Eight club members braved heavy showers and strong winds to fish in Appledore Shipbuilders November Rover.
Michael Hammett won with a beautiful Bass of 8lb 13ozs. Second was David Langbridge with a Flounder of 1lb 11 3/4ozs and Steve Ford was third with a Flounder of 1lb 9 1/2ozs.
No fish were registered in Bideford Angling Clubs monthly Rover where a 70% qualifying rule applies.
Combe Martin SAC are hosting an Open Sea competition this coming Saturday and with improving weather forecast there should be some good fish registered. Several specimen conger have been tempted from the Open coast in recent weeks and could feature in the competition result with bass, ray, huss, flounder and grey mullet all worth targetting.
Combe Martin SAC are hosting an Open Competition on November 12th. The boundaries are in line with the clubs boundaries. Old Severn Bridge to Lands End. The competition is catch and release with a photo of catch required along with a witness to the capture. Booking in is via the clubs facebook page, via phone or in person via High Street Tackle Ilfracombe.
See Combe Martin SAC Website for relevant specimen sizes ( Note for the competition dogfish specimen size is 3lb 8oz)
October and early November can offer some of the best mullet fishing of the year as these fish often feed hard prior to the onset of winter. In past decades the end of October signalled the end of the mullet fishing season but now these wily fish can be caught throughout the year. Harbours and rock marks are well worth fishing throughout North Devon.
White bread the best bait for thick lipoped grey mulletA near 4lb mullet tempted from a North Devon harbour.
NEWS (longer post than normal but please read and share if you can)… Sea safety has been brought right to the forefront this week and I cannot reiterate again how grateful I am that all ended well last weekend. FIRST NEWS Just to remind everyone that we stock two sorts of life jackets instore, both Crewsaver and both the automatic type which we recommend, different sorts all available to order too. Rearming kits are available and Appledore Station will also be holding a lifejacket clinic, date to be confirmed…**Payment plans are available for lifejackets please see below for details. SECOND NEWS As many of you are aware Simon is an Appledore RNLI crew member and Appledore Station will be bringing the boat along side Appledore Quay this weekend from 3.30pm – 5pm so please pop down and have a look around and make a donation if you can. **We are aware that everything is all a bit tight at the moment and payment plans are available instore for lifejackets (subject to eligibility) Please ask for details in store. A donation is also made to Appledore RNLI for each one purchased from us at Summerlands Tackle. Thanks for reading.
Following on from my previous post Jamie has asked if I could share the below on my website.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lyndse-and-jamie-steward-rnli-ilfracombe?utm_term=mPZrnaDY8please could you share this on your page and help me raise money for the RNLI ilfracombe as they saved my life on Saturday night the least I can do is raise them some money. I will be walking 100k with my wife in the lakedistrict to help them like they helped me. 🙏 also I want to try and raise awareness on an anglers safety and try and get as many anglers as I can to buy a crew saver life jacket or floatation device. These should become an essential part of our kit. Regards Jamie
Since publishing my initial article on this near miss I have received considerable feedback and believe that the local RNLI will be launching an awareness campaign on safety. I will liaise with them to help promore awareness of the dangers and how to increase survival rates if things go wrong.
Local tackle shops are joining in the general effort to raise awareness.
Quay Sports posted the below guidance
Good morning Folks.
Although here in store we are always keen to remind our customers to be safe out there when fishing, we felt that after recent events out on the coast, it would be a good time to start focusing on the safety aspect of fishing and sea fishing in particular.
So with this in mind we have decided to improve and upgrade our range of lifesavers and equipment to help anglers be safer and therefore enjoy their fishing more. We have already had a delivery of the tried and tested Fladen rescue system and are about to place an order for some quality automatic life jackets (these will be charged at the lowest price possible we can do! It’s not about making money it’s about encouraging people to use them, keep safe and let’s be honest we all love a bargain).
Please feel free contact us about anything related to water safety.
Here’s a reminder of some simple steps that can be taken as a first line of defence before you go fishing .
1. Always tell somebody where you are going and your expected time of return.
2. Check the weather, not just the rain but the wind and very importantly the sea swell.
3. Check the tide times and then check them again.
4. Always have the correct equipment to land your prize fish, either a suitable net or decent Gaff. Long handled versions of nets and gaffs are available and can make things much easier to land fish.
5.
Never go fishing in potentially dangerous areas on your own, a friend could save your life.
6. If you do intend to go fishing on your own, wear a life jacket or rescue suit, and preferably take a waterproof VHF radio and a well charged waterproof headtorch.
7.In extreme cases carry a rescue flare.
8. And probably the most important rule, “watch out for each other, two sets of eyes are better than one, look after each other out there and if your not sure about anything related to tides and marks, ask somebody with experience their advise, we are all always learning in fishing so don’t be a hero ask somebody, we are always happy to help here in store.
Be safe! and enjoy your angling.
Simon McCarthy at Summerlands works on the lifeboat and has been involved in many local rescues and is keen to offer advice to any anglers who vist the shop at Westward Ho!
Daniel Welch dominated Combe Martin SAC’s Lyn Fish competition taking the top three places with grey Mullet of 5lb 5oz, 3lb 8oz and 3lb 2oz. His son Solly also enjoyed success tempting a mullet of around 2lb.
Ten anglers fished the competition with Open coast fishing for heavyweight species proving difficult with just a few dogfish caught on baits intended for ray, bass and huss.
1st Tony Gussin – Ballan wrasse 4lb 0 1/2oz 89.582%
2nd Stephen Found – thick-lipped mullet 3lb 2oz 78.125%
3rd Tony Gussin -Ballan wrasse 3lb 3oz 70.832%
11 people fished Appledore Shipbuilders August rover. “Lots may think that fishing at this time of year is easy but many will know that it’s always a tricky month. Several anglers reported fishing more than one mark to try and locate a fish eligible to be weighed in over 60%”
Winning today was Andrew Atkinson who caught a nice Ballan Wrasse of 4lb 6 3/4 ozs. Josh Atkinson was second with a Smoothound of 8lb 6ozs. Andrew also secured 3rd with a Bull Huss of 7lb 2ozs.
My wife and I attended the Woolsery Show at the end of July and came across a display of vintage Seagull Outboards. Chatting to the gentlemen who restores these outboards we discussed how times have changed. We reflected upon our youthful days beside the coast, messing about on the water. I am sure many sea anglers of a certain vintage will have fond memories of boating days. The Seagull outboard was undoubtedly basic but it was fundamentally sound British engineering and a relic from those days before we became refrained by a culture of fearful protection.
Reflecting upon those youthful days I sometimes wonder how we got through them for looking back we did some stupid things. My mate Graham had a boat that we had christened “Leaky Lil” for obvious reasons. An old wooden pram dingy that was probably less than eight foot long. I recall setting out for a days fishing from Combe Martin with my mates Graham, and Chunky. The sea was flat calm and we chugged up channel powered by our old faithful seagull outboard. We anchored off Heddon’s Mouth Beach and the tide rushed past at a rate of knots giving the effect of being anchored in a fast flowing river. With the three of us and all our fishing gear there was only a few inches freeboard. I don’t recall what we caught on that day or other days. But to be out in such a little boat with no lifejackets, flares, radio etc. was sheer stupidity. In addition to these foolish days at sea we climbed cliffs, explored caves and coves. We also searched for crabs on low water spring tides peering into those delightfully mysterious holes. Those summers of youth spent amongst barnacle encrusted rocks and salty kelp have I guess instilled a permanent love of the sea.
Above extract is from my book ” I Caught A Glimpse” published in 2019 by the the Little Egret Press.
A quick report from Edward Rands on South Molton Angling Clubs trip aboard “Independent Charters” from Clovelly.
An early start, left the harbour at 7:20 to catch the tide and set off to our mark.
It wasn’t flat calm, but wasn’t bad. We stayed on 1 mark for most of the day and steadily caught 10 species. They were pollack, pouting, mackerel, conger, huss, dogfish, a 5lb bass, a 25lb tope,black bream and starry smoothound.
Doug and dave walls looked after us well with tea and coffee and useful advice. The weather was kind and the northerly breeze kept us cool.
Thanks to Steve Edmonds,Matt Kingdom, Rob Kingdom, Peter and John Needham for supporting the cause and attending.
October and early November can offer some of the best mullet fishing of the year as these fish often feed hard prior to the onset of winter. In past decades the end of October signalled the end of the mullet fishing season but now these wily fish can be caught throughout the year. Harbours and rock marks are well worth fishing throughout North Devon.
