Date: 21-08-2018
Time of day: Evening
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The pier
Low Tide: 08:51(3.25m) 21:28(3.08m)
High Tide: 02:33(6.78m) 15:19(6.97m)
Time fished from: 18:10
Time fished to: 23:30
Weather: Cloudy wih a gentle breeze, some drizzle near the end of the session.
Sea: Fairly clear with just a small swell of a couple of feet.
Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | float | Ledger (running ledger)
Bait: Frozen whole loligo squid, frozen large sandeel | frozen large sandeel, frozen whole loligo squid | frozen mackerel strips | frozen half scad, frozen mackerel head
Caught (weight): 2 Mackerel (0lbs 12oz, Guessed), 1 Mackerel (0lbs 8oz, Guessed) | 1 Conger Eel (3lbs 8oz, Guessed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 6oz, Guessed)
The Session: The lower pier was already clear of water when I arrived and as there was only one other angler fishing on it I walked to the steps and set up so I could put out four rods comfortably.
My usual two legder rods went out, the one baited first with sandeel I cast around 80 yards and the second with a squid about 50 yards. I then dropped the float just down by the side of the pier and in between reeling in the sandeel to allow boats to pass safely I set up a rod intended for larger fish, like conger eel or bass. First I baited this with a half a scad and later with a mackerel head. While I was setting up I helped and hopefully showed a young lad and his mum how to tie a rig on.
Apart from occasional bites on the float which were most likely from the baitfish that were around I barely saw any other activity for the first hour. I moved right to the end of the pier to try the float at a distance for a while while the tow of the sea was pulling over to the left. I had a few short casts first before putting it around 60 yards out set at around 9ft deep. While attending to other things I heard my rod hit the railings and I grabbed it to feel a small and lively fish on and I played it to the edge before it shook the hook. I didn''t see what it was but on the next cast, while I was helping the young lad pull his rig out of a snag my rod was pulled again and this time I played in and lifted out a nice sized Mackerel which received a bit of attention from all the people near me. I lost two more on the next two casts and so I decided to try feathers for a while instead to see if I had more success. Within two casts I had another Mackerel.
When I checked my otehr rods I found the conger rod to be snagged and I had to pull the line to break the ledger off. I was using a rotten bottom link so it must have been the hook that was snagged as my mainline snapped. I set up again and this time baited with the head of the Mackerel I was using for hook bait and again dropped it down close, in between the wooden pillars. Then I had a few more casts of the feathers and caught one more mackerel and as the light was slightly beginning to fade I switched back to float and also concentrated more on the so far unsuccessful ledger rods and I also cast out a prawn trap with just a bit of squid, sandeel and mackerel in it.
About an hour and a half passed with just a couple of bites on the float but I didn''t hook the fish. I kept checking the conger rod closely by dimming my head torch down low and crouching down to avoid shining the light in the water close in and checking the rod tip and spool for signs of a fish making off with the bait. One one of these checked I noticed the rod tip bowing down very slightly, at first seemingly in motion with the swell but after watching it for a few minutes it didn''t quite behave as I expected. I loosened the drag right off now, it was loose before but I figured with it almost completely off, any moveemnt from a fish will spin the spool a bit, whereas the swell of the sea would just make it click and turn slowly. It did spin a little, but only enough to make me think it could also be a crab taking the bait. I left it for a while and checked my other rods, doing this twice before seeing that all movement of the rod tip had stopped and so I lifted the rod and felt someting small on the end. It was a conger eel and one that looked barely big enough to fit the Mackerel head in its mouth. I was able to lift it straight out of the water and unhooked it. Quite often when we catch fish on this pier any people around want to have a look but as it was dark the groups of people who were crabbing with children wouldn''t have seen me so I approached them and asked if they would like to see the Conger Eel. They were all very pelased to be able to see one and despite it being a small fish to anglers, they were quite surprised when I said it was just a baby one.
Once I returned that fish I felt it was time to check the prawn trap and it felt heavy as I was lifting it up. I expected to see a big crab but was pleased to see a lobster in there, along with four prawns. Again I went over to the groups crabbing and they were even more pleased to see this and commented on it''s colour and enquired as to how we catch these.
Once I returned to my rods and recast them it was a long wait for anything else. I had a couple of bites on the ledger rod I was using whole squid on, the first one I missed and the second one I hooked and landed a dogfish. It had just gone 11:00 now and I packed up the float rod and conger rod, made one more quick cast of both of the other ledger rods and brought in the prawn trap to find a few more prawns in there, then I noticed a final bite on the squid again, first a quick shake, then small pulls. I lifted the rod gently and pulled back, felt the fish so gave a harder pull but felt nothing so I put the rod back down for a couple of minutes. When I reeled it in I felt a fish on the end and saw it was a small conger eel, probably about 1.5lb. It fell off though and I just packed the rod up and headed for home.
It was another slow session on the pier, no rays for me from here yet this year, but I''m making my session go better by fishing four rods, which is more work, but keeps the chances up. I hope I managed to show the people us fishermen are approachable and friendly and gave them a welcome chance to see a fish they haven''t seen live before
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) [ > 0 years 3 months ]
Reel: Wychwood Riot Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 0 years 1 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 40lb (£4.50) 100m
Set up 2: Rod: Daiwa Crosscast 13ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) [ > 0 years 9 months ]
Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) [ > 4 years 3 months ]
Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£9.99) 600m
Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100
Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M
Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 40lb (£4.50) 100m
Set up 3: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) [ > 4 years 1 months ]
Reel: Lineaffe Carp 60 Baitrunner Fixed Spool (£12.00) [ > 2 years 0 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) [ > 0 years 8 months ]
Reel: Leeda Quicksilver Fixed Spool (£19.95) [ > 1 years 3 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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