bookings we would be happy to offer some really good rates for fishing at our other fisheries such as Kennick or Siblyback where we have terrific boat or bank fishing available. For individuals we would also be happy to discuss great rates for buying day tickets in bulk.
Wimbleball will remain a qualifying venue for the Best of the Best competition with the final being held at Kennick on 15th October.
While I appreciate that this will not be welcome news, I trust that you will understand our position and in the meantime I hope you will take advantage of the low cost option for 2017.
If you would like to discuss our plans further please do not hesitate to contact myself, Alex Forster or Ben Smeeth.
Your sincerely
Colin Vallance
Heritage and Environment Director, South West Lakes Trust
Managing Director, Wheal Martyn Trust
A Fine Tamar Brace
Scott Bowden enjoyed a recent trip to Lower Tamar lake catching a lovely brace of fish. A 23.06 Common was backed up by a 23.12 Mirror both caught on homemade boilies using a small stick of crushed boilies with Korda semi stiff silt braid N Trap and lakebed Leads.
The most handsome fish of all? Upper Tamar Perch
Chris Lambert and Adam Moxey enjoyed a memorable session at perch mecca Upper Tamar last week. Fishing from the perch boat they caught four fish over 3lbs, two fish over 2lbs lots of small perch and a cracking 4lb fish all on 3 inch soft plastics. Congratulations lads! Anyone who wants to book the perch boat needs to call 01566771930.
PERCH MECCA – BOAT ACCESS – UPPER TAMAR
Ben Smeeth sent me this information on Upper Tamar; sure to be popular; I was tempted to keep quiet in case I cannot get on the boat myself!!!!
Perch fishing Mecca Upper Tamar has a rowing boat available for anglers to hire over the winter at £10 per day starting on Monday 7th November. There must be two people in the boat and it must be booked and paid for in advance on 01566 771930. Further details are available on booking. Anglers are required to buy a day permit when arriving at Tamar and the boat is only available for perch fishing. Venue regular Chris Lambert sent us in these pictures of some fish he had last winter from the boat at 3.06, 3.12 and 3.14!!
Stunning Tamar Common for Lee Graver
Latest report from Ben Smeeth of South West Lakes Trust.
Lee Graver had a cracking weekend at Lower Tamar landing 7 carp including this stunning 27lb 13oz common. Lee had some smaller fish which are coming through from stocking in recent years which were in superb condition including a lovely 14lb mirror. Lee was using Specimen Carp Baits boilies at 120 yards range with Westcountry Leads. Top angling Lee!
WIMBLEBALL REPORT AS SEASON FADES
Please find the latest catch report for Wimbleball from Danny Ford. Plenty of fish showing in the narrows from the old pontoons down to Bessoms. They are holding off the weed bank 10 yards out. Anglers have been doing well with nymph patterns, Diawl Bach in particular, fisher either on a midge tip or intermediate.
The fish off for the Orvis Boat Pairs was held on Sunday, Steve Ebdon, and Andy Gooding taking 1st place with Pete Kempton and Phil Sharpe runners up. Steve and Andy won a season ticket for 2017 while Pete and Phil take home a lovely Orvis access reel and a £50 gift voucher. Both boats chose to fish the top end of the lake, with Steve and Andy doing particularly well drifting from the old pontoons to the bouy in Bessoms. Well done!
Wimbleball hosted their final competition of the year on Saturday, 4 Anglers attended the boat comp which ran from 10-4.30pm. 18 rainbows were caught with a return of 4.5 per angler!
1st Danny Ford 6 fish for 8lb 1oz
2nd Ed Trickett 5 fish for 7lb 4oz
3rd Dave Ridgway 4 fish for 6lb 1oz
4th Howard James 3 fish for 5lb 9oz
(Comp results will be included in next week’s report)
Wimbleball will stay open for November and fishing will be available from boat and bank at a reduced price. £8.50 for 2 fish, second permits may be purchased. Boat prices TBC.
Melbury Carp Catch
Tony Welch visited Melbury very recently and sent in this catch report to South West Lakes Trust:
‘On my latest trip fishing the Devon South West Lakes Trust waters I decided to head to Melbury Reservoir. I spent two nights on the picturesque lake and struggled on the first night fishing in horrendous rain. After a change in the weather and also a change of tactics I managed 6 takes over the last 18hrs catching a number of nice commons to 19lb 5oz using Mainline Baits Essential Cell with home made Mainline Polaris hook baits over the top. “Melbury is another gem in the Southwest Lakes Trust portfolio, a very enjoyable trip!’
North Devon Match Group – Result – Top Silver Fish Hauls
North Devon Match Group Championship No 9 Tamar Lake Devon Bank
North Devon match Group members enjoyed some top rate silver fish sport at Upper Tamar fishing the Devon bank. Many thanks to Martin Turner who makes the effort to send me the results and image for each competition; much appreciated.
Neilsen Jeffery , winning catch mainly roach from the Devon Arm on the whip to hand, very close second Tom Downing with over 300 small perch and roach short line on the pole. Good back up weights on feeder and pole tactics in challenging conditions.
Results
1st Nielsen Jeffery 33lb 12oz
2nd Tom Downing 32lb 14oz
3rd Christopher Morris 26lb 13oz
4th Martin Turner 20lb 12oz
Big Carp catch from South West lakes Trust Water
Gerald Gough sent me this report on a spectacular catch from an undisclosed South West Lakes Trust Water in North Devon. Fishing on Saturday October 1st as heavy rain beat across lake Gerald landed 5 carp weighing 17-12,18-00, 20-03, 21-00 and 37-12 caught on a popped up snowman rig about 4 inches off the bottom using 18mm fish boilies.the big carp took about 30 minutes to land from 100 metres out tremendous fight over which I had very little control , I didn`t see the fish until it popped up in front of the net STUNNING FISH safely returned.
Gerald was fishing alone and was unable to get a decent picture of the fish as rain and wind made for poor photography conditions. Gerald has sea fished for many years making some excellent catches of specimen sea fish from all along the coast of North Devon and has turned to carp fishing in recent years as the dangers of sea fishing from remote rock marks has become less appealing.