Catch report - Ilfracombe - 27th June 2015 (7)

Date: 27/06/2015

Time of day: Evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: Capstone

Low Tide: 08:44(2.90m) 21:13(2.80m)

High Tide: 02:27(7.10m) 15:07(7.10m)

Time fished from: 19:05

Time fished to: 22:15

Weather: A steady wind from the left that died down in the last half hour. Overcast with occasional spots of rain

Sea: Fairly flat but with occasional surges, changing to a rolling swell of 2-3ft in the last hour.

Method: Pulley rig with rotten bottom | Prawn trap

Bait: Frozen black lugworm, Frozen dirty squid segments | Frozen mackerel head, frozen peeler crab legs, frozen dirty squid tentacles

Caught (weight): 2 3 Bearded Rockling (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 2 Dogfish (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed), 2 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed)

The Session: I set up both ledger rods and realised I had forgotten to bring bait elastic, so I left the mackerel and instead baited one rod with a whole black lugworm and the other with about half of a small squid, hoping they'd stay on the hook. I cast both rods about 50 yards out. There was a hard tow from left to right and my gripper leads were not holding bottom, instead rolling around and causing the rod tips to bounce back and forth and it may have caused me to not strike at a few bites because several casts in to the session I reeled in one rod to find a dogfish on the end. I realised that dogfish were grabbing the bait as it was pulled along by the gripper leads. While I was bringing this fish in I noticed some white 'line' trailing around the rocks that had now been exposed by the tide, which I realised was actually bait elastic so I gathered it up and used it. Whilst watching my rod tips I figured it best to spot bites by noticing one rod bending and straightening a little more suddenly than the other and by doing this over the next half hour I managed 3 more fish before the bites stopped and the tow let up a bit, both baits were successful. I had also found time to throw out the prawn trap with squid, crab legs and a mackerel head in. The first retrieve of the trap brought a fairly big rockling which was brilliantly marked. It wasn't until the light had faded that I began to get bites again. I had packed one rod up by then because I lost the lead in a snag and decided against re rigging it because I wasn't getting bites anymore. I missed all but one of these bites though and found it to be another dogfish. Finally the second and last lift of the prawn trap produced another rockling, just slightly smaller and much more plain than the first and there was also a lobster in there, which I guesses at a pound in weight (and one of its claws was just growing back). I was very pleased with this session, despite the weather being different to what was forecast.

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

Set up 1: Ron Thompson Evo Surf 15ft 3 Fixed Spool £30.00 15/08/2013 Mitchell 667FG Fixed spool £23.90 15/08/2013 Maxima Chameleon 20lbs £17.99 25/01/2014 Sakuma Circle 440 2/0 £8.26 21/07/2014 Maxima Clear 15lb £5.00

Set up 2: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 Fixed spool £64.07 21/05/2014 Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool £48.99 13/03/2015 Maxima Hi-Viz 20lb £13.29 25/01/2014 Sakuma Circle 440 2/0 £8.26 21/07/2014 Maxima Clear 15lb £5.00

Set up 3: Prawn trap 50m cord