Date: 16/05/2015
Time of day: Evening - night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The Pier
Low Tide: 11:15(1.00m) 23:42(0.90m)
High Tide: 05:08(9.00m) 17:34(9.00m)
Time fished from: 20:15
Time fished to: 01:40
Weather: Dry, cloudy, with a steady wind that died down later in the session
Sea: A little murky, A small swell of around 1ft
Method: Pully rig with rotten bottom / Float / Prawn trap
Bait: Frozen mackerel segments, frozen calimari squid / frozen mackerel strips / frozen mackerel head, frozen calimari squid, frozen peeler crab
Caught (weight): 3 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed) | 3 Dogfish (2lbs 0oz, Guessed) | 1 Pollack (1lbs 0oz, Guessed) | 2 3 Bearded Rockling (0lbs 1oz, Guessed), 3 3 Bearded Rockling (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 2 3 Bearded Rockling (0lbs 8oz, Guessed), 1 3 Bearded Rockling (1lbs 0oz, Guessed)
The Session: I began the session by casting the float rod out just a few yards with a large mackerel strip as bait fished at around 10ft deep and left the rod while I set up the ledger rods. I baited both ledger rods with mackerel to begin with and cast them around 40 and 60 yards, straight out. A then threw out the prawn trap just in front of me. It was a while before the first bites came and they were gentle ones, probably from crabs. I left the float out for a while and had one bite that pulled the tip round, but I missed it, then a little later another bite which resluted in a nice pollock that felt bigger than it was. Unfortunately this pollock swallowed the hook and I decided to cut the line as I could not see or feel the eye of the hook. No more bites came from the float and I eventually packed it up because the bites on the ledger rods began and at one point all I seemed to be doing was striking at the bites. Most of the night was like this and I lost many fish, most falling off as I went to lift them out, but several bumping the hook or still holding the bait after I had begun the retreive, and from what must have been around 50 bites I only managed to land 6 dogfish. When I did find the time I hauled in the prawn net several times, the first time it contained a rather large rockling about the same size as the pollock I caught. Other retrieves resulted in more rockling, 2 edible crabs (one about 6 inches wide), and a velvet swimming crab. I packed up because I had used nearly all my bait, and had drank all my orange squash. There was a lot of activity over this night, with many seagulls flying overhead, bats were flying aound me and a moment around 23:30 where there was a large splash in front of me, a bit like a tail slapping a couple of times. At first I thought it was just waves and I couldn't see much because my head torch was only just iluminating my rod tips. Nut after realising the sea near teh harbour looked quite flat at the timeI changed the battery just incase it happened again, but I saw nor heard nothing else.
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 2/0 £8.26 21/07/2014 Maxima Clear 15lb £5.00
Set up 2: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 Fixed spool ( £66.00 ) [ > 6 months ] Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool ( £40.00 ) [ > 6 months ] Maxima Hi-Viz 20lb ( £14.00 per 550m ) Sakuma Circle 3/0 ( £6.25 for 30 ) Maxima Clear 15lb ( £4.00 per 100m ) 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 2/0 £8.26 21/07/2014 Maxima Clear 15lb £5.00
Set up 3: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed spool £16.95 Reel: Abu Cardinal 176 SWi Fixed Spool £34.99 Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Sakuma Circle 440 2 30 £5.55 Tackle: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00
Set up 4: Tackle: Prawn trap £5.95 Tackle: cord 50m £3.99
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