Small boat, big result

A bonus trip equals an extra blog and after a cracking day with a top bloke, I am totally shattered, early starts are becoming the norm but they never get easy. At fairly short notice good friend Sam James and I arranged a trip aboard Sam's small boat fishing a few marks in the area of the Lizard in Cornwall. The weather was forecast to be scorchio and with the predicted good tides, Sam agreed to help me try and knock a species or two off my list. When we spoke the two species that came to mind were the Plaice and the Small Eyed Ray, Sam new a few marks for both, so the targets were chosen. I got Mrs D to pick up some fresh prawns, pushing my luck with those now, Sam picked up some King Ragworm ,combined with Squid and Sandeel gave us all the options we needed. Sam was keen to leave at 7am to make the most of the day which resulted in an alarm call of 04.15 and departure of 5am, as I was looking forward to this getting up wasn't a chore. The drive down on the empty roads took 1hr 45 minutes and I pulled into the parish church carpark with 15 minutes to spare, just 5 minutes later we had loaded the little boat with all the kit. The boat lay on the shingle like a beached fibre glass whale, desperate to be pushed back into the sea.

The little cove where Sam and his family reside is quite stunning and its truly a lovely place to live, a small boat situated here is all you need to unlock a few inshore secrets. We placed the plastic tubes evenly upon the shingle and dragged the boat over them like the Vikings launching their dragon headed plunder boats. Luckily I wore my waders which allowed a good push off from the shore, Sam pulled the chord and the outboard fired first time, like captain Ahab chasing down the Great White Whale, Sam stood at the helm with a day of pressure weighing on his mind.

The boat cleared the rocky entrance to the cove and the time hit 7.01, not bad for hitting our schedule, the morning sun had not quite broken through the cloud yet it was still a beautiful site.

The first mark was a sandbank which we drifted over with Plaice rigs laden with Prawn and Ragworm, a few rattles but nothing to show for our efforts. Sam decided to travel a bit further along the coast and target another sandbank before the tide slackened right off , this drift produced no fish but in fairness we were not really moving. Time to drop the anchor and have a go for a Ray, this meant a change to sandeel / squid wraps for me and a big Bluey bait for Sam.

The sun was now beating down and I was getting hassled by a bumblebee, like a Japanese zereo it dived on me time and time again. I think the purple Stroke T Shirt in a sea of grey had pushed it over the edge, eventually the Bee spotted another boat in the distance and buzzed off with purpose. Sam's rod was bouncing and he managed to miss the first bite, my sandeel was then scoffed by a Lesser Spotted Gremlin and Sam followed this with one of his own. We prayed this was not the start of a pack attack and when Sam's Bluey bait was off again we feared the worse, the bend in the rod pointed towards a different assailant and to our relief a Bullhuss rose to the surface.

I added another Sandeel to my wrap and flicked the bait downtide away from the shadow of the boat, this seemed to do the trick as the light Plaice rod suddenly pulled downwards and wasn't stopping. I lifted into the fish and initially thought, Dogfish but the fish had been swimming uptide. When I finally made contact, the fish stripped the braid from the little Abu reel and made repeated deep dives before Sam squeezed it into the net, a lovely Small Eyed Ray, another species knocked off the list.

Its great to watch these lovely Rays swimming off when you release them, this one swam along the surface before diving sharply back to the seabed.Sam was now able to relax he had done a Stirling job on putting us on the fish and the decision to anchor had paid off, especially when Sam,s prawn bait on his second rod produced a lovely red spotted Plaice.

This was clearly the area for the Plaice and with the tide slowly starting to flood we gambled and set up for some more drifting for the Plaice. We moved back along the coast and dropped the sparkly enticing traces loaded with perfect baits, Sam had spotted fish on the sounder at mid-water and set up some feathers in the hope it was Mackerel. He had got the feathers to the mid-water level when something grabbed them, both of us assuming some form of baitfish but neither of us expected a Grey Gurnard this high in the water but there it was.

We planned to have a go for Red Gurnard later if I ever pulled my finger out and got the Plaice I needed, Sam now on fire species wise added Mackerel to the days catch with a couple of strings in quick succession.

The drifts we had done all seemed pretty poor largely down to the lack of tide, the sounder showed we were drifting slowly in an arc and not covering much ground. This is not the best thing for successful Plaice drifting but of course the man on fire Sam James proved that even a poor drift can produce if you have the skills, as he pulled in another Plaice on the prawn bait. This fish unfortunately had a body for radio and was pretty ugly for a plaice with a substance like moss growing on it, clearly it had been waiting a long time to pounce. Sam re-positioned the boat and suddenly we were sat perfectly with plenty of tide now pushing us along, the rod tips vibrating rhythmically as the weights bounced over the sand. The Plaice really had no excuse now everything was spot on, and at last a Plaice dived on my prawn bait and was safely netted. Incredibly as I was unhooking that one my second rod sprung over as another Plaice grabbed a bait, two in the net at the same time and another species crossed off the list. The first Plaice was a beauty which made the capture even sweeter and their bright red spots almost glowed in the bright midday sun.

It was time to move out to deeper water and try for another species the Red Gurnard a fish I had never had so any size would be a best. We steamed out on the now flat sea with the feeling that we could literally keep going out and fish wherever we wanted but soon we stopped on some ground Sam has had Red Gurnard from before. Within 10 minutes we moved again after both picking up dogfish, the final mark was in over 100 feet of water and Sam felt confident. I baited with a tiny slither of fresh Mackerel and Sam tried multiple baits, as soon as his bait hit the bottom it was taken by a good fish we suspected was a Haddock but sadly spat the hook halfway up. With about 15 minutes to go my rod was suddenly wrenched forward but upon lifting into the fish it seemed stuck on the bottom, steady pressure had the unseen fish on the move. Another fish that stripped plenty of line with multiple dives and eventually the light outfit won the day as a 10lb Small Eyed rolled on the surface, this fish took a tiny bit of bait on a tiny hook.

Once again it was lovely to watch this beautiful male ray swim around before descending down out of sight, a great way to end an awesome day. It has been a long, hot tiring day but I've loved every minute, and now with 43 species caught I can relax on holiday before getting back to it on my return. I cannot thank Sam James enough, he worked his socks off today and delivered exactly what we set out to achieve, great company and I really look forward to doing some more small boat fishing.