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.
Daniel Welch with the heaviest fish a ballan wrasse of 1lb 1ozThe Cameron Family with Archie (right) holding his brothers conger
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.
George West enjoyed success at Angler’s Paradises Nirvana Syndicate lake banking a fine brace of mirror carp scaling 39lb each. The lake holds a stock of large carp grown on at the venue.
Anglers Paradise
Comment
Carp fishing is constantly evolving as the desire to catch bigger carp drives the sector resulting in varied venues offering a gradual progression for carp anglers. Day ticket waters that offer large numbers of carp progressing to syndicate waters that have long waiting lists to enter with a high price tag that now exceeds the cost of a rod on an exclusive West Country salmon beat.
Match Fishing
Craig Lamey secured top spot in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly coarse match at their home water with 87lb 10oz. Nathan Underwood was runner up with 44lb 15oz and Keith Copland third with 44lb 10oz.
Sam Powell won last Sundays Stafford Moor Open Match with 248lb 5oz. The Saturday residents match was won by Martin Heard with 321lb 7oz.
Sea Angling
South Molton Angling Club members enjoyed a boat trip out of Lyme Regis where they enjoyed great sport catching eleven species that included black bream, thornback ray, and bull huss.
Stephen Found has been enjoying some great smoothound sport from the North Devon shore landing specimens of 14lb, 15lb 6oz and 18lb. Recent seasons have seen unprecedented numbers of these hard fighting fish move close inshore and at times moving into the estuary an area that historically did not see these fish in any numbers.
Several bonito have been caught from boats fishing the water at the mouth of the Bristol Channel. These powerful fish that average 2lb to 4lb are a hard fighting predatory fish that can be glimpsed as they erupt from the water as they smash into shoals of baitfish.
I enjoyed a day fishing for porbeagle shark on Ilfracombe boat Predator 2 and ventured to the recognised sharking grounds West of Hartland Point. Whilst we caught no shark we caught numerous tope, gurnard, bass, mackerel, gurnard and scad. Several shark have been caught in recent weeks but fishing seems to have been impacted upon by frequent algal blooms that are unusual for this time of year.
Rivers
Barnstaple and District Angling Club have once again suspended fishing on their river beats as high water temperatures and low oxygen levels bring grave concern for the rivers wildlife.
Comment
As I add the finishing touches to this week’s angling report the BBC news is reporting on the fact that ‘The UK’s seas have had their warmest start to the year since records began, helping to drive some dramatic changes in marine life and for its fishing communities’.
In my weekly angling report above I mention the influx of smoothound, unusual algal blooms and river temperatures that are concerning for fish survival. All of these could be linked to climate change and as an angler I observe these changes from the water’s edge.
I personally accept that the evidence points to rapid change in our climate and yet this is tempered by the fact that climate change is linked to events that have happened before as marine eco systems are cyclical and complex. Tuna are not new to UK waters and were abundant during the mid-twentieth century. Octopus population explosions occurred previously at the start and middle of the twentieth century. I would also point out that the frequently used phrase since records began is emotive terminology as since 1980 when records started is probably less alarming as forty odd years is little more than a blink of the eye in the evolving climate of the planet.
Bideford Angling Clubs Monthly sea rover was dominated by smoothound with Richard Jefferies heading the field with a specimen of 11lb 9oz. Tony Gussin was runner up with a hound of 10lb 10oz and Dale Kiff third with a hound of 10lb 4oz.
Appledore Shipbuilders monthly rover was also dominated by smoothound with Andrew Atkinson taking first and second with hounds of 12lb 4.25oz and 9lb 3.75oz. Third was Michael Hammett with a hound of 8lb 12oz.
1st Stephen Found – Thicklipped Mullet 4lb 4oz 107.812%
2nd Andrew Clements Thicklipped Mullet 4lb 100%
3rd Dale Kiff Smoothhound 8lb 11oz 86.875%
4th Tony Gussin Smoothound 8lb 0oz 1/2 80.312%
5th Dale Kiff Bass 5lb 3 74.107%
6th Tony Gussin Smoothound 7lb 1 70.652%
APPLEDORE MONTHLY ROVER
Challenging conditions for the July rover today with the fresh WNW wind.
Josh Atkinson took top spot with a Smoothound of 10lb 15ozs. Michael Hammett had the next best fish with another Smoothound 9lb 15ozs. Josh also picked up 3rd place with another hound of 9lb 3ozs.
Combe Martin SACs Annual Putsborough Open eventually got underway on the longest day of the year after rescheduling due to an oversight regarding the Spring Bank holiday and severe weather warnings.
The weather proved to be perfect as thirty eight anglers descended on the venue as the sun slowly set casting its golden rays upon sand and sea. I had been slightly apprehensive about the event as my good friend and club secretary Nick Phillips was unable to attend and as we have run this event together for over forty years a solo effort was a little daunting.
It was great to see a good number of familiar faces at the booking in and I am always encouraged by this annual migration to this splendid venue and value the long lasting cooperation of the Putsborough estate and in particular Trevor the security officer who always greets and guides participants to the assembly point.
With all booked in I opted to take the long walk to join fellow club members Kevin Legge and Craig Mcloughlin at the end of the line halfway along the beach. I set up shortly after 9.00pm and was pleased to take a look back along the beach at the anglers wading out into the surf to cast their baits.
Photo – Lee Algar
There is something special and slightly poignant about the longest day as the year turns and we look to the ebbing of another year.
With rods poised and lines stretching into the watery dimension I savoured the scene before strolling over for a chat with Kevin who wound in a small school bass as we talked.
A few moments after arriving back at my rods I noticed a sharp tap on the rod tip followed by a slow pulling over and ticking ratchet. I picked up the rod and pulled into what for a moment felt like a good fish. To my dismay all went solid. Was it a big ray hugging the bottom? Surely I couldn’t be snagged up on the expanse of clean sand? After applying maximum pressure with the rod for a few minutes I placed the rod back in the rest slackened the clutch and waited to see what happened. With no further movement I picked up the rod, pointed the rod to the sea and walked slowly back. Suddenly the tackle pulled free and I wound in a mangled bait. Had I lost a big ray or had I found a snag?
A short while later I caught a small ray of just over 4lb that was an encouraging start. I added another small ray and a smoothound to my own tally but knew I was unlikely to feature in the prize list.
The next three hours passed by in a familiar scene as the tide flooded and stars winked high above in those familiar timeless reassuring constellations.
I packed up at midnight to trudge back across the sand and prepare for the arrival of competitors and the sorting of fish entries. I knew that Kevin and Craig had tempted good fish and was intrigued to see what else had been caught.
At this point I will give my heartfelt thanks to Craig McLoughlin of Braunton Bait Box for offering to assist with the sorting of entries. As anglers arrived back there were undoubtedly mixed fortunes but overall catches were encouraging with good numbers of small-eyed ray and smoothound along with a few bass, a solitary sole and refreshingly few dogfish.
Hopefully we got the results together with accuracy. Many thanks go to all those who supported the event by attending. Special thanks to our generous sponsors Sakuma and Barnstaple Bait and Tackle. The club greatly appreciate the ongoing support of Putsborough Estate in permitting us access to this beautiful venue.
Results of the 2025 – Putsborough Open
1st – Craig Mcloughlin – Small eyed ray – 9lb 8oz 95%
2nd – Stephen Found – smoothound – 9lb 2.5oz 91%
3rd – Craig Mcloughlin – small eyed ray – 8lb 5oz 83%
4th – Nathan Clements – small eyed ray – 7lb 14.5oz 78%
5th – Kevin Legge – small eyed ray – 7lb 8oz 75%
6th – Lee Algar – bass – 5lb 13oz. 72.5%
7th – Rob Hancock – smoothound – 7lb 2oz 71%
8th – Stephen Found – smoothound – 6lb 15.25oz. 69%
9th – Tony Gussin – small eyed ray – 6lb 14oz 68.7%
10th – Steve Webb – small eyed ray – 6lb 13oz 68.1%
Top Junior – Ted Childs – small eyed ray – only fish registered by a junior angler.
Received a tee-shirt and a gift voucher from our sponsor Barnstaple Bait and Tackle.
Craig Mcloughlin received the £150 cash first prize and choice from the prize table.
Runner up Stephen Found received £50 cash and choice of prizes from the table.
The top ten chose prize bundles from our generous sponsors Sakuma who have supported the event for many years. Combe Martin SAC look forward to hosting the event again next year and welcome any constructive comments to help the event prosper.
Putsborough Open – Please note Ocean Fest is taking place in Croyde so this could result in delays if approaching via this route. Consider alternative routes.
Please weigh all fish in imperial pounds and ounces not metric or US. If you do not have compatible scales please convert weights prior to meet up.
Low water is at 9:00pm expect fish from the start smoothound, small-eyed-ray are likely to dominate if they dont show a dogfish could win you a prize. As always there is an extensive prize table with a prizes down to tenth place plus a special junior prize. Junior entry is £5.00 or full price optional giving chance to win top prize.
Note if you catch a worthy specimen please give me call and I will try and get to you with a camera.Please try and secure an image of all fish with the exception of dogfish.
Graham Snow secured top spot in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly sea rover with a specimen thick lipped grey mullet of 5lb 1.5oz. Jon Stevens was runner up with a smoothound scaling 9lb 3.5oz and Jazzer John third with a smoothound of 8lb 3oz.
APPLEDORE SHIPBUILDERS
Jake Moule secured victory in Appledore Shipbuilders June Rover with a smoothound of 13lb. Graham Snow was runner up with his thick lipped grey mullet of 5lb 1.5oz and Andrew Atkinson third with a specimen hound of 12lb 6.5oz.
