Flounder Fishing

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Flounder devotee David Jenkins caught this 1lb 14oz flounder on his latest visit to the Taw estuary. David says that the fishing has not been easy and expressed concerns regarding anglers not backfilling after digging for ragworm. This is a perennial issue with a significant minority failing to follow well established codes of conduct relating to bait collection. It is important that anglers do all they can to maintain a good public image and the actions of few tarnish the good name of angling. This also relates to litter and failure to respect private property.

Bideford Angling Club Monthly Rover

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Re-scheduling the October Rover to avoid storm Alex proved a wise decision for Bideford Angling Club with members enjoying improved weather and some good fishing. Phil Vanstone lead the way with a superb ballad Wrasse of 5lb 5oz a superb fish for the North Devon Coast.

The flounder were also all North Devon fish which bodes well for the coming months of the flounder fishing season.

1st Phil Vanstone wrasse 5lb 5oz 106.250%

2nd Andrew Clements flounder 1lb 15oz 1/4 97.656%

3rd Stephen Found flounder 1lb 13 1/4oz 91.406%

4th Andrew Clements flounder 1lb 12oz 87.500%

5th Antony Smith flounder 1lb 8oz 76.562%

6th Stephen Found flounder 1lb 7 3/4oz 74.218%

Autumn hound 15lb

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Combe Martin SAC member Dale Kiff tempted this personal best smoothound scaling 15lb whilst fishing a North Devon rock mark with peeler crab. Smoothound have been a regular feature of Autumn fishing in recent season with fish caught right into the winter months.

Flounder Fishing on the up

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David Jenkins caught this fine 1lb 13oz flounder from the Taw estuary. The recent flood conditions will have flushed some of the crabs out of the estuary increasing the chance of catching the humble flounder a favourite species of Barnstaple’s anglers for many years.

Appledore Shipbuilders – End of Season Rover

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Appledore Shipbuilders last Rover of their season coincided with a weather forecast that was atrocious which must have put a few people off as only 9 people fished the comp. Well done to those who braved the weather.
Congratulations go to James Atkinson who managed to Catch 3 fish to weigh and these gave him all 3 places. A fine Specimen Bull Huss of 11lb 8 1/2ozs was the best fish. Another Bull Huss of 6lb 13 1/2ozs gave him 2nd and a Dogfish of 2lb 6ozs was enough for 3rd.
Michael Hammett had a lovely wrasse of 3lb 10ozs which was 0.5% short of the places and Steve Ford managed a nice Flounder of 1lb 6ozs.
James effort today helped him to secure the Shore Championship.
He went into the day needing at least first and second place to overtake Jazza Johns at the top and by securing all 3 places ended up with a 6 point winning margin!

South Wales Ray for North Devon angler

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Dan Spearman visited the South Wales Coastline ( Before the local lockdown) to target the fantastic ray fishing on offer. His journey was rewarded with this fine specimen blonde ray that pulled the scales to 17lb 5oz. The welsh coastline seems to be far more productive than the North Devon coast in recent seasons with ray, tope and smoothound fishing all making the headlines. Is this in part due to more anglers fishing or is it a better fishing area to due a healthier fishery environment?

Shore Caught tope – 47lb 13oz

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Jamie Stewards efforts were rewarded when he landed this specimen shore caught tope of 47lb 13oz. Tope are one of the shore anglers greatest challenges and often require many hours of dedication to hook and land. The landing of such fish is often a team effort as in this case with Jamies good friend Chay Boggis lending a hand at the critical moment.

COMBE MARTIN SAC – Woolacombe Beach Competition

Last year Combe Martin SAC held an Open match on Woolacombe beach that was attended by over twenty anglers despite rough conditions prior to the competition. This year the event was a club only event due to the ongoing COVID -19 outbreak that has impacted upon many events this season. Special thanks go the Mortehoe Parish council, who kindly allowed the club to use Marine Drive for the event. It is hoped that next year will see a return to an Open format.

A cool North wind prevailed through much of the preceding week and was still blowing on the night pf the competition. An inspection of the beach earlier in the day had revealed that there was not much weed and that it would be fishable on the night when all the swimmers and surfers had headed for home.

Half a dozen club members assembled at Marine Drive before heading down to the shoreline to cast their baits into the surf. The sun was setting behind Lundy on the horizon and I relished the spectacle appreciating the places that fishing takes me too.

As darkness descended anticipation was high that a bass or good ray would succumb. The moon rose above the hillside painting the beach with moonlight after the sun had set.

At low water I noticed a change in the pattern of nodding rod tip and reeled in a tiny small eyed ray. The next cast brought a another slightly bigger ray.

The tide flood quickly in and it was soon time to pack up. My last cast brought another tiny ray that had attempted to take my large mackerel bait intended for bass.

The trudge back to the post comp meet up was hard going with waders and soft sand a taxing combination that made us all blow a little. The results were disappointing with six small ray, a single bass and one small smoothound.

1st – Dan Welch – bass 2lb 3oz

2nd Barry Scobling – small eyed ray 2lb 4oz

Note this was a catch and release match as all CMSAC matchs are.