Junior anglers take the limelight

It is always good to see juniors catching some fish and this week, we have the latest member of the Upham family, young Maisie, who whilst fishing alongside her dad on Brixham Breakwater, landed a Ballan Wrasse of about 1lb.
The breakwater seems to be producing fish at the moment with Mackerel being caught on float or lure methods and mini species falling to LRF gear. Another youngster amongst the fish this week is junior international Archie Sweetland, who has had a great time catching Black Bream from the shore on one of our shingle beaches.
The boats are having a difficult time at the moment with many trips being cancelled due to the strong westerly wind that we are experiencing currently. When a window in the weather has appeared, Matt Forrester has taken his boat Siver Halo out from Torquay and fished inshore with the new Joker Jigs catching Ballan wrasse, as well as small Bass and Pollack.
Our Joel managed a couple of trips to the Skerries Banks where the anglers aboard managed to catch their target species, Plaice. David Mordecai managed a trip out from Torquay where the target species for the day was Blue shark. Several were hooked and played to the boat, where they were given a chance to recover before they were released.
A newcomer to Carp fishing, Freddie Taylor, fished at Newbarn Angling centre alongside Chris Tester and landed his first Carp, a common weighing in the high teens. Work continues here to turn the fishery into a great place to fish.
A three-hour match on Wheel Pond at Newton Abbot Fishing Association’s Rackerhayes complex saw Sam Powell win with an incredible bag weight of 103lbs. This pond has some nice Carp, as well as recent stockings of F1 Carp, Tench and the usual silver fish and always seem to produce fish, even on a difficult day.
It is here on Saturday, August 5 that Newton Abbot FA are holding an open day from 10am to 4pm, where a qualified coach will be on hand to show anyone who wants to try their hand at fishing how to do it. All tackle, bait and advice is available and you don’t even need a licence for this session. This is a great opportunity for youngster to try it and parents or grandparents to learn with them. Contact details for this are Juniorfishingnewtonabbot@gmail.com and the contact name is Chris Gray.
The winner of our Fish of the Month competition is Phil Mingo with his Thin Lipped Mullet of 3 ½ lbs, a prize pack will be on its way to him shortly. This competition is kindly sponsored by Sidewinder Lures and Newbarn Angling Centre.