Stephen Found was targetting thick lipped grey mullet in the River Torridge estuary when his bread flake presented on a size 8 hook to 6lb b,s line was seized by a fine specimen bass of 9lb. The fish battled for 25minutes before being successfully landed. Stephen is a member of Bideford Angling Club and lives in Holsworthy.
Over the years I have landed numerous species of fish whilst targetting mullet with bread flake including bass, wrasse, black bream,pollock, garfish and mackerel. The capture of big bass in the estuary is often accidental which raises the question of how many would be caught if anglers actually targetted them.
The Taw and Torridge are both at low summer level now but despite this a few salmon and sea trout are being caught. Bob Lewington fished the Weir Marsh and Brightly beats on the Taw to land a brace of fresh run grilse and Len Francis fished the beat to land a 3lb grilse. Charles Inniss tells me that several small sea trout have been landed from beats throughout the river Torridge along with one or two salmon. It is hoped that the rain that is forecast will freshen the river and bring in a few more fish.