Tales of the Tamar by Tom Worthy of Plymouth Angling
Plymouth Anglers have been all over the West Country this month catching some cracking fish from both north and south coasts. Boat fishing has seen some nice plump Cod come to the side of the boats along with the Ling, Pollock on the other hand are plentiful around the 5lb mark but very few double figure fish have been caught. The sun has also been a bonus but the expected big shoals of mackerel inshore have been far and few between. Some marks have proved better than others for the summer species, Berry Head has seen more mackerel than most and a lot of smaller Pollock and big Ballan Wrasse are being landed from local rock marks.
Around the Marks
Halton Quay and Lop well Dam, loads of small Bass are being caught and returned from these marks on Lugworm, not many over 4lb are being landed.
Mountbatten Pier, one of Plymouths easily accessible and popular marks is seeing a lot of small Pollock / Bass and some decent size Wrasse to floated sand eel and Ragworm baits.
A happy Owen Basset age 16 with his float caught 4lb Bass from Mountbatten Pier
To be truthful most of the marks in the river and the sound are producing at the moment, although not a lot of big stuff there’s been a lot of sport available. You never know there is always a big fish going to show up somewhere as I’ve just heard of a big John Dory has been landed from Elphinstone Car Park.
The cliffs and the rock marks are throwing up some nice big Ballans at the moment; Tina Rimmer has caught and released the biggest I’ve heard so far this month from a rock mark in the Sound a whopping 8lb fish. There have been also many around the 6lb landed, on a nice warm sunny day junior angler Ed Bennett proudly shows off his 4lb Ballan wrasse totally embarrassing his dad and granddad in the process.
In the rivers and the Estuaries we have a load of Mullet and Gilthead bream, most of the mullet are being caught using a float of ledgering method with bread as bait, another concept taking the stage at the moment is fly fishing for the mullet using a bread imitation. St Budeaux angler Lee Jelf with one of his many caught river Mullet.
Manadon junior angler Charlie Gray with his 3lb Gilthead bream which was the biggest of four he caught during that session.
As mentioned earlier a lot of Plymouth anglers are trekking off to the north coast and the Bristol channel to target the big fish available which we don’t readily see much of in Plymouth, Tope, Smoothhounds and small eyed ray. Rob Yorke, (Legend) is one of those anglers and here he is with a pair of double figure fish caught on one of his recent forays to distant shores. Notice the gently sloping grass verge in the back ground.
Plymouth and District Shore League www.plymouthshoreleague.co.uk
With a marked improvement in the weather over heat two of the 2010 shore league, saw 16 specimen rated fish pass through the weighing officers hands. Craig Pope was the captor of a tasty looking sole of 3-2-8 putting Craig in an early lead for the events best specimen trophy on 180.35%. Best of the rest was Mark Ash with a Huss of 12-15-8 followed by Rob Yorke with a small eyed of 10-1-0. Kingfishers Ray Dower took the best Mullett of the weekend with a 4-4-8, best Gar which appear to be a little late this year was Terry Carters 1-4-8. Bass are always good to see at the weigh in and Raiders Lee Vosper took the biggest of the heat with a fish of 6-5-8.
After two heats now division 1 leaders Stonehouse (52) narrowly lead Roving rods B (49), with Raiders 3rd on (47) and Roving rods A in 4th with (44).
Division 2 leaders Stonehouse (40) lead Seafarers (36) with Rodbenders rebels in 3rd on (20)
Top 3 fish this heat were:
C Pope Roving Rods A Sole 3-2-8 (180.35)
M Ash Marl / Pot Black B Huss 12-15-8 (144.09)
R Yorke Rodbenders S/Eyed 10-1-0 (125.78)
Next Match Date: July 24th – 25th 2010
Boat Scene
Eva Rowe from Crownhill had a great first day out boat angling recently on Ian Holmans charter boat “ Bounty” Not only did she catch this nice Cod of 18lb, she also bagged amongst her catch a Ling of 15lb and a Conger of 50lb.
There are also some nice size whiting around east of the stone, on the West Rutts and as far inshore as the halfway wreck. Steve Webber had a nice one over 3lb on my boat Juno on one of the inshore wrecks.
Plymouth Angling held an impromptu inshore boat comp last week end for about half a dozen local boat skippers, the target was Ballan Wrasse and the outer limits suited the smaller boats so inside of Rame head was the fishing area. Although many fish were caught only a couple were brought to the scales, the biggest was 4lb 7oz caught by Martin Neal and the eventual comp winner. Next month it is intended to hold a Conger team event, further information from within the store.
Finally, i have stumbled upon a gem for those that have not already found this south west diamond. SWSF is a forum of anglers that are friendly and helpful in more ways than one, organised meets in the south west on a regular basis for both shore and boat anglers, informative and funny with most sharing everything helpful they can in a genuine way to assist fellow anglers. There is no hard selling or forum posters selling their wares, just a honest bunch of anglers from the south west having fun. Have a look if you’re not already a member you may be pleasantly surprised. www.southwestfishing.co.uk
Until Next month
Regards
Tom
