| Well the game catch report speaks for itself but as ever there were still enjoyable days to be had with our resident brownies. There were a few fish showing early in the year but only one good salmon landed to our knowledge. There were a few reports of the one that got away (and mine was obviously the biggest) but once again we had such low levels and high water temperature that on a couple of occasions we took the advice and asked for a cessation from fishing. We measured the temperature at 5 sites from Kingford bridge to Barnstaple and the further down we tested the higher the temperature we actually had a range from 18 +degrees at Kingford bridge to a peak of 24 degrees at Barnstaple bridge. This testing was part of the sampling of DNA for the Shad project run by West country rivers trust and hopefully it may even indicate what else is in the river. When the rain did come in late summer, much to every one’s amazement ,over 40 good size fish were landed upstream from the bridge during September. They were seen in bridge pool after the 3 day spate in late August and settled a little further up. They were all heavily coloured and had clearly been around a while but it was heartening to know they were there at all. These quantities landed were due to the beat above the bridge being fished by many anglers every day for a month! There is a suggestion the fish may be spawning in the streams further down rather than going way up to the traditional redds but there isn’t any hard evidence at the moment. There was enough water and they could have gone further up but chose not to so that might be worth further investigation . The WRT told me the netting count up at the known redds was very encouraging with more than expected so hopefully we’ll see the results of that in future years.
For yet another season we haven’t seen any sea trout of any size and nobody seems to have an answer to that. As the Brownies get bigger I’ve heard a suggestion they didn’t go to sea in the first place but there are lots of theories to contemplate. We have had a few poaching reports and have chucked out a few people spinning but it seems we have got on top of that . As you may know we have trail cameras up, mainly for litter and fly tipping and we know the word is out. There have been quite a few successful fly tipping prosecutions due to the footage sent to the council and it has reduced substantially so that has been a great result . Dave and Adi built a useful bridge at Newbridge to access the track up to the car park and they managed to get a steel fire escape across the river at Gandys to improve access and Handrails are to follow.
Once again our first day meet/BBQ at the club hut was really well attended with some coming from many miles away but they all said it was worth it as game fishing can be a solitary affair and it’s lovely social day to swop stories/lies of past achievements. We’ll do it again next season for sure and with a bit of luck may even see a fish. As you know we have volunteers strimming and clearing most of the year but it can be hard going and it would be helpful if we called for working parties on specific dates. We haven’t really sorted that out before but next season we will call for help before it gets out of hand. Assume it would be weekends and any help would be much appreciated. I know people are looking after Aller too and that is appreciated by the course anglers .
The AGM was well attended as ever and an interesting talk from WRT regarding Shad survey and other river issues held every ones attention. Tony Watkins held an auction of a few items with the proceeds going to the air ambulance charity as due to the remote places we find ourselves in we might well need them one day. Thanks to those who attended and we can but wish you all tight lines for 2026. To close the meeting Our president, Colin Ashby, awarded the following trophies: Committee cup for his archive work – Nick Mcmurtrie Les Hewitt shield best game fish – Scott Bowden Bass on a fly – Dave Winter Best Junior – Spike Fairchild
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Don’t miss the Bulldog Fisheries Christmas fly comp!
