Date: 28-05-2017
Time of day: Evening - night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The pier
Low Tide: 02:17(0.48m) 14:38(0.61m) 03:05(0.75m) 15:24(0.99m)
High Tide: 08:37(9.58m) 20:56(9.54m) 09:25(9.23m) 21:44(9.16m)
Time fished from: 18:15
Time fished to: 02:00
Weather: Overcast. A little wind from the harbour.
Sea: Fairly clear. A swell of a few feet.
Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (running ledger) | prawn trap
Bait: Frozen mackerel segments, frozen large sandeel, frozen squid | frozen garfish section, frozen squid, frozen lugworm, frozen peeler crab
Caught (weight): 1 Blonde Ray (8lbs 13oz, Weighed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 0oz, Guessed) | 1 Dogfish (1lbs 3oz, Guessed)
The Session: I began fishing on the part of the pier just by the slipway because it was going to be a big tide and so it was the best place until the tide had receeded a little. I cast one rod various distances and angles while the other was dropped down the side of the pier, chancing a Conger eel. It was pretty much uneventful save for a few bites on various baits but I either missed them or they fell off when I was reeling them in. I moved twice, the first time to the top of the main steps but again I failed to land anything, either missing bites, or (as I discovered) reeling a lobster only for it to drop off when I went to lift it. I had some good company from most of the time from a couple who were also fishing. Thsy showed me some of their catches from Thailand. When I could move to the lower pier I became more successful. I cast both rods as far as I could with sandeel and now squid on the other rod. My first cast resulted in a fish before I had chance to organise my tackle again. It was a welcome dogfish on sandeel. A while passed with me again missing the odd bite and a couple of fish falling off. All the bites I suspected were from dogfish as they had a telltale way of pulling the rod tip. It was at around 00:45 when the rod tip went again and as I had just lost a dogfish I struck quite quickly and at first I was able to reel in ok but then suddenly the line went very tight and I felt the pull of a bigger fish. I played this fish for 10 minutes or so and when it finally surfaced I was delighted to see a big Ray. I brought it over the steps carefully and managed to put my rod down and pick up the fish. I estimated it to be around 10lb but was pleased when the scales went to almost 9lb. The fish was hooked in its lower jaw and it was easy to unhook. Very pleased to have sucessfully 'chased' a similar fish to the one I lost I gave it a while longer and managed one more dogfish before believing the fish had gone or stopped feeding, so I then packed up. I had the prawn trap out for most of the session but only managed two small edible crabs and a large velvet swimming crab.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool £64.07 [ > 3 years 1 months ] Rod: Shakespeare Omni Beachcaster 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool £26.95 [ > 0 years 11 months ] Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool £48.99 [ > 2 years 3 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Sakuma Manta 2/0 10 £2.35 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Beachcaster 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool £26.95 [ > 0 years 11 months ] Reel: Mitchell 667FG Fixed spool £23.90 [ > 3 years 10 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Sakuma Manta 2/0 10 £2.35 Hook: Unbranded Baitholder 4/0 50 £3.99 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00 Hooklength: Ultima Memorex 40lb 50m £5.95
Set up 3: Tackle: Fladen Prawn trap large entrance £6.99 Tackle: cord 50m £3.99
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