Has my luck changed?

Well another weekend arrived and due to calamities of the previous one it was going to be a two pronged approach to try and get a couple of species on the board, when planning this challenge I probably should have took into account Sickness, Holidays, Work, Weather and bad angling! So this trip was to be off to South Devon and try for a few small species again fishing light tackle against some submerged structures. I got up at 05.00 am to find everything frozen solid and so the car had to be defrosted, by the time I had achieved this Chris had walked down to my place and we loaded up and drove gingerly southwards with an air temp of -3, brrrr. Once on the duel carriageway I felt confident enough to drive a bit faster and even managed to overtake a lorry, halfway through this manoeuvre the rear passenger door flew open like an airplane door blowing out, cold air rushed in and the Citroen Picasso flashed a warning light for anyone stupid enough to not realise the door was open at 70mph. Chris was on it in a flash and slipped across and managed to pull the door back and the car soon re-pressurised. Well that certainly woke us up but no damage was done and so before long we arrived at the multi story car park I so hate an empty car park I took ages to find a suitable space out of the dozens of empty ones then still parked badly anyway. We hiked down the pier to the very end then straddled the wall leading to a sheltered little spot with concrete steps down to the water, as I climbed over my flask fell from the side of the rucksack. Donk, donk donk the flask bounced from step to step heading towards the sea closely followed by a frantic me screaming "NO"! incredibly as the flask rolled to the edge of the last step it stopped teetering halfway between oblivion and safety. Got it! my hand gripped the flask and I raised it triumphantly in the air towards Chris, "this is a good omen" I exclaimed. So maybe this was to be a lucky day, best get a bait in the water, the bait was lowered down as the sun begrudgingly started to climb skyward and the icy air attacked any skin we had failed to cover. The rod arched over as a fish grabbed the bait and I reeled in the first fish of the day a welcome little pouting.

Chris wasn't far behind and another Pouting was soon caught then released, things were indeed looking up and soon we had caught several of these obliging little fish and it was time to try for something different. We tried inside the harbour in attempt to catch some of the various wrasse but they weren't interested. A couple more anglers arrived and I recognised one of them as Cephalopod George so called for his love of catching Squid, Octopus and Cuttlefish. George was very helpful giving us some pointers on how to target the various small species in the vicinity of the pier, it was appreciated. We decided to climb back over the wall and try our luck on the seaward side once again, joined by George and his pal. Soon Chris had a good bite and after a short battle swung in a fishing reel, this sounds crazy especially after losing part of my rod and reel the week before. The reel had no corrosion on it and had been hooked fair and square, luckily we had witnesses or we might have even doubted our own sanity.

I forgot to mention in all the excitement of catching the fish, earlier Chris had told me he had seen a penguin swim past and that when I turned it had dived under, I watched for 5 minutes and no penguin surfaced so I put that down to him sniffing to much of his fish attracting spray. It was a few hours later when George's buddy shouted Penguin! I just managed to see the bird paddling off before diving again. " That's no Penguin", I exclaimed "its a juvenile Razorbill", " NO its a Penguin" the two were adamant, chris has since conceded it did look just like a razorbill but having not seen one of those he assumed it must have been a penguin.

Well the fishing was becoming frustrating as Chris lost a good Ballan Wrasse in the rocks and then I hooked a good wrasse that I couldn't stop on the light tackle and once again it was lost, I really could have done with that fish. The next one we hooked was once again Chris and this one also found a hole but by putting the rod down and waiting the fish was soon back swimming and Chris was able to get the fish to the surface and we netted it, didn't count for my tally but I was pleased that Chris had got one.

So the trip was shaping up ok but I really needed another species and perhaps a slice of luck, it wasn't a very productive day and the other guys were also struggling on what is normally a very productive mark. I spotted another strange item in the water floating slowly past in the tide, a Christmas cracker fortune fish, had someone took it to the sea and released it, very weird but I shouldn't really be surprised.

I decided a change of tactics was required to try for another species and cast out a pulley rig loaded with squid, this was soon taken by something and I struck and quickly pulled in the second of my species for the day a very welcome little Whiting.

Chris managed a Dogfish and a Mackerel but the cold NE Wind and coloured water really made it a struggle for the mini species we were after. Sunday afternoon and we had another crack and tried for some coarse fish species at my lakes, the wind was bitter and boy did we struggle. Its a bit like fishing my home ground as I know the lakes and fish inside out but we tried everything and only saw one fish move on the surface. It looked like the first blank was looming as the light began to fade when a couple of tiny Perch saved the day.

So species 4 is on the board the humble Perch and its refreshing not to be hung up on the size of the fish, already during this challenge I am finding a greater respect for these smaller species and also the fish that may not be specimens but have saved the day. Thanks once again Chris for sharing the experience, pain, cold, laughs and stress its really appreciated. Got a few good trips coming up in the next 7 days so hopefully a few more species will make the gallery, tight lines everyone.