SWEEPSTAKE

THE sweepstake event held along the Lime Kilns length of the Exeter Canal produced a rather surprising result.

Match winner Dave Pulman had very good winning figures of 11k 780g from his peg just past the wall. Normally that weight would have been made up of bream and tench but the catch was four superbly conditioned mirror carp scaling 6lb 8oz each. In the past the occasional carp has featured in a catch but this is a first with four. It was widely agreed that they were from stock fish introduced last winter.

Pulman began with four feeders of cereal cast beyond the half way mark across the wides to attract the bream and tench. He baited his hook, a 14 to 4lb line, with three red maggots and had his first bite after 30 minutes. The carp went all over his swim but was safely netted. He caught the other three at hourly intervals.

The runner-up was Ade Croft, who was pegged on the middle of the big bend. He fished a feeder cast well across the canal and baited an 18 hook with three red maggots. He had just one bite, a bream scaling 2k 300g.

The third angler was Paul Marks (EAC), who had a single tench scaling 1k 800g from his peg four below the wall. He fed six feeders of cereal with casters, maggots and worms at the start. Baiting on a 16 hook with a piece of worm and two red maggots tempted the fish.

The only other anglers to catch were Roy Frith, with a small tench from the middle of the wall, and Ken Penberthy, who had a good skimmer from his peg on the big bend.

Members planning to fish at Lime Kilns are warned that the approach lane is in a very poor condition with some really big potholes.

The Association Cup competition takes place at Lime Kilns on Sunday, March 28.

VAN DEN EYNDE SUPERCUP

TEAM Jinx EAC were beaten by South Devon Match Group in the first round of the Van Den Eynde Supercup competition.

Fished on the gold pond at Kia-Ora in cold windy conditions, the home team of eight were beaten by five section wins to three.

Jinx had a section winner in Roly Palmer, who had an 8k 800g catch at peg 21. He pole-fished at 11 metres to catch five carp plus silver fish.

Jamie Parkhouse won his section with 5k 40g at peg 10 where he had three carp plus silver fish. Matt Flavin on peg 19 recorded 10k 700g to win his section. He caught eight carp on the pole.

LUCCOMBE PONDS

THE midweek open competition fished at Luccombe Ponds, Exminster, produced a very good winning catch for Jamie Goodfellow, from Exeter.

He put 62lb 4oz of carp on the scales from is peg on birch pond. He used corn and pellet baits that were fished on a pole and presented close to the margins. Included was a fish of 12lb.

Runner-up Dave Reeves of Dawlish scaled 23lb 12oz on larch pond. He had six carp and six perch that fell for maggot hookbaits on a pole at seven metres.

Shane Hooper took third spot with 19lb from sycamore pond. Over half of the weight was from one carp of 10lb caught on an eight metre pole with maggot baits.

The Sunday competition was won by Exeter's Stephen Barrell with a weight of 25lb. Drawn on larch pond, he used a 16 metre pole with maggot hookbaits for an all carp net.

Runner-up Kevin Diment fished oak pond for a catch of small carp scaling 7lb 8oz. He pole-fished at eight metres and fished maggot baits over soft pellet feed.

Jamie Goodfellow was third from larch pond where he had carp totalling 6lb. He long-poled with maggot hookbaits.

All anglers are welcome to fish the competitions and should be at the fishery between 7.30am and 8am for the peg draw.

UPHAM COARSE FISHERY

THE biggest carp of the year from Upham Coarse Fishery was a fine 25lb specimen taken by Matthew King of Newton Abbot. He fished on pond seven through the night legering with boilies to take the big fish along with several other doubles.

SPIRES

THE Tench are now slowly starting to show for anglers fishing at Spires, North Tawton. One angler on the higher lake legered pellet baits and was rewarded with eight carp to 14lb plus three tench around 3lb.

The lower lake continues to offer very consistent sport despite very cold winds.

HOGSBROOK

JASON McGrath won the the Sunday event on the top lake with four carp scaling 35lb 2oz from peg 17 on the dam wall.

Feeder-fishing pellets cast towards the trees failed to catch anything during the first two hours but he changed to cat meat on his hook and had the carp up to 12lb.

Runner-up Steve Coombes was at the next peg where he had an 11lb 8oz catch. He pole-fished 8mm pellets over cereal feed and had a carp of 8lb plus a 3.5lb bream.

The silver fish winner was Les Worthington, who scaled 8lb at peg 15 where he used a pole at 10 metres. He fed two balls of cereal feed with pinkies and casters. Small roach and skimmers to 12oz featured in his catch and they were caught on maggot or pinkie baits.

Runner-up Dave Whitehall fished peg 11 on the straight bank and he scaled 4lb 11oz. He pole-fished at 10 metres with maggots or pinkies to catch small roach and skimmers that were attracted by cereal feed.

Club members have been catching several carp from both lakes over the last week. One had a catch of seven up to the 13lb mark from peg 31 on the bottom lake. Bream to 4lb have been caught from peg 39 among the trees on the bottom lake.

EXETER ASSOCIATION

EXETER Association members have been catching some good fish, notably from the Lime Kilns length of the Exeter Canal.

A small increase of a couple of degrees to the water temperature has triggered tench, bream and carp to feed. Roy Frith fished a swim down from the wall where he feeder-fished with four pinkies on a 14 hook. During the four-hour session he had a catch of five bream.

Dave Sellick fished the end peg on the wall to catch three bream and two tench . He pole-fished at 11 metres with red maggots on a 14 hook to catch a bream and a tench. Feeder tactics with the same hookbaits brought him another tench and two bream. His biggest tench scaled 7lb 5oz and the bream ranged to 6lb plus.

A carp angler fished a two-night session on the shallow side of the kilns and had two carp into double figures plus a few bream. They all fell to boilie hookbaits.

Other anglers have been catching odd single bream and tench mainly to red maggots. The very cold winds have not helped but at least the better fish are offering some sport. No roach, rudd or perch have been reported as yet.

The association's gold pond at Kia-Ora has continued to produce reasonable catches of skimmer bream, mainly from pegs along the dam wall. One angler fished peg 20 with pole at 10 metres and soft pellet baits to take over three kilo of skimmers to 200g. He also had a single carp.

Peg 19 gave another catch of skimmers that were caught on both soft pellets and red maggots. Peg 14 in the bottom corner of the pond produced seven or eight carp for an angler pole fishing paste baits. This peg and others alongside are rarely fished but obviously hold some good fish.

Members are advised that the deep pond at Sampford Peverell is still closed but the back pond is open and fish are being caught there.

This Sunday is the last day for fishing any rivers nationally. Locally the rivers Exe, Culm, and Creedy will be closed to anglers and will not reopen until Wednesday, June 16.

Also on Sunday the Exeter Association's competition is scheduled to take place on the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal along the wide waters length.

All members are welcome to fish the event. Contact match secretary Mark Thorogood for further details on 01626 889931. The next inter club's event between Exeter, Taunton and Bridgwater takes place at the same venue on Sunday, March 21.

GRAND WESTERN CANAL

TIVERTON Fishing Club hold their first canal competition this year on the Grand Western Canal this Sunday.

The match length will be between Tiverton Road bridge and the golf course. Please note the peg draw is at the car park there at 7.30am.

Fishing is from 9am until 2pm, which will avoid many of the afternoon cyclists and walkers. Book your place by telephoning Exe Valley Angling on 01884 242275.

The canal has attracted a few anglers who have managed to catch some fish. The section in the small wooded area before Sellick Bay produced several small roach to one angler pole fishing bread punch over liquidised feed.

Another angler had a couple of good roach and rudd of 8oz also on bread. Additionally he had a couple of small pike on worm baits.

Odd pike have been caught between Tidcombe and Wooden Bridge.

SOUTH VIEW FARM

SOUTH View Farm saw a busy weekend, with anglers fishing across the three pools and many seeing some action.

Willow pool gave Fred Smart 10 carp, including a specimen of 12lb 8oz on legered sweetcorn.

Regulars Michael and Stephen Hird fished kingfisher pool and had 14 carp and 28 carp respectively to 9lb 12oz on legered sweetcorn or pellet.

SEA ANGLING

AROUND 100 Honiton SAC members attended the club's presentation night in Honiton, with 75 awards handed out.

The club had a successful year, with a 20 per cent rise in membership.

Terry Hartnell won the senior shore award and the senior boat prize went to Mike Spiller. In the junior section the shore award went to Callum Hardwick and Toby Lawrence-King picked up the boat prize and Bridget Hardman took home the ladies' shore award and Carol Pike the boat trophy.

The senior best specimen was won by Taffy Pearce for a 187 per cent ballan wrasse and Samson Roberts took the junior prize for a 122 per cent small eyed ray.

Ben Bradstock had the most fish over 100 per cent, the Fred Starkey Memorial Cup went to Mike Spiller and the best lure caught fish prize was won by John Pidgeon for a pollack weighing 6lb 6oz.

Only three of the 16 members managed to catch weighable fish, which were mainly rockling caught on worm baits from the west end of the beach.

First place was shared by Lympstone's Ken Williams and new member Carl Parsons, from Exmouth. Club chairman Martin Pearce took third place with a solitary pouting.

Next month's competition will be along Sidmouth sea front on April 7. New members are welcome. If you are interested in joining Exmouth Sea Angling Association, visit their website www.exmouthsaa.co.uk.