The next generation of anglers landing great fish on Berry Head

Followers of this column will know that that I love to see children fishing with their parents and better still, managing to land a few fish.

Friday evening saw the Cooper family of Dad Russell and his two sons Brody and Oliver venture out undeterred in wet and windy conditions to fish at Berry Head.

The first cast of the evening gave the best fish of the session to dad, a superb Bull Huss of 9lbs 10oz and the later, smaller Bull Huss to both boys. These fish gave them both their first of the species. I’m sure we will see more of them on this page over the coming years.

A few anglers from Honiton made the lengthy journey to Penzance, where Adam Squance landed one of the best Huss I have seen for a while, a fish of 18lbs, and Dave Lee landed a new club record Tope of nearly 60lbs.

As a child growing up in the 60s, anglers were subject to a close season but now with the introduction of all-year fishing in still waters and most canals and with the introduction of sterile Rainbow Trout to our waters, there are fewer fishing restrictions.

One that still exists is the close season for Brown Trout, and as that is now upon us, the Kennick Flyfishers competition season come to an end.

Their latest match was fished at Wimbleball Reservoir on Exmoor, near Brompton Regis. Thirteen anglers made the trip and were on the water in their boats by 9.35am. The water level is down by around 50%, giving all a chance to see some of the contours of the lake bed that they had not seen before.

Fish were caught from all areas of the lake with intermediate lines the best and bright lures the successful fly patterns. A total of 31 Trout were caught for a cumulative weight of 67lbs 12oz. Alec Hoare of Abbotskerswell took the honours with a bag weight of 13lbs, John Hern took second with Sam Shepherd third.

The best fish of the day went to John Hern, a lovely Rainbow weighing 4lbs 13oz. Information has come in that 200 megalitres of water has been drained from Kennick Reservoir, meaning that more bank is now exposed and that certain areas are very slippery, so extra care needs to be taken.

The latest match at Spring Ponds saw Jason Fay in first place with 51lbs 14oz, Connor Nettleton took second and Alan Crouch third. Various match tactics took fish with micro pellets and sweetcorn being the best baits.

Please remember to send your pictures and reports in for our Fish of the Month competition kindly sponsored by Newbarn Farm Angling Centre and Sidewinder Lures. You can email them to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com