Anglers gathered at the club house for the best weigh in for several months with some fine fish visiting the scales.
The Taw and Torridge are both in perfect condition following recent rainfall and fish are there to be caught. Clinton Marshall fished the Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats of the Taw to land a 5lb grilse and Len Francis fished the same beat to land a 6lb grilse. Both fish were fresh in from the sea with silver flanks and sea lice still attached.
I fished the Middle Torridge with the river in fine trim I expected a fish at anytime but not a pull. The sight of a kingfisher alighting on a branch opposite where I fished was reward for my effort plus the glimpse of two barn owls as I drove home.
At least seven salmon were landed from the Torridge from beats throughout the river all of them grilse up to 4lb. Martin Weeks and his party fish the Torridge every summer specializing in sea trout fishing after dark. Their latest visit to the river saw them land twenty six sea trout to 3lb in three nights fishing.
It is surprising how many sea trout can be in the river with anglers being unaware of their presence. Whilst there are a number of fishers who target the fish after dark there are far fewer than fish the famous sea trout rivers of South Wales. If more anglers adopted nocturnal habits it is likely that far more of these enigmatic fish would be tempted.
The best book on sea trout fishing is undoubtedly Hugh Falkus’s classic work Sea Trout Fishing published in 1962. It is surprising that this classic tome was written so long ago as its is still totally relevant to this day and well worth seeking out. A book that captures the atmosphere of sea trout fishing through the night is BB’s The Pool of the Black Witch.
Joshua Vernon enjoyed a session on Stafford Moors Lodge Lake landing nine carp to 20lb 2oz using Sticky baits Krill.
Stuart Hutchings
Stuart Hutchings fished lodge lake to land 18 fish up to 20lb 2oz using chopped boilies and spoding with hemp party mix and mainline cell wafters and also bumble berry Goo and mango-nana goo.
John Barbeary has been finding plenty of tope for anglers on board his charter boat ‘Bluefin’ off Ilfracombe. The best have been up to 35lb with bull huss and a few bass showing. From July 1st anglers can keep one bass per day following a contentious six month total ban on keeping fish for the table.
Bideford and District Angling Clubs midweek competition on their home water Tarka Swims saw John Lovell secure first place with a net of 8lb 11oz. In second was Martin Turner with 6lb 1oz and third Keith Copeland with 2lb 6oz. Eleven members fished on a wet and windy night.
Sadly there are no pictures this week as club photographer Martin Turner had a malfunction with his camera. However looking back through my back catalog I have found a few pictures of the lakes opening day on May 7th 2006. The lake has matured well in the past 10 years and has been a great success for the club.
Wednesday night is steak night at The Rising Sun at Umberleigh and an ideal place to catch up on he latest news from the River Taw. Landlord Julian Zealey is a keen angler and is always worth chatting with for the latest news from the river.
At least two salmon were landed from the Taw on June 29th including a 12lb fish from a middle river beat to the rod of Roland Eustace and 10lb salmon to the rod of Trevor Smith from the Mole. Several school peel have also been caught over recent days from beats throughout the river system.
Richard Johns landed a 9lb salmon from the Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats of the Taw along with a couple of sea trout to 2lb 8oz.
The last Thursday of each month sees a get together of salmon anglers at the monthly soiree with canapés and beers from 5:30.
On the Middle Torridge Stuart Eynon shared a catch of seven salmon from a middle river beat.
Sundays Open Results from Stafford Moor’s open match on Tanners and Woodpecker lakes . Jo Coombes writes- “continental payout so I have written the results out as they should be as my computer guy is still trying to sort out a system where I can have it showing a normal match payout and a continental payout.
We had 31 guys fishing , weather was rain all day !”
winner of the day was Dave Stockton Woodpecker peg 6 with 176lb 11oz
2nd place was Keith Needham Tanners peg 3 with 94lb 8oz
3rd place was Tim Hagg Woodpecker peg 3 with 123lb 11oz
4th place was Kevin Osbourne Tanners peg 18 with 94lb 3oz
Silvers winners was Ron Hardiman Tanners peg 6 with 19lb 6oz and also from Woodpecker lake Bruce Hunt peg 8 with 19lb 8oz
Section winners were :
Pete Vernon Woodpecker peg 20 with 87lb 14oz
Gary Mealing Woodpecker peg 10 with 70lb 4oz
Steve Pearce Tanners peg 20 with 76lb
Keith Hillier Tanners peg 35 with 93lb 7oz
The latest report from South West Lakes Trust shows that some fine sport has been enjoyed with the regions two brown trout fisheries offering great loch style sport. At Wimbleball catches have been impressive as Danny Fords latest report indicates :-
Wimbleball The fishing still continues to produce top sport where bank anglers can enjoy a return of 5.2 and boats achieving 4.5 per angler.
Mr Vinall caught the fish of the week with a stunning 6lb 15oz Rainbow from the Dam end (pic attaced). Mr Vinall was using a Black Magic Nymph when the large fish took his fly. He also went on to return a further 4 rainbows and 2 browns. Well done! This fish is a strong contender for fish of the season, and I’m sure the largest in a few years. Ill check and get back to you. Terry Bridgman was also amongst the fish last week, catching and releasing 22 over 2 days.
Wistlandpound – The Beach, Hide Bay, Gordon’s Bay and the deeper water near the dam proved to be the best locations; Brownie Point is now accessible (levels are down by about 12’) to bank anglers, with boat anglers catching well at this location, especially drifting with a team of Nymphs. Dry patterns, especially Hawthorns, Sedges and Black Gnats, have caught well, particularly in the mornings and evenings, as have sub-surface patterns (Pheasant Tail Nymphs, small montanas and spider patterns) fished on a floating line throughout the day. Jon Ogborne and Peter Coleman-Smith had a very successful day on the boat fished loch- style, netting 29 Brown Trout between them.
Roadford – Wortha Bay is now open to anglers and starting to produce results, especially for boat anglers on short drifts. Although there is plenty of fly life about, most of the fish are being taken on sub-surface patterns (mainly dark, such as Small Black tadpoles, Black Pennells and Bibios) fished on a floating line. Stephen Jones caught the best fish of the month – a beautiful grown-on Brown of 4lb 14oz.
With water temperatures rising, boat anglers can expect some exciting sport, fishing over the boils, where some huge fish have been caught in recent years.
Catching carp off the surface has to be one of the most exciting ways of tempting them and at times most frustrating. Watching the carps approach to a bait is riveting and the sight of a big pair of lips closing on the bait extremely pleasing. Shelley Gordon had a terrific session on day ticket venue Jennetts reservoir near Bideford (North Devon) on Friday 24th June landing four carp all off the surface using dog biscuits and bread. The commons weighed 14lb 10oz, 16lb 1oz, 18lb 4oz and a new PB of 22lb 7oz.
Anglers Paradise’s Zyg Gregorek sent me this news story from the famous angling Complex.
Following tumultuous referendum results, on a lighter note we held a wedding blessing for Gary and Sarah Mayo from South Petherwin, Cornwall, with Gary emerging from the water in true Poseidon fashion with his special Poseidon fork, he battled his way from the sea to the Koi Lake with his special fork, we used our fishy wedding vows and provided the bouquet for the bride which were rare water lilies.
Poseidon was very, very pleased that we got our fish in the seas back around the Great Britain shores and he wanted to settle down and live peacefully, he appreciated the bottle of Viagra wine we gave him to help him get his strength back and cement his relationship.
These were the wedding vows we used:-
Dearly beloved we are gathered here together in the sight of God, nature, fellow fisherman and fish to renew our eternal vows and proclaim your everlasting love.
Do you Sarah promise to take Gary for good days and bad days, big fish and small fish, blank days and loads of fish.
Will you look after each other’s tackle, wash it and clean it after use
And do you promise to honour and obey and go fishing every day
I now pronounce you fisherman and fisherwoman, husband and wife and with this net I now re-join you for ever and a day.
The guests then toasted the bride and groom with Viagra wine