Date: 18-05-2019
Time of day: Night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The Pier
Low Tide: 00:02 (0.87m) 12:27 (0.80m) 00:44 (0.74m) 13:07 (0.79m)
High Tide: 06:20 (9.24m) 18:43 (9.28m) 07:03 (9.29m) 19:24 (9.33m)
Time fished from: 21:15
Time fished to: 03:00
Weather: Cloudy and sunny with wind from left to right but dying down later in the session.
Sea: Fairly clear with a small swell.
Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | float | Ledger (running ledger)
Bait: Whole frozen sandeel | whole frozen loligo squid | frozen mackerel strips | frozen whole mackerel
Caught (weight): 1 Dogfish (1lbs 6oz), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz), 1 Conger Eel (0lbs 3oz), 1 Shore Rockling (0lbs 3oz), 1 Shore Rockling (0lbs 3oz), 1 Shore Rockling (0lbs 3oz), 1 Spotted Ray (3lbs 0oz)
The Session: I arrived just as the lower part of the pier was clearing of water and set up in the middle inbetween other anglers. I set up a rod with pulley rig first and then my float rod and after a few casts, after darkness I set up a running ledger rod for Conger Eel.
Casting straight out I put the pulley rig around 70 yards out and had to quickly reel in the line that the wind blew across to the other anglers. I then set up a float rod to try and get a few pollock, but with the conditions being choppy I wasn''t expecting many. I fished with these rods for a while and had no bites for almost an hour. Other anglers had begun to catch Dogfish and when I had an obvious bite I struck into it to feel something small which was the Conger Eel. It was shortly followed by an obligatory Dogfish and after putting that back I decided to put out a prawn trap with some old squid and sandeel in it. As the rods were not showing any bites I brought the trap back in after around half an hour and was pleasantly surprised to see a Rockling in it. I hadn''t had one of these for some time so it was good to see one was around.
Other anglers began packing up around low tide and so I set up another ledger rod with a pulley rig and used it with squid cast at around 60 yards out.
I missed a bite on the ledger rod and it could have been a ray as the bite was very gentle until a big pull down of the rod tip. Another bite that happend shortly after recasting was a dogfish though so I couldn''t be sure. I lifted the prawn trap again to find another rockling in it around an hour after the last one, and also two prawns in there. I put the prawns back and used a frozen one for bait which a Dogfish eventually took and then I had another on the next cast on Sandeel. Just after I put this back I heard my conger rod move and I quickly grabbed it as I saw the tip bending over. I didn''t control myself well and as the fish began to move off with the bait it pulled the tip and so I struck. I felt a heavy weight on the end that took several seconds before it moved and then it let go of the mackerel. The mackerel had bite marks on both sides and also punture marks in it. I kicked myself for not allowing it to take some line before trying to set the hook. I quickly recast the bait as it was just in case the fish stayed around. But it didn''t. Then I thought I was seeing another Dogfish bite but as soon as I struck at it I knew it was a Ray. It felt big but it was because the line had caught around its tail so it was more difficult to reel in. I used a landing net too as I didn''t want to risk losing it by lifting it out. plus I believe it is better for the fish overall.
Another half an hour passed and I brought the prawn trap in again and there was the third rockling inside with a couple more prawns and a Velvet Swimming Crab. I had some more movement on the conger rod but this time it was persistent tiny shakes of the rod tip with some very small pulls. I left it for around 15 minutes but eventually the rod tip stopped movinga nd when I reeled in I saw that most of the mackerel had gone and there was evidence of something with a small mouth having taken it. It was another hour before I hooked another fish on the ledger rods and although I could have stayed for another hour still because the tide had yet to rise halfway up the steps I decided to pack up after putting it back as I believed not much else was around.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) [ > 1 years 0 months ]
Reel: Wychwood Riot Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 0 years 10 months ]
Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m
Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100
Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M
Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m
Set up 2: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter Z 12ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£37.99) [ > 0 years 2 months ]
Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 5 years 0 months ]
Line: Maxima Crystal Ivory 20lb (£14.08) 651 yards
Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100
Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M
Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m
Set up 3: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) [ > 4 years 10 months ]
Reel: Lineaffe Carp 60 Baitrunner Fixed Spool (£12.00) [ > 2 years 9 months ]
Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m
Hooks: Sakuma Circle 440 2 (£5.55) 30
Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m
Set up 4: Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) [ > 1 years 5 months ]
Reel: Lineaeffe Tiger 870 Fixed Spool (£17.00) [ > 0 years 0 months ]
Line: Daiwa Sensor 50lb (£6.99) 230m
Hooks: Sakuma Circle Extra 6/0 (£7.29) 10
Hooklength: Gardner Slinky 100lb (£7.95) 100m
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