Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 30th August 2020 (4)

Date From: 30/08/2020 18:50:00

Date To: 30/08/2020 20:45:00

Time of day: Evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The Pier

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Cloudy with some sunshine and a gentle wind from right to left

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Clear and choppy with a swell of around 2 feet.

Method: Float | Float

Bait: Live Ragworm | frozen mackerel strips

Caught:

The Session:

I managed to get just a few ounces of ragworm from a local tackle shop during a week where there was not much to be found for sale due to small tides. So I wanted to try and make the most of it by trying for Wrasse. This was a quick session on my local Pier. I had been fishing from the rocks on the seaward side of the harbour but missed two bites on ragworm and so caught nothing. I had been casting a float varying distances mostly at a depth of 10feet but as the level dropped I went shallower because closer in I was hooking the rocks below. When I thought the lower pier would be available to access I moved there.

I put the first rod out with ragworm on, just a foot or so away from the wooden strut I was next to. I had the depth set at around 15 feet. The float began dipping dowm slightly within moments and before I had my second rod set up I had landed a very small Pouting which was quickly followed by a wrasse which pulled the float down so sharp and fast it took a moment to register it had gone under. It typically tried to swim for the nearest bit of kelp which was growing partway up the wooden strut so I had to make sure I got it to the surface quickly.

When I had put the float back out with more ragworm on I left it despiite the float dipping down a lot, so I could finish setting up the other rod and then I put that out next to the ragworm at the same depth, but with mackerel for bait. Less than 10 minutes had passed with both floats shwoing signs of plenty of small fish trying to take the bait when the float with mackerel on went right under and dissappeared from view. I lifted the rod and felt a fair weight on the end, not quite what I was expecting and a modest sized pollock came to the surface.

Over the next hour I had a large amount of tiny bites which I thought were Pouting and Pollock which were probably from fish not much bigger than the bait but then I hooked something which shimmered as I lifted it out and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a Sand Smelt. This is not a fish I target but it is one I am happy to catch at least one of each year.

I gave it a while longer but as the light faded the bites stopped and I packed up before I needed a headtorch to see. I thought I'd go back the next day and try ledgering an mackerel feathering too, to see if any other method could produce a fish.

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