Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 25th July 2021 (2)

Date From: 25/07/2021 14:15:00

Date To: 25/07/2021 19:00:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: Capstone Rocks

Tide Times:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny but a fairly strong wind from left to right

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Clear and a little choppy with a small swell

Method: Float | Float

Bait: Frozen mackerel strip | Live King Ragworm

Caught:

Session and Lifetime Statistics:

The Session:

I fished a local rock mark with two float rods intending to see which of two baits produces the most bites and also which species would be around. As I didn't expect Wrasse to take the mackerel strips but Pollock would take both mackerel and Ragworm I thought I would get more Pollock than Wrasse.

There were people fishing the spot on the rocks I had wanted to fish this time so I went to the bit I usually fish from. It probably wouldn't have made too much difference but there would be a bit more kelp that I could fish over at shallower depths as the sea level rose at the spot I wanted due to there being a series of ledges.

I had to fish with just one rod to begin with because when I arrived I found the wind was a lot stronger than I thought it would be and I saw from the first cast that the float would travel so much in the water, aided by the wind that I would be constantly casting if I fished two rods. The bait comparison catch rate would have to wait until later when I would have moved up to a more sheltered spot and the rods would be closer to the water.

After a few casts I found I was able to get the float to drift very slowly, or even sit still at times by casting and then letting out a certain amount of line, while keeping the rod tip pointing almost straight down to the water which caused a bow in the line which counteracted the pull of the tide which at the time was going in the opposite direction to the wind.

I tried going shallow, around 5 feet and also tried going down to 12 feet deep and casting a bit further out but I could not get a bite. This did not surprise me too much though because on so many sessions here the fish I catch on the float don't seem to show until the tide has been coming in for 3 hours and then they feed for two hours and then stop or swim elsewhere, possible because the tidal pull gets so strong at high tide they prefer slacker water

Eventually, I had a bite - over 3 hours after getting there and it was a Pollock on the Mackerel strip. I had the other float rod out by now and I was fishing them side by side at a similar depth of 8 feet and each float was drifting to the left so I was recasting them in turn and placing the rods down on the side I'd just cast the float. I had a couple of casts where something definitely pulled the float on the mackerel bait but that was it for another hour until the rod baited with Ragworm showed a bite which just caused the float to sit steady in the swell and chop at first before slowly going under. I lifted the rod and felt nothing on the end. Half the Ragworm remained on the hook so I added another one to it and dropped it back down where it was before. It didn't take long for it to drift close to a rock so I decided to bring it it and drop it the other side of the mackerel baited rod and as I went to do so I felt a weight on the end. I had hooked a Wrasse before it even registered the bite.

It was a nice size, just over half a pound I guessed, and I hoped I might now get a few more bites if this was an indication some had come around this area to feed. It wasn't to be though and I was pushed further up the rocks by the tide for the last half an hour when I decided to pack up.

My little experiment didn't do very well then because I couldn't fish both rods for the full session and also just for the lack of fish which was unusual for here. The Mackerel I used was not refrozen but I can usually catch on it when I'd refrozen it a few times anyway and the Ragworm was lively so I concluded that the fish just had no reason to be there. It could have been the bright sunlight and clear water but I've had sessions where that didn't bother the Pollock at least.

It will be something to try again another time.

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