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Smoothounds on the coast
Hounds are about!
Ian Laird landed this fine smoothound of 9lb 10oz during an evening session on the coast. ( Above)
Brad Munden landed this pleasing 4lb 10oz bass from a North Devon Beach.
Varied sport on Real Deal!
Many thanks to Jason Small who allowed me to use these pictures he took whilst fishing from Ilfracombe Charter boat Reel Deal. The party enjoyed a great days varied sport on a very calm day off Combe Martin. The spectacular sea cliffs east of Combe Martin are amongst the highest in the country and provide a fantastic backdrop to a days fishing.
Thin Lip sport in the estuary
Thin lipped mullet have made a welcome return to the Taw and Torridge estuary’s and are providing fine sport for the band of enthusiasts who target the species using baited spinners. Olie Passmore landed the above fish of 3lb 14oz on his latest session on the Lower Taw. John Shapland has also enjoyed success with mullet to 2lb 14oz.
Bull huss on the prowl
Bull huss are on the prowl along the coast as Ali Laird found out when he landed a brace weighing 10lb 1oz and 7lb 13oz.
Rick Blackmore landed a fine bull huss of 13lb 9oz.
Learning the way to tempt more bass
When the rivers are low and salmon and sea trout are hard to find many fly fishers are turning to the the estuary where the silver flanked bass can provide exciting sport on both lure and fly. Nick Hart provides tuition in Fly Fishing in both fresh and saltwater, in rivers and still waters. His latest pictures show some happy anglers making the best of ideal conditions where the estuary meets the sea. Investing in guided fishing can make a huge difference to your catch rates boosting success over many years into the future.
Fine Brace of small eyed ray
Dan Miles Redmore enjoyed a trip up over the border and landed a fine brace of small eyed ray scaling 12lb 4oz and 9lb 14oz.
Latest Sea Reports
Appledore Shipbuilders monthly Rover
James Atkinson won Appledore shipbuilders monthly Rover with a small eyed ray of 9lb 61/4oz. In second place was Richard Boone with a fine wrasse of 5lb 47/8oz and in third Andy Sanders with a thornback ray of 6lb 5oz.
Bideford Angling Club Monthly Rover
1st Antony smith thornback ray 9lb 5 1/2 103.819%
2nd Antony smith thornback ray 8lb 6 1/2 93.402%
3rd Dick Talbot smoothound 9lb 5 93.125%
4th Andy Sanders thornback ray 6lb 6 70.833%
4th Lee Watts dogfish 2lb 2 70.833%
5th Paul Downing thornback ray 5lb 15 65.972%
As the water starts to warm up wrasse should start to show along the North Devons rock marks. Combe Martin SAC member Ollie Passmore set out after the species and was rewarded with a nice fish of 3lb 6oz.
Bull huss continue to provide sport after dark when Ollie Passmore enjoyed success with a huss of 10lb 11oz. (Below)
Boat anglers are continuing to enjoy boat sport off Ilfracombe with several spurdog to 18lb brought aboard John Barbeary’s boat Bluefin. (Below)
Talking mullet
I was recently interviewed by Phil Williams about my many years fishing for grey mullet. Take a listen if you have any interest in these hard fighting and at times frustrating fish.
Putsborough Open 2017
Fifty eight anglers descended upon Putsborough beach for the annual Combe Martin Sea Angling Club Open and they met with ideal conditions. The east wind that had blown for several days had abated and the sea was calm as everyone gathered in the car park to book in.
It was good to chat with a few anglers who I had reported on over the past twelve months on this website. The nice thing about this competition is that it has a really friendly vibe with anglers meeting up, sharing tales and making plans.
Combe Martin SAC give special thanks to their sponsors; Sakuma, High Street Tackle, Veal Mail Order and Kevin Legge. Thanks also to Putsborough Sands for allowing the use their venue once again. The club also wish to thank all who took part with many anglers travelling a considerable distance to fish the event. Really pleased to hear several cheery “see you next year” as anglers sped off into the night at the end.
The fishing proved to be pretty good as well with most anglers catching fish and more than enough to match the impressive array of prizes on offer at the end. Over thirty small eyed ray were caught, one blonde ray, several smoothound to 5lb 8oz and of course plenty of dogfish.
1st – Matt Druce – blonde ray -11lb 41/4oz
2nd -Dale Kiff – small eyed ray – 7lb 14oz
3rd – Gareth Pike- dogfish – 2lb 5oz
4th – Garry Andrews – small eyed ray – 7lb 1/2oz
5th – Matt Druce – smell eyed ray – 6lb 151/2oz
6th – Dan Welch – small eyed ray – 6lb 15oz
7th – Dan Redmore – small eyed ray – 6lb 12oz
8th – Colin Emery – dogfish 2lb
9th – Lee Holden – dogfish 1lb 15oz
10th – Gareth Pike – dodfish 1lb 14oz
Nick Smith – dogfish 1lb 14oz
Ben Putman – dogfish 1lb 14oz
11th – Ross Stanway – small eyed ray – 6lb 21/2oz
12th – Ben Putman – small eyed ray – 6lb 10z
Colin Tanton – small eyed ray 6lb 1oz
Junior prize – Ollie Laird dogfish – 1lb 15oz
Best Brace -Matt Druce – Blonde Ray 11lb 41/2oz & small eyed ray 6lb 151/2oz Total = 163.4%
Below are a few pictures and comments from the night I will add as I get more so please feel free to send images and comments I try to make this a site for the angling community.
A
(above ) Dale Kiff
(Above) Nick Phillips
Mike Seatherton ( Above) – Fished Putsborough competition last night, really enjoyed it, managed to catch a few fish, smooth hound, small eyed ray and plenty of dog fish, biggest ray 4lbs 10oz,
Congratulations to all who got on the prize table!
(Above) Rob Scoines
(Below) Matt Druce and his winning fish , great turn out and thank you to all the sponsors and the usual suspects for a well organized event
