A plaice in the sun?
Its been a few weeks since the last blog, and following that last 6 species day was always going to be tough, the cushion these fish had provided allowed me to gamble on an early Small Eyed Ray. The first attempt had been a total blank and the second crack at the sunset beach wasn't to be much better, Chris was too ill to make the trip and so it was a solo effort. The weather was fairly calm and the seas small so I was still happy to fish the venue on my own, the wading would be to thigh height only. When I arrived I could see a few anglers in the centre area where I would have like to go but I plumped for the left hand side, at the risk of a dogfish or two. I soon had both rods out and as the darkness engulfed the beach the first bite was indicated by the rattling of the rod. I struck to find the dull bottom dragging of a dogfish and soon the eye shine out in the surf confirmed the first dogfish of the night. As I walked past the tripod to go out to return the dogfish I noticed the other rod bouncing and once the fish was away I dealt with the next rod. This time it felt a bit more weighty and although largely supressed I could start to feel the hope building, was this to be the Ray I needed, no it was two dogfish one on the main hook and one on the tiny stinger hook baited with ragworm.
This was to be the order of the night and upon reeling in the eighth dogfish I had decided it wasn't going to happen, and maybe it's better to live and fight another day. The next trip was to be an early morning attempt, at one of my favourite eating fish, the spotty Plaice, and I was once again joined by sick boy. We had decided to a go at 5.30am and Chris was picking me up, to save time I decided to carry all my kit and meet him up the top of the road. I had been in position sat on the bucket for 5 minutes, when Chris appeared bang on time, I raised my hand in a friendly gesture but Chris carried on past. I now found myself running by the side of the car and unfortunately I still failed to get any acknowledgement, eventually I ran out of steam as the red lights disappeared down the road. I now had to go back for my gear and then get back to my house all before Chris banged on the door and woke up the rest of the family. I managed to intercept him halfway along the garden path and by using the medium of harsh whispering, I conveyed my disappointment. I guess that's another of the poor guys growing list of ailments, blind and deaf he had the dumb covered years ago.
The long journey to the south Devon beach started with an amazing sunrise signifying the start of a warm day and reminded me of the west country saying "red sky in the morning, more bloody grockles arriving"! We then came across another famous Devon landmark that had only just been on west country news.
The strange thing was that this huge pothole that had made the news, was permanently repaired by the time we made our return journey just a few hours later, the power of the media. We arrived at the beach and there was already 4 anglers set up and fishing, such is the draw of the tasty flat fish, we found a space around the centre of the beach and quickly cast our sparkling attracta rigs. The water was far from clear and the recent storms had managed to spoil what was an improving fishing situation but we know you definitely wont get them fishing from the couch.
It really was a cracking morning and before we knew it anglers were appearing from everywhere, filling every available space, a trawler was also now working just off the beach and the earlier anticipation had turned into an air of disappointment. The baits were coming back untouched and the whole beach had a circus like feel, with 3 more anglers setting up in the 50 yard gap between me and the next guy. Time to get out of there, I will give this beach a miss for the rest of the year.
Above, Chris casting that particular set of gear for the last time, he managed to find a snag in the sand and lose the lot. So now, that's 3 blanks in a row, species wise and it soon eats into the luxury of the buffer zone I had created. This was compounded further when a string of work emergency's meant I was unable to attend my first shark trip of the year, aboard Dan Hawkins stunning brand new Reel Deal charter boat. Fortunately by getting everything sorted out at work by Thursday evening, I was allowed to take the Friday off, as luck would have it there were spaces on a Plaice trip aboard African Queen out of Dartmouth. I messaged the skipper Alan Hemsley and sure enough there were still a few spaces so I grabbed the chance to have another go at the Plaice. I had been out with Alan the previous year along with the Holsworthy Sea Anglers and we managed a great catch of plaice, so it was worth a go. When I spoke to the skipper again on the final weather check he told me the fishing was going to be tough with the easterly wind and furthermore there was only two of us due to drop-outs. One of the frustrations of being a charter boat skipper is when people drop out at the last minute and now with just two anglers the trip would be a loss for Alan. However with the forecast being good and two very keen guys the skipper to his credit decided to go anyway, I think that shows the character of the man. I did try to drum up a few more anglers but being short notice and a work day it was unsuccessful, even Chris had a rock gig to attend. It was another early start and after struggling to find a space in Dartmouth town centre, I opted for the park and ride, which for anyone going out on a boat is a pretty good option, the bus stops right by the pontoon and all day parking for £5. I arrived at the boat a bit early, and Alan made me a nice fresh cup of coffee while we waited for the second angler Paul to arrive. The gear I had brought was nice and light having learned the year before that the Plaice give a great account of themselves on light tackle.
The rigs were extremely blinged in the hope of attracting the predatory plaice, and inspire them to rise from their sandy lairs, the method was to drift slowly over the sandbanks with hooks baited with prawn and squid. Paul arrived and with the introductions quickly made the skipper started up African Queen and pushed out to the Skerries against the tide, its a lovely mark to fish as before you know it your out there. We dropped down with that initial anticipation, as the tide pushed us into our first drift over the banks, the water was almost chocolate and skipper Alan felt we could struggle because of it. I think the first hour past and the skipper decided to try and catch a few Launce for fresh baits, he wasn't feathering for long when he picked up a Herring. A short time later he hooked another Herring and I then mentioned I was yet to have a Herring on my species quest, straight away he offered me the rod to try and put that right. The sabikis touched the bottom and after a couple of vigorous jigs with the rod I felt the juddering of fish, sure enough it was mission accomplished as I brought up 3 Herring. The photo was quickly taken and the fish dropped into the live bait tank for possible use later, this tiny Tarpon was species 35 and one I was delighted to cross off the list.
The skipper told us that a few Plaice had been caught the previous day once the tide had changed but as we were approaching slack water maybe we should try something different, by putting down the anchor and try for a Small Eyed Ray. Well I didn't take a lot of convincing I love all Rays and Small Eyed are one of my favourites, I've managed to land them on light tackle in the past so there was no worries there. Alan recommended using a small circle the same as I was using for Plaice with a small chunk of fresh Herring as bait. With the anchor in position and the boat now on the edge of the bank we dropped our baits, the water was deeper and clearer and it suddenly felt right for it. My rod tip rattled hard as a fish grabbed the bait, I waited, but the bite didn't develop, Paul then had a bite and connected with a nice fish that was clearly a Ray. The fish was fighting well on his light gear and having been hooked literally within 5 minutes of arriving at the spot, things were really looking positive for a fish or two.
The Ray surfaced and indeed was a nice male Small Eyed and first ever one for Paul who was rightly chuffed, I retrieved my tackle to find it baitless, no doubt down to the missed bite. As the tide continued to slacken we were both having a few finicky bites that never developed and things went decidedly quiet for an hour. Once the tide started to push again the bites returned and Paul rapidly landed a couple of dogfish, I then had a typical dogfish bite and pulled in my first doggy. The skipper then informed us that the tide was starting to push and we will need to get ready to get back on the bank for the Plaice drift shortly, we decided a quick cuppa then head for the bank. We freshened our baits for the last few minutes and my bait hadn't long reached the bottom when I noticed some gentle pulls and bounces. The sensitive rod and light braid showed the slightest of movements and I said to the skipper I think that a Ray has settled on that, a few second later the rod pulled down slowly into an arc and the fish was off and running. I picked up the rod as the fish stripped braid from the reel stopping only to shake the rod violently venting its anger. With steady pressure I managed to get the fish away from the bottom and up into the tide, once again the fish dived taking a good deal of braid, I knew this was a tidy fish but couldn't imagine what sort of Small Eyed Ray would be capable of these type of runs. Eventually the dives became short and despite the murky water the golden shape of a large Blonde Ray approached the surface. The skipper netted the big Ray as soon as it broke through to the light, quite a feat to get that big old Ray straight in. As the net was brought back over the rail, I knew instantly this was a new personal best, with my previous best Blonde Ray being 9lb. The large claspers indicated this was a male and that sort of explains the aggressive fight, this is very often the case with members of the shark family.
The little circle hook was positioned perfectly in the corner of the huge mouth and these hooks continue to impress me in a variety of fishing disciplines. The fish was quickly unhooked and weighed, achieving 20lb, WAS, weighed at sea, which clearly blew my previous best out of the water. What a wonderful, wonderful specimen to make species 36, thanks Neptune!
Once a few pictures were taken I carefully lowered the fish over the side and watched as with a flap of his wings he rolled over and downwards out of site. We then up anchored and made the short steam to the other side of the sand bank to begin the drift for Plaice. The water was once again very coloured and it was definitely effecting the fishing, I know how productive these trips generally are and we just weren't getting any bites. Then out of the blue I distinguished a slight difference in the plucks created by the ripples in the sand with a more pronounced spring around, I released my finger from the spool and allowed the braid to offer no resistance for the count of 20 seconds. I then slowly tightened and could feel that there was a bit more weight, I carefully retrieved the line and sure enough the outline of a Plaice came up towards the surface. As the fish was 3 feet below the boat I could see it was holding on to the strip of squid and wasn't hooked, before the skipper could get the net, the fish had decided that no squid is worth fighting those ugly geezers for, spat out the bait, and shot off out of sight. N0! I yelled, all day we had tried for that little bugger and there he was gone! I was so close to getting one, but that was to be our last opportunity of the day and the fishery was definitely out of sorts, I will be back in a few weeks to right this wrong.
The weather had been sublime and the sea was as flat as I've ever seen, just a shame about the murky water but how could I complain having boated such a gorgeous fish. I loved the company of Paul and Alan, and I'm under no illusions that I wouldn't have caught that fish without the help and guidance of the skipper, fact! I'm definitely going to do a few more trips out with Alan and African Queen this year, its an excellent, historic fishery, but with the added knowledge of an experienced skipper, a few not so well known gems can be unlocked. Doing this challenge I have received so much support on the water from skippers and anglers , some I have met for the first time, the brotherhood of angling is indeed a great one.
The final part of the blog refers to this weekend, and another failure, to be honest it was a shot in the dark, I was going to try for one of the few Ghost Koi we have at sanctuary, they are a tricky fish to target. The problem is twofold, firstly there are very few of them with only one in the bottom lake and possibly 3 of them in the top lake, secondly they are extremely cautious at our lakes and once spooked its pretty much over for that day. Following another morning of hard work by Chris, my dad and I we had managed to finish the fence and postcrete one of the new gate posts in position. Chris and my dad couldn't stay for the afternoon but I planned to try and track down one of the Koi. I started on the top lake and after putting in 4 or 5 broken slices of bread I soon had 7 Carp hoovering the bread up, and after another 20 minutes they were swirling on the bread at only an arms length out.
The Koi were absent at this point, but I know they are partial to mixers as opposed to breadcrust and I think its probably down to their smaller mouths. I threw out a scattering of mixers and despite the king carp gulping them down, a few had drifted into the heavy weed. Sure enough it wasn't long before I spotted a Koi lurking below the mixers.
The Koi started picking off the odd mixer away from the pack, so it was time to bait the rod, I had side hooked a mixer coloured pop up and trimmed it to a dog biscuit shape. I lowered the bait onto the surface and straight away a Mirror Carp swooped in for the bait, just as it gulped the bait I lifted it clear. The look of surprise on the carps face was amazing it clearly was perplexed why it had no food in its mouth, and swam in circles trying to locate the food item. The last thing I wanted was to hook a Carp and spook the Koi, this process was repeated no less than 10 times with a myriad of different Carp all seeming to be confused to have missed the bait. I was actually finding it quite amusing to have turned the tables on the normally suspicious fish. Finally by creating a diversion of bread further along the bank I was able to target the flighty Koi as it gained confidence picking off the dog biscuits. I lowered the little floating bait onto the surface in the area holding the Koi and crouched down.
The glowing whiteness of the approaching Koi was easy to spot and I'm sure this adds to their wariness, the fish hovered below and gently sucked down the bait. I swept the rod rapidly upwards only to see the bait fly free into the air and the eruption of the surface signalled the Koi knew it had be duped. That was it, chance over and I knew I might as well call it a day, so like the Plaice they will have to wait for another day, and when I return, that day, it will be my turn. That's another blog done, two more species in the bag, neither of which I expected at this point, but that's fishing. My target is to get to 40 species by June and with 4 species required in 5 weeks, it is achievable, if, I can get the Plaice, Small Eyed Ray, Freshwater Eel and a Corkwing Wrasse. I will of course be grateful to get anything else that should happen by, like a Haddock or Red Bream. Thanks to everyone who helped me get the species this month and thanks to Neptune for throwing me the occassional P.B to get my old legs shaking! Best wishes and rapid recovery to all stroke victims and their families.
