Date: 13-05-2016
Time of day: Evening
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: Capstone
Low Tide: 05:19(2.37m) 17:40(2.67m)
High Tide: 11:48(7.49m)
Time fished from: 18:25
Time fished to: 22:10
Weather: Mostly clear sky. A fairly strong and constant wind from right to left.
Sea: Nearly flat. Clear. Lots of surface weed/debris
Method: Float | prawn trap
Bait: Frozen mackerel strips | frozen mackerel head, frozen squid pieces, frozen mackerel
Caught (weight): 2 Pollack (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 2 Pollack (0lbs 7oz, Guessed), 1 Pollack (0lbs 10oz, Guessed), 3 Pollack (0lbs 14oz, Guessed), 1 Pollack (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)
The Session: I set up a float rod and some mackerel feathers. I had a few casts of the mackerel feathers but it was quickly apparent that there was too much debris and floating weed moving with the tow of the tide for feathering so I float fished instead. I set up a rod with a long hooklength, allowing for plenty of room for the bait to move around as I held the float back in the tow. Bites on this took a while to come. I was casting about 25 yards out at a depth of 10 feet and using strips of mackerel as bait. The shop bought mackerel kept falling off the hook so I used my own frozen mackerel and that stayed on ok. I missed the first 3 bites but then began hooking them. A steady stream of bites over the whole session from then on kept me busy, with a couple of retrieves of a prawn trap too. As the tide came in more my casts were shorter, down to around 10 yards at most. The largest pollock tested my travel rod well when I lifted the fish 25 feet with it bent double. The largest fish came as the light began to fade and I packed up right after the last fish because my head torch batteries were low.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Shakespeare Alpha X Travel 11ft telescopic Fixed spool (£16.99) [ > 2 years 11 months ] Reel: Lineaffe SX50 Fixed Spool (£10.00)[ > 3 years 0 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m [ > 2 years 4 months ] Hooks: Mustad Aberdeen 4 (£1.99) 8[ > 0 years 10 months ] Other1: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m[ > 2 years 4 months ]
Set up 2: Tackle: Prawn trap £5.95 Tackle: cord 50m £3.99