Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition
HORWOOD MATCH – RESULTS
A beautiful day at Horwood for their latest Match, the fishing was not bad either, fantastic weights from both lakes and topped with a near lake record by Paul Morris, Paul weighed in 242lb 11oz and was just 10lb below Stephen Barrels record👏👏
Fish came to just about every method and Paul’s winning weight was mainly caught on corn.
Weights as follows,
Bottom lake:-
Paul Morris 242lb 11oz
Stuart Russell 100lb 2oz
Graham Curnow 88lb 11oz
Top lake:-
Colin Cherrington 88lb 3oz
Mark Lynch 84lb 2oz
Steven Craker 57lb 15oz
END OF AN ERA – SUMMERLANDS TACKLE TO CLOSE
I was saddened to learn earlier this week that Summerlands Tackle Shop at Westward Ho! is closing soon a big surprise, it seems that they have always been there. No longer will we be able to pop into Summerlands whilst visiting Westward Ho! In fact Summerlands was generally the main reason for us to visit Westward Ho!
Nick Laws founded Summerlands Tackle back in 1985 close to forty years ago and for as long as I can remember there has always been a cheery welcome from the family run business. Nick has lived in and around Westward Ho! all his life and has fished the local shore since his childhood days when he would fish the beach with his father taking home the occasional bass for his mother to cook.
Summerlands became the social hub of the local angling community with anglers of all disciplines meeting to swap tales over a coffee and the occasional slice of cake. Local tackle shops are at the core of anglings social network and many a friendship and trip to the water’s edge has been forged.
In recent years Nick and Louise have taken a back seat with the business their daughter Heather and her husband Simon taking the reign’s and keeping it very much in the family.
On hearing the news that Summerlands was closing I headed down to wish the family well for the future. The quick visit soon became a couple of hours as other local anglers called into the shop chatting about the good times they had enjoyed over the years. Heather told me that she was heartened by the warmth that had been evident from the well -wishers who had called into the shop having heard the news.
I asked Heather if she had a message for customers and this is the piece she carefully prepared for the shops social media page.
“So as our family now moves on and explores new possibilities and the founders of Summerlands get their well earnt retirement. All that is for us to say is THANK YOU. It has always been about you the customer and you are the part we are saddest about leaving. The friendships we have made with customers and also within the trade we will always cherish and it has been an absolute honour to serve you and work with you over the last four decades. We hope to see you to say goodbye and celebrate our final chapter with you as we close the book on the best fishing tackle shop adventure ever. Tight lines always we will miss you the Summerlands Tackle family over and out.”
Much has changed in the world of angling and beyond in the past forty years and we reflected upon this as we chatted. Nick reminisced fondly about fishing forays to Ireland where he had enjoyed fishing those famous surf beaches for bass. The tackle of the day was very basic in comparison to many of the state of the art rods sold in Summerlands over the past decades.
Over the coming weeks starting on Saturday 31st August there will be an EVERTHING MUST GO SALE.
On a personal note I wish all those at Summerlands the best for the future and would like to thank them for their support with North Devon Angling News since 2016. The closing of Summerlands will leave a void in the local angling scene but we are fortunate that we have several excellent tackle shops across North Devon.
B.D.A.C.Rod and Reel match results date 25,8,24 at Tarka.
HORWOOD – Match Report
HORWOOD Lakes, Are fishing extremely well at the moment with some lovely fish coming out.
The latest match at Horwood lakes was fished over the two lakes.
Some stunning bags were brought to the scales by the match team.
Bottom lake
1st Stuart Russell with 219.13lb
2nd Mark Lynch with 179.15lb f
3rd Colin Cherrington with 132.4lb
Top Lake
1st Steve Barrell with 84.15lb
2nd Paul Morris with 70.6lb
3rd Gary Sullivan with 44.1lb