The first weekend of November brought the 2024 season to a close for most Charter boats operating out of Ilfracombe. The calm weather resulted in a good end to the season. Last weekend Bluefin Charters, Predator 2 and Carrick Lee all had successful trips with tope to 42lb boated with several large fish lost. Bass, bull huss, pollock, scad, conger, wrasse, whiting and dogfish were caught and the trips were even more made memorable with sightings of porpoise, seal and tuna.

South Molton Angling Club – Bluefin

A quick report from Edward Rands on the clubs last sea trip of the season from Ilfracombe.

We set sail from the harbour at 07:30, early enough for me!, but the days are shorter now.

Our destination was Lundy, about 90 minutes later we were there jigging feathers and retrieving all sorts of plastic lures and began catching mainly pollack with a few wrasse now and again. Although the weather was overcast we were on the west side in some shelter from the easterly wind.

We drifted various marks and then decided to anchor for a while to finish the day off where we caught a little conger, some bull huss and a couple of scad which were used as bait and helped Chris Allin catch a 42lb tope which will take the Tope cup.

The shout was reel in and we headed home with a bucket full of pollack fillets which we shared around. The journey home was quite lumpy with wind against tide but everyone managed and no motion sickness occurred.

The list was

40 pollack to 5lb

6 ballan wrasse

3 scad

4 pouting

10 huss to 10lb

1 strap conger

1 tope 42lb

A very enjoyable day out with plenty of fish, good company and good banter.

Thanks to John and Ted for looking after us again on “Bluefin” and everyone else for supporting the cause.

PREDATOR 2

 I enjoyed the last trip of the season on a mates trip on Predator 2 skippered by Dan Welch relishing a last chance to explore the reefs and deep channels West of Ilfracombe.

Big tope and big bass were on our agenda though it was good to be out fishing once again whatever we managed to catch.

The sea was calm as we left Ilfracombe just a light Easterly blowing down the channel. The grey November sky was mirrored by the sea the North Devon cliffs dark and sombre as we watched familiar landmarks pass by.

We explored close to the rocky shore at first casting lures to be rewarded with a few hard fighting pollock and wrasse.

With the tide easing Dan suggested we get out and drop the anchor in hope of a big late season tope or ray.

We soon reached our intended mark and a variety of baits were sent down onto the sandy ridges that have a reputation for tope and ray.

       I had baited with a mackerel head and guts impaled on a 6/0 Sakuma Kong Hook with heavy wire trace. To my surprise after just a few minutes I felt a savage tug. I let out a few yards of slack and waited until the rod tip pulled over before leaning back into the fish. The rod hooped over and line was ripped from a moderately tight drag. I held on relishing the battle confident in my tackle as whatever had taken the bait started to accelerate away. Suddenly without warning the rod tip sprang back and I felt deflated knowing that I had lost contact with something special. I reeled in to find that the fish undoubtedly a big tope had come off.

Heartened by this we all fished on expectantly catching a succession of small huss and dogfish before the tide eased.

Dan suggested moving further out into faster tide to fish a channel between rocky reefs.

       The anchor went down once again and fresh baits were sent down. For the next two hours a steady stream of decent huss and conger ensured regularly bent rods typical of Bristol Channel reef fishing. I also lost a large fish after a very brief connection.

When the tide strength demanded close to 2lb of lead to hold bottom we headed back close inshore to search a tide rip for bass. Here we enjoyed an hours great sport with bass, pollock and wrasse falling to lures the black fiiish minnows bringing most success.

We headed back to Ilfracombe against a lively sea driven by the East breeze. Pollock were filleted along with a couple of good table sized bass. We all chatted about more trips next year with plenty of excursions planned  for 2025.