Date: 07-04-2019
Time of day: Afternoon - evening
Location: Ilfracombe
Mark: Capstone rocks
Low Tide: 01:49(0.97m) 14:06(0.92m)
High Tide: 08:11(9.08m) 20:24(9.04m)
Time fished from: 16:30
Time fished to: 20:30
Weather: Cold, windy and cloduy at the start of the session but the wind dying down by the end.
Sea: murky and almost flat with a small swell of around one foot.
Method: Ledger (Homemade pulley rig with rotten bottom) | float
Bait: Frozen whole loligo squid | frozen mackerel strips
Caught (weight): 1 Conger Eel (1lbs 4oz, Guessed) | 1 Pollock (0lbs 3oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 4oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 12oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 6oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 3oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 8oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 7oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 12oz, Guessed), 1 Pollock (0lbs 6oz, Guessed)
The Session: I went for a float fishing session from a local rock mark and took a ledger rod with me to try if the pollock weren''t showing yet.
I arrived to find the sea in a very fishable condition and set up my float rod first, and carefully stepped down to the edge of the rocks and cast the float about 20 yards out. The depth was set at around 8 feet deep and I used a mackerel strip for bait. I then varied the depth and distance of each cast until I found a balance that kept the float faily still as the wind pulled the line one way and the tow of the sea the other.
Despite trying all depths and distances I could not get a bite for over an hour and so I decided to set up the ledger rod and try some squid for whatever was around. I cast the float out just about 10 yards and left the rod on the rocks and the baitrunner lever disengaged while I set the ledger rod up and cast a 5ounce brekaway lead around 40 yards out from a submerged rocky area to my right.
Around 10 minutes after casting I saw a bite and gave it a few moments before striking as a long shake of the tip occurred. I missed whatever it was though and as the bait looked ok I recast to the same area. Another 10 minutes passed and another bite came, this time I hooked it and I was pleasantly surprised to see a small conger eel, which unhooked itself as I placed it down on the weedy covered rocks.
After I returned the fish I went back to my rods and saw my float dipping under so I reeled in to find a pollock on the end. It was small, but typical of the size that are caught here. I missed a few bites after that and I was wondering if that would be it before I finally hooked another but it fell off.
It was the start of a long run of bites though and I began hooking and missing them in equal amounts, sometimes they would take the bait and give just a small indication on the float as it would betray the fish by not reacting to the swell of the sea as it should. Other times it would go under so quick that I felt like I took an age to react, and mostly I missed those bites.
As the tide rose the bites seemed to stop a couple of times so I set the float deeper and began getting bites again as if it indicated they were staying the same depth from the bottom. I also cast a shorter distance ,eventually just a few yards from the edge with the depth at around 20 feet. Once the sea was close to reaching my tripod I moved back up the rocks a bit and cast out the ledger rod a lot fiurther and tried the float some more but the bites on the float stopped and then I began getting bites on the ledger rod.
I did quite poorly though and I hooked several fish but they all fell off. The bites were all similar with steady bends of the tip followed by some sharp pulls. I don''t know what they were though one looked like a dogfish or bull huss. Usually I can tell the bite and feel of a dogfish but today I couldn''t. An angler to my side had caught a cod while I was there so that could also be what they were. I packed my float rod up while having the last cast of my ledger rod and then waited until 08:30 when I packed up. While touching the rod I began to feel vibrations seemingly traveling up the line to the rod but the tip was not showing much movement beyond a very slow increasing bend. After a few minutes I went to reel in and felt a weight which I took to be snagged, but it moved when I pulled and I wondered what it could be. I think I felt a ''kick'' just as something snagged and as I freed my rig the line went slack and as it tightened whatever it was was gone. It didn''t feel ''spongy'' like weed does and it would have been a lot of weed anyway but there was not enough movement to say it was a fish. My rig was intact and my bait was chewed but still bound to the hook with elastic.
Oddly, as I went home I stopped to talk to a couple of anglers and one of them had a very similar thing happen. As he asked his friend to get the gaff his rod tip straightened as I could tell the hook had pulled free. I had to get home so I didn''t see if his rig and bait was intact. I guess I''ll just have to go back soon to see if I can do better.
Tackle used (price) [ time since first used ]:
Set up 1: Rod: Daiwa seahunter Z 13ft 2 piece MFS (£42.99) [ > 1 years 4 months ]
Reel: Daiwa Crosscast S 5000 Fixed spool (£48.99) [ > 4 years 1 months ]
Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m
Hooks: Sakuma Manta 2/0 (£13.05) 100
Shockleader: Gardner Slinky 60lb (£6.99) 100M
Hooklength: Sunset Amnesia 25lb (£6.25) 100m
Set up 2: Rod: Shakespeare Omni Mackerel 10ft 2 piece Fixed Spool (£17.95) [ > 4 years 9 months ]
Reel: Lineaffe Carp 60 Baitrunner Fixed Spool (£12.00) [ > 2 years 8 months ]
Line: Maxima Chameleon 20lb (£17.99) 600m
Hooks: Sakuma Stinger 2 (£15.00) 100
Hooklength: Maxima Clear 15lb (£4.00) 100m
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