Lure Fishing is one of the few growth areas in UK angling with this exciting branch of angling bringing new recruits into the sport each year. The crystal clear waters along the North Devon Coast this year are ideal for searching for bass and other species. Combe Martin Sea Angling Club Members are competing in a two month long competition that commenced on July 1st and culminates on September 2nd with the presentation of prizes at the clubs annual Fun Fishing Event. The competition is generously sponsored by High Street Tackle Ilfracombe who are providing a quality lure fishing rod and reel. Danny Watson is a keen lure angler and ensures that the shop has a vast stock of lures to tempt bass, pollock, mackerel and a range of other species.
IMPORTANT – Please remember that there is a total ban on retaining bass for the table.
Some of the clubs anglers have already enjoyed some lure fishing success with Ross Stanway amongst members to land bass to over 5lb.
3lb bass on a fiiish crazy sandeel.
I have been lure fishing for bass over many seasons now and have enjoyed success from time to time with bass to almost 10lb. The excitement when a big bass hits the lure is undoubtedly addictive and the quest for the perfect lure costly. I am certain that lures catch far more anglers than fish but that’s all part of the fun. The most important feature of a lure is that it gives the angler confidence for a confident angler fishes with conviction and belief. In truth half a dozen lures will probably be all you will ever need; a few hard plastics,:- shallow diving, surface lures, soft plastics and metal lures.
My favourite hard plastic lure -IMA Komomo SF-125 in Candy Crush Colours.
Bass tempted on a surface lure.
Shallow boulder strewn shorelines are my favourite for lure fishing
Blue skies, calm seas and clear water the lure fishers paradise. Daniel Welch has been enjoying some superb sport off North Devon’s spectacular coastline.
Awesome light gear fishing for pollack on a 16g Nomura rod. Loads of pollack around 4-5lb and got smashed up by a couple big ones. So moved to a slightly heavier setup and had a 10lb 3oz beauty caught on a size 4 fiiish candy green lure supplied by High Street Tackle
I set out on my first lure fishing session of the summer with Jeff Pearce and took him to a remote rock mark that has been kind to me in the past. I was pleased to see that the water clarity was excellent as we looked down into the bay whilst we strolled down the cliff path. We had timed our visit to coincide with low water and I knew that by the time we arrived at the far end of the bay the tide would be starting to creep in. Lure fishing sessions are generally determined by tide, light and water clarity.
By the time we reached our starting point we were both perspiring from the effort of rock hopping. Jeff was probably wondering if the effort was worth it. I clipped on my favourite shallow hard plastic lure and hopped onto a boulder. I flicked the lure thirty yards or so out and commenced an erratic retrieve. The water clarity was excellent and with my Polaroids removing glare from the water I could watch the lure as I worked it back to the waters edge. On the third cast a dark shape materialized behind the lure. The fish closed on the lure and I kept up a steady retrieve giving the lure a twitch before running out of water. Lure and bass converged, the rod hooped over as I watched the drama unfold at the end of my line. It is magical moments like this that feed the addiction of lure fishing. That moment of electrifying contact especially when its all clearly visible.
Success so early in the session was just what we wanted and ensured that each cast was made with optimism and belief an essential ingredient in any form of angling. Jeff was into a small pollock a few casts later that that further buoyed our optimism. Half an hour later I once again felt that thrilling jolt down the line as a fish hit the lure but this time the hooks failed to take a hold. Next cast into the same spot and bang! Another bass was gyrating on the line. A similar size to the first fish that I estimated as close to 4lb.
As the tide crept in we decided to make our way back along the bay. Sadly huge rafts of weed had drifted close to the shore and rendered a large portion of the bay difficult to fish. We finished the session fishing an area of the bay that I have found seldom brings any success but with a setting sun and a couple of fish under the belt we were not complaining.
My favourite ground for lure fishing for bass is shallow and boulder strewn. Bass will swim into water barely deep enough to cover their backs and in this terrain they do not have long to inspect the lure. There are thousands of lures to choose from and lure choice is important and needs to suit the conditions so give a little thought as to what you think will work. Confidence in the lure is vitally important and this factor probably influences what is successful. I carry a handful of lures in my Snowbee sling-bag and only use one or two for 90% of my fishing. This doesn’t stop me being tempted when I visit the tackle shop where I suspect the lures catch more anglers than fish.
(Above) A fine selection of lures in Ilfracombe’s High Street Tackle
Opportunities to fish for pike are limited in North Devon with only around half a dozen venues holding the species. If you fancy a try at pike fishing Anglers Paradise has a good stock of these toothy critters available to target with lures. See report from Zenia at AP below.
PIKE ALERT
Ashley Bunning used his day off work to have a couple of hours on Valhalla. Ashley caught 3 Pike in total with this being the biggest and used a Ecogear Ikajaco Lure to catch them.
Remember our Predator Lake Valhalla is now open for all to fish until February, time to get some Winter Lure Fishing in!
Anglers Paradise just held their annual Lure Weekend which was a great success. Full report from Zenia. The weather was testing, rain, wind and hail but every Angler still stuck it out till the end of the Competition!
There were 20 Lure Anglers that took part and the 4 Teams were Captained by Nathan Edgell from Fladen, David Watkin-Smith from Quantum, Kevin Cox from Fox Rage and David Drake from Drennan. The Competition ran over 2 days of fishing on 4 different Lakes that consisted of our Predator Lake Valhalla, the Specimen Cat Lake, the Trout Lake and the Bottom Cat and Carp Lake at Eldorado of which all Teams fished each Lake in rotation.
In total, there were 11 Pike, 14 Perch, 2 Trout and the 1st ever Anglers Paradise Lure caught Koi and Golden Orfe to come out in the annual Competition, there was also a big Catfish lost, so no Cats were landed this year!
The Winner of the whole Competition was Damon Braxton who caught 3 different Species at a combined length of 108cm, Damon caught a 39.5cm Koi (which is the 1st ever Koi to be caught on a Lure here!) a 10.5cm Rudd and a 58cm Pike. Fladen and Anglers Paradise Sponsored this Event meaning Damon Won a Week’s Holiday for 2 at Anglers Paradise and a huge range of Fladen Predator Tackle, including a Rod, Reel, Lures and Clothing. Damon’s Team Captain was Fladen’s very own Pike King – Nathan Edgell, who was very proud of his Team Member to Win the Competition!
The Runner Up was Lee Paynton who had a Perch and a Pike at a combined length of 92cm, Sponsored by Quantum. Third Place was Tom Wilson who also had a Perch and a Pike with a combined length of 80.5cm, Sponsored by Fladen.
Tom Wilson took the Crown for the Biggest Pike with a respectable 68.5cm Pike from the Specimen Cat Lake, although Nathan Edgell actually caught the Biggest Pike measuring 86cm but as he’s a Team Captain – it doesn’t count!! Tom was in Team Quantum with Captain David Watkin-Smith leading him to Victory! Tom won some pretty special prizes from Quantum including a Spinning Rod, a Spinning Reel, a Specialist Bag, a Rod Guard and other goodies – Thank you so much to Quantum for the amazing Prizes.
Ben Taylor Won the Biggest Trout Category with a lovely 45cm Rainbow Trout, it was hard going on the Trout Lake all weekend but in the end he and Joe Drury were the only 2 to catch Trout on the last day of fishing!! Ben was in Team Fox with Kevin Cox from Fox as Captain (and Joe Drury as stand in Captain on Sunday) who both gave Ben plenty of tips and inspiration to help him win this title! Ben won a Fox Rage set up of a Rod, a Reel and some Lures – Thank you to Fox Rage for the great prizes and for sponsoring this Category.
Lee Paynton caught the biggest Perch measuring 33cm from the Specimen Cat Lake. Lee was in Team Drennan with the wonderful Dave Drake as his Team Captain, Lee won an absolute superb selection of Drennan Lures – he could start up a new Lure Shop with them!! Special thanks to Drennan for the amazing prizes and for sponsoring this category. This was Lee’s 1st ever Lure Weekend with us, and we are so happy that not only did he win but he also shared with us that he loved every minute and will be back for next year’s Anglers Paradise Lure Weekend!
The Winning Team was Team Fox – which consisted of Jim Williams, Ben Taylor, Bex Nelson and Father and Son Dominic and Dylan Cooke, Captained by Kevin Cox, (with help from Joe Drury as stand in on Sunday) knocking Team Fladen’s Nathan Edgell off his Thrown!! They won with 5 species, Pike, Perch, Rudd, Trout and the winning/deciding fish was a Golden Orfe caught by young Dylan Cooke just 10 minutes before the end of last session!!
Congratulations to all the winners and competitors at Anglers Paradises lure weekend. Latest results direct from Zenia.
THE WINNER OF THE NOVEMBER 2017 LURE WEEKEND IS…
**Sponsored by Fladen**
DAMON BRAXTON – Who caught 3 different Species at a combined length of 108cm, Damon caught a 39.5cm Koi (which is the 1st ever Koi to be caught on a Lure here!) a 10.5cm Rudd and a 58cm Pike making him the WINNER OF OUR 2017 LURE WEEKEND!!
Fladen and Anglers Paradise Sponsored this Event meaning Damon Won a Week’s Holiday for 2 at Anglers Paradise and a huge range of Fladen Predator Tackle, including a Rod, Reel, Lures and Clothing.
Damon’s Team Captain was Fladen’s very own Pike King – Nathan Edgell, who was very proud of his Team Member to Win the Competition!
Special Thanks to Fladen for being so generous with the Prizes and a MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to Damon for WINNING THE LURE WEEKEND!!
THE BIGGEST PIKE Sponsored by Quantum
Tom Wilson took the Crown for this Category with a respectable 68.5cm Pike from the Specimen Cat Lake, although Nathan Edgell actually caught the Biggest Pike measuring 86cm but as he’s a Team Captain – it doesn’t count!!
Tom was in Team Quantum with Captain David Watkin-Smith leading him to Victory!
Tom won some pretty special prizes from Quantum including a Spinning Rod, a Spinning Reel, a Specialist Bag, a Rod Guard and other goodies – Thank you so much to Quantum for the amazing Prizes.
THE BIGGEST TROUT Sponsored by Fox Rage
Ben Taylor Won this Category with a lovely 45cm Rainbow Trout, it was hard going on the Trout Lake all weekend but in the end he and Joe Drury were the only 2 to catch Trout on the last day of fishing!!
Ben was in Team Fox with Kevin Cox from Fox as Captain (and Joe Drury as stand in Captain on Sunday) who both gave Ben plenty of tips and inspiration to help him win this title!
Ben won a Fox Rage set up of a Rod, a Reel and some Lures – Thank you to Fox Rage for the great prizes and for sponsoring this Category.
THE BIGGEST PERCH Sponsored by Drennan
Lee Paynton caught the biggest Perch measuring 33cm from the Specimen Cat Lake.
Lee was in Team Drennan with the wonderful Dave Drake as his Team Captain, Lee won an absolute superb selection of Drennan Lures – he could start up a new Lure Shop with them!! Special thanks to Drennan for the amazing prizes and for sponsoring this category.
This was Lee’s 1st ever Lure Weekend with us, and we are so happy that not only did he win but he also shared with us that he loved every minute and will be back for next year’s Anglers Paradise Lure Weekend!
An excellent report from John Deprieelle on the recent lure competition at Upper Tamar.
Upper Tamar kayak comp
The first kayak event on Upper Tamar reservoir has been and gone and despite all attempts from mother nature, the event was a success.
When fishery manager Ben Smeeth gave me the thumbs up to organize a kayak comp on the stunning venue set in Cornwall near Bude, I was delighted. This 80 acre reservoir is home to some of the biggest Perch in the Southwest but locating them can be tricky at times. With Kayak lure fishing becoming increasingly popular this was the perfect opportunity to get afloat and see if we could find a few of the dark destroyers.
The eve of the comp wasn’t looking good though as 50mph plus winds howled across the venue. That night I lay in the tent worrying that all my plans might be shot down in flames. As expected some people cried off as for some it was a long journey to just turn around and go home but the die hard anglers were there on time and it was left to the group to decide what to do. We decided to at least head out and give it a shot and test the water so to speak. I might add at this point that Savage gear had kindly donated free goodie bags consisting of T tail fat minnows and cannibal shads for all entrants. On top of that there was a prize for the biggest fish caught on one of the said lures.
We all launched into the white water being blown around like paper hankys but just 10 mins into the comp Bristol angler George Osborne hooked into a fish that not only smashed his previous PB but also caught it on the cannibal shad. The fish weighed in at 4lb 5oz and 44cm. One very happy angler and an incredible fish to set the pace. From there on people started to catch steadily and fish of almost every size graced the boats from just ounces going up in every pound class right up to another fish of 4lb 4oz caught by Lee Garner.
It wasn’t all fun and games though as the weather did claim some of us and over a thousand pounds worth of fishing tackle now sits at the bottom of Tamar reservoir. Four rods and reels, a box of lures, a set of car keys and lots of tears(mainly mine) were the price to pay but everyone took it in good spirit and the fish gods returned us with big fish as compensation.
As the afternoon came the winds finally gave up and for an hour we sat on a flat calm lake as if nothing had ever happened. The fishing slowed up but one final fish just under 4lb marked the end of an enjoyable, eventful day. We ended with two fish over 4lbs, ten fish over 3lbs and loads of fish over 2lbs.
I had hoped for a fun event which wasn’t too competitive with a lot of laughs and I think I achieved just that.
The biggest single fish of the day went to Tony Chesworth with a massive spawned out fish of 47cm(3,14).
The biggest fish caught on a Savage gear lure went to George Osborne measuring in at 44cm (4lb,5oz).
Dom Garnett kindly donated a signed copy of his book for the smallest fish and this was also caught by George Osborne at 14cm.
In 3rd place was George Osborne who looked like he was going to clean up.
In 2nd place was Adam Moxey with a string of fish to low 3’s
And 1st place went to Lee Garner who certainly had the lions share .Everyone who placed went home with goodies from Savage Gear, Costa, Cash and vouchers from Culm Valley angling.
Plans are already in place for an autumn event but these competitions can only exist with your support so watch this space. Massive thanks to Ben and Gary at SW lakes, Richard Taylor at Savage gear, Danny Parkins for the Costa prizes and Culm Valley angling.
When the rivers are low and salmon and sea trout are hard to find many fly fishers are turning to the the estuary where the silver flanked bass can provide exciting sport on both lure and fly. Nick Hart provides tuition in Fly Fishing in both fresh and saltwater, in rivers and still waters. His latest pictures show some happy anglers making the best of ideal conditions where the estuary meets the sea. Investing in guided fishing can make a huge difference to your catch rates boosting success over many years into the future.
The first few bass of the season have been tempted by lure anglers and to celebrate the fact Danny Watson has launched a lure fishing competition. Details below.
High Street Tackle are running a lure fishing competition!
The first one to run from now until May 10th.
The winner will be the biggest fish caught from the shore on a lure that has been bought from High Street Tackle.
To enter you must submit a picture of the fish, details of the lure and weight of the fish.
Pictures will be displayed on our Facebook page – we will not disclose any location information even if it is provided.
IMPORTANT – please ensure that all pictures are sensible ones – blood etc is not a good look.
It will also be assumed that all bass are treated as per the requirements of the law – we do not wish for any controversy to be raised by any of your pictures.
I understand that there may be some openings for dishonesty but hope that all who are interested in taking part can help to ensure that the winner is deservedly judged so.
We have not decided on the exact prize yet but it will obviously be related to lure fishing and be worth the effort of sending an honest photo – we would like to think that this may continue throughout the year!
Please feel free to contact us should have any suggestions etc.
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!
