Bideford Angling Club do a fantastic job encouraging young anglers with their special Junior events with coaching from qualified club members. The lakes two lakes are superb facility for club members at a very reasonble price.
https://www.bidefordanddistrictanglingclub.com
Bideford and District Angling Club
Jubilee Special Junior event :
1st place : Tom Scott 6lb 9 oz
2nd Brodie Allin 5lb 12oz
3rd Imogen Babb 4lb 10oz
4th Alby Clements 4lb 8oz
5th Lilly Bell 3lb 15oz
9 youngsters took part.
Our junior members enjoyed a glorious summer afternoon on George’s lake ,Tarka Swims. Fish proved tricky to tempt but everyone managed to winkle out a few,
Thomas was top of the over 14 age group on peg 23 , with a nice mixed net caught on double red maggot on the pole. Brodie was a close second on peg 18, some late fish on paste just pipped Imogen on the next peg.
A special thank you to the generosity of our local shops for helping with our prizes.
Let’s hope the weather is kind for the next one in the series on June 18th.
The Angling Trust are always at the forefront of events to promote angling ensuring its future for generations to come. Anglers Paradise was founded by Zyg Gregorek over forty years ago and has undoubtedly sowed the seeds for many anglers who have visited the venue with their families. On Easter Sunday 2022 I attended a family fun fishing day at the day ticket Eldorado complex that was supported by Anglers Paradise, The Angling Trust, Shakespeare, Angling Direct, The Environment Agency, Dynamite Baits and Nash Tackle.
Dean Asplin from the Angling Trust with Zenia Drury Gregorek
Zenia Drury Gregorek was undoubtedly the driving force behind the event that attracted over seventy eager participants. Coaches from the Angling Trust were joined by keen local anglers to introduce families to the joys of angling. All tackle and bait was provided at this free event with a wealth of expert advice on tap for both total beginners and the more experienced angler. All juniors who took part earned a Get Fishing Certificate Award and badge from the Angling Trust presented by Dean Asplin who is Angling Development Manager for the South of England and South West Angling Development Officer.
I arrived at the venue shortly before the start and enjoyed chatting with the coaches who had travelled from far and wide to assist and support on the day. Amongst the coaches were Roly, Tony King, John Thompson, Andy Payne, Joe Drury, Hassan Khan, Steve Manley, Dan Murrell, Joe Dietrich, Callum Regan and Mark Thorneycroft.
It was to prove a busy day for the coaches with families descending on the venue from far and wide. The event was blessed with warm sunshine during the morning session with the sounds of children’s laughter and adults banter filling the spring air. A few swallows swooped over the water as the coaches explained the finer details of fishing. The majority of families gathered around a lake stocked with a wide variety of smaller fish with whips used in conjunction with float tactics. The young anglers were fascinated by the brightly coloured wriggly maggots and soon focussed upon the brightly coloured floats that bobbed optimistically upon the water to disappear delightfully from time to time as a bejewelled fish from another dimension was lifted from the cloudy waters.
Tony King and Andy Payne with the Ezsias Family proudly displaying their certificates. ( many thanks to Tony King for the above image)
Many caught their first fish and it was great to see the joy and fascination upon so many faces. The coaches gave guidance on how to unhook the fish carefully and return them to the water with minimal harm.
On the lower Lake Hassan Khan of Nash Tackle was joined by Steve Manley and Dan Murrell of Catch to explain the complexities and technicalities of carp fishing. During the morning session the carp showed on the surface in abundance allowing Hassan and his friends to demonstrate the frustration of carp fishing as the carp ignored the carefully presented hook baits. They made up for this in the afternoon session helping a young angler to bank two fine double figure carp.
Leon Mortimer with a fine double figure carpLeon Mortimer with his dad Floyd Mortimer with the biggest fish of the day.
The event proved a huge success with many families being introduced to angling for the first time. For some this could prove the gateway to a lifetime spent in the great outdoors gaining an in depth appreciation of nature. Angling is recognised as providing a great deal of well-being with significant benefits for mental health.
Joe Drury of Fat Mammoth with a family of happy anglers with a fine koi carp
During the day I attempted to capture a few images of the fishing that will hopefully do more justice than words alone.
Hugo Clayton with a golden tench
Tony King and Oscar Ody
Dillion Bandy with fine perch ( Image – Kevon Jefferies)Dillion Bandy with a golden tench ( Image – Devon Jefferies)
Zenia Drury Gregorek would like to say a special thank you to Get Fishing and the Angling Trust for helping and supporting this Event, also to Zyg and Rose Gregorek for letting us hold the wonderful event at Anglers Paradise’s Day Ticket venue Eldorado Big thank you to Shakespeare Fishing for sponsoring the Event with prizes for the kids. Dynamite Baits for providing all the bait, and to the Angling Times & Improve Your Coarse Fishing for providing copies of their awesome magazines to all that attend!! Not forgetting the volunteers to help on the day – Dean Asplin from the Angling Trust, the Angling Trust Coaches, Hassan Khan, Joe Drury, Tony King, Andy Payne, Steve Manley, Joe Dietrich & any that I have forgotten – THANK YOU!! It really was a wonderful event to see so many smiling, happy families & share the MAGIC OF…FISHING!Anglers Paradisehttp://www.anglers-paradise.co.uk
The local tackle shop is an integral part of the angling scene and we are very fortunate in North Devon to have a network of excellent shops offering anglers a wide range of the latest tackle and bait. Recent years have been very difficult for the tackle trade with tackle shops like many other High Street outlets suffering from on-line competition.
Many shops have adapted to this and have successfully combined the at front shop outlet with an online presence combining the best of both worlds.
The tackle shop has always been an important meeting place for anglers where social intercourse leads to more fishing trips as a result of enthusiasm generated from fishy chats. There is nothing to beat face to face conversations even if it is behind a mask in these strange times.
Angling is fortunately booming in many areas as a result of COVID impacting upon many other activities. The joys and benefits of outdoor pursuits have been brought to the fore and it is to be hoped that this has a long lasting impact on angling participation.
I would like to thank the local tackle shops and the wider tackle trade who support North Devon Angling News via sponsoring the site. As Christmas looms ever closer perhaps the ideal gift for a loved one is a gift voucher for your local tackle shop.
QUAY SPORTS is North Devon’s latest tackle outlet conveniently situated on the Roundswell Industrial estate near Sainsburys. The team offer up to date friendly advice on all aspects of angling with an extensive range of tackle and bait in stock.
SUMMERLANDS TACKLE North Devon’s long established family run tackle shop in Westward Ho! Always has an extensive stock of the latest tackle with a friendly greeting to all.
BRAUNTON BAIT BOX Craig Mc Cloughlin runs this tackle and bait outlet in Braunton and offers a flexible service for anglers unable to visit a shop during normal office hours. Focusing on sea angling Craig is a friendly and knowledgable point of contact for advice on where to fish and what is being caught. He also provides rod repairs and reel servicing.
HIGH STREET TACKLE Danny Watson and Pauline Chard run Ilfracombe’s tackle shop specialises in lure fishing stocking a very impressive selection of all the latest lures to tempt the bass that lurk along the North Devon Coast. They also stock quality live and frozen bait for the sea angler. They have an extensive selection of sea angling rods and accessories working closely with the Ilfracombe Charter Boat fleet.
Combe Martin SAC’s annual Fun Fish was once again held In conjunction with the Sea-Ilfracombe Festival at Ilfracombe Pier after a one year break. This year the club had not promoted the event to the extent of previous years as concerns about COVID still linger amongst many across society.
I arrived early to secure a parking place on the pier and called in to speak with Dan at the aquarium as they had offered some containers to hold any donations to the aquarium we could catch.
This event is as stated a fun event aimed at families and those happy to try something a little less serious. The format is a species competition with 10 points for the first of each species with 2 points for the next two after which any more of that species do not count.
We had eleven competitors dominated by the Stanway and Welch families who had come armed with a variety of baits and light tackle. The event was due to cast off at 10.00am and I took the inevitable snap of Verity towering above the pier dividing opinion as ever among both visitors and locals. It was loaned to Ilfracombe in 2012 by the well known artist Damien Hurst and is due to remain until 2032.
A brisk North East breeze was sweeping down the channel causing some concern that fish would be reluctant to feed. These fears were soon dismissed as rod tips started twitching as soon as baits hit the sea bed.
Young smiling faces soon followed as a succession of small pouting and pollock were swung ashore. I was kept busy with the camera whilst club secretary Nick Phillips made busy with the score sheet. Dan from the aquarium made regular visits throughout the morning to take the required fish back to their new home in the aquarium. I am pleased to say that numerous pouting and poor cod from previous fun fishing events still reside safely in the aquarium’s tanks.
Effie Welch with a wrasseJake Stanway with one of the three smelt that helped to a winning points totalCharlie Stanway with scorpion fishA fearsome looking scorpion fishA corkwing wrasseEffie Welch displays a corkwing wrasseA rock gobySolly Welch with a ballan wrasse
The morning proceeded with the species tally growing steadily to include pollock, pouting, poor cod, shanny, smelt, scorpion fish, rock gobies, ballan wrasse and corkwing wrasse. Many of these small fish are handsome creatures with an amazing array of colours decorating their flanks.
A Pretty corkwing wrasse
A rather concerning observation was a total lack of mackerel or garfish, species that would historically have been abundant at this time of year. General consensus is that this year is one of the worst for mackerel in living memory.
I am sure that by the end of the four hours fishing mums and dads were glad to take a rest after working hard detangling rigs, retackling and unhooking fish. The results are as follows.
1st – Jake Stanway – 90 points
2nd – Charlie Stanway – 70 points
3rd – Ross Stanway – 66 points
4th – Effie Welch – 64 points
5th – Solly Welch – 52 points
6th – Paul Maxfield – 26 points
7th – Malin Marcus Young – 24 points
Longest fish – Solly Welch – Pollock 27cm
An array of quality prizes donated by the clubs sponsors High Street Tackle were presented to the top five competitors. Ilfracombe Aquarium kindly donated family tickets for the two competing families enabling them to visit during the autumn and see the expanded layout and new exhibits.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club plan to repeat the event next September once again working with the Sea Ilfracombe Festival organisers. With luck COVID fear will have subsided allowing a higher profile event welcoming back those VIP guest anglers and the local coastguard.
An unusual guest appearance at this years event was that of a rather wet and bedraggled grey squirrel that swam onto the pier steps and bounded energetically past competitors!
The competition prize giving was followed by the declaration of winning fish in the club’s lure fishing competition once again generously sponsored by Danny and Pauline at High Street Tackle.
1st – Daniel Welch – bass – 72cm – £200 Voucher
2nd – Wayne Thomas – bass – 67cm – £100 Voucher
3rd – Ross Stanway – bass -55cm – £25.00 Voucher
Daniel Welch – Winning bass 72cmWayne Thomas – bass 67cm
Young Luke McCarthy’s mum and dad Heather & Simon from Summerlands Tackle are very proud of young Luke who baited up, cast out and landed, by himself, his very first carp, 15lb 14oz!
WIN A £100 GIFT VOUCHER & £100 DONATED TO RNLI APPLEDORE
HOW TO ENTER… LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST TO ENTER! IF YOU WANT TO DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING BRING US YOUR FAVOURITE FISHING PHOTO IN STORE FOR OUR WALL (You will then be entered twice!) Closing date 31st August 2021.
WHAT A 18 MONTHS… I think we can all say thank goodness for fishing and friends So it seems only fitting that as we enter the “new normal” it only feels right to recognise how far we have all come and how well we have all done and to also give back to a charity just down the road from the shop that literally didn’t stop at all through the pandemic Thank you for all your support, the shop is jam packed FULL of stock and summer ready for you
Bideford Angling Club have done a sterling job in helping to promote angling amongst their Junior membership throughout the summer.
Results :
1st Thomas Scott 15lb 14oz
2nd Mia Bell 10lb 4oz
3rd Tyler Scott 10lb
4th Lilly Bell 9lb 14oz
5th Adam Wheeler 8lb 9oz
6th Charlie Heddon 6lb 5oz .
Lucky, the pessimistic weather forecast proved unfounded , and our Juniors enjoyed another lovely afternoon on Georges lake . Thomas fished the pole on peg 17 with corn for a great net of skimmers to win the last match of the series. Mia fished her first match on peg 16 and added a 3lb carp to her net of tench to finish 2nd. The final points tally resulted in a draw in the over 14’s for first place between the Scott brothers , 56 points apiece.Count back on weigh saw Thomas take the Gold medal. In the under 14’s category Charlie Heddon collected Gold with 42 points.
Huge well done to all competitors and helpers for making this event possible. Thanks to BaitTech, for generous donations of prizes , Mervyn Beal for sponsoring the medals also to Summerlands for their support.
John Deprielle took his 2 Sons fishing to Anglers Eldorado where they had a great time catching Golden Tench from the Top Lake & also a 34lb Catfish from the Cat & Carp Lake 2.
