An early contender for the fish of the month competition this month comes in the surprise form of Santa Claus with a fine Thornback ray caught in the Honiton SAC Christmas shore competition fished on Seaton beach.
There was a good turnout for this fun competition with 25 anglers battling it out for the various hampers on offer and the bottle of whisky for the best decorated bivvy. The winner of the Chris Chappel memorial cup, the main prize of the day was Lee Fearnley with nick Fox winning the whisky. Fish caught on the day included Rays, Cod, Mackerel and Garfish.
Cormorant SAC also held a Christmas club competition, theirs was on Exmouth Beach where 15 Flounders, one Cod and One Coalfish were landed, all in daylight. Flounders are expected to dominate catches this time of year and there are some nice fish showing on our beaches and in our estuaries.
Paul Gordon has been finding them up to 2lbs 8oz from the Plym, whilst Daniel Patrick continues to catch them to a similar size from Kingsbridge. Alex Webb from Exmouth SAC is still catching them from the Exe using a 1 up 1 down rig baited with Ragworm.
Cod have been caught in better numbers this than in the last few years with the Bristol Channel and Chesil beach being the favoured spots. Ross Stewart landed one from the Bristol Channel shore. They have also turned up in a few different spots recently with fish showing at Exmouth and even one to the rod of Gary Knott at East Portlemouth.
Rays are also still being targeted with Chris Wagstaff finding them to the East of our region whilst Aaron Colhoun landed a 9lbs Thornback from the Bristol Channel. Some decent sized Bass are still showing, and of course they must be returned, Tony White found one of 6 ½ lbs this week.
With the weather being unkind boats have mostly remained tied up but I must mention Stewart Pike skipper of Orca based on Beer beach who, when conditions, have allowed has successfully been out on several Squid fishing trips. He found them up to 31/2 lbs this year with many anglers landing their first of the species. He is running more trips next year, so if you fancy something a bit different then this may be for you.
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