Hard to believe that its Autumn and yet another CMSAC Fun Fish is over. Twenty three anglers braved the initially inclement weather to join the fun of fishing. The forecast gave a warm calm morning with the slight chance of a shower! Wrong; the fishing that commenced at 10:30am was greeted by heavy rain, grey sky and a gusty east wind. Many like myself had looked at the forecast and not even packed a waterproof! After forty odd years of fishing I really should know better!

         Despite the weather there were broad smiles as anglers of all ages cast their lines into the harbour from the landing stages of the old pier. The Fun Fishing Competition was run on a simple points basis with 3 points for the first of each species, 2 for the second and 1 for the third. There were also prizes for heaviest fish, longest fish and family with most points.

         Combe Martin Sea Angling Club give grateful thanks to the events sponsors, High Street Tackle, Barnstaple Bait and Tackle and Ilfracombe Aquarium. Our guest Mat Mander Chief Officer of Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority once again made the long journey from South Devon to join us all on the pier. Mat gave valuable advice to young anglers and was on hand to take any questions about the sterling work undertaken by D & S IFCA.

https://www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk

         There were good numbers of fish caught from the start with ballan wrasse, pouting, poor cod, pollock and small red bream among the catch’s. The stars of the day were the young anglers who delighted in catching the fish with some catching their first ever fish!

         I was asked by several about what tackle and tactics to employ for starting off and my advice is to start off with a cheap LRF outfit and target the small fish that abound close to pier. It is possible to get set up with a serviceable outfit for less than £100. I will try and put together a short feature on this in the near future.

         Our local tackle shops High Street Tackle and Barnstaple Bait & Tackle are  great places to call in for advice with a wide range of suitable tackle and bait in stock.

         The exciting thing about the fun fish is seeing what each year produces. This year the appearance of small red bream was a first for the event. There were no mackerel or garfish caught which was a surprise as this summer has been quite good. One year a big fish will undoubtedly show!

         Ilfracombe Aquarium donated a family entry to the event and were delighted to receive red bream and corkwing wrasse to house in the aquarium.

         Hopefully Nick and I will be dashing around the pier again next Sea-Ilfracombe Festival with camera and clip board. Thank you to all who joined in to make this year another success.

Winning Family – Stanway Family  – 46 points

Heaviest Fish – Jake Stanway – Ballan Wrasse 9oz

Longest Fish – Ted Childs – Corkwing wrasse – 20.5 cm

Winning Angler Ben Clark – 32 points

Runners up –

Ross Stanway – 29 points

Solly welch – 23 Points

Ted Childs – 20 Points

George Gove – 18 Points

Jake Stanway –  17 Points

Dave Welch  – 14 points

Finlay Stanway – 13 points

Ollie Hunter – 11 points

Callum Gove – 11 points

Bella Mitchell – 11 Points

Beth Hunter –   9 Points

Archie Cameron – 8 points

Louis Cameron –  8 Points

Aaron Birchall – 3 points

Jack Philips – 3 points

Lila Mitchell – 3 points

Species Caught : –  12

Pollock

Pouting

Poor Cod

Ballan wrasse

Corkwing wrasse

Red Bream

Whiting

Shore rockling

Rock goby

Tompot-blenny

Shanny

 Number of fish –  96 Fish – 23 Anglers