Fished A North Devon surf beach early hours this morning. Smashed my pb hound! Poor quality pictures as I was on a solo mission and had to strap my phone to my seat box! a couple doubles landed along with dogfish and this beauty weighing 21lb! Caught on spider crab and squid. I actually missed a couple good runs whilst dealing with dogfish so decided to fish with my reels in gear, this paid off as the fish hooked its self in the corner of the mouth, all be it nearly ripping my rod out the rest
Rob Harris has landed a huge shore caught smoothound of 21lb 1/2oz to set a new Club record for Bideford Angling Club. The was an easy winner in the clubs 24 hour rover that was dominated by smoothound. The above pictures are not the best but they do give a good indication of the proportions of this very special fish. It has been an unprecedented start to the season with the potential for more outsize specimens over the coming months.
1st – Rob Harris smoothound 21lb 1/2oz
2nd – Lee Watts – smoothound 12lb 71/2oz
3rd – Andrew Clements Smoothound 11lb 73/4oz
All the smoothound were released alive after weighing and photographing.
Cameron Atkinson and his boat partners caught around 30 hounds between them with the biggest falling to Cameron a new personal best weighing 16lb 12oz. I have also recieved a report of a huge shore caught hound that I hope to report on later this evening.
Dan Welch enjoyed a Cracking day out on his private boat catching loads of fish, pollack, Huss, smoothies, and ray. Had a couple crackers as well a Blonde ray 15lb 6oz and a smoothie of 14lb 3oz.
SEA FISHING – The fishing at Combe Martin is varied and excellent; and not the least delightful aspect is the opportunity afforded the visitor of seeing from a new angle the magnificent cliffs. Motor boats and rowing boats are available in good weather at any state of the tide: though it is sound policy to listen to the expert advice of the local boatmen as to the most suitable conditions and the most profitable fishing hours. With the constantly varying tides of this channel they are perfectly familiar; and their favourite fishing marks are productive of good sport.
Bass, pollock, pouting (locally called “glowers”) wrasse,codling, tope, conger, grey mullet, plaice, dabs, and mackerel are taken in spring and summer.
The herring season is from mid-September to Christmas. Cod, large conger, skate, ray and dogfish are caught in winter. bearded rockling and whiting also occur: sea-bream has been scarce of late years and hake has not been obtained for several years past. A weever was caught off Ilfracombe in 1932 and a sturgeon near Clovelly. Sunfish are sometimes seen resting on the surface. Small sharks, seals and porpoises come up the Bristol Channel at times. Lobsters, crabs and prawns may be added to the list. Squids are fairly plentiful.
A conger of over eighty pounds was caught about 1880. Two halibut were taken on “long lines” one night in early December, December 1919, one weighed 60lb., the other about 16lbs. This is the only occasion remembered for halibut locally. A bottle nosed shark sixfeet long and about three hundred weight, was caught in herring nets, November 1931. A skate (“rooker”), five feet across and weighing one hundred weight, was caught on December 2nd 1931. An angler fish was taken some years ago and a strange fish, possibly another angler, was washed ashore dead on February 7th 1933.
FLY FISHING – Fly Fishing may be had at Hunters Inn. Tickets being obtainable at the hotel; and on Slade Reservoir. Ilfracombe’ permits being issued at the Municipal Offices, Ilfracombe. Good fishing is also available on the East Lyn, the Barle and the Bray. For fishing on the Exmoor Reservoir apply at the Ring Of Bells Inn, Challacombe.
Perhaps if we had taken good care of our fish stocks we would no longer need to go to Norway to catch a halibut!
Whilst having a tidy up I came across an old holiday guide to Combe Martin. The back cover advert below gives a fascinating glimpse of the past. Reading through sections of this book brings thoughts as to what we have lost in the seas off North Devon. I was born in Combe Martin and can see see glimpses of my youth within the pages of this old guide within which I can frustratingly find no publication date. My guess is that it is early 1950;s. It is a sad reflection that the waters off our coast once held fish that we now travel to far off shores to catch.
There is of course much that has not changed along the majestic North Devon Coast and for this we should ensure that we pause to savour what remains and reflect upon change and what the future holds.
COMBE MARTIN (Scene of Marie Corelli’ s Mighty Atom)
For SUNSHINE and HEALTH and the Ideal Sea Side- Country Holiday.
UNRIVALLED MILD WINTER CLIMATE
Express Train 51/2 hours London – Ilfracombe, thence Motor coach connection (20 Minutes) Direct Booking.
Jack Pike boated this stunning smoothound of 18lb. Its been a great start to the smoothound season so far with plenty of double figure fish from both boat and shore.
South Molton angler Steve Saxby age 67 has caught a fine porbeagle estimated at between 350lb and 400lb. The mighty fish was tempted using Ammo mackerel and chum mix and took an hour to bring to the side of the boat where it was released.
Thomas Atkinson won Appledore Shipbuilders Boat Competition with a fine smoothound of 17lb 10oz. Andrew Atkinson was second with a hound of 13lb 4oz and third Michael Hammett with a hound of 12lb 6oz.
(Above)Andrew Atkinson with a smoothound of 13lb 4oz(Above and Below)Thomas Atkinson smoothound 17lb 10oz
Appledore Shipbuilders enjoyed a great good day on the hounds with the average size around 9lb they also had a couple of tope around the 20-25lb mark along with a few small pollack and a few small huss.
Anglers are also finding goof sport off Ilfracombe aboard Dan Hawkins boat Reel Deal with beautiful weather and flat calm seas hard fishing at times but some good early sport The Tope are starting to show more often now along with Huss, dogs and bass.
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
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.
