Trip to Ilfracombe

[Dave E (Sea Vixen)]

Decided on Friday night that I would head down to Ilfracombe for a couple of days. Usually wait until May for my first trip West but decided to take advantage of the settled weather.
Had a good run down having left Cardiff on the 9.30 lock Saturday morning using the ebb as far as 'Hangmans' and anchored in about 50 feet of water where we soon started hitting the usual doggies,as the tide eased a little we fished lighter and had a good couple of hours on Pollock 1-4 1b and a few small Ballan Wrasse. Headed in to Ilfracombe and a tour of the pubs (my mate was pleased to be able to smoke inside as the ban has been in place in Wales for a few weeks).
Out again at 8.30am and fished at Woody Bay in flat calm warm conditions. Plenty of doggies and a few conger up to about 25lb. More Pollock than Saturday and bigger Wrasse , probably 20 or so of each species between the two of us. All the Wrasse fell to ragworm and most of the pollock went on rag or squid , the water was a bit murky for drifting with jelly's etc. but that should clear by the end of May when hopefully the big pollock are on the wrecks along with theTope (best last year went over 60lb)
Cheers Dave

[pingu]

sounds a pleasent couple of days and some good fish as well well done

[Twiddler]

Sounds like you had a good session, well done on the fish and the

[keana]

Nice fishing Dave. Sounds like a good trip.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

NIce one mate and thats the way to spend the weekend me thinks

[plugger]

nice one sounds like a good trip. i would be interested to know how big is your boat and how long did it take you to get to ilfracombe, as i have a small boat and would like to venture a bit further afield. well done.


plugger

[Dave E (Sea Vixen)]

Hi Peter
The boat is a Rodman 810 and Ilfracombe is about 2 hrs 30 min at 18 - 20 knts. Had a Hellraiser/HR223 and went regularly as far as Lundy or Hartland in that as well, with a smaller boat it's the usual case of watching the weather and swell forcast but also timing things so you aren't going past headlands when the tide is hammering as it can get a bit iffy.
Ilfracombe is a good safe harbour but in the summer you will probably need a dinghy to get ashore as it can get busy ,the inner harbour does dry out on all tides and the outer dries about half way and has some sort of access all tide.
Another option for a 'test trip' would be Watchet as it's half the distance and has pontoons that don't dry out-access is only 2 hours either side of high water and although the fishing is good ,the water is the same colour as in the top of the channel.

Cheers Dave

[plugger]

hi dave
thanks for the imfo mate, will be looking to go pretty soon when weather and conditions are right, could you stayover night in illfracombe harbour?.

cheers


plugger

[Dave E (Sea Vixen)]

Hi Peter

No problem staying over , for 8 meters it cost about a tenner and you can use showers and clubhouse. If your boat can sit on the sand OK then the visitor moorings in the outer harbour are probably best as you can get on and off them 2 hours either side of low water. If not you can anchor a bit further back or take a chance of tying up against the wall in the inner harbour.
Loads of good pubs as well!

Cheers Dave

[KKYum]

Originally Posted by plugger

nice one sounds like a good trip. i would be interested to know how big is your boat and how long did it take you to get to ilfracombe, as i have a small boat and would like to venture a bit further afield. well done.


plugger

Plugger
I crossed over to Ilfracombe on my own about 5 years ago (gosh, how time flies) in my 17footer (80 on the back) -it took about 3 1/2 hours going over and about 2 coming back (@34 knots ish). Its a lovely trip if the weather is fine - a nightmare if not. I seem to remember its about 44 miles. Looking back at the trip now I would rather put the boat on the trailer and set off from there. I had grand ideas of going to Lundy but actually ended up being stuck in Ilfracombe for about 3 days until the weather came good enough to get back to Cardiff. It is nice down there though. If you leave enough rope to take into account the rise and fall of the tide you can tie up (cheekily) in the inner harbour. The trip is a mission though.
Regards
Kkyum