Winter League – Comp 1: November 2018:
A big well done to the twelve Appledore Shipbuilder members who braved a cold North East wind to secure some good fish.
Results:
1st – Graham Snow Mullet 4lb 9 1/4ozs
2nd – Josh Atkinson Small Eyed Ray 8lb 2ozs
3rd – Josh Atkinson Small Eyed Ray 7lb
Dave Brooke landed a fine tope of 34lb 1oz to secure first prize in CMSAC’s Autumn Rover. Matt Jeffery was runner up with a flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz. Equal third were Rob Scoines with a bass of 7lb and Wayne Thomas with a rockling of 1lb 81/2oz.
(Below) Matt Jeffery with his flounder scaling 1lb 145/8oz
(Below) Rob Scoines caught this personal best bass of 7lb from a North Devon mark along with two other bass, a codling and two pouting.
I was fortunate to be fishing with Dave and Kevin Legge when the tope was hooked. Always good to share in the excitement of such a moment. The fish gave a hard fight running over my lines in the process which caused a few anxious moments before Kevin could lift the fish from the water. Always a good idea to get all lines out of the water when someone hooks a tope. Fortunately neither of my rigs snagged the bottom as the fish was encouraged towards the shoreline. We also landed dogfish, small conger, huss, pouting,pollock and rockling. The best rockling weighed 1lb 9oz and fell to my whole squid bait fished close in hoping for bass or huss.
The next few months are amongst the best in the Sea Anglers year with a wide range of species to target. Tope, spurdog, huss and conger are all to be expected with large fish baits and wire traces advised. Top baits for tope are flounder. fresh rockling, Launce or whole mackerel.
(Below)Mark Jones fished a North Devon Beach to land a personal best small eyed ray off 11lb 10oz.
(Above) Still time to catch bass on lures. This fish was tempted by local lure enthusiast Mark Jones.
Bideford & District Angling Club – 24hour Rover Result
1st Andrew Clements flounder 2 lb 1oz
2nd Rob Harris bull huss 7 lb 10oz
3rd Andrew Clements dogfish 1 lb 14 1/2oz
The European Lure Fishing Show 2018 was held at Bristol last weekend and I was fortunate to visit the show with fellow Combe Martin SAC members Nick and Jack Phillips. This is the second year of the show and after hearing good reports from last year I thought it worth taking a look. The event focus’s on Lure fishing and Fly Fishing with an extensive range of products on display along with talks and demonstrations.
The best side of these shows is undoubtedly the opportunity to meet up with fellow anglers and swap tales with old friends.
We took time to listen to two talks; one on world wide fishing with Dave Lewis of Sea Angler with Dave giving sound advice on chasing those bucket list fish that take anglers to some stunning locations.
The second talk was delivered by Henry Gilbey and was a thought provoking one that revolved around the wearing of life-jackets. Henry told of two young brothers who tragically died whilst fishing off the North Cornish coast. The fact that Henry knew the mark well and that he had intended fishing it that day undoubtedly struck a cord. I know Henry and he is passionate about his fishing and has like most keen sea anglers had a few near misses.
After listening to Henry I visited the Art of Fishing stand and purchased two Crewsaver Buoyancy aids. One for myself and one for my son James. After close to fifty years of fishing I am all to aware of the statistics with anglers drowning every year I ask myself how likely am I to become one of those stats? The life jackets are not cumbersome and after a few minutes you forget you have them on. Why would you not wear one Henry asked? £70 is but a small price to pay if it saves your life?
It was noticeable that very few anglers attended Henry’s talk on safety at sea. I am sure that if Henry had been waxing lyrical about lure fishing many would have sat hanging on his every word. Health and safety isn’t sexy but it was probably the most important topic on the agenda and most chose to ignore it!
Strangely in all the years I have been fishing on the coast I have given only passing thought to my own safety. Yet I have had nightmares about fellow anglers being washed into the sea whilst I stand helpless on the shore. What would you say to their nearest and dearest?
Perhaps it is for others that you should don that life saving vest for lets face it if you get washed into the sea on a dark and stormy night without a life jacket your not going to worry for long.
A short film shot in conjunction with the RNLI on the North Devon Coast was a true eye opener as to what happens if you fall into the water wearing waders. I will share the film on my Facebook page when it is released. Take a few moments to watch.
Great to see Mark Underhill present and chatting to enthusiastic anglers about his first season at Wimbleball lake.
(Above) Angling Trust Blogger, Author and angling guide Dominick Garnett
The flounder fishing season has got into full swing following a few frosty mornings with plump flounder being caught from all the popular estuary marks.
Mark Beer won Triple Hook Clubs RBL Club Shield Flounder Match with a fine flounder of 2lb 7/8oz. Runner up was Kevin Hancock with a flounder of 1lb 103/4oz and third Dennis Toleman with a flounder of 1lb 97/8oz.
(Above)Paul Hutchings and Andrew McKenna enjoyed an action packed session on the Taw estuary catching upwards of thirty flounder over 1lb 4oz the best a beauty of 1lb 14oz.
Further afield North Devon angler Dan Miles Redmore secured first place in Sunday’s heat of the prestigious National Flounder competition fished on the River Teign estuary over last weekend. Dan’s flounder scaled a fraction over 2lb and beat a field of almost 170 anglers.
Heidi Green took first and second places in Appledore Shipbuilders Rover catching flounder of 1lb 143/8oz and 1lb 133/8oz. Third was Josh Atkinson with a flounder of 1lb 117/8oz. Amelia Mellor took first and third in the junior section with flounder of 1lb 9oz and 1lb 5oz. In second was Jack Pike with a flattie of 1lb 71/2oz.
http://www.summerlands-tackle.co.uk
Nathan Clements won Bideford Angling Clubs monthly rover with a dogfish of 2lb 1oz. In second was Terry Dymond with a flounder of 1lb 4oz.
Combe Martin Sea Angling Club members enjoyed a day out of Minehead aboard Steve Webber’s boat Osprey. Cod were the intended target but proved difficult to find on the day. Persistence eventually paid off when Rob Scoine’s bait was seized by a fine double figure cod weighing 12lb 4oz. James Thomas boated a blonde ray of 12lb the best of several ray caught including thornback and one other blonde. Smoothound, spurdog, dogfish and numerous conger were also caught.
The autumn is racing towards its close as winter descends and now is the time to catch that special fish. Looking back over the decades November is a month that can produce that fish of a lifetime. Kevin Legge’s British record tope of 66lb and 66lb 8oz were both caught in early November. Barry Hill’s shore caught record coalfish of 18lb was also caught in November and Tim Neal caught a rockling of 3lb 1oz that also held the British record. The stories behind some of these fish are in my book I Caught a Glimpse due for release in mid February 2019.
Plenty of fish to chase from the North Devon Shoreline at the moment with ray, bass, rockling and mullet amongst the specimens caught over the last week.
John Shapland landed this fine thick lipped grey mullet of 3lb 8.5oz from an estuary mark
Prospects are excellent for the next few weeks with a wide variety of species to target. Bass, grey mullet and flounder should provide sport on lighter tackle with conger, tope and ray for those using heavier beach rods. I welcome your news and pictures for North Devon Angling News and Sea Angling News.
Ali Laird caught this hard fighting 24lb 8oz tope from a North Devon Rock mark it is his second of the year. Ali lost another tope that picked up a spider-crab and squid cocktail chomping through 80lb mono!
(Below)Dan MIles Redmore enjoyed a successful session on one of North Devon’s local beaches catching six small eyed ray to just over 7lb & a blonde 11lb 10oz.
(Below) Ian Hooper and Nick Job set out in search of spotted ray and enjoyed success with Nick landing this pleasing ray of 2lb 8oz.
APPLEDORE SHIPBUILDERS MONTHLY ROVER
Josh Atkinson took the top two places in Appledore Shipbuilders monthly Rover with a fine brace of black bream scaling 3lb 13/4oz and 2lb 123/4oz. In third place was James Atkinson with a black bream of 2lb 51/8oz. The two anglers landed the bream after travelling to a shore mark in Dorset.
BIDEFORD ANGLING CLUB MONTHLY ROVER RESULT
Graham Snow continues his success with Bideford Angling Club winning their latest Monthly rover with a grey mullet scaling 3lb 61/2oz. Nathan Clements took second and third places with a bull huss of 7lb 31/2oz and a dogfish of 1lb 141/2oz.
Stefan Jones reports on a hard days weather was great but fishing slow, mackerel didn’t play the game so frozen Ammo Baits was first choice, with spider crab collected last month to tempt a hound or huss . Managed to make a day in the end , roll on the next trip !
Dan Hawkins took a party of anglers shark fishing off Ilfracombe aboard Reel Deal and they successfully caught three shark to 55lb.
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.
Bideford monthly rover results
1st Stephen Found thick lipped grey mullet 3 lb 13 1/4oz
2nd Graham Snow thin lipped grey mullet thin 3 lb 8oz
3rd Andy Sanders mackerel 1 lb 13/8oz
Appledore Shipbuilders Rover
1st – James Atkinson – smoothound 13lb 8.1/4oz
2nd – James Atkinson – smoothound12lb 75/8oz
3rd – Josh Atkinson – smoothound 12lb 3/4oz
(Above) Ollie Passmore tempted this fine specimen thin lipped grey mullet weighing 4lb 8oz on a baited spinner in the river Taw Estuary.
Ollie Passmore with a stunning wrasse caught on a recent session. I suspect wrasse fishing will slow down for a few days after the rough and windy weekend. I suspect we will see a few big bass, smoothound and huss in the coloured water, don’t be afraid to use a big bait oozing plenty of scent!
Dennis Toleman secured top spot in Triple Hook Clubs Shaun Foster Cup beaching a fine small eyed ray scaling 9lb 4oz in runner up spot was Kevin Hancock with a small eyed ray of 4lb 6oz.
