HORWOOD LAKE – Update

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The main lake at HORWOOD has now been completely cleaned out and around 1,500 tons of silt removed, we have created a number of wide shelves all around the edges which should be perfect for bait presentation. The lake despite the dry weather has now almost completely filled and we are starting to gradually stock, 110 carp have been added for a total weight of 750lb, and we are looking to double this in a few weeks time when these have settled. The stocking so far has included 18 double figure carp up to 20lb. We now have toilet facilities on site which should be up and running by the end of next week.

The top lake is fishing very well and in a competition on Friday, June 10th over 400lb of fish came out with the top weight of 116lb going to Exeter angler Steve Barrel, mainly caught on the waggler at depth and on 8mm pellets, second was Graham Curno with 94lb 10oz and mainly caught on the straight lead and again pellet on the hook. Lots of tench showing as well and these will for now be kept in the top lake.

Horwood Fishery.
Set in rolling rural Farmland.
2 Stunning Lakes very well Stocked with just carp and tench.
Bottom Lake :-
Carp to double figures ranging from 2 lb to 19lb
Tench up to 3.5lb.
Top Lake:-
Carp ranging from 1lb to 19lb
small tench (lots of )
Drive to your peg so no walking ,
Come and relax at what are 2 stunning lakes .
Limited membership is available at £30 for the year from Neilsen Jeffery (phone 01237 421123) Please Note there are no day tickets available for this water.

Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition

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Bideford and District Angling Club

Coarse Section monthly competition

Results :
1st Richard Jefferies  30lb 4oz
2nd Roger Ackroyd  17lb 8oz
3td Craig Crash Lamey 16lb 4oz
4tb Mick Farron 15lb 9oz
5th Steve Ashton  14lb 15oz
6th Les Polden  14lb 8oz
7th Stephen Craker  13lb 13oz
19 Fished.
Club members enjoyed another warm summer day on George’s lake Tarka Swims, with a light westerly breeze.
Richard has taken the honours with a cracking net of carp from peg 15, his catch fell mainly to bread fished on his infamous hit and hold carp tactics also to pole and paste. He scooped the golden peg bonus. Well done Rich.
The next 12 nets were all very close.
Roger came out best of the rest off peg 26 with a nice mixed catch, closely followed by Craig on peg 17 . Fourth place went to Mick Farron .

CMSAC – Putsborough Open Results

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Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs Putsborough Open was once again a resounding success despite a forecast of less than favourable conditions and slightly disappointing numbers of quality fish. It was great to hold the event again after two years of interruption due to the COVID pandemic.

Competitors chat before the match

A massive swell had been pushing into the North Devon Coast over the previous couple of days casting doubt on the wisdom of proceeding with the event. Putsborough is however sheltered to some extent from a westerly wind and does not have such a severe swell as some neighbouring beaches. With high pressure starting to build and the wind set to ease the club decided to take a chance and proceed with the event. As luck would have it the forecast was correct and the wind eased though the swell was still a little challenging.

Thirty-two anglers signed in and it was great to see familiar faces once again from the North Devon angling fraternity. The competitors spread out across the vast expanse of sand some pitching up closer to Woolacombe than Putsborough. The beach was littered with brightly coloured jellyfish.

A stunning sunset was enjoyed by all as tackle was prepared and hooks laden with bait.

http://www.highstreettackle.co.uk

(Image) Scott Wallace
(Image) Scott Wallace
(Image – Scott Wallace)

The fishing proved slow with dogfish dominating catches. Two  good sized smoothound took the top two places with Ryan Hardman winning and taking the top prize of £100 plus specimen pool and a choice from the prize table. Kevin Legge was runner up with a smoothound of 7lb 4oz. A couple of small bass were tempted the best a bass of 2lb 8oz for Gareth Pike.

Thank you to Scott Wallace for providing a few additional images of the night.

Kevin Legge with his smoothound of 7lb 4oz.

The club would like to give a big thank you to the sponsors; Sakuma Tackle, Quay Sports, HIgh Street Tackle and Braunton Baits. I am sure those who took part appreciated the superb range of prizes for the winners listed below.

1st        Ryan Hardman            smoothound 7lb 10oz

2nd       Kevin Legge                 smoothound 7lb 4oz

3rd        Shaun Kersey             dogfish  2lb 6oz

4th        Arron Brooker             dogfish  1lb 15oz

5th        Antony Smith             dogfish  1lb 14oz

6th        David Brooke             dogfish  1lb 12oz

7th        Gareth Pike                 dogfish  1lb 12oz

8th        Antony Smith             dogfish  1lb 11oz

9th        Wayne Thomas           dogfish 1lb 10oz

10th      Gareth Pike                 dogfish 1lb 9oz

11th      Nick Phillips                 dogfish 1lb 8oz

12th      Nathan Clements        dogfish 1lb 7.5oz

13th      Arron Brooker             dogfish 1lb 7oz

14th      James Corner             dogfish 1lb 6oz

15th      John Johnson             dogfish 1lb 6oz

Best bass – Gareth Pike 2lb 8oz

Combe Martin SAC give thanks to all those who made the effort to take part and to the landowners at Putsborough who gave permission for use of the car park free of charge out of hours,

https://www.putsborough.com

http://www.sakuma.co.uk

Bideford and District Angling Club Midweek evening competition No. 5 Results:

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Bideford and District Angling Club Midweek evening competition No. 5
Results:
1st Nathan Underwood  26lb 7oz
2nd Cyril Found  25lb 5oz
3rd Keith Mountjoy  22lb 4oz
4th Craig Crash Lamey  20lb 8oz
5th Martin Turner 20lb 5oz
6th Richard Jefferies 14lb 11oz
15 anglers.
This evening’s competition was fished in a brisk Northwesterly breeze, blowing up towards the shallower end of George’s lake.
Paste fishing has been the most successful method , Nathan’s winning catch came off peg 19 , the next three places have also been on the paste . Cyril’s second spot was taken on peg 15 and included several decent carp..

Putsborough Open – Information and Preview

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Combe Martin SAC hope you enjoy this open competition  with kind permission of the landowner.

The club is very greatfull to local tackle shops and Sakuma for supporting the event.

SAKUMA, High Street Tackle, Quay Sports and Braunton Baits.

The weather as is often the case has proved a concern with a big swell pushing into the North Devon Coast. The conditions should be fishable but challenging. It will be the same for all competitors and big fish often show when there is a bit of movement.  Whilst it is breezy this is due to drop off and it is from the West so Putsborough will be sheltered. Whilst two rods are allowed it might prove more effective to fish one rod well than to fish two rods and get tangles as a result of the possible undertow.

Competitors should take great care when wading as there can be a strong undertow and rip tides. Far better to keep shallow and cast from a firm base the fish will come in surprisingly close.

Fishing is for single best specimen, with £100 for first place and £50 second plus pick of the prize table and so on. There is an optional £1 pool foir the best specimen. There will be prizes for the top fifteen fish.

Small-eyed ray are the principal target and can show up anywhere — so pick your spot.

Sandeel is generally best but fish can be tempted at times with a whole squid or mackerel bait. Bass will show if there is some surf, the obliging dogfish is usually around — along with the odd small turbot, conger, smoothound and occasional blonde ray.

Low water is 10:15pm and the best period to fish is usually two hours either side, with the last hour-and-a-half of the ebb and first hour of the flood often proving the most productive. There are some small pits and sandbanks along this beach, so if you can spy one out it might be worth heading for…

For the purpose of this competition two rods and four hooks may be used, with a pennell rig counting as two hooks. Combe Martin Competition size limits apply.

Please leave a space of approximately 20 yards between yourself and the next angler — it’s a large beach!

When you catch a fish, please check it against the sizes overleaf and complete the capture form, before showing it to another competitor and asking them to witness it.
[Witnesses: Please also print name so you can be identified if need be!]

Steward’s decision is final. All complaints must be issued in writing to organisers before the scales close.

Please do not bring fish to the scales in water, unless the intention is to release them alive. Each angler is limited to two fish per species, but we would ask you to minimise killing of fish and endeavour to keep only your single best specimen.

Please respect the beach and do not leave litter, discarded line or old tackle behind and do not start fires.

If possible, please ensure your vehicle is parked at the bottom of the car park to the far right.

https://www.putsborough.com/surf-cams/

A few images from previous Putsborough Competitions.

http://www.quaysports.com

CHANGING LURES TO CATCH MORE BASS ?

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I enjoyed a short evening session over low water recently that prompted me to ask myself a question? I started the session fishing a shallow boulder strewn shoreline bumping a megabass soft plastic lure through the shallow water. After half an hour searching  familair ground as the tide pushed in I had nothing to show for my efforts. As is often the case I followed my instinct and moved to some deeper water thinking that the bass were too wary to come in close as it was very calm and clear.

After scrambling a hundred yards over boulders I cast out the same lure and on the first retrieve had a fish hit the lure close in without hooking up. A couple more casts resulted in nothing. I changed over to a an IMA hard plastic lure and cast this out working it back briskly. After two or three casts I was jolted into focus as a fish hit the lure hard. After a short spirited tussle I released a bass of a couple of pounds.

A few more casts brought no response so again I changed lures. A black Fillish minnow was sent out and after two casts another bass of simular size. These were the only two fish caught but I ponder as to what difference the change of lure made. On some sessions I frequently change lures for various reasons. Depth of water, water clarity, suspended weed and matching what I think the bass are feeding on.

The question I asked myself is did changing the lure result in me  catching the second bass or would I have caught it anyway? There are so many variations that can make the difference in a each fishing trip and much of what I do is driven by instinct. The size, colour and design of lures undoubtedly makes a diffrence but how much and how many lures does an angler need? With limited time to experiment I only carry a small selection of lures that I have confidence in introducing the occasional new pattern when I am tempted at the tackle shop. I suspect that lures catch more anglers than fish. If you asked ten anglers their top ten lures you would undoubtedly get ten different lists?

North Devon Match Group Result

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North Devon Match Groups latest match was held at Highhampton Lakes split over 2 lakes with the weather holding off till the end it started to rain just as they were packing away and doing the weigh in.
Our overall winner on the day was Les Polden with 58lb 11oz fantastic result
Bottom lake
1st  Ian Croxton  25lb 7oz
2nd. Phillip Bailey  20lb 6oz
3rd. Steve bridle 12lb 5oz
Top lake
1st Les polden 58lb 11oz
2nd. Andrew Gratton 55lb 12oz
3rd Wayne Murton  54lb 6oz

Sea Angling Results

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Smoothound took the top 3 places in Appledore Shipbuilders Monthly Rover
Andrew Atkinson took the top 2 places with one of 12lb 3 3/4ozs and the next 11lb 9 3/4ozs. 3rd was Michael Hammett with his Smoothound weighing 11lb 4 1/2ozs.

Bideford Angling Club Monthly rover results 11 angler’s fished 

3 fish weighed

1st Antony Smith Smoothhound 10lb 11 1/2oz 107.187%

2nd Andrew Clements Small Eyed Ray 9lb 10oz 106.994%

3rd Jon Stevens Small Eyed Ray 8lb 12 1/2oz  97.569%

Kyle Bishop won Combe Martin Saa Angling Clubs fish of the the season for Spring with a fine bull huss of 13lb 9oz.

David Jenkins was runner up with a gilthead bream of 3lb 9oz.

Putsborough Open Competition –

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Combe Martin SAC host their annual Putsborough Open on Saturday, June 11th. The club would like to give a special thank you to the sponsors Sakuma Tackle, Quay Sports, High Street Tackle and Braunton Baits. Their generosity has ensured a superb prize table with prizes for the top 15 to register fish on the night. If less than 15 fish are registered prizes will be split accordingly. The club are hoping to see a great turn out for this event after a couple of strange years.

The event is a catch and release event with fish to be weighed witnessed and photographed before being returned to the water.

FISH

MIN SIZE

SPECIMEN lbs

Small-eyed ray

16”

10lb

Blonde ray

16”

12lb

Spotted ray

16”

4lb 8oz

Lesser-spotted dogfish

680g/1.5lb

3lb 8oz

Bull Huss

2266g/5lb

10lb

Bass

18”

8lb

Conger

2266g/5lb

20lb

Tope

20lb

30lb

Turbot

14”

5lb

Brill

14”

3lb

Plaice

11”

2lb

Mackerel

12”

1.5lb

Garfish

15”

1.25lb

Scad

10”

1.25lb

Whiting

11”

1.5lb

Smoothound (common/starry)

1360g/3lb

10lb

Coalfish

12”

3.5lb

Pouting

9”

1.5lb

Pollack

12”

5lb

Dab

9.5”

1lb

Flounder

11”

2lb

Sole

10”

2lb

Rockling, all species

8”

1.75lb

All rays minimum 16-inches across the wings. Mini species do not count. Some commonsense weights have been applied to species such as dogfish or conger.
In the unlikely event of any other species being caught CMSAC sizes apply. If need be, retain fish in water and seek a member of club. Wayne Thomas mobile 07818 631 811 for photos.

For the purpose of this competition two rods and four hooks may be used, with a pennell rig counting as two hooks. CMSAC size limits apply. Please leave a space of approximately 20 yards between yourself and the next angler, it’s a large beach. When you catch a fish, please have this witnessed by a member or steward, complete the capture form and bring the form back to the weigh in, this is a catch and release competition. Fish may be brought back to the weigh in, but only up to two fish per species.

Please respect the beach and do not leave litter, discard line or old tackle behind and do not start fires. The Clubs decision is final. All complaints must be in writing to organisers before the scales close.

The winner of the competition will receive £100 Cash and a choice from the prize table. Runner up will recieve £50 plus a prize from the prize table.

Mullet on the Fly -Trying …Very !

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Over the past couple of years, I have been trying to catch grey mullet on the fly without success. On my latest excursion I joined fellow Combe Martin SAC member and mullet enthusiast John Shapland.

John took me to a mark in the Taw estuary where he has enjoyed some success recently using traditional mullet tactics. John had noted that the mullet were feasting on small sand shrimps and had corresponded with the fly fishing for mullet maestro Colin McCloud whose excellent book “Mullet On The Fly” has inspired many fluff chucker’s to target the wily mullet. With a bright blue sky and not a breath of wind it was a joy to be at the waters edge.

            John and I arrived just as the tide started to push. We set up our tackles and watched the water for signs of mullet. As the tide gained momentum swirls on the surface showed the presence of good sized fish. I put out a line with two shrimp imitations and allowed it to drift with the current giving the occasional twitch to impart life.

            The numbers of fish increased and my optimism grew as these fish were undoubtedly feeding. I missed a couple of pulls that raised expectation further. Suddenly the line zipped tight and I connected. The rod hooped over and I glimpsed a silver flank. Disappointingly  It was a bass of around 1lb that saved a blank and was added to later in the session with a second bass slightly smaller.

            The mullet were undoubtedly feeding on the sand shrimps and could be seen slurping them off the surface like nymphing trout. I feel I had a few near misses with the frustrating grey ghosts. I will be back again. It was good to fish with John as he fished traditional bread bait tactics and also blanked on the mullet. If I had fished alone with the fly I would probably have though I would catch if I had been using bait.

            Catching fish on the fly can be seen as an elitist tactic it can also be an extremely effective method in its own right adding another string to the angler’s repertoire.