Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
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- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Okay I’d better do a full report 
My club had one of its monthly 48 hour comps this weekend and it’s the right time of year for big ray and potentially big bass at Saunton Sands, so off I went as I didn’t fancy anything too strenuous.
Friday night’s low water was 40 minutes after the comp start at 7pm, so not too bad.
The beach is soooo flat that even on a neap tide and this was a small neap, you’re moving up and down constantly.
Moving back is easy enough but chasing the tide down on a flat beach is miserable, so generally I’d only fish one to two hours down in any case.
The web cams showed big surf and so it was, but actual conditions were very good - a clear night, no moon, absolutely no weed, which was brilliant, and the rods were sitting perfectly with very little movement.
The drawback was the surging waves went a long way up the beach, which meant I had to set a fair way back to ensure my box didn’t float away!
That surf was powerful too, had to take care when wading out but you have to wade a bit because the actual main surf was a long way away.
The tactic here is lob short for bass, long for ray and then just keep moving back. Until the line runs out, then retrieve (bloody knackering) and repeat.
The bigger bass do tend to hit when you’ve got a bait out a long way, which is at odds with most surf beaches.
Anyway, not. A. touch. Nothing, zip, nada, no bites at all.
As my previous informative post said, ‘twas shite.
I retired into town for a McDonald’s, seriously considering taking up tiddlywinks
Saturday: The plan had been to fish there Saturday night too.
Surprisingly, I recovered quite quickly on Saturday from the aches and pains and although initially very reluctant, I wasn’t ready to give up on the comp, but didn’t really fancy a rock mark, so decided to head back to Saunton.
Strangely, I felt quite confident, despite a total blank the night before.
This time I walked on down the beach for an extra 5-10 minutes to ensure I was definitely in a different spot. It’s a long beach, I still wasn’t even halfway along it.
The surf was also a bit more civilised.
Pic looks similar but it was definitely further!
Baits to start were a whole squid on one and a whole sardine on the other (I have loads in the freezer and keep trying them but not much success so far).
My squid rod kept going slack and pulling tight, but it didn’t look like a bite, more like surf movements, so when I reeled in half hour later I was a bit surprised to feel a fair weight and this 5lb 14 small eye on the end.
Hooked by the mouth and went back pretty quickly.
By now I’d had time to tie a sandeel up and over (rigs had been trashed the previous night), so that went out and I began the process of moving back as the flood started.
The sandeel rod followed a similar ‘bite’ pattern, so this time I retrieved much sooner and sure enough, there was another ray on, this time only about 3lb.
Sorry no pic as needed to unhook it quick and move gear - you’re constantly on the move here.
It went a bit quiet. I was having to move back every 5-10 minutes or so, even on a neap.
When the reels were nearly at their backing, I brought in the squid rod from a LONG way out, and discovered a chunky schoolie on the end.
He may have just been in size but was bleeding
however I had one in the freezer already so put him back, though I didn’t rate his chances.
Again no pic, was up to my knees in surf at that point and needed to move my box. Again
Not too long after I had yet another ray on the sandeel, this one even smaller, probably a couple of pounds.
All ray were lip hooked, I never seem to get many deep hooked ones, unlike the greedy bass.
Then it all went quiet. No more bites, and I stayed longer than I planned, eventually finishing at 1.30am but still 1.5 hours to high.
You can get the odd better fish then but 3am was too late for me last night and in any case, I wanted another McDonald’s….
My club had one of its monthly 48 hour comps this weekend and it’s the right time of year for big ray and potentially big bass at Saunton Sands, so off I went as I didn’t fancy anything too strenuous.
Friday night’s low water was 40 minutes after the comp start at 7pm, so not too bad.
The beach is soooo flat that even on a neap tide and this was a small neap, you’re moving up and down constantly.
Moving back is easy enough but chasing the tide down on a flat beach is miserable, so generally I’d only fish one to two hours down in any case.
The web cams showed big surf and so it was, but actual conditions were very good - a clear night, no moon, absolutely no weed, which was brilliant, and the rods were sitting perfectly with very little movement.
The drawback was the surging waves went a long way up the beach, which meant I had to set a fair way back to ensure my box didn’t float away!
That surf was powerful too, had to take care when wading out but you have to wade a bit because the actual main surf was a long way away.
The tactic here is lob short for bass, long for ray and then just keep moving back. Until the line runs out, then retrieve (bloody knackering) and repeat.
The bigger bass do tend to hit when you’ve got a bait out a long way, which is at odds with most surf beaches.
Anyway, not. A. touch. Nothing, zip, nada, no bites at all.
As my previous informative post said, ‘twas shite.
I retired into town for a McDonald’s, seriously considering taking up tiddlywinks
Saturday: The plan had been to fish there Saturday night too.
Surprisingly, I recovered quite quickly on Saturday from the aches and pains and although initially very reluctant, I wasn’t ready to give up on the comp, but didn’t really fancy a rock mark, so decided to head back to Saunton.
Strangely, I felt quite confident, despite a total blank the night before.
This time I walked on down the beach for an extra 5-10 minutes to ensure I was definitely in a different spot. It’s a long beach, I still wasn’t even halfway along it.
The surf was also a bit more civilised.
Pic looks similar but it was definitely further!
Baits to start were a whole squid on one and a whole sardine on the other (I have loads in the freezer and keep trying them but not much success so far).
My squid rod kept going slack and pulling tight, but it didn’t look like a bite, more like surf movements, so when I reeled in half hour later I was a bit surprised to feel a fair weight and this 5lb 14 small eye on the end.
Hooked by the mouth and went back pretty quickly.
By now I’d had time to tie a sandeel up and over (rigs had been trashed the previous night), so that went out and I began the process of moving back as the flood started.
The sandeel rod followed a similar ‘bite’ pattern, so this time I retrieved much sooner and sure enough, there was another ray on, this time only about 3lb.
Sorry no pic as needed to unhook it quick and move gear - you’re constantly on the move here.
It went a bit quiet. I was having to move back every 5-10 minutes or so, even on a neap.
When the reels were nearly at their backing, I brought in the squid rod from a LONG way out, and discovered a chunky schoolie on the end.
He may have just been in size but was bleeding
however I had one in the freezer already so put him back, though I didn’t rate his chances.Again no pic, was up to my knees in surf at that point and needed to move my box. Again
Not too long after I had yet another ray on the sandeel, this one even smaller, probably a couple of pounds.
All ray were lip hooked, I never seem to get many deep hooked ones, unlike the greedy bass.
Then it all went quiet. No more bites, and I stayed longer than I planned, eventually finishing at 1.30am but still 1.5 hours to high.
You can get the odd better fish then but 3am was too late for me last night and in any case, I wanted another McDonald’s….
Are you related to Dek.?
