Jake England caught this cracking 29lb common carp from day ticket water Jennetts reservoir, Devon, at the weekend. Jake also had two other commons at 20lb and 17lb.
Blackspot – Furzebray 45lb 12oz
The carp known as Blackspot has been tempted from Furzebray at weight of 45lb 12oz. It was caught during the spring at a weight of 39lb 12oz a massive weight increase of 6lb. At this rate this carp and others in the lake could be nudging 50lb next year!
When I started carp fishing back in the early eighties such a water would have been unheard of in North Devon. Waters that contained such huge carp were spoken of in hushed tones and I would suggest that Furzebray now holds fish to almost match those at Redmire Pool in its glory days.
Tarka Swims BDAC Coarse Section monthly competition.
Tarka Swims Bideford & District AC Coarse Section monthly competition.
1st Martin Turner 9lb 13oz
2nd Pete Slade 4lb 15 1/2oz
3rd Richard Jefferies 4lb 15 1/4oz
4th Steve Bailey 4lb 4oz .
Sunday’s 5 hour match was fished by 9 members in damp,cooler conditions. Martin Turner anded a good carp after 40 mins on peg P this fish, along with 2 skimmer bream on 6mm pellet on the bomb gave him victory. Pete Slade on peg H landed a good net of silver fish to beat Richard Jefferies by a mere quarter ounce for 2nd place.
Wistlandpound Club – Visit to Exe Valley
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club members travelled to Exe Valley Fishery to compete for the secretary’s Shield.
The weather forecast gave the rain clearing away by mid morning but on this occasion this proved a little premature as heavy rain persisted for the first couple of hours with the Anchor Lake overflowing into an already swollen River Exe. The wind had however abated from the gale force winds of the previous two days that had been courtesy of storm Callum.
It was relatively mild and trout were rising from the start of the days competition. I started off with a damsel nymph and hooked into a hard fighting rainbow of around 3lb within ten minutes of starting.
A few more follows and takes followed but as is often the case the trout seemed to grow warier as anglers lines splashed upon the water. Noticing several trout rising a couple of yards along the bank I relocated; tied on a daddy longs imitation and fished it very slowly to quickly complete my three fish limit of fish to kill and take. Other members were also catching trout on a regular basis with small imitative patterns outscoring lures.
It was now time to snip off the barbed hooks and go catch and release for the remainder of the day. This proved both fascinating and frustrating for me as I successfully hooked a succession of trout on buzzers and diawl bachs all of them coming detached before reaching the net. This wasn’t really an issue as the most exciting part is hooking the fish and all appeared to be fish between 2lb and 4lb and whilst it is good to get them to the net its not important as it the successful deception that matters in this instance.
By mid afternoon all members had completed their three fish bags and gone on the enjoy some catch and release action.
The competition was won by Dave Mock who weighed in three trout for total of 9lb 14oz. Runner up was Colin Combe with three for 9lb and third myself with three for 8lb 14oz.
4th -Paul Grisley 8lb 12oz
5th – Nigel Bird 8lb
6th David Eldred 6lb 4oz
The trout averaged 3lb for the day with all members taking their allocated quota. The innovative pricing structure combining various options of catch and release and catch and kill gives excellent value depending upon individual preference. The lake is can now be fished without hindrance from weed and the water remained clear despite the flooded river Exe racing past full of turbidity and flotsam.
Stafford Moor Carp Catches
John Jobson enjoyed a cracking day ticket session on Beatties Lakes inlet swim , sticky krill 16mm over pellet and hemp, common 19lb then two mirrors including a personal best of 28lb 11ozs and then a mirror of 18lb12 oz.
(Below) Wayne Law banked four carp to 19lb 8oz
(Below) Jason Crawford and Alex Cole had nine carp from swims 3 and 4 up on lodge lake . They fished out in the open water and tight off the island with Sticky baits krill boilies.
Big Cats on the prowl as autumn descends
Above) Paul Baker recently took his son to Anglers Eldorado to show him what a real Catfish looked like up close and they caught this 30lb Wels Catfish from the Bottom Cat and Carp Lake 2 caught on double halibut pellets.
Lovely to see Families on the bank sharing their passion of fishing with siblings – what it’s all about!
(Above)
*PB CATFISH FROM NIRVANA**
David Poolman fished Nirvana’s Day Ticket Specimen Cat Lake and managed to catch a personal best 56lb 8oz Catfish in the early hours.
David caught his PB on a soaked halibut pellet/squid pop up combination.
(Above)Angling Guide Julian Chidgey organised a Cat and Carp Camp weekend at Nirvana. The conditions were tough to say the least, they lost a few but Morgan Lloyd from Oxfordshire saved the weekend by catching his 1st ever Catfish at a whopping 60lbs 3oz and a 15lb Common both from the Specimen Cat Lake.
Julian shared –
‘Well what a weekend that was! Winds that threatened to launch bivvies into the lake, and rain that had me contemplating building an ark! The anglers who attended the Carp and Cat Camp stuck at it despite the weather, knowing that it would only take 1 bite to make the session a success. Morgan Lloyd had the first breakthrough after we spotted a 30-40lb carp top between the waves and a single hookbait cast close by soon gave a bite. Unfortunately the fish dropped off before we got to see it.
Richard and Tony also both had big fish top in front of them and the tension was clear as it felt a bite was on the cards. Morgan was the lucky one again as a single hookbait (Tor baits Squido pop up) produced a bite as darkness fell. A modest mid double common was the result but with the temperature falling and the wind having turned to a bitter North-Easterly it was good to see a fish on the bank. As first light came this morning the keen anglers stood over the rods counting down the final minutes of the session. An alarm sounded and Morgan was again the lucky angler, from the outset it was clear this was a special fish and I soon paddling out with my landing net to scoop up a very long catfish.
It was great to see the teamwork and camaraderie as we weighed and photographed the 60lb 3oz monster. As we packed away our wet gear and headed our separate ways it was great to think of the new friendships formed through a great weekend. I will definitely be organising another event for next Spring so please get in touch to reserve your place for a shot at the fish of a lifetime.’
Upper Tamar Carp are on the feed
(Above)Ryan Willshire from Bude landed this cracking 21lb 4oz scaley Mirror carp from Upper Tamar lake, near Bude on the Cornwall and Devon border. The fish was stocked in September 2017 as part of the lakes re-stocking policy which included 3 fish over 30lbs and lots of fish over 20lbs. The next stocking is in mid October this year.
(Above) Ashley Bunning had a great session on Upper Tamar Lake, on the Cornwall and Devon border. The venue regular banked 8 carp in his 48 hour session including 2 fish over 20lbs. All the fish were caught on Nashbait scopex squid boilies with the largest being a 22lb 8oz mirror.
PERKS WINS £1000 AT BEST OF THE BEST TROUT FISHING FINAL!
PERKS WINS £1000 AT BEST OF THE BEST TROUT FISHING FINAL!
Dave Perks from Newquay has won the annual Best of the Best competition at Kennick reservoir near Bovey Tracey in Devon. Dave caught 6 Rainbow Trout for 12lbs 10oz to scoop the £1000 top prize.
The competition which is now in its fifth year is run by South West Lakes Trust, the largest provider of trout fishing in Cornwall and Devon. Snowbee, based in Plympton, who are a leading brand within the trout fishing industry were once again the sole sponsor of the competition.
The competition was held on 7th October at the stunning 50 acre venue which is heavily stocked with Rainbow and Blue trout. Dave’s bag of fish included a fine 4lb 7oz Rainbow. Dave finished runner up in the 2017 final and went one better this time holding off the challenge of Paul Jones from Wadebridge who was runner up for the second successive year. Paul caught 7 Rainbows for 10lb 4oz and collected £400 for his efforts.
Third place, winning £250, was Graham Watts from Bodmin who caught 6 fish for 10lb 3oz.
In total 97 Rainbows were caught by the 35 finalists for a rod average of 2.8 fish per person. There were also some cracking Brown trout caught and released with Chris Bolt managing the largest at 3lb 8oz. Fish were caught by a variety of fly patterns throughout the day.
Ben Smeeth, Head of Angling for South West Lakes Trust commented ‘it was a cracking final and many congratulations to Dave Perks on the win but well done to all anglers on qualifying for the final and a huge thankyou to Snowbee for sponsoring the event. Our Rainbow trout fisheries will be open for everyone to enjoy until the end of November’
North Devon Match Group Winter League No.1 Wooda Fishery
Results
1st Neilsen Jeffery 84lb 1oz
2nd Paul Morris 73lb 11oz
3rd Shaun Stenton 65lb 4oz
4th Christopher Morris 63lb 8oz
5th Martin Turner 48lb 4oz
6th Mark Richard 45lb 11oz .
15 fished.We used the 2 lower match lakes on the prolific complex and enjoyed a dry still autumnal day. Neilsen Jeffery got his winter league campaign off to a great start with a net of pole caught carp from the roadside bank on the bottom lake , Paul Morris was next peg and landed his 2nd place catch on both method feeder and pole. Shaun Stenton used similar tactics on the first lake for 3rd place Christopher Morris was 4th from the opposite bank.
Sea Angling Results
Bideford Angling Club and Appledore Shipbuilders hold their monthly sea rovers on the first Sunday of each month and both clubs allow competitors to fish over a very wide area of the South West including Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. Their results highlight the vast the vast range of species available to anglers in the South West.
Bideford Monthly Rover results
1st – Antony Smith garfish 15 1/2 oz 77.5% (Above)
2nd -Andrew Clements dogfish 1 lb 13 60.416%
Appledore Shipbuilders Monthly Rover Results
1st- Josh Atkinson – black bream 2lb 7.5oz
2nd – Michael Hammett – garfish 1lb 2oz
3rd – James Mayhew – small eyed ray 7lb 1/8oz
Junior section – Jack Pike – ballan wrasse 4lb 3oz
Triple Hook Club – WYCO EWB – Club Flounder
1st – Mark Hancock – flounder 1lb 1/4oz
2nd – Kevin Hancock – flounder 15oz
