Guestbook

I've had some complaints in the past but nothing like this letter............................

Dear Mr Thomas,

As the local angling reporter, and keen champion of fishing by fair and sporting means, I feel compelled to write to you and complain regarding an item posted on the CMSAC website, an organisation I believe you to be the secretary of no less.

Under the Sark 2007 link, there are some jolly nice pictures although one quite horrific picture featuring Mr Nick Phillips. No - I am not referring to his pink-tinged combats which I believe to be from the Dutch army and with a zip up the back, but the picture of the 3lb 6oz Mullet (see attached).

I have myself fished with wire trace for Conger Eels & Tope in the distant past and always thought Mullet fishing was more of a gentle art. Imagine how horrified I was to see that Nick had clearly landed his mullet not using a wire trace, but CHAIN which can be clearly seen protruding from the fishes mouth.

This sort of despicable unsporting behaviour with supporting photographic evidence, can only fuel the fire of the 2CV driving, stinky-fart vegetarian, ban the everything bunch of loonies in their quest to stop us fellows pursuing the pastimes that we enjoy.

I trust you will seek to disassociate yourself from such behaviour and take any appropriate action to prevent both the practice of fishing using such unsporting means and also the wearing of pink-tinged combats in public.

With many thanks in anticipation.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Lewis.

Take a look and make up your own mind......

And from Nigel Parkhouse...........

Subject: Tides

Hi Wayne,

An excellent web site that wets the appetite of a land locked person who misses the sea. My favourite time of year, after all the rumours of fishing on the slide then Combe Martin must have their own swim. To look at all the fish that have been caught in the last 12 months and to judge that over the last 25 years then it must be just the Cod that have not appeared.

Most competitions over the years have tried to coincide with rising tides and probaly a spring tide to go with it, i know Ilfracombe always had their competitions during the week on rising tides and we always planned to fish most of them on the up. Little did i realise then that if i fished on the back tide after the first 2 hours have gone then i would have had less small fish but more specimens, especially capstone and watermouth. After we have given up at about 1/2 hour when the tide pulls back and tackle starts getting lost, we chuck all the bait in and give a longing look at what might of been. I should have been just arriving, predators come close in and hoover up all that ground bait and as long as you dont cast too far then you might be among them, most people use 2 rods so one out and one in.

I remember fishing 2-3 hours out at capstone in a CMSAC comp and Dave Brooks had a massive Pollock to go nicely with the 14lb Bass he had few weeks before, it was a CMSAC comp and i wondered why they picked such crap tides, i caught on eventually. I think that Kevin Legge fished for Cod at capstone point and had one of 26lb+ when the tide was 2/12 hours out, i also had some good eels at about 3 hours out down to low tide, also some ray and codling. How many times do we read of a great fish being caught but fail to look at what state of the tide it is caught. I always tried to ground bait an area for mullet but rarely for other fish, the best chance of that ground bait being productive is when it happens over a period of nights and that happens especially on competitions. With the likes of capstone is that it has a sewer that chucks out on the ebbing tide, so coupled with ground bait then it is feeding time for them fish.

cheers Nigel Parkhouse

Ps. Well done to Kevin. I was asked at work why he threw the Bass back, only someone who respects the size and grace of the fish can tell you that.

Hi Wayne,

There is something about the memories we hold about fishing that seem to erase all the countless hours we spent on the rocks or beaches with storms lashing at us and only a dogfish to show for it, if we are lucky. If you spend a long time away from the sea then its beauty is even more pronounced and the fishing even more fun. But, it not just the fishing that draws us to the sea, it's the physical side of hiking to a far away mark with all its quietness and beauty and also the competitive aspect of the weigh-in with a bit of a chat with competitors to catch up on any rumour or fishing story.

I had a Brain operation (carvernoma cerebellum) in May last year at Oxford and when they tell you it could affect your mobility or life, then you tend to look back at the past, one clear memory i had was about the fishing and the times that went with it, you could not buy the memories that happened and also the enjoyment that i had.

In 1987 i went Mullet fishing at Guernsey and also Sark, i fished with the Mullet club (Dave Rigden) and stayed with the group at Guernsey in a members house(Mick Weysom), he asked me for 1lb of clotted cream for payment for the whole stay. The plane ride from Plymouth was good and we first landed at Jersey to drop a few passengers off, i noticed as i had a window seat that some familiar luggage was being taken off the plane, i asked the stewardess that it could be mine and she said 'dont worry it all looks the same', i was still worried so asked her to get someone to check it, after a bit of a discussion and effort they did check it and found it to be mine after all and it would have taken 3 days to get it back to me, it held all my tackle(except rods) and clothes and of course the clotted cream.

Within an hour of dropping the gear off we were out fishing in 2ft of water, there were plenty of Mullet to 6lbs gliding around but none to be caught, I was worried that i might blank, so we all went off to the pub to talk tactics.

We fished the next day at St Peters port harbour, i have never seen so many Mullet swimming around near the beach and some of them were at least 8lbs, all the members were excited and throughout the day we had Mullet up to 5lbs 7oz, i had only small Mullet up to 2lbs, the biggest were going to the 2 fishermen from Poole who used ultra light tackle and freshwater skills.

Day 3 we fished at Sark, i took the later ferry out because i had a few too many the night before and its strange how even 10lbs Mullet potential dont seem important when you have a hangover. It was a clear and calm day and just great for fishng, the first thing i did when i got there was jump in and have a swim, this sobered me up a bit and proceded to try and find the lads, after about 1/2 hour i gave up and fished in a very good looking spot. I had garfish, mackerel and wrasse on my big rod but no Mullet, so i moved because i wanted to show them that the lad from North Devon knew how to catch Mullet. I fished a succession of marks but still had no Mullet. Eventually i gave up and went back to Guernsey, feeling much better but with no Mullet. I caught up with the group that night and they also had no Mullet all day only Garfish and Mackerel. We decided to fish the Port again and using the Garfish as bait we fished for Bass off the jetty, about an hour into darkness i had a screaming run and struck into a mass of fish, i immediatley thought that i had an enormous Bass on and my heart was pumping, two lads were making there way down the steps to net my Bass, the only trouble was that it was shaking its head and acting strangely like a Conger, i needed no conformation when a 30lb + Conger thrashed around on the surface and was dragged onto the rocks and the line cut and thrown back to the sea. To me it was a big Conger, but Mick says they get them to 40lbs + and what was i going to do with it anyway. He also the year before, caught a Wrasse of around 8lbs and called it a pig fish and by no means the biggest one he had ever caught.

The last day was devoted to sightseeing and with all them big Mullet out there i was not worried because they will still be there when i go next time, the only trouble is there has been no next time,yet!...

Cheers Nigel Parkhouse

Hi Wayne

Any sign of codling up there yet? Have heard a few rumours of small ones from Ilfracombe. We used to start on the old pier at Ilfracombe around mid October, and used to find a lot of fish, mainly due to having good supplies of peeler and lug I think. Be nice to have a trip or 2 up that way if it ever picks up again - used to really enjoy it.

Been catching much? Quiet down here, just a few triggers. Interesting site you might like to look at is www.thecfsa.com, which is the Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers' site. Quite new, so the gallery's not as impressive as yours yet!

Matt

Wayne Thomas

Subject: RE: A bit of advice please?

Hi Wayne,

Many thanks for the tips. Had a look at some pictures of Shipload bay,
it
looks ideal with the large pebbles to the left onto sand with rough
ground.
May give that a go if I'm allowed away from the campsite for an evening!

I quite like the idea of smoothhound as i caught my first one a couple
of
weeks ago. Only about a pound, but still gave me a bit of stick on my
bass
rod.

I will definitely let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

Chris

-

Hi Chris,
        The stretch of coast you are visiting is not local to
me. However I can perhaps give you a few pointers. For ray and bass
after dark try sandy mouth near Bude, fishing the flood tide. I have
heard that Duck Pools is also well worth fishing for bass. If you have
peeler crab then smoothound are being caught in the area with double
figure fish frequently taken. Welcombe beach is a good venue but I have
not fished it myself.
    At Bude the breakwater can yield bass on the fly as the tide
pushes in. Plenty of mullet here as well.
    There are marks in the Hartland area but getting to many of them
is difficult without intimate local knowledge. Shipload bay has a
reputation for ray and the inevitable dogfish. Most marks around
Hartland will produce bass over low water to plugs so try a roving
approach, but be aware of the rising tide. Rapala J13 or storm chug bugs
worth a try.
    Pop into the tackle shop at Westward Ho! Summerlands, they are
generally helpful.
Let me know how you get on.
    Best.
            Wayne Thomas

Hi,

I was trawling through all the info on the net and came upon your site.

I am coming to North Devon next week and was wondering if you could give
me
some advice on the Welcombe-Hartland point stretch of coastline please.

I hope to get a couple of sessions in, one night (hopefully for doggies
and
rays as I have never caught a ray) and one evening/day session for
mackerel/gars and maybe some bass fishing/fly fishing.

could you point me in the direction of a suitable mark for any of these
please, and an idea of tides to fish?

any help would be gratefully received as I haven't been fishing for ages
and
can't wait to get down ther!

Many thanks

Chris Turner

--

Hello

Hi Matt,

Glad you liked the website. Tope from the shore are the ultimate in shore sport but are not an easy target. I feel sure they can be caught from the Cornish shore line with several marks on the North Cornish coast worth a try. I do not know the coastline well but would imagine Trevose head area well worth a try. I know they were landed from this area in the past and have read articles relating to their capture by Mike Millman, Trevor Housby and I believe Bernard Venables.

Regarding baits, flounder is selective and seems to reduce nuisance dogfish and conger. We use fillets of flounder. Using small whole flounder it proves difficult to set the hook. 6/O to 8/0 hooks, wire trace and pulley rig.

I used to fish at Looe as a teenager during the 70’s when I went on family holidays with my parents. The Banjo pier was a favorite mark where I landed numerous mullet with the help of friendly locals who also took me to the limits at the left of Looe beach. Perhaps some of the locals remember? I remember no names but recall going out fishing late at night, we dug sand eels from the river, raced around the streets in what I think was a Mini.

How is the fishing at Looe these days, are the mullet still present?

Our club is considering a trip to Cornwall this summer after Gilthead bream, the Hayle area is supposed to be good. Have you any info?

Regards,

Happy New Year,

Wayne Thomas

Hi Wayne

I live in Looe, but have fished your neck of the woods quite a bit for cod and ray for several years.I used to love Ilfracombe Pier til it was demolished, and have been very impressed with your website. I was reading your bit on tope fishing with interest, as ther has not been a tope landed from the shore in Cornwall for almost 20 years, yet every year more and more are caught from the boats. Some of these are being caught within 500 yards of the shore, and some even closer, within 200 yards. Most are on rocky marks around Padstow. I was interested in the choice if flounder (and I've also heard dabs) as bait - is this due to the beaches you fish on, or do you think this is just the best bait all round? I've had a few in the boat off Bude and Padstow on mackeral but, as a shore angler, am determined to catch one from the shore. How big a bait do you use, whole or sections?

Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Matt Pengelly

Looe S.A.C.