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
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.
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.
Gary Harding had 5 fish out up to 20lb 4oz on the summerhouse swim on Beatties using Mainline essential cell boilies.
Steve Pinn AKA ‘ Bivvy Tramp’ with one of his 3 catches from Albert square fishing with CC Moore 12mm northern specials and also CC Moore pink fluoro up to 15lb 11oz.
There is range of quality CC Moore products in Stafford Moors well stocked tackle shop.
Thirteen members of Combe Martin Sea Angling Club set forth to fish as an icy cold North Easterly Wind lashed the coast. Fishing was hard going for most but Colin Emery and Liam Stevens consulted Google Maps to find a sheltered mark where they found some sport. Colin secured the top three spots with a specimen bull huss scaling 10lb 12oz and a plump dogfish of 3lb 2oz and a conger of 17lb 4oz.
Members of Combe Martin SAC had a trip on Steve Webber’s Osprey off Minehead and found some quality fish topped by cod of 18lb 4oz to the rod of Matt Jeffery and 15lb 3oz to Rob Scoines.
In addition to the cod Jonathon Stanway landed a boat club record haddock of 2lb 7oz and several ray were also landed including double figure blondes to John Shapland and Chris Bond.
My friend Danny Ford dropped a me a Facebook message to say he was visiting Bratton Water; would I like to join him. Whilst I had not got time to fish I had got time to pop down for a chat and a catch up. On arrival the lake was mirror calm with the trees and reeds casting reflections across the still-water that was punctuated by the pleasing rings of feeding trout.
Danny was casting a line from the Dam and fishing a team of small buzzers very slowly watching the tip of the line intently for any movement that could indicate the deception of a wily trout. Danny pulled a fine prize from his trout bag a stunning brown trout of around 6lb. Its flanks were decorated in crimson spots. its tail was full, a perfect brown trout that would please any angler.
We chatted about fish, waters and prospects for the coming year. I told Danny I wanted some action shots and for a while he struggled to get a take. This is so often the way with trout in small still waters, Danny had caught three trout within his first hour and had taken a short rest to find that the fish had stopped feeding. Eventually after half an hour of varied retrieves the line drew tight and Danny played a beautifully marked brown trout to the net.
Danny undoubtedly went on to catch his final fish of a five fish limit bag. We talked briefly of flies and concluded that one of the most important aspects of fly is that the angler has confidence in it. Danny carries a small selection of flies on most outings and has total confidence that he can catch on all but the hardest days.
Holsworthy Sea Anglers had a great day out with John Barbeary on Bluefin off Ilfracombe. They started off with the obligatory lesser spotted dogfish with plenty of them showing their faces throughout the day, a quick move and Andrew Braunton and Tom Marshall started to find the spurdog and a lonely smoothound for Paul Cozens. Another move further out and bingo plenty of spurdogs from high singles to mid doubles along with bullhuss for a bit of variety and also a solitary tope which released itself at the surface. Steve did manage a conger at the end for a 6 species total.
Many thanks to Paul Cozens for the write up and images. Great to sea smiling faces out at sea!
Stuart Hutchings and his dad Brian fished the dam on Lodge lake Stuart was fishing with essential cell crushed in a PVA mesh bag. a 22mm boilies with goo squirted in the centre also using CC Moore northern special as hook bait. Brian was fishing with Sticky Baits Manilla boilies and Manilla 12mm pop ups , they had 12 fish out up to 19lb 14oz in a day session.
Clawford Christmas match saw anglers greeted by the hardest frost of the year so far, “bloody freezing”. Still 34 anglers had a days fishing as surprisingly there was only a bit of light ice at the ends of the lake.
Always gong to be a testing match but well done to Martin Turner who managed the top weight from peg 23 on JRs 34lb 6oz. second was Nick Jones with 24.15 from peg 9 on Fletcher’s and third was Thomas Downing with 21lb 4oz from peg 4 on Chris Boulton picked up the silver fish pool.
Nielsen Jeffery who organized the match would like everyone who turned up and supported the day, and thanks to all for great company.
Thank you to John, Wanda Ray and Michelle Jeffery for their hospitality and help with the breakfasts.
