Date: 15/08/2015
Time of day: Night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The pier
Low Tide: 01:00(1.30m) 13:10(1.20m)
High Tide: 07:22(8.80m) 19:35(9.00m)
Time fished from: 22:25
Time fished to: 02:30
Weather: No wind to strat but a small breeze from right to left from around 23:30
Sea: Choppy and fairly murky, but a small swell.
Method: Pulley rig with rotten bottom, running ledger | Prawn trap
Bait: Frozen calimari squid pieces , frozen black lugworm, ragworm, mackerel | Frozen mackerel, frozen squid pieces, frozen peeler crab.
Caught (weight): 1 Conger Eel (0lbs 6oz, Guessed) | 1 3 Bearded Rockling (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Shore Rockling (0lbs 3oz, Guessed), 1 Poorcod (0lbs 1oz, Guessed)
The Session: I arrived to see a couple of anglers photographing a niced sized Conger Eel on the higher part of the pier. On the lower pier, I set up the rod with the pulley rig first, baited with the tip end of a squid and cast it around 40 yards. While I set up the other rod I had a small pull on the squid but that was it for a while. I cast the running ledger rod about the same distance. I then dropped a prawn trap over the side of the pier. It was a while before any thing happened. The pulley rig baited with squid produced a gentle bite. I chose a moment where the pull seemed biggest to strike and I couldnt work out whether I had hooked this fish or not. I was surprised to see an eel on the end and had to double check with another angler if it was a conger or not. It was only just over a foot long but my first conger eel. I was kindly given some bait from a couple of anglers who packed up around low tide and I tried the ragworm and mackerel on both rods. The hooks came back baitless a couple of times but nothing registered on the tip. The prawn traps produced the catches this evening, with a couple of crabs, rockling and a tiny fish that looked like a poor cod.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Ron Thompson Evo Surf 15ft 3 Fixed Spool £30.00 15/08/2013 Mitchell 667FG Fixed spool £23.90 15/08/2013 Maxima Chameleon 20lbs £17.99 25/01/2014 Sakuma Circle 440 1 £6.05 21/07/2014
Set up 2: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 Fixed spool £64.07 21/05/2014 Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool £48.99 13/03/2015 Maxima Hi-Viz 20lb £13.29 25/01/2014 Sakuma Circle 440 1 £6.05 21/07/2014
Set up 3: Tackle: Prawn trap £5.95 Tackle: cord 50m £3.99
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