Andres Endean banked these two fine carp from Lower Slade a 23lb 2oz common and a 16lb 2oz mirror.
Superb Carp from Trusty Waters
(Below )George West has been catching plenty of carp from Upper Tamar recently with these stunning fish being the best of the bunch. George caught the much sought after Linear at around 25.00 which was stocked in 2017. He has also had a cracking old mirror at 24lb12oz, a two tone chunky common at around 21lb and a fully scaled mirror at 21lb Fantastic rewards, well done George…..
(Below)Steve Gliddon has been among the action at Melbury reservoir near Bideford, Devon. Steve landed a new PB for the water, a 23.10 common along with a long hard fighting 15.08 common that wiped all his rods out and a surface caught common of 12.02. wafters fished over a good scattering of boilies did the trick for Steve.
A peach of a carp from Upper Tamar
Well done to Jonathon Holdaway who has banked ‘The Peach’ from Upper Tamar at just under 32lbs. This smashed his PB by 7lbs and was part of a two fish catch which included a 16.12 common both caught on Sticky Manilla pop ups tipped with a small pink krill pop up. The 20 hour session was successful after a move at 6am after hearing fish crashing……..
Fine Slade Twenty
Ian Ross enjoyed a couple of nights at Lower Slade and was rewarded with this fully scaled mirror of 22lb 10oz.
North Devon Match Group – Melbury Reservoir Summer League No 2
1st John Lacy 8lb
2nd John Lisle 5lb 1oz
3rd John Bailey 4lb
4th Christopher Morris 2lb 14oz
Beautiful hot still weather greeted NDMG members for the second summer league match, bites were at a premium on the day and John Lacey took top spot on peg 1 on the dam, he fished on a small groundbait feeder with red maggot bait at close range for a net of good roach ,second placed John Lisle had 4 nice skimmers on the tip on worm from peg 6,John Bailey caught 8 roach on the waggler for 3rd.
South West Lakes – Some fine Carp from trusty waters
Some superb catches from South West Lakes Trust Waters over recent days. Below are some stunning images and results,
UPPER TAMAR
South West Lakes Trusts Upper Tamar lake is in top form at present with some stunning catches of carp coming from its large acreage.
(Below)Aaron Bunning has been back to Upper Tamar and again had a great session with lots of fish including these three attached at 24.14, 19.04 and 18.12. All fish fell to Nashbait scopex squid and coconut creme freebees and hookbaits.
Ben Smeeth sent me this report on some top angling _
Talk about an opportunistic moment! I was chatting with Roger Maher at Upper Tamar this morning and he informed me he had seen some fish, I went and had a look and saw around 8 fish, the biggest looked like a mid 20 common along with a mirror we recognised at about 23lbs. Dash home and Roger was back with a rod and half an hour later, here she is! 24.12……Top angling Roger. The lake is fishing great, a 32lb mirror and host of other fish have been caught in the last few days including a 20lb fully scaled…….
LOWER TAMAR
Steve Gliddon has caught a target fish from Lower Tamar lake at 24.00. Steve had been after the fish for 5 years but was delighted to finally slip his net under the old warrior! Steve also landed commons of 16lbs and 8lbs during his visit. Lower Tamar is open to everyone having been changed from a syndicate water 2 years ago.
LOWER TAMAR
Lower Slade reservoir in Ilfracombe (North Devon) produced 4 fish over 20lbs at the weekend. Simon Hill had a cracking 23.12 Common and Richard Ball had a common of 20.00.
Upper Tamar is in fine form for carp
Ashley Bunning has made the most of Upper Tamar fish switching on with a 13 fish session. Ashley managed a mirror at 21.03 along with commons to high doubles and a really silver common at 15lbs. All fish were caught over a bed of Nashbait scopex squid boilies with matching fluoros and wafter hook baits over the top.
(Below) Nigel Woods targeted Upper Tamar for a couple of hours stalking and was rewarded with this cracking 23.15 Mirror. This is one of the newly stocked fish from 2017 and its 2lbs up in weight and looking great! Nigel’s successful tactics were a Mainline cell wafter over a few freebies.
North Devon Match Group Championship No 4 Jennetts Reservoir
Many Thanks to Martin Turner for the North Devon Match Group report from Jennetts Reservoir where they enjoyed to fabulous silver fish sport.
1st Martin Turner 28lb 9oz
2nd Christopher Morris 25lb 11oz
3rd Kevin Shears 18lb 11oz
4th John Lacy 18lb 6oz
5th Peter Slade 17lb 9oz ,
A mild spring day with April showers , made for good sport on the South West Lake Trusts Jennetts Reservoir in Bideford. The bream failed to show in numbers but the roach fed well. Martin Turner landed quality fish on hemp and caster on the pole and whip from peg 8 , beside the elderberry bush , Christopher Morris had a similar net from peg 12 near the point also on the pole. Kevin drew end peg on the far bank for 3rd just pipping John Lacy who drew peg 4 near the dam.
South West Lakes Trout Fisheries Report (March 2018)
Another cold snap, ‘The Beast From The East’, bringing thick snow across the region in the middle of the month, meant that water and air temperatures have stayed low (water temperatures not much higher than 4ºc) and there has been little insect activity, meaning that the fish have been staying and feeding in the middle and deeper levels in the water column.
All the reservoirs are at 100% capacity and topping over the spillways. As temperatures start to rise in April, fish will be starting to look to the surface to feed, enabling anglers to target fish with dry patterns and floating lines, with maybe the odd Hawthorn and Olive starting to appear toward the end of the month.
Fishing:
Kennick – The fishing was fairly consistent throughout the month, with anglers averaging 3.6 fish per rod, with the Top End, Clampitts Bay and Bank and the Narrows producing the most fish. With little insect activity on the water yet, very few fish have been showing, and all fish have been taken on sub-surface patterns (either Damsels and Diawl Bachs, or lures such as Tadpoles, Cats Whiskers and Boobies) at a range of depths – floating, intermediate and sinking line methods have all caught fish. With many anglers catching their bag limits, the best fish caught during the month was a 4lb Rainbow, which, along with another Rainbow of 3lb 4oz, was part of a full bag caught by Mr J.Howard.
Siblyback – Two Meadows, Crylla Bay and the North Bank provided the best sport, with a variety of lure patterns (Cats Whisker, Orange Blob, Baby Doll, Cormorant, Orange Fritz) fished on sinking lines producing the best results. As conditions warmed, Buzzers, Damsel Nymphs and Shrimp patterns started to catch fish, with the afternoons and evenings the best time of day. The best fish caught in the month was a 4lb 11oz Rainbow, caught by Mr P.England from Liskeard.
Burrator – Longstone Bank and Point have produced the best fishing, with a few fish also caught from the north bank, with intermediate and sunk-line tactics the most successful, as fish have generally been lying fairly deep. In addition to Booby patterns, various nymphs (especially Damsels and Montanas) have fished well, and bags have included good numbers of hard-fighting Blues providing excellent sport.
Stithians – The fishing improved as the month progressed and temperatures started to rise, with weekly catch averages improving from under one fish per rod to over two fish per angler. All fish have been caught on sub-surface lure patterns (Orange Blob, Viva, Tadpole and Fritz patterns), with the best locations including Chapel Bay, Pub Bay, Yellowort and the deeper water by the dam. The best fish of the month was a fine Brown Trout of 3lbs, caught by Mr D. Parker from Camborne while fishing from a boat at the end of the month.
Roadford – Catches have been averaging around seven fish per angler, with boat anglers achieving the best results over deeper water. Very few fish have been showing, with Bibios, Squinkies and Tadpoles proving to be the most successful patterns.
Fernworthy – The fish have been showing along the south shore, with anglers averaging between four and six fish per visit. The most successful patterns included Silver Invictas and Snipe and Purple.
Colliford – In spite of the bitterly cold conditions, there have been small back buzzers hatching and fish moving on the surface, with a few already being caught on dry patterns. Catches have been averaging at just over four fish per visit, with the majority of fish caught on pulled wet patterns (Bibios, Soldier Palmers and Zonkas) as well as nymphs and spiders. The fish have overwintered well and are in good condition – the best fish so far, a 22” resident Brown, was caught on Good Friday by a local angler Dean Boucher. The fish are generally in small clusters, and for best results anglers need to be mobile, with Lordwaste, West Stuffle, and North Bank the most productive areas.
Upper Tamar Pallatrax Carp Open March 2018
It was a very cold weekend at Upper Tamar lake for the Pallatrax Carp Open pairs competition. This was the first competition of 2018 with two more to follow in July and September.
There was £3500 up for grabs for the top three finishing pairs and no one could predict which swims would do well this time around. The weather had been frankly horrendous leading up to the weekend with more than two feet of snow covering the majority of the lake at the beginning of the week!
The sun did eventually come through on the Sunday during the last few hours of fishing and it was rather pleasant during the BBQ and presentations.
The anticipation and nervousness for the draw on Friday morning was evident with some anglers arriving to get a couple of laps around the lake in the hope of spotting a few fish!
A fantastic breakfast was provided by Wendy Shore and her team in the Froghopper café at Tamar and we were all set for the draw which started at 1pm. Anglers names were drawn in turn from the draw box and they chose their swims until everyone had picked. There were 30 pairs of anglers and they were then transported to their swims either by boat or trailer.
The horn sounded at 4pm to start the competition and the first fish was lost very quickly by Roy and Greg Jones from the quarry swim.
The first landed fish and an early lead was taken by Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan from West Bay, peg 27, on the Cornwall Bank with a 7lb 13oz common. Just minutes after Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their first from peg 33 by the dam at 5lb 11oz.
This was followed on the first night by Mike Trew and Roger Smith, peg 23, on the Cornwall Bank who had an 8lb 7oz fish and Rob Champness and Kevin Smith who were on peg 18. They landed a 6lb 15oz fish. Rob and Kevin also lost a couple of fish during the night.
It was fishing really hard, as the March competition always does! The wind changed direction a couple of times and there was a mild frost both nights and cold wind during the days.
At 6:30 am on the Saturday Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty caught their second fish which proved very decisive. A 13.09 pristine common gave them the lead from peg 33.
Jamie Rusling and Nick White moved into contention from peg 16 on the Devon Bank, they had a 13lb 5oz common.
Saturday evening provided a couple of fish, a lovely 15lb 14oz common for Jason and Leanne McEvoy from peg 21 to move them into second and Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods from the lookout tower banked a 7lb 6oz fish.
It was all to play for and anticipation of a few more fish which would change the entire competition around.
Saturday night went without any more action until early Sunday morning when Richard Chalke and Jamie Woods managed their second fish, this time at 10lb 6oz, to move into second less than 2lbs behind Haggarty and Thomas.
With the sun now shining we thoughts a few more would be caught but how wrong I could be!
The remainder of the competition didn’t provide any bites.
With every single pair in with a chance right up until the hooter at 1pm it made for a really close competition which was well contested and enjoyed by everyone. The presentations were made during the free BBQ for competitors provided by Gary Vogel, warden for Tamar Lake.
Only 9 fish were caught and we look forward to the July competition when there will be plenty more!
It was great to have some new champions and runners up. Congratulations to Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty for winning and Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke for finishing second. 2016 runners up Jason and Leanne McEvoy won third place.
A huge thankyou to our fantastic marshall team Terry Reid, Bob Davey, Ian Ellis, Steve Gliddon, Amy Maunder, Roger Maher and Bob Oates and to warden Gary Vogel.
Full results:
7th – 1 fish for 6.15 in peg 18 was Rob Champness and Kevin Smith
6th – 1 fish for 7.13 in peg 27 was Neil Merriman and Adrian Morgan
5th – 1 fish for 8.07 in peg 23 was Mike Trew and Roger Smith
4th – 1 fish for 13.05 in peg 16 was Jamie Rusling and Nick White
3rd winning £500 with 1 fish for 15lb 14oz was Jason and Leanne McEvoy
2nd wining £1000 with 2 fish for 17lb 12oz was Jamie Woods and Richard Chalke
1st winning £2000 with 2 fish for 19lb 4oz was Mark Thomas and Phil Haggarty
Next competition: 6-8 July pairs
Entries on 01566771930
Ben Smeeth
Head of Angling