Bluefin – Spurdog Fishing

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Many thanks to Troy Laing for allowing to use his post on their recent trip to the deeps off Ilfracombe aboard ” Bluefin:.

Well what can I say. John Barbeary said we were going spurdog fishing today, and that’s certainly what we did..Found a nice little spot. 8 miles off land. And as soon as our baits reached the seabed…We were all catching spurs from the off..approx 50 spurs caught..between us all. Along with huss to 16lb..spurs to 18lb..along with dogfish…and 1 pollock..caught by me haha..tomorrows dinner..thank you to John Barbeary.

BLUEFIN – SPORT FROM THE DEEPS

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Each Winter anglers take advantage of the great sport available in the deep water off Ilfracombe where huge packs of spurdog prowl hunting whiting and herring. Catches of over a hundred spurdog a day are not uncommon with double figure Bull Huss and big conger also testing anglers tackle to the limit. This Winter  has once again seen John Barbeary take anglers to fishing grounds that have provided  some excellent catches as illustrated below. For details of Bluefin click on the above link.

South Molton Anglers Enjoy Calm Water Deep Sea Fishing

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   A quick report from Ed Rands of South Molton Angling Club  on their trip to ilfracombe on Sunday 19th January.
   It was a cold and frosty start in the dark with icy roads and stars  shining, by the time we arrived dawn was beginning to break. 
   We wrapped up warm, waited for some water in the harbour! then set off to lee bay while the tide was racing. 
   We sat there patiently wading through the inevitable dogfish but did have 4 small conger, 10 bull huss to 13.5lb,1 pouting and a first for me, a mussel clamped on my hook!
   We then steamed out to deeper water when the tide had eased and settled in to quite a busy 3 hours or so with an estimated 50 odd spurdog to 14.5lb,we didn’t weigh them all, another 10 huss to 10lb, 6 more  conger to 30lb and more dogfish. 
   By this time the weather was glorious with coats and woolly hats being discarded and a flat  sea.
  Thanks to Paul “bluefins” stand in skipper and all that attended, we were lucky with the weather and found plenty of fish couldn’t have asked for anything more. 
  I have photos to send but I’ll send them individually as we have issues this end with size of files.
   Hopefully see some of you at the agm on February 11th.
   All the best and tightlines 
   Ed

Combe Martin SAC – Boat Trip

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Combe Martin SAC Boat Trip

Many thanks to Matt Jeffery for his report on CMSAC’s latest boat trip out of Minehead.

Osprey trip..30/12/19

Spirits were high as we pulled out of the harbour today with Steve Webber at the helm , all of us busily making our rigs and hoping to trick that big one into snaffling it up off the sea bed .

I for one was very pleased to be greeted by a calm morning as we pulled out of the harbour, and i wondered to myself was today the day ?.

with the usual teas and coffees made by young William Webber and also the cooking of bacon and sausages by Steve Webber it was a pleasent day

Unfortunately it wasnt to be today and it wasnt for the lack of trying either might i add ….

a few decent fish were caught through the masses of conger eels to 15lb…….

Louis Rooke managed a nice blonde

Peter Robinson had a spotted ray of 3lb 2oz

many thanks to Steve Webber for trying his best to get us on the fish ,and good on the club members for never giving up with those big cod baits ……

Off Shore Sport On Bluefin

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Calm weather has enabled John Barbeary to take anglers off Ilfracombe to enjoy some frantic sport with spurdog and bull huss. Each winter huge packs of spurdog prowl the Bristol Channel hunting for whiting, herring and sprats. The commercial ban on fishing for these members of the shark family has resulted in a population explosion that is generally welcomed by anglers who return the fish to the water.

Spurdog off Ilfracombe – Bluefin Charters

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Keith Armishaw enjoyed a Red letter day off Ilfracombe on Bluefin . Thanks to Keith for this report .. I had the chance to escape for days fishing with son  Lee who had never caught a spurdog – so we got on board Bluefin out of Ilfracombe with John Barbeary. I took plenty of muppets seeing the difference they made to the catch rate last time out. We started trying for bass but only had a couple on the flood tide, so it was on to the spurdog. Lee had a two bait rig and I used a single bait and what a trip it turned out to be, we had around 90 on the boat between 7 of us with Lee catching 30 up to 14lbs against my meagre 18. Jonathan weighed in with a couple of good huss and a conger but what a session. We then tried for bass on the return trip catching around around 30, and only 5 dogfish caught all day. We even headed in early as we were all fished out and didn’t fancy an inshore mark after the bass as this is where the dogs were taken. An unbelievable day…