Anglers enjoyed a lush spring day with a blue sky and calm sea on Bluefin fishing out of Ilfracombe they landed plenty of spurdog the best a beauty of 18lb to the rod of Bill Cassar.
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Still a few spurs about!
Rick Blackmore enjoyed success with spurdog landing this stunning personal best of 15lb on a recent sortie.
Sea Angling Results
A good weigh in for both Bideford Angling Club and Appledore Shipbuilders. A bitter North East Wind is never promising but if the fish are there it proves they can be tempted.
Bideford Rover and the End of Season competition
End of season results
1st Tarrant Wotton bull huss 11 lb 11oz
2nd Dan Redmore spur 10 lb 15oz
Rover results
1st Tarrant Wotton bull huss 11 lb 11oz
2nd Phil Vanstone rockling 1lb 8oz
3rd Steve found rockling 1lb 4oz
4th graham snow mullet 3 lb
5th Nathan Clements dogfish 2lb 0 1/2oz
6th Dick Talbot rockling 1lb
APPLEDORE SHIPBUILDERS ROVER RESULTS
1st – Jazzer John – Flounder 1lb 9oz
2nd – Graham Snow – Grey Mullet 3lb
3rd – Jazzer John – Flounder 1lb 6oz
Jons on the trail of spurs
North Devon angler Jon Patten has been on the trail of spurdog landing a couple of double figure specimens on his latest sessions. The biggest above pulled the scales to almost 15lb and the fish below to almost 11lb.
Bluefin – Trip Extra
Steve Dawe is on a mission to catch 52 species in 52 weeks and is doing it to raise money for The Stroke Association following a massive stroke that impacted upon a close angling friend of Steve’s. Steve has agreed to write about his aims on NDAN in a feature that will follow soon. In the mean time above is a picture of the huge 19lb spurdog Steve boated on Tuesday January 30th whilst fishing on John Barbeary’s boat Bluefin.
A link to Steves blog follows :- https://stevedawe189.wixsite.com/fishtytwochallenge
Pete Gregory was also on the trip and enjoyed sport with spurdog and bull huss. ( Below)
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Combe Martin SAC Winter Rover
Dan Welch secured victory in Combe Martin SAC’s Winter Rover landing a specimen spurdog of 12lb 3oz ( Above)
In runner up spot was Matt Jeffery with a specimen bull huss of 10lb 13oz(Below). Matt also took third place with a spurdog of 8lb 4oz.
Several conger were also landed to 15lb along with rockling and dogfish.
The end of competition meeting was held at Cook Island and proved to be a great venue with friendly banter and in depth discussion on the weekends fishing and tactics.
Record Shore Spurdog
Cameron Atkinson took advantage of a break in the weather and decided to get out in chase of a Spurdog and was rewarded with this potential British record of 18lb. Fish was tempted using a flounder bait mounted on a pair of 6/0 hooks.
Boat Fishing Opportunity
There are spaces on Bluefin out of Ilfracombe Tuesday January 30th. The weather looks good at present so an opportunity to get out after the spurdog and conger.
Anglers Enjoy Deep Sea Sport on Bluefin
The days fishing got underway following the stunning sunrise above Combe Martin Bay ( Above).
I joined a party of anglers on board John Barbeary’s ‘Bluefin’ Last Sunday morning when we steamed out to a mark six or seven miles off Ilfracombe where we hoped to connect with the packs of spurdog that have become a feature of winter fishing off the North Devon Coast. Several trips had been possible to these deep water marks over the previous few days when plenty of tackle testing specimens had been boated.
It wasn’t long after dropping the anchor before a few spurdog homed in on the array of baits on offer beneath the boat. Spurdog are not particularly fussy feeders devouring most fish baits with gusto.
(Above) Simon Blacher with one of the first double figure spurdog of the day.
(Below) One of several spurdog I landed during the day.
As the tide eased several conger joined in on the feasting beneath the boat with Exeter based angler Pete Gregory boating a beauty of 36lb. (Below)
A brace of bull huss ( Below)
Pete Gregory with a fine spurdog (Below)
Over the previous week John Barbeary had taken several parties of anglers to the grounds several miles off the coast when neap tides and good weather gave a perfect window of opportunity.
Below highlights from a productive week on Bluefin
Rob Scoines with two spurdog the best a fine specimen of 18lb 2oz
(Below) Pete Gregory with a 30lb plus conger
Pete Gregory with a rare Bristol Channel Ling.
Sea Angling Results – Bideford, Appledore-Shipbuilder’s & Triple Hook
Antony Smith landed the only two fish in Bideford Angling Clubs Monthly Rover a fine specimen spurdog of 12lb 81/2oz and a whiting of 1lb.
Dennis Toleman won Triple Hook Clubs first competition of the New Year winning the Sportsman’s Cup with a flounder of 1lb 3oz. In runner up spot was Rob Hancock with a flounder of 1lb 21/2oz.
In Appledore Shipbuilders Rover eighteen senior anglers failed to catch a fish big enough to bring to the scales. Jack Pike secured victory in the Junior section with a whiting of 101/2oz.