Date: 04-12-2016
Time of day: Evening
Location: Combe Martin
Mark: Sitting area, left hand side of beach, below car park
Low Tide: 01:59(1.93m) 14:24(2.00m)
High Tide: 08:28(8.42m) 20:47(8.12m)
Time fished from: 18:30
Time fished to: 22:15
Weather: Very cold, but just an occasional breeze.
Sea: Fairly choppy and fairly clear with a small swell.
Method: Ledger (Running ledger) | Ledger (Running ledger)
Bait: Frozen black lugworm, frozen squid pieces | Frozen mackerel segments
Caught (weight): 1 Conger Eel (10lbs 8oz, Weighed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 5oz, Guessed)
The Session: I arrived with time to spare as there was little water directly below me so I set both rods up before casting out and I cast the rod baited with lugworm acroos the right hand side beach around 50 yards. I cast the rod baited with mackerel across the left had beach in the direction of open ocean. Things went slow and aside from a few moments where both rods juddered, leaving me wondering which rod had the knock it was a while before anything that was definitely a fish took the mackerel bait. I missed it though and after recasting quickly had another bite. I missed that too and so I repositioned my rod rest, which had been pointing over to the right, so I moved it to point in the direction of the mackerel bait. I found this more comfortable. The next cast produced a bold bite and I hooked and just managed to lift a dogfish up the 35 ft wall. I was pleased with catching but was sure the bites on my previous session were not dogfish so I wanted to try and get them again. I had a few more small taps on the mackerel rod but nothing on the lugworm at all, even after adding a bit of squid to the hook. I had just sat on a bench to make a cup of tea when I noticed the rod tip of my mackerel baited rod bent right down and shaking around. I jumped up and rushed to the rod, lifed it out of the rest and immediately felt a heavy weight on the end. Although a guess, I was certain this was either a big cod or a conger eel. It was clear to me I was not going to lift this up the wall so I began walking down the pathway to my left a hundred yards or so until I got down on to the small pebble beach, all the time the fish taking line as it swam in the other direction leaving me no option but to give it line until I was in a position to begin bringing it in, which was made more difficult by a my reel that was barely turning again. It was a fight I had not experienced before, unlike any other fish I had caught and there were even times I wondered if I was snagged and had to remind myself I wasn't using a grip lead, so I didn't lose hope of bringing it in successfully by thinking it had gotten the lead stuck. A couple of times it felt like a dead weight and I was sure my hook length would snap. After a long fight I spotted it in the shallows and managed to bring it to the edge of the shore an a couple of lucky larger waves. I noticed it was hooked in its upper left lip and I went to pull it a little more clear of the water when the line snapped just above the hook, so what followed was me dropping my rod and falling to my knees to stop the writhing fish turning back towards the sea. I just about managed that and then had to run back to my tackle to get some my pliers and weighing equipment. I double checked the weight and took some quick photographs before putting teh fish back in the shallow water and letting it make its way back in completely itself. I then struggled to get back to my tackle due to an aching back, arms and leg. It was 21:47 when I got back and after a quick sit down to relieve the aches I retied the hook, re-cast both baits bug after 20 more biteless minutes I decided to pack up, more than pleased with how the session went overall, and guessed I may have found out what I lost out on the night before.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool (£64.07) [ > 2 years 5 months ] Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 2 years 5 months ] Line: Maxima Hi-viz 20lb 550m (£13.95) Hook: Sakuma Circle 440 size 1/0 30 per pack (£7.05) Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m (£4.00)
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Beachcaster 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£26.95) [ > 3 months ] Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) [ > 1 years 8 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m (£17.99) Hook: Unbranded Baitholder 4/0 (£3.99) for 50 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m (£4.00)
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