The latest new from Zenia at Anglers Paradise. A chance to bank a huge carp on a day ticket!
HAT TRICK FROM THE KRACKING Carp Lake!
Graham Kelly, 36 from Tiverton joined us for the 1st time to fish the Kracking Carp Lake.
AS many of you know, this Lake is challenging but to come here for the first time and to catch all 3 bites (let alone get 3 bites) is not something we hear often!!
Graham had one hell of a session, resulting in him catching a hat trick of Mirrors – 20lbs, 25lbs and 35lbs!!
Graham fished from Peg 2, used sweetcorn and pellet with a simple in-line lead set up, and the moral of the story is – keep it simple – it works!
Zenia Drury Gregorek sent news of her young sons latest angling adventures.
Please find enclosed pictures of our eldest Son Zaine Drury-Gregorek, 6 who is proving to be quite the Angler! Zaine went Lure fishing with his Dad Joe on our Predator Lake Valhalla, and within just two hours he caught a Personal Best Perch AND his 1st EVER Pike!! A double Whammy and in just 2 hours!! His arms were aching when he got home after all that reeling in! He is definitely 100% ‘hooked’ into fishing!
KRACKING PERSONAL BEST FOR SEAN!
Sean Mutch, 25 From Braunton , North Devon has been on a mission to catch a 30lber from the Kracking Carp Lake since last Summer putting in 15 nights of trying but still no success, so he decided to come back for day’s session to give it another try.
Finally, after all the blood, sweat and tears, Sean’s moment came and he ended his quest by catching an amazing New PB 39lb 8oz Mirror!! The Fish in question has a rather rare Z marking on it, we can now make it official that the Fish is named ‘Zebra’, so Sean, you can tell your mates you’ve caught a Zebra!!
Sean caught the Mirror from Swim 4 in the margins on a 10mm CC Moore live system boillie and pop up, plastic tiger-nut mounted on a KD Rig over a handful of chopped boillie and CC Moore roasted nut Spodmix Fished with dead slack lines.
It just goes to show that if you put the effort in and never give up that anything is possible. CARP LEGEND ROB MAYLIN LANDS A KRACKER!
We had Rob Maylin stay with us last week with his Wife and Son for a Family Holiday as well as some fishing.
Rob decided to have a go on the Kracking Carp Lake in search of his 1st Fish of 2017.
Good job he did, because he landed this Beauty in the shape of a 32lb 12oz Mirror!
Rob Said –
“1st fish of 2017 for me, this beautiful ‘Orange’ 32.12 from Anglers Paradise caught from the Kracking Carp Lake. Red Spicy fish doing the business combined with an ESP size 6 Choddy straight out of the packet!”
WELL DONE ROB! IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO CATCH A CARP – IT’S DEFINITELY THIS MAN!!
Anglers Paradise
Footnote – North Devon Angling News
Rob Maylin is one of the founders of the modern carp fishing era his books Bazil’s Bush and Fox Pool are both collectable books now and reflect the carp fishing ethos of the late eighties and early nineties. The birth of the full time carp angler obsessed with catching the biggest at all costs with a beer or two on the way!
Anglers Paradise’s Lure Weekend proved to be a great success with Andy Payne making the headlines with what could be the UK’s first ever catfish on a lure. The huge catfish estimated at over 60lb was tempted on the first day of the weekend and helped to secure a victory for the seven man team captained by Nathan Edgell of Fladen Tackle. The fully subscribed event attracted lure-fishing contestants from all over the UK and was generously sponsored by Fladen, Quantum Specialist, Fox Rage and Drennan. The Individual winner of the event was Tim Halls who landed four species including perch, rainbow trout, brown trout and blue trout. The individual biggest fish were won by James Thomas who landed the events biggest pike at 85cm, Phil Burke who caught the biggest perch of 31.5cm and Dominic Cooke who caught the biggest trout a fine brown trout of 69cm.
(Middle) Dominic Cooke with the weekends biggest trout(Above)Phil Burke winner of the events biggest perch(Above)James Thomas and team captain Ben Humber of Fox Rage with the weekends biggest pike(Above)Zenia Drury Gregorek, Ben Humber, Zyg Gregorek, Tim Halls(Overall winner),Nathan Edgell, Rob Williams, David Drake, Joe Drury
(Above )The winning Team
Anglers Paradise is one of the UK’s best known fisheries with a reputation for its specimen fish, luxury accommodation, famous anglers and most of all for its colorful founder and man at the helm Zyg Gregorek. The complex was founded after Zyg moved to North Devon in the late 1970’s transforming a marshland into the angling holiday and day ticket destination it is today.
The true heart of Anglers Paradise is the Safari Bar with its walls lined with pictures of big fish and memento’s of Zyg’s globe trotting exploits. It is to the bar that many anglers have returned after a day by the water to recount their tales from the waters edge. The room is certainly unique and oozes angling history with antique rods and angling related paraphernalia all around.
The 2017 Lure Fishing Weekend was certainly a friendly competition with lure enthusiasts who had travelled from all over the UK quickly making new friends and greeting fellow piscator’s from past events. The weather conditions over the two days proved to be a little challenging with cold winds and rain chilling contestants to the bone. However spirits remained high throughout the event with the warmth of friendship and plate fulls of hot food thawing out the chilled anglers.
(Above) The windswept trout lake
On the Saturday night the auction of a 1913 Fishing Gazette book and an Orvis rod raised over £150 for local charities. Since its formation Anglers Paradise are proud to have raised many thousands of pounds for local charities. Anglers Mail contributor Bill Rushmer who has visited many times was close at hand to assist with the auction.
The Saturday night auction raised over £150 for local charities.
The competition was fished on four lakes with the teams of seven rotating over the two days with constant tuition from the four team captains. As an occasional lure angler I certainly learned a lot about modern lure fishing techniques with information and tactics shared willingly between anglers.
(Above)The entire cast of the Lure Fishing Weekend.
Thanks go to the events sponsors, Fox Rage, Drennan, Quantum Specialist and Fladen Anyone can Fish
Many thanks also to Joe Drury for organising the event, to Zyg Gregorek for Anglers Paradise and to the Gregorek Family and all the staff at the complex.
Damien Chambers, 30 from Southport came with Partner Gemma to our Annual Valentines Weekend and after enjoying the 3 Course Meal, the Viagra Wine and the Fun and Games, Damien went onto the Main Carp Lake the morning after in the hope of a Fish or Two, and that he did!!
Damien caught a 19lb and 21lb Mirror both on Paradise Baits – The Twist! He didn’t get to picture the 19lb Mirror but he did of this stunning Scaley 21lb Mirror.
( Below) SURPRISE ON THE FLY!
Thomas Winspear, 26 who is part of the estate team, decided to have a go Fly Fishing on the Trout Lake after work for some Trout action, but he had a shock when his rod bent nearly in half and he landed this Beauty! A Grass Carp about 8-9lbs, caught on a Bloodworm Buzzer. Tom said it gave him a great fight too!
(Below) 5LB CHUB MAKES THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT – EVER!
During a holiday away ourselves to Shropshire, we took our eldest 6 year old son Fishing on his 6th Birthday to the River Severn in the hope of a Pike, he had the shock of his life when he struck into a hard fighting Chub and landed a New Personal Best at 5lbs! Zaine caught the Chub on a 5oz Deadbait Rudd too! He said “it was the best birthday present ever”, he’s even beaten his Mummy and Daddy’s Personal Bests!! He is officially hooked and already becoming a fine little angler!
BIG Congratulations to Arron Fisher who has caught a 47lb 6oz Mirror from the Kracking Carp Lake, not only is he the first angler to catch on Kracking Carp this year so far but this fish is also Arron’s New UK Personal Best Carp, as you can imagine, Arron is pretty chuffed with himself and quite rightly so!
The Kracking Fish have been brought on for many years by our team from Tiddlers at Ounces to THIS BIG, so we are very proud to see anglers go onto catching them and making New PB’s!
Arron said –
“Well here she is, the ‘Jewel of the Lake’ and a new English PB at 47.06lb. I am absolutely buzzing to have caught her especially as it is the first fish out of 2017. She couldn’t resist a 12mm CR1 pastel pop up on a armohawk size 8 chod hook fished with a bag of CR1 crumb and HOB Blitz and hemp. Also a massive thank you to Andrew Moores for driving out and doing a great job on the photos.”
Zyg Gregorek continues his globetrotting adventures achieving yet another milestone as he describes below!
Well done Zyg looking forward to meeting up at the lure fishing weekend at the end of February.
Hi All
Having recently returned from North Carolina, on my latest quest to catch a Roundscale / Hatchet Spearfish. This was my fifth attempt in the last four years.
I decided to try North Carolina, after contacting several skippers, I picked Dan Rooks on Tuna Duck. Dan has fished the area for nearly 20 years and was very knowledgeable on the necessary identification patterns. He was very willing and wanted to help our expedition. Despite adverse weather conditions surrounding Hurricane Ermine, of the many Marlin caught during the four days only two of the fish were positively identified by Dan as Roundscale Spearfish. Thank God. Mission accomplished.
All fish were photographed and released.
Following the skippers report to the IGFA and photographic evidence. I can now confirm and am very proud to say I finally caught the Roundscale Spearfish and have now caught all the known Spearfish species, Long Billed, Short Billed, Mediterranean the elusive Roundscale. I believe I am the only person to have achieved this feat.
In addition following the capture of the Roundscale Spearfish I have achieved the coveted IGFA Royal Billfish Slam with 12 different species.
A very proud Zenia at Anglers Paradise sent me this report on the early angling success for her two young son’s.
This is a very special latest catches as it is about my 2 son’s Zaine and Zeejay who both love fishing and our youngest who is 3 went for his first time with Joe at the weekend and is now hooked, please find enclosed the pictures and write up.
We have been waiting until our youngest Son Zeejay who has just turned 3, showed the signs that he was ‘ready’ to start his fishing journey, and now came the time that we felt he was ready for his first fishing trip! Joe aka Daddy decided to take Zeejay Lure Fishing at Valhalla in search of some Perch to wet his appetite and hopefully catch his 1st ever Perch on a Lure. The weather was cold, but Zeejay just loved being with his Daddy and Fishing for the first time so he didn’t care, he just wanted to catch a ‘Phish’!
They couldn’t believe their luck when they landed Zeejay’s 1st ever Pike!! Zeejay’s face was a picture, and he was speechless (which is VERY Rare) when they got it into the net!
It was then our eldest son’s turn, Zaine who is 5, and he managed to land himself this lovely little Perch on a Lure, so we had 2 very happy brothers with their catches! It’s so great to share our love of the sport with our sons and we hope that others will do the same with theirs and get out there!
Nathan Butterfiled, from Newark took a break from his Manager’s Role at Cromwell Lakes to fish the Main Carp Lake and landed a 17lb Common and 21lb 1oz Mirror.
Nathan caught both fish on a size 8 withy pool rig baited with a cc Moores Ns1 yellow hook bait with over 30 freebies.
(Above) 17lb 1oz common
Anglers Paradise
NEVER GIVE UP!
Is the Moral of the story!
Michael Pearson from Mansfield took some ‘time out’ of the Netting Madness last week to do some fishing on the Main Lake, the fish were playing very hard to get but that didn’t stop him!
He booked an extra Night’s Stay and his persistence paid off as he landed this beauty of a 18lb 8oz Mirror right at the last minute!
Michael used a withy pool rig size 6 razor point hook to soft braided hook link with a 10mm northern special pop up.
Anglers Paradise are very pleased and proud to announce that this year they have raised a Total of £9000 in Fundraising throughout the year!!
Zenia reports below:-
We fund raise All Year Round with Weekly Raffles, Labels, Auctions and other Events and the Netting Week alone raised an amazing £2000 in just one week!! This total was raised with special events like – Bingo Night, Race Night, Zombie Party Night, Darts, Pool Competitions, Henna Tatoo’s, Nail Painting, Guess the weight competitions (of people!!), Treasure Hunt, BBQ (With Thanks to Warren’s Butchers of Launceston for Kindly Donating The Meat), Bonfire and Fireworks Night and more.
We would like to take this opportunity to say a BIG THANK YOU TO ALL that have contributed as without you – we couldn’t have done it!!
The Money was donated to the following Charities –
Devon Air Ambulance – £2000
Halwill Primary School – £2000
Halwill Church Tower (the 3000 year Tower is disintegrating and need restoring) – £2000
Repairs to Plymouth Cathedral – £2000
Holsworthy Food Bank – £500
Appledore Life Boats – £500
TOTAL = £9000!!
So a Round of Applause to us ALL!
Here is to 2017 and To Raising LOTS MORE For Great Causes!
HAT TRICK FROM THE KRACKING Carp Lake!
