Hard to believe that another Combe Martin SAC Fun Fish has come and gone signalling the end of the Summer season in conjunction with the annual Sea-Ilfracombe Festival.

This popular event is very much what it says on the tin so to speak; a fun fishing event with few rules and the focus very much on family fun. Once again a big thank you from Combe Martin SAC for generous sponsorship from High Street Tackle, Ilfracombe Aquarium and Barnstaple Bait and Tackle.

This year’s event saw over twenty taking part with several young anglers catching or seeing their very first fish. The move to use lighter tackle and small barbless hooks has certainly boosted the catch rate ensuring that plenty of fish were tempted.

Nine species were caught including pollock, conger, blenny, red bream, tompot blenny, smelt, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse and poor cod. A good number of red sea bream were donated to Ilfracombe aquarium where they can be seen along with other fish caught on previous fun fishing events over recent years.

The Welch Family won a trip to Ilfracombe Aquarium that they kindly donated to runner up family Jesubaul and Becky Mringer. The longest fish was a 54cm conger caught by Louie Cameron and the heaviest a ballan wrasse of 1lb 1oz to the rod of Daniel Welch. The top individual points scorer was Ben Clarke with 25 points and Jesubaul runner up with 24 points.

The event cast off at 2.30pm as a strong swell surged close to the pier landings and a heavy shower threatened to dampen the spirits.

Fortunately the storm clouds soon drifted past and a vivid rainbow appeared off Hillsborough as bright blue skies brightened the rest of the afternoon.

Fish were caught from the start despite the murky water stirred up by heavy swells throughout the previous week. Four or five lobster were caught which is far more than any previous Fun fish. Another interesting feature was the large number of small red bream caught throughout the two hour long event.

Apologies if I have spelt any names wrong, a strong breeze, aging ears and a rain smeared score sheet undoubtedly contribute to any errors. Everyone who registered a fish took home a prize from our sponsors and in my view everyone who took part was a winner. I hope that those smiles convert just a few to enjoy the marvellous pastime that can forge a deep and lasting connection with the natural world.