The Torbay Festival concluded with what I think is one of the best fish ever to be weighed in, a wreck caught Bass of 17lbs 4oz 3dr, 191.8% to the rod of Simon Kingshot of Torquay tackle shop, Hookz, this took the top prize of £500.
The other category winners were Wayne Mayhew, wreck with a Tub Gurnard of 7lbs 4oz14dr, Alan Baverster, shore with a Conger of 27lb 2oz 13dr and Karl Roberts, boat with a Pollack of 9lbs 9oz 13 dm. In total, 170 anglers fished the nine-day event, with 189 fish weighed in and 81 specimens recorded over 26 species.
Last weekend saw the running of the 42nd running of the Angling Trust Wyvern Small Boat Championships. This year’s winner was James Trevett from Honiton SAC, who weighed in a Small Eyed Ray and a Blonde Ray for a percentage of 209.07%, Leonard Crossman took 2nd spot. The top lady was Claire Lowry with a Blonde Ray and top junior was Finlay Wright, also with a Blonde Ray.
Sunday saw the Annual Lyme Regis Black Bream competition and the winner overall was Steve Bennet fishing aboard Pegasus with a weight of 5.44lbs and a best fish of 3.21lbs. The next two spots went to Darren Herbert and Ian Mc Lean.
I managed to get afloat this week, a trip to Minehead where skipper Mike Webber-Griffiths took us across the Bristol Channel to the Welsh coast on his boat Teddie Boy, where I landed 14 Blonde Rays with a top weight of 15lbs along with Smoothounds, Bull Huss and Congers. Stuart Pike, Skipper of Orca out of Beer landed one of the best fish of the week, a Thin Lipped Mullet weighing in at 5lbs 9oz 5dm.
On the shore, Daniel Patrick is still finding Gilthead Bream with a new personal best of 4lbs 1oz. The lure anglers fishing rock marks are finding plenty of Bass with a few Ballan Wrasse and Pollack amongst them, with Damion Fryer and Tony White managing plenty. Saleem Ali went in search of Mullet and was rewarded with a superb fish of 5lbs.
Matt Star and Craig Hook fished a 48 hour session at Upham Farm near Westpoint, a complex of seven Lakes and had a great session with a best fish to the rod of Matt, a lovely Common Carp of 21lbs 9oz.
Some great fish have been landed so far this month but there is still time to catch that monster for our fish of the month competition, kindly sponsored by Sidewinder lures and Newbarn Angling Centre. Please send pictures and reports to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com.
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