The OLD A30

[Wandle1]

Back in the mists of time,to get into Cornwall one had to drive through Sourton ,past what is now Jethro`s and then past the Alder quarry and then through Lifton ,Lewdown and Lewtrenchard and the famous Arundell Arms fishing hotel....and Ambrosia Creamed rice factory....


Now my very old mentor [now passed] told me a long time ago that Peter Mohan was responsible for stocking Stone Farm quarry,Alder quarry ,Stowford grange quarry ,Ockendon or the A30 quarry ponds nr North/South Tawton [cant remember which one] the quarry oppo Ambrosia...and other quarries that are all in line along the old A30..

can any one shed further light on my my old mates tale.....

Thanks.....

[SparrowHawk]

i remember peter mohan used to run a couple of small syndicates up near Tawton back in the early 80's,old quarries i think.When anglers paradise was in its early stages,a group of us plymouth carp anglers were invited to join,we had a meeting in zyg's 'african room' where we were plied with homemade wine,Peter Mohan appeared and i remember him telling us about how London zoo had asked him to help find a carp to replace Clarissa.
Most of us declined zyg's syndicate as it was really just an uninspiring muddy brown hole at that time,ithink there's about 15 lakes now

[MGs]

There was a post about one of the quarries, on the Sourton to Lewdown stretch a while back. I'll have a look and see if I can find it

[MGs]

Alder quarry looks promising

viewtopic.php?f=156&t=1713&hilit=alder+quarry
http://www.fishsouthwest.co.uk/gallery_ ... hp/contact

[Wandle1]

i remember peter mohan used to run a couple of small syndicates up near Tawton back in the early 80's,old quarries i think.When anglers paradise was in its early stages,a group of us plymouth carp anglers were invited to join,we had a meeting in zyg's 'african room' where we were plied with homemade wine,Peter Mohan appeared and i remember him telling us about how London zoo had asked him to help find a carp to replace Clarissa.
Most of us declined zyg's syndicate as it was really just an uninspiring muddy brown hole at that time,ithink there's about 15 lakes now

I understand the the A30 quarry ponds were split in two when the A30 as we know it was done..I have seen some photos of Ken Townley and some friends of his fishing it ..

also i know a little bit about the Alder Quarry as my fishing partner lives in the old quarry managers house right next to the lake....its very deep in parts and there are only certain `areas`you can fish as the marginal areas are sloping to the extreme.He has to fish `washing line`style...There are some nice fish in there if you can get past the `thermocline`and have more than one life time...

What i am really interested in are the `other`old skool quarrys that i have heard were stocked by Mr Mohan...these run in a line along the old A30.....



I always fancied a go at Cadover,maybe one day...!! Yelverton way.


Ps ....yep the photos MGs has shown in the links is my mate John.................

[SparrowHawk]

i remember casting a reuben heaton 'depth o plug' into alder quarry and it seem to carry on sinking forever,the angle of the line from rod tip to the water was alarming and there was hardly any line left on the spool of my mitchell 300s.
I did a bit of snorkelling in there and there was nowhere to put a bait,just vertical sloping sides dissapearing into the depth,you could see the tops of long dead trees below you as you were swimming along looking down.The only fish i saw was a giant perch lurking in a half submerged hawthorn bush that was growing precariously at the waterline,it outstared me as i ran out of breath and had to resurface.
On hot days you could see shoals of big roach and the odd carp from the cliff tops,it was rumoured to contain big eels and giant bream.
Cadover bridge was originally a trout fishery and the fishing rights were aquired in the early 80's by The royal Albert bridge angling club (now plymouth angling club).It already contained all the normal species of coarse fish including some good sized carp of unknown origins as well as some very nice rudd,the main lake was stocked with 2000 bream which promptly dissapeared.I used to fish the smaller ponds,my favourite being the long pond near the car park with the sunken car in it and the small weedy pond

[Wandle1]

i remember casting a reuben heaton 'depth o plug' into alder quarry and it seem to carry on sinking forever,the angle of the line from rod tip to the water was alarming and there was hardly any line left on the spool of my mitchell 300s.
I did a bit of snorkelling in there and there was nowhere to put a bait,just vertical sloping sides dissapearing into the depth,you could see the tops of long dead trees below you as you were swimming along looking down.The only fish i saw was a giant perch lurking in a half submerged hawthorn bush that was growing precariously at the waterline,it outstared me as i ran out of breath and had to resurface.
On hot days you could see shoals of big roach and the odd carp from the cliff tops,it was rumoured to contain big eels and giant bream.
Cadover bridge was originally a trout fishery and the fishing rights were aquired in the early 80's by The royal Albert bridge angling club (now plymouth angling club).It already contained all the normal species of coarse fish including some good sized carp of unknown origins as well as some very nice rudd,the main lake was stocked with 2000 bream which promptly dissapeared.I used to fish the smaller ponds,my favourite being the long pond near the car park with the sunken car in it and the small weedy pond

...


Thanks Sparrowhawk...very interesting stuff indeed,especially the snorkelling...[big respect for doing that on Alder]...
My friend has had several 20s out of there over the years [note the over the years part]..he tells me that he wont consider fishing it until june/july as the water never seems to warm up to any great degree..

This friend is probably the best placed person to answer any Alder questions,he has found some close in marginal hotspots,well i say hotspot as he has 2 takes from the same spot once.....The big perch you saw NOW im interested

The pictures shown of the fish my friend caught are not the best to be honest ,but i have seen all his Alder pics and there are some lovely fish to be had in there....

Another chap who in the past did rather well there called Steve Dawe [into eels now hugely]....wrote a article in a defunct magazine ,and i can not recall the mags name but i think he had them up to 28lb......

Not far away is the enigmatic Stone farm .....i have seen pics over 25yrs ago of some nice doubles from there but `Westlakes`owners stopped the fishing...

lad i know from Stokeclimsland always told me to go to Stowford and fish into the Kilns cave there as it was rumored to have some very big carp in its considerable depths...but the coven and huge car rubbing free range pigs put even me off .....

What about the fish on kit hill................The deepest lake i have caught from is Wheal Rashleigh which is well over 50/60 ft deep