Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 21st June 2019 (13)

Date From: 21/06/2019 17:00:00

Date To: 21/06/2019 21:30:00

Time of day: Evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: Capstone Rocks

Low Tide: 02:52 (1.64m) 15:05 (1.86m)

High Tide: 09:16 (8.21m) 21:34 (8.31m)

Weather: Sunny with some wind from left to right

Sea: Clear with a small swell to begin with but increasing over the session

Method: float

Bait: Frozen mackerel strips

Caught:

The Session:

I began the session on the rocks casting the float around 25 yards out at a depth of around 8 feet. It was difficult at first to keep the float in the water for very long due to the two being quite fast and the wind also blowing my line in the same direction. Over the first hour it was a case of just casting regularly and trying to keep the float away from the sets of submerged rocks.

Whilst I was standing on the edge of the rock I saw the outline of a fish swim quickly around one rock and disappear as irt swam under the one I was standing on. I recast my float so it was several yards away from the edge and as I watched the bait sink I saw the outline of a fish, which I believed to be the same one, swim to the bait and take it, then my float slid under the water and that was the first fish of the session. A typical size for these rocks.

It seemed to be a loner though as it took another half an hour until I had another bite, but again it was from a fish that just took the bait and pulled the float right under without stopping. It was a bit bigger and this was the start to a rather busy few hours.

Bites came regularly from within a few moments of recasting to 10 minutes. I missed a few but managed to hook and land the majority. The circle hooks I was using were all working as expected with nearly every fish hooked in the corner of its mouth, but a couple were deeply hooked. Sometimes the fish were taking the float under so fast I felt like I was reacting very slow as the float was there one minute and then taken out of sight the next. I even blinked once to find the float gone within that moment. The fish were all of the typical few ounces to 1lb or so in size but size did not seem to dictate how the fish took the bait.

I was happily catching these and my tally was 10 after an hour and fifteen minutes of the second fish. I had what I would say is my most unexpected moment next as the float went under as it had before and I lifted the rod again to set the hook. I thought I'd hooked the bottom for a second or two. But then it moved and it continued to move and I fumbled around in a mild panic trying to flick the anti-reverse off and I did so just as I had been forced to point the rod directly down to the fish. I was sure the hook would pull out but it didn't and I managed to gain a bit of line before cheking for a route down closer to the water as I was sure this was not a fish I could lift out.

As I shuffled along the rocks I got a glimpse of the fish. It was a decent sized bass and it wasn't going to give up very easily. I had to get it around a protruding rock which risked the line fraying and it would make another dive each time I gained line and brought it to the surface. I had already resigned myself to losing this fish given how big the swell was in the area I needed to get down to and the power of the fish itself. Several times the sea brought the fish in and onto dry rockonly to come back and take the fish back in which prompted the fish to try and swim back around to where I hooked it. It was maybe 10 times before I concloded I would have to make a grab for the fish while being prepared to drop the rod. In the end I didn't need to drop the rod but I almost let the fish go back in as it fell from my grasp, but slipped down to my boot where I was able to grab it again. I managed to get out with just wet shoes and bottoms of my jeans.

Once I put the fish down to unhook it I saw how well hooked it was and the reason I did not lose it. The hook was completely under its skin in the side of its mouth so it couldn't move around or twist. It was still easy to unhook though. Another thing I saw was the fish had part of a rig clip and line protruding from its anus and I pulled it gently and saw its stomach move showing it was gut hooked. I decided to take the fish home as I had only tried bass in a restaurant and wanted to try cooking it myself so I killed and gutted it while I was there. Its stomach contained a whole crab and half of a small mackerel, both partially digested, along with a big chunk of mackerel, and it had still taken the small strip I was using for bait. The hook on the rig was rusty and a good squeeze caused it to snap so I concluded it had been like that a while and it was a strong fish despite it.

I contemplated leaving but then decided to fish on, catching two more pollock by 20:15 when the bites pretty much stopped. Another angler arrived and explained he had only ever caught Dogfish so was trying mackerel feathering. I checked what he was doing and gave him some confidence by letting him know he was casting quite ok and he ended up catching a few mackerel and some small pollock so he was quite happy.

I packed up at high tide quite delighted at this session. It was a last minute decision to go fishing after I had returned from a holiday with friends earlier in the day and made the decision after seeing how the weather had quickly improved within a few hours of returning home. I hope this report serves as a good example of my reasons for doing these reports - to show anyone considering sea fishing, or wondering if they'll be good enough that you don't need expensive tackle or to be able to cast far to catch fish. It is worth starting even on the smallest budget.

Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:

Set up 1:

Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) [ > 5 years 0 months ] Reel: Lineaffe Carp 60 Baitrunner Fixed Spool (£12.00) [ > 2 years 11 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m Hooks: Sakuma Circle 440 2 (£5.55) 30 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m