George Stavrakopoulos is a keen species enthusiast and enjoys trips to Ilfracombe Pier. Their latest venture saw them land whiting, pouting, poor cod, pollack, shanny smelt, rock goby, 3 bearded rockling, shore rockling, conger, tadpole fish and a cling fish it was non stop action. A big surprise was the sight of four big mackerel trapped alive in the pool behind the pier. These out of season visitors were soon caught and dispatched by local anglers who either enjoyed a tasty meal some quality bait for the freezer.
Bideford and District Coarse Section Monthly Competition
Bideford and District Coarse Section Monthly Competition.
Martin Turner reports –
11 anglers turned out for our January Comp at Harepie, conditions were mild and damp. Winner Paul Morris found a shoal of carp and caught 9 fish on corn at 14 metres . John Lisle had 3 carp on maggot for 2nd he maintains his lead in the overall league.
Harepie Fishery Results :
1st Paul Morris 43lb 12oz
2nd John Lisle 20lb 1oz
3rd Matt Cross 14lb 4oz
4th Martin Turner 14lb 1oz
An ugly surprise!
One of the delights of sea angling is the unexpected and Kody Chugg had a surprise when this ugly fish grabbed his bait. The fish is a tadpole fish occasionally caught along the North Devon Coast with the biggest I have heard of locally weighing just over 1lb. The Combe Martin SAC club record for tadpole fish is 1lb 1oz caught by Paul Blake the boat record is 1lb 1oz caught by James Fradgely Gubb
The British Record for the species is boat caught 1lb 6oz and shore caught 1lb 12oz.
GUY BAGS A BRACE OF BLONDES
Combe Martin SAC Member and shore caught stingray record holder Guy Spriggs ended 2016 in style landed a fine brace of blonde ray scaling 12lb 4oz and 16lb. The fish were landed on 30th 31st December.
Lodge Lake success for the Bivvy Tramp!
Steve Pinn affectionately known by his mates as the bivvy tramp enjoyed more success on Stafford Moor’s Lodge Lake.
Best of 3 – !8Ib 1oz, the evening after the big thaw on Lodge lake. Used a piece of pepperami ‘firestick’ balanced with half a 12mm pop up and a PVA bag of dead reds in hemp oil.
Globe Trotting Zyg reaches another milestone
Zyg Gregorek continues his globetrotting adventures achieving yet another milestone as he describes below!
Well done Zyg looking forward to meeting up at the lure fishing weekend at the end of February.
Hi All
Having recently returned from North Carolina, on my latest quest to catch a Roundscale / Hatchet Spearfish. This was my fifth attempt in the last four years.
I decided to try North Carolina, after contacting several skippers, I picked Dan Rooks on Tuna Duck. Dan has fished the area for nearly 20 years and was very knowledgeable on the necessary identification patterns. He was very willing and wanted to help our expedition. Despite adverse weather conditions surrounding Hurricane Ermine, of the many Marlin caught during the four days only two of the fish were positively identified by Dan as Roundscale Spearfish. Thank God. Mission accomplished.
All fish were photographed and released.
Following the skippers report to the IGFA and photographic evidence. I can now confirm and am very proud to say I finally caught the Roundscale Spearfish and have now caught all the known Spearfish species, Long Billed, Short Billed, Mediterranean the elusive Roundscale. I believe I am the only person to have achieved this feat.
In addition following the capture of the Roundscale Spearfish I have achieved the coveted IGFA Royal Billfish Slam with 12 different species.
If you try hard enough you will achieve.
Best Fishes
Zyg
Winter Mullet
There was a time when the mullet fishing season started in the late spring and finished in the late autumn. Times have changed with these fish now caught all through the year. Time and experimentation could well reveal far more marks to catch these hard fighting silver ghosts during the colder months?
Daniel Welch set out after winter mullet and landed a near specimen of 3lb 14oz.
Boat Anglers Enjoy Huss and Spurdog Sport
Lee Holden caught this 14lb bull huss whilst fishing off Ilfracombe on John Barbeary’s Bluefin. Sport with huss and spurdog is likely to continue right through until spring whenever the weather permits.
(Above) Dan Spearman with a spurdog of 14lb 1oz
MORE SHORE NEWS
January can be a tough month weather wise for the shore angler but if the correct clothing is worn then there is no reason not to get out there and catch a few specimens. I get a steady stream of reports from successful forays to the coast with some anglers traveling long distances to enjoy their sport.
Combe Martin SAC member Dan Spearman enjoyed a succesful shore foray to a local rock mark landing a fine specimen whiting of 1lb 14oz and specimen spurdog of 8lb 11oz.
David Alsop travelled over to the North Devon Coast from wales and was rewarded with fine specimen spurdog weighing 11lb 6oz.( Below)
Many thanks to Robert Young for allowing me to share his picture.
SHORE SPORT
I have heard a few whispers of fine ray catches by shore anglers up Channel on the Somerset coast. Kevin Legge and Craig McCloughlin paid a visit to a shore mark after dark and landed several ray including a specimen blondes of 13lb 9oz for Craig and a 12lb 10oz blonde for Kevin.
James Atkinson was thrilled to get the New Year off to great start landing his first spurdog of 8lb 7.5oz. This just a few days after landing a 20lb 9oz cod off Minehead.
