Let's Talk Triggers

Let's take us back to Plymouth in August; the weather is beautiful, there's feathers being chucked everywhere and there's tropical fish in the harbour... 

It was quite possibly the worst kept secret; the fact that if you knew where to look, you could easily find grey triggerfish in good numbers. The nights are drawing in now and the temperature is dropping, so it feels like a good excuse to reminisce about those warmer days. 

The name - grey triggerfish, doesn't really do them justice.

I have to say I'm a huge admirer of the species. A fish this bizarre looking ticks all my fish geek boxes. So let's talk triggerfish and hopefully my ramble about them might provide some new information for you. Not being an expert, I have only managed to catch two so far, one in 2017 and one this year. This year they seemed much more numerous though, making me sure if I had targeted them more I would have had a few. I will talk about that a bit later in this blog, but first a bit of background on this species. 

My first ever trig'

Summertime in the South-West brings with it so many things, hoards of tourists, unpredictable weather and a large variety of fish species. One of those species is obviously the grey triggerfish. Triggerfish are more commonly found around the West Atlantic but, as with so many species, the Gulf Stream has carried them over to the Eastern side too. A warm water species, the relative cool of the British Isles doesn't appear to be ideal habitat for them - global warming, it would appear, is making a rapid change to that. Over the last thirty years our local average water temperature has increased by nearly 1.5 degrees Celsius; a considerable margin and enough to encourage subtropical species like the triggerfish here every year.

The 'trigger' fin on full display, the fish can use this to lock itself in snags and holes in the rocks.

Plymouth isn't the only place they frequent; Chesil Beach is probably the most reliable mark in the country for them. Any wrecks along that beach being a fairly sure bet for finding one. There is also evidence, mainly from dead triggers found on beaches, that they travel as far north as the west coast of Scotland. Where these fish come from isn't well researched, I am certainly curious. My theory is they get their spawning done in warmer waters during spring, then let the currents take them to our shores. Whether or not they do this as a migration, returning every year, or that they simply come here by mistake and die in the winter, is up for debate. Not being a marine biologist, I'm not in the position to answer. The fact that so many triggers are found washed up after the first winter storms, certainly adds credence to the mistake theory. It makes more sense to me though, that lots make it back safely, to make the journey again. Which would be why we find them turning up at the same marks year after year.

I found this image on https://www.glaucus.org.uk/Triggerf.htm which is full of interesting sightings, it would appear the majority of trigger deaths are for fish that stay into December. 

So what do they feed on here? Triggerfish are methodical predators and scavengers, feeding on crustaceans and shellfish by investigating the rocky seabed and walls, finding their prey and crushing their shells with their incredibly strong mouths. Their teeth are very tough but their mouth is small in relation to the size of the fish. This has given them a deserved reputation of being 'bait stealers' (in this trait they remind me of goldsinny wrasse and they feed in a similar way, just on a much larger scale). It would appear that one of the easiest ways to tell it is trigger's attacking your bait/lure, is to find clean but small chunks taken out of it. Not even ballans are as strong-jawed and a trigger will rarely leave bite marks like a wrasse, they just take full chunks away.

In Plymouth the majority of the triggerfish are caught in areas where you expect to find wrasse, this makes sense as they share a similar diet. You can certainly expect to catch a lot of wrasse whilst fishing for them and that isn't really a hardship! Harbour walls at high tide, or deep water marks at low tide seem to produce the most consistent fishing, although they are far from common. From the evidence I have seen, they are a fish of habit. They will stay localised until either fishing pressure puts them off, or they run out of food items. If you are lucky enough to see one naturally in the water, you will notice it swims almost nonchalantly, gliding slowly and effortlessly. Never underestimate them though, when they want to use that big tail, they are capable of bursts of great speed. Something that may surprise you when you hook one.

That streamlined dinner plate shape cuts through the water with ease.

Bait choice is simple, use what they eat - crabs, limpets and worms, but it would appear that the majority are caught unintentionally on slivers of mackerel or squid. Whether or not this is due to mackerel being the most commonly used bait in the summer, or an actual preference from the species is up for debate. It does set them apart from wrasse though, as ballans do not seem so keen on fish baits.

My second trigger, caught this year on ragworm.

Lure choice is simple too, use as scented a lure as you can find. A section of large Gulp Sandworm appears to be a favoured choice but I am convinced a small crab imitation would also do well - something I wish to experiment with in future. I caught my first on the all conquering Ecogear Aqua Shirasu. I know anglers who have caught them on Isome worms too. The key element here is attraction by smell and taste. These fish don't seem to want to chase prey, they inspect and nibble so a flavoursome lure is vital. They aren't stupid though and when I could see the fish, I witnessed them ignore my lure repeatedly. I believe this was because these fish had already been under pressure from anglers, leading them to be overly cautious - more on that in a moment.

Technique and tackle wise, I can only go by my catches. Both times I have caught them I was using a light size 10 Decoy Rocket Jighead. I used my trusty LRF gear rated to 7 grams, six pound braid and four pound fluorocarbon leader. If they are in close I think you are doing them a great disservice by catching them on heavy gear, although having a bit of strength to bully them is helpful. You are definitely better off using a long-shanked hook or else you are very liable to be bitten off, don't go cheap and you should be fine. I do, as always, recommend using a pair of pliers to 'de-barb' your hooks though, just in case you are bitten off, at least then the hook can easily fall out. Personally I don't see the need for a wire trace when fishing for them, just strike early and the hook should set well in the thick lips or just behind the teeth

Some serious dentistry! 

It's worth telling the story of my first trigger, as I felt as overjoyed as I did guilty. 

I would love to say it was all my doing and on pure fishing brilliance alone I caught it, but that wouldn't be the truth... 

I was actually fishing next to Simon Kingdom (owner of the brilliant Osborne & Cragg tackle shop) who was targeting them specifically. The large piece of drop-shotted gulp he was using was getting absolutely shredded, so he went to replace it. I (shamefully) figured it was worth a drop into the spot he was fishing, using my favourite pink Ecogear Shirasu. Instantly I got strange bites and then struck into a decent fish. My rod bent in two as the fish put up a great scrap. A few moments later the trigger came to the surface! Simon graciously netted it for me and I could have jumped for joy. My top target for that summer - my first ever grey triggerfish, achieved. Lucky enough Simon is the forgiving type and also a top-notch angler, catching his own a couple of days later from the same spot. I breathed a sigh of relief when he did!

My 'stolen' fish.

Simon with his well deserved fish, caught on Gulp Sandworm.

The second came this summer, the day before, myself and Scott Dyer had walked around Sutton Harbour looking for one. Scott had already caught one while I was away (looking on quite enviously) in France on holiday. As we peered over the edge we saw at least six of them, cruising just under the surface casually. Tried as we might we couldn't tempt one to take a lure of any kind, they looked like they had wised up. 

Scott with his trigger, caught on red Isome

So the next day I agreed to meet Scott at the same spot, bringing Ryan Goudie along for the ride. Ryan wisely persuaded me that bait was the best option. With a jighead baited with ragworm we tried again. Yet still they wouldn't be fooled. I started chucking small chunks of worm to one on the surface. The fish started confidently munching the freebies. I used this confidence to sneak my baited jighead in next, instantly it attacked the worm. I waited until I saw the jighead enter it's toothy mouth and struck... All hell broke loose! The fish shot off at breakneck speed, my reel screamed. I just managed to stop the fish burying itself in weed when it shot off again. It took another two runs before it came to the surface, a real dinner plate of a fish. Ryan landed it for me and I shook his hand in delight. After a rather indulgent photo-shoot the fish went back. That same evening, Ryan caught one of his own and Scott lost one as it snagged him up. Both of their fish fell to half a peeler crab. The ferocity in which they tore apart the crab, made it clear that is the number one bait for them. 

Ryan's fish wolfed down half a peeler crab in seconds.

I didn't go back to target the triggers more, mainly due to word getting round quite rapidly they were there. It meant the spot was almost always full with anglers, so I was quite happy with my singular fish. It will be interesting to see if any of them turn up in angler's catches during the autumn. If not then there's always next year. Hopefully this has been of some interest to you. I have done a fair bit of research on this fish and I really wanted to collate that in the form of a blog post.

As always thanks for reading and check out my Instagram and Facebook pages - search benbassettfishing.

Light Metal Fishing

There are few types of lure fishing that feel as simple and pure as spinning with metals. The act of casting out a shiny thing with hooks in it, yet somehow persuading a fish it's food, has fascinated anglers for generations. In the end it's a piece of metal: no frills, no scent, just a fish catcher. But that's not always the case is it? There's so much more to the world of jigging and that's what's had me fascinated recently.

The ol' stinky snake! Tempted by a Majorcraft Jigpara.

As with every fishing technique, I'm no expert and that's always a pretty fun position to be in. You can never stop learning and the finish line should always be moving further away from you, all the time setting new goals. My first experience with lures was with a small spinner, targeting perch. We would catch hundreds of little 'stripeys' on my local river as a kid. It kicked off a love affair of fishing with artificials; although I couldn't have guessed how intense that love would get in my adult years! Since then I have gone from dabbling with lures to being completely obsessed, as you can probably guess if you have read any of my blogs over the years.

Schoolies are great admirers of all things shiny.

That brings me to metals, being a keen LRF'er I'm mostly talking about small, metal shore casting jigs up to around 7 grams. These range from cheap £1.50 Dexter Wedges to over £7 for something by Shimano or Xesta. Now what you fish with is your business, unfortunately my inner tackle tart is easily tempted and ouch, my bank balance does feel the burn! Do more expensive lures catch you more fish? Probably not but they sure are pretty. I digress though, the point of this little blog isn't to persuade you to buy fancy lures, it's to talk about the different techniques I enjoy and the variety of fish species I catch on them.

The scad were everywhere that evening, smashing the lures on the drop.

Probably my most successful, is also the simplest: the cast and retrieve. By this I mean casting out your lure, letting it sink to the required depth and straight retrieving it back with pauses and lots of twitches. There are few pelagic fish that will ignore a metal whizzing past their face seductively. As with pretty much all my spinning (I use that as a blanket term for fishing with metal lures but it's not my favourite), I prefer not to use a solid tip rod as I get far more action from a tubular model.

When you think metals, you can't help but think mackerel. I just can't understand why you would ever use feathers to catch these incredible fish.

The next is the classic sink and draw. This where you cast out, let the lure sink, then reel in the slack, then let it sink again, reeling in the slack and repeating, lifting the rod as you retrieve. This provides bites on 'the drop'; essentially as the lure flutters down a fish snaps it up. This can be a killer with species like scad and mackerel. For garfish, I like to use a shallower, slower version of this where I don't let it sink as long, so it's constantly fluttering up and down on the retrieve. They will hit it on the drop and hopefully you lift into the fish and strike, in theory...

Assist hooks can boost your catch rates, especially when scad are hitting the lures on the drop.

By far my favourite though, mainly because I don't get to do it that often, is the 'bounce along the bottom'. This is so simple and is just as it reads. You find a mark that is pretty snag free, let the metal hit the bottom then either straight retrieve it across the sand, hopefully leaving an intriguing dust trail in your wake. Or, even better, add jumps, pauses and twitches to this, bouncing it up so predators can see it flutter back to the bottom. Little flatties cant resist this technique and you will likely catch other sand dwellers like gurnards too.

Little turbot are as pretty as they are ravenous. Use small skinny metals for these guys.

This is all nothing new, but it hopefully might inspire you to cast out a metal or two next time you are out. As we move into October and November, the fishing can be slightly harder but the fish tend to be bigger; and those big fish love to be tricked into munching a piece of shiny steel.

My fishing buddy Richard Salter (check out his YouTube channel HERE) caught this lovely tub gurnard on a cheap 6 gram Fladen Mini Jig, just going to show you don't need the expensive lures to catch beautiful fish.

If you want a little more information, check out this video made by Weymouth LRF wizard Andy Mytton. It covers a lot of really interesting techniques and tackle.

For anybody interested, my recommended LRF metals would be, in no order:

Majorcraft Jigpara Micro Jigs in regular and slim

Shimana Soare TG ACE

Xesta After Burner Mini

HTO Fugitive

&

The classic Dexter Wedge

.


As always thanks for reading and check out my Facebook and Instagram pages if you haven't already, search benbassettfishing.

Back To School

On Tuesday night I had an impulsive drive to go fishing. The kind of impulse it would be foolish to ignore, especially with the knowledge that a few of the regular LRF faithful were out too. There had been lots of talk of schoolie bass around recently and I didn't want to miss out. What followed was about the best fun you can have in a hour with your clothes on, topped up with excellent banter and some wise teachings by our very own LRF Gandalf, otherwise known as Maurice!

I'm not ashamed to admit when I'm cashing in on other people's hard work, the guy's had already put the graft in that night and found the fish. A quick message to Joe had confirmed everyone had caught so far and I was welcome to join. No self respecting angler can refuse that offer. I arrived to find that Simon, Kieran and Maurice were there too, which was a pleasant surprise. After five minutes of catching up and spinning the yarn it was time to get to business.

I've recently bought a couple of packs of the two inch Crazy Fish Vibro Worms and I was eager to try them. Mounting one on a three gram Savage Gear Darting Jighead it looked excellent in the water. Using a bright luminescent yellow colour I was very confident I'd at least get hits. It's worth saying how fantastic this range of lures are, they are heavily scented with squid, are ultra soft and have an incredible movement through the water. I can't recommend them enough.

My first few exploratory casts were near Joe and he managed three fish in just a few minutes. It was great to hear his drag start screaming off as these spirited little bass ran off. I had a couple of hits but missed them, to be honest I was paying too much attention to Joe's escapades. It was obvious the fish were stalking about underneath the pontoon and boats in front of us, accurate casts near these features were producing hits regularly. Finally a cast produced a fantastic run of my own, the fish aggressively trying to shake the lure out. Fishing in fairly shallow water meant it could only do one thing - run. This led to lots of line being taken for such a modest fish. Joe had also managed to hook one at the same time as mine. We landed them both together, creating a great photo opportunity and one of my favourite photos I've taken this year,

The fishing really took off from there, every few casts brought a fish in a hectic twenty minute spell. With the right setting on the drag you can get such an entertaining fight from these fish. The takes were quite interesting too, you would feel more of a weight then a classic bass smack. I presume this is because of the slow retrieve and the fish engulfing the lure in it's large mouth, so that by the time you feel the hit the fish is almost already hooked. By the time Simon came along to join us I had had ten. Unfortunately his arrival seemed to lead to all the fish disappearing, something we took great pleasure in letting him know! We moved back down to where Maurice and Kieran were to find the fish.

Maurice was still catching fairly consistently, it was time for us to go to school and listen to his teachings! His theory is that, just like fly fishing at night, you use a dark lure for dark skies and a bright lure for (you guessed it) bright skies. Simon had changed over to a darker lure on this advice and quickly caught a fish. Never argue with the LRF wizard! Although I had my final fish of the night on my bright Vibro Worm, probably just going to prove that schoolie bass will smash anything given the chance!

Overall I was only out for just over an hour and a half, catching eleven schoolie bass, all averaging around a pound. It was excellent sport in great company, definitely whetting my appetite for the upcoming LRF competition.

Enjoy your fishing everyone and thank you so much for reading, apologies for the lack of photos on this one. Night time fishing and quality photos are not great bedfellows!

Please check out www.fishingtails.co.uk for up to date fishing reports and articles, including some by myself.

You also find me on Facebook and Instagram by searching: Ben Bassett Fishing

Saluting The Shanny

When it comes to maligned fish species, the common blenny or, as it's commonly known, the shanny, is certainly on a lot of angler's lists. These fish are plentiful, small and bait stealing. Yet isn't it time we looked at them a little differently? Appreciated them for the aggressive, tough as nails fish that they are? Today, I'm in the shanny's corner, fighting the good fight. Hopefully you will humour me as I do.

Firstly, it's definitely worth clarifying what is a shanny? The shanny is a member of the blenny family and is one of the most numerous fish species in the inter-tidal zone (the area that is revealed at low tide then covered at high water). It is most commonly confused with the tompot blenny and the various goby species. The easiest way to tell apart a shanny from a tompot is that the tompot has two protruding tentacle like structures above it's eyes, the shanny does not. The tompot also grows larger and is generally more stripey, usually a deep red to brown colour. The shanny is a lot more uniform in colour, either grey, brown or black with speckled markings all over. They are both scaleless and quite slimy, with tall guinea pig-like heads and large eyes. Their dorsal fin is long and runs the entire length of their bodies. Gobies on the other hand, have much flatter heads, a distinct dorsal fin and tiny scales.

A shanny in classic mottled colouration.

A tompot blenny, a much more heavily set fish.

The shanny is an incredibly tough species. It has an impressive ability to remain out of water for hours, as long as it remains damp. This obviously gives it a huge advantage in shallow rockpools and harbours that dry out, all it has to do is find a safe crevice to hide in and wait for the water to return. Their teeth are needle-like and strong, they are true opportunists: eating fish remains, worms, small crustaceans and even barnacles. Being a territorial species means they do not leave their favoured area much, so eating whatever appears in front of them is a sensible tactic.

A large male shanny in full mating colours - dark body with red eyes.

Their opportunistic nature is exactly what makes them so easy to catch. These are a fish that do not have the choice to be fussy, so any bait of any size is fair game. Quite often they are competing with their neighbours too, when this happens they come across as suicidal! If you are targeting a larger species, this trait can be a frustrating one. It's easy to imagine a group of shannys whittling your expensive bait down to the bare hook. Yet if you are struggling to catch, the shanny can be a saviour. Yes, they are small, with an almost non-existent fight. They also will happily bite if you get your fingers too close! But they are also a rock solid, classically British warrior of a mini-species. Always there no matter what the weather, attacking what ever lure or bait you place in front of them, for that they get my respect.

A small shanny, greedily gobbling up a ragworm bait.

There's one last reason why personally, this fish has a special place in my heart. When I was much younger I would visit my grandparents in Looe. I already had a huge passion for angling at that point, but my love was directed at coarse fishing. My Gramps would take us down to the quay at high tide to go crabbing. Obviously I scoffed at the crabbing lines and brought my cheap and very light coarse rod, along with tiny hooks and split shot. My Grandad would point out the shannys peeking out of the harbour wall, snatching at the fish entrails left by the crabbers. I would take a tiny piece of either bacon or mackerel and lower it down the wall, the shannys would shoot out and attack it. It was the simplest form of fishing I'd ever known, yet it brought me such joy. To hold such bizarre and alien looking fish in my hands, surrounded by family, gave me some of my best childhood memories. Little did I know that over seventeen years later I would be repeating the trick, just this time with artificial lures and high tech tackle instead.

Enjoy your fishing everyone and thank you so much for reading.

Please check out www.fishingtails.co.uk for up to date fishing reports and articles, including some by myself.

You also find me on Facebook and Instagram by searching: Ben Bassett Fishing

Reflections & Resolutions

Congratulations everyone! We survived the quite murderous 2016.

Regretfully the Fish Challenge is over and it's time to move on to new challenges, new fish and new adventures. Over the next year I will be changing the format of the blog, to become less of a diary and more of a sharing platform for thoughts and ideas. The inevitable target for an aspiring writer is to get their work published and printed, so I won't be sharing everything I do. I want to keep the blog fun and interesting, so will use it for the ideas and fishing sessions that are more in that vein. It's impossible to close the year out though without looking back on the Challenge itself and a few lessons learned..

It's vividly clear that as the year went on, I was the person taking the Challenge the most seriously. This being mainly because my passion for fishing is bordering on addiction! But both Olly and Ellie finished with totals most anglers would be proud of. A large number of the species we all caught were brand new to us all and although they were not all large, the variety on offer in British waters is staggering. Personally it's given me a whole new viewpoint on the angling on offer in the UK, making it all the more clear how crucial it is to protect this wonderful abundance we have on our doorstep.

A year ago today, I had little experience of sea fishing or LRF. I now consider myself an adept and faithful convert to the salty cousin of my traditional rivers and lakes, There is still so much to learn and hundreds more species to catch. That is what keeps us all coming back, pitting our wits and newly discovered techniques against our scaly quarry.

Though I could type on for ages about my favourite catches of the year (there's quite a lot!), it's worth saying the memories I will treasure fondest will be the times spent fishing with friends and family. Whether that be soggy trips to Somerset canals or sun drenched Cornish cliff descents, the act of angling can be a fantastic excuse to bring people together. It's important to remember that when you find yourself taking it much too seriously!

It's worth reiterating a previous point on social media too. Too often it is used for negativity and the darker side of the human psyche, when it is supposed to be a tool for connection and friendship. I have luckily experienced the more positive side of it this year, meeting talented anglers who I now consider friends. The Plymouth LRF group on Facebook being a key component of this. It's also allowed me to share my experiences, thoughts and ramblings to a vast number of people. So it's not all doom and gloom.

I would also like to give thanks to Simon Kingdom at Osborne and Cragg tackle shop, not only for running such a friendly and helpful business, but for putting on fantastic competitions and being overall very generous with prizes, hoodies(!) and knowledge. I also have Andrew and Pamela Copley to thank for providing such a fantastic prize for the pen rod competition, put on by the ever reliable Age Lundstrom. The Majorcraft LRF rod I won in that competition is quite possibly the finest I've ever used, it's tackled everything from the tiniest gobies to seven pound pike, it's a stunner of a rod and will see plenty of action of the next year.

Finally, there was one late entry last month for the Challenge, myself and Shane set out to catch some pike at a local reservoir. To be honest it was seriously tough going but Shane was great company as always. He also managed his first ever brace of esox lucius, only small jacks but his eighteenth species of the year, his final total.

So after 365 days, the final results are:

Ben - 51 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, Chub, Dace, Bleak, Garfish, Sand Goby, Flounder & Poor Cod

Olly - 34 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, Minnow, Bleak & Garfish

Ellie - 27 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, Goldsinny Wrasse & Sand Goby

Shane - 18 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, Dace, Bleak, Minnow & Pike

Robbie - 15 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel, Thick Lipped Mullet & Pike

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


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Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.

As always, thanks for reading

Bitter Winter LRF

Lrf is by definition a simple form of fishing. A collection of techniques that make for generally high catch rates. Like most elements of angling though, this is only half the story. The last couple of weeks and the final day of the Osborne and Cragg LRF competition really hammered this thought home.

Almost anybody can put bread on a hook and catch a roach or rudd, yet only a dedicated and passionate few can say they've ever caught one of those species at specimen weights. The same idea applies to LRF species hunts. Knowledge of variables like tide, light levels, season and of course location, can be crucial and make the difference. As I get to know various local anglers (we all know fishermen are famously chatty characters), it occurs to me how much there is still to learn and how much knowledge you can share. Over the course of a competition this knowledge really bears fruit.

In the competition just finished, I started well. The weather was relatively warm and calm for November so my summer experience still held up to scrutiny, yet the last two weeks my catches tailed off dramatically due to the conditions. I still felt I was fishing well technique-wise but I was barely catching anything. It's worth saying now that I didn't get out half as much due to gale force winds and freezing rain, yet other angler's were still out there and catching. It was clear to me that I was in uncharted waters so to speak, my know-how being almost entirely formed this year in fairer weather. It wasn't particularly inspirational fishing I'll admit!

Although it was difficult, there were some highlights and lessons learned that made it worthwhile. A nice pollack showed up during a wrasse hunt and gave me a serious fight on light tackle. I also had an interesting day with Adam in Exmouth chasing scorpion fish (whilst taking a few photos of the local dinosaurs), we had three altogether and my beautifully grumpy fish brought a massive smile to my face. I really do love these aggressive mini-predators. A key piece of knowledge being that the fish move in on the first flood of the tide, feeding heavily as they go. Behaviour I knew of but had not seen such clear evidence of before.

The day after was the final day of the competition, I knew I had no chance of winning but I had to finish with a flourish. I went down to Mount Batten for one last crack at a wrasse. The weather was beautiful for November and I felt really positive. After casting around a few likely areas with a texas rig, I had a few small hits but then, on the drop, that satisfying solid weight of a decent wrasse. It didn't dive like a summer fish, the water being frigidly cold, but it gave a determined and dogged fight all the way to the shore. After all the frustration and failure it was such a relief to land it. The fish was worth the wait too, the classic ballan colours, deep reds, purples and prettiest of all, azure blue spots. Number thirteen in the competition... finally!

I moved onto the pier itself in the hope of a bonus anything, but as expected, only the shannys were interested in my lure. I did have the pleasure of fishing with Joe May briefly, who was on a few species more than me. He had some humorous stories to tell as a competition regular and was going to be out all night to try and catch the leader, Glen Triscott. I had other less fishing based plans but with one last mark on my mind.

I made my way to Devonport to fish the pontoon, a venue I very rarely fish. With the light on the water and the Tamar proving productive recently it was worth a cast or two. The pontoon itself was full of fishermen, so I decided to fish the right hand side under the bridge. It didn't take long for the pollack to find me. Tiny little bronze monsters jumping on my lure almost every cast. It was entertaining if nothing else. Trying different depths in the water (whilst avoiding the horrifically snaggy bottom) I managed to snare a tiny pouting, my fourteenth species. Subsequent casts could not find anything new though. It was time for me to concede, content with a more respectable total.

I learnt a lot from fishing the competition. Mostly that winter conditions can make LRF painfully difficult at times, testing your resolve. As long as you can be patient and really try to understand your target species, it will still be completely worth the frozen fingers and dripping nose! 

Journeyman LRF

I've been here, there and everywhere recently. Fishing a lot but without truly having a full day's session. This is the reality of modern life combined with winter weather, those days you are free have rain beating the windows, the days that are calm you have work. It's up to the angler to find the precious hour or two needed to catch fish. With week two of the LRF competition over, progress has been slow, madly frustrating at times, but also productive.

I mentioned in my last post a desire to target corkwring, ballan and topknot. With this in mind and two hours to spare, I decided on Mount Batten Pier. It was a typically blustery day with the south facing (and most productive) side difficult to fish. The water clarity was good though and by fishing a slightly heavier dropshot set-up. it wasn't too difficult to discern bites, of which there were many. I love the pier when it is like that, every fish in the area seems intent on finding your lure, it can be fantastic sport. Though I will concede the majority of the bites were the resident aggressive shannys!

After about fifteen minutes of the tell tale 'lift' bites from the shannys, I had a proper knock, then another, on the next I struck into a wrasse. It's such an excellent feeling to hook a wrasse after endless blennies and gobies, the power is in a different class. You really have to watch them too as they try to dive into the boulders below, light braid is so delicate in these situations. I could quickly see it was a corkwring, one of my target species. As I landed the fish, I turned around to find I had gathered a small audience of women, who couldn't quite believe the colours on a fish from our waters. With the usual question of ''are you going to eat that?'', I returned the fish back to the boulder filled depths, quite uneaten!

I struggled to find any other wrasse after that and decided to try the much calmer opposite side. It wasn't long before I was catching pollack after pollack, no real size to them, but enough to keep the spirits up as I searched for other species. In a deep hole and after many missed takes I managed a nice tompot blenny, certainly the more exciting of the blenny species, but not a species I needed. I moved on and found another likely looking crevice. To my surprise I had a big take and hooked into a fish that was certainly no blenny. It stayed deep briefly and I figured it was a small wrasse, as it surfaced I was surprised to see it was a poor cod. A complete first for me and my fifty first species of the year.

If you don't know what a poor cod is, it is aesthetically very similar to a pouting. The main differences being that the poor cod is a more bronze fish and sheds it's scales very easily. It's also slightly longer than a pout and doesn't grow quite as large. I was a nice result. Unfortunately it attracted the attention of two, I would say slightly novice, anglers who proceeded to cast over me in hope of fish. The rudeness of these two is sadly quite common on this pier, it gives us all a bad name. I moved up slightly and used the opportunity to speak to an angler on the end. He was catching garfish and supplied some excellent conversation, cancelling out the two idiots further down. With my time up and two more species ticked off, I headed home.

As I mentioned before, most of my trips have been very short. Trying to take opportunities as they come. I won't write about the less productive ones, but we've all been there, when gobies and pollack have been thankful blank-savers. It's safe to say I've had a few of those recently!

Me and Ellie planned months ago to have a few days away in Bristol. Somehow I managed to persuade her that we could go via Weymouth (a two hour detour). I've heard great things about this harbour and have been looking for an excuse to fish it. We had a full day free and both were looking forward to giving it a try. The A38 had other ideas. Just before Newton Abbot we found a wall of traffic stretching as far as we could see. The road was completely closed and we were forced on a major detour around Newton Abbot in stop-start traffic.

A full two hours later than we planned we arrived in Weymouth, not quite as chipper as expected. I parked up quayside and watched a cormorant wolf down a small flatfish. A good omen perhaps? The tide was going out but bites were not hard to come by, though I quickly found out the harbour was full of tiny sand gobies, not a fish worth travelling four hours for, but at least a new species for Ellie. As we searched I did manage a small whiting, my eleventh species in the competition. The pier was full of anglers so we couldn't make the most of that, which was a shame and things were looking a bit glum to be honest.

We stopped into the Weymouth Angling Centre for some advice. Quite shamefully I had ignored the stretch almost right next to my car, we were informed that was a great spot for LRF. With a fresh packet of Power Isome (in medium pink, my favourite), we fished the previously ignored mark. It started slow so I tried casting out into the main river, right by the bridge. Straight away I started catching palm sized whiting, these fish put up a real fight on the incoming tide. Confidence was renewed but the weather tried to quash that. It hammered it down! A spell of freezing rain cutting right to the core of us.

Despite the weather and now impending darkness, we carried on. In between the wall and the pontoons I found plenty of fish, mostly black and rock gobies with the occasional tompot. I couldn't find anything new though and I also couldn't bring myself to test Ellie any more. She had been incredibly patient but even I wasn't enjoying it anymore in those conditions. It was time to head to Bristol, though I'm looking forward to trying Weymouth again with more time and fairer weather.

I had one more short session on return from Bristol after a ballan. With the tide low I headed to Heybrook Bay to fish the rock gulleys out there. I managed to hook two and lost both! I have never struggled with this fish before, yet I can't seem to land one. I think a dedicated session with calmer weather is on the cards, if that weather arrives. As I write now the wind and rain is battering the house! I did manage a nice giant goby that day though and missed one twice the size. They are truly the most aggressive mini-species out there, if only they were more common.

I headed to Millbay afterwards and bumped into Frankie Costello who was out fishing for the competition himself. It was great to finally meet such an active and popular figure in the local scene, living up to his reputation with fine conversation and lots of interesting information. Quite to the detriment of my fishing to be honest as darkness set in pretty quickly. I tried for scad afterwards but couldn't find any in the usual spots. The water being coloured up by the rough weather was my excuse to myself as I headed home.

That leaves me on eleven species so far in the LRF competition. Still many more out there to catch, let's hope for finer weather.

Ben - 51 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, Chub, Dace, Bleak, Garfish, Sand Goby, Flounder & Poor Cod

Olly - 34 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, Minnow, Bleak & Garfish

Ellie - 27 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, Goldsinny Wrasse & Sand Goby

Shane - 17 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, Dace, Bleak & Minnow

Robbie - 15 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel, Thick Lipped Mullet & Pike

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


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Half A Century Of Fish

Week one of the Osborne & Cragg LRF competition is done, just three more to go and the weather is turning quintessentially November-like. So how am I getting on?

The first morning of the competition was a bit of a failure to be honest. Although I did manage a goldsinny wrasse at West Hoe Pier, I was hoping for a garfish, but the tide was receding and so were the fish. There was a small highlight though, my first sand goby, an absolutely tiny fish but a new species, taking me up to forty nine and two in the LRF competition.

My next trip wasn't LRF related, instead I was joined by Robbie and Adam on Tiverton Canal in search of pike. The weather had turned very cold and the pike wouldn't play ball, the crystal clear waters making them easy to spot, yet difficult to tempt. We had to go really small in the end to catch. Fox Micro Fry doing the trick at last light, the perch and mini pike going on a half hour feeding spell, making the trip worthwhile in the end, with Robbie finally getting his first pike of the year

The next morning was back to competition business. The tides were better and weather was slightly more bearable. It didn't take me long to catch my first gar of the day, a small fish but an excellent fight as always. I had many more of these high flying acrobats in a fun filled hour, most of them shaking the hook by leaping into the air, I have to say I've really enjoyed fishing for them recently, they are quickly becoming a favourite of mine. A pollack even decided to crash the party, which I had half hoped was a mackerel, but it was another species ticked off. I then moved on to Millbay where I had a nice black goby and a shanny to take my total up to five. A modest haul before work.

With Monday as my day off and the sun blessing me with its presence, I made my way to Charlestown. This harbour is both stunningly Cornish and delightfully sandy, so different from the rockier, grimier marks I'm used to in Plymouth (not that I don't love my local fishing). I decided on a simple Carolina rig, with a five gram bullet weight and a size fourteen hook to hold the Power Isome. First cast onto the clean ground of this quaint harbour produced a fish! Not only that, but the fish I had came there to catch, a flounder. It wasn't a large one, but it was my fiftieth species of the year, my target at the beginning. I excitedly took it's picture and returned it, a few onlookers looking slightly bemused at my actions. (A small disclaimer - it could be a plaice, but I've gone with flounder now as that's what it most looked like to me, but I'll happily be told I am wrong)

I had plenty of bites as I cast around the harbour but most of these were from sand gobies, of which I caught quite a few. I did hook a better flatfish, a fish big enough to take line but it shook the barbless hook at the surface, a real shame. Another angler was baitfishing the other side of the harbour wall, having little luck, he was keeping himself busy by also casting out a lure. He had numerous follows from garfish but couldn't hook up. During this commotion, I noticed a shoal of silver fish just behind the waves hitting the beach. I lowered my lure to them and was rewarded very quickly with a sand smelt, another new species for the LRF competition.

I fished around the harbour but couldn't find any other new species, I definitely would like to try the harbour again but on an incoming tide, this time, time and tide were against me, so I moved on.
I tried both Par Sands and Fowey afterwards with little success, though Fowey just screams fish to me and has a fantastic reputation, definitely worth another try soon. With the sun rapidly setting and with other less fishy business to attend to, I headed home.

On a couple of short trips to Millbay and Mayflower Marina after work, I caught a tompot blenny taking my total to eight species in the competition, Ellie also managed her twenty sixth species of the year, a goldsinny wrasse.

Next up, I need to catch the two most common wrasse species, the ballan and corkwring. I also will be targeting bass, scad and topknot. Hopefully it's a productive week!


Ben - 50 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, Chub, Dace, Bleak, Garfish, Sand Goby & Flounder

Olly - 34 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, Minnow, Bleak & Garfish

Ellie - 26 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 & Goldsinny Wrasse

Shane - 17 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, Dace, Bleak & Minnow

Robbie - 15 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel, Thick Lipped Mullet & Pike

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


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As always, thanks for reading