Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 26th April 2021 (12)

Date From: 26/04/2021 17:00:00

Date To: 26/04/2021 20:45:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The Pier

Tide Times:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny with a fairly strong wind.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Fairly clear with a swell of around 3 feet

Method: Float | LRF

Bait: Frozen King Ragworm | Frozen King Ragworm pieces

Caught:

Session and Lifetime Statistics:

The Session:

I visited my local pier with some Ragworm to try for some small species. It was a big tide and I would be fishing over high tide for a few hours.

I set up the LRF rod first and just dropped the bait down the side of the pier while I set the foat up. I was fishing on the upper pier and I figured as I was travelling light I could just about stay on the pier over the tide as it would just be reaching the top of the pier and not washing over too much.

The first hour or so were almost biteless except for one moment on thte LRf rod when I wasn't concentrating when I felt the rod shake but it didn't register in my head and so I failed to react at all. The float was giving no bites. The depth was around 10 feet deep and I had a whole small king ragworm on it.

By the time the tide had risen to a couple of feet below the top of the pier the other anglers that were fishing had moved to the dryer part and so I was able to let my float drift along a bit as I had a good few yards clear each side of me. It didn't get me any fish though and eventually, a bit confused as to why almost nothing was biting, and as the water began to splash up through the gaps in the wooden boarding I decided to change the depth to around 25 feet deep.

Almost immediately after the bait would have sunk as low as it could the float went under and before I could grab the rod it came back up but went under again a few moments later. I lifted the rod and felt the fish on the end, it wasn't huge but did swim around a lot before I could lift it out and hold it to unhook it. A typical sized fish for this pier, around 3-4oz, I put it back and it swam straight down.

I rebaited and dropped the float down again and again, the float just went under. I was ready this time and lifted the rod immediately and within 2 minutes I had my second Pollock. It certainly looked like some fish might be down deep and either they couldn't see the bait 12 feet or more abouve them when I was fishing shallower, or they just weren't interested in leaving the depths to get it.

When the same thing happend with the next cast I then thought maybe there was going to be a huge shoal down there which meant so much competition they were taking the bait without hesitation, I missed the next bite though and the one after I checked the bait but soon after had another 2 fish while missing a couple more bites in between too.

I then had a blenny on the LRF rod, which was to be the only fish on that method in this session. I mostly held the float rod and left the LRF rod with the line hanging against the pier wall and the weight just above the bottom. It got a bit repetitive then with me getting bite after bite on the float rod and managing another 7 fish all around the same size, while missing twice as many. The time between bites gradually became longer though until just after 8 O'clock they just stopped completely. I had moved along the pier to the steps by now and wondered if it was because I had been moving along but after going back to where I was for a couple of casts and not getting any bites I accepted the dropping tide had signalled to them it was time to move so as to stay in the deepest water.

Although I expected more on the LRF rod and the session was mostly Pollock, I think this session reinforced the need to try different depths with the float rod as it could make all the difference.

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