Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 30th July 2020 (1)

Date From: 30/07/2020 17:30:00

Date To: 30/07/2020 22:20:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The pier

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Mostly sunny but turning cold partway into the session

Sunrise/Sunset:

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

Method: Ledger (homemade up and over rig) | Ledger (homemade up and over rig) | Ledger (running ledger) | Float | LRF

Bait: Frozen whole large sandeel | Frozen whole loligo squid | Frozen mackerel head | Frozen mackerel strips | Pink Marukyu iSome Worm piece

Caught:

The Session:

I met up with Bob and took enough rods to fish all methods possible. Bob focused on LRFing to try to get something to add to his tally in a species hunt competition. There was some boat activity for the first two hours or so, which I believe does affect the fishing when the tide is out.

Bob was already fishing when I arrived just after 5pm and there were several others fishing. The lower pier was just becoming clear of water and so I decided to set up down there in the middle of the pier. I set up my two ledger rods first and cast them both as far as I could. The wind was just strong enough to have a small effect on casting and so my bait was going around 60 yards. I then set up my float rod while Bob was already bringing in lots of Pouting and some Wrasse and Blennies. Eventually he had a Sand Smelt which was a fish he needed for his species hunt.

As usual I dropped the float near the edge at around 16 feet deep to begin with and went a bit shallower later in the session as the tide level dropped. I immediately had small bites on the float rod, which going by what Bob had caught and how little they pulled the float, were Pouting. After so long I lifted the rod to check the bait and it was mostly stripped from the hook.

It was just as I began to set up a rod for Conger Eels that I saw the float go right under and I grabbed the rod and felt a fair sized Pollock on the end. It pulled really well and it took a good few seconds to see it properly but as I brought it near the edge it shook the hook. I finished setting the Conger Eel rod up and dropped the mackerel head near the edge too.

As I had wanted to try LRFing again since I first tried it here a while ago today became an opportunity given the lack of bites, so I set up rod number 5, checked with Bob how he sets his up and began dropping a small piece of iSome worm on a size 16 hook down the edge of the pier. Immediately I could feel fish trying to take the worm and eventually one took it enough to hook itself. It was a tiny Pollock, around the same size as the one I caught when I first tried LRF. I continued to try for more in between recasting my float and ledger rods but failed to and gave up around the time Bob began packing up.

I gave the other rods another hour or so and decided to give up. No-one else was catching much either so it was an easy decision. Although my session was dissapointing Bob had well over 50 fish and at least had one he could add to his species hunt.

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