Fishing just for fun

This last week has included some of the most enjoyable fishing I have done for a while, no pressure trying to hunt down this or that, just getting out with people enjoying the sport, regardless of what comes along. The first of these grass root sorties was back down to Lyme Regis aboard Lewis Hodder's Pegasus, our initial trip Sharking, aboard Lokie out of Penzance was cancelled due to the skipper becoming ill. Skipper Kieren Faisey had for the second time picked up sepsis from handling sharks, this is a serious poising of the blood and fortunately he has recovered fully and is back in the saddle. Lewis had advertised a few spaces fishing the inshore marks which meant Bream, Conger and possibly Hounds, nothing I needed for the species hunt but I just fancied going there for some sport. Chris was keen to tag along despite going to a rock gig in Southampton the night before, he planned to drive back through the night and feast on a breakfast of redbull, washed down with lashings of ginger tea. I had opted to go light on the tackle front, to get some sport from the feisty Black Bream as for their size they really pack a punch in the power stakes. To complement my light rod and reel I also included my recently repaired LRF rod, I had managed to carryout a pretty impressive repair using the spigot and shaving the tip section down. I planned to use the LRF gear in the harbour before we went on the boat in the hope I could catch something I hadn't had yet, I was secretly hoping for a Scorpion fish or Dragonet. I picked Chris up at 6.00am and straight away realised he was going heavy with the type of tackle that gives no quarter, the two rods also could only mean one thing, he intended to fish two rods. We arrived at Lyme with plenty of time to spare and ambled down to the harbour at the start of a stunning day, the seagulls screamed like excited children only drowned out by the robotic wine of the reversing refuse truck. Lewis was sorting out the boat when we arrived and invited us aboard, the bait was included in the trip, this gave us plenty of ragworm to have a go in the harbour. I set up the LRF kit and baited the tiny hooks with small ragworm section then flicked it out towards the structure that the little fish tend to dwell amongst. It was then the rest of todays anglers started to arrive, a lady and her male friend climbed aboard and bid us good morning, they were followed by a guy and his small dog called Reg. It soon became apparent that not only was this Reg's first boat fishing trip but that he actually hated the idea and slipped his collar before legging it, the owner frantically shouting Reg, Reg REG! Chris and I found the whole think hilarious and named the comical canine Reluctant Reg. Shortly after reluctant Reg was reunited with his collar and ushered aboard with two young lads who were part of Reg's group along with their father. With the chance of a photo, of the super cute reluctant Reg, Chris whisked him from the floor and held him aloft like a prize fish, it was at this point that Reg done an amazing impersonation of Star wars character Yoda!

The two lads quickly started asking Chris an I questions probably due to the fact their dad had told them we were professional anglers, a good ploy no doubt to give him some free time. It turned out that one lad was his son and the other his sons best friend, the young lads were a real credit to their families, polite, keen and very respectful, the polar opposite of us then. They noticed the bite on my LRF rod before I did and there dad told them to stand back so they didn't impede my strike. The rod bounced vigoursly and I swept it sharply upwards only to see the tip section fold straight down with a crack, looks like the super dooper repair was pants! Still it could of been worse, there could have been an audience of impressionable young future anglers watching, even Reg winced and I knew he was thinking, awkward. I continued to reel the line in by holding the tip and butt section together and managed to land the rod snapping culprit, a Corkwing Wrasse.

The pretty little wrasse at least restored some degree of dignity and the two lads were impressed that the fish had been so powerful it broke the rod, I did have to explain that the rod had actually been repaired before, badly. With every one aboard we headed out to the reef a few miles offshore, the youngsters were keen to ask us many questions but also took a genuine interest in my charity challenge. With the anchor down the first fish started appearing instantly, the inevitable pouting and poor cod, it was just a case of fishing through them. With the scent in the area it wasn't to long before the first bream arrived, with the lady on my left landing a nice starter fish. Lewis pointed out that he had caught some nice Bass at this mark recently and maybe a large fresh bait may pick one up, although you cant actually keep Bass this year, I still hadn't had one for my challenge. Chris spotting an opportunity stated, what we shall do is chuck out his spare rod with a big bait on and take turns on it, this seemed like a good plan and pretty dam sporting of my old Mucka. Sure enough the fresh chunk of Mackerel on the bonus rod was soon taken and Chris dropped his first rod and struck the second, connecting with a Conger eel of around 15lbs. That was great and the spectators on the boat were impressed with their first sight of a writhing Conger, the rod was re-baited and once again it was quickly showing some interest. I went to position my rod in the rest for my go and heard the woosh of a strike as Chris was once again reeling in a conger of similar size, it wasn't till about the fourth conger that I realised that, what Chris actually meant by sharing, was that he would use the two rods! The good news is though I am not bitter about it, and I even took a picture of Chris playing one of the many eels he had on our shared rod!

With just the one rod to worry about I decided to get on and catch some Bream, that was what we had actually come for. I tied up a single hook running paternoster that included the Breams favourite enticer, some finest green, better known as green wool. I baited this with a whole small squid and fished it 2 feet off the bottom to avoid the pesky pout and the new combination worked a treat as I quickly started getting a few Bream.

The young lads inspired by rod hogger hodgson's antics had managed to convince Lewis to set them up to have a go for their own leviathan's, Lewis quickly obliged and before long they had some conger interest. The youngest lad was pretty soon attached to an angry Eel and while we all assumed he was making a mountain out of a mole hill, stating its really pulling, none of us expected a 30lb+ Conger to come in over the side. Welldone to both lads who both managed to get good congers, totally by themselves and they loved every minute of it, it was so great to see the joy in their young faces that angling can bring.

The lads continued to fish well all day, landing plenty of Bream, Pollack and Conger all the time looking for tips and advice to help them catch more or different species of fish. With the tide dropping off, the bites eased and Lewis signalled that we would be heading west shortly for an hour hunting Plaice. The Bream had been steady but as with any fishing you always want just one more and this was the case today, I just wanted one last Bream to finish on, fortunately my luck was in and upon dropping my whole squid the rod bounced frantically. I hooked the final Bream and relished the frantic little battle on the light gear with the fish making a number of line peeling dives, fantastic sport fish indeed.

The anchor was pulled and as we made the journey to the Plaice ground, I decided to gut a few of the Bream that had been taken for peoples tea, the two youngsters watched intensely. They asked after watching for a while if they could prepare the ones they had caught because they wanted to have caught, prepared and cooked their own fish. I found this attitude quite inspiring and once again a credit to their family's for bestowing these values on their kids, all children should understand where their food comes from and how it is prepared.

The two lads both gutted and prepared the fish they had caught and I held the spines while they trimmed them off so they didn't get injured but everything else they done themselves. They washed their hands and stated they were looking forward to cooking and eating them that evening, a fitting tribute to the fine fish I feel. At this point I think I should show the difference between the area I was fishing on the boat and the area Chris was fishing, see the below pictures ,skippers beware Chris is a messy git, just saying!

We arrived at the Plaice mark full of the usual anticipation and straight away the lads were asking what do they look like and will we definitely catch one? The first fish to make an appearance however was a Jellyfish as a giant pale shape appeared from the gloom, a giant barrel jellfish, our boat is the white dot in the photo!

I had a little tap tap on the ragworm and landed a lovely looking Brittle Star, a fragile type of starfish that can carpet the sea floor, one of the boys brought over a goby to show us and I got a quick snap of the two together.

There were a couple of nice Plaice landed including one by the youngsters, much to their pleasure, they did however return that fish, claiming they already had enough for tea. Chris and I however blanked on the Plaice front and this is a bit of an enigma on this bit of ground as its the second time for both of us. As we headed back to Lyme the couple fishing next to me all day were quizzing me about my challenge, both having been effected by Strokes in their lives, they both gave me a cash donation on the boat and I am so grateful for their support. Unfortunately unless I write names down my diminishing brain quickly forgets so I put their donation on my just giving page as the couple on Pegasus. Before we walked the great hill to the car park Chris must of suddenly remembered it was my turn on the rod and bought me an ice cream of my choice instead. Yet another great trip aboard Pegasus with young Lewis and what a wonderful group of people to spend a day with, really enjoyed a simple days fishing.

The weekend was planned to go to the lakes Saturday morning, undertake any chores and check water levels etc, the afternoon I planned to spend a few hours stalking a Koi Carp from Anglers Eldorado. Sunday was to be something different as I had been invited by Wayne Thomas and Coombe Martin Sea Angling Club to their annual fun afternoon at Ilfracombe Pier. First trip was to the Sanctuary Lakes and after checking the fence and all the lakes I noticed a group of red, white and gold coloured fish sat on the surface of the bottom lake. This was unusual as there are no ornamental fish in this lake other than 4 Koi Carp that we hadn't seen in two years. I fetched a light float set up and cast out a small pinch of bread flake directly behind the group of fish, this caused them to scatter into the murk. The float however slowly dipped and I struck to find myself attached to one of the golden immigrants, I swung it ashore and could instantly see it was a Goldfish.

I have no idea how these Goldfish got there but not sure if I fancy their chances with Mr Esox this autumn, but who knows they have survived this long. With the jobs completed It was time to head off to Anglers Eldorado and try for species number 63 a Koi Carp, I have had one this year a real beauty but as it was from France it doesn't count, but hopefully today I could get another. I picked up my ticket from the tackle shop at Anglers Paradise which was strange as I used to be a member of the Anglers Paradise 5Cs syndicate and spent many weekends at the complex. With my ticket in hand I was off to the dayticket Eldorado, upon arriving I couldn't believe how busy it was with no space in the car park and a dozen bivvy's spread across the lakes. I had only arrived with a rucksack and a new LRF rod that I was keen to try out on the hard fighting Koi. Fortunately the Koi lake is pretty small, weedy and doesn't contain any monsters meaning it was devoid of other anglers, perfect for me and I quickly picked a swim where the weed wasn't quite so dense. I fired out some dog biscuits that floated slowly on the green surface, as they reached the edge of the dense lily beds Koi Carp slowly emerged and began slurping them down.

I continued to feed the fish steadily letting them gain confidence and slowly pulling them away from the security of the lily beds. Once I felt the chances were edging in my favour I threaded on a small clear float and tied a size 12 barbless hook straight to the line. The float was fixed in position by a rubber band and gave just enough weight to cast out my hook bait, this was a cork ball threaded on the hook leaving the bend of the hook clear. I then using scissors trimmed the cork ball into a dog biscuit shape and the deception was complete, finally I cast towards the lily pad and waited. It didn't take long as a bright orange Koi sucked down an adjacent dog biscuit before turning and slurping down the forgery. The strike was met with a water explosion as the Koi smashed the surface in rage before plummeting into the thick weed, the LRF rod preformed excellently and despite the numerous weed beds the fish was soon netted. A gorgeous bar of golden Koi and species 63 in less than 20 minutes, it was so simple, yet so exciting back to basics to trick one of the smartest of fish.

With the water disturbed I moved to another area and gradually gained the confidence of another group of fish, its lovely to sit and watch these stunning coloured fish going from nervous to sparring with one another to get the free offerings in just a matter of minutes. As I sat on the grass keeping a low profile I was surrounded by a symphony of electronic wizardry as the multitude of anglers fiddled incessantly with their motionless alarms, why do they need them set so loud, they are literally feet from them in the middle of the day. Once again a Koi brought me back down from my soap box as it munched the cork ball and sped off towards another set of water lily's.

A great battle from another beautiful looking fish and I have to say with the fish of this quality on a lovely sunny afternoon with just a mobile approach this really did feel like an Anglers Eldorado. With this swim now spooked I returned to my original spot and fired out a carpet of biscuits then sat back on the soft warm grass to eat a sandwich and drink some tea. I then noticed what looked like a draft excluder, just like the ones my Nan used to have at the foot of the door, this one though was walking steadily towards me along the grass. It was a large and quite colourful caterpillar and I wished at this point I knew what it would turn into, my initial thought due to the size was maybe an Andean Condor.

Its quite incredible how much you actually do see, while your out angling and the important thing is to not only take time out to notice these things but see them as part of the whole experience. From the Kingfisher to the Storm Petral, and from the Mermaids Purse to the Caddis Larvae all this life creates the perfect environment for us to enjoy, if you prefer to stomp around with your alarms up high, squashing bugs as you go, then you are not a true angler. If however your excursions to the waters edge is enlightened due to the wildlife you have encountered then you are made of the right stuff. With the departing of my friendly condor larvae my eyes were drawn to the antics of a Moorhen on the lily's at the edge of an island, it stepped from leaf to leaf like a contestant on total wipeout, except the large footed bird hardly caused a ripple.

Now with a break in the antics of the various wildlife I was back in fishing mode as several more Koi appeared and began feasting on the dog biscuits, time to fish I think. By allowing the water to rest and feeding without casting I could catch a fish every time I tried, and that's just down to building the swim. Sure enough the little chunk of cork was soon eaten by another Koi and yet a different colour pattern although still on the orange / golden theme.

This last fish created a bit of splashing at the wrong time, as an angler from the world of stealth is what you wear not how you act, spied me netting it. Soon after two camo clad soil stompers appeared brandishing rod pods, I cringed at the thought of what my little bit of nature will now endure. Sure enough 3oz leads were hurled at the island along with copious amounts of brightly coloured boilies hitting the water like bouncing bombs. I moved around the lake as far as possible away from them and still managed to land several more smaller koi before giving in to hunger and thirst. A really enjoyable afternoon and the icing on the cake the two bods with pods caught nout!

The finale to this blog was the Coombe Martin Sea Angling Club's fun afternoon, and seeing as this was aimed at encouraging youngsters and non anglers into the sport I took the whole family along with me. Wayne had asked if id like to come along to explain my challenge and answer any questions on Strokes and also to perhaps gain a few donations. I didn't really know what to expect from the afternoon but any excuse to get the word out there and highlight the issue of Strokes while still doing a bit of fishing cant be a bad way to spend an afternoon. I was surprised when my daughter Phoebe also asked to come along and I am so glad she did, it was so nice to have my whole family alongside me fishing.

The event started at 2pm and Wayne and fellow club member Nick had arranged a few other guests to attend, two members of the coast guard and angling writer Dominic Garnett who also works for the angling trust, to promote angling. Dominic is a super guy with a ton of patience and was a joy to watch him engaging with young and old alike. wwwdgfishing.co.uk

With the event underway I soon realised that some of these kids had arrived determined to catch a fish and plenty of friendly rivalry was taking place. The lower section of Ilfracombe Pier was quickly taken over by eager youngsters and Wayne, his son and Nick were busy logging down the captures as soon as they were landed. I entered Phoebe and Matthew into the comp and set up a couple of rods with two hook rigs baited with prawn, straight away Matthews rod signalled a bite and he was in. He reeled the fish in and it turned out to be a little pouting, he was delighted to have some points on the board but as far as he was concerned that was the fishing part of the day done.

Matthew with his fascination for the emergency services then wandered over to the lonely coast guard team to investigate why they thought they needed a blue light on their vehicle. Child number two however, doesn't quit that easily and she went and caught a small Pollack, and followed this with a Poor Cod, there were plenty of bites and with a spare rod I thought I would have a go for something unusual. I noticed that fellow dangler Paul Lorimore and his daughter were fishing just up from us and it looked like she was thrashing her dad. Everyone around were having a great time and it was a case of if you saw a child wandering around with a fish hanging from their rod, you just unhooked it, re-baited and told Nick or Wayne to record it.

Phoebe then added a Pouting to her species collection and I was impressed with her angling skills although she has always caught fish, when I have ever taken her. The event was to end at 5pm and with just one hour to go I had managed a couple of small Pollack and even when they are tiny you can tell they are a sight based predator.

The aquarium people had arrived with a few buckets of sea water in the hope they could add a few of the mini species to bolster the numbers in their exhibit and I quickly obliged with a nice little Poor Cod. I then swapped to a tiny section of rubber worm which I jigged slowly alongside of the structure, I felt a few taps before the worm was grabbed ferociously. I wound in to find a new species of Goby, with the worm wedged firmly in its mouth, a quick check with the expert from the Aquarium and I had species 64 the Rock Goby, furthermore this little critter is now on display at the Ilfracombe Aquarium.

With the tide nearly at its lowest and a Cormorant waiting to pounce on any stragglers the bites dried up and the 5pm deadline arrived, we all made our way up to the top of the pier for the presentation. Wayne asked me to say a few words about my species challenge and the charity,he also had an amount of donated tackle that he said people could take if they popped a few quid in the Stroke Association box.

With my rambling out of the way the prizes were awarded and I was really proud of daughter Phoebe for winning a prize with her 4 fish catch, think I might be getting a pack of lures for Christmas. Thanks so much Coombe Martin SAC for the invite to this really enjoyable family fun event, I will try and make this a regular expedition. Thanks Wayne and Nick for all the support and for pointing any donations my way, the Stroke Association South West will really appreciate the donations.

To end a perfect family day out we called into the Dolphin Fish and Chip restaurant in the town, the meal was fantastic and I thoroughly recommend this chippy, when I went up to pay, the waitress informed me the boss had told her to knock off 10% of our bill, as we were raising money for charity. What a wonderful gesture and yet again, while carrying out this challenge I have witnessed real generosity, that I feared had gone from our country, thank you Ilfracombe. With this multifaceted blog finally coming to an end I can honestly say I have loved the last few trips, seeing the next generation of anglers embracing the sport and receiving support from so many strangers, but the icing on the cake was having the people I love the most, alongside me, and that doesn't mean Chris before anyone asks! Couple of boat trips on the horizon with the first being our very own Captain Pugwash, Andy no more cookies Howell, lets hope for an ocean oddity to appear.