Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 13th September 2020 (23)

Date From: 13/09/2020 13:45:00

Date To: 13/09/2020 18:55:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The pier

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny with very little wind

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Very clear with a swell of around 1 foot.

Method: Float | LRF

Bait: Live ragworm | live ragworm pieces

Caught:

The Session:

I decided to try fishing very light again at my local pier. I took along a float rod aswell to leave out while I fished with the smaller setup, for the chance of a bigger fish.

First I set up my float rod and fished from the upper pier with my float set around 20 feet deep and I had bites straight away which were clearly from very small fish. It wasn't long before one managed to get my size 4 hook in its mouth, so that was the first fish of the day very soon in the session.

It proved difficult to get any more though. I didn't really want the smaller fish on the float so I didn't change down any hook sizes. I just kept waiting until the float went under harder and further than the previous bites before I tried hookig the fish. Each time I did and checked the bait a little more was gone.

Eventually I moved along the pier and then set up my my small rod and tiny reel with a 7g dropshot weight on. The line came free with the reel and felts about 15lb b/s so I tied on a length of 6lb line using the same knot I use for tying a shockleader. Then I passed the 6lb line twice through a barbless hook and slid it up the line around 6 inches and then put on the dropshop weight, put around a cm length of ragworm on the hook and dropped it straight down the edge of the pier. Once it sank to the bottom, which was around 20ft at this time in the tide, I put the bale arm back over , tightened up the line a bit and lifted the rod until the tip began to bend a little. It immediately began shaking as fish took the ragworm. As soon as one shake felt a big more agressive than the others I lifted the rod and reeled up the first fish on this rod, a small Common Blenny.

Once I dropped the bait back down it wasn't long before I could feel more fish taking it but they kept managing to take the bait very quickly without me managing to hook them. It took me around 15 minutes to hook the next fish, but when I did and saw it was a Corkwing Wrasse I was very happy. This was followed by 6 more fish on the light tackle in the next half an hour before I had a determined bite on the float rod which also came from a Wrasse. The variations in the colours and patterns was amazing to see, they seemed to vary a lot more than ones I'd caught at Brixham Breakwater.

A lot of the time the fish were still managing to take the ragworm from the hook without me being able to hook them so I was probably hooking one fish for every 6 or 7 bites. There were certainly plenty of fish down there and as I looked around and chatted to the other anglers who were fishing other methods I seemed to be the onbly one catching regularly. Whilst putting more bait on my LRF rod I heard a noise which alerted me to my float rod. It was leaned against the pier railings and the tip was now bent over and I saw the butt of the rod lift in the air before hitting the ground again. I grabbed the rod and immediately felt a nice sized Pollock pulling back hard. I let it tire itself out before walking along to a suitable spot to lift the fish out. I and another angler misjudged the weight by quite a bit. It looked like it could be over 1lb 8oz but it weighed 1lb 4oz. Still, I was pleased with that.

A very small Pollock took the bait on my float rod soon after I recast and then I continued to catch on the lighter tackle more Wrasse, a Blenny and a Pouting, with another small pollock on the float too. All this fishing activity just a foot away from the edge of the pier.

Almost out of ragworm and needing to get home anyway I packed up delighted to have caught so many fish and determined to do more lighter fishing soon. I also had another method with which to continue my project.

Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]: