Golden fish & a golden child!
This weeks blog relates to the boat trip we had yesterday from Penzance aboard Bite Adventures skippered by Chippy Chapman, most will know this boat and skipper for their incredible Shark captures, including the British catch and release Blue Shark record. There is however a lot more to Penzance than just sharking, the incredible diversity of species that visit these waters makes it a sport anglers delight. The trip had been organised by Happy Danglers supremo and top bloke Nick Smith, it was booked as a species hunt which was perfect for my cause. As can be the case with trips planned in advance, there were the inevitable dropouts, leaving a couple of vacant spaces, Chris was keen to join us so that left one and with only a day to go it looked like the space wouldn't be filled. Chris then suggested that his nephew Elliot might enjoy trying boat fishing, but having only fished once before at the lakes it may be a step to far. Well it turned out young Elliot was indeed keen as mustard to get out and try some boat fishing, so with a cracking day of sun and no wind predicted we were all set. The morning was glorious and as we travelled west down the A30 the rear view towards Lyme Regis was illuminated by that ball of fire we know as our sun, however our direction was bathed in a fog bank, creating an impression of islands poking through a slate grey sea.
The fog appeared at various points along the journey clinging to the hollows like the set of a Hammer Horror movie, the higher elevations were already bathed in the suns rays, highlighting what we were too, expect throughout the day. Before long we arrived at the car park and despite leaving home at 5.45am we were still well and truly beaten by the rest of the danglers ,who were busy trying to winkle out mini species from the harbour. The team today were Pete, Nick, Dave, George, Paul, and the three of us, those guys are pretty dam good anglers so we were confident young Elliot would learn plenty, and some of it would even be useful. The skipper reversed the Cat, Bite Adventures up towards the steps and we all piled aboard with a real air of excitement, all of us having our own personal goals that we hoped to achieve from the day. Personally I was looking forward to picking the brains of these guys who I have fished with on several occasions, but they still have so many tips and advice on several of the species I still want to catch. The boat headed out from a sun drenched harbour towards a misty sea, that quickly diffused the sun and dropped the air temperature a few degrees, this was still an incredible site.
We soon punched through the mist into an area of clear sky's and the flat sea resembled the surface of an inland lake with just a solitary dolphin to create some ripple. First on the agenda was the catching of the fresh bait, as I watched Chris advising Elliot it didn't seem 5 minutes ago I was explaining this to Chris on the very same boat. The strange thing was that a memory popped up on facebook that evening, of that very same trip, and it was indeed a year ago, many breakfasts and at least one rod have passed over the side, for Chris since then, now with his own sea legs he was passing on the joys of the sport to a future angler. The Mackerel were obliging, if not in particularly large quantities, and before long we were filling the baitbox, I had tied on Sabiki's a tiny set of shrimp pattern feathers excellent at catching a variety of species as well as Mackerel. This quickly paid off as a new species was hooked and swung on board, another of the country's smaller species the Sardine, what a start 5 minutes fishing and species number 55.
With the bait well and truly sorted it was time to try for a weever fish and possibly a plaice on an area of sand and stone, this quickly produced a dragonet for species maestro and best dressed angler George. The drift was so slow that we hardly moved and that really ruled out the plaice, we did get a few of the stunning Cuckoo Wrasse and I managed a male and female in quick succession.
Elliot who had already managed Mackerel and Sardine added a nice male Cuckoo Wrasse to his species tally and despite Uncle Chris's help was doing really well, a bit of a natural I think.
With the drift not really producing the species we were after, Chippy decided it was time to head over to a tackle hungry section of reef for some mixed ground fishing. The method was a two hook rig with the weight on the bottom, this was bounced in the hope that it didn't snag in the jagged reef, baits were Prawn and King Ragworm. The action was instant and a species carnage, as most of the time, most of us were playing fish, the bulk of the fish were stunning Ballan Wrasse in the 3lb to 4lb class. The variety of colours and markings were incredible and with so many beautiful wrasse to choose from it may have been hard to pick the most handsome, but I think Chris nailed that with a red and pale blue corker.
Everyone was getting Wrasse, Pouting, Poor Cod and Pollack it really was a lucky dip to see what would appear next, exactly what you want from a species trip and it was shaping up to be a real red letter day. I then picked up a Codling just as super boy brought in the trips first and only Bass, i had to grab a quick double shot with this future legend.
That hour was probably the best wrassing I can remember, Pete, Nick and Chris tried hardback crabs to try to get through to the bigger fish clearly in residence but the baits were grabbed instantly by their smaller brethren. It was almost disappointing when the skipper announced we were off to try for something else and a quick stop for a ling awarded Nick with a nice fish and the rest of us with some big pouts. Chippy kindly took us to an area where we could try for the Red Gurnard, a species that has so vexed me on a number of trips, I know how to target them now, having had several attempts and quickly had a small strip of Mackerel dragging along the sandy sea bed below us. The rod tip rattled violently and I paid out a little line just to be sure the fish could eat the bait, the rod bounced more vigoursly as the fish was hooked, I tentatively reeled the fish to the surface and sure enough the bright red colour of the target gurnard appeared. Species 56 and more importantly the species that for everyone else was an easy fish to catch but when its something you really need it just doesn't happen.
There was a few Red Gurnard landed including a huge one to Dave in the corner, Chris managed red and greys, but so too did the golden child, but I think by now we all new he was to be top rod that day. With the gurnard caught we were once again on our way to a new area this time to anchor for a chance of Couch's Bream a stunning hard fighting member of the bream family that resembles the Red Snapper. The rigs needed to be strong for these powerful fish and 2 hook paternosters baited with whole squid was the order of the day. The area was once again snaggy and started producing Ballan Wrasse even on the big squid baits, a few strap conger were also caught. Elliot was the only person I've known to be delighted to get a dogfish, but by the second one even his admiration in the species had waned, but as this day was to be young Elliot's, he then added the only Haddock of the trip to his rapidly expanding list of species. Chippy pointed out that the area we were now anchored had produced some lovely little Rock Cook Wrasse to some anglers previously, I didn't need telling twice I really love the look of the colourful little wrasse and prepared to set up to catch one. George then offered up one of his LRF shore rigs fitted with two tiny size 12 hooks, perfect for these tiny reef dwellers. I baited the hooks with tiny sections of ragworm and dropped them down to the reef below, straight away the rod tip rattled as small greedy fish pecked frantically at the baits. Upon inspection I had hooked a couple of small Poor Cod one on each hook, I persevered with this rig in the hope it would eventually sort me that special fish. Chris had set Elliot up with a tandem hook rig, baited with worm, and after a few small rattles the rod had bent over into a heavier fish. Without any fight it was a bit of a mystery to see what species the youngster had now lured from the depths, Chris was peering intently into the water and suddenly shouted " John Dory"! Incredible Elliot had caught one of the most amazing of fish and a fish that many anglers with years under their belts had not even seen yet alone caught. The fish weighed 5lb and was a stunning creature, despite my rod having frantic tapping little bites I just had to get some pictures of the JD, so left it.
With the pictures taken and Elliot congratulated I returned to my rod, to reel in the pesky little critters that were no doubt attached to the line, I turned the reel handle and was suddenly met by extra weight. I continued to reel with the rod bent over clearly indicating something more than a couple of poor cod, I then remembered that I had a really light rig with tiny hooks on, so reeled as steadily as possible. Chippy joined me and asked if the fish had fought at all, but as it hadn't, he was sure it was another John Dory and was ready with the net, just as well as it was indeed another of these magical fish. The skipper didn't miss, getting it in the back of the net, I was stunned, what a fish for the challenge and without doubt, the most difficult to have even considered targeting. I could see as I went to remove the hook, that the tiny hook was attached to a poor cod, that itself had been eaten, by the John Dory. It really seems that Neptune himself has decided to support my challenge as this fish really is a special one and needed a large degree of luck to have landed it.
Strangely the John Dory I caught lacked the same vibrant striping of the one Elliot caught, and I am unsure if there are differences in the male and females like so many other fish species.
It was amazing how quick, rigs were set up complete with poor cod baits in the hope that a shoal of John Dory had appeared, sadly they were the only two, we were blessed with, and an incredible fish for number 57. With the wind and tide conspiring against us and with an epic day under our belts we all decided to spend the last hour gathering some Mackerel baits for future trips. Heading in we were all shattered having a fun, fish filled day, it appeared that no one had told Pete at the back we had stopped fishing as he sat transfixed to his rod tips while we skipped across the waves back to penzance.
I have to say a big thankyou to Nick for all his organising for the Danglers, and the guys on the trip for their advice and support, skipper Chippy who proved once again there's more to Penzance than sharking. The true star of the day was young Elliot who on his first ever boat trip landed 12 species including a couple of the most sort after fish in the country, he is shopping for tackle this weekend and what an angler he will become. Not sure what I will catch next, but with some shark trips on the horizon my money is on a Garfish.
