Date: 09-08-2016
Time of day: Afternoon
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: Capstone
Low Tide: 04:12(2.07m) 16:26(2.28m)
High Tide: 10:42(7.81m) 22:57(7.73m)
Time fished from: 15:00
Time fished to: 19:15
Weather: Cloudy with occasional sunshine. Fairly strong wind from left to right, becoming very strong for a few hours before dying down a bit.
Sea: choppy and clear but turning quite rough and a little murky
Method: Ledger (pulley rig with rotten bottom) | feathering
Bait: frozen mackerel segments | Hokkai heads
Caught (weight): 1 Tub Gurnard (1lbs 0oz, Guessed) | 3 Mackerel (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 4 Mackerel (0lbs 8oz, Guessed), 3 Mackerel (0lbs 10oz, Guessed), 4 Mackerel (0lbs 12oz, Guessed)
The Session: On arriving at the mark I found the wind to be stronger than I had hoped but I still decided to give it a go. I set up the ledger rod and cast it with some strength in order to ensure it went 50 yards. The tow dragged the grip lead to teh right at first but after two casts it settled down for a while. I also set up some feathers to get mackerel to replace the ones I would be using as bait. I had four mackerel on the first cast but they were small so all returned. I caught more in ones and twos and most were too small with just a few that were big enough to freeze for bait or food. It was difficult to spot anything that might have been a bite on the ledger rod and each cast had resulted in my bait being had by something but only one showed movement positive enough to be a fish. It was 16:15 and the tip showed a short but definite pull and then a few twitches before going back to moving back and forth with the swell. I left it a couple of minutes before reeling in and when I did I could tell there was something on the line but only realised it was a fish when it got nearer and the downforce it created as it swam in front of me gave it away. It was a nice tub gurnard which I noticed had a split left dorsal fin. It was hooked quite deep in the roof of its mouth and it took me a while to get the hook out, with it also grunting at me as I tried, but once I did and returned it, it swam off quickly. The rest of the session was pretty quiet with me seeing each bait coming back obviously chewed but no more obvious bites save for one good pull of the rod tip that resulted in my bait coming back like a large mackerel skin strip, just held on by some elastic. I moved along the rocks to a safer place as the sea began causing large amounts of spray when it hit the rocks and I packed teh ledger rod away while continuing and managing to get another couple of mackerel large enough to take home. I packed up pleased that I had caught tub gurnard after a year of not catching a single one.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool (£64.07) [ > 2 years 3 months ] Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) [ > 1 years 5 months ] Line: Maxima Hi-Viz 15lb (£12.29) 550m Hooks: Sakuma Manta size 2/0 10 per pack (£2.35) Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m (£4.00)
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed spool (£16.95) [ > 2 years 5 months ] Reel: Abu Cardinal 176 SWi Fixed Spool (£34.99) [ > 1 years 8 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m Lure: 5 hook purple hokkai
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