Just got back from Devon. Spent most of my time spearing, reading with a little sketching & boogie boarding thrown in (it rained quite a lot & got windy towards the end of the fortnight). But, I did manage a little angling & chatted to some other beach & kayak anglers.
Once the water visibility was ruined by particularly heavy rain early this week, it sounds like folk stopped catching - I guess the fish can't see the lures. Although one Plymouth angler I met, who really seemed to know what he was doing, was fishing a local spot for him at what he described as the optimal state of the tide/time with sandeel & he didn't get a bite either. He was using a simple ledger rig, much like I'd been thinking of, and took the time to explain the details of it (slider or swivel clip on the shock leader; bead & end swivel to block it; thinner mono-trace; hook through eel's mouth, gill and then back out, reverse and back in again - very neat).
Several folk had caught fish before the heavy down-pour though. A kayak fisher on a white Storm weighted gel sandeel - the same as I sometimes use; I painted the tops of mine with metallic blue acrylic paint recently though. He had a large Eddystone eel on a second rod but usually just trolled the other rod. Another pair of kayak anglers lost their car keys overboard & towed me out to dive for them - but, with very poor visibility in 20 ft of waterand the tide pulling, it was futile. One of the kayakers got flipped out of his kayak, presumbly because he was holding onto his anchor rope; not a big deal under the circumstances but something to be aware of.
Another angler had caught two mackerel and a small bass - all on a medium size Dexter Wedge. Again, a simple, inexpensive approach. All were caught from a beach & near rocks I have dived many times (and had good catches) but where I have never seen a mackerel. I saw others using mackerel feathers - but on that day nobody caught anything.
BTW I found a nice Toby & swivel clip (strangely no line & it was not snagged) laying on the sea bed while spearing. I thought I must be mistaken at first but as I'd never seen a razor clam shell on that beach before (which seemed like the most likely thing). Over the next 2 weeks I lost my beloved blue Slim Jim Toby (I have a spare though, phew!) and a Dexter wedge on the same beach. The first when the baitcaster bird nested badly, damaging the line. The second when the braid on my other rod somehow tangled around the rod tip while casting - the 25lb fluorocarbon trace just snapped; it was probably due for replacement, I've been using it for quite some time now.