Date: 22-12-2017
Time of day: Evening - night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The pier
Low Tide: 01:40(1.76m) 14:01(1.81m)
High Tide: 08:06(8.55m) 20:22(8.24m)
Time fished from: 17:10
Time fished to: 01:15
Weather: Cloudy with light rain through most of the session, very little wind.
Sea: Murky and calm to begin with but eventually a swell of 4 ft.
Method: Ledger ( homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade 2 hook flapper) | float | Ledger (running ledger)
Bait: Whole frozen Loligo squid | live blow lugworm | frozen mackerel strips | whole whiting, half a frozen mackerel
Caught (weight): (lbs oz, ) 1 Dogfish (1lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Whiting (0lbs 12oz, Guessed) | 4 Pouting (0lbs 3oz, Guessed), 6 Whiting (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 5 Whiting (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 3 Whiting (0lbs 8oz, Guessed) | 2 Pollock (0lbs 12oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 1 Long Spined Sea Scorpion (0lbs 2oz, Guessed), 1 Pouting (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 4oz, Guessed)
The Session: I fished from the upper part of the pier to begin with and I first cast the flapper rig about 60 yards, baited with live lugworm. Immediately there came a bite and within seconds I was reeling in the first fish. I felt tlike this was a good sign but needed to concentrate on setting up my other rods so I didn't recast until I had set up my next ledger rod. The pulley rig was cast from the lower pier, which was still dry and I put it around 70-80 yards out, then I recast the flapper rig around 50-60 yards and began setting up the float rod.
Another angler joined me and we had some good conversations. He used to fish the Pier a lot but had given fishing a break and decided to return to it. As I set up the float rod and missed bites on the flapper rod I listened to him tell me what fishing used to be like here. The bites on the flapper rod came in stops and starts and were mostly Whiting with a few Pouting thrown in. I missed at least twice as many as I hooked. There was one occasion when I was watching the rod tip of the flapper rod so closely I felt the rod rest move to one side quite deliberately. Half wondering if I'd knocked it and half sure it was a bite on the other rod I watched the tip of that rod and apart from a small amount of movement nothing more happened. I reeled in to find a Pouting with it's tail end bitten off and I assume this is the result of the movement I sensed. Maybe a conger or very hungry dogfish decided to have a go at the Pouting while it looked injured. The next cast with the pulley rig resulted in a long wait and a nice bite which felt like a good fish but ended up as the typical loss that could have been the best of the session had I have landed it.
As if I was being awarded a consolation prize I then had a small pouting on the float rod. This was taken at around 25ft deep and with a 4ft hooklength I may have been tripping the bottom. The 4th rod was out by now too and it had one of the Whiting on I had caught as it had swallowed the hook and was almost dead as I brought it in. Several casts of this, just a yard or two from the edge of the pier, resulted in the fish being part eaten by crabs, snagged hooks and eventually a lost rig and leader near the end of the night. While in converstation with the other angler I looked at my float rod with suspicion as it was in a different position to how I left it. When I rest it on the chains I put itso it rests on the top of the bend so any fish pulling the rod should cause it to slide down and make a noise as it does so, alerting me to a bite - the float is just to suspend the bait in the water. Though I heard no noise it was at an angle and I lifted the rod to feel the line caught on the wooden pillar. A few movements of the rod tip freed it and a brief feeling of being caught on something solid gave way to a hard fighing fish. The rod was pulled downwards hard and I was too slow in swicthing the anti-reverse off to give line, so the hook pulled free. It was the second possibility of the biggest fish of the night lost.
As the tide receded I began casting the float rod to the left of me and I placed the rod halfway down the steps, again leaning on the chains. It was a while before I had another bite on this rod and I looked to see my float behind a pillar. I lifted the rod, only to put it down agian to favour a possible bite on the pulley rig rod. Nothing materialised so I lifted the float rod again and found a Long Spined Sea Scorpion had pulled the bait aroudn the pillar. It freed easily though and I was please to see it was around twice the size of the ones I've seen before - only 2oz at most but the biggest I've caught and seen here so I was pleased with it. I had set the float depth shallower but was still around 15-18ft deep. The lower pier eventually became clear and I moved to experience more of the same on the two ledger rods and a few nice sized pollock on the float rod, which I had changed the depth to around 10ft as low tide came around. I still managed to hook bottom or a snag though and lost a hooklength. The rod now horizontal, with the butt on my rod rest stabiliser and the tip on the railings, slid along the railing each time a pollock took the bait and made off for cover again. It was here that I had a few more bites on the pulley rig but one was only long and visible enough to strike at and it was a dogfish. The flapper rig gave bite after bite and sometimes I didn't even have time to reel in slack line before the rod tip rattled. A couple of double hook ups were had and one Whiting that had taken both baits. I began packing up when I ran out of worm baits and tried squid for a while, managing a couple more Whiting before deciding to begin packing all the rods up.
The total fish I caught meant this was probably my highest catch when not mackerel feathering and though all the fish were under a couple of pound there were still two that I caught that were the largest to date, which made this my most successful session.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) 04-12-2017 Reel: Shakespeare Agility Surf 70FD Fixed Spool (£39.99) 21-05-2014 Line: Maxima Hi-Viz 20lb (£15.42) 550m 18-05-2017 Hooks: Unbranded Baitholder 4/0 (£3.99) 50 24-06-2014 Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M 31-05-2017 Hooklength: Ultima Memorex 40lb (£5.95) 50m 03-10-2015
Set up 2: Rod: Daiwa Crosscast 13ft 3 piece Fixed Spool (£60.00) 26-11-2017 Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) 13-03-2015 Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m 25-01-2014 Hooks: Sakuma Stinger 2 (£15.00) 100 13-06-2017 Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M 31-05-2017 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m 25-01-2014
Set up 3: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) 19-07-2014 Reel: Lineaffe Carp 60 Baitrunner Fixed Spool (£12.00) 20-08-2016 Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m 25-01-2014 Hooks: Sakuma Stinger 2 (£15.00) 100 13-06-2017 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m 25-01-2014
Set up 4: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool (£64.07) 21-05-2014 Reel: Leeda Quicksilver Fixed Spool (£19.95) 01-05-2017 Line: Maxima Hi-Viz 20lb (£15.42) 550m 18-05-2017 Hooks: Sakuma Manta Extra 8/0 (£6.75) 10 06-10-2017 Hooklength: Gardner Slinky 100lb (£7.95) 100m 28-10-2017
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