Combe Martin SAC member Mark Jones took a trip up Channel to beach this superb thornback ray of 14lb 8oz. The ray sets a new club shore record for CMSAC beating Kevin Legges thornback Ray of 13lb 12oz caught in 2006.
The Mint Common at Furzebray
Chris Connaughton banked splendid carp known as the “The Mint Common” at an all time high of 34lb 4oz whilst fishing at Furzebray Carp lakes.
The first carp from moor in 2019
The first week of 2019 has been far from Ideal for carp angling with high pressure along with cold days and nights. Despite this anglers have caught some good carp from Stafford Moor a fishery that can be relied upon to keep producing a few results in even the worts conditions.
(Above)Andrew Levett caught this mirror from swim 5 up on lodge lake caught on a Krill dumbbell topped with half a 10mm pink citrus.
(Above) Ben Hopkins fished up on swim 1 on lodge lake yesterday and had 3 fish out in 24 hrs all caught on pink homemake wafters.
(Above)Ross Smith who was here with friends who fished on the summer hut swim on Beatties lake last week and and had 7 fish out between them.
(Above) Louie Morgan – Russell had 7 fish out in 24 hours up on swim 2 on lodge lake yesterday all caught on cell boilies topped with corn.
(Above)Graham Beer who fished on swim 2 on lodge lake , Graham had one fish out on a day session caught on Sticky Baits Krill boilies.
(Above) Sam Ward who fished here for the first time landing 2 fish out up to 20lb 8 oz from swim 6 on the dam wall up on lodge lake today on a day session caught on Sticky Baits Manilla boilies.
(Above) Graham McKenna who fished up on lodge lake and caught on Northen Bait Evolution Popup on a Hybrid Tackle spinner rig.
SEA ANGLING NEWS ROUND UP
Calm conditions with high pressure dominating has resulted in open coast fishing slowing down with dogfish and small conger dominating catches. Flounder fishing in the estuary is starting to tail off as the flounder start to migrate out to sea to spawn. If the wind swings to the west and Atlantic weather pushes in sport on the open coast should pick up with spurdog, bull huss and conger moving inshore to feed on dislodged food.
During calm weather boat anglers can expect some hectic offshore sport as the spurdog packs hunt the mid channel waters.
TRIPLE HOOK CLUB
John Passmore won the Sportsmans Cup with a flounder scaling 125/8oz Ian Cairns was runner up with a flounder of 121/8oz.
Dennis Toleman caught a fine bass of 5lb 6oz from Fremington Quay but being a flounder only match it did not count.
APPLEDORE SHIPBUILDERS
Jack Sharrock won Appledore Shipbuilders January Rover with a cod of 7lb 43/8oz. The fish was tempted from the expanse of Chesil beach in Dorset and was not a North Devon fish. Cod are very scarce off the North Devon coast in recent seasons which is a mystery as twenty years ago they were prolific.
In second and third was Terry Dymiond with flounder scaling1lb 121/4oz and 1lb 115/8oz.
Seventeen anglers fished.
BIDEFORD ANGLING CLUB
Rover results
1st Terry dymond flounder 1lb 12 1/2oz
2nd Terry dymond flounder 1lb 11 5/8oz
3rd Graham Snow flounder 1lb 8 1/4oz
4th Graham snow flounder 1lb 5 5/8oz
5th Paul Downing thornback 5lb 10oz
Next competition 19/20th Jan 24hour
North Devon Match Group Winter League No.4 Results :@ Morchard Road, Lake View :
North Devon Match Group Winter League No.4 Results :@ Morchard Road, Lake View :
1st Chris Morris 50lb 4oz
2nd Neilsen Jeffery 48lb
3rd Paul Morris 34lb 12oz
4th Stuartshelley Burridge 30lb 9oz
5th Martin Turner 25lb 7oz
6th John Lisle 23lb 13oz
7th Pete Slade 18lb 4oz
Our first match of 2019 was fished in relatively mild ,still conditions on the prolific Lake View fishery , expectations, amongst the 21 anglers was not high after some indifferent results of late, but several reasonable catches were recorded. Top of the pile was Chris Morris who drew peg 1 on the first point, his 50lb catch of 25 carp was made on maggot over groundbait on a long pole. Neilsen Jeffery ran a close second of the next peg on pole and feeder tactics, Third place went to Paul Morris on the outlet pipe swim, Stuartshelley Burridge fished a tidy match alternating pole and tip off the point on peg 20 for 4th place.
Boat Sport on Wild Frontier off Ilfracombe
Combe Martrin SAC member Ross Stanway sent me this report and pictures from his day aboard “Wild Frontier” off Ilfracombe. The anglers on board from all over Devon enjoyed success with conger, bull huss, spurdog, dogfish, whiting and smoothound. The boat new to Ilfracombe has plenty of deck space ensuring marks can be reached on all but the roughest of days. The best conger scaled 25lb, spurdog to 15lb and huss into double figures. Breakfast of bacon rolls helped sustain the anglers through the day afloat.
Squid Trip brings glittering bonus!
Its often good to cast a line from a different shore and this seemed extra relevant as 2019 gets underway bringing a renewed focus on club fishing events. There has been considerable interest among many sea anglers on fishing for squid using jigging tactics and myself and several members of Combe Martin SAC were keen to have a go. After a few discussions over a beer at the end of a 2018 club meeting a plan was put in place.
As is often the case when the day came several club members could not make it but five of us could and so on January 5th we set off on the journey to Torquay and Princess Pier. The location had been chosen after reading reports of squid being caught on a regular basis. The alternative venue was Weymouth which was a bit further but potentially more reliable. On this occasion being a our first squid foray we decided upon this closer to home venue as a training ground to gain experience.
We had also heard reports of a few mackerel being caught and this would be a welcome opportunity to stock up the bait freezer with both squid and mackerel. A visit to Ilfracombe’s High Street Tackle ensured that we had a few lures and Sabika feathers.
The trip down to Torquay proved uneventful and by 1.30pm the intrepid five were lined up on the front of Torquays Princess pier. The seaside town seemed quite vibrant and busy with plenty of tourists strolling along the prom on this cold calm winters day. Behind us in the inner harbour luxury boats rested on their moorings; a testament to the vast sums of money some people acquire. The seascape of the bay was a glassy calm across to Berry Head with the occasional fishing boat, pleasure boat and Jet ski disrupting the mirror like surface.
We had been advised that squid could be caught during daylight hours and as a result had arrived well before dark. This ensured we secured a good spot and gave more time to experiment. A clue to good spots to try for the squid were small stains of black where squid had been pulled ashore. we also chose a spot close to the lights that are known to attract baitfish and squid after darkness descends.
After a few casts with our squid jigs small fish could seen following and this prompted the switch to sets of small Sabika type feathers. Dan Welch was I think first to catch swinging a small mackerel ashore.
This was followed a short time later by a herring to Matt Jeffery a pleasing sight and Matt’s first of the species from the shore.
As the afternoon progressed we all started to enjoy success with herring with these shimmering silver fishes brought twisting and gyrating to hand to be stowed away as bait for predatory fish on the North Devon coast or to sit beneath a crimson topped float at some pike water inland.
(Above) Josh Jeffery enjoyed success with the herring shoals.
As the light fades the herring continue to smash into the strings of feathers and our bait bags are all well stacked with gleaming fishes. Its now time to focus fully on the main agenda squid!
The jigs are flicked and retrieved at various rates and varying between steady pulls and erratic twitches. As none of us have any prior experience we have to learn from scratch and it is this that is part of the fun. There is great excitement when we glimpse a squid chase young Josh’s lure until he runs out of water.
Encouraged we all focus on the squid mission with renewed belief and enthusiasm. It is Dan Welch who eventually brings success for team squid lifting a moderate sized squid to hand with its amazingly vibrant glowing colouration.
With mission squid partly accomplished parking tickets and fast food start to dominate the conversation and we decide to retire to KFC before heading back to North Devon with plenty of bait and some happy memories. An occasional trip to a seaside pier offers refreshingly easy fishing where friendly banter and fun takes priority. Catching mackerel in January seems a little unseasonal as the Christmas lights twinkle into memory. Mission squid was not exactly a great success but we did catch a squid. The pleasing bonus was string upon string of glittering herring.
Dan’s big brown ends long quest
Dan Spearman ended 2018 in style landing his first double figure brown trout on New Years Eve after many years trying and coming close on several occasions with browns to over 9lb. Fishing at Bulldog Fisherys catch and release specimen trout lake with his young son Rex they enjoyed qaulity fishing landing several trout including Dan’s double figure brown.
Bulldog s owner Nigel Early can be contacted on 447767492800 A catch and release ticket is £20.00.
Big Huss for Kevin to end 2018
Combe Martin SAC member Kevin Legge rounded off 2018 in style landing specimen bull huss of 11lb 6oz and 10lb 4oz.Kevin also landed a rockling of 1lb 8oz.
Flounder Season best for several years
The 2018/19 Flounder season is proving to be the best for many years with good numbers of good sized flounder caught. There is the chance of flounder for a couple more weeks and it could be wortbn trying the lower estuary as the fish drop back towards the sea. It is tp be hoped that next season will be an even better one with survivors of this year class returning even bigger next autumn. Flounder fishing on the estuary tends to be cyclical with peak seasons followed by poor seasons with smaller fish.
Richard Chapple and James Griggy enjoyed New Years Day morning down on Taw estuary catching six flounder the biggest flounder caught by Richard Chapple weighing in at 2lb 1 1/2oz (second 2 pound flounder of season for Richard Chapple)
