Captain Beaky and the Vibrating Fish

The breakwater that surrounds Brighton Marina is one of the best shore fishing locations in Sussex, giving access to deep water. The weather plays a large part in successful angling and after week of warm settled weather I decided to spend a couple of days after a garfish.

Following the advice of the staff at the tackle box on the Marina I decided to fish the western arm. The arm was already busy and by late morning there was an angler every ten yards back towards the shoreline. There were reports that scad had been caught pre-dawn along with mullet.

I set up float tackle on the barbel rod, with a cigar shaped float taking a half ounce drilled bullet and set the depth initially to ten feet. A three foot hooklength of 12lb flurocarbon was used as garfish have needle link teeth which would wear through a light hooklength. Bait was a small strip of mackerel (about an inch by a quarter of an inch) hooked through the end only.

I fished the rising tide up to high water on the float and over the next few hours caught a number of garfish interspersed with a handful of mackerel. 


The fight is a series of leaps, head shakes and short searing runs that compare with mackerel. The gars slim, streamlined body gives them speed through the water, however the bulk of their resistance is at surface level. I imagine scaling down to a light avon style rod and six pound line would provide great sport.


There are a team of helpful bailiffs who collect money for day tickets, offer advice and offer to take your rubbish away! A chat revealed that I could expect to catch a sea scorpion if I fished for mini species in the edge. 


Rigging up with a mini two hook paternoster with size 10 hooks baited with an inch of ragworm or a tiny strip of mackerel I caught various blennies, wrasse, pollack, a sandsmelt and several sea scorpions. Sea scorpions are amusing in that when you touch their undersides they start vibrating like a mobile phone on silent!

I returned to my floatfishing for the last couple of hours of daylight and caught numbers of garfish, with the biggest weighed at 1lb 3oz. Some anglers nearby were struggling and I donated the mackerel and some garfish as they were fishing for food. Is Brighton full of East Europeans or are a high proportion of them anglers?

I decided to stay for an hour after dark hoping for a scad, otherwise known as a horse mackerel. Changing the float to one that accepted a starlight allowed me to fish into the night. After a couple of missed bites and a fish dropping off I landed my first ever scad, a small example of the species. The first thing  you notice is the metallic grey colouration and how bony they feel.

The following morning I decided to fish the western breakwater which was not so busy due to the long walk. I fished a second rod on worm more in hope than expectation.

 After catching several garfish I noticed that the water was becoming coloured due to the undertow. Mackerel and garfish are sight feeders and as expected bites ceased. Interestingly a change to my mini species rigs revealed that mini species also don't feed well in coloured water although a number of blennies, wrasse and sea scorpions did oblige. 

At the height of the tide I caught three "schoolie" bass in succession which brought my trip to an end.

Postscript: Checking Collins Pocket Guide to Fish of Britain and Europe at home I realised that I had photographed a long spined sea scorpion. Had I also caught short spined sea scorpions without realising? The easiest way to tell them apart is that the long spined sea scorpion has tiny barbules on the end of it's upper jaw.

The Papal Visit

To commemorate the Pope's recent state visit I decided to pay homage to the fishy equivalent. My pilgrimage took me to the village of Handsacre in Staffordshire and the murky waters of the Trent and Mersey Canal. This member of the perch family is indeed a rarity nowadays and I had failed to locate one on two previous trips to the Grand Union Canal.

I decided to fish just downstream of a bridge using the bridge itself as shelter from the driving rain. After three hours on a mini maggot feeder catching perch, roach and gudgeon I decided to change over to the float. 

First cast the insert waggler slowly dragged under and I lifted into my second ever pope. My prayers had been answered. In light of the driving rain I decided on an early finish.

Isaak Walton knew this little fish as the pope but it is more usually known nowadays as the ruffe. It is also known affectionately by anglers as the daddy ruffe, tommy ruffe or tommy pope. How can such a small, rather drab and insignificant fish have so many names? 

Bitterling and Stillwater Barbel

I failed to locate bitterling on two trips to the Burwell Lode earlier in the summer. In desperation I decided to follow up a tip off that the famous carp bagging water Decoy Lakes near Peterborough contained large numbers of these fish in Willows Lake.

My approach was to fish Crucian style with a pole float in the margins. I planned to fish for the bitterling initially and then set my stall for my first stillwater barbel. My hooklength was 1lb 14oz to a size 24 hook (the smallest I have ever used) baited with a pinkie. Within a few casts I had my target fish.

Bitterling are an interesting fish in that the females develop a tube from the vent known as an ovipositor and through this lay their eggs inside swan mussels. There are small colonies in Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, Cheshire and Lancashire which it is believed resulted from escapes or illegal introductions from aquaria.

Scaling up the hooklength strength to a size 16 hook to 5lb line and fishing at dead depth saw me catch nine small barbel upto maybe two pounds and loads of small carp and F1s despite the cold northerly wind and driving rain.

The barbel I caught appeared to be in perfect condition, however to my mind barbel are a river fish and I suspect that mortality might be high in summer in carp puddles as barbel require highly oxygenated water. I hope I am wrong!

My Way

My Way skippered by Gethyn Owen is one of the top charter boats in Wales. Unfortunately the planned trip to the Holyhead Deeps in search of tope,spurdog and bulhuss was cancelled due to the strong winds. Instead we would be fishing various inshore marks moving between them as the weather and tide eased.

Taking Gethyn's advice I rigged up with two up, one down rigs with size 2 hooks and baited up each hook with different baits, mackerel strip, squid strip and ragworm. Within minutes of lowering the bait I had a bite which resulted in a red gurnard. Apart from a small plaice and huss we were all plagued by lesser spotted dogfish. A move to Church Bay resulted in yet more dogfish.

Mid afternoon we moved again to fish for wrasse on the drift near South Stack. A three hook flowing trace baited with ragworm section is fished on the bottom, every few seconds the lead is lifted a few inches and replaced on the bottom to avoid snagging as the boat drifted. Geth advised fishing mackerel strip on at least one hook as this would maximise the chance of a cuckoo wrasse. Unfortunately on this occasion only ballan wrasse and pollack responded.

The day ended as it began anchored in Holyhead Bay, As well as the inevitable dogfish we all caught whiting. Despite the fact that the water had coloured up with the wind providing far from ideal conditions an enjoyable day was had by all. I certainly intend to return to Anglesey next summer to target the wide variety of species available from both boat and shore.

Species Heaven!

Amlwch in Anglesey was developed as a port and shipbuilding yard to serve the mines of Parys Mountain at the height of the copper boom. This picturesque harbour is set within a deep ravine. 

For the angler this venue offers deep water at all states of the tide, useful as I would be fishing the flood right up from low water. The breakwater would also provide shelter from the driving wind and rain.

Terry from Telboy Tackle had advised me that a recent match was won with seven species.


I set up my stall for the mini species hoping for the smaller wrasse species that had so far eluded me. A barbel rod would maximise bite registration and matched to ten pound line would enable me to lift fish up to my lofty perch above the water. A cut down set of size 12 sabikkis would be baited with one inch long sections of worm.

The bait would be lowered alongside the wall where the fish would be lying in the scoured out base of the wall and amongst the weed growing out of the stone work.

Even though I had arrived at low tide I had bites right from the off, catching several small ballan and corkwing wrasse in various shades of green and brown, some tinged with red. Wrasse bites start off as a series of rattles before the tip pulls down as the wrasse dives for it's bolt hole. It is surprising how even a fish of less than a pound can hoop a barbel rod over!

The next bite was different, just rattles which resulted in a leopard-spotted goby. This species has only recently been re-discovered in British waters by scuba divers. This goby is vividly marked, the almost translucent body being covered in large orange and red blotches with fins tinged with blue.

This was to be the first in a series of gobies which included more leopard spotted and several rock gobies. In contrast to the leopard-spotted goby the rock goby is rather a drab fish with mottled colouring ranging from fawn to purply brown in the breeding male. The first dorsal is edged in orange.

I had bites almost every drop down rarely waiting more than a minute before the rattles started. As well as the wrasse I caught tompot blennies, pollack, pouting and poor cod over the next few hours.

I did catch one example each of the rock cook and goldsinney wrasse. The rock cook has a rotund appearance and can be identified by a distinctive pair of dark bars on the caudal fin. The head is marked with vivid blue lines  similar to a corkwing and the scales above the lateral line are edged in blue.

The goldsinney is a more delicate looking wrasse which is identified by a dark spot on the upper caudal wrist and another on its dorsal fin. I am not sure whether the golden yellow colouring on the side is present in all cases.

I would commend fishing for mini-species to any coarse angler on holiday by the sea, it really is good fun and the colours on some of these fish wouldn't be out of place on a tropical coral reef.

I packed up at 6.30pm with so that I could find my digs in daylight. Would tomorrows boat trip provide me with my first cuckoo wrasse?

Swanning around on the Pier

At the Southern end of Swanage Bay in Dorset, lie two Piers, including the old original Pier now just a sparse collection of vertical piles.


The original Swanage Pier was constructed in 1860 and built primarily for shipping the local Purbeck stone to London. Horses were used to pull carts along the narrow gauge tramway which ran along the Pier and seafront linking Swanage to the local quarries.


In 1874 local entrepreneur, George Burt started a steamer service between Swanage, Poole and Bournemouth. With the Pier now being used for day-trippers as well as stone cargo, it soon became clear that the Pier was unable to cope with the ever increasing traffic and that a new and longer Pier was needed. This was opened to traffic in 1897. 


The new pier suffered decades of neglect in the second half of the 20th century and was nearly completely destroyed by the wood eating gribble worm. With the help of lottery grant funding and an innovative sponsor a plank scheme over one million pounds was raised for the restoration. This restoration has been completed to the original victorian specification and if you ever visit this magnificent  pier take time out to read the plaques on the planks. 

Tidal forces digs out the sand adjacent to the pier supports creating a deep gutter or trench, seaweed's become attached to the exposed bases of the supports and mussels, crabs, shoals of sandeels, small pout, shrimps and sand worms like rag and lug mass together and create a full larder from which passing and resident fish sustain themselves. 

Fish like structure so why do most anglers use the pier as a platform to cast out into the open sea?

I arrived early Saturday morning and was greeted by a rather lively sea, not ideal for species hunting. I also discovered that the pier closed at 5pm which limited me somewhat!

I set up a barbel rod with a two hook flapper with size 12 sabikkis (I has read that they were deadly for species hunting) baited with one inch ragworm sections. I fished the inside the pier from the lower deck. Over the next three hours or so rarely waited more than ten seconds for a bite and gained quite an audience, as I caught loads of small ballan and corkwing wrasse, several tompot blennies, immature pouting and a solitary sandsmelt. A couple of hours fishing mackerel strip on float tackle produced a number of pollack around the pound mark.

I returned sunday morning, the sea if anything was rougher and it rained through much of the day. However it was not until the tide started flooding that the bites started. I fished two rods, one cast to the right of the pier onto broken ground and the other on the outside edge of the pier with the mini species rig using slithers of mackerel for bait. 

The result was similar to the previous day but with decreased numbers of wrasse and increased numbers of pound pollack and immature pouting. I also had a second sandsmelt and a solitary tompot blenny. 

With a couple of hours to go I noticed that the sea had appeared to have cleared and went all out for a garfish on the float set 6-8 feet deep. I failed to catch a garfish but enjoyed wonderful spot from mackerel which on the light tackle fought harder than trout of twice their size. The colours of a mackerel fresh from the sea are amazing with iridescent greens and blues set against a silver backdrop.

God, I hate litter!

August had been a struggle, three trips had seen me land loads of fish however I failed to catch my target fish barbel, bitterling and zander.

In an attempt to get the species hunt back on track I decided on a weekend away, fishing Holyhead breakwater for a couple of days. Holyhead breakwater is renowned as a venue where virtually anything can turn up.

Picturesque it isn't, I have never seen so much litter in my life. Litter really is a pet hate of mine, whether its smokers dropping cigarrette butts or drivers chucking rubbish out of the car window. However when it is obviously, so called anglers that have left the rubbish it really makes my blood boil. How difficult is it to take a bag with you and clear up your own and any other litter in your peg and take it home to dispose of. These morons should be banned from fishing, period! The welsh authorities are no better as there clearly hadn't been any effort to clear the litter for some considerable time!

Back to the fishing. On the Saturday I set up two rods, a bass rod with a two hook flapper rig fishing lugworm or mackerel strip and a barbel rod fishing small strips of mackerel and pieces of ragworm on size 12 hooks for mini species.

On the heavier tackle I was hoping for a dab or gurnard. What I caught was a lesser spotted dogfish, several whiting and a tiny poor cod. The mini species rig attracted loads of ballan and corkwing wrasse, pollack and a solitary shore rockling. I packed up around six to check into my digs and find something to eat.

On Sunday I followed a tip given to me by the proprietor of Winnies Worms in Holyhead and drove round to a mark near south stack. What a contrast to the breakwater, a walk from the carpark along the cliffside through heather and some miniature form of gorse in full bloom.

Unfortunately I was too laden to scramble down the cliffside to the mark and I confess I bottled it! One day I will return with minimal gear and a safety rope.

So I returned to the Breakwater and fished right up the end by the lighthouse. I decided to concentrate on the mini species without the distraction of a second rod. After ten hours catching a small ballan or corkwing wrasse every five minutes I had had enough. I was starving and my milk had turned leaving me without a decent cuppa!

Beware the Blenny!

As this was a family holiday apart from my sharking trip, all my fishing was in short sessions lasting from 1 to 4 hours.

A visit to the tackleshop suggested that I could expect to find bass from the rocks in front of the Tom Sawyer pub and that sandeels were the best bait.

Wednesday evening saw me wandering along the river on a flooding tide searching for sandeels. Half an hour spent jigging mini sabikkis saw me land a dozen sandeels.

Still using a carp rod matched to 10lb line I float fished a sandeel just off bottom in the gulleys between the emergent rocks that form this part of the coastline. Twice the float went under, the first I missed and the second was a small pollack of around a pound. After dark I legered mackerel sections only twenty yards out. Again I had two bites, missing the first and landing a lesser spotted dogfish from the second bite.

The following evening I joined the holiday makers on a three hour conger trip. One conger was landed between ten anglers, not suprising as the bait supplied was hardly fresh and it was a spring rather than neap tide.

On the Friday I travelled to Mevagissey for an early morning session and fished the harbour wall.

The first hour was spent fishing a sliver of mackerel in the hope of a garfish. A single pollack resulted. A switch to a running leger and an inch of ragworm saw a procession of small ballan and corkwing wrasse responding before I hooked something that didn't fight.

Checking my Collins Fish of Britain and Europe confirmed my that I had caught my first tompot blenny. It bit me!

A change over to the float, a 5SSG loafer float fished at 4 foot saw me land another small pollack, miss several bites and hook and lose something that screamed off at a rate of knots before coming adrift! I suspect that it was a mullet or bass.

Earlier in the holiday my great-nephew Jacob had caught two blennies on a crabline. Jacob was so proud of his catch that they were brought over in his crabbing bucket to the pub for formal identification. I failed miserably as I needed my book to confirm that these blennies were Common Blennies also known as Shannies.

Jacob briefed me on his secret spot and I spent about fifteen minutes on my final evening stalking some fish that were swimming along some submerged concrete steps. Several missed bites later I hooked my first shanny. They really are aggressive fish homing in on the ragworm section as the bait was slowly lowered onto the step. In one day I had been bitten by two species of blenny, apparently blennies feed on barnacle penises, luckily I was bitten on the finger!

Postscript: I discovered that the record for a tompot blenny is little over 5oz caught from Mevagissey in 1995. I had missed out on claiming a british record today!

Shark Angling Club of Great Britain

The Shark Angling Club of Great Britain (SACGB) was formed in Looe, Cornwall in 1953 by the late Brigadier J. L. Caunter. Looe quickly became established as the top venue for angling for Sharks on rod and line in the UK.

The main purpose of the SACGB is to promote the sport of Shark Angling in Great Britain with a mind to conservation, and provide members with an organisation which is regarded as the central authority in Great Britain for this sport.

In the early days a great many Sharks were caught and unfortunately killed. Holiday makers flocked to the quayside in Looe each evening, to see the Sharks being weighed. Sharks had to weigh 75lbs (34.1kg) or more to qualify for membership to the SACGB. However, since 1994 it has been the Clubs Policy that Sharks should be measured instead of weighed and released unharmed back to the sea.

The qualifying measurement for a Blue Shark is 7ft (213cm) or more from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. For Porbeagle, Mako and Thresher Shark it is 4ft 6ins (137cm) from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail.

Since 1998 the SACGB has operated a tag and release programme whereby the Sharks are tagged before being returned to the sea. The programme has provided the Club with valuable information as to the migration route the Sharks take in the Atlantic Ocean, how far they travel and their growth rate and the information has and is being used in the conservation of Sharks. When a tagged Shark is recaptured, usually by commercial fishermen, the tag is returned to the Club and the returnee receives a 15 dollar reward. This has proved very successful and helps with the conservation of Sharks worldwide.

When I last visited Looe 12 years ago I was lucky enough to catch a blue shark of 60lb. However when I booked a days shark fishing on Typhoon I realised that the odds were against me as only around 200 sharks are landed annually by the Looe fleet compared to 6,000 back in the 1950s and 60s.

Shark fishing is a waiting game, mesh bags containing 'rubby dubby' (mashed up fish) are hung over the side at water level and with each wave bits of fish and oils are washed out to create a scent trail for the sharks to follow.

The boat starts a drift 10-15 miles out and mackerel flappers are suspended under floats at different depths and ranges from the boat. Four rods were fishing and we all drew lots for who had which rod. I drew the rod at the bow, unfortunately the two runs occurred on the same rod which was nearest the stern.

The lucky angler successfully landed both sharks, blues of 40lb (56 inches) and 80lb (84 inches) respectively.

Whilst waiting for the sharks to arrive we feathered for mackerel and I soon realised that mini sabikis were the most effective mackerel feathers I possessed. I also fished baited hokkai lures on the bottom and caught a number of whiting for tea. The sea bed we drifted over was sandy and held little else.

Although disappointed not to land a shark myself I was privileged to see two blue sharks being boated.

On a hot summer night!

The recent heatwave has provided the ideal conditions for catching catfish and as the weather was forecast to break I decided to book an overnight session at Willowcroft Fishery in Cambridgeshire.

As you can see water levels were at least a foot down on normal and being a shallow lake anyway I had no more than three feet depth of water in front of me.

I decided to fish both rods with a method feeder with a long two foot hooklink to a size 4 Korda Wide Gape B hook with a 22ml halibut pellet on the hair.

The method mix consisted of scalded pellet laced with predator plus and dead maggots and my intention was to recast hourly up till midnight before getting my head down.

I thought I had blown it when a catfish hooked at 11.30pm on the right hand rod fell off. Unfortunately this is a problem I seem to find with large carp sized barbless hooks. For certain species such as crucians on small hooks I often prefer barbless and if anything land more than I would on a barbed hook. Apart from a visit from a local moggie (the furry variety) the rest of the night passed quietly.

At ten to six in the morning I had a gentle take on my left hand rod which did not take line from the baitrunner but merely bent the rod round. Catfish are the hardest fighting fish in freshwater and in such shallow water several long runs and bouts of tail waving were inevitable before I finally drew her over the net. The scales pronounced a weight of 21lb 4oz and after a couple of quick photos I enjoyed watching her snake back into the coloured waters of Willowcroft's Six Island lake.

My Metaphorical Jam Jar!

The Anglers Mail carried an article on a "giant stickleback" caught from Head Fen's Snake Lake of 7 drams, apparently the second largest ever caught in Britain.

So rod and metaphorical jam-jar in hand I set off to find this new mecca for specimen sticklebacks! Eventually I found the lakes and had less than three hours to track down a record breaker.

An hour in and I had caught brown goldfish and loads of tiny common and mirror carp on my float fished maggots or pinkies fished on a size 22 hook.

Another hour and two more swims tried, more brown goldfish and small carp to just over the pound. I was starting to get worried.

I swept the landing net through the margins against the reeds. Yep, the evidence was there loads of stickleback fry so the adults must be around somewhere. Eventually after missing loads of bites I connected with a stickleback of average size just before I had to get off the water, the record breaker would have to wait!

Anyone know a stockist for size 26 hooks and magnifying glasses so that I can see to bait up?

Bleak

5 facts about bleak!

1.   Guanine was extracted from the silvery scales of bleak and used in the making of artificial pearls.

2.   Bleak lives in large schools, usually near the surface.

3.   Tommy Pickering used to be called the bionic bleaker in his early match fishing days.

4.   The British record bleak weighed 4 oz 9 drms and was caught by Dennis Flack, River Lark,  Cambridgeshire in 1998.

5.   This evening I caught loads of bleak from the River Lark whilst trying to locate a bitterling for the species hunt. The bleak brings my species total up to 34 for the year to date.

Rhubarb and Custard

Rhubarb and Custard, for those old enough to remember it was that classic wobbly cartoon from the late 70's featuring the adventures of rhubarb the dog and Custard the cat. This classic cartoon was drawn by Bob Godfrey, who incidently I met at a party at my brother-in-laws house. Did you know that the characters were based on Tony Hancock and Sid James.

Rhubarb and Custard incidentally also happens to be one of my favourite puddings.

What has all this got to do with fishing! I had booked a trip with Lyle Stantiford on Supernova out of Weymouth wrecking for cod. Sailing time was two hours as the wrecks that we would be fishing were 20 miles offshore. The sea was calm and we were in for a scorcher of a day.

Tackle was a 12-20lb class outfit matched to 20lb braid and a 30lb mono leader. An eight foot flowing trace of 30lb flurocarbon with a six inch sidewinder lure was attached below a six inch boom. I used a light mono loop to attach the 10oz lead as a rotten bottom but most of the lads used a twist of wire (the sort used to tie up freezer bags), top tip! Lyle suggested that we use orange lures as that is what the cod seem to prefer

The skipper positions the boat to drift over the wreck and on his command the lures are lowered to the bottom before being retrieved slowly. The key difference between wreck cod and pollack is that cod live closer to the wreck and to catch one has to live dangerously and only retrieve 15 turns before lowering the tackle back down. Like all on board I snagged the wreck several times during the course of the day. As with pollack I found a slow retrieve best.

I was on board with a great bunch of lads and we all caught cod during the day. The largest fish was a real beauty of 17lb with most fish being in the 10-14lb bracket. I was lucky enough to catch four cod with two doubles at 13lb 4oz and 10lb 8oz, a pollack and a couple of big pouting. Pouting are viewed as a pest and the lads called them flobbers, no idea why! Unfortunately I lost what would have been the biggest fish of the day, either a big cod or maybe a ling when after several minutes it fell off, just as I felt I had got the better of it. It still hurts!

Another top tip I learned today is to bleed fish by cutting through the gills as it stops blood spoiling the flesh. I must also get some cable ties as most of the lads used these through the cods gills to identify whose fish was who's in the fishbox. Know anywhere that stocks cable ties in pink or some equally outrageous colour!

It transpires that Cod also like Rhubarb and Custard, well the orange sidewinders were in the rhubarb and custard colour!

The Grey Ghost of Weymouth Harbour

Whilst walking down to the stone pier along the harbour to  I couldn't help but notice that there were large numbers of grey mullet moving around under the pontoons. Some were even feeding on algae and other micto organisms in the mud only feet away seemingly oblivious to the hordes of tourists along the banks.

However mullet are notorously difficult to catch and I knew from previous experience that I needed to be out at dawn to maximise my chances.

So with the alarm set to 3.45am I was out at first light the following day armed with a barbel rod which was loaded with 8lb fluorocarbon due to the proximity of the pontoons. As we were in the middle of a heatwave the mullet were on the surface. My plan was to use a float for casting weight only and to fish breadflake on the surface and allow it to sink slowly as it became waterlogged. Feed was kept to a minimum to avoid spooking the mullet or worse attracting ducks!



I missed my first two chances but it was third time lucky, I watched the breadflake carefully as the mullet played around with it, not striking until the bait disappeared from view. It always surprises me just how fast mullet are and although I gave little line during the fight the fish was constantly changing direction. Netting was tricky as I was well above the water level but I eventually I banked a decent mullet of 3lb 10oz. I continued fishing for a couple more hours but as the town woke up the grey ghosts drifted back under the pontoons.

Mini Species on Weymouth's Stone Pier

Weymouth is a mecca for sea anglers and I had three days to hopefully add a few species to the list. Research suggested that Weymouth's Stone Pier would be a good venue for targeting mini species and that I could expect small wrasse, blennies, scorpion fish, black bream, pout and pollack if I scaled down.

Following a couple of early starts I decided on a lie in and a late breakfast at my Bed and Breakfast. Mini species apparently feed best during the middle of the day as this is when predators are least active.

I decided to use a barbel rod with 10lb main line which would enable me to both cast a couple of ounces of lead and provide good bite detection. A simple paternoster rig with a size 10 hook to 8lb fluorocarbon baited with an inch or so of rag worm was to be my approach.

Lowering the bait at the side of the pier saw rattling bites most casts from small ballan and corkwing wrasse, most weighing from only a couple of ounces to maybe a pound at best. Ballan wrasse are exquisitely coloured with turquoise, acid green and reddish brown markings over both body and fins.

Apart from a single pouting it was a wrasse a cast. Periodically shoals of grey mullet would drift through, I initially mistook them for mackerel and spent a couple of hours spinning for them without success. Talking to the locals it was clear that mackerel had been very scarce.

I returned again the following day for another short session before watching the England game against Slovenia. If anything it was even hotter, the wrasse didn't mind and once again it was a bite almost every cast. It is surprising how hard even a small wrasse fights.

I also spent a couple of hours float fishing hoping for a garfish without success. I noticed that one of the locals was using what appeared to be a huge waggler taking a half ounce loading with the stem marked in stripes. This offered much better bite detection than the traditional sea fishing float I was using. I intend to make some up before my annual family summer holiday to Looe next month.

Poole Interlude

Today I was going to fish the Purbeck banks and reefs out of Poole on Silver Spray skippered by Sam Cumming. The crew consisted of a mixed group of 10 individuals and the plan was for a multi species day.

We spent most of the morning failing to catch mackerel for bait from several different inshore marks. With very limited bait stocks we moved onto the banks.

We fished a couple of spots in the hope of rays, hounds and tope during the slack water period, legering mackerel fillets on a size 6/0 hook to a four foot trace of 100lb mono. A pound of lead was needed to hold bottom even on the slack. Few fish were caught, largely I suspect due to the shortage of bait. Ernie, a likable old boy and regular on Silver Spray caught a fabulous Blonde Ray weighing 17lb and a French lad next to me had a small blonde. Another lad landed a common smoothhound and apart from a couple of doggies, one to me that was it.

With the tide picking up we moved inshore to a try for a black bream. The 12/20lb outfit was rigged with a portland rig with a size 2 aberdeen and 4 yellow beads on a three foot 20lb fluorocarbon trace. The technique is to bounce the lead (in this case 6oz) across the bottom downtide. Despite the limited fishing time I had several rattles hooking one bream which probably only weighed a pound or so. Unfortunately I dropped the bream back in before I could photograph it for the blog. I like the technique and would like to do more black bream fishing in future. Next time I would pack a spinning rod for the bream which I am sure would result in a better hook up rate.

Fishing for Thornback Rays

Today I was back on Galloper skippered by Scott Belbin out of West Mersea in Essex. The plan was to target tope offshore, the forecast was for the strong northerly wind to drop so we sailed out to the Maplin sands and fished for an hour whilst we waited for conditions to improve before venturing further offshore. After an uncomfortable hour waiting for the wind to drop we all agreed to move inshore and target thornback rays. During this time Scott managed to catch a tiny tope which had probably only pupped in the last day or two, it really was predation in miniature.

Most species in this area are best approached by uptiding. The trace being four foot of thirty pound fluorocarbon to a 4/0 vavivas big mouth hook, baited with either a strip or chunk of herring. Despite fishing hard I only had one bite which resulted in my first thornback ray which was a male estimated at 6lb. Male fish can be identified from females by the long claspers trailing from the body towards the tail. The body is covered in thorny protusions. 

It was clear from this trip that the best boat position for uptiding is nearest the cabin as you can cast uptide of the boat. This bears out what I have read.

One of the crew had brought some ragworm and most of us tried this as a change bait. Unfortunately I soon lost patience and returned to fishing herring, unfortunate as several whiting were caught which would have been a new species for me. Next time I go out on Galloper I will have a couple of suitable rigs made up for whiting and dabs. In retrospect my bait presentation could have been better as when I retrieved on several occasions the herring strip had bunched up on the hook. Over the nest few days I was to discover that a fillet should be hooked by passing the hook through the very tip on the flesh side and then back through so the bait lies straight and can move in the tide.

On the return journey the seagulls followed Galloper all the way in waiting for scraps as the three rays that came to the boat were prepared for the table. To me this seemed hard work as being a member of the shark and ray family the skin has to be peeled off with pliers which takes an age and only the wings are kept for eating.

Aliens!

Much of what we think of as British wildlife has been introduced by man. This has been going on for over a thousand years, with the Romans introducing the rabbit and the Normans fallow deer, both for food.

The Victorians were responsible for the introduction of not only animals but also new and exotic plants from indo-china, including the invasive japanese knotweed and the himalayan balsam. The Duke of Bedford introduced alongside mammals such as the munjack deer and grey squirrel, two fish species from eastern europe the wels catfish and zander (known then as the pike-perch).

When you think about it a significant number of the freshwater species available to the angler have been introduced into Britain. Game angling wouldn't be the same without the ever obliging rainbow trout. The mainstay of coarse angling today is the carp, which were introduced by monks in the middle ages as a food source, however the modern carp angler wouldn't recognise the original slim fully scaled wild carp. Todays carp have been breed to grow fast and often resemble a football with fins. This all brings us back to the pumpkinseed fish which resembles a slightly deflated rather brightly coloured football with fins.

The Pumpkinseed was introduced into Britain by the Victorians and has become established in a number of stillwaters, mainly in Sussex.

I spent another day at Tanyard trying to catch a pumpkinseed fish. By lunchtime I was getting concerned as I still hadn't caught a pumpkinseed despite getting a bite every couple of minutes. Following a couple of conversations with other anglers I discovered that they were generally caught 'on the drop'.

After lunch I rigged up a no10 drennan puddlechucker float with a number 8 shot at mid-depth, the remaining shot being placed directly under the float. Each cast was only fished for a minute, although most casts saw a take on the drop as roach and rudd to just over a pound obliged. I did unfortunately lose a big perch (certainly over two pound) when it fell off at the net. By 4pm I had finally caught my pumpkinseed fish after wading through perhaps three or four hundred small fish of various species.

I decided to pack up there and then and check out Coarse Pool 3 to see whether I could locate some grass carp. Despite carp cruising in the surface layers the heavily coloured water made it virtually impossible to single out a grass carp so I decided to stretch my legs and walk around the complex. After a conversation with the baliff I found male pumpkinseeds guarding their nests and fending off all intruders in the margins of specimen lake 2 which incidentally is where the British record was caught.