Dan Welch skipper of Predator 2 Charters caught this fine 63cm bass on his latest excursion wiyth the lure rod. He is now running in second place in CMSAC’s Lure Fishing League.
Top Three Present positions : –
Ross Stanway 5 bass – 290
Dan Welch 5 bass – 270
Reece Woolgar – 3 bass – 175.5
“A but lumpy out there today so had an office day and then took the lure rod out off the shore, 9 bass to 63cm, can’t complain the new lucky hoody working its magic!”
Ross Stanway has consolidated his lead in Combe Martin SAC’s Bass Lure Fishing League adding bass of 67cm and 55cm on his latest trip to the coast.
Combe Martin SAC member Graham Snow has enjoyed success with thin lipped grey mullet tempting specimens of 4lb 15.5oz and 4lb 10.5oz on recent trips to the local estuaries.
(Above) Seth Tuson won Combe Martin SACs Open Lure Fishing competition with a fine bass measuring 62cm. The fish was tempted on a black back sparkle Chappy surface lure from High Street Tackle
Ross Stanway registered several bass up to 56cm and I caught four bass up to 52cm.
The competitors were hampered by strong North West Winds on the Saturday making fishing difficult across large sections of the coast.
Its half way through the year; a good time to put out an update on club events. What’s happened and what is planned for the rest of the year.
I think its fair to say that many sea angling clubs are going through a difficult time. Times are changing and it seems that COVID had a lasting impact on the angling scene and perhaps society as a whole.
Combe Martin SAC are one of the longest standing sea angling clubs in North Devon established back in 1962. At the end of last year our membership was around forty, Nick will give details in his update.
At the start of the year in February the club launched a species league to encourage participation in the Ilfracombe area and a sector of the club that offers a bit of fun and community. The club has a serious side with a dedicated band of successful anglers chasing the big specimens. Whilst we need to cater for the hardcore angler we also need to encourage new blood and perhaps cater for the older generation who can no longer hop around on the rocks like mountain goats.
Thanks must go to Toby Bassett whose energy and passion has invigorated a new section of the club. Amazingly club members have caught 32 species from the pier since February 1st. At present Toby Bassett is leading the league with 29 species. Runners up are Ross Stanway and Dan Welch with 23 species each. Solly Welch is third with 14 species and Lenny Lake forth with 13 species. Paul Lorrimore and Gary Prout fifth on 12 species and Ted Childs sixth on 10.
Apologies if I have made any errors I would ask all members of the group to list their species with their images.
The league is sponsored by several local business including High Street Tackle, Turton’s Butchers, Ilfracombe Aquarium and numerous others. I will organise a get together with Toby to formulate things a bit more. We try and have a pop up fishing event each month alternating between Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. The first few have attracted a good number of members. The last one clashed with a strong wind and summer business. I did manage a mackerel and a few blennies. The Autumn months should see a surge in species and it would be good if club members can get past fifty species. The tally so far below! This is quite an achievement and it is fascinating what can be caught with some anglers dropping down to size 20 hooks to tempt the mini species.
|
Club Species total |
| Common Shanny |
| Rock Goby |
| Pouting |
| Whiting |
| Conger |
| dogfish |
| ballan wrasse |
| plaice |
| pollock |
| shore rockling |
| tompot blenny |
| scorpion fish |
| poor cod |
| dab |
| cling fish |
| small eyed ray |
| thick lipped grey mullet |
| 3 B Rockling |
| corkwing wrasse |
| bass |
| spotted ray |
| bull huss |
| spurdog |
| garfish |
| Leapord goby |
| Anchovy |
| top knot |
| montagu’s blenny |
| dragonette |
| Pilchard |
| turbot |
| grey gurnard |
The clubs specimen fishing has been good with the clubs dedicated anglers catching some superb fish. Kyle Bishop seems to be in a league of his own recording 15 specimens so far this year. Including spurdog to 15lb 3oz, cod of 18lb 5oz, tope of 36lb 15oz, bull huss 10lb 5oz, smoothound 13lb 4oz and blonde ray 10lb 3oz. Fish of the winter was Kyles cod of 18lb 5oz a specimen rating of 152.6%. Fish of the Spring was Kevin Legge’s conger of 26lb 9oz. Leading the summer so far is Ollie Passmore with a stunning gilt head bream of 6lb 10oz.
The clubs competitions were well attended early in the year but have dropped off as the summer approaches. The Putsborough Open attracted thirty anglers from across the West Country and the meet up at the end revealed that it had been an excellent night with most competitors registering fish including smoothound, small eyed ray, blonde ray, bull huss and the inevitable dogfish. Winner was Simon Springell with smoothound of 12lb 2oz. The club would like to thank sponsors of the event Sakuma and Quay Sports. Full results of this competition and all other competitions can be found on North Devon Angling News. https://www.northdevonanglingnews.co.uk/2024/05/19/combe-martin-sac-putsborough-open-2024-3/
Peter Robinson has done a sterling job in trying to organise club boat trips. Sadly the weather has conspired to cancel a couple. We did get out in early May with Steve Webber and enjoyed a great day with good numbers of ray brought to the boat.
https://www.northdevonanglingnews.co.uk/2024/05/16/out-of-minehead-ray-and-hounds-with-cmsac/
The clubs boat fishing activitys should receive a boost with club member Daniel Welch now operating out of Ilfracombe with is charter boat Predator 2.
We have several events to come throughout the rest of the year. The Ilfracombe Fun and Harbour Species league continues with pop up fishing competitions in July and August along with the Fun Fishing Event on September 1st.
The clubs bass lure fishing league competition sponsored by High Street Tackle is well underway after a slow start with bass hard to find. The competition is for the best five bass by length. Current leader is Reece Woolgar with three bass for 175.5 cm. Runner up at present is Mark Drewer with two bass for 130.5 cm.
An Open shore lure fishing competition is being held on July 5th, 6th, 7th. Fishing commences at Midnight. Entry is £10 winner takes all for the longest bass. Book in via club pages and contacts or at High Street Tackle. Meet up for prize giving at Ilfracombe Pier 6.00pm
July and August – Summer League best three specimens mixed species. Prize to be announced from local sponsors.
August 10th – Summer Evening Fish
Fishing 6.00pm to 11:30pm £10.00 Entry
– Meet up Ilfracombe Pier Midnight
Very Best wishes to all Club members from myself (Wayne Thomas – Club Chairman) and Nick Phillips Club Secretary)
SECRETARYS COMMENTS
Thank you Wayne for an excellent round up of Club activities so far this year.
Membership does fluctuate slightly year on year but we are at a strong point now with membership already at the forty mark, only halfway through the club’s year.
I do get enquiries on how to join the club and on our website are details of our BACS and don’t forget members can of course leave membership monies and details with Danny at High Street Tackle, Ilfracombe and of course with Craig at The Braunton Bait Box. The website contains our calendar, specimen and minimum size lists and details on up and coming events. An interesting area is the history of the club, which will be updated soon. The website is new to me so bear with me in some areas.
We are still members of The Angling Trust and Wyvern Division and members can benefit from this including the award scheme and knowing that a national body is working to help protect our sport in many ways.
I can only reiterate your thoughts and agree that so far this year club events have exceeded expectations especially the targeting species around Ilfracombe Pier which has generated a great interest. This can only bode well for our Fun Fishing event on the Pier in September. Of course our Putsborough competition went very well back in May, so many thanks to all those involved, especially all at Putsborough.
There are some great events coming up in our calendar with the Lure Fishing Weekend, Lyn Fish Mullet Weekend and of course our Flounder competition in November which of course always creates interest. Don’t forget running through the summer is our Lure Fishing League.
Sunday evening low water at 7.40pm. A light North West Wind blowing into the coast; the lure of the coast is strong.
I am no follower of football but after enduring an hour of frustration watching those highly paid athletes kicking the ball around I was about to head out of the door. Then with thirty seconds to spare they went and scored. I guess I should watch the extra time and put the kettle on. After fifteen minutes I decided to head for the coast. Pauline questioned if it was worth it? I replied “that it only needs one cast in the right place just like the footballers only needed one kick on target!”
Forty five minutes or so later I was at the water’s edge as the tide started to creep in over the weed and boulder strewn shore. Water clarity was good and I found that I could work a weedless soft plastic without too much weed fouling it.
After half an hour and several casts I was rewarded with that savage tug as a good bass hit the lure. At 56cm it was a pleasing a result.
I fished on into darkness failing to contact with three other bass that hit the lure in the shallow water. The tug is undoubtedly the drug that keeps you casting! It’s been a slow start to the lure fishing for bass this summer but they are there and prospects for next weeks Combe Martin SAC Lure competition are good.
Mark Drewer has taken the lead in Combe Martin SAC’s Bass lure league tempting bass of 67.5cm and 63cm. Both fish were tempted on a white gravity stick pulse tail.https://www.highstreettackle.co.uk/savage-gear-gravity-stick-paddletail-14cm-15g-5627-p.asp As we go into summer proper I am expecting catches to pick up. At present Mark Drewer is in first place with two bass for 130.5cm. Second is Reece Woolgar with two bass for 118.5cm.
Combe Martin SAC have been hosting an Open competition at Putsborough for close to thirty years with a two year break for the COVID epidemic and it seems a little surreal to be writing this as I think I have fished and helped organise each and every one, alongside our longstanding Secretary Nick Phillips. I guess we will get the hang of it one day!
There is always a degree of stress and apprehension running the competition for there are a multitude of things that can and do impact upon the success of the event. We have been very fortunate over the years to have been given generous support from our sponsors Sakuma and local tackle shops.
We must also thank the venues owners at https://www.putsborough.com for allowing us to stage the event each year with the lower car park opened for us throughout the night.
The main factor that determines the date and time of the event is of course the tide and six months or so prior to the competition we peruse the tide table to find a good tide. This year tides during June were all rather late at night so we went with Saturday, May 18th. With low water falling at 9.38pm the competition was scheduled to run from 9.00pm until 1:00am a less disruptive time than some years when we have been driving home at first light.
The weather is of course the big game changer that can disrupt the event. Even weather leading up to the event can have a detrimental impact if large amounts of weed have been dislodged by a summer storm.
Bank holidays, big sporting events or Royal celebrations can all impact upon attendance. And some of these events are difficult to predict. One year England’s footballers got through to the semis of some big tournament. Now I am an optimist but there are limits! This year Tyson Fury was boxing in the heavy weight title unification bout.
Anyway onto 2024 and after extensive publicising on social media, the local paper and my website North Devon Angling News the night had arrived and it seemed the weather was playing ball with light winds forecast and only the chance of a few showers. A little drama was as always introduced with a severe weather warning of thunderstorms until 8:00pm!
I arrived at the car park a few minutes after 7.00pm having picked up some quality frozen squid and sandeels from Braunton Baits. Nick was already setting up in the familiar corner of the car park. The sun was slowly setting the warm embers of the fading day reflecting upon a mirror calm sea.
A few early arrivals were already taking rods from their cars keen to get booked in and off to secure a piece of beach. It was good to note that the sands were pretty much deserted as being slightly earlier than some years visitor numbers were not an issue.
Over the next hour a steady stream of familiar faces arrived along with a few newcomers. The atmosphere was convivial and friendly with prospects for the coming fishing very much unknown. I always find it fascinating to put a good number of anglers onto a beach and see what turns up. Every year is different with the odd surprise always on the cards.
By cast off we had thirty competitors booked in and spaced out along the sands. This was perhaps slightly disappointing as in previous years we have at times exceeded fifty plus entrants. Last year had proved extremely successful as regards to fish numbers with the weigh in taking far longer than expected. Learning from this we have scrapped the best brace pool with a flat £10 entry with prizes awarded for the best single specimen fish. It was good to see two junior anglers taking part and we catered for them with two special prizes to award if they successfully tempted fish.
As the sun set dipping beneath the horizon baits were launched and rods set in readiness. Nick and I being organisers headed for the section of beach immediately below the car park an area that seldom results in winning catches. The winning fish generally coming from the central area of the beach where the water is shallower as the tidal pull undoubtedly pushes sand and food to accumulate and attract the hunting fish.
It was good to be back wading into the surf in the fading light. A gentle wave caressed the shore and I wondered what was swimming out in the dark waters.
An hour into the competition I heard excited calls from the right and walked over to where Lee Algar and his son and daughter were fishing. Eight year old Leo was engaged in a tussle with a good sized fish that was putting an impressive bend in his light beach caster. A good sized small eyed ray emerged from the surf to the delight of his proud father. At 6lb 11oz it was a pleasing start and ensured that he would get a prize for his sterling efforts. His sister Chloe went on to land dogfish and a plump bull huss of 3lb 6oz.
It was a joy to share the family’s triumph with dad catching several dogfish and a couple of small eyed ray.
Further along the beach I heard of several good fish being landed with small eyed ray of over 9lb beached within the first hour.
The four hours of fishing passed by all too quickly and we walked back to the meet up keen to find out what had been tempted.
In the last hour even I secured a catch my ratchet rasping into life as a small eyed ray of over 5lb took my bait.
The prizes were set out in readiness on the papering table and Nick and I started to take the entry forms from competitors. It took a while to write down all the fish entries and work out each percentage point. In total close to forty fish were registered with many more fish not recorded as they would not make the grade required to secure a top ten place. Species caught included dogfish, smoothound, small eyed ray, blonde ray and turbot. Full results below.
A turbot fior Daniel Welch
One pleasing conclusion from the results is that despite general gloom around fish stocks the truth is that some species are doing Ok. The catches over the past couple of years have been exceptionally good considering there have been years when we have worried in case nobody actually caught. Smoothound are undoubtedly far more prolific than in the past. I didn’t hear of any bass this year and over the years bass have been surprisingly absent from catch returns.
Combe Martin SAC are very grateful to the anglers that make the effort each year to fish this popular event in the local calendar. Many travel from Somerset and South Devon to take part with a long drive home afterwards in the early hours.
After several aborted trips due to bad weather it was good to eventually get back out to sea on a Combe Martin SAC boat trip out of Minehead with Steve Webber skipper of Osprey Charters. As a club we have been fishing with Steve for many years a skipper who has provided us with some exciting fishing trips over the decades.
On this day we had six anglers on board two of which are good friends who kindly came along filling vacant places left by club members who could not make the trip.
The forecast for once promised calm seas, light winds and perhaps a little sunshine!
The boat was due to sail from the harbour at 10:30am so a rendezvous at the Minehead Witherspoon’s was arranged at 9:00am. This proved an unwise move in some ways as discussing the days fishing prospects over a full English was difficult as it appeared that Butlins stags had invaded in numbers. Alcohol in quantity at 9:00am certainly fuelled the volume making hearing a little challenging for those of us who have impaired hearing. Like many anglers we are getting on a bit!
And so we climbed onto Osprey all pleased to be leaving the raucous delights of Minehead to the young Butlin brigade.
Steve welcomed us with an ever cheery greeting and we set off for familiar fishing grounds to the West of Minehead. The tide was ebbing as Steve dropped anchor at the first mark. The steep wooded cliffs were lush and green. The sea a pleasing calm beneath a blue sky interspersed with light white cotton wool clouds.
Fishing talk flowed freely with a bit of local politics, reminisce and fishy tales thrown into the mix.
I think I was lucky to catch the first fish a small smoothound. Dogfish were to prove a menace throughout the day snaffling baits intended for more worthy fish.
Jack Phillips caught a smoothound of perhaps seven pounds that gave a good account and was the first of several caught throughout the day. The best a fish of around ten pounds to my good friend Bruce Elston his first of the species and a welcome catch adding to his impressive tally of species across salt and freshwater.
Ray were the main target and several small eyed ray were tempted at this first mark of the day.
Jack hooked a very good fish that put a healthy bend in his rod before severing the 60lb b.s hook length after a ten minute tussle in a strong tide.
As the tide eased towards low water. Steve up anchored and steamed further west to a renowned area for ray.
I decided to drop down my down-tider for the first time having concentrated on Up-tiding for the first couple of hours. A mackerel head and flappers was devoured within a few moments of it hitting the seabed. A large huss of just over 10lb appeared on the murky water surface and I was pleased when it slid safely into the net. They have an annoying habit of spitting out the bait on the surface.
A steady succession of hounds and ray were brought to the boat. Steve kept us fully hydrated with tea and coffee throughout. Friendly banter flowed and the sun shone down.
As the tide flooded we made a couple more moves to new areas based upon Steve’s extensive knowledge of this spectacular stretch of Somerset coastline.
Our last mark was close to where we had started and after a quiet start gave a frantic last hour with several small-eyed nudging double figures and a stunning thornback to Peter Robinson.
I lost a good fish that slipped the hook just a few yards from the boat. A good smoothound or a big bass? I will never know.
After close to nine hours at sea Steve called last orders and we steamed back to Minehead. The sun was sinking in the west as we washed down the boat. It had been a great day typical of a day out of Minehead its murky waters home to an array of ray and other species. All within a very short steam of the port.
Steve and his family have three charter boats and Speed-bait operating out of Minehead. Check links below:-
https://www.charterboats-uk.co.uk/osprey-minehead/
https://www.teddieboycharters.co.uk