February 2005

Monday 28th February 2005
By Simon Baker

PRINCESS PIER & BABBCOMBE PIER
Went down to Princess pier at 8am [Saturday]. beautiful morning until i had tackled up and cast out, i then sat in a snow storm for 1/2 an hour....oh well....i'll look back with amusement in 3 months time .Fished on the bottom not a single bite. After an hour i thought i'd try babbacombe, one other guy when i arrived but was joined by 3-4 others. I tried ragworm, mackerel, squid, prawns, sandeel's and combinations of all the above as did the other 4. Between us every bait and rig was represented...well almost and we all blanked apart from one crab that fell to rag. nice day, good company first time i have ever blanked!!!!left for home at 1pm.

Sunday 27th February 2005
By Simon Day

With the strong winds and the cold weather we've had there hasn't been many reports recently. Here is a roundup over the weekend which saw some people braving the wind and cold:

ODDICOMBE BEACH
I tried to fish it Friday but with waves up to 8ft it was a no go.

Saturday saw a few members from the forum hit the beach for some "after the storm" fishing. All but two of the 5 fishing there blanked (only two rockling were caught all evening).

I tried fishing it tonight but again the waves and weed made it impossible.

PRINCESS PIER

Bottom fished there tonight between 5pm and 10pm. Apart from a fish bite every hour or so I blanked once again this year. The sea bed was covered with crabs and no matter how far out I cast the crabs were on the bait in minutes which meant bait changes every 5 to 10 minutes all evening.

HOPES NOSE

Once again all I'm getting are reports of blanking both day and night.

BRIXHAM BREAKWATER

I'm afraid to say I'm getting the same reports here as well. Apart from the odd fish it's hit and miss if you'll blank or not.

QUICK ROUND UP

I'm sorry to say that Torbay for the last few weeks has been really dire and I've not known fishing to be this bad in a long time. Let's hope things will improve soon!

Tuesday 22nd February 2005
By Ian Moore

SHARKHAM
I went to sharkham on saturday night to see if there was much doing, it was quite breezy and there wasn't a lot about, did manage to catch 5 dogfish and 2 smallish huss to around the 5lb mark. bait used was mackerel and squid wraps fished on a pulley rig at about 120-140 yards.

Thursday 17th February 2005
By Michael (CHUBB) Ballard

BERRY HEAD
Went down berry head in gale force winds on saturday and caught 3 doggies on squid, other fish to come in were pouting and two rockling , one caught on crab, the other on mackerel.
went down berry head again on the 15th from lunch time until 9pm, and it was the worst fishing i have had in years!!!!!!!
had one bite the whole time and i missed that! actually did catch a little pout but it didn't register on the rod. my mate caught a sawmill pout and a bullhead, neither of which registered on his rod.
bait used were: crab, sandeel, mackerel, squid, sprats and ragworm

Tuesday 15th February 2005
By Simon Day

Due to the strong winds there hasn't been much fishing going on recently. Nigel emailed me to say he was still hearing reports of codling being caught at Hope's Nose and Berry Head in the last few days. It still seams that a couple of hours before low water is the best.

TORQUAY HARBOUR CHARGES SET TO RISE
Harbor charges for Tor Bay are to be increased for the next financial year .Torbay Council which is the harbour authority, has decided to increase the charges by an average of three per cent. The council say the review of charges needed to be considered before the budget setting process to make sure they maximise the income of the harbour.The decision will be implemented on Monday unless it is called in.Full details of the schedule of harbour charges will be included as an information item in the council's budget for 2005-06, which is due to be approved in March.

Tuesday 8th February 2005 - Shore fishing update
By Michael (CHUBB) Ballard

BRIXHAM BREAKWATER

took a mate down to show him a few tricks and a few good marks on the breakwater at 7am on sunday.
the weather was good but the fishing was disasterous, we tried float on the inside and outside and ledgered the outside with ragworm,squid and mackerel. nothing except a really small pollock.
as i was showing him another spot/technique (which is remaining relatively secret!), he got one hell of a bite and yanked up a 4lb 13oz ballan wrasse on float with ragworm, nothing else for the rest of the morning.

Wednesday 2nd February 2005 - Shore fishing update
By Nigel

BRIXHAM BREAKWATER

Fished on the end of the breakwater from 0800-0900.
Yes I know I was only there 1 hour, when I left home there was no wind and hardly a ripple on the water and the weather forcast was MILD for the day. Anyway the time I got there the freezing cold wind was rageing in my face and to be honest I didnt want to be there. So I packed up ,came home and had a nice fried breakfast and a cup of tea.
Sometimes things dont always go to plan do they?...

Tuesday 1st February 2005 - Shore fishing update
By Dan Rees

HOPES NOSE

Fished hopes nose on sunday 30th.caught 3 wrasse up to 3lb4oz.bottom fishing was extremely quiet,just some lesser spotted dogfish.