Combe Martin SAC members have been catching some fine specimen fish from North Devon’s rocky shoreline. Kyle Bishop registered bull huss of 11lb 11oz and 10lb 2oz. He also made the long trip to Scotland where he landed a fine skate of 136lb. Shane Hookway caught a 20lb 5oz conger at a local shore mark.
Graham Snow caught a specimen thick lipped grey mullet of 4lb 8oz.
TRIPLE HOOK CLUB OPEN RESULT
Mario Manley won Triple Hook Clubs South West Water Open with a flounder of 1lb 121/4oz. J.Martin was runner up with a flounder of 1lb 121/8oz and Mark Hancock third with a flounder of 1lb 12oz. Junior angler Max Chapel was fourth with a flounder of 1lb 111/8oz.
Combe Martin SAC held a weekend long competition for the mullet anglers in the club that was fished between seven keen members. Fishing a variety of marks a total of 32 mullet were caught over six tides.
( Above) Daniel Welch with 3lb 14oz thick lipped grey mullet
( Above ) John Avery with a 2lb 8oz grey mullet
( Above) First light Combe Martin Bay
( Above) An open coast mullet – Strange how they always seem to show between 1.5hrs and 2 hrs ebb at this particular mark ?
A colourful wrasse that took a liking for bread flake.
The winning fish, a fine specimen thick lipped grey mullet fell to the rod of Callum Gove and weighed 5lb 2oz. Daniel Welch was runner up with a thick lipped grey mullet of 3lb 14oz.
( Above ) The winning mullet of 5lb 2oz for Callum Gove
Members concentrated their efforts over high waters that coincided with first and last light each day with members fishing from pre-dawn until after dark on some tides.
The competition concluded with a full English and tea and coffee in the Pavilion.
Reece Woolgar has extended his lead in Combe Martin SAC’s Lure Fishing League tempting a fine bass of 73.5 cm. The fish had a good sized mullet of close to 30cm in its throat.
With just three weeks remaining in the competition Reece will take some beating though October is a good month for big bass.
Reece Woolgar has taken a commanding lead in Combe Martin SAC’s Lure Fishing League sponsored by High Street Tackle. Reece banked a fine brace of bass measuring 66cm and 65cm to push his combined total for five bass to 321 cm. Wayne Thomas is in runner up spot with 310cm. The league closes on October 31st with the prizes presented at High Street Tackle.
Combe Martin SAC member Kyle Bishop enjoyed success with the big rods at the end of summer landing three tope to 44lb 10oz at a North Devon Shore mark.
Hard to believe that its Autumn and yet another CMSAC Fun Fish is over. Twenty three anglers braved the initially inclement weather to join the fun of fishing. The forecast gave a warm calm morning with the slight chance of a shower! Wrong; the fishing that commenced at 10:30am was greeted by heavy rain, grey sky and a gusty east wind. Many like myself had looked at the forecast and not even packed a waterproof! After forty odd years of fishing I really should know better!
Despite the weather there were broad smiles as anglers of all ages cast their lines into the harbour from the landing stages of the old pier. The Fun Fishing Competition was run on a simple points basis with 3 points for the first of each species, 2 for the second and 1 for the third. There were also prizes for heaviest fish, longest fish and family with most points.
Mat Mander and Club Secretary Nick Philips
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club give grateful thanks to the events sponsors, High Street Tackle, Barnstaple Bait and Tackle and Ilfracombe Aquarium. Our guest Mat Mander Chief Officer of Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority once again made the long journey from South Devon to join us all on the pier. Mat gave valuable advice to young anglers and was on hand to take any questions about the sterling work undertaken by D & S IFCA.
There were good numbers of fish caught from the start with ballan wrasse, pouting, poor cod, pollock and small red bream among the catch’s. The stars of the day were the young anglers who delighted in catching the fish with some catching their first ever fish!
I was asked by several about what tackle and tactics to employ for starting off and my advice is to start off with a cheap LRF outfit and target the small fish that abound close to pier. It is possible to get set up with a serviceable outfit for less than £100. I will try and put together a short feature on this in the near future.
Our local tackle shops High Street Tackle and Barnstaple Bait & Tackle are great places to call in for advice with a wide range of suitable tackle and bait in stock.
The exciting thing about the fun fish is seeing what each year produces. This year the appearance of small red bream was a first for the event. There were no mackerel or garfish caught which was a surprise as this summer has been quite good. One year a big fish will undoubtedly show!
Ilfracombe Aquarium donated a family entry to the event and were delighted to receive red bream and corkwing wrasse to house in the aquarium.
Hopefully Nick and I will be dashing around the pier again next Sea-Ilfracombe Festival with camera and clip board. Thank you to all who joined in to make this year another success.
An Array of prizes from High Street Tackle & Barnstaple Bait and Tackle.
Winning Family – Stanway Family – 46 points
Heaviest Fish – Jake Stanway – Ballan Wrasse 9oz
Longest Fish – Ted Childs – Corkwing wrasse – 20.5 cm
Combe Martin SACs Club members lure fishing league runs from April 1st until October 31st. After a slow start members are now catching some stunning bass from both boat and shore. There are now four members with five bass on the scoreboard. I( Wayne Thomas) have secured a lead after a couple of good sessions on the shore adding a fine bass of 75cm to my tally along with bass of 60cm and 58cm. All fish were caught using mega-bass spindle worms.
75 cm bass – estimated at 10lb 8oz against the BASS conversion chart. See link below
Present standings are :-
Wayne Thomas – Bass – 75cm, 60cm, 58cm, 57cm, 56cm Total – 306cm
Ross Stanway – Bass 67cm, 58cm, 56cm, 56cm, 56cm Total – 293cm
Late summer sees the arrival of a wide variety of species with red mullet amongst the most colourful. Kevin Legge caught a brace of these handsome fish the largest of the two weighing 10.5oz won CMSAC’s latest club match. kevin hold the clubs club record for the species with a 1lb 10oz fish caught in 1989. The clubs specimen size is 1.25oz.
Dan Welch skipper of Predator 2 Charters caught this fine 63cm bass on his latest excursion wiyth the lure rod. He is now running in second place in CMSAC’s Lure Fishing League.
Top Three Present positions : –
Ross Stanway 5 bass – 290
Dan Welch 5 bass – 270
Reece Woolgar – 3 bass – 175.5
“A but lumpy out there today so had an office day and then took the lure rod out off the shore, 9 bass to 63cm, can’t complain the new lucky hoody working its magic!”
