Graham Snow secured victory in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly Rover landing a fine specimen thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 113/4oz. Runner up was Antony Smith with a dogfish of 2lb 2oz and equal third were Phil Vanstone with a thornback ray of 5lb 7oz and Nathan Clements with a dogfish of 1lb 13oz.
Daniel Scott won Appledore Shipbuilders monthly rover with a fine small eyed ray of 10lb 51/2oz. In second was Josh Atkinson with a small eyed ray of 9lb 153/8oz and in third Graham Snow with his thick lipped mullet of 4lb 111/4oz.
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition @ Tarka Swims George’s Lake Results
1st Keith Copland 7lb 2oz
2nd Dean Siford 3lb 5oz
3rd Graham Currington 2lb 4oz
4th Martin Turner 1lb 13oz
5th Pete Slade 15oz,
16 fished this event in a bitter Easterly wind which appeared to switch the whole lake off . Leading up to this ,the first match of the year on Tarka ,most members were optimistic for a decent match. Keith was fishing his first match after an operation on his right wrist, he drew on the point peg F and fished a cage feeder with micros and red maggot for 2 nice bream late in the match to snatch victory from Dean Siford on the next peg who also found a nice bream and some roach on the tip.Third spot went to Graham Currington who fished the pole and maggot around 8 metres on peg Q for a net of small silver fish. Martin Turner drew in the shallows on peg A and landed some small carp for 4th place.
There are encouraging signs along the coast with smoothound showing from regular marks a couple of weeks earlier than expected. Ian Hooper and Nick Job fished a popular local shore mark and landed several hounds to almost 7lb and Cameron Atkinson landed a good hound in Appledore Shipbuilders Competition. ( See Results Below).
Combe Martin SAC Member Mark Jones ventured out with his lure rod and was pleased to Catch and release a pleasing bass of over 4lb.
Reel Deal Skipper Dan Hawkins took a party of anglers in search of an early shark and succeeded with Ross Needs from Bristol bringing a huge porbeagle estimated at 500lb to the side of the boat after a battle lasting 2hours and 10 minutes. The fine fish was carefully unhooked and released and swam away strongly. (Below) See video on Facebook Page).
(Above) Cameron Atkinson took the top three places in Appledore Shipbuilders Monthly Rover landing a dogfish of 2lb 71/8oz for first a smoothound of 7lb 81/4oz for runner up and a dog of 2lb 6oz for third. 19 fished the competition.
Bideford monthly rover results
1st Paul Downing thornback Ray 10lb 6 115.277%
2nd Dick Talbot bull Huss 9lb 101/2oz 96.562%
3rd dick Talbot dog fish 2lb 9oz 85.416%
4th Paul Downing thornback Ray 6lb 5oz 70.138%
5th Jon Stevens dog fish 2lb 0 1/2oz 67.708%
6th Andrew Clements thornback Ray 5lb 11 1/4oz 63.367%
(Above)Paul Downing with a fine thornback of 10lb 6oz
Kyle Blackmore travelled to the Chesil Beach to secure victory in Bidefords monthly Rover. I have heard a reports of several good local fish over the weekend and will publish as soon as I get full details.
Bideford Angling Club 24hour results
1st Kyle Blackmore – Blonde Ray 17lb 11oz 147.395%
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Competition Results @ Highampton Fishery
1st Nathan Underwood 38lb 8oz
2nd Martin Turner 31lb 13oz
3rd Steve Bailey 22lb 3oz
4th Richard Jefferies 17lb 3oz
5th John Lisle 11lb 13oz
6th Ian Sedgewick 6lb 8oz
13 anglers fished the match that went ahead despite the strong North Westerly wind and squally showers. The reduced field allowed us to peg the leeward banks of both lakes meaning that most competitors had the wind off their backs. Nathan Underwood drew the point on the second lake and after catching 3 carp on paste on the pole , switched to the method feeder with a chocolate orange wafter to take a dozen more for a convincing victory. Martin Turner landed 8 slightly better fish on the fancied peg 4 on the 1st lake on 8mm pellet and bomb tactics for second place. 3rd spot went to club coarse section Chairman Steve Bailey on the 2nd lake, peg 8, margin pole carp catch on corn. The league after 3 matches stands as : Martin Turner 29 points John Lisle 27 , Richard Jefferies 20 Nathan Underwood 20
Bideford and District Angling Club 24 hour sea results
1st Kyle Blackmore spur 11lb 110%
2nd Rick eavis rockling 1lb 8 100%
3rd Rob Harris bull Huss 8lb 14 1/2 89.062%
I was privileged to attend Bideford Angling Clubs recent presentation night where it was good to catch up with members of Bideford Club. The club has a long history and continues to thrive in todays ever changing world and has even managed to attract some valuable young anglers. The youth of today are an essential ingredient for the future of angling clubs and angling as a pastime that can enrich a lifetime bringing valuable engagement with the environment.
The match was held on the prolific Wooda complex , the 2 match lakes hosted the 22 competitors , the cold windy weather made fishing, for some ,quite tricky. The shallow end of the top lake produced the winner, John landed some of the larger carp fishing with paste at very close range beside the reed beds. Kevin had a hectic start catching over 30 carp from the dam end on lake 2 for 2nd. 3rd place was Craig with another pole catch on the top lake. Stephen Craker came in 4th with a pole and feeder catch from lake 2. John Lisle and Stephen Craker move into joint first in the championship on 19 points.
The weekend proved challenging for sea anglers with the first half blighted by a bitter North East wind that chilled to the bone with temperatures overnight rumoured to drop to minus ten.
Shore fishing was generally hard going with deep water less impacted upon by the low temperatures most productive. I will post a full write later on a my trip on Bluefin with South Molton Angling Club.
COMBE MARTIN SAC Winter Rover Results
Kevin Legge took top spot in Combe Martin SAC’s Winter Rover landing specimen spurdog scaling 12lb 7oz. In runner up spot was Wayne Thomas ( Myself) with a boat caught conger of 30lb boated on John Barbeary’s boat bluefin off Ilfracombe. Kevin also secured third place with a spurdog of 9lb 8oz.
Bideford Angling Club – February Rover Result
Dick Talbot won Bidefords Monthly Rover with a three beard rockling if 1lb 3oz. In runner spot was Dan Walbridge with a rockling of 1lb 2oz and third Dick Talbot with another rockling off 1lb 1.5oz. Terry Dymond took third place with a flounder of 1lb 67/8oz. Fifth was Stephen Found with a dogfish of 2lb 1.25oz.
The end of season result was first and second Dick Talbot with his rockling of 1lb 3oz and 1lb 1.5oz
APPLEDORE SHIPBUILDERS Monthly Rover
David John Langbridge took first and second places In Appledore Shipbuilders Rover landing flounder of 1lb 91/8oz and 1lb 71/8oz. Terry Dymond was third with a flounder of 1lb 67/8oz.
Graham Snow secured first and second in Appledore Shipbuilders January Winter League competition landing a brace of flounder scaling 1lb 155/8oz and 1lb 77/8oz. Third place went to Andrew Atkinson with a dogfish of 2lb 1oz.
BIG WINTER MULLET
Combe Martin SAC member John Avery landed fine winter thick lipped mullet scaling 5lb 1oz.
Bideford Angling Club
24hour results
1st Antony Smith blonde Ray 13lb 14oz 115.625%
2nd Antony Smith smalleye Ray 9lb 12oz 108.333%
3rd Nathan Clements thornback Ray 9lb 11oz 107.638%
Bideford and District Angling Club Coarse Section Monthly Comp @ Morchard Road Results :
1st Martin Turner 55lb 5oz
2nd Pete Slade 50lb
3rd Stephen Craker 41lb 2oz
4th Richard Jefferies 40lb 1oz
5th Martin Hawker 29lb 14oz
14 anglers fished our first competition on this prolific carp fishery.Conditions were rather windy and quite cold. Martin Turner drew peg 5, and caught 25 small carp on pole fished red maggots over micro pellets. The second placed angler was Pete who fished on peg 10 , he landed a similar number of fish on pole and feeder tactics. Stephen Craker fished on the point on peg 12, he used tip and long pole for 3rd place. Richard Jefferies 4th place was top weight on the road bank , he caught on a cage feeder. Next months competition is at Wooda Lakes on 10th Feb.
