Glorious Devon

Just back from a fantastic family holiday in Devon, where the sun shone every day for a week. You won't get anywhere better in the world when you're fortunate enough to have that kind of weather.

I managed to get out fishing most mornings and evenings for an hour or two, armed with a little spinning rod and a few lures. I fished several different rock marks, all within five minutes of the cottage and each trip yielded wrasse and pollack, with lots of missed takes. Over the course of the week I had 35-40 fish, with the three best wrasse going over 4lb, plus a few nice pollack.

 On the second morning I fished I had six takes in the first six casts, four of which resulted in fish, the biggest being a wrasse of 4lb 6oz.

All the fish came on 3 or 4 inch stick baits, hooked Texas style, twitched across the bottom. The most difficult thing was hitting the bites, with probably 60 to 80% being missed. Plenty of cursing and jumping up and down in frustration ensued !

The water was incredibly clear, especially to someone used to the murky North Sea. How I wish we had fishing like that round here.

Sitting on the rocks in shorts and T shirt, warm sun on my back, catching plenty fish on light gear, not a soul in sight. Unbeatable. Catching whiting whilst freezing your nuts off in November doesn't really compare !

Can't wait to get back there as soon as possible.