One of the delights of sea angling is the unexpected and Kody Chugg had a surprise when this ugly fish grabbed his bait. The fish is a tadpole fish occasionally caught along the North Devon Coast with the biggest I have heard of locally weighing just over 1lb. The Combe Martin SAC club record for tadpole fish is 1lb 1oz caught by Paul Blake the boat record is 1lb 1oz caught by James Fradgely Gubb
The British Record for the species is boat caught 1lb 6oz and shore caught 1lb 12oz.
Combe Martin SAC Member and shore caught stingray record holder Guy Spriggs ended 2016 in style landed a fine brace of blonde ray scaling 12lb 4oz and 16lb. The fish were landed on 30th 31st December.
Steve Pinn affectionately known by his mates as the bivvy tramp enjoyed more success on Stafford Moor’s Lodge Lake.
Best of 3 – !8Ib 1oz, the evening after the big thaw on Lodge lake. Used a piece of pepperami ‘firestick’ balanced with half a 12mm pop up and a PVA bag of dead reds in hemp oil.
Zyg Gregorek continues his globetrotting adventures achieving yet another milestone as he describes below!
Well done Zyg looking forward to meeting up at the lure fishing weekend at the end of February.
Hi All
Having recently returned from North Carolina, on my latest quest to catch a Roundscale / Hatchet Spearfish. This was my fifth attempt in the last four years.
I decided to try North Carolina, after contacting several skippers, I picked Dan Rooks on Tuna Duck. Dan has fished the area for nearly 20 years and was very knowledgeable on the necessary identification patterns. He was very willing and wanted to help our expedition. Despite adverse weather conditions surrounding Hurricane Ermine, of the many Marlin caught during the four days only two of the fish were positively identified by Dan as Roundscale Spearfish. Thank God. Mission accomplished.
All fish were photographed and released.
Following the skippers report to the IGFA and photographic evidence. I can now confirm and am very proud to say I finally caught the Roundscale Spearfish and have now caught all the known Spearfish species, Long Billed, Short Billed, Mediterranean the elusive Roundscale. I believe I am the only person to have achieved this feat.
In addition following the capture of the Roundscale Spearfish I have achieved the coveted IGFA Royal Billfish Slam with 12 different species.
If you try hard enough you will achieve.
Best Fishes
Zyg
There was a time when the mullet fishing season started in the late spring and finished in the late autumn. Times have changed with these fish now caught all through the year. Time and experimentation could well reveal far more marks to catch these hard fighting silver ghosts during the colder months?
Daniel Welch set out after winter mullet and landed a near specimen of 3lb 14oz.
Lee Holden caught this 14lb bull huss whilst fishing off Ilfracombe on John Barbeary’s Bluefin. Sport with huss and spurdog is likely to continue right through until spring whenever the weather permits.
(Above) Dan Spearman with a spurdog of 14lb 1oz
January can be a tough month weather wise for the shore angler but if the correct clothing is worn then there is no reason not to get out there and catch a few specimens. I get a steady stream of reports from successful forays to the coast with some anglers traveling long distances to enjoy their sport.
Combe Martin SAC member Dan Spearman enjoyed a succesful shore foray to a local rock mark landing a fine specimen whiting of 1lb 14oz and specimen spurdog of 8lb 11oz.
David Alsop travelled over to the North Devon Coast from wales and was rewarded with fine specimen spurdog weighing 11lb 6oz.( Below)
Many thanks to Robert Young for allowing me to share his picture.
I have heard a few whispers of fine ray catches by shore anglers up Channel on the Somerset coast. Kevin Legge and Craig McCloughlin paid a visit to a shore mark after dark and landed several ray including a specimen blondes of 13lb 9oz for Craig and a 12lb 10oz blonde for Kevin.
James Atkinson was thrilled to get the New Year off to great start landing his first spurdog of 8lb 7.5oz. This just a few days after landing a 20lb 9oz cod off Minehead.
Gary Harding had 5 fish out up to 20lb 4oz on the summerhouse swim on Beatties using Mainline essential cell boilies.
Steve Pinn AKA ‘ Bivvy Tramp’ with one of his 3 catches from Albert square fishing with CC Moore 12mm northern specials and also CC Moore pink fluoro up to 15lb 11oz.
There is range of quality CC Moore products in Stafford Moors well stocked tackle shop.
Thirteen members of Combe Martin Sea Angling Club set forth to fish as an icy cold North Easterly Wind lashed the coast. Fishing was hard going for most but Colin Emery and Liam Stevens consulted Google Maps to find a sheltered mark where they found some sport. Colin secured the top three spots with a specimen bull huss scaling 10lb 12oz and a plump dogfish of 3lb 2oz and a conger of 17lb 4oz.
