A wet and bedraggled bunch of happy anglers!










BIDEFORD SECURE IMPRESSIVE WIN OVER PLYMOUTH
Bideford & District Angling Club secured an impressive victory against Plymouth and District Angling Club at Bake Lakes. Bideford totalled weight was 147lb 6oz with Plymouth only managing 35lb 14oz. The individual winner on the day was Bideford’s Craig Lamey. The combined weight totals after the two legs were Bideford 447lb15oz to Plymouth’s 150lb 12oz.
42lb carp – Stafford Moor
Scott Cowling banked a fine mirror carp of 42lb whilst fishing Stafford Moor’s Lodge Lake. The venue also produced eight fish for Rob Gibbon and his friends the biggest 36lb.
Smoothound Dominate
Smoothound dominated Bideford Angling Clubs monthly sea rover with Stephen Found landing a fine specimen of 14lb 10oz. Andrew Clements was runner up with a thornback ray of 9lb 2oz. Dale Kiff and Jenson Kiff took the remaining places with smoothound scaling 9lb 11oz, 9lb 9oz, 8lb 1oz and 7lb 4oz.
Bass Wins Appledore Rover
Michael Hammett took top spot in Appledore Shipbuilders rover with a bass of 4lb 5oz.
Triggerfish wins CMSAC Competition
Kevin Legge won Combe Martin SAC’s rover with a specimen triggerfish scaling 3lb 15oz. I took second and third place with thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 14oz and 4lb 1oz.
Trevor Telling Memorial 2025
The Annual Trevor Telling Memorial Competition at Wimbleball was won by Colin Combe who boated five trout for a total weight of 12lb 8.5oz. The bank trophy was won by Roger Truscott who banked three trout for 5lb 12oz. The prizes were presented by well- known and respected fly fishing writer and instructor Peter Cockwill. All monies raised go to the Exeter Hospice Care Team.
As water levels at local reservoirs recover and water temperatures drop trout sport is expected to improve with late September and October often providing some of the seasons best sport.
RAIN BRINGS HOPE OF SILVER
Heavy rain showers have brought hope that salmon will move into North Devon’s rivers bring a late flourish to what has been a poor season with drought conditions dominating throughout the summer.
FLOUNDER FISHING SEASON
Late September is the traditional start of the flounder fishing season and competitions are already planned for the coming months. The Barnstaple Bait & Tackle Dan Miles Memorial Open Competition is on Sunday November 30th and is proving a popular event with over 100 entrants in last year’s event. All proceeds go to Children’s Hospice South West Little Bridge House, Fremington.
NORTH DEVON RIVERS TO FEATURE ON BBC COUNTRYFILE
This Sunday’s forthcoming BBC Countryfile episode features North Devon’s Taw and Torridge the two major rivers that feature in Henry Williamson’s classic tomes, ‘Tarka The Otter’ , ‘Salar the Salmon’ and A Clear Water Stream. The program features interviews with prominent local anglers reflecting upon angling history, the iconic salmon and the efforts to ensure the future of these marvellous fish.
TROUT & SALMON FISHING
Autumn is often a golden spell for anglers as temperatures drop and rain brings a welcome lift to the regions rivers that will encourage salmon and sea trout to enter the river systems. Trout anglers will also enjoy the chance to cast their flies into the rejuvenated streams and onto the regions reservoirs as cooler water encourages fish to the upper layers. Large dry daddy longlegs can provide exciting opportunities and large wild brown trout can also be seen slashing into shoals of fry in the lakes margins.
MATCH FISHING
Bideford Angling Clubs Rod N Reel Coarse Match on their home-water was won by Nathan Underwood with 96lb 3oz. Runner up was Martin Turner with 40lb 7oz and Kevin Shears third with 37lb 14oz.
Nick Jones won Stafford Moor’s Open match last weekend with 172lb 14oz.
The venues specimen carp lakes are in fine form with good carp from Beattie’s and Lodge Lake. Tony Franklin banked fourteen fish during a four day session including a personal best of 42lb.
At Bulldog Fishery a short closure to allow repairs to a water main seemed to result in the lakes resident carp feeding well on reopening with a group of anglers on a group booking banking 42 carp including a mirror carp of 33lb 1oz and a common carp of 32lb 10oz.
Combe Martin SAC hosted their Annual Fun Fishing event on Ilfracombe Pier an event that was enjoyed by over twenty anglers from different generations. Nine species were caught including pollock, conger, blenny, red bream, tompot blenny, smelt, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse and poor cod. A good number of red sea bream were donated to Ilfracombe aquarium where they can be seen along with other fish caught on previous fun fishing events over recent years.
The Welch Family won a trip to Ilfracombe Aquarium that they kindly donated to runner up family Jesubaul and Becky Mringer. The longest fish was a 54cm conger caught by Louie Cameron and the heaviest a ballan wrasse of 1lb 1oz to the rod of Daniel Welch. The top individual points scorer was Ben Clarke with 25 points and Jesubaul runner up with 24 points.
Combe Martin SAC are very appreciative for generous sponsorship of the event from High Street Tackle, Ilfracombe Aquarium and Barnstaple Bait and Tackle.
Combe Martin SAC member David Brooke has set a new club boat record with a fine specimen gilthead bream of 6lb 4oz.
Autumn is often a time of plenty for sea anglers with water temperatures at their peak resulting in a wide range of species being present. Trigger fish, sea bream, red mullet and sole are all possible targets from Ilfracombe Pier along with squid on Autumn nights.
Members of Combe Martin SAC spent a day off Ilfracombe fishing on Daniel Welch’s boat Predator 2. Whilst the hoped for tope failed to show members found ten different species fishing on the seabed as cloudy water hampered lure fishing. The species caught included mackerel, scad, black bream, bull huss, smoothound, gurnard, conger, pollock, bass and dogfish.
Combe Martin SAC host their annual fun fishing event this Sunday on Ilfracombe Pier with fishing starting at 2.30pm and ending at 4.30pm. This easy going event has been running for several years in conjunction with the Sea-Ilfracombe Festival. All young anglers should be accompanied by a responsible adult. The club would like to thank the ongoing support of High Street Tackle, Barnstaple Bait and Tackle and Ilfracombe Aquarium. Prizes are awarded for anglers under 16 who catch the most species and longest fish. The heaviest fish caught by and the top family points total.
Late summer and early Autumn offer a wide range of species to target in saltwater as the seasons transition. All tactics can work at this time of year with both bait and lure tactics proving effective dependant on the prevailing conditions. An increasing number of anglers are now compiling records of the fish species they catch. A branch of angling I would compare to keen birdwatchers often referred to as twitchers. This can become very addictive with anglers traveling long distances and adapting tackle to target species not caught on standard sea tackle. Some mini sea species are caught using tiny hooks and gossamer thin lines paired with miniature rods. I recently bought Jack Perks excellent book “Field Guide to British Fish- Freshwater and Marine”. The book contains information and quality photo’s of 200 species found in UK waters. It has a useful tick list in the back of the book to record your own tally of species.
The book is a perfect companion to Alwynne Wheeler’s Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe that was first published in 1978. It is fascinating to compare the two books that illustrate the significant changes that are happening in both marine and freshwater eco systems.
Ben Evenden won Stafford Moor’s Sunday Open with 197lb 9oz.
Stafford Moor’s Carp Lakes are in fine form with plenty of multiple hauls. Dan Hoskin and his son fished Beattie’s Lake to bank sixteen carp twelve of which were over twenty pounds with the best a fine fish of 28lb. Martin Burton banked four carp to 32lb and Owen Thrumble banked forty carp over five days to 30lb 5oz.
Grey Mullet offer exciting summer sport
Graham Snow won Bideford Angling Clubs forty eight hour rover with a fine thin lipped grey mullet scaling 5lb 4oz. Runner up was Dale Kiff with a smoothound of 10lb 13oz and third Graham Snow with a thin lipped grey mullet of 4lb 3.5oz.
The hot sunny summer weather provides ideal conditions for mullet fishing with all three species seeming to thrive in hot settled conditions. There are three types of grey mullet in UK waters, thick lipped grey mullet, thin lipped grey mullet and golden grey mullet. All can be caught using light tackle more often associated with freshwater tactics. Thick lipped mullet are generally tempted using bait, generally bread presented on float tackle or legered. The thin lipped mullet are fished for with baited spinners and inhabit estuaries. The golden greys haunt the shallow sandy surf beaches and can be tempted using small bunches of ragworm.
All three species can also be caught using fly fishing tactics a style of fishing that has recently gathered almost cultlike status. These challenging fish offer an exciting alternative for trout anglers whose sport is impacted upon by reservoirs and rivers suffering from a prolonged summer drought.
Tench and carp are providing great summer sport in lakes across North Devon and can tolerate high water temperatures.
The final match of Bideford Angling Clubs Junior Summer league was held last Saturday and was won by Leo Davies with 6.540 Kilo. Runner up was Archie Thorne with 5.1 Kilo and Hawkon Wilson with 4.720 Kilo. The junior league has proved a popular series with all matches well attended with over twenty young anglers fishing each event. The events were generously supported by Anglers Heaven, Barnstaple Bait and Tackle and other local businesses. Club members Martin Turner, Richard Jefferies and Keith Mountjoy invested a great deal of time and effort into running the events. The overall winner of the league was Leo Davies.
Bideford Clubs Coarse fishing sector is thriving with their two club lakes providing excellent fishing for carp, tench and silver fish. The club matches are generally fully subscribed and the recent extension to their portfolio with access to fishing at Higher Shorston Lakes near Holsworthy ensures that members get excellent value for their moderate membership fees.
North Devon Match Group fished Upper Tamar lake where Ian Grey won the match with 67lb 5oz. Runner up was Nathan Underwood with 48lb 6oz and Ian Croxton third with 43lb 8oz.
Stafford Moor’s lakes continue to produce stunning Match weights. Benn Hagg won last Sundays Open match with 277lb 1oz. Jamie Bradshaw won the weekends residents match on Oak Lake with an amazing 487lb 1oz.
The venues specimen lakes are also in fine form with Riley Saunders and Kirsten Parkhouse enjoying a forty eight hour session on Beatties Lake during which they banked sixteen carp to 30lb 4oz.
A fish that conjures up the essence of summer lake fishing is surely the tench with its glistening smooth olive flanks and bright ruby eyes. In my mind’s eye there is always an image of tranquil waters at the heart of which is a crimson tipped float poised between water lily’s.
My good friend Steve Dawe had invited me to fish his complex of lakes so aptly called sanctuary lakes, nestled deep within Devon’s rural heartland these three lakes offer carp, crucian carp and tench.
It had taken me a while to schedule in a trip but with summer ebbing I arranged a trip to the venue with my wife Pauline promising a relaxing day far from the madding crowd with all facilities at hand. This wasn’t to be a serious fishing session just a day emersed in nature with the chance of a few fish if I nurtured my luck.
And so it was no traditional crack of dawn start after tench but a more leisurely preamble to Lizzies Larder in Milton Damerel for a full English before heading to the lakes for a midday start. It was one of the summers hottest days with temperatures predicted to reach the high twenties. There was a clear blue sky and little breeze as we wound our way through country lanes following the sat nav whilst noting old country cottages, quiet villages and hamlets along the Devon lanes.
We eventually reached our destination to be given a warm and friendly welcome from Steve who then gave a proud tour of the three lakes. The first of the lakes was created in 2009 and it is astonishing how they have matured into an oasis of wildlife habitat in such a short time. An abundance of dragonflies could be seen swooping and hovering above the calm waters.
After circumnavigating all the lakes it was time for Pauline and I to set up for the day and with tench the number 1 target I followed Steve’s advice choosing a swim that offered some shade from the hot sun. Conditions were certainly not ideal for fishing so I did not set my expectations too high. One tench would be a result.
Pauline settled into the camping chair and digested ample reading matter while I engaged with the business of fishing. We delighted in the occasional glimpse of kingfishers darting across the lake and swallows and martins swooping to and fro. It really was a summer idyl to be savoured.
A couple of small rudd fell to a grain of sweetcorn on the float tackle and tell-tale bubbles indicated that a few tench were routing about in the bottom silt. After half an hour I put the kettle on and we enjoyed a fresh brew whilst absorbing the tranquil scene that was only troubled by the sound of farm machinery as farmers took advantage of the good weather to cut silage.
It was no surprise when late afternoon arrived and no tench had graced the net. I suggested we stretch our legs and have a wander around the lakes. We ambled past the smaller lake and onto the carp lake where some good sized carp were basking on the surface in the warm sunshine. It would have been easy to become side-tracked at this point as a well- placed floating crust would surely result in a well bent rod? Well, fish watching is second best to fishing and we lingered a while spotting the carp as they cruised around the lake.
After this short interlude we returned to the tench lake and recast my two rods. I have often found a break brings a fish and it was the case on this occasion for after a few minutes my float promptly sank and I felt that delightful resistance as the hook gained a hold. The tench plunged amongst the lily pads and I held it on as tight a line as the 6lb b.s line would take, the old Drennan tench rod absorbing the tension and cushioning the line.
At 3lb 5oz the tench was a pleasing catch and we admired its olive green flanks and crimson eye before slipping the fish back into the warm water. I had caught this fish on a small segment of luncheon meat and elected to persist with this same bait on the float rod. A few streams of classic tench bubbles drifted to the surface and with these signs my confidence grew. The float again sank and a second tench of a similar size to the first followed.
We brewed a fresh cup of tea and coffee and delved into the picnic bag. Throughout the session I had fished a method feeder and noticed just a couple of trembles of the rod tip.
We both relished the quiet warm summer evening and Pauline was content to relax as I continued to focus on the promising crimson tip that projected from the lakes mirror calm surface.
The late summer sun slowly descended casting its reflection on the lake as martins and swallows swooped above the lake feasting in preparation for the long voyage that they will embark upon in just a few weeks. It is fascinating to ponder on nature and how these tiny birds migrate over these vast distances. Programmed from birth they surely have no perception of where or why they have to leave? No fear no apprehension just that inbuilt instinct to survive and thrive.
I ponder on these matters as my float dips, I lift the rod and miss but at that very moment the other rod lurches over and the bait runner screams. The third tench of the day is the biggest at 3lb 9oz and it seems an appropriate time to pack away. The light is fading as we make our way to the car and glance back at Sanctuary vowing to return again.
Sanctuary Lakes are run by Steve Dawe via a small limited membership club that is presently fully subscribed. Membership enquiries can be made to Steve via email :- [email protected]
Stunning Carp Brace
Shaun Thorne tempted a stunning brace of carp from Lower Tamar lake including a stunning common carp of 32lb 12oz and a mirror carp of 25lb 2oz. The lake on the Devon Cornish Border holds a stock of stunning specimen fish including carp, bream, roach, tench, perch and eels.
Carp sport
Carp anglers are enjoying sport across the regions lakes with Hacche Lane producing several thirty pound plus specimens. At Stafford Moor Owen Thrumble fished four nights on Beattie’s Lake to bank forty carp to 30lb 5oz. Adam Atkins banked sixteen carp to 35lb 7oz.
Bass Fishing
Bass anglers continue to enjoy good sport with lure tactics from both boat and shore. I took a good friend to a local shore mark recently and despite lots of weed in the water and a brisk wind we managed a fish each. I was delighted to introduce him to the excitement of bass fishing in shallow water and enjoyed his success as much as my own.
Rivers
High water temperatures are still a concern for river anglers across the region. Barnstaple and District Angling Association have extended their advice to members requesting a refrain from fishing until water temperatures drop below 20 degrees. Abundant algae is also causing concern as it clogs the river bed and reduces oxygen levels.
Match Fishing
Stafford Moor continues to produce excellent bags of fish for match anglers. Scott Puddy won the mid-week open match at the venue with 274lb 3oz and Rich Yeo won last weekends match with 250lb 1oz.
Sea Angling
Bideford Angling Clubs Monthly sea rover was dominated by smoothound with Richard Jefferies heading the field with a specimen of 11lb 9oz. Tony Gussin was runner up with a hound of 10lb 10oz and Dale Kiff third with a hound of 10lb 4oz.
Appledore Shipbuilders monthly rover was also dominated by smoothound with Andrew Atkinson taking first and second with hounds of 12lb 4.25oz and 9lb 3.75oz. Third was Michael Hammett with a hound of 8lb 12oz.
Comment
The summer holidays are now upon us and it is to be hoped that some young anglers will take their first steps into a pastime that can provide a lifetime of enjoyment at the water’s edge. The world today is very different to when I started fishing over fifty years ago. Many believe it is the online and gaming world that has taken many young people away from outdoor pursuits whilst others consider cost to be a major issue. Reflecting upon my own journey as a young angler I would suggest that the main obstacle is the lack of freedom given to young people in an increasingly protective society. This is perhaps ironic when the world of social media may well pose more threats to mental well- being than those physical dangers of a life at the water’s edge.
Bideford Angling Club have been running a brilliant series of Summer competitions for junior anglers at their home water. Bailey Bramley won the latest event with 7.840 kilo. Max Chapple was runner up with 6.085 kilo and Leo Davies third with 5.795 kilo. Twenty one young anglers took part in the latest match that has been generously supported by local tackle shops. This Saturday is the last in the series in which close to forty young anglers have taken part over the five events.