Sea Angling Round-up
Appledore Shipbuilders
Bideford Angling Club
April Rover results
1st Antony Smith Small Eyed Ray 8lb 1oz 89.583%
2nd Elliot Clements Dogfish 1lb 15 1/4oz 65.104%
Combe Martin SAC
Wayne Thomas took top spot in Combe Martin SAC’s April Rover with a boat caught small eyed ray of 7lb. Nick Phillips was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 2lb 3.5oz.
Prospects
Hopefully with the oncoming Spring and warmer temperatures sport will start to pick up along the coast. Smoothound will be caught from all the familiar marks over coming weeks along with a few bass. The estuary will be well worth trying for bass and mullet with the chance of gilthead bream.
Small eyed ray will be worth targeting from surf beaches with Woolacombe and Putsborough favourites.
Thick lipped grey mullet are already being caught from local harbours and offer excellent sport on light tackle.
Fly Fishing in saltwater is growing in popularity with bass and grey mullet offering some exciting and at times challenging opportunities from the estuary and local surf beaches.
Massive bull huss wins Bideford Competition
Andrew Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs twenty-four hour rover with a massive Bull Huss scaling 15lb 11.25oz. The fish was caught from a North Devon rock mark and is one of the biggest huss caught from the North Devon coast in recent decades.
March 24 hour results
1st Andrew Clements Bull Huss 15lb 11oz 1/4 157.031%
2nd Antony Smith Dog 2lb 3oz 72.916%
3rd Antony Smith Dog 2lb 2oz 1/2 71.875%
Bideford and District Angling Club Monthly Coarse Competition results:
Sea Angling Results
Bideford Angling Clubs twenty-four rover resulted in just one fish being registered at the end of the match. A dogfish scaling 1lb 15.75oz to the rod of Nathan Clements.
Appledore Shipbuilders February Rover was equally uninspiring with Josh Atkinson registering the winning fish a dogfish of 2lb.
Spring is often a lean time for the sea angler with winter species departing and fish of the warmer months yet to arrive. Early bass and ray could be worth targeting with bull huss likely from rock marks.
Bideford & District Angling Club -February monthly Coarse Section Competition,
Tarka Swims Results:
1st Keith Mountjoy 13lb 10oz
2nd Nathan Underwood 10lb
3rd Antony Bentley 9lb 4oz
4th Les Polden 9lb 3oz
5th Kevin Shears 9lb 2oz
6th Craig Crash Lamey 8lb 7oz
16 anglers fished. Those that braved the wet and windy conditions, fished a close match, Keith’s winning catch from peg 8 included a decent carp and bream, he has caught on soft pellet over fishmeal groudbait on a long pole. Nathan’s second place net also included a nice carp off peg 11. The next 3 places all sat consecutive pegs 16 to 18 and were separated by 2oz. Benny came out on top with a lovely net of small carp and tench, Craig’s 6th place was the section winner from the shallower end and ensures that he remains top of the league. Hopefully the cormorant ropes will be off for our next competition in March, allowing more methods.
Sea Angling Weekend Competition Round up
Sea anglers faced a stormy weekend that impacted heavily upon local shore competitions. Bideford Angling Club and Appledore Shipbuilders both had fixtures on Sunday where members braved the strong winds and heavy rain to no avail with nil fish registered in either competition.
Combe Martin SAC members fished a weekend long competition that enabled members to embrace Saturdays more favourable conditions. Kevin Legge took the top two places in the match with bull huss of 9lb 12oz and 8lb 10oz. I took third place with a winter mullet of 2lb 12oz.
It is clear that thick lipped grey mullet are present in waters around the South-West throughout the year. When I first started fishing for mullet over forty years ago these fish were considered to be a fish of the warmer months. It is now apparent that they can be caught in every month of the year throughout the South-West.
Sea Angling News
Sea angling seems to have entered the doldrums with calm conditions resulting in quiet fishing on the open coast. A good storm is undoubtedly required to stir things up a bit. The results of local shore competitions speak for themselves. It might pay to experiment a little during these conditions and scale down the tackle in search of dabs and smaller species that can get overlooked.
It’s always interesting to take a look at whats on the shoreline as there can be clues as to the species that can be found beneath the waves.
Bideford Angling Club – Twenty Four Hour Competition Result
Many thank’s to Nathan Clements for the report.
24 hour results
12 angler’s fished
3 fish caught
1st Antony Smith Dog 2lb 1oz 68.750%
2nd Andrew Clements Dog 2lb 0 1/2oz 67.708%
3rd Stephen Found Pouting 1lb 66.666%
Fishing didn’t exactly meet expectations but well done to the 3 that caught something big enough to weigh in.
Fingers crossed things pick up
Next competition
Codling comp 29th/30th Jan
Bideford Angling Club Monthly Competition
SEA ANGLING – Christmas Competition Round Up
Triple Hook Turkey flounder Open
Joan Cairns won Triple Hook Clubs Christmas Turkey Open with a fine flounder scaling 2lb 1.75oz. The competition attracted 42 competitors. The top ten competitors listed below all took home a turkey.
1st – Joan Cairns – flounder 2lb 1.75oz
2nd – Dennis Toleman – flounder 1lb 10.75oz
3rd – Mark Beer – flounder 1lb 8.2oz
4th – Martin T – flounder 1lb 7.75oz
5th – Peter Squires -flounder 1lb 7oz
6th – Damien Babb – flounder 1lb 6.75oz
7th- Steve Luxton – flounder 1lb 6.5oz
8th – John Passmore – flounder – 1lb 6oz
9th – Robbie Hancock – flounder 1lb 2.25oz
10th – Nigel Gullon – flounder 1lb 2.2oz
Bideford Angling Club 24 hour Rover
December 24hour results
1st Tony Gussin Whiting 1lb 10 108.333%
2nd Tony Gussin Whiting 1lb 10 108.333%
3rd Andrew Clements Whiting 1lb 6 3/4 94.791%
That’s the clubs angling calendar done and dusted for the year.
Fingers crossed we have a better start to 2022 than we did 2021……
Congratulations to all the winners throughout the year and hopefully we can hit the ground running next year.
All the best…. 🎉 from Nathan Clements.
Appledore Shipbuilder’s Christmas Competition
Report from Andrew Atkinson
Combe Martin SAC Christmas Competition
Kevin Legge won Combe Martin SAC’s Christmas Competition with a specimen bull huss of 11lb 7oz. Dave Brooke was runner up with a conger of 18lb 5oz and Wayne Thomas third with a bull huss of 7lb 15oz.