UPPER Tamar Lake, South West Lakes Trust’s premier coarse fishery, has provided some great winter sport for anglers in recent weeks.

Bude’s Ryan Willshire has been catching lots of carp during his winter visits to this stunning lake. Ryan has caught fish to just over 27lbs in weight and lots of fish over the magical 20lb mark, successfully fishing with Mainline IB boilies as his bait.

Chris Hudson, also from Bude, has been among the action too with a fine 24lb 1oz Mirror carp.

Over the last two years the lake has been re-stocked with numerous carp up to 36lbs in weight, so anglers can expect fantastic fishing in the most beautiful surroundings.

Pleasure anglers have also been having some great results and regular Dan Spearman has been targeting the large Perch and has caught numerous fish to just under 4lbs in weight on a mixture of tactics including jigging with lures and bait fishing.

Upper Tamar also hosted its first Golden Rod qualifying competition on Saturday, February 16.

The national competition, which attracts thousands of anglers across the UK, holds a series of qualifiers which culminates at the Grand Final on Larford Lakes in the Midlands.

Tamar’s qualifier saw 60 anglers battle it out for three spots in the final and the qualifiers were Mark Charnell from Cornwall, Steve Tucker and Paul Greenwood, who are both from Somerset. The winning weight was just over 13lbs of roach, perch and bream from Paul Greenwood.

The fantastic fishing isn’t the only good news for anglers! At Easter, a brand-new tackle and bait shop will be opening at Upper Tamar, at the water’s edge.

Head of Angling at Upper Tamar Lake, Ben Smeeth, said: “We will be stocking all the latest baits and end tackle for all our anglers. We will also be providing fishing tuition for all ages and abilities and offering rod and tackle hire so anyone can turn up and have a go at fishing!”