It was a busy day in the estuary with several local clubs holding competitions on Sunday November 18th. The river has been in fine
form for flounder over the past couple of weeks with some really good catches.
Paul Hutching’s and his friend Andrew McKenna landed 41 flounder during a recent session along with four bass to 4lb. The biggest flounder fell to Paul and scaled 1lb 14oz.
Cyril Petherick competition
Results.
1st Andy Sanders flounder 2 lb 100%
2nd Andy sanders flounder 1 lb 13oz 90.625%
3rd Antony Smith flounder 1 lb 11 1/4oz 85.156
32 seniors fishing and 4 juniors with 29 fish weighed.
Kyle Blackmore narrowly missed out on a prize with these fine flounder the best of which scaled 1lb 10 3/4oz
Barnstaple Triple Hook – Flounder Open
1st – Kevin Hancock – flounder 1lb 9oz
2nd Dennis Toleman – Flounder 1lb 81/2oz
Braunton Small Boats
Braunton Small Boat and Angling Club. Eight members fished a flounder competition.
The flounder fishing season has got into full swing following a few frosty mornings with plump flounder being caught from all the popular estuary marks.
(Above) Cameron Atkinson has enjoyed flounder success closer to home landing a fine specimen of 2lb 5oz one of the best from the Taw in recent years.
Mark Beer won Triple Hook Clubs RBL Club Shield Flounder Match with a fine flounder of 2lb 7/8oz. Runner up was Kevin Hancock with a flounder of 1lb 103/4oz and third Dennis Toleman with a flounder of 1lb 97/8oz.
(Above)Paul Hutchings and Andrew McKenna enjoyed an action packed session on the Taw estuary catching upwards of thirty flounder over 1lb 4oz the best a beauty of 1lb 14oz.
Further afield North Devon angler Dan Miles Redmore secured first place in Sunday’s heat of the prestigious National Flounder competition fished on the River Teign estuary over last weekend. Dan’s flounder scaled a fraction over 2lb and beat a field of almost 170 anglers.
Heidi Green with a winning brace
Heidi Green took first and second places in Appledore Shipbuilders Rover catching flounder of 1lb 143/8oz and 1lb 133/8oz. Third was Josh Atkinson with a flounder of 1lb 117/8oz. Amelia Mellor took first and third in the junior section with flounder of 1lb 9oz and 1lb 5oz. In second was Jack Pike with a flattie of 1lb 71/2oz.
Nathan Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs monthly rover with a dogfish of 2lb 1oz. In second was Terry Dymond with a flounder of 1lb 4oz.
(Above)First Light off Minehead
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club members enjoyed a day out of Minehead aboard Steve Webber’s boat Osprey. Cod were the intended target but proved difficult to find on the day. Persistence eventually paid off when Rob Scoine’s bait was seized by a fine double figure cod weighing 12lb 4oz. James Thomas boated a blonde ray of 12lb the best of several ray caught including thornback and one other blonde. Smoothound, spurdog, dogfish and numerous conger were also caught.
The autumn is racing towards its close as winter descends and now is the time to catch that special fish. Looking back over the decades November is a month that can produce that fish of a lifetime. Kevin Legge’s British record tope of 66lb and 66lb 8oz were both caught in early November. Barry Hill’s shore caught record coalfish of 18lb was also caught in November and Tim Neal caught a rockling of 3lb 1oz that also held the British record. The stories behind some of these fish are in my book I Caught a Glimpse due for release in mid February 2019.
Combe Martin SAC member Ian Laird enjoyed his first flounder session of the season landing several fish on light tackle from a mark in the Taw estuary.
The Pearson family enjoyed a fun flounder fishing session in the Taw estuary with Candy Pearson hauling a double shot of flounders and nine year old Ellie Pearson catching a whopper of 1lb 10oz.
The humble flounder can provide great fun for family fishing with no sophisticated tackle required as the fish can be caught in very shallow water. For great sport use a light carp rod or spinning rod with a 2 or 3 hook trace with size 2 fine wire hooks and a bunch of ragworm. The fish can also be caught using light float tackle set so the the bait trundles over the sand. LRF style tackle can also give an alternative challenge with artificial ragworm on the hook worked slowly through likely spots.
Summerlands Tackle are presently selling fresh locally dug harbour ragworm. Phone to secure your order if you suffer from a bad back it can ease the pain.
The autumn estuary can provide some fine sport for young anglers with flounder and school bass.
Ian Cairns won Triple Hook Clubs Junior Open Flounder competition with a fine flounder of 1lb 87/8oz. In second place was Roxy Mortimer with a flounder of 1lb 8oz. Joan Cairns won the ladies Open Flounder match with a flattie of 1lb 73/4oz. Christine Hancock was runner up with a flounder of 1lb 31/4oz.
Andrew Conibear took his son Thomas to the Taw estaury where they enjoyed sport with flounder and bass to 5lb 9oz.
Antony Smith landed the only two fish in Bideford Angling Clubs Monthly Rover a fine specimen spurdog of 12lb 81/2oz and a whiting of 1lb.
Dennis Toleman won Triple Hook Clubs first competition of the New Year winning the Sportsman’s Cup with a flounder of 1lb 3oz. In runner up spot was Rob Hancock with a flounder of 1lb 21/2oz.
In Appledore Shipbuilders Rover eighteen senior anglers failed to catch a fish big enough to bring to the scales. Jack Pike secured victory in the Junior section with a whiting of 101/2oz.
The humble flounder have introduced many young anglers to the joys of fishing. Kevin Legge took six year old Grace Joslin on an angling adventure on the banks of the Taw Estuary where under Kevin’s guidance she landed a fine 1lb 10oz flounder. One of angling’s greatest attributes is that it gives that hands on link to nature that can last a lifetime.
(Above)Heidi Green with a flounder caught in Appledore Shipbuilders Christmas Competition
Ragworm have been hard to dig this year which may have contributed to a slightly lower than normal attendance of twenty six in Appledore Shipbuilders Christmas Competition. Fishing was steady with only two members not being able to tempt a flounder and 55 fish brought back to the scales with the majority returned after being weighed. The winner of this year’s competition and taking home the trophy and the XL turkey was Terry Dymond who caught a fine flounder of 1lb 12, the runner up was Theresa Babb who pushed Terry close with a 1lb 11 1/8ozs, in third was David Langbridge with a flounder of 1lb 10 1/4ozs. Best fish by a Junior was Chelsea Babb with a flounder of 1lb 9 3/8ozs.
Flounder enthusiasts cast their lines into the Taw estuary in the hope of securing their Christmas Dinner. The top ten lucky winners were as follows.
1 Darren Short 1lb 9 3/8oz
2 Nigel Gullen 1lb 8 1/8oz
3 Nathan Clements 1lb 7 3/4oz
4 John password 1lb 7 1/4oz
5 Taz Wotton. 1lb 6 3/4oz
6 Dennis Toleman 1lb 5 3/4oz
7 Steve Luxton. 1lb 3 1/2oz
8 Nick Braunton 1lb 3/1/8oz
9 Paul downing 1lb 3oz
10. Devlin Wotton. 1lb 2 7/8oz
