South Molton & District Angling Club Trip – Bluefin

I joined South Molton AC  members and boarded John Barbeary’s Bluefin at just before 8.00am. The plan was to go and fish the waters close to Lundy Island but with a brisk Westerly and fair sized residual swell after a couple of rough days John suggested plan B. And so we left Ilfracombe harbour and headed up channel.

The spectacular cliffs that plunge from Exmoor’s Northern edge are always a joy to witness especially as the morning sunlight reflects upon the waters creating a silvery seascape framed by the dramatic cliffs.

            We started the day drifting the reefs off the Hangman’s where several pollock smashed into our strings of lures. We kept half a dozen to use as fresh bait when we dropped anchor. John explored several reefs but the fishing proved slow. As it was now high water with little tide flow we dropped anchor.

            It wasn’t long before rod tips were nodding as huss, conger and the inevitable dogfish intercepted our baits. Ed Rands and Lathum both caught conger into double figures and Ed  boated what was to be the biggest huss of the day at close to 10lb.

            As the tide pull slowly increased John up anchored and we tried drifting a few marks further up the coast to no avail. John received Info from fellow Ilfracombe boat skipper of Carrick Lee who’s party had caught several bass on a drift further up channel. Its always good to witness how Ilfracombe’s skippers work together sharing information to help each other.

            It seemed we had missed this opportunity as after several drifts our bass tally remained at nil.

            We then enjoyed an hour in the relative shelter of Woody bay with its densely wooded slopes and admired the exclusive properties nestled within the woods.

            John was uneasy at the slow sport and decided it was time to head back to the waters off the Hangman’s. Down went the big baits and again the rod tips nodded to the pull of huss, conger and dogfish.

            A sharp pull resulted in a pleasing bass of around 4lb to my offering of a bluey and squid wrap.

            Ed hooked into a very good fish that put a serious bend in his rod. We all watched the drama waiting in anticipation to glimpse what we thought was a big conger. Sadly whatever it was came adrift close to the boat before we had the chance to see it? The touch of drama added a hanging question over the day.

A good fish..but what is it?

And then its gone……..

Ed ponders upon what he lost?

            For the next hour we fished on as the tide eventually swung the boat so that we faced into the brisk breeze. A steady succession of huss, small conger and dogfish visited the boat before John started the engines and we headed back to Ilfracombe.

            The pier was busy with crabbers and tourists as we climbed ashore. Sausage and chips beside the harbour to round off a good days fishing.

http://www.ilfracombeaquarium.co.uk

CMSAC LURE LEAGUE UPDATE

 

Combe Martin SAC Member Reece Woolgar got his 2025 lure fishing campaighn underway registering bass of 67cm and 60.5cm into the clubs lure fishing league that is sponsored by High Street Tackle, Ilfracombe.

The succesful lure was a Keitech Easy Shiner 4” in various colours

 

Present standings :-

Seth Tuson – Five bass – 304cm

Reece Woolgar – Two bass – 127.5cm

Mark Drewer – Two bass – 122.5cm

Robert Hurst – Two bass – 121.5cm

Double Figure Lure Caught bass

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Jamie Steward decided to take up lure angling this year and got off to fine start… 5th trip out and he hooked in to something special.. “bounced a soft plastic down the crease in to a slack bit of water and 💥 seen my line pick up out the water and start running up river against the tide, reel was screaming 💤 few big ol head shakes and darting runs and i managed to tire out and guide through the bladder wrack this fine old warrior of a bass! Forgot to measure it as im new to the game  but I did weigh it and she pulled the scales to 10lb on the dot! Was relieved to see it hit the magic double figure mark and set me a new PB. Probably the best scrap I’ve had on a rod and reel and its fair to say i quite like this luring malarkey was a pleasure meeting this Bass! 👌 cheers Danny Watson of high street tackle for the guidance on rod choice and quality lures 👍🏻

 

A BLAZE OF COLOUR – CLUB RECORD CUCKOO WRASSE

Summer sea sport is underway with long warm spell resulting in some exciting fishing off Ilfracombe. Predator 2 is the latest Charter boat to join the Ilfracombe fleet and its skipper Daniel Welch is taking anglers to Bristol Channel Reefs where good numbers of wrasse and pollock are being tempted using the latest lure fishing tactics. A recent trip resulted in new Combe Martin SAC club record cuckoo wrasse weighing1lb 6oz to the rod of Ross Stanway. A seaqualizer device to return fish to water without harm a device that is available from the Angling Trust and is also proving a valuable conservation tool for returning pollock caught in deep water.

Dan Welch also caught a spectaculary coloured cuckoo wrasse of 1lb 5oz using a small lure.

The colours on wrasse are truly awesome and a match for any in tropical waters.

 

Sea Angling May Rover – Results.

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Andrew Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs May Rover with a fine thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb. Phil Vanstone was runner up with a wrasse of 4lb 2oz and Antony Smith third with a  thornback ray of 7lb 7.5oz.

            Jake Moule won Appledore Shipbuilders monthly rover with a specimen smoothound scaling 11lb. Michael Hammett was runner up with hound of 10lb 2.25oz. Third place was shared by Michael and Jake with hounds weighing 7lb 3oz.

 

Combe Martin SAC – Blue skys and rays off Minehead

            Combe Martin SAC members enjoyed a fine days sport off Minehead with Steve Webber on his boat Osprey.  The day started with a Wetherspoons Breakfast where the nuances of poker, politics, health and economics provided an interesting agenda.

            A flat calm sea is a wonderful sight when setting out for a day’s boat fishing and it was a buoyant party of anglers who set out to enjoy a day afloat.

        A full report of the day should appear in the July edition of Sea Angler. But for now i will share a few images of a great day with club members catching, bass, thornback, small eyed ray, spotted ray, conger, smoothound and more than a few dogfish.

Dave Newton enjoys the scenery
Bruce is always happy with a bent rod
Bruce with a small eyed ray
Keith Armishaw puts a frozen prawn to good use.
Keith with one of many thornback ray caught during the day.
Bruce Elston holds a smoothound
Club secretary Nick Phillips in action
Nick brings back memories of Kojac ….
Thornback ray and blue sky day
Club boat secretary Peter Robinson
A tasty bass for Peter
Moving on
Jack Phillips brings a fish up through the murky waters
Another one safely in the net
Jack with a typical thorny
In anticipation !
Prawns proved effective for Bruce with one of the days bigger smoothound
The smoothound sport went on as the sun sank and a cool breeze welcomed the evening
A good small eyed ray concludes a great day
Ray of the day
and so ends another great day..

            Many thanks to Steve Webber ( Below) for putting us on the fish, keeping the kettle on and entertaining us with tales and reminisces.

FROTHY WATERS – OBSERVATIONS ?

 

Whilst the algae blooms witnessed along the coast are nothing new there are a couple of observations I will make. First the bloom often referred to as May bloom is earlier than normal and secondly the amount of surface froth is unusual and whilst large spring tides and a big surging swell have contributed I personally consider that this could be largely due to extensive run off from rivers into the Bristol Channel carrying worrying levels of enrichment from agricultural run-off and sewage overflows.

Frothy waters off Lundy – Image courtesy of Predator 2 Charters

There is increasing awareness of the many issues that impact upon water quality with considerable focus on rivers with many groups with environmental interests now joining together to campaign for a revision into how we manage our environment. This is certainly complex and requires extensive effort across government and society.