Ali Laird landed this fine smoothound of 12lb 6oz from a North Devon Rock Mark.
Putsborough Open 2018 Report
Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs annual Putsborough Open has become a popular date on the local angling calendar and this years event attracted 49 competitors from all over the West Country. Once again the club were lucky to have good conditions with heavy rain that fell in some areas of North Devon skirting the beach. A heavy swell that pleased the surfers before darkness fell made fishing a little challenging at times but did not seem to deter the fish from feeding.
Each year it is good to see familiar faces on the beach and several commented to me that it was great to be there on such a night and to catch a fish would surely be a bonus. The fishing proved to be productive for some with small eyed ray, bass, smoothound, turbot and dogfish caught from all along the beach. No exceptional specimens were caught this year to match previous catches that have included double figure small eyed ray, tope to over forty pounds, blonde ray to over 10lb and huss and conger into double figures.
The winner of this years competition was Ross Stanway with a dogfish of 2lb one of several he landed that also won him the pool for the best brace with his second dogfish weighing 1lb 14.5oz.
The event was generously sponsored by Sakuma and Ilfracombe High Street Tackle enabling the top twelve anglers to walk away with a fine array of tackle in addition to the £100 first prize and £50 second prize in cash.
The top twelve were :-
1st – Ross Stanway – dogfish 2lb
2nd – Andrew Atkinson – small eyed ray – 6lb 10oz
3rd – Ross Stanway – dogfish 1lb 14.5oz
4th – Julian Druce – bass 5lb 1oz
5th – Gary Andrew – small eyed ray – 6lb 1oz
6th – 7th Dan Welch & Ross Stanway – dogfish 1lb 13oz
8th – 9th – Gareth Pike & Andrew Clements – dogfish 1lb 12oz
10th Joe Toop – small eyed ray – 5lb 11oz
11th – 12th Colin Emery & John Stanway – dogfish 1lb 11oz
The club would like to thank the owners of Putsborough beach for allowing us to hold the event and I would like to thank all those who made the effort to come and fish many traveling a good distance to be there. A special thanks to all who have sent me pictures of the event including the stunning image of two anglers admiring the setting sun taken by Callum Gove.
Top Prizes in the Weekends Putsborough Open
(Above) Some of the prizes up for grabs at the Putsborough Open this weekend.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club
Presents Our
Putsborough Sands
Open Fishing Competition 2018
Saturday May 12th
Fishing From 9.30pm to 1.30am
Book In From 8.00pm to 9.00pm
Weigh In By 2.00am
Cash Prizes Of £100 & £50
Sakuma, High Street Tackle,
And Many Other Donated Prizes
2 Rods, 4 Hooks, Specimen Sizes
Entry £5 plus £1 Pool Best Brace
Phone Nick 814703 Or Wayne 850586
For More Details Please Check www.cmsac.co.uk Or Our Facebook Page
Please Respect Putsborough & Remove All Litter
SEA ANGLING ROUND UP
It seems that summer fishing is on its way with smoothound moving into their summer haunts and putting bends in anglers rod at last after what has been a difficult spring. There have also been a few bass tempted from marks around Ilfracombe with fish tempted on lures in the clearing water.
Bideford Monthly Rover results
1st Andrew Clements wrasse 4 lb 9oz 91.250%
2nd Terry Dymond smooth-hound 8 lb 8oz 85%
3rd Taz Watton thornback 7 lb 1oz 78.472%
Appledore Shipbuilders Rover
Smoothound dominated the results for Appledore Shipbuilders with Michael Toogood securing top spot with a fine hound of 14lb 2.75oz.
1st Michael Toogood smoothound 14lb 2 3/4oz
2nd Kevin Pike smoothound 9lb 15 1/4oz
3rd Jazza John smoothound 9lb 1/2oz
Junior angler Jack Pike set a new Junior Club Record with a hound of 13lb 7 5/8oz.
The coming weekend sees Combe Martin SAC hosting the annual Putsborough beach open. The warmer condtions should have brought small eyed ray into the shallows where they feed primarily on sandeels.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club
Presents Our
Putsborough Sands
Open Fishing Competition 2018
Saturday May 12th
Fishing From 9.30pm to 1.30am
Book In From 8.00pm to 9.00pm
Weigh In By 2.00am
Cash Prizes Of £100 & £50
Sakuma, High Street Tackle,
And Many Other Donated Prizes
2 Rods, 4 Hooks, Specimen Sizes
Entry £5 plus £1 Pool Best Brace
Phone Nick 814703 Or Wayne 850586
For More Details Please Check www.cmsac.co.uk Or Our Facebook Page
Please Respect Putsborough & Remove All Litter
Young Ollie Boats best of the day
Ian Laird and Ali Laird organized a four hour trip off Minehead with Michael Webber Griffiths skipper of Teddie Boy Charters. They enjoyed sport with ray, smoothound and the inevitable dogfish.The best specimen of the trip was a small eyed ray of 9lb 5oz and was boated by young Ollie Laird. The ray gives Ollie an excellent chance to retain the specimen trophy for the best fish caught by a Junior in CMSAC.
These short four trips are excellent for young anglers who might find a full eight hour trip too much.
Fine rockling sparks ID debate
Combe Martin SAC member Kody Chugg landed this fine rockling of 1lb 10oz during a session at a North Devon Rock mark. Kody asked me to identify if the fish was a three bearded rockling or a shore rockling. My immediate response was that it is a three bearded rockling based on the colour of the fish and its size that would be a potential British Record if it was a shore rockling. As another angler muted the possibility of it being a shore rockling I referred to Alwyne Wheelers excellent reference book’ Key to Fishes of Northern Europe. The key distinguishing points are number of rays on the pectoral fins, the 3 bearded having 20 to 22 and the shore rockling 15 to 17. Having tried to enlarge the picture of the fin I can only make out around 17 rays. The eye position points to it being a 3 bearded. As there is small element of doubt I have sought expert advice and will report on findings later. This highlights the need to take numerous close up pictures if there is any doubt about a species of fish caught.
Kody also landed this bull huss on a recent trip.
Sea Angling Results Round Up
Sea Angling sport is starting to slowly improve with several good fish boated by Appledore Club members in their boat competition. Dogfish are abundant from some areas of the shore line but fortunately scarce in other areas. Grey mullet are present in good numbers but are not feeding well. Warmer weather forecast for the coming days will hopefully raise water temperatures and trigger feeding amongst various species.
Michael Toogood won Appledore Shipbuilders Boat Competition with a fine bull huss of 13lb 5oz. In runner up spot was David Atkinson with a bull huss of 13lb 2oz.
Kevin Pike and Thomas Atkinson tied for third with bull huss of 12lb 6oz. Michael Toogood also boated a huss of 11lb 2oz. (Below)
Cameron Atkinson boated a fine smoothound of 11lb 4oz (Below)
(Above) Cameron Atkinson with a huss of 11lb 10oz.
Combe Martin SAC’s Spring Rover saw nine members fishing and the fish were hard to find. Rob Scoines won the competition with a dogfish of 2lb 3oz. Dan Welch was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 2lb 2oz. The weigh in was held at The Rising Sun Lynmouth where members shared tales of the day over a delicious platter of sandwiches and chips.
Bideford Rover April 24hour Rover
1st Lee Watts dog 2lb 8oz 83.333%
2nd Phil Vanstone Thornback ray 7lb 4oz 80.555%
3rd Andrew Clements spotted 3lb 3oz 70.832%
(Above) Phil Vanstone with a fine brace of thornback
Thornback from Muddy shores
Combe Martin SAC member Ali Laird took a trip up channel to land this handsomely marked thornback ray of 9lb 8oz.
Celebrating 90 Years an angler!
I joined Combe Martin Sea Angling Club in 1973 at the age of 12 and have been an active member over the past 45 years and when I reflect on this time with the club it is the dimension of people that dominates. Those far off days in the mid seventies cemented my love of sea angling and the sea and those of us who fished in those times owe a great deal to the generation of the day. NIck Phillips and I are amongst an ever dwindling number of relics from that era and as a result were delighted to be invited to the 90th birthday of longstanding club member Brian Huntley.
I remember Brian and the senior club members of the day. I guess they would have been in their forties back then and they would pick us juniors up every Friday night and transport us to the rocky shoreline at Watermouth or to Ilfracombe Pier if it was too rough to fish the rocks. Looking back they were crazy days that I am so glad we enjoyed and survived. In today’s safety conscious world it would be considered irresponsible to drop a handful of teenagers on the the rocks and leave them to their own devices.
I took a look back through the clubs history on our website and found a mention of Brian who was MC at the clubs dinner at the Staghunters Inn at Brendon three years before I joined the club. If my maths serve me correct Brian would have been 42; so I would have met him first when he was 45.
Brian’s birthday celebrations were held at the Merry Harriers tea rooms http://www.merryharriers.org.uk/
Nick and I found ourselves surrounded by a diverse number of party goers who had come together to celebrate a surprise party to celebrate Brian’s 90 years, it was apparent speaking with his daughter Jayne that his time with Combe Martin SAC had been a period that held great memories. Recent years have seen Brian face a few challenges with his health and in spite of this his character shone through. It must have been truly daunting to have been wheeled out to a chorus of Happy Birthday in front of a room full of many faces.
As we chatted at the table memories of those formative years with the Combe Martin SAC flooded back. Brian Huntley a sprightly and humorous chap who drove a Robin Reliant – Three Wheeler and wore a distinctive Breton Cap. ( A hat with French origins worn by mariners and Fishermen). Brian Huntley, Barry HIll, Owen Knill, Ian Lawson, Tom Clark were regulars on our weekly excursions to the shoreline. A generation that gave us a lot and Brian is I guess one of the last of that generation. In 1982 a very proud Brian Huntley donated the Sarah Rachel Trophy to the Combe Martin Sea Angling Club in celebration of the birth of his daughter. When Nick and I met with Sarah it was slightly disconcerting to realise that this women with two young children is Brian’s daughter. It is alarming how life flies past and how we have become the old guys. I also realise looking back how rich our angling lives have been and that people are a very big part of the journey.
Extract from Combe Martin SAC Club history below :-
1970 The MC at this years Dinner at the Staghunters was Brian Huntley, ” who gave a very lively and worthwhile performance”.
We fall out with the CM boat owners over £6, so all boat trips are booked from Lynmouth.
Part of the path down to Sandy Cove is swept away, members bring along tools to clear the path and make it safe again to get down to the mark.
Juniors are allowed to fish Friday night competitions as long as they pay the senior subscriptions, but cannot enter fish for the Burgess Trophy.
Membership stands at 35 members.
Poor attendance is reported in the Friday night competitions. Four fish are registered for the Shore Shield and the winner with a Wrasse of 5lb, reported “a good entry of specimen fish”.
The Clubs balance stands at £33-2-6.
No nomination is made for Secretary as Barry Hill stands down due to lack of support received. Laurie Wilson carries on the role of Chairman and Secretary.
A Tankard is presented to Barry Hill for his work over the last eight years.
An auction is held at the Club’s Dinner to raise monies for Club funds.
Combe Martin SAC Winter Rover
Dan Welch secured victory in Combe Martin SAC’s Winter Rover landing a specimen spurdog of 12lb 3oz ( Above)
In runner up spot was Matt Jeffery with a specimen bull huss of 10lb 13oz(Below). Matt also took third place with a spurdog of 8lb 4oz.
Several conger were also landed to 15lb along with rockling and dogfish.
The end of competition meeting was held at Cook Island and proved to be a great venue with friendly banter and in depth discussion on the weekends fishing and tactics.
