George Stavrakopoulos fished a beach near Minehead to land this fine bass of 8lb 9oz. Its not North Devon I know but James Wigglesworth of the Sea Angling News editorial team posted it and I asked if I could use it. Such a stunning image on a cold bleak November day; its enough to make you want to go fishing!!!!
Late season bass catch
Jeremy Johnson sent me a report of a cracking day on his friend Robert Hurst’s rib on Sunday October 30th targeting bass on the lure. Not sure of conditions so they decided at the last minute to change their minds from an early cod session up channel, to a bass session off Clovelly. Proved to be a good shout. As they landed 10 bass including a personal b on lure for Jeremy – (weight unconfirmed as the fish was released and had no scales but was certainly larger than an 8lb fish Jeremy had a couple of months back) They also had a perfect conditioned 6lb and 4lb bass and several round the 2-3lb mark.
FIRST BASS IS A GOOD ONE!
Dan Spearman took Tom Emillie Ridler Raimbault out for his first rock session and Tom managed his first bass a fine fish of 7lb 9oz. Caught on size 2 match hooks and a tiny piece of mackerel intended for rockling.
NICK SMITH REPORTS FROM ILFRACOMBE
Many thanks to Nick Smith for allowing me to use his excellent account of a day aboard Ilfracombe based Charter boat ‘Bluefin’ skippered by John Barbeary.
Well what a great day out with John Barbeary and his boat Blue Fin, arrived in Ilfracombe this morning just after 7, to find Craig Crafty Mcloughlin of The Braunton Bait shop delivering 200 live sand eels to the boat, thanks to Craig for a great service and the eels certainly did the job….
Steamed out of the harbour in glorious sunshine with the horseshoe are first mark, but this proved uneventful so after a couple of drifts we decided to head on down channel to baggy in hope of some bass.
the water wasn’t very clear and this obviously hindered our attempts with just a few pollock and a nice scad coming over the gunnels. With fishing slow John told us to pull the lines in he’d had enough and we were going to Lundy……
When we arrived the water was much clearer and it wasn’t long before we started pulling in the pollock, I even managed to snag a rare fish it seems nowadays with a nice fat mackerel and Paul Lorrimore had his first cuckoo wrasse.
We dropped the anchor to see if there was any tope about but to no avail, with big Al landing a nice huss and young Toby Bassett managing a few doggies…..🙂
John then got a call on the radio to say they were getting bass on the horseshoe, so we steamed back and finished off the day there drifting for the bass. It wasn’t long before the first silver bar was over the gunnels falling to Tom Collingridge, with Scott Shepherd, closely behind before we all started catching them…..
Scott managed the best fish of the day with a whopping scad of 1lb 12oz, which is not only a PB but a new bristol channel record also, so well done bud.
But as always all good things must come to an end so with a bucket full of bass and pollock to clean and a rather messy boat to wash down we headed back to Ilfracombe……
COMBE MARTIN SAC LYN FISH 2016
The annual Lyn Fish open competition attracted twenty local anglers competing for cash prizes and an impressive prize table from sponsors Sakuma Tackle and Braunton Baits. The event is a catch and release specimen match with fishing from boat and shore.
Anglers fished a wide variety of marks between the boundaries Minehead Harbour wall and Clovelly Harbour. Most of the winning fish coming from marks in the Lynmouth to Ilfracombe area.
Day one was blighted by a strong westerly wind that made boat fishing impossible and shore fishing a bit of a trial. Grey mullet were a popular target species with several competitors and it was these hard fighting fish that were being targeted by Daniel Welch on Saturday night when he hooked a hard fighting fish that took off on several long runs before eventually being netted. The fish turned out to be fine conditioned bass of 7lb 13oz tempted on bread-flake and size 8 hook!
On the Saturday evening tide James Fradgely- Gubb and Rob Scoines fished a rock mark buffeted by the strong wind. A couple of good fish were lost but James eventually managed to land a specimen bull huss of 10lb 1oz.
In the early hours of Sunday morning Kevin Legge and Dave Brooke fished a rough ground mark where Kevin landed a couple of huss the best scaling 9lb 6oz. Kevin also landed a blonde ray of around 7lb that was a surprise on the rough ground they were fishing.
John Avery and myself targeted grey mullet and at 6.00am on the Sunday morning I cast out a two hook rig baited with bread flake. Seconds later I noticed the rod tip rattle and grabbed the rod as the butt lifted from the ground. A powerful fish surged away and battle commenced. A few minutes later John expertly wielded the net and a very pleasing mullet was secured. At 5lb 2oz it was a great start to the day! 
After a couple of quiet hours fishing we moved to another mark and found the mullet in a feeding frenzy landing half a dozen with John and Callum Gove landing the majority with Johns best scaling 2lb 9oz.
Louis Rooke and John Shapland paid a visit to the estuary in search of grey mullet and flounder. Louis managed the only weigh-able fish of note a plump flounder of 1lb 6oz.
The calm weather on Sunday enabled the boats to get afloat and Rob Scoines boated the best boat caught specimen of the day a small eyed ray of 9lb 13oz. Ross Stanway boated the biggest fish of the weekend; a tope of 30lb.
The weigh in and prize giving was held at the Rising Sun Lynmouth where platefuls of scrumptious sandwiches and hot chips were provided for the hungry anglers who had fished hard over the two days. Raffle tickets were sold for an array of impressive prizes donated by local businesses with the proceeds going to West Exmoor Federation.
The raffle and fishing competition helped to raise £400 for the West Exmoor Federation of schools.
Full Results:-
1st – Wayne Thomas – Grey Mullet – Shore – 5lb 2oz – 128%
2nd – James Gugg-Fradgely – bull huss – Shore – 10lb 1oz – 101%
3rd – Rob Scoines – Boat – small eyed ray – 9lb 13oz – 98%
4th– Daniel Welch – Shore – bass – 7lb 13oz – 97%
5th – Kevin Legge –Shore – bull huss – 9lb 6oz– 93%
6th – Ross Stanway – Boat- tope – 30lb -75%
7th – Louise Rooke –Shore – Flounder – 1lb 6oz – 68%
8th – John Avery – Shore – Grey Mullet – 2lb 9oz – 64%
Combe Martin SAC give special thanks to all who participated and supported the event, to Sakuma and Braunton Baits for donating some excellent prizes. Thanks also to Tony Vickery and all at the Rising Sun for providing delicious food and making all welcome.
Bass and Ray for Dave and Kevin – Guest reporter Jansen Teakle VMO
As the summer comes to pass and there is a distinct freshness to the autumn air, north Devon angler Kevin Legge has for the last few years turned his attention towards surf fishing for bass. With most anglers heading for the local rock marks in pursuit of conger and maybe a tope, the surf beaches are for the most part devoid of anglers and Kevin, together with a couple of friends, has enjoyed some tremendous fishing. Although his personal best bass from the beach is 15lb 12oz (the current Bristol Channel record), it is rare that he goes a season without seeing a fish of specimen size.
This year has been no different and recent sessions have been extremely productive for both Kevin and regular fishing partner Dave Brook.
Only last night, Kevin and Dave had planned to tackle their regular stretch of beach but were a little uncertain as to whether it would be fishable. With the forecast onset of strong winds, Kevin realised it would be highly probable that there would be an onshore swell developing as a result of a weather front developing out in the Atlantic. Such conditions often bring with them rafts of weed which make the beach near impossible to fish, so the decision was made to try a little further along the coast at Putsborough. The prominent rock peninsula of Baggy Point would offer some protection, at least that was the plan, and so Kevin and Dave headed off across the sands, the roar of the ocean ever present.
Kevin’s approach is a little different to that of the regular surf angler who historically has fished with as light a lead as possible. Kevin fishes with 7oz leads on regular pulley rigs. A pair of 6/0 Varivas Big Mouth Xtra hooks complete the set up and are baited with a fillet of blast frozen Ammo mackerel. Mackerel is rarely in short supply in Devon, but Kevin has experiment to great lengths with both fresh and frozen mackerel and it is interesting to note that the blast frozen bait out-fishes the fresh bait by a considerable margin.
Tackling up some hundred yards apart in order to give each other plenty of space, Kevin only had to wait ten minutes before a small bite registered on his rod tip. Before too long, the tip began to pull over and a steady rasp of line was pulled from the reel, the ratchet singing out in the wind. Making contact, it was evident that this was a big fish and Dave came over to assist Kevin in the surf. Sure enough, a long bass came into view and was guided onto dry land.
Kevin’s fish was admired, weighed at 10lb 7oz in a light sling, photographed and returned, but whilst this drama was unfolding, his second rod that had been neglected for the last ten minutes was also paying out line to an as-yet unseen adversary. Once again, Kevin was into a fish, but despite his initial thoughts turning to a second bass, it soon became clear this was not the case.
Dave looked on inquisitively as both anglers awaited the fish to come ashore. Soon, all was revealed and as suspected it was not a bass but a specimen size small eyed ray of 9lb 12oz.
This was a spectacular start for the dynamic duo but Dave was more than aware that his own rods were all alone further down the beach so after taking further photos of Kevin with his ray, he made his way back down the beach to see what the state of play was.
Both rod’s were there on the stand, but one was not as it had been left… in fact it was as straight as a needle and the line was blowing about wildly in the buffeting wind. Dave wound down into the slack and and lifted the rod, not knowing just how long it had been like this. As luck would have it, the rod pulled back in his grasp and the fish was still there! With plenty of head shakes as the fish swam parallel with the beach, Dave was certain that this fish was a bass and sure enough in the beam of his lamp a black back emerged from the froth and a prime bass was slid up the sand.
Dave’s bass weighed in at over 8lb, but the two anglers weren’t done just yet. Over the next two hours they added two more small eyed rays and Kevin found another bass of just over 7lb.
http://www.veals.co.uk/blog/
SOUTH MOLTON ANGLERS BOAT TRIP
South Molton anglers enjoyed a session off Ilfracombe on Bluefin skippered by John Barbeary. They landed 20 bass to 8lb keeping one each for the table in accordance with present regulations and returning the rest in the hope conserving the species.Three tope to 30lb were boated, six pollock to 5lb over twenty huss to 10lb, conger to 15lb, horse mackerel, pouting and the inevitable dogfish.
SHORT SESSION BASS
The weather forecast was far from good with strong winds and heavy rain forecast but it was a Friday night and after a week at work the coast was beckoning. A phone call from my good mate Kevin Legge sealed the decision and a short session was planned to coincide with high water. We knew a sheltered spot and with top quality waterproofs there was no excuse not to go.
One of the beauties of bass is that they can be caught on a wide variety of methods and one of my personal favorites is to free-line holding the rod to feel that electrifying pull as the bass intercepts the bait. First cast I had a good pull and missed it. Second cast and I connect with a pleasing bass of around 3lb 8oz that is carefully returned. I expect more takes but that is the only take I get all evening. A couple of hours later Kev gives a shout and I scurry over to slip the net under a bass that we estimate at around 6lb. The fish gives a good account of itself on the light tackle and rounds off a pleasing excursion. The fish is tempted on a large flapper of Ammo mackerel.
ROB YOUNG MAKES LONG TREK WORTH WHILE
Despite some lumpy sea conditions, Rob Young didn’t waste any time finding the fish on a recent trip to North Devon after making the lengthy trip from South Wales for a 7.00am start with Stefan Jones. The day afloat with Stefan resulted in this remarkable bull huss that was weighed afloat registering somewhere between 14 and 16lb! The following day Rob fished from the coast with local angler Kevin Legge and landed a good bass of around 6lb as well as several other fish.
(Below) Stefan release a hard fighting conger at the side of the boat.
GOODBYE SUMMER AND INTO AUTUMN
Where has that summer gone, those long evenings full of promise? Tonight I grabbed a couple of hours at Watermouth with James hoping for a few mackerel over top of the tide. The sun was illuminating the high cliffs of Exmoor to the East, porpoises were showing just a short distance from the shore and gannets were swooping and gliding in the evening sky.
It was good to be there with a rod in hand even though things didn’t go exactly to plan! After twenty minutes I eventually hooked a string of small mackerel, then next cast had a birds-nest!! Worst for years. Still plan “B” I launched a whole live mackerel out beneath a standard orange tipped sea float. Time to chill a bit and absorb the scenery with the rod in hand and the hope of a good fish. On two occasions on the retrieve a bass shadowed the bait.
James float-fished beside me and the float only sank once as he glanced away.
There is a mixture of feelings at this junction of the year, a slight sadness that summer has drifted past. Optimism as we enter the three best months of the year for sea fishing.
