Anglers enjoyed a top day out of Ilfracombe aboard charter Boat Bluefin skippered by John Barbeary. Several bass were landed including this beauty to the rod of Toby Bassett. Lures accounted for several of the bass and were supplied by High Street Tackle Ilfracombe.
Richard Scarce boated a fine 20lb thornback whilst fishing off Ilfracombe aboard John Barbeary’s Ilfracombe based Charter boat “Bluefin”.
There are still a few spurdog showing with an 18lb specimen caught on Bluefin by James Mayhew.
Andrew Atkinson landed the biggest spurdog of the day at 15lb 6oz when Appledore Shipbuilders fished on John Barbeary’s Bluefin off Ilfracombe. The spurdog packs are still present in good numbers providing welcome sport.
Holsworthy Sea Anglers enjoyed a great day on Bluefin with skipper John Barbeary out of Ilfracombe. This was the clubs last session on the spurdog this season. With Club Members Steve Dawe, Steven McDonald,Brian Hopcraft,Stuart Lockyer ,Graham Verral, Paul Smith, soon to be member John Doswell, and Paul Cozens. The boat went straight out to the spurdog mark this time as we picked a lot better tide and could stay there all day. The spurs started coming in thick and fast right away with John kicking it off with a cracking 19lber on mackerel. Everyone caught steady all day on squid and mackerel baits with equal amounts of spurs and doggies, a token conger to Graham Verral and a lonely bull huss to Paul Cozens.Graham Verral had the biggest club spur at 19lb and second highest bag of them with 20 in total, most spurs went to Steven McDonald who ended up with 25 on mackerel baits and a total between us of 115. The club thank John Barbeary for another good day at sea.
A party of local anglers enjoyed some hectic sport off Ilfracombe aboard John Barbeary’s ‘Bluefin’. Spurdog provided the bulk of fish caught with upwards of 50 brought to the boat. Several quality conger to almost 40lb were also boated putting a serious curve into the anglers rods.
The biggest spurdog of the day was a fine specimen of 16lb 8oz to the rod of Bill Caasar. (Below)
It is likely that the spurdog sport will continue for some while yet with bull huss also likely to increase in numbers.
Josh Atkinson with a specimen spurdog on of several double figure specimens he landed to 14lb 4oz
Pete Gregory enjoyed a good days sport on Bluefin with spurdog still showing with bull huss numbers increasing probably because they can now get to the bait before the ravenous pack of spurdog.
A brilliant days fishing out from ilfracombe with john barbery on board his boat the ” Bluefin ” . About twenty spurdogs landed as we are coming to the end of the season , so not as many as in previous trips , but the shortage of bull huss in previous trips was reversed with lots on this trip as the waters are beginning to warm up . Lots of dogfish as usual and a few congers to twenty pounds . It was suggested that if all six of us put in a fiver for the biggest fish caught this trip , something i tend not to get involved with on most trips which would give the winner a thirty pound pay out . Just as well as it ended with me winning which made the trip extremely cheap .
(Above)Andrew Atkinson with a fine specimen spurdog of 18lb.
Many thanks to Paul Cozens for the report he posted on their club trip off Ilfracombe. A stunning conger and plenty of spurdog.
Holsworthy Sea Anglers enjoyed a great day afloat with skipper John Barbeary and crewman Paul on the Bluefin out of Ilfracombe. The ten anglers; Andrew Braunton, Robert Gould, Steve Dawe, Adrian Pett, James Pett, Brian Hopcraft, Stuart Lockyer, Graham Verral, Steven McDonald and Paul Cozens. After an hours stop close in for some doggies and a bonus 25lb conger for Adrian Pett they pushed out to the spurdog mark. Over went the mackerel and squid baits and it wasn’t long before they were hauling the spurs aboard along with a few bull huss to 12lb and a very welcome 45lb to 50lb conger for club eel specialist Steve Dawe. The spurdog fishing was frantic with the party losing track of the numbers caught with many of them over 15lb and best one going 17lb to Steve Dawe a new personal best. Steven McDonald had the most spurdog ending up with 14 of them!!
Paul Cozens stated that it was once again a great days fishing aboard Bluefin.
John Barbeary’s Bluefin visited some of Johns proven local favourite marks to catch plenty of spurdog with the biggest 3 at 16lb all fish were double figure fish. Several hard fighting conger to 29lb wee also boated along with bull huss.
The cold grey and damp conditions were a stark contrast to the far off climes John had returned from after a well earned break from Ilfracombe chartering. The next few months should see offshore sport continue with spurdog, huss and conger dominating catches.
Holsworthy Sea Anglers had a great day out with John Barbeary on Bluefin off Ilfracombe. They started off with the obligatory lesser spotted dogfish with plenty of them showing their faces throughout the day, a quick move and Andrew Braunton and Tom Marshall started to find the spurdog and a lonely smoothound for Paul Cozens. Another move further out and bingo plenty of spurdogs from high singles to mid doubles along with bullhuss for a bit of variety and also a solitary tope which released itself at the surface. Steve did manage a conger at the end for a 6 species total.
Many thanks to Paul Cozens for the write up and images. Great to sea smiling faces out at sea!
