Nick Diment and Mark Battleday banked nine fish between them up to 23lb from Lodge Lake. They adopted a mobile approach moving around vacant swims to find the fish. Nick caught on Mainline cell pop ups and cell boilies and Mark caught on Sticky baits Krill pop ups.
(Below) Adam Short with a stunning mirror known a Droopy at a weight of 29lb 4oz.
(Below) Jamie Pike with a cracking 20+
(Below)Adam Shortwith with 27lb of pure leney!
(Above) Adrian Stockton who banked 11 fish from Lodge lakes swim 2. The best pulled the scales to 19lb 3oz. All caught on sticky baits Manilla and Krill boilies. Great fishing considering the constantly changing temperatures.
(Above) Adam Atkins and his dad John had 3 fish out up to 20lb 5oz from the summer hut swim on Beatties lake over the weekend all caught on Sticky baits Manilla and Sticky baits buchuberry pop ups.
It was a very cold weekend at Upper Tamar lake for the Pallatrax Carp Open pairs competition. This was the first competition of 2018 with two more to follow in July and September.
There was £3500 up for grabs for the top three finishing pairs and no one could predict which swims would do well this time around. The weather had been frankly horrendous leading up to the weekend with more than two feet of snow covering the majority of the lake at the beginning of the week!
The sun did eventually come through on the Sunday during the last few hours of fishing and it was rather pleasant during the BBQ and presentations.
The anticipation and nervousness for the draw on Friday morning was evident with some anglers arriving to get a couple of laps around the lake in the hope of spotting a few fish!
A fantastic breakfast was provided by Wendy Shore and her team in the Froghopper café at Tamar and we were all set for the draw which started at 1pm. Anglers names were drawn in turn from the draw box and they chose their swims until everyone had picked. There were 30 pairs of anglers and they were then transported to their swims either by boat or trailer.
The horn sounded at 4pm to start the competition and the first fish was lost very quickly by Roy and Greg Jones from the quarry swim.
The first landed fish and an early lead was taken by Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan from West Bay, peg 27, on the Cornwall Bank with a 7lb 13oz common. Just minutes after Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their first from peg 33 by the dam at 5lb 11oz.
This was followed on the first night by Mike Trew and Roger Smith, peg 23, on the Cornwall Bank who had an 8lb 7oz fish and Rob Champness and Kevin Smith who were on peg 18. They landed a 6lb 15oz fish. Rob and Kevin also lost a couple of fish during the night.
It was fishing really hard, as the March competition always does! The wind changed direction a couple of times and there was a mild frost both nights and cold wind during the days.
At 6:30 am on the Saturday Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their second fish which proved very decisive. A 13.09 pristine common gave them the lead from peg 33.
Jamie Rusling and Nick White moved into contention from peg 16 on the Devon Bank, they had a 13lb 5oz common.
Saturday evening provided a couple of fish, a lovely 15lb 14oz common for Jason and Leanne McEvoy from peg 21 to move them into second and Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods from the lookout tower banked a 7lb 6oz fish.
It was all to play for and anticipation of a few more fish which would change the entire competition around.
Saturday night went without any more action until early Sunday morning when Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods managed their second fish, this time at 10lb 6oz, to move into second less than 2lbs behind Haggarty and Thomas.
With the sun now shining we thoughts a few more would be caught but how wrong I could be!
The remainder of the competition didn’t provide any bites.
With every single pair in with a chance right up until the hooter at 1pm it made for a really close 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.
Only 9 fish were caught and we look forward to the July competition when there will be plenty more!
It was great to have some new champions and runners up. Congratulations to Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty for winning and Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke for finishing second. 2016 runners up Jason and Leanne McEvoy won third place.
A huge thankyou to our fantastic marshall team Terry Reid, Bob Davey, Ian Ellis, Steve Gliddon, Amy Maunder, Roger Maher and Bob Oates and to warden Gary Vogel.
Full results:
7th – 1 fish for 6.15 in peg 18 was Rob Champness and Kevin Smith
6th – 1 fish for 7.13 in peg 27 was Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan
5th – 1 fish for 8.07 in peg 23 was Mike Trew and Roger Smith
4th – 1 fish for 13.05 in peg 16 was Jamie Rusling and Nick White
3rd winning £500 with 1 fish for 15lb 14oz was Jason and Leanne McEvoy
2nd wining £1000 with 2 fish for 17lb 12oz was Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke
1st winning £2000 with 2 fish for 19lb 4oz was Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty
Next competition: 6-8 July pairs
Entries on 01566771930
Ben Smeeth
Head of Angling
Liam Shipway with Charli had eight carp between them from the inlet swim on Beatties lake in 24 hours. They were using Mainline Cell boilies and Mainline glug. They had 2 lots of double takes.
Dave Forster landed Blackspot at 38lb 4oz just a few hours after setting up for the weekend.
(Above)John Rose banked Measels at 32lb 12oz
(Above) Adam Short with Clover at 39lb 14oz.
(Above) A couple of carp from Willow Lake.
John Jobson enjoyed a Day ticket session at Stafford Moor Fishery banking four fine carp the best a beauty of 23lb 4oz. Beucuberry and sticky mamilla pop ups , peg 14.
Richard Shelly landed “Measles” yesterday at 33lb 8oz looking stunning in it’s winter colours!!
Other carp caught recently include the mirror carp known as Clover banked at an impressive weight of 39lb 14oz and three scales at 33lb.
Big Fish Off
The latest series of the Big Fish Off is scheduled to air on ITV4 starting on the 29th March at 8pm. Not sure when the episode that was shot here is on, but there are sure to be some cracking episodes with a load of laughs, can’t wait. The show will be discussed on Soccer AM this Saturday,17th March and there will also be clips from the forthcoming series.
The Big One
If you’re planning on visiting The Big One Show between the 24th and 25th March in Farnborough, Hampshire, then make sure you pay the Anglers Paradise Team a visit! They will be on stand 28a along with Deception Angling. Zyg and Zenia will be there to greet you. Over the course of the weekend there is an opportunity to win a holiday for 8 people. For a lucky few, or probably the early birds, they’ll be a chance to take away a sample of the “Twist” which is one of the Paradise Baits range, produced exclusively by Burton Bait Rollers.
All the big angling names will be there, as well as their products and hopefully there will be some cracking deals to be had. “We hope to see you there for our 1st ever show, we are very excited!!”
Fish Moving Well
Lee Abbott one of our estate staff lost a big fish on Kraking Carp the other day. Fish are moving well now that the milder climes are here, were glad to see the back of the cold spell we had the other week, even we experienced snow even though it “never snows in Devon”
Special Easter Offer
We still have Fisherman’s Majestic on offer (sleeps 4) on March 31st normally £900 a week, for the offer price of £700. Fabulous views across Dartmoor at a saving of over 20%. Offer is on a first come first served basis. Come and join Rose and myself for. Apart from the offer there is still are a limited number of villas available over Easter.
