The lake will be closed for essential maintenance for up to one week from Tuesday 19th September 2017 we intend to re-open on Monday 26th September.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We will endeavor to complete the work sooner and we will advise via our website email & Facebook if this is the case.
All our other facilities at Blakewell are open as usual, including the family fishing ponds and the cafe.
Zenia at Anglers Paradise is successfully trying to get more women interested in fishing and having some success as can be seen from her latest post below,
ANOTHER NEW LADY ANGLER ENJOYING THE SPORT!
As you know, we LOVE to see more Women on the banks enjoying FISHING!!
Here is a lady that does just that! Emily Wearden, 35 from Abingdon in Oxfordshire has only been fishing for a year and joined us last week with her partner James and caught 2 Personal Bests – a 5lb 11oz Koi from the Koi Lake off the top on Dog Biscuits and a 9lb Mirror from the Beginners Carp Lake on a Pineapple Wafter, her partner James Durkin also caught a Personal Best 3lb 8oz Koi from the Float Lake on a pop up.
Emily Shared –
“We have just come back from a fantastic week at Anglers Paradise. Your family/staff have done a great job on not only the fishing lakes, but also the accommodation. We came down for James 40th Birthday and can’t wait to come back next year.
I have only been fishing for about a 1 year, I am now 35 years old and love fishing!”
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC EMILY – KEEP UP THE GREAT ANGLING AND PASSION FOR FISHING!
(Below)BIGGEST EVER KOI BUT NO SCALES TO WEIGH IT!
Steven Blackburn, 39 from Liverpool joined Anglers Paradise for a week with the lads for some fishing and fun and on their last day they decided to go back to the Koi Lake to see if they could catch one of the bigger ones…
Well Steve did catch one of the bigger ones but he forgot his scales to see exactly how big it was!! But, it definitely looks bigger than 8lb+!!
Steven shared –
“I was free lining using the soft floating biscuits from your tackle shop, I was fishing just a few feet from the bank around the Lillies to the left as you enter the lake from the foot path. After throwing in a few freebies to get them confidently feeding I chucked in my hook bait and next thing I know this massive head slowly comes up through the water and sucks it in. I couldn’t believe my luck. All the way through the fifteen minute fight to get it in I was constantly saying ‘please don’t come off, please don’t come off”
We ended up doing two days on the Koi Lake, easily the best fishing experience I’ve had to date.”
(Below)Oli Dietrich caught this fine carp of 24lb from the complex xanadu on #robinbaits.
Combe Martin SAC Member Ross Stanway caught this 11lb 10oz bull huss whilst fishing from a North Devon Rock mark.
Prospects for this weekends Open Competition hosted by Combe Martin SAC are good with lighter winds and less rain forecast. Grey and bass are likely to be targetted by members fishing between Minehead and Clovelly. The presentation for this catch and release event at the Rising Sun at Lynmouth. For full details see poster below. The event is sponsored by Sakuma Tackle.
Jeff Pearce Blakewells resident Instructor sent me this short article on a project to help those with breast cancer.
‘Fishing for Life’ Organisation come to Blakewell
‘Fishing for Life’ is an organization, which provides fly, fishing sessions for people who all have one thing in common – breast cancer.
The organisation formed back in 2007 after learning how fly fishing techniques had been proven to be very beneficial to build up tissues and muscle for anyone suffering from breast cancer.
On the 6th September I had the pleasure of being invited along to the launch of their North Devon & 9th group at Blakewell fishery.
Interest in the group has been promising and 10 people have so far shown an interest in attending the North Devon group. The group will be meeting monthly in the future between 2pm and 4pm on the first Wednesday of each month.
As well as those attendees suffering from breast cancer, we had a group of nurses attend who wanted to learn more about the organisation and how fly fishing could help. As you can see from the above photo, having received some tuition they were soon captivated by the sport and keen to try and catch their first trout too!
Across the lake the ladies were engrossed in the tactics & seemed to be genuinely enjoying the sport. In fact, so much so that when afternoon tea was being served back at the café, one of the ladies just couldn’t be prized from the lake. Eventually returning carrying a decent trout and a big smile on her face!
It is hoped this group can now go from strength to strength and a decent number will make the monthly meet. It is further intended that if the weather is inclement during the winter months a fly tying workshop with a general will be held in the café instead, no doubt by this time there will be plenty of fishy tales to be told.
So, if you are one of these people who all have one thing in common – breast cancer and would like to come along or know anyone else who might benefit from joining this group, you can ring Gillian on 01398 371244 or check out their website at http://www.southwestfishingforlife.org.uk
Ian Grant fished Stafford Moors Beatties Lake to land 33 carp in a 48hour session up to 28lb 6oz. He tempted the fish using Mainline Cell Boilies. On leaving the fishery he told Joanne Combe that he had never landed so many carp in that space of time and went home cream crackered.
Steve Pinn’s latest catch from Stafford Moors Beatties Lake the white mirror at 23Ib 4oz.
WEEKEND FULL OF FISH AND FUN AT ELDORADO
Paul Painter from Exeter, brought his Sons (Jack 7 and Harry 14) to fish the Middle Cat and Carp Lake at Eldorado for 48hrs and managed to catch quite a few fish! They ended up with 45 Carp, 1 Cat and some lovely Koi from the Koi Lake!
Paul said – “It was good to see my boys enjoying the outdoors and catching lots of fish, Jack loved stalking out the beautiful Koi from the Koi Lake and Harry loved stalking out the Carp. Good to spend some quality time with my boys, top rods! Harry and Jack love your Lakes and look forward to their next trip after a nice big Cat for Harry and some Koi for Jack!”
WELL DONE TO THE PAINTER FAMILY – GREAT CATCHES AND TIME SPENT TOGETHER – WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!
I was going to write a few words about safety on the shoreline following the recent tragedies in Cornwall but when I saw Henry Gilbey’s post on the same subject I asked him if I could copy to my site. Sharing my concerns Henry duly obliged. The sea is unforgiving and many of us have had near misses and as I get older I see the dangers more and more.
Henry Gilbey- writes on safety at sea.
Following on from the tragic deaths of two anglers the other day from a part of Cornwall I know very well and have fished plenty, well for some reason it’s really banged home to me that too many of us who fish choose to ignore the simple things we could be doing to give ourselves the best possible chance of surviving if and when something goes wrong. I have found a good contact at the RNLI and had an interesting chat with him about all this, and also why anglers like you and me are so resistant to wearing lifejackets out on the rocks for example. Also had a good talk with a lifejacket company about some of their products that would be most suitable for the sort of shore fishing I do etc. I never thought I would say this, but I am going to buy one of those compact and unobtrusive, auto inflate life jackets. Not sure which one yet, need to choose between a couple of makes and models, but I am looking at around £100-150 – think about what we spend on rods, reels, lures and waders for example. More to come about what I hope might be some food for thought. They found a body in Constantine Bay this morning, most likely the second angler who went in last week……………..
The recent rain has resulted in a succession of spates that has brought salmon into the rivers where anglers have enjoyed success when the river drops sufficiently to fish. The Weir Marsh and Brightly Beats on the Taw produced several salmon including fish of 11lb and 4lb to the rod of Len Francis, 7lb to the rod of Graham Nichols and 9lb and 7l to Bob Lewington.
Day tickets can be obtained from the Rising Sun at Umberleigh.
