Date: 09-06-2017
Time of day: Night
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: The pier
Low Tide: 00:22(1.54m) 12:41(1.50m) 00:57(1.43m) 13:14(1.45m)
High Tide: 06:44(8.47m) 19:03(8.67m) 07:19(8.53m) 19:36(8.73m)
Time fished from: 22:00
Time fished to: 03:00
Weather: Overcast and raining to begin with, virtually no wind. Rain stopping later with occasional drops and the clouds clearing a bit.
Sea: Choppy with a swell of a few feet. Clear. Waves heard crashing over the opposite side of the harbour
Method: :ledger (homemade pulley rig), ledger (running ledger) | Ledger (running ledger) | prawn trap
Bait: Large frozen sandeel | frozen loligo squid, large frozen sandeel | frozen mackerel head, frozen mackerel pieces, frozen sandeel
Caught (weight): 2 Dogfish (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 3 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed) | 2 Dogfish (2lbs 0oz, Guessed) | 1 3 Bearded Rockling (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 1 Shore Rockling (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 2 Ballan Wrasse (0lbs 1oz, Guessed)
The Session: I set up on the lower pier and cast both rods around 70 yards out, one baited with sandeel and the other with squid. I managed a couple of dogfish before another angler hooked into a big blonde ray wich we landed, weighed and photographed (11lb 9oz). Later on I had a bite typical of a dogfish and when I struck the fish pulled quite hard and my weight also snagged. I tried different ways of making the fish move and freeing my weight but nothing worked. I put my rod back in the rest for a bit with the line slack and the fish went to move off, pulling my tip down. I tried to pull it in again but I could not free the weight. I eventually weighed up the chance of getting this fish in against trying for another and went for broke, walking my line back and eventually the mainline snapped seemingly just at the leader knot. I just tied a running ledger for the rest of the session and only managed more dogfish, with the extra species coming in the prawn trap along with an edible crab and a velvet swimming crab.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa Seahunter X 14ft 3 piece Fixed spool £64.07 [ > 3 years 1 months ] Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool £48.99 [ > 2 years 3 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Sakuma Manta 2/0 10 £2.35 Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb 100m £4.00 Hooklength: Ultima Memorex 40lb 50m £5.95
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Beachcaster 14ft 3 piece Fixed Spool £26.95 [ > 0 years 11 months ] Reel: Mitchell 667FG Fixed spool £23.90 [ > 3 years 10 months ] Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb 600m £17.99 Hook: Unbranded Baitholder 4/0 50 £3.99 Hooklength: Ultima Memorex 40lb 50m £5.95