Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 26th July 2019 (6)

Date From: 26/07/2019 15:00:00

Date To: 27/07/2019 01:00:00

Time of day: Afternoon - night

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The pier

Tides:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny with just a little wind.

Sea: Mostly clear with a swell of around 2 feet.

Method: Ledger (homemade up and over rig) | Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Float | Ledger (running ledger) | Prawn Trap

Bait: Frozen whole medium sandeel | frozen whole loligo squid | frozen mackerel strips | frozen mackerel head

Caught:

The Session:

I met up with Bob, who I have fished with a few times before with other anglers on the South Coast of Devon. Bob wanted to catch some fish for his species hunt and Ilfracombe Pier had the potential to give him 6 or 7 that he needed. I was going to try all the usual methods for anything that was around but mostly expected some pollock as most of the fishing was in daylight and it was a bright day.

I began on the lower Pier while Bob tried in the inner pool of the pier. I set up my two distance ledger rods and put them both around 70 yards out with big baits on, then I set up a float rod and set it around 18 feet deep and dropped it just down the edge of the pier. Unfortunately for me I had barely any bites and as Bob moved near me after catching lloads of fish in the inner pool I spent around 5 hours watching him catch all manner of the small fish that were around and thankfully he had a new species for a species hunt he was taking part in.

We spent time chatting between ourselves and with other people as the time passed and I put the prawn trap out for an hour with a load of old squid in it and ended up with a fair sized Edible Crab but that was it until after 9pm when I finally started getting bites on the float from the Pollock and a Scad, but it was only 4 fish and then nothing again for a while. Bob packed up around 10pm after catching countless fish (over 50) and several species and narrowly missed out on two more for his species hunt as an angler near him caught them. It was a shame because Bob had already put so much time in but it was just that typical bad luck anglers get when someone turns up after us and get a fish we hoped for. Still, I hope he enjoyed the time there and saw it's potential to throw up some more species if he tries it again.

So I continued to fish and had to move up the steps to the upper pier and I put my Conger rod close in again and my ledgers out to my left a little around 70 yards out again. I put the float and trap down the edge too. Still with no bites I decided to have a last cast back where I was before the tide came over the pier fully so I waded through a few inches of water and dropped the float down the edge of the pier just past the steps. Within a minute the float went under and the fish hooked itself and began to pull the rod. I played it for a few seconds before it just gave up and I could see it was a nice size. I decided to weigh it and it went 1lb 3oz.

I had to go back to my rods then and I packed up the float and began packing up the two distance ledger rods slowly hoping I would get a last minute take on the conger rod but it didn't happen. I packed up a little disappointed with my own session but please that Bob had a good one and gave me some great company for the biteless hours.

Soon I will try fishing really light tackle like Bob was. There is a Youtube channel called Devon Lerfer that I watch a lot and it has been a bit of an inspiration to me to get an LRF rod and reel, and now seeing Bob catch so many (which will amaze all the local LRF anglers, I'm sure) and some more of Devon Lerfers recent videos I have to give it a go.

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