Rare Bonito caught off Ilfracombe as Devon anglers compete

Over the past few years we have seen an increasing number of warm water fish reaching our shores and taking anglers baits and lures.

We have seen a huge increase in the amount of Blue Fin Tuna, Trigger fish and more recently Comber. Another member of the Tuna family is the Bonito and the latest angler to catch one of these rare fish in British waters is none other than the managing Director Sidewinder Lures and sponsor of our Fish of the Month Competition David Kiddy.

He was fishing out of Ilfracombe aboard Reel Deal charters, skippered by Dan Hawkins using one of his own lures, a Skerries Pro 55g on light gear. What a shame that I can’t award him fish of the month for this fantastic fish. Competitions seem to have taken up a fair bit of anglers time this past week with Friday night seeing the Seaton Carnival open fished from 7 -11pm.

Twenty five anglers fished with Ken Sparks of Honiton SAC triumphant. He recorded two fish, Scad and Garfish to take the £40 First prize.

The previous Saturday saw the Angling Trust Wyvern area junior competition fished at West Bay where 27 fish were caught with West Bays own, Chelsea Pearce taking the honours with a total weight of 352gm.

As well as the prizes on offer, all anglers took home a goody bag of tackle. Thanks go to West Bay SAC for hosting the competition and to West Bay Angling centre and all other sponsors for helping this great competition go ahead.

Brixham SAC held their second Breakwater to Berry Head BBQ match with the winner on this occasion being Paul Flavell with a Ballan Wrasse of 2lbs 3oz. Bass, Pollock, Garfish and Mackerel were also caught.

The Torbay Festival starts this Friday at 7pm with some fantastic prizes on offer, all details are available from their website.

Pleasure anglers have had a good week with plenty of fish around to be caught. The best of them this week are Russel Coopers new personal best shore caught Conger eel of 18lbs 13oz and Aaron Colhoun an experienced angler who landed his first ever Thick Lipped Mullet weighing in at 4lbs 6oz.

Craig Gilkes fished a session at Newbarn Angling Centre and landed a fantastic eleven Carp. The biggest of these weighed 23lbs 5oz.

All were caught on the Newbarn tiger Nut Boillies with the paste and dips as an added attractant. Newbarn Farm angling centre are also one of the sponsors in our Fish of the Month Competition where you could win two-day tickets for this lovely little water.

Please email your pictures and catch reports to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com. This months competition is still wide open.