cap'nhaddock
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2020
- Messages
- 1,012
- Reaction score
- 2,560
- Points
- 113
- Location
- South Coast
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
A quick session at West Bay in the quest for a Silver Eel and a Flounder, an easy task in a normal year but there's nothing normal about this one.
Others were float fishing but not catching but I set up with a size 10 hook and a sliver of gar belly to see if there was anything down there; there was, loads of greedy little pollack.
There were other anglers out on the end of the western arm who were bottom fishing and I heard one say 'oooh a Red Gurnard'
Most people wrongly identify Gurnards and call Tubs 'Red Gurnard' so I changed my hook to a size 6 and put on a bigger piece of bait and set the float to fish deeper, close to the bottom to see if I could find one.
Greedy whiting live nearer the bottom and have strange ideas as to what constitutes a mouthful
Another trot through produced a stronger bite and resulted in a Tub Gurnard, No 27 so not a wasted trip.
Another angler had arrived who turned out to be someone whose detailed reports I read years ago on another forum and had watched his first adventures into sea angling down at Ilfracombe, good to meet you.
It seems that everyone knows everyone else in this branch of angling.
It started to rain so my fishing/nattering companion left and I decided to get a more waterproof coat from the car.
While at the car I decided that, as I was by an eel spot I might as well have an hour or two trying to catch one, to get it over with. The good thing about species hunting is that you are glad to catch an eel, just the one eel that is.
The first drop in, salted rag on size six hooks, the rig I'd been using previously, resulted in an instant 'fidget' which I put down to dropping the bait on a crab, I set up another rod then pulled in the first rig to find that it wasn't a crab but a Silver Eel, No. 28. Luckily there was a fish box nearby to contain it while I took a pic, it's strange that eels can sometimes give so little indication of a bite.
The rain had eased and I weighed up the chances of a flounder from the same spot, possible but far more likely to get another eel.
I went back to the outer harbour to see about something different but after a couple of tangled traces and a bootlace eel and more rain on the way I called it a day.
Others were float fishing but not catching but I set up with a size 10 hook and a sliver of gar belly to see if there was anything down there; there was, loads of greedy little pollack.
There were other anglers out on the end of the western arm who were bottom fishing and I heard one say 'oooh a Red Gurnard'
Most people wrongly identify Gurnards and call Tubs 'Red Gurnard' so I changed my hook to a size 6 and put on a bigger piece of bait and set the float to fish deeper, close to the bottom to see if I could find one.
Greedy whiting live nearer the bottom and have strange ideas as to what constitutes a mouthful
Another trot through produced a stronger bite and resulted in a Tub Gurnard, No 27 so not a wasted trip.
Another angler had arrived who turned out to be someone whose detailed reports I read years ago on another forum and had watched his first adventures into sea angling down at Ilfracombe, good to meet you.
It seems that everyone knows everyone else in this branch of angling.
It started to rain so my fishing/nattering companion left and I decided to get a more waterproof coat from the car.
While at the car I decided that, as I was by an eel spot I might as well have an hour or two trying to catch one, to get it over with. The good thing about species hunting is that you are glad to catch an eel, just the one eel that is.
The first drop in, salted rag on size six hooks, the rig I'd been using previously, resulted in an instant 'fidget' which I put down to dropping the bait on a crab, I set up another rod then pulled in the first rig to find that it wasn't a crab but a Silver Eel, No. 28. Luckily there was a fish box nearby to contain it while I took a pic, it's strange that eels can sometimes give so little indication of a bite.
The rain had eased and I weighed up the chances of a flounder from the same spot, possible but far more likely to get another eel.
I went back to the outer harbour to see about something different but after a couple of tangled traces and a bootlace eel and more rain on the way I called it a day.
Last edited:
