Take the rough with the Smooth
The pressure has definitely eased now I hit the 40 species mark but its no good being complacent when who knows what is around the corner. Despite Mrs Ds best efforts in convincing me to relax and do something else for a few weeks, I know only to well that would involve domestic chores. Following several indivudal donations from members of the Eel club my just giving page has topped £500, I feel truly humbled by the generosity of so many people. With a big chunk of the species caught ,it is inevitable that its going to get tougher to specifically seek out the missing ones, especially while fishing reefs and wrecks.
A few weeks previously I had been in contact with Murray Collins, skipper of the successful Looe based charter boat, Swallow 2. We had discussed the possibility of getting a Coalfish for my challenge list, Murray had been getting several Coalie's during he's recent wrecking / reefing trips so there was a chance. Murray had a space this week and although the tides weren't great I was still keen to have a go so it was confirmed and the day arrived with a forecast of fine weather. I got down to looe by 7.15 and rather than pay to park I opted for the walk down from Hannafore Road, this turned out to be a double mistake. Firstly as I walked down the steps and along the river to where Murray normally births Swallow 2 I noticed it was in fact on the other side of the river, "oh bugger"! I carried on along the path and as I drew level with the boat, I could see fellow shark club mate Alex trying to sneak a Mullet out from the side of the boat, " hey Alex" I shouted, " I'm on the wrong side"! That was a pretty obvious comment and clearly Alex thought so too, as he answered with "really"! There was no choice ,I needed to carry on and walk all the way round, as I continued along the path I was suddenly met by a barrier blocking off the footway and with no way past I was forced to go all the way back. Finally having walked around the obstruction I met Murray who had driven round to pick us up, there were a few more guys on the trip in the same predicament. Great customer service from Murray saving us old fellows from the long walk, but Looe skippers are great at this sort of thing, its a consequence of mooring on a river.
Once on the boat the usual pleasantries were exchanged and we all set about rigging the rods, it was a day of drifting reefs and pinnacles so lures, and booms were the order of the day. Murray gave me as much advice as he could on targeting the Coalfish that tend to sit above the shoals of Pollack, he went on to give me a Deadly Night shade coloured artificial eel that the Coalfish had taken a shine too. The method of fishing was to drop the rig consisting of a lead weight, long flowing trace and artificial eel down to the reef then retrieve steadily up to around 20 turns of the reel, this is repeated until a fish grabs the lure and make you work to bring him up. The difference with the Coalfish was to reel twice the speed as normal and to twice the height above the reef, this equalled twice as much shoulder ache the next day. Alex had made the long walk from the other side of the huge cat Swallow 2, to pass me his own words of wisdom and also another secret eel that Coalfish love. This is the sort of support I've been blessed with while doing this challenge, Skippers and anglers alike, doing everything they can to help me get that species, that's why I have reached 40 species already. Murray fired up the twin inboards and they gurgled to life like the purring of two of the Tiger Tanks parked outside the bank in Kelly's Heroes, that surely makes me Oddball! We slowly spun around in the flooding tide only just floating and still just scraping bottom, the beautiful site of the open sea loomed. We were joined to our rear by good friend and Skipper Sharky Pete aboard his charter boat Force 10, looking dapper after her winter spruce up.
Pete was out on a similar trip and had landed a Coalfish the previous day, sharing this info with Murray, like these Looe legends so often do. We cleared the harbour and it was pedal to the metal to reach the first mark in time for breakfast, a lovely day with a calm sea probably not the best of forecasts for our type of fishing.
Small tides and flat conditions prevent the long traces required for giving the rubber eel a lifelike movement from extending out, this can lead to frustrating tangles, something I found out fairly quickly. I had started with a Portland rig, normally so good at not tangling, but even this was quickly knotted up, then a boom rig, again lots of knots and finally I went right back to basics with a 3 way swivel, which seemed to cure the problem on this particular day. Once I got everything sorted I set about the fast retrieve fishing with the little nightshade sidewinder lure, it wasn't long before it was hit at 27 turns up.
I knew this was probably a Pollack before it hit the surface and sure enough a greedy little guy had wolfed the sidewinder eel. As this was reef fishing and not at great depth the little Pollack were able to be released and he shot off back to terrorise future chunks of rubber. I managed another small Pollack before we moved to a different mark, a short steam along the coast. There were a few Pollack being caught and Murray noticed they were coughing up Sprat, the large shape showing high up in the water on the fish finder, was no doubt attributed to these shimmering shoals of Sprat. The ever industrious Murray sidled over with another lure, urging me to have a go high in the water with this Sprat Pattern lure. I was a little reluctant to change but I'm still not stupid enough to ignore a skippers advice so, on it went. I let it hit bottom and retrieved it super quick, the Fin Nor reel isn't a slouch in the retrieve stakes and as I got to 37 turns the lure was hit and the fish made a powerful dive. I secretly hoped it was the target, fast retrieve, high in the water and we had matched the hatch with the lure, surely everything has fallen into place. Murray was there in seconds, eyes scanning the depths for the glistening shape of a rising fish, "Pollack", Murray burst my bubble with one word.
As disappointing as it is, I was really looking for a needle in a haystack and the Pollack fresh from the sea is undeniably a handsome fish, so there's no complaints from me. The little sprat lure though was doing the business taking several more of these copper reef warriors before the day was out, no Coalfish showed to anyone,although Alex did wind me up with a Pollack draped in a black cloth! The trip was great and once again I got to fish with a great group of anglers, aboard a superb boat, skippered by a truly dedicated man, who put a lot of effort in, what more can you ask. Before heading home I dropped my boat stuff off at the car and headed down to the rocks to try for that blasted Blenny, knowing in my heart of hearts it is destined to be species 52! With an hour of rock hopping completed, hunger got the better of me and I decided to make tracks, unfortunately in my haste I left my cool bag on the rocks with a box of squid, baiting elastic and lucky scissors. They were only lucky scissors as I had lost them previously and managed to retrieve them from a lake, this time I fear I may never see them again, unless they turn up bobbing up and down in a chum trail.
The next effort was to be another go at a shore caught Smooth Hound, the first couple of trips after them had been somewhat frustrating and both Chris and I were determined to get one this time. We decided to go to a North Devon beach mark we now call Hooper's Hole, and as it was a glorious evening we expected it to be busy, surprisingly we were on our own. I cast out the half Spider Crab and placed the rod on the rest and knew it may well stay there for a little while being low tide. I had brought the LRF rod so I could have a go at the elusive Blenny and maybe a 5 beard Rockling at the edge of the boulders.
I had cast the scratching rig baited with fish and squid tight to the edge of the rough ground and propped the little rod in the rocks like a beachcasting mini-me, I did feel like an ageing gnome. Surprise, surprise nothing on the Blenny tackle, and eventually it was lost to the rough ground, time to return to the Hound rod. As I negotiated the tank trap boulders, managing to only slip on every third one, I spotted something shining in amongst the stones, something lost that I had found, Nemo!
I carefully picked the heroic little Clown fish up in my hand, only to find out that the Pixar favourite was in fact a Terminator, cyberdyne technology clearly visible from the damaged body! What manner of skulduggery was at play here, was nothing sacred anymore, even a childrens charater could be sent back in time, to hunt down Sarah Connor. Part of me wanted to crush the little beast, but I decided to keep well out of this fight. The hound rod was recast and upon inspection the crab bait had been sucked clean, glad I checked, Chris found a similar result upon checking his own bait. With the baits retied and back out on the sea bed it was coffee and sunset, and the temperature dropped along with the sun.
The tide was about 2.5 hours into the flood and we were still confident in getting a fish, but with every passing minute, the dark cloud of doubt consumes your thoughts, and you begin to worry about the bait, the rig or snags, Zzzz! Chris had a sharp take on the rod and I could clearly see in the glow of the sunset the line dropping slack, " its swimming towards you" I stated. Chris soon caught up with the slack line and by now the Smooth Hound was heading right, a short battle later the fish was reading for netting and I waded out and scooped her up first go. At last the fish we were after had arrived, lovely to see that first Smooth Hound of the year and this was p.b for Chris so double happy days. Smooth Hounds are a beautiful member of the shark family and I love to see them, they are also very well behaved once landed with no spines, sharp teeth or abrasive skin removing coating.
With the pictures taken it was time to release the fish back to the sea, Chris carried the fish down to the water and released the fish, the hound decided to hang around for a while no doubt confused by the headlights.
With the first hound making appearance surely it wouldn't be alone, they are after all a pack fish. Eventually after several cups of coffee and multiple laps of the rocks, the rod signalled a good bite but for some reason the fish dropped it and didn't return. Chris had decided to put out a, go big or go home bait, to try for a conger and out of the blue it started getting some interest, unfortunately the culprit got into a snag and that was the end of the rig. It was another hour before the rod was off again and this time no messing around it was a full on rip roaring run, the strike was met by the wonderful feeling of a Smooth Hound heading off along the beach. These fish are totally awesome critters and the powerful body and huge paddle like fins give them all the power they need, even the small ones don't capitulate straight away. Chris was quickly out in the surf, and done a grand job of netting the fish, we were both delighted to have got this one out of the way.
With species 41 landed I felt a little sad, I love the Smooth Hound fishing but technically I need to move on to the next species, luckily I do have some more opportunities in June to possibly catch some bigger ones. The Smooth Hound may have taken 3 trips to acquire but that only adds to the euphoria of the final capture, it was so much sweeter having both caught as we did put in a bit of effort in the end. As the fish swam off into the inky waters of the channel we decided that despite there being 3hrs of good tide left we should head home as we both had work in a few hours and some sleep is always better than no sleep. If however I hadn't got that fish, I fear I would still be there now, building rock towers out of pebbles.
Saturday was the standard work day at the lakes and while my Dad cut the grass, only breaking one drive belt, I finished the earth wire and tidied the tackle hut. This was well over due, but as I needed to get some of my kit ready for France next week, it made sense to do it at the same time. Once the maintenance duties were complete my Dad headed home while I had a wander around the lakes putting in some corn around a few of the bottom lakes lily beds. Incredible how they have sprung up in the last fortnight, it does concentrate the Tench though, so I am always pleased to see them flowering.
With the bottom lake baited, I checked out the Carp lake, and within 10 minutes had half a dozen fish fighting over the dog mixers I had thrown in, Carp are too easy and I decided to go for an hours Tench fishing instead. As soon as I had got to the chosen lily bed with the tackle there was plenty of fizzing going on as the Tench rooted around in the silt looking for more sweetcorn. It didn't take too long to get the first fish and I soon notched up 5 fish, all pristine red eyed Tench, then I hooked into a better fish and the light float rod strained as I tried to keep the fish clear of the lily pads. Fortunately the fish decided to try heading away from cover and it was game over, as I sunk the landing net, a golden glow emerged from the murky water. It was one of this lakes few Golden Tench and a real beauty, I thought it definitely warranted a few photos and a place in the gallery.
The only downside was that the super bright fish clashed with my top and would have been better with a darker background, but then I never expected this fish today. I decided to record this fish as 28B, alongside the Green Tench, as technically they are the same species. Well that's another blog over with, and a bit of a mixed bag, all the trips were really enjoyable and another species off the list. I very much doubt I will be doing another blog before I head off to France for a weeks fishing, I will of course do a blog on the weeks activities, upon my return, but unfortunately the fish don't count as they are not caught in the United Kingdom. I am putting this blog out on a Saturday night as tomorrow I need to tie Catfish rigs, and start packing the gear, what a pain this fishing debarkle is.
