Winter League – Comp 1: November 2018:
A big well done to the twelve Appledore Shipbuilder members who braved a cold North East wind to secure some good fish.
Results:
1st – Graham Snow Mullet 4lb 9 1/4ozs
2nd – Josh Atkinson Small Eyed Ray 8lb 2ozs
3rd – Josh Atkinson Small Eyed Ray 7lb
It was a busy day in the estuary with several local clubs holding competitions on Sunday November 18th. The river has been in fine
form for flounder over the past couple of weeks with some really good catches.
Paul Hutching’s and his friend Andrew McKenna landed 41 flounder during a recent session along with four bass to 4lb. The biggest flounder fell to Paul and scaled 1lb 14oz.
Cyril Petherick competition
Results.
1st Andy Sanders flounder 2 lb 100%
2nd Andy sanders flounder 1 lb 13oz 90.625%
3rd Antony Smith flounder 1 lb 11 1/4oz 85.156
32 seniors fishing and 4 juniors with 29 fish weighed.
Barnstaple Triple Hook – Flounder Open
1st – Kevin Hancock – flounder 1lb 9oz
2nd Dennis Toleman – Flounder 1lb 81/2oz
Braunton Small Boats
Braunton Small Boat and Angling Club. Eight members fished a flounder competition.
1st Andy Hold 1lb 10oz,
2nd Jack Phillips 1lb 6oz
3rd Tracey Phipps 1lb 3oz.
As winter sets in its time to don the thermals to retain body heat and make those winter fishing sessions an enjoyable experience. I recently visited Braunton based Reeds Chillcheater’s who specialize in manufacturing clothing for extreme weather conditions in and around water.
I wrote a piece on a visit last year. http://www.northdevonanglingnews.co.uk/2018/01/03/beating-elements-cheating-chill/
This year I have purchased a full set of the companies Transpire fleece set and after two trips on the rocks since I can vouch for their properties in keeping out the chill. With an Aquatherm fleece as an outer layer I feel confident to venture out in the coldest of weather.
https://www.chillcheater.com/news/transpirebaselayers
Kevin Legge and Craig McCloughlin have recently returned from Norway where they faced icy winds, hail and rain. Keeping warm and dry is a key part of winter fishing ensuring that you can concentrate fully on fishing effectively.
With Christmas on its way and the weather turning colder I thought it a good idea to show a few products that could make good stocking fillers for anglers this year.
(Above) Double layered Thermal Fleece socks
(Below) Pertex Jacket this ultra light windproof garment that folds up into a bag the size of a large orange is perfect for those spring and summer sessions when an unexpected chill wind blows up.
(Below) Estuary hat – Fully waterproof hat designed for gig rowers but also ideal for angling.
(Below) These Aquatherm wading socks are ideal for the carp angler ready to leap out of the bivvy on a wet night or for wading the shallow estuary in the summer when lure fishing for bass in conjunction with a pair of old trainers.
(Below) Nigel at Chillcheaters with one the Aquatherm fleece jackets that are ideal for the carp angler.
(Above) Aquatherm Fleeces
Chillcheaters are proud to sponsor local anglers including Jon Patten who recently represented England in the World Big Game Fishing Competition in France.
Paul Lorrimore described his latest session as dream fishing! A huge swell made fishing difficult but undoubtedly brought the fish on the feed. Paul landed twenty conger to 12lb, seven bull huss the best two weighing 9lb 14oz and 12lb 10oz along with a blonde ray of 12lb 10oz. All were caught on frozen Ammo baits bought at High Street Tackle.
There are some good fish coming in along the North Devon coast at the moment with conger, bull huss, blonde ray and spurdog, It is important that those reading this get a true perspective as these fish generally require effort to catch. I obviously get to see lots of good fish to report on and I too sometimes get over optimistic when I set out onto the shoreline. Last night was a typical session when I joined fellow CMSAC member Rob Scoines at a local rock mark. We were both optimistic on arrival at our chosen mark but after close to five hours we had managed seven or eight small conger (commonly known as straps or bootlaces) and a solitary pollock. My own catch rate was undoubtedly impacted upon by my choice of 8/0 hooks and wire trace with several traces coming back as twisted tangles following the small eels attempts to eat the large baits.
There are often plenty of trips to the shoreline that bring little reward but its all part of the long term game. Put in the hours; sit back watch those rod tips for before long they will nod, the reel will scream and the rod will bend. Below are a few catches from this week.
Dan Miles Redmore enjoyed a successful session on the North Devon shoreline landing 10lb 10oz bull huss. a spurdog of 9lb 13oz and a small ray.
Ollie Passmore has been enjoying success with huss landing these specimens of 10lb 6oz and 9lb 13oz during recent sessions.
Dave Brooke landed a fine tope of 34lb 1oz to secure first prize in CMSAC’s Autumn Rover. Matt Jeffery was runner up with a flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz. Equal third were Rob Scoines with a bass of 7lb and Wayne Thomas with a rockling of 1lb 81/2oz.
(Below) Matt Jeffery with his flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz
(Below) Rob Scoines caught this personal best bass of 7lb from a North Devon mark along with two other bass, a codling and two pouting.
I was fortunate to be fishing with Dave and Kevin Legge when the tope was hooked. Always good to share in the excitement of such a moment. The fish gave a hard fight running over my lines in the process which caused a few anxious moments before Kevin could lift the fish from the water. Always a good idea to get all lines out of the water when someone hooks a tope. Fortunately neither of my rigs snagged the bottom as the fish was encouraged towards the shoreline. We also landed dogfish, small conger, huss, pouting,pollock and rockling. The best rockling weighed 1lb 9oz and fell to my whole squid bait fished close in hoping for bass or huss.
The next few months are amongst the best in the Sea Anglers year with a wide range of species to target. Tope, spurdog, huss and conger are all to be expected with large fish baits and wire traces advised. Top baits for tope are flounder. fresh rockling, Launce or whole mackerel.
(Below)Mark Jones fished a North Devon Beach to land a personal best small eyed ray off 11lb 10oz.
(Above) Still time to catch bass on lures. This fish was tempted by local lure enthusiast Mark Jones.
Bideford & District Angling Club – 24hour Rover Result
1st Andrew Clements flounder 2 lb 1oz
2nd Rob Harris bull huss 7 lb 10oz
3rd Andrew Clements dogfish 1 lb 14 1/2oz
