Tony Welch had this lovely 21lb 6oz common from Upper Tamar lake, a fish he previously had at 18lb three years ago. Tony fished near the dam with Essential Baits B5 and blacksnail boilies which were soaked in Essential Red Salmon Oil. Successful hookbait was a B5 16mm corker pop up which had been soaked in B5 glug and Red Salmon Oil.
Steve Pinn banked this superb mirror carp from a North Devon Syndicate water. It weighed 28lb 12oz and was tempted using CR Baits.
Wow what a weekend – the weather was hot and dry (not ideal for carp fishing!) but the fishing was really good and a great time was had by everyone who took part.
The July competition has historically been a tight competition and fish usually well spread. The fact we had very little water at the far end of the lake made for an even more exciting event as no one could predict where would fish well. Everyone had their favourite swims but a lots of peoples choices were different.
The draw was completed after a full briefing in the Froghopper café and anglers were taken to their swims by the team. The anticipation was fantastic and everyone in high spirits.
I must admit having seen the forecast of very hot sunshine all weekend I didn’t think many fish would be caught at all and we would be looking at a winning combination of around 3-4 fish for about 45lbs. How wrong could I be!
The hooter sounded to start the event and it wasn’t long before fish were being landed. Josh Bellew and Grant Westlake fishing peg 13 on the Devon Bank (Gutbucket Bay) found fish tucked away in a bay with a lovely breeze pushing in there and they made the most of it landing three fish in the first couple of hours to take a good lead.
The first fish of the comp was landed by Adrian Morgan on peg 1 by the dam, a fish which would later see Adrian win a Pallatrax voucher for smallest of the weekend at 6lbs 5oz.
The event was being covered live by our facebok page which is called Coarse Fishing South West Lakes Trust with regular pictures, catch reports and updates.
It took 11 hours for Jason and Leanne McEvoy to bag their fisrt carp from peg 25 by the boat park but what followed was a steady procession of fish right throughout the competition. Peg 26 by the car park was being fished by Matthew Pepperell and Chris Hudson and they were keeping pace with Jason and Leanne landing fish for fish and really battling for the £2000 first place.
There were odd fish being picked off by anglers around the lake but nothing consistent and it was clear a large number of fish were holding near the pontoon area in front of pegs 25 and 26. These two pairs had pulled away from the field and the battle was for third where only 26lbs separated 7 pairs in the battle for £500. Grant Westlake and Josh Bellew’s fourth fish a 16.15 common proved to be decisive in the end.
The best fish of the weekend was landed by Greg Jones from peg 11 near the quarry, a cracking two tone 20.03 common.
Its funny that every competition we have the smaller carp are caught first as the larger ones move away from the pressure and as the weekend goes on larger fish start being caught. This couldn’t have been more evident this weekend.
Leanne McEvoy was on fire – fish after fish and they were a good stamp. Leanne landed 11 of the pairs 14 fish and she banked commons of 16.02, 16.00, 16.00, 18.08, 16.15 and 13.14 along with a mirror of 19.05. Really top angling. Partner Jason managed three fish with the largest being a 16.15 common. The pair set a new lake record with 14 fish for 178lbs – a truly fantastic effort and many congratulation to them.
With lots of pairs in with a chance of at least third right up until the hooter at 1pm it made for a really good competition which was well contested and enjoyed by everyone. The presentations were made during the free BBQ for competitors provided by Gary Vogel, warden for Tamar Lake.
In total 41 fish were caught from 15 different pegs.
It was great to have some new champions and runners up. Congratulations to Jason and Leanne and for winning and eventually lifting the crown after being runner’s up and third place finishers in the past.
Very well done to Matthew Pepperell and Chris Hudson for finishing second. Grant Westlake and Josh Bellew held on for third place – well done guys.
A huge thankyou to our fantastic marshall team Terry Reid, Ian Ellis, Steve Gliddon and Roger Maher. My thanks to Pallatrax for their sponsorship and we are looking forward to the next comp already!
Lee Abbott 3
Stewart Main 4
George Pemble 5
Dan Gay 10
Steve Lovell 15
Lee Mitchell 17
Tommy Bray 18
Wayne Ford 19
Nick Singleton 20
Next competition: 28-30 September. Entries on 01566771930
Ben Smeeth Head of Angling
PB MIRROR FROM THE SPECIMEN CAT LAKE!
Richard Mason, 35 from Newquay joined us for a session on Nirvana’s Specimen Cat Lake and caught this stunner of a Mirror weighing 38lb 7oz making it a new UK Personal Best for him!
Richard shared –
“I was in peg one fishing for cats down each margin, during the day baiting up to the point of the island and at about 6pm lots of carp started topping so I changed one of my rigs to pallatrax stone leads simple snow man rig with mackerel Xt 15mm and sticky baits white pop up.”
Jack Griffiths and Joel Butcher banked twelve carp between them from swim 8 (fraggle rock) on Lodge lake up to 28lb fishing with Sticky Baits Manilla and krill boilies topped with corn Jack said he had a good selection of 20’s.
Zyggy Gregorek posted this news today as he prepares to head off once again on globe trotting exploits in search of big fish.
“My first 20lb 2oz Mirror Carp this year, caught at our 5’C’S Syndicate match on the Main Lake on the 1st July trying out my new T Shirt which I’m taking to Cape Verde and it’s now been christened with my 1st 20 this year. This T shirt is definitely lucky so all the Sharks, Tuna and Marlin beware in a week’s time. Zyggy will be after you with my new Tshirt which I had specially printed”.
Elliot Gerard had a cracking brace of carp from Upper Tamar Lake on the Cornwall/Devon border. Justin caught the much sought after ‘The Peach’ at 33lbs and also a backup common of 19lb. Justin waded up the margin a long way and dropped his baits 6 foot from the bank with a couple of hand fulls of solid and crum boilies with a Cell wafter over the top.
The summer of 2018 will be etched upon our memories as one of those rare summers of sunshine and warmth. Those of you old enough may be able to remember that notorious summer of 1976 when the country had many weeks without rain when the grass was parched and beaches packed with tourists. Last week I asked for images of angling in North Devon during mid summer 2018. Below are a few images that illustrate one of the reasons we spend so much time at the waters edge in search of fish. Sometimes catching is just a bonus.
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Andres Endean banked these two fine carp from Lower Slade a 23lb 2oz common and a 16lb 2oz mirror.
Carina Bush banked five carp 5 fish from Stafford Moors Lodge lake all caught on Richworth score boilies.
