July 2004

Saturday 31st July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Princess Pier
I went float fishing between 1pm and 4.30pm today (Saturday). Caught 6 mackerel, 2 Garfish and 4 Pollock. For pretty much the first time in July we didn't have a strong, easterly wind and the sun was out. It made all the difference.

I was constantly watching the people either side of me feathering and they didn't catch a thing. If you want Mackerel don't feather because all this year I've been watching float fisherman catching mackerel on a 5 to 1 ratio.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Friday 30th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Princess Pier
Went fishing at high tide yesterday between 5pm and 8pm. Not a single bite and I only saw one other person catch anything (smallest mackerel you've ever seen). Strong Easterly wind blowing that day.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Wednesday 28th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Princess Pier
Tuesday during the day was very quiet... I mean deadly. I had zero bites from 5pm to 8pm and only with the onset of dusk did things start to improve. I asked others that had been there all day and they all said the same thing; very quiet. 8pm to 10pm and things came to life. Ended up with 4 Mackerel, 6 Pollock and 2 Scad.

Meadfoot Beach
Went fishing Monday all day and evening. During the day produced only 1 Pollock and the evening a few Pollock and a Scad. We were located at the end of the beach (over the cliff and then the furthest point).

Dolphins are being sighted in the bay as well as a seal.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Monday 26th July - Tide Times updated for Torbay
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

The tide times for this weekend in Torbay have been updated.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Sunday 25th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Went down to Princess Pier today between 9.30am and 11am.

Very, very strong Easterly wind dropping the temperature by I reckon at least 10 degrees. Because of the strong Easterly wind no-one was catching a thing. If you're planning to head out this afternoon you'd be advised to take plenty of clothing as it can get very cold in the wind (feeling more like February than July)

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Saturday 24th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Went down to Princess Pier Friday afternoon with a newbie I'm giving guidance too. Got there at 4pm which was low tide. As soon as we cast out we both pulled in a mackerel. We thought it could be a good evening but apart from a few small bites that was all we caught. Speaking to others down there and they all said the same thing. Long periods of time between a catch. We stopped at 7pm.

Fishing at dusk/night is still producing dogfish, pollock and some bass.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Wednesday 21st July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Five of us went down Princess Pier last night between 4pm and 11.30pm on Tuesday. No-one caught anything for the first 4 hours. We were all at various depths including a spare rod on the bottom. It was the quietest I've seen the pier in days. The wind was blowing off the sea and was very strong (gale force on the end of the pier). I'm glad I always take my winter clothing with me because we needed it. Freezing cold, soaking wet and blowing a gale. It was a rough night and so rough we had to shout to the person next to us to get heard. Isn't this meant to be the summer now?

The few fish we did catch on floats were a couple of scad and a couple of mackerel. All at unusual depths (3 to 6 foot).

Once it got dark we all fished the bottom and we caught half a dozen dog fish, a few pollock, couple of scad and 3 spider crabs.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Monday 19th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

The tide times for this coming weekend in Torbay has been updated.

I went for a spot of float fishing on Princess Pier, Torquay on Sunday afternoon between 11am and 3pm. I caught 4 mackerel which were all close to the 1lb mark and also one garfish (grrrr). This was fishing on low tide. A seal appeared at 2.30pm and drove away most of the fish. This seal was huge; much bigger than the 2 seals I saw during April, May and June.

While I was there I saw one mackerel being caught on the bottom and no-one on feathers catching anything.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Sunday 18th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

I went for a spot of night fishing on Princess Pier Saturday night to see what was about. Between 9.30pm and 12.30am I caught 3 nice sized dog fish and 2 pollock. I was using this rig to catch them. The float fisherman were leaving as I arrived and they all said that catches were few and far between that evening.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Saturday 17th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

How to set up Fishing Rigs has just been added to this site.

Plenty of fish along Princess pier in Torquay during Friday afternoon and evening. Total catches were: 7 mackerel, 4 Scad, 2 Pollock. Float fishing from an 8 to 20 foot depth. As I've seen all this year float fisherman were hauling in the mackerel and hardly anyone on feathers were catching them. Very strange year this year.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Friday 16th July - Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

I think most places were pretty quiet yesterday due to the direction of the wind. Hardly anything was being caught anywhere.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Wednesday 14th July - Princess Pier, Torquay update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

I headed down to Princess Pier Tuesday afternoon and first off tried some float fishing. By 9.30pm a friend had joined me and we had a few mackerel and a pollock. As it got dark we switched to bottom fishing which produced a pollock and a dogfish. The float started at 8 foot deep and by 9.30pm was at a depth of 15 foot. Photos of night added to photo gallery.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Tuesday 13th July - Reader Update for Fishcombe Cove
By Alan Bradley

Went fishing off rocks by Fishcoombe cove.Lots of Wrasse bites but for some reason i also caught 5 weaver fish. Just letting you youngsters know to watch out for them as they sting!! {admin note: click here to find out what they look like and how to treat the sting from weavers }

Torquay Fishing Update
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

Went fishing off the ramp on Meadfoot Beach for a while yesterday (Monday 12th July between 5pm and 6pm) on both float and bottom but caught nothing and didn't get a bite. I then headed off to Princess Pier (6pm to 9pm) and tried float fishing and feathering. I caught 5 mackerel and a nice pollock on the float but nothing on the feathers. For a change I reduced the length of the float to around 6 foot and I was catching quite a lot. The people either side of me were catching nothing and they were fishing at a depth of 12ft.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

Monday 12th July - Some updates for you..
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

The Torbay tide times for this coming weekend have been updated.

I was down Babbacombe pier yesterday (Sunday the 11th July) and was using two rods. One for the bottom and one for floating. I was using ragworm as bait. I was near the start of the pier casting out into the rocks and it was producing some very good results. On the float I caught a variety of nice sized fish including pollock and wrasse. On the bottom I had a number of very strong tugs but was unable to bring anything in. The people fishing from the end of the pier were catching quite a number of mackerel and one of the mackerel was at least 1 1/2 pound in weight. Towards 6pm I managed to fish at the end and I caught a few mackerel but nothing was biting on the bottom.

Sea news

Six men were rescued when their 44ft Yacht broke down near Berry Head just before the weekend. The boat "Shockwave" was towed safely back to Brixham Marina for repairs.

HMS Bulwark, the Royal Navy's newest warship is due to arrive today in Plymouth.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

11th July - Princess Pier, Torquay - Fishing Update
By Simon Baker from Plymouth

Spent 3 hours {Admin added: Sat 10th July) fishing on princess pier(float) caught 3 mackerel about 1lb, not as many annoying bites from small bream
and pollack but i'm sure they will be back once the water clears up after fridays stormy weather.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

9th July - This new website launched (was part of simonday.com)
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

There has been quite a bit of updating as well as the new look:

- The fishing guides for Princess pier, Babbacombe pier, Hopes Nose and Meadfoot Beach have been updated and new photos added.

- Some more events have been added to the Events in Torbay for 2004 page.

I hope you like the new look. I'm trying to make the site easier to get around and cramming lots of different topics into one
design and page was causing too much confusion.

8th July - New fishing report for Brixham Breakwater
By Alan Bradley

There are a lots of wrasse bites of the end of the breakwater using lugworms.There are a lots of bites from pollack on the
middle of the breakwater using small slices of mackerel! good fun though weathers bad!

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!

5th July - Tide Times Updated
By Simon Day (simonday.com)

The tide times for Torbay this weekend have been updated.

- A report from Ray to let me know that there are plenty of Sea Bass being caught in Sidmouth at the moment.

- An unusual place for catching Mackerel has come to light. Goodrington Beach in Paignton is pulling in more mackerel than people know what to do with.

- Princess Pier in Torquay is bringing in plenty of mackerel but the vast majority is being caught by float fishing and not feathering.
I can also confirm this as I was down there yesterday and I saw a lot being caught on floats but none of the five I saw fishing with feathers caught anything.

- Babbacombe Pier is also bringing in Mackerel but also quite a number of dog fish. This spot is packed (I saw a dozen yesterday).
Given the good catches from here at the moment getting there early is a good idea!

- No reports from Hopes Nose or Brixham Breakwater at this time.

Please email or phone me if you have any news about the shore fishing catches in Torbay & Devon!