17/09/2025 - Need to get my mojo working!

Suffice to say that I have had little or no enthusiasm to go fishing recently. Work has been particularly shite and has been sapping my energy, whilst life in general seems to be stuck in fast forward and I just seem to be hurtling from one day to the next. However, the first of two annual trips with friends down to North Devon offered some respite and a chance to break the cycle. 

The drive down on Friday was thankfully smooth and interrupted - an increasingly rare event on our over-crowded motorway network - and we were all safely installed in the bungalow by mid-afternoon. Rest of the day was spent catching up and celebrating my friend Craig's birthday with a home-made, three course, Italian meal washed down with plenty of beer and red wine. Was still feeling the effects when I snuck off early the following morning at first light and headed the short distance up to Ilfracombe for a couple of hours with the LRF gear. Pulled into the carpark overlooking the pier as the sun was coming up over the far headland and lighting up Verity. Could see that there was an angler already on the lower deck, so got my stuff out the boot and wandered down for a chat. 

Turned out he was targeting wrasse, fishing a whole, cooked prawn on a Texas rig straight down the side. Dropped in a bit further along and was amazed by the clarity of the water, probably the clearest I'd ever seen it. Got tackled up, baited up my mini two-hook flapper with bits of salted ragworm and dropped it down to the bottom. Had to wait a bit before I started to get some interest, however, my first positive bite resulted in a small, long-spined sea scorpion. Had a much larger one a few minutes later, but it was soon obvious that it was going to be slow going, unlike in October when it had been a fish a cast. There was decent swell pushing into the bay and as the tide came in it wasn't long before the waves started breaching the lower deck, pushing both of us up onto the steps and up onto the top level. 

My fellow angler left at this stage to try the rock ledges on the other side of the car park, whilst I dropped my rig down into my "pouting hole". Got a rattle on the rod tip straight away, but it wasn't a pouting but a poor cod that had snaffled the bait. Had another one soon after, followed by a tiny tompot blenny. Moved into the next "bay" between the pilings and had a pollack almost immediately. However, after no further interest I was soon back in the pouting hole. 

However, again it was a different species - a female corkwing wrasse - that took the ragworm on the bottom hook. My companion from earlier returned at this point and showed me a picture of a nice, orange ballan wrasse of about 3lb that he'd caught before being pushed off the rocks by the incoming tide. Had another corkwing whilst we continued to chat and look at some more photos of his previous captures but, despite the sun, the wind had really started to cut through me (it had only been 4 degrees Centigrade when I'd left the bugalow earlier!) so when my new friend headed off I decided to do the same. Have found that this time of year can be very hit and miss, having blanked completely on occasion.

Was therefore pleased to have had a few fish, not least so I had something to report upon my return to the bungalow. Hopefully on the bass next.

21/04/2025 - Treading water

Been in the doldrums ever since the river season finished. However, the Easter holidays gave me a chance to snap out of it, firstly with a trip to Exmouth for my godson's 18th birthday celebrations. Included in a packed agenda drawn up by his mum was a trip down to the marina with the LRF gear. 

Unfortunately, I had returned from Lanzarote in January having broken both tips of my much loved and abused Rock Rover - a combination of clumsiness and the unforgiving landscape! Contacted Tronix to find that they no longer carried spares, so I set about repairing them instead. The tubular tip was straightforward - a clean break that just required a spigot cut from the tip of an old float rod glueing between the two pieces and a bit of sanding and varnishing to finish. The solid tip had to be cut down to the tubular section so I could insert a Drennan quiver tip that I'd laboriously sanded down to fit. Fixed the eyes back on with shrink tube rather than trying to whip them on, then painted and varnished the whole thing. 

Was pleased with the end result - looked quite professional compared to my usual cack-handed efforts. However, the quiver tip I'd used was quite a bit softer than the original, so I was keen to see if this had made much difference to the action of the rod. After brunch we headed down to the esplanade and walked along the beach to the marina. The water that was flying out of the estuary was gin clear, but by the time we'd got to the slipway the flow had eased up and the water had taken on a distinctly muddy tinge. Set up a dropshot rig with a Decoy SG-3 baited with a small section of Gulp! isome. Started off by dropping this into any gaps between the rocks of the breakwater and into the pockets behind the pilings. 

Had a female corkwing, followed by a long-spined sea scorpion and a few shannies, some of which were full to bursting with spawn, before going to join the others on the slipway itself. They were amusing themselves by sight-fishing for shannies with lumps of prawn but after a bit I suggested we move and fish off the corner of the carpark, a spot that is usually full of tompots, wrasse and pollack. However, whether it was due to the clarity of the water or the level of the tide, we couldn't buy a bite between us. Tried one more spot, by which time the wind had started to pick up, but again failed to pick anything else up so headed back home. From Exmouth we headed across to Pembrokeshire to the in-laws for a few days. 

I had planned to do a bit of everything while I was there and had even dug out my fly-fishing gear. However, the weather had other ideas and it blew a gale and pissed down from Monday through to Wednesday, causing muddy water to pour off the fields and roads into the local rivers with the inevitable consequences and knocking any ideas of trout fishing on the head. Thursday in complete contrast was dry and sunny, although it was distinctly chilly when I headed off bright and early to Milford Haven for high tide. Got there to find that the water in the marina was the colour of coffee grounds and I could see that the lock gates were open onto the estuary, so feared the worst. However, just around the corner the clarity was thankfully much better. 

Had been and got some rag from County Sports in Haverfordwest the day before and it was small sections of this that I used on my mini-two hook flapper rig off the end of the pier. Didn't take long to start getting fast, pecking bites and I was soon busy wading through hordes of little corkwing wrasse, with a few miniature ballans and shannies thown in. The haven was equally busy with vessels, including the fire-fighting tug testing its jets, and at one stage the inshore lifeboat arrived to assist a small boat that was having engine difficulties. As the tide turned it started pulling a plume of dirty water out of the marina and past the end of the pier, so I decided to pack up and head home to make the best of the rest of the day, having had a total of thirty fish.

The forecast had indicated another, albeit brief, weather window the following morning. However, woke up to the rain hitting the bedroom window, so that was the end of that. Oh well, we're back in May. I'll see if I can be bothered to do something else in the interim!

01/08/2022 - Some Pembrokeshire rarities

Returned to Milford yesterday morning with bass as the target. Had witnessed a chap catch a couple off the end of the pier last summer on a big, ebbing tide and was hoping to replicate his success. 

Weather again was grim, with more "wet wind" and poor visibility up and down the haven. The rag that I'd bought the day before, whilst kept in the fridge overnight, had already started to go off a bit (the difference between dug and farmed rag it seems), so I sorted all the manky bits out and used them on the light rod to keep myself amused over slack water. Again corkwings were in abundance and I quickly had about a dozen of them -  mostly tiny but with one better male making an appearance. 

An equal number of shannies and a few pollack and small ballans were also added to the tally before it was time to get the bass rod out. The frozen peelers I'd bought turned out to be pretty small, so I elasticated a couple onto size 2/0 before lobbing them out into the now outgoing tide on a simple running leger. Wound in half an hour later to check the bait to find it had been completely stripped, so re-baited and sent it out once again. Repeated the process again 15 minutes later but, apart from the crab activity and one proper pull down that didn't amount to anything, it was pretty quiet and I packed up bass-less. Grabbed a coffee and a bacon bap (no ketchup issues this time) again on the way home, stopping off at Milford waterfront where I found that one of my favourite fishing spots, the "bullnose", was now inaccessible. 

Since my last visit the harbour authority had installed a hydrogen vehicle charging point for a leaseable car that looked like something out of the Jetsons - that's progress! Therefore changed tack this morning and headed for Hobbs Point instead to try for a decent wrasse. With the large tides I knew I'd only get a small window of opportunity at this spot, so got there well before slack water. In fact I was so early that the incoming tide was still ripping along the wall when I arrived, so I adjourned to the local Lidl for a couple of their delicious Portugese custard tarts (they're only small!). While I was there I bumped into David Miller, who will be known to most of you as the artist responsible for the fish pictures on our rod licences.

However, he also takes some amazing underwater photography around the Pembrokeshire coast with subjects including puffins, bass and blue shark. For his website see here and Facebook page here. Headed back to Hobbs after a quick chat and set up a simple flapper rig with two size 2 Aberdeens, each baited with half a peeler - what could resist? Dropped it straight down the wall so they would waft about amongst the kelp. As yesterday, I also popped out the light rod baited up with more scraps of rag. The fish were straight onto this, more specifically the rock gobies in all sizes and colour variations. Therefore thought it was going to be the usual goby-fest, but had a couple of nice surprises in the shape of a tompot blenny and then a long-spined sea scorpion, both quite rare in these parts (well, for me anyway). 

The other rod had been very quiet when all of a sudden I spotted the tip jag down and the butt fly up. A short scrap resulted in very pale ballan wrasse - not massive, but bigger than anything I'd caught so far this weekend. Popped him back without any issue (they can be a bit flaky if you bring them up too quick here because of the depth), re-baited and dropped the rig down the wall again. 

Carried on catching gobies, interspersed with a few pollack that were intercepting the bait on the way down. Whilst the other rod did eventually rattle off again, it was a much smaller ballan this time. The ebbing tide had now started to rip and boil along the wall, so decided to call it a day at that, donating my few bits of left-over rag to a dad and his lad fishing on the other side of the ramp. Hopefully we'll be back for a longer stretch at the end of August when I'll be looking to get some serious bass and wrasse fishing done.

15/09/19 - Bagging up down Devon way

Time flies. Didn't seem like five minutes ago when were picking the boy up from Uni for the summer when, all of a sudden, it was time to take him back again. Friday afternoon saw us travelling fully laden down to M5 to stop off at our friends in Exmouth but, as usual, a spot was found in the car for the LRF gear. Unfortunately, an hour's crawl past Bristol put paid to a potential evening session, instead plans were made to hit high tide early next morning. 

There was a bit of a nip in the air as Simon and I walked down to the docks, but it was bright and sunny and we were soon greeted by a fantastic panoramic view across the estuary. The water was clear and we could see a big shoal of small fish in our first spot at the "compass". We both expectantly set up scaled down paternoster rigs with size 10 Sabpolo wormer hooks baited with artificials, Simon going for "Gulp" angleworm and me for small sections of sandworm. I won the race to get the first fish, a pollack, on the scoreboard. However, it soon became evident that there were a lot of these about - the baits were getting hit before they'd even hit bottom and fish were coming up two at a time! At one stage it was difficult to see anything else getting a look in, but I eventually managed to break the monotony with a small ballan and a couple of sand smelts, my first of this species this year.

After about half an hour of non-stop action we were ready for a change. The incoming tide had now slackened off, so we headed for the dock wall. Found Greg of East Devon Fishing just setting up, so had a quick chat. I was interested to learn that he was actually targeting bream with frozen black lug tipped off with squid. Filed that away for future reference before dropping down the side a little further down the dock. Again, the pollack were there in numbers, but amongst the ravenous hordes we managed to find a few different species, including a couple of corkwing wrasse, and a fat tompot. 

Simon also managed a small pouting, a rare catch from the venue according to Greg. As the ebb tide started ripping through along the dock wall we left Greg and headed to the boat ramp. First drop down next to the sheet piling I had a thumping take from another small ballan. Second drop, same again, but instead of the expected wrasse I found a brace of tompots on the end! At this point Simon asked me if I was there any point in carrying on as I was unlikely to top that. Not one to ignore a challenge I re-baited and dropped down the side of the ramp one more time. A few seconds later the rod tip rattled and I was pleased to find a long-spined sea scorpion on the end. 

After dancing around like a pair of big kids in celebration, which must have bemised Greg still on the dock, we agreed that was the perfect moment on which to finish and headed back home for breakfast. Finished with 34 pollack, 3 tompots, 2 corkwings, 2 ballans, 2 sand smelt and 1 scorpion.

Went back the following morning for a session before rugby training, this time dragging Simon's lad Daniel out with us. Some resistance on Dan's part to leave his bed on a Sunday morning meant we headed straight for the dock wall to catch the short window of slack water. Needless to say, the pollack were there in numbers and were all over the baits right from the start. In the clear water, small groups of fish could be seen following their hooked brethren right up to the surface before diving back into the depths. However, I again managed to whittle out a couple of ballans and tompots. 

As the tide turned floating weed became a nuisance, so we watched some huge, barrel jellyfish and the odd mullet drifting back out to sea on the ebb, before seeking out some more sheltered water. There was a chap thrashing the water to foam with a lure with little apparent success on the ramp, so we had a look around the rocks at the end of the dock wall instead. Along with a couple of inevitable pollack, it seemed we dropped into right tompot "hole", as we managed 8 between us in quick succession from the same small area. Inevitably it was time for Simon and Dan to head off to rugby, so we said our reluctant goodbyes. Ended up with 32 pollack, 2 ballans and 9 tompots.

Once again, Exmouth delivered goods. Roll on October when we'll be back again!

01/06/2019 - Another LRF round up

May is the time that the bass and the LRF gear gets a dust off as the sea starts to warm up and more opportunities to visit the coast arise. It is also the time that we get the dreaded "May bloom" or "May water", that can knock the fishing back for a few weeks. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so it's a question of getting out there and hoping for the best. First opportunity was the lads' annual weekend trip down to Saunton.

Unfortunately, we rather overdid it with the drinking on the Friday night, so a trip out on Saturday morning didn't happen! However, Sunday morning saw me heading out bright and early to Ilfracombe for low tide. Fished around the pilings of the lower deck of the pier for a couple of hours, but really struggled to attract anything and I was beginning to wonder if there was anything about. It was also very cold due to brisk breeze coming off the sea and I had to go back to the car for another coat and a beanie! 

After a bit more scratching about I finally ended up with a couple of nice long-spined sea scorpions (always happy to catch a scorpion!) before bidding Verity goodbye.

First weekend of the May half-term we headed down to Pembrokeshire to see the wife's parents before they headed off to France for a month (lucky them!). I was hoping for my first lure-caught bass of the year, but when I headed off to the estuary for low tide at first light on the Sunday morning the conditions were frankly awful. It was difficult to see where the sky stopped and the water started due to the persistent rain and there was quite a chop on due to a strong breeze blowing straight up the channel, which in turn was churning up the margins and turning them the colour of tea. I probably lasted about half an hour before I realised the futility of my actions and headed home wet and cold!

Next day it was still windy, but dry and sunny, so I made the trip down to Hobbs Point with the LRF gear. Made my way down to the bottom of the car ramp and dropped my isome-baited rig down the side of the wall. Didn't have to wait long before I started getting those familiar knocks on the rod tip before hooking into one of the culprits. Yep, my old friend the rock goby!

 

Once again it appeared that the bottom was carpeted in them and after about two dozen of the flippin' things I was ready to go home. I was just about to return my last fish when I realised that it was actually a different species, albeit a black goby. The only other excitement was when a Chinese family fishing off the top of the ramp managed to catch a dogfish, which was efficiently dispatched and consigned to a carrier bag, no doubt for consumption later.

For the actual May Bank Holiday we travelled down to Exmouth again to pick the boy up from University (where did his first year go?). I was keen to try and improve on my recent results, so planned a "double header" on the Saturday, aiming to hit high tide at the marina first thing in the morning and again in the evening. Starting at the "compass" the idea was to stop off at a number of different spots as the tide dropped. However, despite catching a couple of ballans out of the "wrasse hole" my friend Simon and I discovered last trip down, I again struggled to catch. The main issue was the amount of suspended weed, which made fishing metals and plastics for the pollack off the boat ramp almost impossible as it was constantly fouling the line.

 

In the end I kept myself amused by catching a seemingly endless stream of shannies out of some ridiculously small gaps in the sea defences! Later that day I headed straight for the wrasse hole. In contrast to the morning, the fish were definitely switched on. I made the most of the small window before the tide started to rip by again catching several sizeable ballans, but getting smashed twice in the process by something far too big for my LRF gear to cope with.

 

I also added a tompot, a pollack and Mr & Mrs Corkwing, the male probably being the biggest and most intensely coloured example I've caught to date. As the rip built up it made my little spot unfishable with my light gear, so I headed back to the house, pausing briefly to watch some huge barrel jellyfish whizzing past on the tide.

 

In the end marvellous Exmouth produced the goods yet again, so it was with great reluctance that we headed back up the M5 the following day. Oh well, not long now until the rivers are open again!

24/09/17 - An LRF mixed bag

A two week holiday in Tuscany with friends just 20 kilometres from the coast seemed an ideal opportunity to add a few more exotic species to the list, so when one of them said they would be driving down in their van and would they like us to take anything the deal was sealed. 

Cecina was our nearest town and a quick look on Google Maps confirmed a few interesting features such as a number of breakwaters, a river mouth and a large marina. The latter seemed the most attractive option. However, a quick recce one morning found all of it to be out of bounds for fishing apart from on the outside of the breakwater protecting the marina entrance.

Even so, it looked pretty fishy with large boulders giving way to sand further out. A couple of locals were float fishing off the end with bolognese-style rods and there were some shoals of small fish and the odd mullet knocking around, so we made plans to return with the LRF gear. Unfortunately, when we did so we found it hard going to the extreme. Dropshotting angleworm off the end and between the rocks attracted tiny saddled bream and a few gobies or blennies that just pecked at the bait. 


Casting further out onto the sand resulted in a couple of rattles and the baits bitten in half before I hooked a tiny striped red mullet, which was at least a new species for me. A switch to small metals again only resulted in one, half-hearted snatch on the drop. Don't know whether it was the temperature, time of day or the fact that the area had been hammered. However, we gave it another go a couple of days later and blanked completely! All in all, very disappointing.

By complete contrast, when we got back to the UK we made arrangements to go and pick up the stuff our friends in Exmouth had kindly dragged halfway across Europe. Again, not to waste an opportunity, arrangements were made for the lads & dads to head down to the "docks" (a bit of a grand description!) for some species hunting. Saturday evening saw us head down to the area around the new launching ramp for a couple of hours before dark.

It was windy and pretty choppy and the floating weed was a pain. However, fishing around the boulders the boys soon started catching lots of small pollack and ballan wrasse and the odd shanny on bits of ragworm on scaled down paternoster rigs. This kept me busy unhooking and re-baiting hooks, so it was a while before I managed to wet a line myself. Dropping down the side of the ramp I had a tompot blenny and was then busted off twice by something big before landing my first corkwing wrasse of the year.

Fished on for a bit longer, catching more pollack and wrasse, but the failing light and weather conditions were making things tricky. Packed up and headed home, but not before witnessing four drunken blokes drop their speedboat off the trailer and send it skidding backwards down the launching ramp. Don't know what they were doing launching at that time of night and in such poor conditions anyway, but it was lucky nobody was stood behind it at the time. Left them assessing the damage to their outboard and working out how to get it back on the trailer!

Next morning we were back nice and early to catch high tide. However, there was a strong current rushing past the launching ramp that was causing some fierce back eddies, so we headed for our other spot near the "compass" where we knew there'd be some quieter water.

On arrival we found that there was a big shoal of sandeels in front of us and in the bay to our left. These were attracting attention from the terns, who were dive-bombing them from above, and then occasionally they would scatter on the surface as they were targeted by something from below. It wasn't a surprise that, with all this food about, the pollack were present in numbers and they were quick to attack our baits, followed by wrasse and a schoolie bass that was followed up to the surface by his mates.

As slack water approached and the eddies disappeared the shannies started to appear from their cracks and crevices, along with a very angry little long-spined sea scorpion. Fishing closer to the structure at the entrance to the marina I had three larger ballan wrasse in a row that really tested the LRF gear as they battled to get back into their boltholes between the pilings.

The biggest surprise was yet to come. As things slowed down I tried a cast onto the sand beyond the rocks and had a rattle on the rod tip straight away. As I wound in the resulting fish I what it was straight away - my first common dragonet. Not a flamboyant male unfortunately, but another addition to the species list.

Carried on for a bit longer, but then was distracted by some large, grey shapes in the water below us, which turned out to be a couple of mullet in the 5-6lb range. Watched them as they turned on their sides to graze on the algae growing on the wooden pilings before they disappeared again. Took that as a good moment to bring a cracking session to an end. Hurrah for Exmouth!