Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 31st August 2020 (3)

Date From: 31/08/2020 15:30:00

Date To: 31/08/2020 20:35:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The pier

Low Tide:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Sunny with just a gentle breeze.

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Clear with very little swell.

Method: Ledger (shop bought pulley rig with rotten bottom) | Ledger (shop bought pulley rig with rotten bottom) | Float | Lure

Bait: Whole frozen Launce | Whole Frozen Loligo Squid, Whole frozen peeler crab | Live ragworm | 6 hook purple hokkai heads

Caught:

The Session:

I returned to the pier after failing to catch much the previous day but I wanted to try ledgering to see what the ground here was like. I was fishing from the rocks on the seaward side of the harbour.

The first two rods I set up were my ledger rods. I cast one 60 to 70 yards with a 4oz grip lead on and it immediately began to roll in the tow of the tide. so I quickly retrieved it due to there being a buoy for a pot just to my left at around 60 yards. I then cast it around 50 yards and experienced the same pull so I changed to a 5oz grip lead. I continued to test the ground and tide like this until I settled on a safe distance being 40 to 50 yards for the lead to hold well.

The second rod I cast over to my left and I figured as I was casting more in the direction of the tow, I could put it further out and so I cast it around 60 yards and it held the bottom just fine. Then I set up the float rod and just like the previous day I set the depth at around 10 feet, dropped it 10 yards out with a ragworm on the hook and then began setting up a rod for doing some mackerel feathering. As I was setting up this rod I saw what looked like a Mackerel jump just in front of me and it gave me hope that I would get a few.

Finally I decided to put out a prawn trap with some squid, mackerel and sandeel in the main part and I put it out just down the edge expecting that at least the scent would cause some fish to come to the area of my float rod. It was then just a case of giving each bait around half an hours before checking it and altering my tactics accordingly.

Unfortunately it seemed as far as the ledger rods went nothing was around, or nothing wanted the baits I was fishing. I switched the position of the rods and tried close in and further out once the two appeared to slow at high tide but I had nothing, there wasn't even any evidence that crabs were taking the bait.

The float rod produced a few bites eventually though, I missed the first one because I was using the mackerel feathers as the float went under and as I knew the ground could be very snaggy I didn't want to drop the feathering rod and risk the weight snagging ot being dragged so it caused me issues with the float rod line.

The next cast produced another bite though and I was more ready for it. A lively Pollock took the ragworm and gave a rather good account for itself before I was able to hop over a raised bit of rock to be able to guide the fish into an area where it was easy to pick up. The fish wasn't huge but as it was my first one from this part of the pier I wanted to make sure I didn't lose it so I wanted to be extra careful.

Then the very next cast resulted in an identical bite where the float just went under and kept going down. It wasn't long before I had another Pollock of similar size to the last but I had no more bites afterwards.

The prawn trap came back empty of fish or crabs the first couple of retrieves but one lift produced a tiny Pollock.

As the rocks below me became visible, indicating just a few feet of water now below me, I packed up. It had gotten a bit cold too with the breeze now feeling a little chilly. I didn't do very well but it was my first proper go there and it was enjoyable anyway with the sceney being very nice even though I was sat with a big car park behind me, which was easy to forget about when I was sat looking out to sea. I'll probably give it another go one day, perhaps on a calm winters day when there might be an increased chance of cod over the actual pier.

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