Salcombe 24th & 25th Aug

[bulletproof]

Experimented with feathers, lures and spinners of Hope Cove nr Salcombe.

Not a sausage and managed to lose my feather which was my own stupid fault as you could see it was weedy.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

unlucky

[pingu]

unlucky, i never do good at salcome

[Platitudinus]

Hi guys;
I saw this post and couldn't belive the post 'I never do well at Salcombe'.
I now live in Australia but return to the UK each year and go back to Salcombe where I have fished almost every year for the last 45 years. IMO Salcombe has always been a 'boat fishing' mecca rather than a shore based fishing venue.
Up until the mid 1980's it was amazingly easy to 'whiff sandeels' for bass at sunrise and sunset in the Estuary. We caught plaice up to 5lbs off the 'bar house' about 100 to 150 yards out. And the edges of the channels around the old lifeboat mooring abounded with flounders, thornback and plaice. Even round in the 'bag' you stood a good chance of a thornback during the day or a conger at night. Wrasse were ever present at the mewstone and small pollack were around all the rocks off South Sands. Slow trolling resulted in heaps of mackeral and garfish. Trolling out past the mewstone saw good pollock caught and conger only a half mile offshore.

In more recent years the estuary has still fished well on occassions but the need for finesse with very light lines (4-6lb) and 1/0 or 2/0 hooks is apparent. Dont expect to catch during the day in the estuary other than sunrise and sunset. I still do fairly well but it is much harder than it used to be.

Have other ex patriots experienced a similar scenario? We are lucky in Australia that we can still catch loads of good sized fish right up to our 'bag limits', but the greenies are trying to tie up more marine reserves and stop our 'Australian way of life' i.e. a right to fish!

I still enjoy coming back to the UK and fishing but seeing the comments on Salcombe are not unexpected but certainly not good reading.
Cheers
Plato