Round 4 of the Snowbee Top Rod was at Wimbleball today, high up on Exmoor near Brompton Regis.
Weather was cooler than of late with a temperature of 15 degrees with some sunshine and a light Northerly wind. Weather was due to change at lunchtime and when the showers came across they were very heavy, including a rumble of thunder and hail, hard to believe its almost June!
Turnout was 16 anglers and all boats were out by 0945 and we fished until 1645 with the weigh in at 1715, again this took place in another very heavy hail shower.
During the morning the sunshine brought the beetles out which brought the fish near to the surface but once the weather changed the fish went deeper.
Best locations were Ruggs, Upton Arm and the Dam area with Floating, Intermediates and DI3 lines working best with Damsels, Nomads and Diawl Bachs.
There was also a small Mayfly hatch in the Upton Arm.
16 Anglers caught 39 fish for a bag weight of 106 lbs 9oz.
Best fish of the day were Alex Venn of Willand 6lbs 6oz Blue Trout and Bill Hande of Dawlish 6lbs 3oz Rainbow.
There were 3 bag limits and 3 anglers failed to catch.
Average catch 2.4
Average weight 2.7lbs
1ST ALEX VENN OF WILLAND - 5 FISH 14LBS 9OZ inc 6lbs 6oz
2ND JAMES FRIENDSHIP OF AVONWICK - 5 FISH 13LBS 9OZ
3RD CHRIS BOLT OF KINGSTEIGNTON - 5 FISH 11LBS 3OZ
4TH PAUL WICKS OF ASHBURTON - 3 FISH 10LBS 3OZ inc 5lbs 5oz
5TH ALAN RIDDELL OF NEWTON ABBOT - 3 FISH 8LBS 8OZ
6TH BILL HANDE OF DAWLISH - 2 FISH 8LBS inc 6lbs 3oz
Winners pictured below, from left to right, James Friendship, Chris Bolt, Alex Venn and Nigel Perrin of Brixham won the raffle draw prize.
Below Alex Venn
Below Bill Hande
Next Snowbee Top Rod event is Kennick Bank on June 12th