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.
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.
Nick Laws and his father fishing for bass at Westward Ho!One of Nicks first fish a tasty bass to take home.
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.
The original Summerlands Tackle Shop
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.
Simon McCarthy with a smoothound from a few years back.
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.”
Many local anglers are featured on the shops photo gallery bringing back many happy memories. Heather welcomes anglers to come and collect their photos from the gallery.
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.
Nick holds a fishing rod and reel from his formative years as a life long angler.
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.
Today the weather was dry but windy making fishing difficult for some anglers. 15 anglers fished the match today and most caught fish, 1st place today went to Stephen Paul Sheller with a magnificent weight of fish for 50lbs 11oz on peg 22 he fished a feeder up to the island, 2nd place was Martin Turner on peg 8 with a nice mixed bag of fish for 25lbs 15oz, 3rd place went to Keith Mountjoy on peg 19 with 23lbs 12oz and 4th place went to Richard jefferies on peg 14 with 22lbs 3oz. Next Rod and Reel match will be on the 22.9.24 at Tarka, very well done to Stephen Paul Sheller on your win today.
Bideford Angling Club are to be congratulated for their efforts this summer running a very successful Summer Junior Competition series on their home water. The final heat was won by Bailey Bramley with 7.715 Kilo. Ethan Broom secured top spot in the league with 46 points on behind fellow junior Lewis Hathaway.
Final Junior competition
Results,:
1st Bailey Bramley 7:715 Kilo
2nd Ted Blight 7:030
3rd Leo Davies 6: 220
4th Janson Kiff 5:075
5th Lewis Hathaway 5: 000
6th Willow Davies 4:980
7th George Batten 4:635
8th Dashe Rizo 2:765
9th Tilly Blight 2:265
10th Edie Thake 2:075
11th Amelia Bell 2:025
12th Paddy Brennan 2:000
13th Billy Butler 1:745
14th Rudi James :985
15th Lucy Hook :865
16th Blake Hosegood :760
Bideford and District Angling Clubs , George’s lake was the venue for our final Junior competition of the year.
Bailey on peg 18 , has put a super net of larger carp on the scales for victory, he has fished with a method feeder ,his win pushed him.up to 10th in the league.
Ted’s second spot on peg 8 , moves him up to 5th place in the league table.
Leo on peg 5 has done exceptionally well to come in third and finish in 7th place in the series.
The five match series was closely fought and our winner,by one point was Ethan Broom on 46 points, second place was Lewis Hathaway on 45 , with Jenson Kiff third on 40 points.
We were able to distribute the fantastic array of prizes that we have been most generously given.
George’s lake was the venue for our regular monthly competition, the weather was hot with a blustery southerly wind blowing down into the bottom,dam head.
Roger ,our regular scales man , weighed in an impressive mixed net for victory on peg 13.
Corn, and meat pole fished over micros.
Craig, who now leads the points table, finished in second place fishing on peg 18 using similar tactics.
Richard finished a very credible 3rd place fishing paste on peg 9.
Antony took 4th place on peg 6.
After a slow start the lake has fished very well in most areas.
B.D.A.C Rod and Reel match results date 28.7.24 at Tarka
Today match was fished in lovely sunny conditions with a light breeze. Fishing was a bit hard for some but some good weights was weighed in. First place today went to Craig Lamey on peg 12 with a great mix bag of fish for 39lbs 5oz second place was Stephen Paul Sheller on peg 22 with a lovely mixed bag of fish for 32lbs 10oz. Third place was Richard Jefferies on peg 16 with a net of carp for 31lbs 10oz and forth place went to Antony Bentley with 29lbs 5oz.
The next Rod and Reel match will be at Tarka on the 25.8.24
A wet cold evening didn’t put the fish off ,on this our final evening match. The pairs are drawn for this event , although the top three places didn’t need their partners weight !
Rhys’s almost 70lb catch from peg 4 was enough for victory on its own. His long pole luncheon meat approach, was backed up by Darren on peg 18.
Nathan and Roger came in second on pegs 16 and 2 respectively.
The evening matches have once again proved very popular with our members who have generally enjoyed good weather throughout the series and long may they continue.
The match weights at Stafford Moor are outstanding as can be seen from a summary of results over recent weeks with weights in excess of 150lb needed to win every match in recent weeks. This is surely the South West’s most productve Match fishing venue?
JUNE 30th The winner of the day was Lee Dance who bagged 300lb 1oz from peg 20 on Tanners lake
JULY 4th – The winner of the day was Mark Layzelle who bagged 221lb 9oz from peg 5 on Woodpecker lake
JULY 6th – The winner of the day was Mick Myers who bagged 233lb 7oz from peg 20 on Tanners lake
JULY 7th – The winner of the day was Paul Golding who bagged 205lb 8oz from peg 10 on Tanners lake
JULY 11th Open match on Woodpecker lake at Stafford Moor.
The winner of the day was Gary Webber who bagged 197lb 12oz from peg 16
JULY 12th Residents match results on Tanners lake here at Stafford Moor.
The winner of the day was Wayne Batkin who bagged 159lb 13oz from peg 14
match results for our open match on Tanners lake here at Stafford Moor.
JULY 14th The winner of the day was Steve Ford who bagged 190lb 4oz from peg 17
JULY 17th open match on Woodpecker lake at Stafford Moor.
The winner of the day was Joe Duckworth who bagged 161lb 1oz from peg 19
JULY 20th Residents match results on Tanners lake here at Stafford Moor.
The winner of the day was Joe Duckworth who bagged 255lb 3oz from peg 17
JULY 22nd
Open match results on Tanners & Woodpecker lakes e at Stafford Moor.
The winner of the day was Wayne Grinney who bagged 287lb 2oz from peg 20
Our regular Wednesday match fishers were treated to another pleasant evening to round up what has been a cracking series.
Kevin has won his first match of the 10 , with a great net taken on luncheon meat in the margins of peg 14 .
This has moved him up the table into second position
Rhys ,on peg 24 has fished out to the island on the pole for second place.
Nathan’s complete dominance of the evening series was confirmed with his 3rd place off of peg 9, this has earned him the the winners shield with a record score, almost 40 points clear.
