Carp live to a very good age with fish known to live close to 70 years one of the oldest carp is recorded was the well known fish ‘Raspberry’ caught from the famous Redmire Pool and aged at 67 years old.
Ben Smeeth sent me this report of a carp from Lower Tamar Lake near Bude.
Chris Martin sent in these pictures of his dad Phil with a mirror from Lower Tamar caught 20 years ago and amazingly we think it’s the same fish caught very recently now at 25.08!! Well done to Phil
Thirty three anglers fished the wind and rain swept waters of Upper Tamar Lake competing for a splendid array of prizes. Below is an excellent report of the event from Ben Smeeth Countryside and Angling Manager from South West Lakes Trust.
Barry and Ben O’Connor have won the September 2016 Pallatrax Carp Open at Upper Tamar Lake after finishing second the last time they visited Tamar.
Friday afternoon saw 21 Pairs eagerly await the draw for the much anticipated final competition of the year. Conditions looked really good, a warm breeze pushing away from the dam looked like it would favour a lot of pegs particularly towards the far end of the lake. The lake had been fishing really well leading up to the competition with Dan Gay and Nigel Woods recording 20 carp the previous weekend and Jason and Leanne McEvoy landing 9 fish the day before the competition. Whilst pegging and cutting swims a lot of fish were seen, particularly in the quarry, the far end, off the lookout tower and also at the end of the arm with some really good fish in among them.
With the welcome briefing done, Barry and Ben O’Connor were first out the draw and opted for swim 14, opposite the bird hide on the Devon Bank.
There were two spare pegs at the end of the draw to give everyone a good choice of swim. Anglers were then transported to their swim by staff and marshals and the horn went to sound the beginning of the competition at 4pm.
It took an hour for the first fish to be banked and what a cracker it was for Nigel Woods and Matthew Bull on peg 12. A mint condition 16.02 common.
This was followed 15 minutes later by newcomers Dan Young and Matt Wyld on the new quarry swim peg 11. A 9.01 common was in the bag and they were off and running!
Dan Gay and Lee Graver were also off with the 9.12 common from peg 9 on the second point. Barry and Ben O’Connor also banked a fish early at 11.08
Plenty of fish being caught all-round the lake and a great start to the comp! Through the first night there were fish caught steadily all over with Danny Clarke and Nick Singleton managing a brace including a lovely 16.13 common to take them into the lead from peg 8.
Past winners Scott Bowden and Jamie Rusling were off and running with a 5.14 common from the second swim on West bay (peg 18) and Barry and Ben O’Connor had two more fish and sat in second place.
Into Saturday and Dan Young and Matt Wyld bagged their second to move into third place with an 8.04 common. By this time the wind had really picked up and was thrashing down towards the far end of the lake making the seed drill and second point area hard to fish.
During Saturday there were fish for Mike Trew (peg 5), Danny Clarke (peg 8), Scott Bowden (peg 18) and three more for Barry and Ben O’Connor to move them clear at the top.
There were also first fish caught at Tamar for Tim James on Peg 1 (Pallatrax) with a lovely ghost common of 16.01 and Shaun Pimm (AKA Tackle Bridgwater) with a cracking 17.09 common by the pontoon on peg 22.
Saturday night proved to be the turning point with Danny Clarke and Nick Singleton managing two more fish the O’Connors were not to be outdone and landed five fish including a 15.14 common to move well clear of the field and over the 100lb mark! This was despite the torrential rain and rising water levels! It really did rain – anglers awoke to find rods under the water and alarms submerged, not to mention a flood in Jamie Ruslings bivvy!!
Nigel Woods and Matt Bull caught the fish of the competition on Sunday morning at 23.02 from peg 12 – congratulations to Nigel landing his first 20 from the venue.
Sunday morning didn’t produce many fish with just the odd one or two being picked off around the lake – the wind completely changed and was heading towards the dam at this stage favoring the dam swims. Phil and Sam Gilhespy managed a couple and lost a couple which would prove to be costly.
The horn sounded at 1pm and all the competitors were collected and taken back to the car park. Gary Vogel had prepared some burgers and hot dogs for everyone which were well enjoyed!
I would like to thank all the staff and Marshalls who worked tirelessly over the weekend Gary Vogel, JCB Bob, Terry and Martin Reid, Gandolph Bob and Steve Gliddon. Thanks to the café staff also.
Thank you to Simon and Tina at Pallatrax for their sponsorship and association with the competition.
The final leader board is pictured.
Many Congratulations to Barry and Ben O’Connor who had 12 fish for 118.01 and they scooped the £2000 first prize
Danny Clarke and Nick Singleton who have finished third twice before were runners up with 6 fish for 59.02 and they collected £1000
Local anglers Nigel Woods and Matthew Bull were third with two fish for 39.04 and took the £500 third prize.
Largest fish (not finishing in the top three was Shaun Pimm 17.02 and he won a £50 Pallatrax voucher. Smallest fish also winning a £50 Pallatrax voucher was Scott Bowden with a fish of 5.13.
All in all, a great weekend, I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did and I look forward to the next one in March 2017. We are taking bookings now on 01566 771930
Jason Tee has been in fine form at day ticket water Jennetts reservoir, Bideford, and has landed seven 20lb+ fish in his last couple of visits all on boilie hookbaits with the largest going to 27.03.
Ben Pearman fished a 48hr session at Slade Reservoir to celebrate his birthdayand was rewarded for his effort with 4 carp the biggest being a fine common weighing 23lb 12oz all caught on sticky baits krill.
Congratulations to Matt Kingdon on winning South West Lakes Trust’s Best of the Best competition at Wimbleball. Full report below from Ben Smeeth of South West Lakes Trust
Matt Kingdon has won the Best of the Best £5000 final at Wimbleball Lake held on 18 September after being the only angler to catch a limit of 10 fish. The competition, now in its third year, is run by South West Lakes Trust and sponsored by Snowbee (www.snowbee.co.uk).
Matt, from Barnstaple, bagged his limit with more than an hour to go from the Bessoms Bridge area of the lake. Successful tactics were a team of three flies consisting of a Peach Blob on top, a Red Holographic Cruncher in the middle and a Black Lure with Malibu Tail and a Green Sparkled Body with Red Rib on the bottom fly. A slow to medium retrieve to jerk the Malibu Tail accounted for seven of Matt’s ten fish. He collected £2000 for the win, following on from his third place finish where he won £1000 in the 2015 final. It completes a great week for Matt who qualified for the Home International Loch style in 2017.
57 anglers fished the final after 92 had qualified throughout the season from Kennick, Wimbleball, Stithians, Siblyback and Burrator. After the briefing was done, there was a mad dash for the favoured fishing spots with most anglers opting for Bessoms and Ruggs end of the lake. The weather conditions were pretty good with a slight ripple on the water, overcast mainly but warm sunny spells at times. A lot of fish were showing out of casting range and catches were much slower than the previous week which was expected after the pressure from anglers practising.
Rob Gale, from Ashburton, finished second catching eight fish from the Narrows to claim the £1250 prize pot with Alec Hoare, Newton Abbot, claiming the £750 third place with seven fish for 11lb 4oz with only 5 ounces separating fifth place from third!
There was a strong Kennick Fly Fishers Association showing at the top of the individual standings with the top five finishers all members. After winning it the last two years Andrew Gooding finished a creditable 8th.
The largest fish in the final (not finishing in the top three) was won jointly by Mike Stone (Starcross) and Roger Truscott (Liskeard) who shared the £500 prize fund with a Rainbow of 2lb 2oz each.
The blind pairs was introduced this season and the winners, claiming £150 each, were Matt Kingdon and Steve Ebdon (Exeter) with Rob Gale and John Huckings (Camelford) finishing second to win £100 each.
There were 127 Rainbows caught in total giving a 2.3 rod average per person for the competition with a further 30 Browns also caught and released.
Simon Kidd from Snowbee was on hand to give out the prizes and here is the full list of prize winners:
| POSITION | PRIZE |
| Winner – Matt Kingdon 10 fish for 15lb 6oz | £2000 BOB trophy and name on the honours board in the permit room |
| Runner up – Rob Gale 8 fish for 13lb 4oz | £1250 BOB trophy and name on the honours board in the permit room |
| Third – Alec Hoare 7 fish for 11lb 4oz | £750 BOB trophy and name on the honours board in the permit room |
| Heaviest Fish (not finishing in the top three) Mike Stone and Roger Truscott 2lb 2oz | £250 each |
| Second heaviest fish (not in top three) Andy Watson 2lb 1oz | Snowbee Fly Vest and Back pack worth over £100 |
| Blind Pairs winners: Matt Kingdon and Steve Ebdon 18lb 12oz | £150 each |
| Blind Pairs runners up: Rob Gale and John Huckings 17lb 15oz | £100 each |
| 4th – Andy Watson 7 fish for 10lb 15oz (won on countback with largest fish 2lb 1oz) | Snowbee 9ft #6 Geo Nano rod worth £350 |
| 5th – Paul Wicks 7 fish for 10lb 15oz | New Snowbee Classic Fly rod worth over £200 |
| 6th – Pete Kempton 6 fish for 9lb 11oz | Snowbee stripping basket worth £50 |
| 7th – Nick Tompkins 5 fish for 7lb 9oz | Snowbee Slim Line fly box kit worth £40 |
| 8th – Andy Gooding 5 fish for 7lb 8oz | Snowbee Slim Line fly box kit worth £40 |
| 9th – Dave Perks 5 fish for 7lb 6oz (won on countback with largest fish 1lb 12oz) | Snowbee Competition Fly Box worth nearly £30 |
| 10th – Tony Chipman 5 fish for 7lb 6oz | Snowbee easyvue competition fly box worth £20 |
| QUALIFYING PRIZES | |
| Heaviest fish Wimbleball – Howard James 6lb 8oz | Snowbee Fly Line worth £50 |
| Heaviest Fish Kennick – Mark Brimblecombe 7lb 6oz | Snowbee Fly Line worth £50 |
| Heaviest Fish Burrator – Allan Lawson 5lb | Snowbee Fly Line worth £50 |
| Heaviest Fish Siblyback – Duncan Kier 6lb 8oz | Snowbee Fly Line worth £50 |
| Heaviest Fish Stithians – Nigel Burley 6lb 11oz | Snowbee Fly Line worth £50 |
The top three will also have their names engraved onto the honours board in the permit room at Wimbleball.
A huge thank you to all of the Marshalls, especially Danny Ford for all his work leading up to and during the competition and also the sponsor Snowbee who very generously donated over £1000 worth of prizes.
Ben Smeeth
Technical Lead for Fishing
Norman Martin and Jim Lawries won this years Continental Pairs Match at Upper Tamar lake. Norman putting together a fine net of mostly roach totaling 48lb 12oz and JIm a net of 43lb again mostly roach a paired total of 91lb 12oz. The runners up had a total of 77lb.
Stewart Lister had the biggest individual net of the day at 51lb.
Andy Seery also commented on the match result where the two anglers used his new bait to great effect.
Norman Martin and Jim Lawrie fish Simon Poynters first ever continental pairs comp,the two boys fished an incredible match just 6ft apart and landed an incredible 93lbs of silvers at 3.6m to hand ,both lads fed small balls of GB sprinkled with our Little Red Devil Micros! This outstanding performance won them first place in the pairs! All of these new baits are now available direct from myself ,the Little Red Micros are a 2.3mm slowbreak down bait ,ideal for the summer and hot weather when you get pestered by small fish and you want a bait not to just dissolve,it has good holding powers of the Go-nut smell and attractant ,when you damp they release bright red plumes when entering the water,they seem to be working really well with the carp and better skimmers!
Ben Smeeth Countryside and Angling Manager – Sent me these reports of stunning fish and images from our local South West Lakes Trust Waters
John Deprieelle spent some time on day ticket venue Lower Tamar last week and had this to say about his session:
‘Well the carp fishing didn’t go quite to plan so I took bailiff Bobs advice and went to the very end peg which looked great and had fish everywhere in front of me. I lost a big fish within 30 mins of casting out and that was it. I had a few bream though and this 9lb fish was the best of the bunch taken on an 8mm pinapple pop up. The sunset was amazing!’
Ryan Wilshere caught this cracking 27.10 Common from day ticket venue Jennetts Reservoir recently. Ryan fished the far margin from the first few pegs and the fish fell to a Mainline Essential IB pop up fished over a scattering of essential cell boilies. (Below)
Melbury Reservoir is situated between Bideford and Bradworthy and contains some fine carp along with a good head of other coarse species. During the late eighties and early nineties it produced several specimen perch over four pounds along with eels close to 5lb and brown trout of over 5lb.
Rich Shaw paid a recent visit to Melbury Reservoir with a relative on a visit from Norway.This his account of the successful session.
“Weather was rather wet but the general fishing was exceptional plenty of good Roach,
Skimmers and Bream on the float and feeder. I managed the one carp that’s
weight certainly didn’t do justice to its frame, a touch over 19llb and
lovely condition a credit to any fishery. A lot of bait manipulating went
on between downpours but this one tripped up on two 10mm Crave Squabs and a
Bloodworm and Maggot crush.
Tony Welch enjoyed a cracking session at Upper Tamar recently with his friend catching a dozen fish between them to 18lbs in just 14 hours fishing. 9 commons and three mirrors made up the bag all falling to Mainline baits over Essential Cell hook baits.
Phil Gilhespy has been among the fish at Upper Tamar Lake recently and proved his skill with both rod and camera sending South West Lakes Trust some fantastic images of fishing, wildlife and Common carp up to 20.02. Phil has had 8 fish in two sessions all caught on homemade boilies over a scattering of the same bait. The images illustrate perfectly the joys of carp fishing.
