2024: A year for unusual fish

This year seems to be one of unusual catches, and so it continues. Tony Searle took a trip to the South Hams and fished Slapton Sands armed with Squid for bait.

His reward was an undulate ray of 6lbs 6oz. Although not a huge fish, it is the first that I have heard of being caught from that area. I think that this is maybe proof that conservation works, as just a few years ago all Undulate Rays, no matter where caught, had to be returned to the water.

At the time they were only caught from Swanage to Lyme Regis and now they have spread to Brighton in the east and to the South Hams in the west. I look forward to seeing more caught. Autumn is a fantastic time of the year for Bass and many are being caught all around our coast, whether it is open beaches, rock marks or estuaries.

Many pictures and reports do not reach me because of secrecy surrounding their capture. I do know that Tony White continues to catch good-sized Bass from all areas on lures and Paul Salmon of Honiton SAC has landed a nice fish from an open beach, I would estimate the weight to be somewhere just under 10lbs.

After the recent storms, I tried my hand at squid fishing with a little success but on the same evening, the Brixham SAC duo of Kev Madeley and his nephew Ethan Hammond went out and targeted Conger Eels from shore and, although no monsters were caught, they had steady action with the fish putting a bend in their rods.

Gary Knott visited Slapton for a night session with a couple of mates and using Squid bait found the Smoothhound feeding. They landed fish up to 8lbs 5oz.

Another date for the Flounder fisher’s diary is December 29, when this year’s Mike Johnson Three Rivers Flounder competition will be held. This is kindly sponsored by Brixham Bait and Tackle. Fishing is from midnight until weigh-in at 5.30pm at Paignton Rowers. Entrance fee is £10 and all the entrance fee is paid out in prize money. For more information call Mike on 07703 382284.

Newton FA ‘s latest match was the Wednesday Rover Sweepstake, which was fished on Linhay Lake. The winner was Gary Webber with 6lbs12oz, Shane Harper and James Hamon taking the next two place with weights of 5lbs 8oz and 5lbs 8oz and 1lb 12oz respectively. Pleasure fishing on a 24-hour session at Island Pond, Tim Frost banked a 25lb Common Carp.

All seasoned anglers like to target cod in the winter, although in recent years they have become quite scarce, earning them the nickname of Unicorn. However, this autumn has started very well and they seem to be around in better numbers with many anglers heading to the mighty Chesil Beach in search of this prized fish.

Two anglers making this journey last weekend were the South Devon duo of Tom Stebbens and Phil Mingo. They knew from the very first cast that this was going to be a very good trip with Tom landing a small cod and a Bream before he even had a chance of setting up a second rod.

The evening finished with several small cod landed and Phil taking the honours with a fantastic cod of 11lbs10oz, his first double figure cod after many years of trying and topping the evening with a Red Mullet of 1lb 6oz.

Honiton SAC members also fished chesil in their latest competition with top percentage going to Tom Travers with 435%. Tom also had the best fish of the day, a Pout weighing in at 1lb 10oz. Colin Berry landed a bonus bass of nearly 6lbs. Fish caught on the day also included Black Bream, trigger fish and Pollack.

Congratulations go to Totnes lure angler Tony White who fished the Devon Bass Bash at the weekend and came out on top with a total length for his three fish of 176cm. Chris Hurford of Exmouth SAC has made a good start in their month-long Bass hunt with a fish of 12lbs 9oz.

That one may take a bit of beating.

Newbarn Angling Centre have been giving sone tackle away to young anglers and this week a lad only known as Jack collected his gear and landed a bream from Willow pool, whilst a star in the making, eight year-old Olivia Willsher-Chown fishing with her dad, landed her first Carp. It weighed a credible 11lbs.

Newbarn is open all winter and worth a visit for some good silver fish, including some nice Perch, as well as the Carp that it is mainly known for.

Kennick Flyfishers have now finished their season by taking a trip to Wimbleball Reservoir on Exmoor. Conditions were favourable with light winds and a temperature of 16 degrees.

Twelve anglers caught 25 fish for a total weight of 79lbs 5oz. Peter Brown landed the biggest trout weighing 8lbs1oz with Chris Bolt taking the overall honours on the day with 17lbs 14oz.

The Fish of the month winner for October is Tony Searle for his Undulate Ray of 6lbs 6oz caught at Slapton Sands, a prize pack will be on its way to him shortly. Entries are now being taken for the November competition.

Please email your pictures and catch reports to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com