Frustrating forty
As I suspected when I started this challenge there were going to be good times and bad times and reaching 39 species with some of the conditions and temperatures over the last 5 months, has been a real bonus. So when you have a run of good conditions and reports of good numbers of fish, its surely only a case of time by the water equals a result, unfortunately this isn't always the case. Social media is a great tool for highlighting what's being caught around the country, but it also creates a snowball effect, whereby reports of a certain species being caught generate enough interest that more anglers go out and try for them. This can give the impression that these fish are climbing up the beaches or banks and there's never been a better chance of getting them. The reality is that half a dozen, hard core anglers who post and fish regularly, are getting rewarded for all their time and effort, the dozens of blanks, searching out new spots, trying different baits and rigs are not highlighted just the end results. To be honest who wants to read about blanks, failures and bad luck, we want pictures of big fish being held by grinning anglers beating their personal bests, or do we? It is great to see these wonderful specimen fish and it can be so inspiring too young and old anglers alike, but at the same time it can frustrate and demoralise anglers who strive to replicate these successes. I know an excellent shore angling page, that is run by an extremely good angler who promotes the reporting of big fish, these cover the pages every week, but at the same time he has asked for reports where people haven't caught. As you can imagine the blank session reports are very rare, although there must be thousands happening weekly, I love to read them, and always give them a like, I just wish there was more of them to create a realistic picture of the true nature of angling. Its like most things you learn in life, we learn by our mistakes, so lets be proud to share them and maybe it will also inspire others. Fishing can be a great leveller and in the last Blog, I couldn't do anything wrong while Haddock fishing, yet a superb angler Sam struggled that day. You really need to take the rough with the smooth in this game, and providing its not always the rough we soon pick ourselves up and get back to it.Hopefully the above will now explain, why I've still done a blog despite blanking several times lately.
The target for species 40 was to be the Smooth hound, a gorgeous member of the shark family and an annual visitor to the beach and rock marks around the country. The Smooth Hounds come inshore to forage for the peeling crabs, although they are just as happy and capable of eating hardback crabs. I have a few boat trips booked in June that I'm sure will throw up a Smooth hound or two and I also have a trip with top shore guide Jansen Teakle in June when I'm hoping to get a new personal best. However I really wanted to get one myself for the species challenge and from the shore, I did fairly well last season and absolutely loved fishing for them in North Devon. With the target chosen Chris and I set off for a short session that coincided with a rising tide and falling light, normally good conditions from this particular mark.
The tide was at its lowest when we arrived and we had decided to travel light and use one rod and share a tripod, which was mine, as Chris's monstrosity weighed a ton another downside of saving a penny. With the rods soon assembled it was time for the bait and as the trip was at short notice I hadn't had time to pick up some of the frozen crab I have in the lakes freezer. Instead I said to Chris I will pick some up from Homleigh, a local garden centre, stroke tackle shop, when I picked up a small packet of Peeler crab I had no idea they were encrusted in precious jewels. Upon reaching the counter I was to find out that for 3 packs containing 3 small peeler crab, I would need to part with £15, I started having a Jack and the beanstalk moment, maybe they would grow into a giant peeler Crab tree! I think I even considered knocking the trip on the head, its sort of crazy to spend this money on a few baits to then go and try to catch a fish to raise some money for charity. Clearly I could stay home and give the money straight to the charity, but the same could be said for every fish I've had so far, none have been caught for free. I couldn't wait to break the news to Mr Skin Flint, as there was no way he could whittle a crab out of a bit of scrap, however he did miracously manage to find a crab in his freezer and coupled with a bit of squid would give him enough to make do.
Above is a peeler crab of such value it would not look out of place hanging from the ears of Kim Kardasian, £1.666666 recurring. I appreciate Mr Ammo and Mr Homeleigh have a lot of costs involved, with getting the crab from under the rock, packaged, into the freezer and out to the shop, and all in good condition but really £5 for 3, I think Ebenezer Hodgson is rubbing off on me. I guess at the end of the day, I could just get off my backside and go and gather my own fresh peeler crabs, but that's the price of being time deficient. Now the bait issue has been ranted about I really needed to make the most of the baits I had, and to start with I went with only £0.83 worth of crab in the hope that the Hounds would take pity on me.
The peeled crab looks irresistible, and once its bound on, surely no hound in its right mind could resist, tipped off with a nice juicy crab claw, but with plenty of hook still showing. Chris started bravely, going with his only crab, something that could have cost him dear if the bait had been lost, as my golden Crabs now had a street value of £2.50 each. The rods were cast and the instant action never materialised, so it was sit back and enjoy the ambience, Chris being ever resourceful and fearing having to purchase one of my crabs had a plan. He had cunningly brought along his prawn trap and was now going to unleash it from the beach into the sea, to ensnare hard back crabs. I must admit this was one of Chris's better ideas, its just a shame the execution was so darn poor. He loaded the mesh basket with a chunk of squid and huge rock then stood on the shoreline spinning it around like Hiawatha hunting Elk, as he launched triumphantly seaward the thin cord snapped. Chris turned and despondently remarked " well its definitely in the feeding zone", knowing full well he would never see it again. It was clear there was only going be one outcome with a rock that size and throwing it out like Thors hammer, I am sure it would have worked though. We sat silently for the next 30 minutes neither wanting to relive the nets last moments and drinking our warm beverages, hot coffee for me and excessively watered down chicken oxo cube for Chris. The rods remained motionless for an hour and Chris decided he needed to change baits to see what was out there, this normally means one thing, he wanted to catch a Dogfish to save the blank. Out of the corner of my eye I then noticed an object, just behind the surf, rise like a writhing serpent, the prawn net had returned! I pointed it out to Chris, but it had once again vanished beneath the waves, I walked down to the waters edge and scanned the surface. Sure enough I could see a dark shape rolling around on the bottom in the murky water, as I was sensibly wearing waders I decided it was safe enough to go out and try to retrieve it. I timed it so the waves were at their least disruptive and waded out sinking my arm in the direction of the dark shadow, I felt the broken chord and gripped and lifted rescuing the net from a watery grave. As I lifted the net up I could see our old friend, Blenny Henry looking somewhat dizzy and confused, now that really takes the biscuit, a species I have tried on numerous occasions to knock of the list and now I've caught him in a net!
Unfortunately the challenge is for all species to be caught on rod and line, so I took a quick picture and released the vicious little troll in the hope we will meet again in the right circumstances. Chris who was re-invigorated by the net rescue had managed to re-bait his rod with squid and was now waiting to " see what was out there". It was about now that the heavens opened up and the driving rain really lowered the temperature and if the truth was known, the morale too. The squid though had bought the expected bites, but after missing several, Chris felt they were caused by some unknown assailant and scaled down hook and bait size. This had the desired effect, as the first Dogfish was soon writhing around on the waters edge, this was followed by a second before the dogfish whisperer conceded that's what was out there. I had thrown caution to the wind and splashed out on a whole un-shelled crab to try and inspire a Smooth Hound, all £1.66 on a single hook.With just 30 minutes to go I had a sharp but short take and it never returned, Chris had a similar take on crab just before we left but again, it wasn't strike-able, so a big fat blank for me and drenched through to boot. Chris however got his net back and the standard Doggies he needs, so he can count them when he goes to sleep at night. The next trip was a solo effort and once again I stuck to methods that have worked in the past, got to the mark right on low water and fished it right through to high water.
I changed the bait every 30 minutes with whole crabs, spared no expense, in the hope that a passing fish would spot the movement of the crab settling, I cast short, long and in different directions. The afternoon was glorious, but not so much as a burping limpet disturbed the bait, and finally with much disappointment I had to concede defeat yet again. Species 40 is putting up a struggle and I feel that as far as the Smooth Hounds go, they will be relegated to a different number, but at least they are not vexing me as much as Blenny Henry who has turned up multiple times to the rods of others and latterly in the bottom of a net. Which species will move into the top 40 slot, all hopes are now pinned on anguilla anguilla the common Eel one of my favourite of all the fishes. The eel is incredibly mysterious, long lived, smart, strong and specimens, are without doubt the most testing of species. The eel with its serpentine form cannot even be classed as a marmite species, as the number of anglers who actively seek them out are probably less than 100 country wide. As one of my all time favourites, I will be delighted for the Eel to help me reach the 40 species mark, and this coming weekend I will be trying at the National Anguilla Club fish-in over in Kent. One thing is for sure the seats I will be using while eel fishing are far more comfortable than the seats for shore fishing. Hopefully I haven't disappointed to many blog readers with my ramblings which amounted to zero fish, but believe me even the greatest anglers are having them too.
