Angling says farewell to a legend of the sport

Sad news has filtered through to the South West angling fraternity this week with the passing of Mike Millman. Mike was known to many as a great angler and prolific writer and journalist who I remember reading many years ago.
His knowledge of the area and history of angling was second to none. I met him several times and will always remember when Simon Pedley phoned him to say that I had caught a large Pollack aboard his boat Our Joe’l and upon arriving back in Paignton he had travelled to meet us just to take the photo and send it to Sea Angler Magazine. He will be sadly missed and all of our thoughts are with his family.
One of the purposes of this column is to promote angling within our area and to encourage new anglers to our sport. Another good way to encourage new anglers is for clubs and their members to help them. A good example of that this week has been Dan Patrick from Brixham SAC who took a couple of new anglers who had been struggling to find fish under his wing.
With his guidance, Martin Lobb weighed his first fish in with the club, a Ballan Wrasse of 3lbs 14oz and Sean Blades also landed a Ballan Wrasse, slightly smaller at 3lbs 6oz. Dan has also been fishing himself and has landed some fine fish including Ballan Wrasse, Bass and Gilthead Bream.
Teignmouth SAC are promoting junior anglers this coming weekend with a free open day on the back beach at Teignmouth on Saturday 21st from 13.00 to 16.30. Members will be on hand to offer advice and all tackle will be provided. Refreshments will be available. Full details can be found on their Facebook page.
Phil Mingo from the South Hams travelled to Chesil Beach and had an excellent session catching Pout, Congers and topping tit off with a Sole of 1lb 13oz and a 4lb Bass. Gary Knott Fished Blackpool Sand and was pleased to land a Bull Huss of 7lbs 10oz in daylight. Princess Pier in Torquay is not known for its specimen fish but this week a specimen Mackerel of 1lb 9oz fell to the rod of Michael Head.
Silver Halo charters out of Torquay has been fitting in some wrecking trips amongst his Chart Tuna tagging trips and finding plenty of Bass and Pollack into double figures for his anglers. Mike Spiller fished aboard Stuart Pikes boat Orca out of Beer and was pleasantly surprised to land a Cod of 5lbs 7 oz, which I am sure will go well with a few chips.
Two recent matches in freshwater have taken place recently. At Spring Ponds, the winner was Jason Fay with a bag weight of 80lbs 12oz with Damian Brading taking second with 51lbs 2oz and Matt Thomas, third with 36lbs 6oz.
Newton Abbot FA’s latest match on Bradley Pond saw Duncan Arnold win with 15lbs 8oz with Jack Palmer and Shane Harper taking the next two places with 11lbs 4oz and 5lbs 9oz respectively. News has just reached me as I write this that at Newbarn Angling Centre the very top pond, Lilly has been cleared of all weed. Grass Carp are present here, so let’s see who can be the first to land one and send me a picture.
Please remember to send entries for our fish of the month kindly sponsored by Sidewinder lures and Newbarn Angling Centre competition to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com