Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 23rd February 2020 (5)

Date From: 23/02/2020 15:15:00

Date To: 23/02/2020 21:40:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The Pier

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Overcast but very little wind. Constant light rain after 7pm.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Murky and choppy with a swell varying from 1 foot to 8 feet

Method: Ledger (shop bought 2 hook flapper) | Ledger (shop bought up and over rig) | Ledger (Running Ledger) | Float | Prawn trap

Bait: Frozen black lug, frozen squid pieces | frozen whole loligo squid | frozen half mackerel | frozen black lugworm pieces and frozen mackerel strip | frozen squid, frozen mackerel, frozen peeler crab.

Caught:

The Session:

I hadn't been out for a few weeks so I was determined to not miss this small window of opportunity to catch anything I could. I set up on the upper pier and began by setting up an 'up and over' rig baited with lugworm and cast around 50 yards straight out. Second was a flapper rig baited with lugworm and squid, then a float rod with a small piece of lugworm and a lackerel strip, set at around 10 feet deep and finally a rod for Conger Eel dropped down just a few yards from the edge baited with a mackerel head.

It was slow going to begin with. Other anglers were already there but they had not had much, if anything and another angler turned up about an hour after me and fished next to me.

My first bite was on the ledger rod I had baited with the lugworm but it slack lined and I just struck at it as soon as I got to the rod but missed it. After that I had nothing for almost two hours. I began chatting to someone who was from Birmingham so we had things in common as I am originally from that area, and what appears to be a yearly returning Cormorant paid it's usual visit expecting to be fed. I gave it some of my squid and sandeel, hoping it would keep the bird out of the water and away from the hookbaits if it could get food easier on land. We were having a laugh while waiting for a bite and he commented how he wanted to see someone catch a fish. It was looking like I wouldn't be the person who would be able to show him what could be caught here but then when I checked my float rod there was a small Pollock on the end that had took the lugworm and Mackerel bait. The Cormorant began getting very excited at the prospect of having this 4oz dfish for food and sttod expectantly with its wings out and then paced around as it seemed to recognise that it had to wait until I had removed the hook. The Pollock was deeply hooked and bleeding so I gave ot to the Cormorant after unhooking and forgot to take a picture. We joked about how I had at least shown a fish being caught from here.

It wasn't long afterwards when the man I wwas chatting too made a coment at how one of my rod tips was moving around a bit and I looked just as he said it to see it quiver. It was the Conger rod so I got ready to lift the rod by tightening the drag and holding the handle tight. The fish pulled the tip down a few times and so I lifted the rod, keeping the tip in the same position and after a few more pulls I announced I was going to strike and I lifted the rod hard. It was immediately apparent I had hooked the fish as it seemed to shake its head and begin to pull down so it could swim in the gap between the pier and wooden strut. It felt a bit like a tug of war with a brief moment where it felt like it had become snagged before it finally came to the surface and we saw how big it was. I was sure this was going to beat my personal best. This was the moment I remembered I had not set up my landing net but thankfully the other anglers around were quick enough to help out and swiftly managed to find my net, handle and spreader block and set the net up. We then had to get down the steps so I had to manouvre around the railings while the large swell and the fish combined power to make this very difficult. Once I was down the steps the swell continued to threaten to cause the fish to shake the hook. I wasn't really in control and as one more swell came it lifted the fish up and under the railing causing my line to wrap around the pole and the fish to hang there in the swell. I found it quite miraculous how the fish never came off and due to the skill of the other angler he netted the fish while I was helpless in playing it due to my line beings snagged. Once in the net we unclipped the hooklength and he took the fish up to the pier where we were fishing.

He unhooked it easily as the circle hook was just in the lip and I photographed it and then weighed it knowing it was going to be my new personal best now.

Once that was done the man I had now shown what you could catch here decided to take it home to eat it.

Once the excitement died down we all waited for more bites but it took an hour for me to get another and I was very surprised to have a Shore Rockling on the float which I had now set at around 16 feet in 25 feet of water. I was just as pleased to catch this new float caught species as I was the Conger Eel.

Things became even more quiet now. The other anglers had not had a bite. All of the other people around had gone home or to the pubs. I had a drop back bite on my flapper rod, then one on my up and over rod, which I briefly hooked but lost before we could see what it was. Then another bite on the up and over rod and as I was checking how the bait had been pulled over the hook point I saw my conger rod tip bending down again. It had a mackerel tail on this time. I got ready to strike as I did before and picked my moment when there was a brief moment of no resistance from the fish. I felt nothing pull back and as the weight and hook came out of the water all I saw was the backbone of the fish left. I think the fish had left go by the time I struck. I missed two more bites an the other rods afterwards before having two more Conger Eel on the flapper rod. Both of these fish appeared to have taken both baits of the flapper rig.

As I was out of lugworm I decided to begin packing up. I have forgotten to mention I put out a prawn trap during the session but I had nothing in it at all. I suppose I did ok considering no one else caught much today and with four rods out I should have had something as I had all methods covered.

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