Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 6th December 2020 (27)

Date From: 06/12/2020 12:30:00

Date To: 06/12/2020 19:30:00

Time of day: Afternoon - evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The pier

Tide Times:

Moon Phase:

Weather: Cloudy but sunny and sheltered from the occasional wind from behind. Feeling cold after dark and wind increasing a bit

Sunrise/Sunset:

Sea: Mostly clear and fairly flat with a small swell.

Method: Ledger (shop bought up and over rig) | Ledger (Running Ledger with rotten bottom) | Float | LRF (Bait)

Bait: Frozen whole loligo squid | frozen half mackerel | Live King Ragworm pieces | live king ragworm, frozen mackerel strips

Caught:

Session and Lifetime Statistics:

The Session:

My previous session left me with a lot of ragworm so I decided to go to my local pier to use it up. I checked the webcam before I left and saw that the sea was calm and looked quite clear, so I thought I;d be able to see if any small species were around, at least. Although I wasn't confident I would catch on the big bait rods, I took them too to use up the remaining squid and mackerel I had.

I arrived after midday and paid £1.70 for parking and saw that the pier was free of water, some anglers were already there but I was able to set up in the middle of the lower pier and set up all the rods I wanted.

As usual I put out a distance ledger rod first. I whipped a whole loligo squid on and cast it around 70 yards straight out then set up the float rod to put near the edge at around 12 feet deep, first with ragworm on but later I would try mackerel strips if the ragworm failed to produce much. Then I put out the big bait rod with half a mackerel on down the edge for Conger Eels and finally I set up my LRF rod and expected to spend more time catching on that rod than any of the others.

I was correct and the first time I lowered the LRF bait down to the bottom fish began to take it. I missed a couple but then hooked something that fought well and was most certainly a Wrasse. A nice little Ballan of a few ounces. Fish continued to take the bait almost immediately after it touched the bottom each time I dropped it down a couple of feet away from the edge of the pier. Most of the time I lifted the rod ready to reel in as soon as I felt anything, even the tiniest of movements as I knew the wrasse could be very gentle bait takers. Sometimes I also lifted the weight off the bottom a foot or so and it was too taken quite quickly. Aside from a couple of times I checked the float rod, which was often showing signs that small fish were stripping the bait from the hook bit by bit, I spent most of the time until dark concentrating on the LRF rod, sometimes walking along the pier dropping it between two other wooden struts and I was pleased to have more Wrasse among other species.

Almost as the light was fading I had a take which just slowly pulled the rod tip down and didn't stop. When I lifted the rod it was almost like a dead weight and I thought it was weed, but then a few tries later the same thing happened and I just caught a glimpse of a large Velvet Swimming Crab holding the hook, before it let go as it exited the water, so the reason for the strange bite was revealed.

Bites on both the LRF rod and float rod stopped after dark and the other rods didn't even start to have any. the bait on the distance rod was coming back looking completely untouched nearly all the time. I had one cast where I saw the rod tip shake but that was it. The mackerel on the conger rod was just eaten by crabs each time I checked it. Apart from one time I checked the position of the spool and noticed it had turned round abour half a turn there was no indication any fish had tried to take that.

I was pleased with the session overall because the LRF rod did well and I was busy for the first four hours or so. Other anglers caught a few fish but overall it was a slow day for everyone so I'm glad I tried the really small baits.

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