17 Nov 2018

Chillcheater Keeping out the cold as winter sets in!

by | posted in: Carp Fishing, Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

As winter sets in its time to don the thermals to retain body heat and make those winter fishing sessions an enjoyable experience. I recently visited Braunton based Reeds Chillcheater’s who specialize in manufacturing clothing for extreme weather conditions in and around water.

I wrote a piece on a visit last year. http://www.northdevonanglingnews.co.uk/2018/01/03/beating-elements-cheating-chill/

This year I have purchased a full set of the companies Transpire fleece set and after two trips on the rocks since I can vouch for their properties in keeping out the chill. With an Aquatherm fleece as an outer layer I feel confident to venture out in the coldest of weather.

https://www.chillcheater.com/news/transpirebaselayers

 

Kevin Legge and Craig McCloughlin have recently returned from Norway where they faced icy winds, hail and rain. Keeping warm and dry is a key part of winter fishing ensuring that you can concentrate fully on fishing effectively.

With Christmas on its way and the weather turning colder I thought it a good idea to show a few products that could make good stocking fillers for anglers this year.

 

(Above) Double layered Thermal Fleece socks

(Below) Pertex Jacket this ultra light windproof garment that folds up into a bag the size of a large orange is perfect for those spring and summer sessions when an unexpected chill wind blows up.

(Below) Estuary hat – Fully waterproof hat designed for gig rowers but also ideal for angling.

(Below) These Aquatherm wading socks are ideal for the carp angler ready to leap out of the bivvy on a wet night or for wading the shallow estuary in the summer when lure fishing for bass in conjunction with a pair of old trainers.

(Below) Nigel at Chillcheaters with one the Aquatherm fleece jackets that are ideal for the carp angler.

(Above) Aquatherm Fleeces

Chillcheaters are proud to sponsor local anglers including Jon Patten who recently represented England in the World Big Game Fishing Competition in France.

 

17 Nov 2018

Paul enjoys dream fishing session.

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Paul Lorrimore described his latest session as dream fishing! A huge swell made fishing difficult but undoubtedly brought the fish on the feed. Paul landed twenty conger to 12lb, seven bull huss the best two weighing 9lb 14oz and 12lb 10oz along with a blonde ray of 12lb 10oz. All were caught on frozen Ammo baits bought at High Street Tackle.

16 Nov 2018

Shore sport update

by | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

There are some good fish coming in along the North Devon coast at the moment with conger, bull huss, blonde ray and spurdog, It is important that those reading this get a true perspective as these fish generally require effort to catch. I obviously get to see lots of good fish to report on and I too sometimes get over optimistic when I set out onto the shoreline. Last night was a typical session when I joined fellow CMSAC member Rob Scoines at a local rock mark. We were both optimistic on arrival at our chosen mark but after close to five hours we had managed seven or eight small conger (commonly known as straps or bootlaces) and a solitary pollock. My own catch rate was undoubtedly impacted upon by my choice of 8/0 hooks and wire trace with several traces coming back as twisted tangles following the small eels attempts to eat the large baits.

There are often plenty of trips to the shoreline that bring little reward but its all part of the long term game. Put in the hours; sit back watch those rod tips for before long they will nod, the reel will scream and the rod will bend. Below are a few catches from this week.

(Above)Paul Lorrimore landed several eels to 18lb 8oz
Chay Boggis with a good huss

 

Dan Welch – blonde ray of around 9lb.

11 Nov 2018

Sea Angling News Update – Tope tops weekend catches!

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Dave Brooke landed a fine tope of 34lb 1oz to secure first prize in CMSAC’s Autumn Rover. Matt Jeffery was runner up with a flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz. Equal third were Rob Scoines with a bass of 7lb and Wayne Thomas with a rockling of 1lb 81/2oz.

(Below) Matt Jeffery with his flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz

(Below) Rob Scoines caught this personal best bass of 7lb from a North Devon mark along with two other bass, a codling and two pouting.

I was fortunate to be fishing with Dave and Kevin Legge when the tope was hooked. Always good to share in the excitement of such a moment. The fish gave a hard fight running over my lines in the process which caused a few anxious moments  before Kevin could lift the fish from the water. Always a good idea to get all lines out of the water when someone hooks a tope. Fortunately neither of my rigs snagged the bottom as the fish was encouraged towards the shoreline. We also landed dogfish, small conger, huss, pouting,pollock and rockling. The best rockling weighed 1lb 9oz and fell to my whole squid bait fished close in hoping for bass or huss.

The next few months are amongst the best in the Sea Anglers year with a wide range of species to target. Tope, spurdog, huss and conger are all to be expected with large fish baits and wire traces advised. Top baits for tope are flounder. fresh rockling, Launce or whole mackerel.

 

(Below)Mark Jones fished a North Devon Beach to land a personal best small eyed ray off 11lb 10oz.

(Above) Still time to catch bass on lures. This fish was tempted by local lure enthusiast Mark Jones.

Baits, Ingredient to Success: Frozen Baits

 

 

 

Bideford & District Angling Club – 24hour Rover Result

1st Andrew Clements flounder 2 lb 1oz

2nd Rob Harris bull huss 7 lb 10oz

3rd Andrew Clements dogfish 1 lb 14 1/2oz

6 Nov 2018

European Lure Fishing Show 2018

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The European Lure Fishing Show 2018 was held at Bristol last weekend and I was fortunate to visit the show with fellow Combe Martin SAC members Nick and Jack Phillips.  This is the second year of the show and after hearing good reports from last year I thought it worth taking a look. The event focus’s on Lure fishing and Fly Fishing with an extensive range of products on display along with talks and demonstrations.

The best side of these shows is undoubtedly the opportunity to meet up with fellow anglers and swap tales with old friends.

We took time to listen to two talks; one on world wide fishing with Dave Lewis of Sea Angler with Dave giving sound advice on chasing those bucket list fish that take anglers to some stunning locations.

The second talk was delivered by Henry Gilbey and was a thought provoking one that revolved around the wearing of life-jackets. Henry told of two young brothers who tragically died whilst fishing off the North Cornish coast. The fact that Henry knew the mark well and that he had intended fishing it that day undoubtedly struck a cord. I know Henry and he is passionate about his fishing and has like most keen sea anglers had a few near misses.

After listening to Henry I visited the Art of Fishing stand and purchased two Crewsaver Buoyancy aids. One for myself and one for my son James. After close to fifty years of fishing I am all to aware of the statistics with anglers drowning every year I ask myself how likely am I to become one of those stats? The life jackets are not cumbersome and after a few minutes you forget you have them on. Why would you not wear one Henry asked? £70 is but a small price to pay if it saves your life?

It was noticeable that very few anglers attended Henry’s talk on safety at sea. I am sure that if Henry had been waxing lyrical about lure fishing  many would have sat hanging on his every word. Health and safety isn’t sexy but it was probably the most important topic on the agenda and most chose to ignore it!

Strangely in all the years I have been fishing on the coast I have given only passing thought to my own safety. Yet I have had nightmares about  fellow anglers being washed into the sea whilst I stand helpless on the shore. What would you say to their nearest and dearest?

Perhaps it is for others that you should don that life saving vest for lets face it if you get washed into the sea on a dark and stormy night without a life jacket your not going to worry for long.

A short film shot in conjunction with the RNLI on the North Devon Coast was a true eye opener as to what happens if you fall into the water wearing waders. I will share the film on my Facebook page when it is released. Take a few moments to watch.

Great to see Mark Underhill present and chatting to enthusiastic anglers about his first season at Wimbleball lake.

(Above) Angling Trust Blogger, Author and angling guide Dominick  Garnett

 

6 Nov 2018

Sea Angling Round Up – Competition Results and catches

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The flounder fishing season has got into full swing following a few frosty mornings with plump flounder being caught from all the popular estuary marks.

(Above) Cameron Atkinson has enjoyed flounder success closer to home landing a fine specimen of 2lb 5oz one of the best from the Taw in recent years.

 

Mark Beer won Triple Hook Clubs RBL Club Shield Flounder Match with a fine flounder of 2lb 7/8oz. Runner up was Kevin Hancock with a flounder of 1lb 103/4oz and third Dennis Toleman with a flounder of 1lb 97/8oz.

(Above)Paul Hutchings and Andrew McKenna enjoyed an action packed session on the Taw estuary catching upwards of thirty flounder over 1lb 4oz the best a beauty of 1lb 14oz.

Further afield North Devon angler Dan Miles Redmore secured first place in Sunday’s heat of the prestigious National Flounder competition fished on the River Teign estuary over last weekend. Dan’s flounder scaled a fraction over 2lb and beat a field of almost 170 anglers.

Heidi Green with a winning brace

Heidi Green took first and second places in Appledore Shipbuilders Rover catching flounder of 1lb 143/8oz and 1lb 133/8oz. Third was Josh Atkinson with a flounder of 1lb 117/8oz. Amelia Mellor took first and third in the junior section with flounder of 1lb 9oz and 1lb 5oz. In second was Jack Pike with a flattie of 1lb 71/2oz.

Josh Atkinson

http://www.summerlands-tackle.co.uk

Nathan Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs monthly rover with a dogfish of 2lb 1oz. In second was Terry Dymond with a flounder of 1lb 4oz.

(Above)First Light off Minehead

Combe Martin Sea Angling Club members enjoyed a day out of Minehead aboard Steve Webber’s boat Osprey. Cod were the intended target but proved difficult to find on the day. Persistence eventually paid off when Rob Scoine’s bait was seized by a fine double figure cod weighing 12lb 4oz. James Thomas boated a blonde ray of 12lb the best of several ray caught including thornback and one other blonde. Smoothound, spurdog, dogfish and numerous conger were also caught.

The autumn is racing towards its close as winter descends and now is the time to catch that special fish. Looking back over the decades November is a month that can produce that fish of a lifetime. Kevin Legge’s British record tope of 66lb and 66lb 8oz were both caught in early November. Barry Hill’s shore caught record coalfish of 18lb was also caught in November and Tim Neal caught a rockling of 3lb 1oz that also held the British record. The stories behind some of these fish are in my book I Caught a Glimpse due for release in mid February 2019.

2 Nov 2018

North Devon Company cheats the Norway chill!

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Combe Martin SAC members Kevin Legge and Craig McCloughlin joined the Veals Mail Order fishing teams excursion to Norway where they enjoyed some excellent shore fishing success despite being battered by some severe arctic weather. Fortunately they were kitted out with extreme weather clothing from North Devon based Reeds Chill-Cheaters. Kevin ; Told me that the, “conditions were very testing and proved to be a real testing ground for the Chillcheater gear that came through with no wind or rain breaking through the outer layers with the thermal lining holding the core warmth in”