1 Sep 2018

Bass from boulder strewn shores

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

First day of autumn probably the finest season for angling. One more try for a bass in Combe Martin SAC’s lure competition.

As I walk to the shore a few family’s are enjoying time beside the sea as summer fades. Its a balmy air as I make my way across the familiar boulder strewn foreshore. I arrive perspiring just before low water and make my way out onto a favorite rocky promontory. The sea is calm, clarity good and I feel confident as I clip on a patchinko surface lure and launch it 40 yards or so out onto the water. After searching the water for ten minutes or so without any swirls behind the lure I clip on my favourite candy coloured shallow diver. After two casts I feel that electrifying jolt through the thin braid as a bass slams into the lure. The rod pulses in my hands as a bass of a couple of pounds fights for freedom. I relish the sight of the bass as it swims on a tight line in the clear water.

A couple more casts and a repeat performance as bass number two hits the lure.

As the tide pushes in I hop off the rock before getting trapped by the rising water and move fishing from boulders flicking a surface lure into the shallow water. There is a swirl behind the lure and I pause momentarily before twitching the lure and get an immediate response as a small bass nails the lure hard. I lift the bass from the water and on grabbing the fish impale my finger on a flying treble hook. Bass on one hook finger past the barb on the other; Ouch!!! I really should carry a small first aid kit..

A wash off in salty water and its time to resume fishing. I search the shoreline finding three more bass as I relish the calm water and the splendid scenery. I love fishing these shallow boulder strewn shorelines and the exciting encounters as the bass appear in the clear water sometimes smashing the lure just a few feet from the edge.

I end the session as the evening sun illuminates the steep cliffs pausing as I walk back to enjoy a hot coffee from my new drink pod.

The next few months are an exciting prospect for the angler with bass, mullet and tope on the sea angling agenda.

9 Aug 2018

Bass on the lure winners

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

High Street Tackle have been running a lure fishing competition over recent weeks and have announced the winners of the latest.

Olly Larvin and Peter Hayes both landed bass of 70cm tempting them on Size 4 Fillish Black Minnows.

Combe Martin SAC are still competing in their own lure fishing competition sponsored by High Street Tackle but so far despite catching plenty of bass there are three members on 55cm. With three weeks to go I am sure this will be beaten!

2 Jul 2018

Combe Martin SAC – Get Luring

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

Lure Fishing is one of the few growth areas in UK angling with this exciting branch of angling bringing new recruits into the sport each year. The crystal clear waters along the North Devon Coast this year are ideal for searching for bass and other species. Combe Martin Sea Angling Club Members are competing in a two month long competition that commenced on July 1st and culminates on September 2nd with the presentation of prizes at the clubs annual Fun Fishing Event. The competition is generously sponsored by High Street Tackle Ilfracombe who are providing a quality lure fishing rod and reel. Danny Watson is a keen lure angler and ensures that the shop has a vast stock of lures to tempt bass, pollock, mackerel and a range of other species.

IMPORTANT – Please remember that there is a total ban on retaining bass for the table.

https://www.anglingtrust.net/news.asp?section=29&sectionTitle=Angling+Trust+News&itemid=4482

Some of the clubs anglers have already enjoyed some lure fishing success with Ross Stanway amongst members to land bass to over 5lb.

I have been lure fishing for bass over many seasons now and have enjoyed success from time to time with bass to almost 10lb. The excitement when a big bass hits the lure is undoubtedly addictive and the quest for the perfect lure costly. I am certain that lures catch far more anglers than fish but that’s all part of the fun. The most important feature of a lure is that it gives the angler confidence for a confident angler fishes with conviction and belief. In truth half a dozen lures will probably be all you will ever need; a few hard plastics,:- shallow diving, surface lures, soft plastics and metal lures.

*My favourite hard plastic lure -IMA Komomo SF-125 in Candy Crush Colours.*

Bass tempted on a surface lure.

Shallow boulder strewn shorelines are my favourite for lure fishing

*Small pollock tempted with LRF Tackle.*

13 May 2018

Putsborough Open 2018 Report

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

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.

2 Sep 2017

Fun Fishing – Sea Ilfracombe 2017

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar, Young At Heart | 0

*(Above)Solly Welch is all smiles with this wrasse.*

Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs 2017 Fun Fishing Event on Ilfracombe Pier once again brought plenty of smiles as young anglers and families shared in the pleasure of fishing. Eighteen anglers signed up for the event and plenty of passers by mingled with the participants to gaze in fascination at the array of species caught.

A total of twelve species were registered including numerous mini species.

Special guests for the day included Mat Mander from Devon and Severn IFCA and the Marine Coastguard. The coastguard chatted with members of the public explaining their crucial role in coordinating rescues along the coast where they liaise with the other emergency services to save lives. Mat mingled with local anglers discussing fish legislation and conservation. The event always provides this valuable link between these bodies enabling valuable interaction in a friendly environment.

*Colin Wood & David Harper from the coastguard.*

Mat Mander – Devon and Severn IFCA

The morning commenced under a bright blue sky with the sea a pleasing calm. The fishing proved productive with an LRF style approach bringing plenty of action with rattling rod tips throughout the morning. The competition was fished on a species basis with 2 points for the first of each species and one point for the second, only two of each species counting per competitor. This was an attempt to ensure that there was not a tied result. The top three prizes were for under 16’s only and the winner was for the second year young Charlie Stanway who amassed an impressive 18 points. Runner up was Solly Welch with 17 points and third Jack Phillips with 16 points. Ross Stanway landed the longest fish a garfish of 20”. Jack Phillips caught the heaviest a ballan wrasse of 9oz.

4^th – Lyn Welch & Angela Kinish – 14 points

5^th – Effy Welch – 11 points

6^th – Ross Stanway – 10 points

7^th – Sam Compton – 9 points

8^th – Cory Payne – 8 points

The rarest fish caught was a leopard goby (Below) to the rod of young Charlie Stanway.

Everyone who caught a fish took home a prize with a splendid selection of quality tackle provided by sponsor High Street Tackle, Ilfracombe. Several other prizes were provided by IFCA and one by North Devon Angling News.

*Winning angler Charlie Stanway admires part of his catch.*

*(Above) Lyn Welch is delighted with a rock goby.*

*(Above)The longest fish to Ross Stanway a 20″ garfish*

*(Above) Jack Phillips -Heaviest fish – Ballan Wrasse 9oz*

CMSAC’s two month long species competition ended with two anglers way out ahead of the field with John Shapland registering an amazing 43 species and Dan Welch 41. To catch such an array of fish over two months is an achievement to be proud of, both anglers received quality prizes from High Street Tackle. In third place was Ross Stanway with 25 species and in forth Lee Holden on 21.

The prominent statue of Verity always stimulates debate amongst both locals and visitors.

(Above)Safety on the coast demonstrations from the David Harper of the local Coastguard.

*(Above)Cory Payne is delighted with this pouting.*

(Above)Paul Hutchings holds the wrasse for young Cory who is wary of the spines.

*(Above) Sam Compton scaled down his hook size to tempt this shanny.*

*(Above)The Welch Family had a great time catching plenty of fish.*

22 Apr 2017

Lure Fishing Competition

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

The first few bass of the season have been tempted by lure anglers and to celebrate the fact Danny Watson has launched a lure fishing competition. Details below.

High Street Tackle are running a lure fishing competition!
The first one to run from now until May 10th.
The winner will be the biggest fish caught from the shore on a lure that has been bought from High Street Tackle.
To enter you must submit a picture of the fish, details of the lure and weight of the fish.
Pictures will be displayed on our Facebook page – we will not disclose any location information even if it is provided.
IMPORTANT – please ensure that all pictures are sensible ones – blood etc is not a good look.
It will also be assumed that all bass are treated as per the requirements of the law – we do not wish for any controversy to be raised by any of your pictures.
I understand that there may be some openings for dishonesty but hope that all who are interested in taking part can help to ensure that the winner is deservedly judged so.
We have not decided on the exact prize yet but it will obviously be related to lure fishing and be worth the effort of sending an honest photo – we would like to think that this may continue throughout the year!
Please feel free to contact us should have any suggestions etc.

8 Dec 2016

ILFRACOMBES HIGH STREET TACKLES IMPRESSIVE LURE STOCK

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Article, Articles, Coarse Fishing, Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

How time flies I thought when Danny Watson at Ilfracombe’s High Street Tackle told me that he and his partner Pauline Chard had been running the shop for three years. In that time they have built up an impressive range of stock covering all disciplines of angling. Danny has a particular passion for lures which is reflected in the range of lures carried in the shop with top brands represented including Fiiish Black minnow, Delande, IMO, HTO and several GT Ice cream surface lures. I was discussing lure fishing in depth with Danny and the application of lures outside of the traditionally accepted season. Strangely this was highlighted when I received reports of a good catch of bass from a North Devon mark using lures.

In addition to lures the shop also has an impressive selection of rods and reels by top brands including Penn and Tronix. Looking along the rod racks it is amazing what is available these days at a very modest cost with plenty of rods retailing for less than £50.

They also have a good stock of frozen bait including AMMO. Next Summer High Street Tackle are proud to be supporting Combe Martin Sea Angling Clubs Fun Fishing Event in conjunction with the SEA-ILFRACOMBE FESTIVAL.

In the run up to Christmas High Street Tackle certainly has plenty to offer with a wealth of stocking fillers to please any angler.