Sea Anglers have been enjoying varied sport along the coast with thin lipped mullet providing top sport in the estuaries. On the open coast bass and smoothound are giving good sport with spider crab among the best baits. Ali Laird landed a bass of 7lb 10oz and Ross Stanway a bass of 7lb 12oz.
Paul Hutchings landed a brace of smoothound on dirty squid from a local beach the best 10lb 3oz.
Thick Lipped grey mullet can offer superb sport for specialist anglers in local harbours and rock marks.
Kody Chugg tempted this bass of 4lb 6oz from a local rock mark using a whole squid presented on a pulley rig. The next couple of months should see plenty of bass caught along the coast to anglers using a wide variety of tactics. In recent seasons the number of bass tempted on lures has increased with double figure fish amongst them. There was a time when the general consensus was that big bass generally fell to bait this no longer holds true. Bass can be found over a huge range of venues with large specimens often moving into unsuspected areas under the cover of darkness. In these areas a degree of stealth can certainly pay dividends.
Combe Martin SAC member Dan Spearman landed this fine lure caught bass weighing 11lb to set a new personal best.
The lure was a Savage Gear 3-D Mullet. The fish was returned carefully to water. Dan also lost another large fish during the session.
From today (July 1st) anglers are allowed to retain one bass per day for the table. I would suggest that all bass over 8lb are returned alive with bass between 3lb and 6lb making the best fish for the table. Many anglers will I am sure continue to practice catch and release for much of their fishing.
After hearing of a few bass in the lower estuary I had a short trip as the tide started to flood and caught a couple of small school bass on a surface lure. The wide expanse of the estuary was a sharp contrast to the intimacy of the river Torridge I fished the previous day.
There have a been a couple of salmon caught on the Torridge with fish from middle river beats. The river is now fining down after a small spate and there is every chance of a fish or two over the next few days.
Ian Laird landed this fine smoothound of 9lb 10oz during an evening session on the coast. ( Above)
Brad Munden landed this pleasing 4lb 10oz bass from a North Devon Beach.
When the rivers are low and salmon and sea trout are hard to find many fly fishers are turning to the the estuary where the silver flanked bass can provide exciting sport on both lure and fly. Nick Hart provides tuition in Fly Fishing in both fresh and saltwater, in rivers and still waters. His latest pictures show some happy anglers making the best of ideal conditions where the estuary meets the sea. Investing in guided fishing can make a huge difference to your catch rates boosting success over many years into the future.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club Members Kevin Legge and Derek Ferret have a knack of finding quality fish from the North Devon shoreline throughout the year. their latest catches include a 9lb 10oz bull huss to Kev and a 7lb 4oz bass for Derek!
Daniel Welch fished a local rock mark to land a specimen conger eel scaling 20lb 12oz. The eel was one of several and was significant in that it had a bite mark that had partially severed its tail. Likely candidates are seals, tope or shark?
While most sea anglers are targetting big fish from the coast with baits Jeremy Johnson and Antony Jestin followed a hunch and set out with their lure rods and enjoyed some fine sport landing nine bass between 2lb and 2lb 8oz. Nothing big but a great catch at this time of the year when most anglers have put such tackle away. In these times of changing climate it is vital that anglers experiment and try to think outside of the conventional. Fish according to the prevailing conditions, challenge normality and experiment.
Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
An appeal to all anglers from the Angling Trust
Readers of North Devon sea Angling News
Please act now to to stop bass netting and get a fairer deal for sea anglers. Sign the petition and share on your Facebook page.
The Angling Trust is pressing hard to secure a better outcome for threatened bass stocks at the crucial forthcoming meeting of EU fisheries ministers on December 12th.
Across Northern Europe, sea bass stocks are in deep trouble because of commercial overfishing and the repeated failure of politicians and fishery managers to follow scientific advice and introduce the necessary conservation measures. The Angling Trust and Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society (B.A.S.S.) have pressed hard for a ban on bass netting and we fully support the EU Commission’s proposals for 2017 for a sustainable and well managed recreational and commercial hook and line only bass fishery.
Last year’s disproportionate restrictions on anglers and increased commercial catch limits were bad for bass, bad for coastal businesses, bad for the tackle trade and damaging to our sport. The Commission’s proposals would not only see the removal of the damaging bass nets, which also kill sea birds, porpoises, dolphins and seals, but the introduction of a more flexible monthly bag limit for anglers. This would be good news for the struggling charter boat fleet and for the fishing tackle trade as more anglers would once again go bass fishing.
But there’s a real danger that the proposals will be watered down in the face of political pressure from commercial fishermen and so we need to stand up and be counted as anglers.
The campaign seems to be going well and we already have over 6,000 signatures on our national petition. Lots of people have gone on to the campaign page to either sign or to send an email to their MP. However, we need to keep the pressure up and this is where YOU can help.
It would be great if you could sign the petition and share on YOUR Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to send on to friends and family, too!
Click here to sign the petition
If you use Facebook and/or Twitter, then please post a message along these lines (you can use the image at the top of this email):
“Let’s support our fellow anglers by signing the national petition to get rid of the damaging bass nets and give these wonderful fish a future. The decision will be made on December 12th so we’ve not got long. Click here to sign. It only takes a minute so…PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE NOW.”
Should you wish to know any further information, click here for our full briefing.
We have a wonderful opportunity to save our bass and move to a net free fishery as, for once, the EU Commission have adopted what we anglers have been demanding for years. Your help in making this happen would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes and many thanks for your support on this and other issues.
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive
Angling Trust & Fish Legal
My general experience has been that full moons are not good for catching fish. They are often however pleasing nights to be out beside the water fishing. Liam Stevens description of success on the beach is particularly inspiring and tells why we anglers visit the shoreline at unearthly hours.
Liam Stevens caught this fine 7lb 12oz bass with a running ledger rig at 2.30am with a bluey for bait! Liam describes, “I Was wading in the surf just watching my glow tip. The super-moon lit up the whole beach for 10 or 15 minutes due to the clouds clearing. I shortly caught the bass as further clouds darkened the area again! Plenty of anticipation! Perhaps it was waiting for the cover of darkness??”
The fish was returned alive to the water. There is much speculation that next year will see a total ban on keeping bass; for the sake of the tackle trade I hope that all anglers embrace catch and release.