(Above) A fifty pound plus tope for first timer Colin.
Bluefin will be running fishing trips out of Ilfracombe throughout the winter months at present there are still a few tope being caught and bass from the reefs. With the new that anglers can now retain one bass per day trips to reefs will be popular with option to keep the occasional fish for the table.
A fine tope on Bluefin Off Ilfracombe. The next couple of months should see some top rate sport with these hard fighting toothy critters!
Keith Armishaw from Angling Book Specialists River Reads booked a days fishing off Ilfracombe on Bluefin skippered by John Barbeary. and sent me a brief report on an interesting day.
Keith tells me that The fishing wasn’t great a is often the case in Spring when the winter spurdog shoals have migrated away and the summer species have not arrived in any numbers. As they moved from mark to mark dogfish snaffled the bait in plague proportions.
But as is often the case the day was saved when John managed to locate a should of pollock that put a bend in the rods along with a few bull huss.
Days afloat are about more than just fish and Keith relays an interesting aspect of the day in that several birds landed on the boat.
Keith guessed that these were on migration to South Wales. They had 4 warblers (one actually settled on Lee’s rod whilst he was holding it), a blackcap and another ( caught a fleeting glimpse of was a redstart I think). Keith commented that it all added to the joy of the day. Great to be outdoors.
http://www.bluefincharters.co.uk
Anglers enjoyed a lush spring day with a blue sky and calm sea on Bluefin fishing out of Ilfracombe they landed plenty of spurdog the best a beauty of 18lb to the rod of Bill Cassar.
http://www.bluefincharters.co.uk
Toby Bassett joined a party of anglers aboard John Barbeary’s boat Bluefin off Ilfracombe and boated a fine specimen conger of 44lb 8oz.. The spurdog they were targetting proved harder to find than on recent trips but good numbers of conger proved adequate consultation with good numbers of twenty pound plus eels boated.
Steve Dawe is on a mission to catch 52 species in 52 weeks and is doing it to raise money for The Stroke Association following a massive stroke that impacted upon a close angling friend of Steve’s. Steve has agreed to write about his aims on NDAN in a feature that will follow soon. In the mean time above is a picture of the huge 19lb spurdog Steve boated on Tuesday January 30th whilst fishing on John Barbeary’s boat Bluefin.
Pete Gregory was also on the trip and enjoyed sport with spurdog and bull huss. ( Below)
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John Barbeary took advantage of a break in the weather to take a party of anglers out of Ilfracombe where they enjoyed top rate sport with conger and spurdog. Steve Dawe (above) boated a spurdog of 19lb and Andrew Atkinson (Below) a hard fighting conger of 40lb.
The days fishing got underway following the stunning sunrise above Combe Martin Bay ( Above).
I joined a party of anglers on board John Barbeary’s ‘Bluefin’ Last Sunday morning when we steamed out to a mark six or seven miles off Ilfracombe where we hoped to connect with the packs of spurdog that have become a feature of winter fishing off the North Devon Coast. Several trips had been possible to these deep water marks over the previous few days when plenty of tackle testing specimens had been boated.
It wasn’t long after dropping the anchor before a few spurdog homed in on the array of baits on offer beneath the boat. Spurdog are not particularly fussy feeders devouring most fish baits with gusto.
(Above) Simon Blacher with one of the first double figure spurdog of the day.
(Below) One of several spurdog I landed during the day.
As the tide eased several conger joined in on the feasting beneath the boat with Exeter based angler Pete Gregory boating a beauty of 36lb. (Below)
A brace of bull huss ( Below)
Pete Gregory with a fine spurdog (Below)
Over the previous week John Barbeary had taken several parties of anglers to the grounds several miles off the coast when neap tides and good weather gave a perfect window of opportunity.
Below highlights from a productive week on Bluefin
Rob Scoines with two spurdog the best a fine specimen of 18lb 2oz
(Below) Pete Gregory with a 30lb plus conger
Pete Gregory with a rare Bristol Channel Ling.
John Barbeary took advantage of a break in the weather to take a party of friends out fishing aboard Bliuefin off Ilfracombe and they enjoyed a fine days sport with spurdog to 16lb and smoothound to 12lb. They also had bull huss and conger.
