27 Sep 2018

Spectacular Shark Fishing off North Devon

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Dan Hawkin’s has been taking anglers to fishing grounds far off the North Devon coast on his boat Reel Deal where they have made some spectacular catches of shark not seen off North Devon since the 1970’s. The party of anglers set a boat record of 28 blue shark up to 97lb on the first day. On the second day of their charter  Jason Heenan boated a superb blue shark of 133lb.

The anglers boated 38 shark over the two days with Ammo Baits Chum attracting the fish and Penn Rods and reels from High Street tackle taming the fish.

The fishing is strictly catch and release with circle hooks ensuring that the majority of shark are hooked in the jaws where hooks can be easily removed. Fortunately the days of slaughtering these beautiful fish has been consigned to the history books where such practices belong.

Dan has enjoyed considerable success over past couple of years with anglers boating huge porbeagle shark, a thresher shark and blue shark with catches unheard of in recent years. The success has come on the back of significant investment and effort with the will to travel long distances with no guarantee of success. The future is exciting and expect Dan’s diary to be filling already with booking for next year.

23 Aug 2018

Twenty Seven ray from North Devon Beach!

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Craig McLoughlin who runs Braunton Baits enjoyed an action packed session at a local beach with his friends.

“Well what can I say about last night?”

It was especially  Awesome!

A very very last minute fishing session with Mark Jones and Mark LaMude down the local beach, ended up with a fish a cast for me eleven ray landed five being blonde ray to 12lb and six small eyed ray to 9lb

Between us we had over 27 ray all on the braunton bait box Sandeel.

13 Aug 2018

Latest news from the coast

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The recent change in the weather could bring a few opportunities for bait fishers in particular as the water colours up following a couple of months of calm hot weather. Several reports of mackerel from marks along the coast. A big mackerel bait will often sort out that monster bass with the next couple of months the prime time to get that double figure specimen. Bideford Angling Clubs Festival next weekend see poster below.

Bideford Angling Club 24 hour results

Graham Snow took the top two spots in Bideford Angling Clubs twenty four hour rover

1st Graham Snow mullet thick 3 lb 9 1/2oz

2nd Graham snow mullet thick 3 lb 2 1/2oz

3rd  kyle Blackmore dogfish 1lb 14oz

 

 

(Below)Daniel Welch enjoyed an excellent evening  session at a local harbour landing nine mullet to 4lb 15oz.

(Below)Stefan Jones spotted a window in the weather and decided to venture out on his boat. With a lively swell and big tide options were limited but a sheltered venue produced several smoothound, a bass of around 5lb, plenty of mackerel and a fine tope of close to 38lb.

Combe Martin SAC Member Kody Chugg landed this fine bull huss of 10lb 9oz during a session at a local rock mark.

 

14 Jul 2018

REEL DEAL STRIKES INTO SHARK

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Dan Hawkins has ventured to deep waters off the North Devon coast taking advantage of the settled weather to put anglers amongst both blue and porbeagle shark. Over three days eleven porbeagle shark and nine blue shark were tempted using Ammo chum in combination with Ammo mackerel hook baits. The fish were in the 80lb to 90lb range.

The catches have stirred interest from the national press who will undoubtedly be sensationalizing  the catches of shark off the North Devon coast. This is however nothing new as shark have always frequented the the area but it takes a pioneering skipper to rediscover them and make the effort. All of the shark are released alive after photographing. Circle hooks are used to reduce any danger of deep hooking and the fish handled for a minimal period with large fish unhooked at the side of the boat.

 

 

8 Apr 2018

Bass are about!

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Combe Martin SAC Member Chris Bonds fished a local mark to tempt this fine bass of 8lb 1oz. The fish took crab and king rag presented on a long flowing trace. The bass was returned alive in line with current legislation that allows no bass to be retained for the table by recreational anglers.

 

26 Nov 2017

North Devon Big Bass Catch

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Stories of big fish captures do not always make the news immediately as many anglers choose to keep success close to their chest for various reasons. This is understandable to some extent to deter the fish chasers who are inspired to head out after hearing of others hard won success. Many thanks to Tarrant Wotton for allowing me to use this story and pictures of a fantastic catch of bass made early in the year from a mark in North Devon.

The biggest three bass caught by Tarrant and his angling buddy Alex Brine weighed an impressive 12lb 5.5oz, 11lb 3oz and 9lb 5oz. The fish were all tempted on that classic bass bait of whole fresh mackerel. All of the bass were returned to water

 

 

 

2 Nov 2017

Are huss the most photogenic of sea fish?

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Bull huss have to be one of sea angling s most photogenic fish with their Leopard like spots. Chay Boggis landed this beauty from a local rock mark. It pulled the scales down to 9lb 5oz.

Quality fish like this are out there to be caught but there are also plenty of small eels and dogfish about that tend to get to the baits first as I found out on a session at a local rock mark last night, Its good to get out though and with settled conditions its good to just be there waiting.

5 Jun 2017

Management measures for the North Devon Marine Pioneer area

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Image Courtesy of Heather Lowther (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)

 

Nick Phillips and I met with Dr Gill Ainsworth Social Scientist from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology CEH Edinburgh to represent Combe Martin Sea Angling Club in an hour long filmed interview that will form part of a film for the below project that gives Marine stakeholders an opportunity to voice their views on the Marine Environment and what matters to them and their communities.

Cultural values, experiences, identities and capabilities relating to marine ecosystem services

Project introduction: This Community Voice Method (CVM) project is being undertaken in collaboration between the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) as part of the Marine Ecosystems Research Programme (MERP). The project goal is to identify potential management measures for the North Devon Marine Pioneer area and views on the future of the marine environment in the Southwest. We aim to do this by gathering people’s views about the benefits, experiences and capabilities they gain from conducting different activities in the marine environment and how these might be affected by a range of possible future scenarios.

How the Community Voice Method works: This project aims to gather stakeholder views about potential marine management options and enable deliberation on those options. The method involves filming interviews in order to produce a documentary film to be shown during a stakeholder workshop later in the year. This will inform the design of marine management in the Southwest, and ensure different community voices are represented more effectively when policy options are being considered, alongside ecological and economic evidence.

The Marine Pioneer: The Marine Pioneer is an area of the Celtic Seas that joins the existing North Devon Biosphere along the coast and extends to approximately 20 nautical miles beyond Lundy. Defra chose the Marine Pioneer in 2016 as part of its 25 Year Environment Strategy to deliver growth in our natural environment and in the social and economic well-being of the North Devon area.

Who is being interviewed? We are approaching people for interview based on their knowledge or involvement in relevant marine industries or sea user groups as well as trying to ensure that we capture as full a range of views and values as possible. We are intentionally selecting people who we know are engaged in, care about, or are impacted by the marine management process, and who represent a range of views on and interests in marine resource use, management and conservation.

Image courtesy of Heather Lowther (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)

The films will be used later as a focus point at workshops where stakeholders have the opportunity to work together to find a way forward to ensure a marine environment that balances the needs for all involved.