Catch Report - Ilfracombe - 29th October 2017 (17)

Date: 29-10-2017

Time of day: Afternoon - Evening

Location: Ilfracombe

Mark: The Pier

Low Tide: 06:08(3.75m) 19:01(3.45m)

High Tide: 00:45(6.52m) 12:38(6.72m)

Time fished from: 16:00

Time fished to: 22:15

Weather: Cloudy with wind from my left and some strongs gusts.

Sea: Fairly murky and choppy with a swell of around 4 feet.

Method: Ledger (homemade pulley rig) | Ledger (homemade 2 hook flapper) | float

Bait: Whole frozen sandeel | frozen squid pieces | frozen mackerel strips

Caught (weight): 1 Pollock (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 1 Dab (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 0oz, Guessed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 8oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 2oz, Guessed), 1 Pouting (0lbs 5oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 14oz, Guessed), 1 Small-eyed Ray (5lbs 5oz, Weighed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 2oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (2lbs 0oz, Weighed), 1 Dogfish (1lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Whiting (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (1lbs 0oz, Guessed)

The Session: I went to my local pier for a long session and when I arrived I went to the lower part of the pier where I set up, beginning with my two ledger rods, a pulley rig with sandeel cast around 70 yards, and a flapper rig baited with squid and lugworm and cast around 50 yards. Then I set up a float rod and set the depth at around 18 foot and adjusted it over the session down to around 10 feet and I fished mackerel strips on it all evening. Finally I put out a prawn trap just down the side of the pier with some old squid, mackerel and sandeel in.

The first hour was uneventful which I was not too bothered about as I was expecting all the bites after dark. However then I had my first bite on the float rod. A pollock took the bait and pulled the float under twice. I was using a circle hook and so I just reeled in which ensured the fish was hooked in the corner of its mouth. I then caught 4 more pollock on the float in the next half an hours and also missed 3 bites, there was definitely a shoal of them around. all the bites were quick with the fish seemingly diving downwards every time. After the fourth fish the bites stopped and I sat watching the rods as darkness fell.

The rod with my flapper rig on suddenly showed a large shake of the tip. It continued to do so as I stood up and lifted the rod into the fish. It obviously wasn''t and as it appeared on the surface I saw it was a dab which I was pleased to see. As I put it back I heard the noise of my float rod sliding along the pier railing and I looked at it to see the tip bent right down. A pollock had hooked itself. It made a few attempts to get down and around the endge of the pier but then quickly gave up. It was a nice sized fish which I guessed at around 1lb.

A quiet spell followed before a dogfish took my sandeel bait and I expected more to follow but no more did. Then almost an hour after the last pollock, I had 3 more. All of these were a nice size and I began to concentrate on the float rod a bit more when I saw the rod tip of my pulley rig rod bending down gently, but not in time with the swell. It looked like a Ray bite so I gave it several minutes and eventually it pulled a bit harder and I struck to feel the fish immediately pull back hard. A 5 minute fight followed as I was very careful with it so as not to lose it. It was not my biggest Small-eyed Ray but it was my first from this pier and I certainly haven''t heard of any others being caught here. It was a nice catch, and considering I had also had several Spotted Ray and a Blonde Ray here this year I was pleased to catch 3 types from one mark.

After I retunred this fish I checked the float rod and found the bait had gone so I rebaited and recast and almost immediately had a bite which wrenched the rod almost out of the tripod. Another nice sized pollock had taken the bait. I was sure the prawn trap was attracting the pollock and I lifted it to see what I had caught in it but there was nothing. I cast it back out with some more bait in and then recast my ledger rods. I had no more bites for an hour. During this hour I brought in the prawn trap again and this time there was a small edible crab in it. I put it back in the sea and dropped the trap down again then repositioned my float so I was fishing almost over my trap.

Within 20 minutes the rod tip slammed downwards, the rod slid along the railing, stopped by the first eye and the butt hit the centre of my tripod as the fish, self-hooked pulled the rod, which would have gone it had I not have set it carefully so the tripod and railings would stop it from doing so. This fish felt much bigger and it fought for almost a minute because I was very careful with it. I could barely lift it out of the water and over the railings and as I was doing so I expected it to fall off. Luckily it didn''t and I decided to weigh this fish. It went just over 2lb.

I was more than happy with the session now and as I checked the level of water my flapper rig rod showed signs of a bite. I got ready and then the tip began shaking and bending down as I struck to feel something on the end. It felt like a dogfish, which it was, but there was also a whiting which had took the lugworm. 10 minutes later the float rod was again pulled hard by a fish and the last Pollock of the evening, again around 1lb was hooked and this one quickly landed. Not long afterwards, with the tide getting near the side of the pier and me almost out of bait, I packed up pleased with my best pollock catch to date and a nice Ray as a bonus fish.

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