Leigh-Paul Porter caught this 7lb 5oz blonde ray,’ his first of the species from a rock mark near Ilfracombe. it was tempted using a launce and squid cocktail.
Specimen Blonde Ray
Combe Martin SAC member Jamie Steward enjoyed Spring ray action from a Bristol Channel Mark landing a personal best blonde ray scaling 13lb 9oz.
BIG CHANNEL BLONDE
Combe Martin SAC member Dan Spearman fished a Bristol Channel Shore mark (English side) to tempt this fine specimen blonde ray scaling 16lb 6oz.
South Wales Ray for North Devon angler
Dan Spearman visited the South Wales Coastline ( Before the local lockdown) to target the fantastic ray fishing on offer. His journey was rewarded with this fine specimen blonde ray that pulled the scales to 17lb 5oz. The welsh coastline seems to be far more productive than the North Devon coast in recent seasons with ray, tope and smoothound fishing all making the headlines. Is this in part due to more anglers fishing or is it a better fishing area to due a healthier fishery environment?
Blondes for Combe Martin SAC members
Combe Martin SAC members Rob Scoines and Chris Bond joined a party of anglers aboard Charter Boat Lorna Doone out of Watchet and found blonde ray on the feed. Several ray were caught including a 15lb 10oz blonde for Rob and a 17lb 2oz blonde from Chris.
Sea Angling Round Up!
Triple Hook Clubs Annual Christmas Turkey Competition was plagued by raging flood waters that made fishing conditions challenging. Despite this several good fish were brought to the scales by the thirty-seven competitors ensuring turkeys for the successful anglers. John Passmore won the competition with a flounder scaling 1lb 91/8oz. In runner up spot was Julian Stainer with a flounder of 1lb 81/32oz.Third was Junior angler Ian Cairns with a flounder of 1lb 71/4oz and in forth Antony Smith with flounder of 1lb 41/2oz. In fifth was Tarrant Wotton with a flattie of 1lb 43/4oz and in sixth Mark Beer with a flounder of 1lb 31/4oz.
Shore sport along the North Devon coast has been slower than expected with the water coloured following recent winter storms I expected to be swamped with pictures of specimen fish. CMSAC member Dan Spearman caught this blonde ray of 12lb 11oz. James Gubb Fradgley caught a pleasing whiting of 1lb 8oz. This weekend see CMSAC and Triple Hook Club holding competitions it will be interesting to see what is tempted.
Dan Spearman
Ray and conger for Ollie
Ollie Passmore enjoyed success on recent shore trips landing a pleasing blonde ray of 8lb 14oz and a conger of 16lb 2oz.
Ilfracombe Blonde
Lewis Grimwade landed this 12lb 5oz blonde ray from a shore mark near Ilfracombe. This year has been a great one for blonde ray with several caught from North Devon Rock marks and beaches.
Simon is delighted with blonde ray
Simon McCarthy was delighted to land this 12lb 10oz blonde ray from a North Devon Surf Beach. It has been an excellent season for ray on North Devons beaches with several blonde ray among the small eyed ray.
Big tope wins Lynmouth Open Competition
Twenty anglers competed in Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs week long competition to catch the best mixed brace of specimens. The event was held in conjunction with the Lyn Sailing Club with proceeds split between Combe Martin SAC and the 1st Lyn Scout Group. Several anglers invested a degree of effort into seeking out specimens from both boat and shore.
The presentation was held at the Ancient Mariner at Lynmouth as part of the Lynmouth Maritime Festival. The winner of the event was James Fradgley Gubb who boated a fine specimen tope of 50lb and a blonde ray of 12lb 12oz a combined rating of 210%.
James was also presented with a special prize from Ardosia Slate for the best specimen fish caught during the week.
Results –
1st James Gubb Fradgley – tope 50lb & blonde ray 12lb 12oz 210%
2nd – Dan Welch – smoothound 10lb 2oz & blonde ray 11lb 14oz 200.208%
3rd – Rob Scoines – rockling 1lb 10oz & small eyed ray 8lb 6oz
