Combe Martin SAC hosted their annual Fun Fish on Ilfracombe Pier in conjunction with the 2022 Sea Ilfracombe festival. The event was once again a resounding success with several families taking part in the Fun Species competition.
Special guests on the day included Mat Mander Chief Officer of Devon & Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and the Ilfracombe Area Coastguard. The event gave the opportunity for members of the public the talk with the guests about the valuable work that they do.
The event was generously supported by High Street Tackle, The Angling Trust and Ilfracombe Aquarium.
The whole aim of the event is to give the opportunity for young anglers and their families to participate in angling. The Angling Trust provided Certificates, Angling books and caps. High Street Tackle provided a top prize for the overall winner of the event along with numerous prizes for all who took part. Ilfracombe Aquarium gave a family entry to be used by the winning family at a time of their choosing.
The competition started promptly at 3.00pm as the tide receded from the landing stages. Close to twenty anglers of all ages cast out and fish came regularly from the start. Eight species were registered including, pollock, ballan wrasse, pouting, corkwing wrasse, rock goby, tompot blennies, Shanny and dragonette.
Smiling faces lit up what was at times a grey afternoon as dark clouds drifted above with occasional drizzle.
Small ragworm baits proved most effective with mackerel and squid also producing good numbers of fish.
The competition closed at 5.00pm with the prize presentation at 5:15pm.
The winning individual was Effie Welch who was presented with a superb Rockfish LRF rod and reel donated by High Street Tackle. The winning family were the Stanway family, Ross, Charlie and Jake who received a family ticket for Ilfracombe aquarium.
All junior anglers who took part received a prize and each family were presented with a book on Angling from the Angling Trust.
The club hope to host the event again next year and thank all those who made the effort to attend.
