Summer's Long Goodbye - Pen Rods, Gnomes & Mullet

With autumn fast approaching, it's easy to feel the panic of summer's inevitable demise. The night's are drawing in, wind and rain are becoming more frequent, it would be easy to get disheartened. But that would be ignoring what are probably the most productive months of the year, in both salt and freshwater. In the sea, the summer species are still here and they're also being joined by the winter rabble - the whiting, pouting, cod, big pollock and herring. In the rivers and lakes, pike and perch are starting to pile on that winter weight, the cooler, clearer water putting lure fishing right at the fore of the modern angler's mind. For the opportunists out there this time of year can reap great rewards. I'm a greedy angler, the more variety the better, so bring on the autumn, lets see what we can catch amongst the falling leaves.

Two weeks ago I had a fantastic Sunday's fishing, one of those days that make the Monday at work so much more bearable, not because I caught huge fish (though I did miss one), but because of fantastic company and truly entertaining fishing.

It started with a pen rod in hand. I had entered myself into a pen rod competition and to be completely honest had forgotten about it. Sunday was the final day of the competition and an alert came up on my Facebook with interesting news, it was a species comp' and the winner currently stood with four species, a figure I knew I had a great chance of beating. I already had plans to fish with Olly later in the day, so I decided to head out in the morning with the pen rod (looking quite ridiculous in the process) and try to tempt as many species as possible. Using a heavy in-line lead and a small hook baited with Power Isome, I managed to land five species in a very short amount of time. The highlight being when a huge shoal of mackerel moved in, chasing the baitfish shoals in the low water, they're such a pleasure to watch and I managed to land one! What a nightmare it was on the pen rod too, my drag gave up on me as I tried to lift it up the harbour wall, so I ended up handlining it the rest of the way. That fish, combined with black and rock gobies, corkwring wrasse and whiting put me in the lead of the competition. I had to meet up with Olly so I left there and bought some more mackerel and ragworm from Rob's Tackle & Bait, handily open on a Sunday.

In high spirits I met up with Olly to discover we had quite a gang of us going fishing, with Shane, Louise and Zoe all deciding to give it a go. Rame was to be the venue for our angling that afternoon, and I figured I should be able to get another species for the competition too. We arrived and made the thorny and slippery descent to our favourite mark. Olly was targeting a dogfish as he hadn't caught one yet, the rest of us were just content with catching anything. Whilst we set up it was obvious there were a lot of fish in the area, fish surfacing everywhere and dark shadows of baitfish were right near the surface. Zoe, Shane and Olly all tried various lures with no success, the fish seemed a little too small even for mini sandeel lures. The bigger fish were out of casting range for LRF tackle so I encouraged Shane to use a heavier Dexter Wedge to get amongst them. Still no luck though, I asked if I could give it a go as I didn't bring my usual lure set up, graciously he said yes. After a couple of fluffed attempts I managed to achieve the perfect cast, bringing it through the swirling shoal, fish on! Expecting a mackerel I was delighted to find it was a herring, my first ever. Unfortunately it wasn't in the best of health so I decided to use it for bait. Meanwhile Olly had his first fish of the day, a small bull huss, the first of what would end up many that day. I set a rod up on the bottom with half of the herring whilst I used my pen rod to catch my sixth species, a tiny pollock. I started to try for the herring and mackerel with the pen rod, during which a bass of around four pound followed my lure right to the rocks, I doubt I would have got that in on the pen had it taken it! I was setting up another rod when my herring rod went, I had set the drag loose to stop it getting pulled into the sea but it nearly went anyway, it was a huge bite and I leapt across the rocks to hit it, unfortunately I struck into nothing, I had missed the fish. The fish must have been on for around five seconds but I was too far away to strike it properly, I was pretty gutted to say the least. I speculated it was either a decent bass or huss, either would have been very special. I moved on though and got much more heartening news through that I had won the pen rod competition. We spent the rest of the evening catching small huss and mackerel.

The biggest surprise came last though, as Olly's rod started tapping away very unlike the huss bites we had enjoyed all day. He struck into a very different feeling fish and Shane's rod went too, there was a moment of confusion until we realised Shane's had just got tangled with Olly's (leaving Shane a tad disappointed). Olly's fish revealed itself to be a couches bream! A great surprise and a new species for Olly. During the commotion of landing that fish, a wave nearly washed the net into the sea, leaving me no choice but to jump in after it! Luckily it was still on the rocks but I was soaked! After all that excitement it was time to go home, a couple of new species, lots of laughs and winning the competition. That's a good day's fishing to me.

Olly fished again the next night in a different spot and managed a small conger eel, another new species for him.

My next trip was fishing the River Culm near Exeter with Adam. He had never caught a pike and I really wanted a lure caught chub. We met up at Exeter Tackle Shop and headed to the river. At first it was a little uninspiring, with no sign of fish at all. My little plugs were getting zero attention from the chub in the water, if indeed there were any there at all. I decided quickly that pike would be a better target, certainly a fish I'm a lot more knowledgeable with. I was using my favourite Crazy Fish Vibro Worm in pink and yellow. It didn't take long to get a hit from a good fish, unfortunately in typical pike manner it shook the hook after ten seconds. It was a start though and followed that up with a smaller jack shaking the hook in similar time right at my feet.

Wanting Adam to catch his first pike I gave him my lure to try. I moved onto a red senko on a weedless hook, experimenting with American bass tactics. Adam soon had numerous hits from a hungry fish, he finally hooked it and got to experience the raw animosity of an angry summer pike. Summer pike are lean and athletic, they are certainly bulkier in the colder months but are simply much more fun in the summer, though being delicate fish at the best of times, you really have to look after them once they're on the bank, don't be afraid to rest them in the landing net to let them get their strength back. Adam's first ever pike was a great fish, at around five pounds still a jack but considering my first pike was around thirty centimetres it was an excellent start.
We moved up and down the stretch, finding that the fish were quite predictably on the bends, perfect ambush areas. I soon had a pike of my own on the red senko, only a jack of a pound or two but as it was a fish on a new technique I was pretty pleased. It was obvious that the more traditional paddle tails were much more effective though. Adam managed to follow his pike up with a decent perch of over a pound and then we had to leave. Unfortunately it was only a short trip but it's got me excited for the upcoming pike season.

The next week was spent fishing short LRF sessions when I could with Olly, Shane, Louise and Ellie. Olly managing to get even more species under his belt - long spined sea scorpion, rock goby and tompot blenny all being caught by him, he's really got to grips with LRF recently. My favourite fish of those trips being a chunky little pout and the moment, whilst reeling in a large tompot blenny, that a bass almost snatched my fish! 

I don't get to fish enough with Robbie, ironic considering he runs a fishery. We did however manage to steal a couple of hours after work one day, to try a mullet spot he's been told about. So off we went armed with our coarse fishing tackle and a loaf of bread. The spot was on the River Plym where the river floods with the tide, bringing with it large shoals of thick lipped mullet. We set up and managed to find a lot of feeding fish (not always easy when mullet fishing). They were happily taking our bread offerings and we were slightly optimistic. What happened next was quite predictable, hundreds of missed takes, frustration and heart in mouth moments, yet zero fish hooked. Then the tide turned and I knew that they can be easier to catch on the outgoing tide (in theory). Rob proved this to be correct as he hooked one, only small but we were still overjoyed to get it on the bank. A bold little thick lip, Robbie's first of the year. Try as I could I couldn't get one, but I knew with more subtle tackle and a slightly larger hook I would have a good chance when I tried it again.

The mullet would have to wait though as I had a pen rod meet to partake in. Meeting up with Age Lundstrom and friends who, particularly Ben Grout, were dressed brilliantly like gnomes! I felt quite underdressed wearing only a beanie hat pulled up gnome style, but the guys didn't seem to mind. Age had put on the whole competition with generous help from Sea View Angling Tackle Shop. The prizes were fantastic and the beautiful Major Craft LRF rod and HTO Rockfish reel I won is something I will get so much use out of. Age is a keen writer himself and will share his full write up of the events soon, so I won't get into too much detail here. Just a quick word from me to say thank you Age and Sea View for putting on such a great competition.

After the gnome-based hi-jinks, it was time to try for the mullet again. This time I was armed with a much more sensitive float and a strong size twelve hook, having found the eighteen's used before to be too small. I had picked up Ellie from work and knew we only had a couple of hours before
A) the sun would be setting, and
B) Ellie would be fed up and ready to go home.
So no pressure then!
The water was more low and clear than the session before and the fish weren't there in numbers, but they were bigger. We started feeding up the swim heavily with bread and they quickly destroyed our offerings. The usual missed takes were still in full effect, the fact you can see them taking the bait actually works against you, I find you strike too soon. So I tried my best to be patient. I waited for the float to go down before I struck and bingo, fish on! What a feeling after all the frustration and disappointment. Ellie rushed to get the net but I couldn't force it, the fish darted all over the river in front of me, taking line at will, I did not want to lose this fish. Luckily the hook held strong and it was in the net! Contrary to popular belief, the mullet's mouth is actually extremely tough, the hook was right on the tip of its bulbous lip, a hook hold like that would have pulled out instantly if they were the marshmallow-mouthed fish of popular opinion. The fish was no monster, but the combination of relief of landing one, the fantastic fight and the beauty of the fish itself, meant I couldn't remove the smile off my face if I tried. We returned the fish to the water and it obviously informed all it's shoal mates, because the fish seemed to vanish. We wondered up and down the stretch looking for them but couldn't find any in a feeding mood, this didn't bother us too much though, Ellie was keen to go home and I had caught the prize I had set out for. Proving an hour in the right place is worth days elsewhere. I can't wait to catch more.

Totals after that are:

Ben - 44 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel, Bronze Bream, Whiting, Dragonet, Brown Trout, Koi Carp, Scad, Pouting, Couches Bream, Herring & Thick Lipped Mullet

Olly - 31 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Ballan Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Sea Bass, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod, Mackerel, Scad, Couches Bream, Conger Eel, Rock Goby, Tompot Blenny & Long Spined Sea Scorpion

Ellie - 25 Species - Golden Rudd, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Corkwring Wrasse, Pollock, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Ballan Wrasse, Common Blenny, Golden Tench, Golden Orfe, Bronze Bream, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback, Mackerel & Sea Bass

Will - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Pike, Tompot Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Common Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Dogfish, Golden Rudd, Golden Tench & Golden Orfe

Shane - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel & Giant Goby

Robbie - 14 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel & Thick Lipped Mullet

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As always, thanks for reading.