April Rover results
1st Antony Smith Small Eyed Ray 8lb 1oz 89.583%
2nd Elliot Clements Dogfish 1lb 15 1/4oz 65.104%
Wayne Thomas took top spot in Combe Martin SAC’s April Rover with a boat caught small eyed ray of 7lb. Nick Phillips was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 2lb 3.5oz.
Hopefully with the oncoming Spring and warmer temperatures sport will start to pick up along the coast. Smoothound will be caught from all the familiar marks over coming weeks along with a few bass. The estuary will be well worth trying for bass and mullet with the chance of gilthead bream.
Small eyed ray will be worth targeting from surf beaches with Woolacombe and Putsborough favourites.
Thick lipped grey mullet are already being caught from local harbours and offer excellent sport on light tackle.
Fly Fishing in saltwater is growing in popularity with bass and grey mullet offering some exciting and at times challenging opportunities from the estuary and local surf beaches.
Bideford Angling Clubs twenty-four rover resulted in just one fish being registered at the end of the match. A dogfish scaling 1lb 15.75oz to the rod of Nathan Clements.
Appledore Shipbuilders February Rover was equally uninspiring with Josh Atkinson registering the winning fish a dogfish of 2lb.
Spring is often a lean time for the sea angler with winter species departing and fish of the warmer months yet to arrive. Early bass and ray could be worth targeting with bull huss likely from rock marks.
Sea anglers faced a stormy weekend that impacted heavily upon local shore competitions. Bideford Angling Club and Appledore Shipbuilders both had fixtures on Sunday where members braved the strong winds and heavy rain to no avail with nil fish registered in either competition.
Combe Martin SAC members fished a weekend long competition that enabled members to embrace Saturdays more favourable conditions. Kevin Legge took the top two places in the match with bull huss of 9lb 12oz and 8lb 10oz. I took third place with a winter mullet of 2lb 12oz.
It is clear that thick lipped grey mullet are present in waters around the South-West throughout the year. When I first started fishing for mullet over forty years ago these fish were considered to be a fish of the warmer months. It is now apparent that they can be caught in every month of the year throughout the South-West.
Joan Cairns won Triple Hook Clubs Christmas Turkey Open with a fine flounder scaling 2lb 1.75oz. The competition attracted 42 competitors. The top ten competitors listed below all took home a turkey.
1st – Joan Cairns – flounder 2lb 1.75oz
2nd – Dennis Toleman – flounder 1lb 10.75oz
3rd – Mark Beer – flounder 1lb 8.2oz
4th – Martin T – flounder 1lb 7.75oz
5th – Peter Squires -flounder 1lb 7oz
6th – Damien Babb – flounder 1lb 6.75oz
7th- Steve Luxton – flounder 1lb 6.5oz
8th – John Passmore – flounder – 1lb 6oz
9th – Robbie Hancock – flounder 1lb 2.25oz
10th – Nigel Gullon – flounder 1lb 2.2oz
December 24hour results
1st Tony Gussin Whiting 1lb 10 108.333%
2nd Tony Gussin Whiting 1lb 10 108.333%
3rd Andrew Clements Whiting 1lb 6 3/4 94.791%
That’s the clubs angling calendar done and dusted for the year.
Fingers crossed we have a better start to 2022 than we did 2021……
Congratulations to all the winners throughout the year and hopefully we can hit the ground running next year.
All the best…. 🎉 from Nathan Clements.
Report from Andrew Atkinson
Kevin Legge won Combe Martin SAC’s Christmas Competition with a specimen bull huss of 11lb 7oz. Dave Brooke was runner up with a conger of 18lb 5oz and Wayne Thomas third with a bull huss of 7lb 15oz.
Two Boats fished Appledore Shipbuilder’s October boat competition. The winner was Andrew Atkinson with a Small Eyed Ray of 9lb 2ozs. Second was David Atkinson with a Dogfish of 3lb 0ozs and 3rd was Owen Atkinson with a Bull Huss of 10lb 4ozs.
Cooler temperatures a bit of fresh and the flounder season is well underway. Flattie fanatic David Jenkins has been targeting the Taw flatties catching close to 100 up to 1lb 8oz during a weeks fishing for his favourite fish. He also caught several bass with several over 3lb.
Bideford Angling Clubs monthly Rover was dominated by flounder.
1st Julien Stainer – flounder 1lb 8.5oz 76.562%
2nd Andy Sanders – flounder 1lb 7oz 71.875%
3rd Dick Talbot flounder – 1lb 5oz 65.625%
3rd Julien Stainer flounder – 1lb 5oz 65.625%
Appledore Ship-Builders
