Stillwater Trout anglers continue to enjoy top spot at Bulldog Fishery where Chris Warner-Hill put together this bag that included a fine 6lb 8oz spartic.
ANGLING REPORT – February 1st -2026
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ANGLING REPORT
BIG BROWN TROUT AT BULLDOG
Big brown trout were the highlight of Bulldog Fisheries February Trout Open Competition with three double figure brown trout gracing the scales at the days end. The top angler was Andy Facey who tempted a fine brace of brown trout weighing 10lb 12oz and 9lb 2oz which when added the other three fish he caught gave him a winning weight of 29lb 4oz. Runner up was Dave Chapman with five trout for 23lb 10oz a bag that included a fine brown trout of 11lb 1oz. Third was Chris Dunn with six trout for 22lb 13oz and fourth myself with five trout for 22lb 2oz. I was fortunate to tempt the biggest fish of the day; a stunning brown trout scaling 13lb 7oz. All competitors caught fish including good numbers of rainbow trout and spartics of 5lb 7oz and 6lb 2oz.
Combe Martin SAC held their AGM and presentation night at the Mariners Arms, Braunton. Members reflected upon a successful 2025 during which some superb specimen fish were recorded. Shane Pavio Hookway won the clubs specimen league with five specimen fish that included a shore caught tope of 43lb 6oz and a pouting of 2lb 2oz. Best specimen fish from the shore was a gilthead bream of 5lb 10oz to the rod of Ollie Passmore. David Brooke won the clubs top Medway Cup for best caught specimen boat with a gilthead bream of 6lb 4oz. Daniel Welch was awarded the clubs Merit Award for his outstanding contribution to the club invigorating the boat sector of the club via his boat fishing enterprise Predator 2.
SPURDOG PACKS ON THE HUNT
John Barbeary’s Charter boat Blue Fin is now back in the water at Ilfracombe taking anglers to deep water marks where huge packs of spurdog are on the hunt. A party of anglers fishing last weekend caught an estimated 150 spurdog to almost 20lb. They also boated conger, bull huss, dogfish and rockling.
Nathan Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs monthly sea rover with a dogfish of 2lb 3.25oz.
Michael Hammett won Appledore Shipbuilders monthly sea rover with a thornback ray of 7lb 6oz. Jack Sharrock was runner up with a small eyed ray of 6lb 13oz and Andrew Atkinson third with a thornback ray of 6lb 10oz.
North Devon Match Group fished their latest Match at Stafford Moor saw good catches for members on both Tanner’s Lake and Woodies. Roger Ackroyd was top rod on Tanners with 116lb 14oz and Dave Stockton winner on Woodies with 101lb 1oz.
Big browns at Bulldog
Bruce Elston enjoyed a great days sports at Bulldog Fishery tempting a fine brace of brown trout weighing 7lb 12oz and 6lb 6oz. He also added a brace of rainbows and a spartic which that was his first of the species. The fish were all tempted on orange lures and damsel nymphs. Bulldog host their popular monthly open competition this Sunday, February 1st.
Bulldog Fly Fishing Competition February 1st
FLUFF CHUCKERS STILLWATER EVENT – ARUNDELL 2025
Rodney Wevill – Report
That’s a wrap for Fluff Chuckers Events 2025…
On Saturday, December 13th we held the Arundell / Fluff Chuckers Still water event at Lifton on the Arundells lake.
We met at the Arundell Hotel to sign on and Tea/ coffee and Bacon Rolls in the old cock pit.
All well fed and watered we were off to the lake for a 10am start, fishing peg numbers for 30mins and moving on to the next .
Fishing a 2 hour session in the morning, 45 minutes for a on the bank lunch and then a further 2 hr session in the afternoon.
The lower pegs fished extremely well for the morning with more than 20 fish , Browns and a few Rainbows to the net.
The afternoon session was a lot harder with only a handful of fish being caught
Tactics ranged from sink 6 to floating lines, nymphs, lures, and all in between.
Roger Truscott was on fire for the first 45mins landing lots of fish with Wayne Thomas close behind.
At 3pm it was back to the Arundell to tally up the scores, some more Tea/ Coffee in front of the wood burner.
The winners ended up being in first place with 11 fish Roger Truscott
With Andrew Watson being the runner up
The winner of the biggest fish of the day a very nice Brown trout 43cm going to Wayne Thomas
A great way to end the year and a big thank you to YETI Europe , Lakedown Brewing Co. & Tap Room, The Arundell for your continued support with the prizes.
A special thank you to James Christoforou from the Arundell for his time and wonderful hospitality not only today but also the previous 2 events held at the hotel , anyone looking for a fishing break in the South West no need to look further, some great fishing all year round with Grayling, Trout and sea trout in their seasons.
Great guides and fly fishing casting instructors if required.
The Arundell fishing shop with everything you will ever need plus wonderful accommodation and food.
And it’s situated in some of the most stunning parts of this fair Island and where I call home so I am a little biased.
Thank you to all that have supported the events throughout the year and we hope to see you all in 2026 starting with the Fluff Chuckers / SWLT Brown Trout Masters round 1 at the end of March.
A personal account of the day
The winding Devon roads took me over hills and through misty valleys as the sun slowly broke through illuminating the frosty landscape. It was a classic winter morning, sounds of the sixties on the radio and a day’s fishing to look forward to.
I arrived at my destination the Arundell shortly after 8:00am and joined Rodney Wevill and other Fluff Chucker’s in the car park as the days shooting party scurried around in readiness for their day ahead.
After a brief catch up we headed into the historic Cockpit building for bacon baps and freshly brewed coffee. Anticipation for the day ahead was high and fuelled by tales of previous trips and adventures.
In addition to several miles of river fishing for salmon, sea trout, brown trout and grayling the Arundell has its own lake. The lake is an old flooded quarry with crystal clear water that is regularly stocked with brown and rainbow trout. Despite the average stock size being between 1lb 8oz and 2lb far larger trout are known to lurk within the deep dark waters.
James Christoforou is head of fishing at the Arundell so before heading to the lake to compete with fellow Fluff Chucker’s I sought James advice as to tactics and flies. Following his advice I set up two rods one with a duo set up as James thought it likely that the fish would be near to the surface. The other rod was set up with a rather drab gold-head lure on the point with a flexible tail dressing that would flutter attractively in the water.
The competition started at 10:00am with each angler on their drawn peg. Every half an hour each angler would move two pegs ensuring that by the end of the day each peg had been fished.
I had drawn peg one with Roger Truscott to my right on peg two. Shortly after cast off I glanced over to see Rogers rod bent as a trout splashed about on a tight line. Within a few moments of releasing this trout Roger was in again and I wondered just how he has such a knack of connecting with the trout!
I cast my line and watched the leader intently lifting the rod briskly when it twitched slightly as the lure sank in the clear water. It was good to connect and get a fish under my belt. As we moved pegs I asked Roger how many he had caught and he replied “eight or nine I think”. By this time I had managed a brace of rainbows and browns.
As expected the catch rate started to drop for all and by the end of the morning I think Roger was on nine whilst I was on seven.
We stopped for lunch at midday and James delivered hot pasties and coffee to those who requested it. For half an hour we all chatted and analysed the mornings fishing. It was obvious that Roger and I had received a big slice of good fortune as pegs one to four were undoubtedly well populated with recently stocked fish. The two end pegs at the lakes far end producing no trout.
The afternoon was surprisingly slow and I only added one fish a 43cm brown trout that was the biggest of the day. Roger once again proved his dominance of Fluff Chucker events ending the day with eleven trout.
We retired once again to the warmth of the Cockpit for the prize giving and a hot coffee. Rodney Wevill does an exceptional job at organising these friendly events and securing sponsorship from Yeti, Lakedown Brewing co & Tap Room. And of course the Arundell whose waters are always a joy to fish.
Bulldog Fisheries Christmas Fly Fishing Competition – Match Review
TOM EARLY’S Match Review
Our annual Christmas fly fishing competition at Bulldog Fisheries proved to be another memorable day, even if the fish didn’t quite follow the usual Bulldog script.
The morning session started slower than expected, but it didn’t take long for the excitement to kick in. Colin Combe was well and truly put through his paces when an impressive 8.09lb tiger trout took him on a wild ride—charging into the neighbouring swim, burying itself deep in the weed, before finally surrendering to the net. Colin quickly followed this with another quality brown trout, and at that stage his day was shaping up very nicely.
As the morning progressed, bites came steadily if not spectacularly. Pegs 2 and 3, positioned near the main water inlet, proved to be the most productive areas, with fish coming to the net at a consistent rate.
By lunchtime, rods were down and spirits were high. Nigel did a fantastic job in the kitchen, serving up a full turkey roast dinner, complete with Christmas pudding for dessert. A festive nip (or two) of whisky followed—carefully monitored in the hope that nobody took an unexpected swim!
After a hearty feed, the peg redraw saw anglers return to the water for the afternoon session. This proved to be a testing few hours. Persistence paid off for some though, with several cracking spartics landed. The standout of the afternoon was a 5.15lb spartic landed by father & son team Dave and Freddy Chapman!
Results
1st – Roy Pink: 5 fish – 16.13lb
2nd – Colin Combe: 3 fish – 16.02lb
3rd – Dave & Freddy Chapman: 13.01lb
Biggest Fish of the Day – Colin Combe: 8.09lb Tiger Trout
While the fish weren’t quite on form by usual Bulldog competition standards, plenty of fin-perfect trout were landed throughout the day, even the smaller rainbows gave a good account for themselves! This combined with excellent food, festive cheer, and great company, all added up to a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas competition.
A huge thank you to everyone involved, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 
BULLDOG FISHERIES – NOVEMBER COMPETITION
Bulldog Fisheries November Trout Fishing Competition was won by Ian Conabear with six rainbow trout for a total bag weight of 15lb. Aidan Revie was runner up with six for 14lb 15oz and Nick Tamlin fourth with six for 14lb. The biggest fish of the day was a fine tiger trout of 6lb 14oz to Aidan Revie.
Bulldogs monthly trout competitions are very much a social occasion with plenty of coffee, biscuits, bacon rolls to start the day and burgers and chips for midday lunch. The events are limited to twelve anglers and generally sell out quickly. Novembers competition was blessed with sunshine and light winds which may not have been ideal for the trout were certainly perfect for the competitors. Heavy rain showers had hit hard the previous day and weather warnings were in place for the following day.
The competition got underway shortly after 9.00am and the trout were obliging for the first hour with most anglers catching a brace or two with lures working well.
My own morning session resulted in four rainbow trout to 3lb 12oz all tempted on my favourite olive damsel. I enjoyed an hour chatting with fellow anglers and capturing a few images of this last day of Autumn.
The afternoon session proved hard going with just a few trout tempted a fact that proved frustrating for Tom and Nigel who had recently stocked some very large brown trout, spartics and tigers. These large fish will undoubtedly succumb to anglers over the coming weeks or maybe at the Christmas Competition on December 14th.
BULLDOG CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 2026
Bulldog Fisheries Christmas Fly Comp!
Join us for a day of great fishing, festive cheer, and a bit of friendly competition on Sunday the 14th of December!
Prizes ranging from £25 – £100 for 1st, 2nd & 3rd Place 
— will you take the top spot?
Festive Treats on offer!Warm up with seasonal snacks and Christmas goodies.
Turkey Roast LunchA proper festive feast to keep you fuelled for the action.
Rumour Has It…Nigel might crack open a bottle of whiskey to chase away the winter chill — so you may want to bring a driver!
Get in touch to bag yourself a ticket for great fishing, great food, and great company.
Don’t miss the Bulldog Fisheries Christmas fly comp!
South West Lakes Trust Trout Fisheries Report November 2025
South West Lakes Trust Trout Fisheries Report
November 2025
The Trust’s Brown Trout fisheries have now closed for the 2025 season, while the Rainbow waters will stay open until the end of the year – check the South West Lakes Trust website for current ticket price offers. The drop in temperatures and the recent winds and rains have meant that water temperatures continue to fall, while levels continue to rise, except for at Kennick, where South West Water has lowered the levels for operational reasons.
Fishing:
Kennick – The level here is now down to 15% capacity, which means that there are a lot of newly exposed muddy banks – anglers should check for the latest information regarding boat availability and any bank closures (due to soft mud). The East Bank, The Lawns, Kennick Bay and Boat Bay have continued to produce some good sport, with either floating, sink-tip lines and long leaders, or intermediate lines with a slow retrieve producing the best results. Anglers were averaging 1.6 fish per visit. Small Black Buzzers, Coch-y-bondhus, Damsels and Diawl Bachs have all caught well, as have Silver Butchers, Whiskey Flies, Cats Whiskers, Vivas, Yellow Blobs and Fry Imitations.
Siblyback – The sport really picked up this month at Siblyback, with anglers reporting catch averages of 3.4 fish per visit. The favoured tactic was a floating line fished with a medium or slow retrieve. Rainbows rose to Foam Daddies and Hopper patterns, with sub-surface feeders taking Black Buzzers, sunk Daddies, Orange Fritz Blobs, Kennick Killers and Black and Red Cormorants. The best locations included West Bank, Stocky Bay, Crylla, The Meadows and The Stones. Water levels remained at around 38% capacity throughout the month.
Burrator – The excellent fishing at Burrator continued throughout the month, with anglers averaging 2.7 fish per visit. Productive locations included Discovery Bay, Longstone, Pig Trough, Back Bay and Narrator; fishing a sub-surface pattern with a slow retrieve on a floating, sink-tip, or intermediate line proved to be the most successful tactic. A selection of nymph patterns (Damsels, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs and Montanas) as well as lures (Viva, Orange Streamer, Baby Doll, Yellow Blob, Cats Whisker and Tadpole) all caught fish. The level is at 53% capacity at the time of writing.
Stithians – Anglers averaged 1.9 fish per visit over the month, with the best of the fishing to be found at Yellowort, Pub Bay, Mossops, Golden Lion Point and Sailing Club Banks. Floating line tactics proved to be the most productive, with most fish feeding within a foot of the surface. Popular patterns included dry Foam Daddies, Deer Hair Sedge patterns and Dry Grizzle Mink, or sub-surface Hares Ears, Black Spiders, Whiskey Flies, Orange Muglers and Orange Nomads. The water level remained at around 46% throughout the month.
Fly Fishing Competition – Sunday 30th November
Fly Fishing Competition – Sunday 30th November
Join us for a great day on the water, friendly competition, and a chance to hook into some of our specimen fish specially stocked for the occasion!
Entry includes:
Breakfast: Bacon roll & coffee on arrival 6 Fish Limit – test your skills and land your best catch
Lunch: Burger & chips
Refreshments available throughout the day Prizes:1st, 2nd & 3rd place prizes to be won. Ranging from the worth of £25 – £100!
