I think this is a nice addition to any site, I'll write my articles about fishing, venues and fishing stories etc. and if you want you can add yours.
Fishing in Devon
In August 2011 we took a short family break in Devon - I had never been there before but I have to say it's one of the most picturesque and inviting places in England. We had great weather and stayed in a newly renovated farm house with rolling countryside surrounding its borders. What's more, there were some fishing lakes just an over-head cast from the front door!
The fishery was called Coombe Farm Fishery and all the lakes were brilliantly set out with trees and steep hills separating them off from the main road (which was little more than a track) and the local towns - Kingsbridge and Salcombe. Each lake was stocked with carp, bream and silvers - and each lake was as easy to fish as the other. In the main lake, carp were literally jumping out the water in the morning heat and gently cruising with their dorsals out the water in the milder evenings. When matches had been held their in the past, winning nets of over 100lbs were not uncommon - this isn't as good as Rockells of course, but despite that I still prefer Coombe Farm.
I had never fished there before, but you didn't need much knowledge about the fishery to get a good bag of fish within a few hours. Everyone around the lakes were catching F1's, carp and bream basically every chuck and having great sport throughout the day. Because we did a lot of family things and outings, I only went fishing 3 times - and each time was as good as the last. On the first session I fished with expander pellets and sweetcorn. I got a lot of roach, skimmers and hydrids and quickly caught a few pounds worth of them. Then the odd bonus fish arrived including some lovely looking carp. On the second session I remained on the same lake however I fished near an inlet pipe with spring water flowing into the lake. Naturally a lot of carp were going to be here. I decided to use bigger baits like luncheon meat on a bait anchor and lobworms. This produced many more F1's and my P.B. carp for the holiday.
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Finally, I decided to venture down to the third lake (the second lake was very weedy and overcrowded with snags). It was early in the morning and there was only one other angler there. He was catching lots of carp in the margins and advised me to do the same. I did take one bit of his advice - to fish in the margins - but instead of using a top kit (which I didn't have) and fishing at dead depth, I fished on the surface and did a bit of stalking. I've never realised how fun yet frustrating stalking can be until that misty morning. There was an overhanging laurel tree where I saw the leaves moving about and occassionally I saw the backs of some nice looking carp cruising near the surface. All I had was bread, a size 12 Drennan hook and a small bubble float. It did take a while to catch the first fish - despite them being right under the rod tip - but eventually I saw, from my hidden position, a big pair of lips arrive on the surface and gulp the bread crust down. Without exaggeration, if I hadn't been concentrating my rod would have been pulled in and towed around the lake with a carp on the end! However, that wasn't the case and I played a nice carp to the net on 4lb line and that was the end of that. It was certainly over four pounds and the prettiest linear mirror carp I've ever seen. Unfortunately that was the last fish of a fantastic little holiday - not just for the fishing but for the great time we had in Devon as a family.
 Above: A view of the top lake. Right: Swinging in a roach. |  |
