Date: 23-06-2016
Time of day: Evening
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: Capstone
Low Tide: 02:16(1.24m) 14:31(1.35m)
High Tide: 08:37(8.72m) 20:56(8.87m)
Time fished from: 18:15
Time fished to: 20:50
Weather: Sunny and warm with a steady wind from left to right.
Sea: Clear, very choppy with a swell of up to 5ft causing surges 15ft up the rocks
Method: Float | Feathering
Bait: frozen mackerel strips | 5 hook hokkai rig
Caught (weight): 1 Pollack (0lbs 2oz, Guessed), 2 Pollack (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 1 Pollack (0lbs 10oz, Guessed), 1 Pollack (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 1 Pollack (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)
The Session: I began by float fishing as another angler had said he had caught no mackerel on the feathers. As I was setting up my telescopic rod I snapped of an eye where it had rusted. I baited with a thin strip of mackerel and set teh depth to around 7ft deep and cast it about 5 yards out. Within 20 seconds the float went under sharply and I hooked a small pollock that fell off as I reeled it to the edge of the water. This repeated for several casts until I had one that stayed on the hook. It was nicely hooked in teh edge of the bottom lip and so was easy to unhook, just as was the next four fish I landed. I switched to using feathers for a while but had no mackerel. I changed back to float and set the depth to around 14ft.The bait was in the water for what seemed like 5 minutes when the float gave a tell-tale sign of a larger fish 'mouthing' mouthing the bait, by the float 'dithering' before going under really fast and deep. It was one of the two larger pollock I hooked and it had swallowed the hook and was bleeding a lot so I dispatched it and took it home. At around this time a couple of larger surges of the tide signalled time to move to a new spot and so I did and gave mackerel feathers ago for about half an hour. Again I caught nothing with these and as another angler left his spot I decided to move there as it was comfortable to float fish from without line getting snagged on barnacles or limpets. The float was out for about 10 minutes before the float again 'dithered' and then went under and I hooked and landed the second of the two larger pollock. This one had also swallowed the hook and was bleeding so I dispatched it too. The last 15 minutes or so I spent with the float out and mackerel feathering but I had no takes on the feathers, nor any on the float.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Shakespeare Alpha X Travel 11ft telescopic Fixed spool (£16.99) [ > 3 years 0 months ] Reel: Lineaffe SX50 Fixed Spool (£10.00) [ > 3 years 1 months ] Mainline: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m (£17.99) Hooks: Sakuma Circle 440 size 2 30 per pack (£5.55) Hooklength: Shakespeare Omni-X Connect Clear 15lb (£5.49) Other1: Fladen Pencil Float 210mm (£2.00)
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed spool (£16.95) [ > 2 years 5 months ] Reel: Abu Cardinal 176 SWi Fixed Spool (£34.99) [ > 1 years 8 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m Lure: 5 hook Hokkai