I’ve probably talked a bit before about my interest in chasing different species, trying to catch stuff that I haven’t caught before or trying new ways to catch familiar things. I think that it’s a great way to approach sea angling if pure enjoyment is the main aim. It’s easy to get frustrated if most of your time is spent ‘specimen’ fishing and I think the ‘fish for anything’ approach is a good antidote for this. I would even go so far as to say that catching a new species or a particularly difficult one is a bigger thrill for me than catching a new ‘biggest’ of a species that I’ve caught stacks of already.
This year I’ve been on a bit of a mission; the goal being to catch fifty or more species of fish from the shore in 12 months. Ideally, I’d like to get fifty from the shore in Cornwall alone, but this may be a tall order and I’m prepared to resort to a trip or two away to top up the tally a bit if needs be. My best total for a year so far was 44 in 2014, but a good half dozen of those species were caught from Chesil and I wasn’t as deadly focused on the species game as I have been in the last six months. So far I’ve got 39 species for 2016, with two that are brand new to me (greater weever and thin lipped mullet) and two that I’ve not caught in Cornwall before (grey gurnard and coalfish). There’s one or two easier ones left such as tub gurnard, garfish and scad but most of the rest of the species I have left to go for are ones that are not common catches here in Cornwall. On the ‘to do’ list are things like Dover sole, triggerfish and red mullet; all possibles and all species that I’ve caught before but not in great quantities. What I thought might be fun to do is to talk a little bit about how I’ve caught some of the more unusual species in the past, how I might go about trying to catch them again and my thoughts on how to catch some of the things I’ve never caught before.
Looking at the way the weather has been so far this year, I’m hoping there will be a good chance of triggerfish this year. This species is really at the northerly limit of its distribution here in the UK (as evidenced by the amount of dead ones that wash up on the beaches in early winter) and warm and relatively settled seas are favoured. I’ve only caught one trigger before and that was from a local mark fishing out over the sand with a two hook rig and fresh mackerel strip: a complete fluke. I’ve read articles about triggers before where the anglers were actively looking for fish that were moving around feeding as a shoal, much like giltheads or bass. I’ve also got the impression that triggers will take up station over rough or mixed ground and protect their pitch as a territory. Either way, the tactics I have in mind could work for either situation. Groundbaiting is supposed to be effective for triggers so, where practical, I will make use of a browse of mackerel and a little bit of bread to hopefully interest any triggers in residence or that happen to be passing.
As far as tackle goes, I would expect a trigger hooked over roughish ground to make a beeline for a bolt hole so I would pick a rod and reel capable of stopping a decent size, determined fish. As far as I know, triggers close inshore spend more time in the lower part of the water column so I would expect light bottom fishing to be the most suitable tactic. Some sort of simple mono paternoster, probably with two hooks and some floating beads on the hooklengths would seem like a good start. Because of the territorial aspect of the triggerfish’ behaviour, the added waft of the bait caused by the floating bead could be enough to get aggressive reactions as well as feeding ones.
Baitwise, I think mackerel belly strip would be the safest bet. Mackerel should cut down on the interference of wrasse considerably and has a good visual presence. What I will probably do is concentrate the strips towards the bend and lower shank of the hook. That way, the rest of the shank can take the brunt of the trigger’s toothy bite and save me from getting bitten off. I’ll use fairly small but strong hooks for this such as Chinus or possibly the Varivas Aberdeen hook (which is strong for an Aberdeen pattern). I expect triggers to be fussy, pecky biters like black bream so I imagine it will be a case of trial and error figuring out the best time to set the hook.
Unlike triggerfish, there is little dilemma over the best time to lift into a Dover sole. The bites of these muscular flatfish can be very animated and the fish usually does the work of hooking itself. I’ve had some success fishing for sole at Chesil over the last couple of years and I’ve tended to stick to the same sort of tactics as used by many of the locals, a three hook rig with very short snoods and a grip lead to pin it down. Some use tiny hooks for the sole but I’ve gotten away with size 2s and still hooked fish under a pound. One aspect that I have found has helped is not to skimp too much on the bait. Some sources recommend using tiny pieces of worm but I’ve had more luck going for a healthier-sized offering, say half a black lug tipped with half a rag. Soles found their food by scent and feel so I think a reasonably substantial offering makes this easier for them. On top of that, slightly larger baits can be left to fish for longer and still retain pulling power.
Dover sole are not the easiest species to target and catch from the shore in Cornwall. Several areas (usually around estuary mouths) throw up odd ones but considering the waters around Cornwall hold enough sole to bring beamers from the Low Countries to fish for them, they are encountered pretty rarely by shore anglers. I’m not sure if this is just because not many deliberately fish for them, they are frequently caught by accident in other areas and I would expect people bass fishing with worm to catch the odd one if they were a substantial presence on our beaches. I’ve fished over areas where commercials say they catch plenty but I’ve yet to catch one from the shore in my home county. I aim to tackle this discrepancy with a good bit of zeal in the late summer/autumn and hopefully succeed where previously I have failed.
Red mullet are a species I’ve not had an awful lot to do with having only caught one in Cornwall and a few off Chesil. The red mullet’s appearance gives the impression of a fish that spends most of its time rooting around on the bottom for its food and presumably an approach tailored to put succulent offerings of lugworm into its path would pay off sooner or later. I have no shortage of marks on the list to try but I get the feeling it will be very much a case of either getting lucky early on or plodding away patiently until I eventually bag one. A lot of the information I’ve come across regarding red mullet points to them being much more active at night. However, many seem to get caught in the day also and I guess my mileage may vary according to where I’m fishing and the tides. Either way, I hope to catch one big enough to eat as I’ve never sampled red mullet as a table fish and it has an excellent reputation for its eating qualities.
To finish off with, I thought it might be an idea to go through how I approached and captured one of the more exotic species that I’ve had this year; the greater weever. I did spend a substantial amount of time last year fishing marks with reputations for throwing them up in the hope that I’d manage to snag one. Ultimately, this didn’t pay off and I decided to start afresh in 2016 keeping a keen eye out for the right conditions and news that the weevers had begun to show. Fortunately, through June, a few reports did filter through and after an initial couple of sessions that failed to produce anything venomous, I managed to finally catch two on a gloriously sunny afternoon.
The rig and tactics I used to catch weevers were more or less the same as I’d use to target turbot, specifically a long dropper style rig fished ‘mobile’ with the current using a plain lead. For targeting the weevers, I tried adding a small floating bead a couple of inches up the trace from the bait to give it more flutter. My thinking behind this was that weevers are ambush predators and are typically described as being more reticent about attacking and giving away their presence in the day. A little extra kick to the bait might make it that bit more tempting and too much for a watching weever to pass up. In the end, the rig with the bead caught so it obviously didn’t hurt although a good bit more fishing would be needed to decide whether or not it actually helped. The bait I used was based on advice I’d had from friends that weevers like a good bit of oil content. I tipped off a medium sandeel with a small section of fresh mackerel, particularly pieces from around the lateral line area with plenty of the red muscle tissue. This worked fine for me but on the day I had my weevers, other angers caught on straight sandeel so I couldn’t say with any certainty that the mackerel tip was of significant benefit. I do have a lot of confidence in the pulling power of fresh mackerel though and I think adding a little bit does spice up what would otherwise be a pretty plain bait.
Fingers crossed, my mission to catch 50 species from the shore in Cornwall in 2016 is going pretty well so far. I’m confident that I will make it to around 47-48 and with a little bit of luck, I’ll manage a couple of tricky species that will push me past the magic milestone. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed this year’s fishing a lot more than last year’s and this has undoubtedly been down to the species hunting approach keeping fresh challenges coming and giving me plenty of direction.
More about species hunting next time!
This year I’ve been on a bit of a mission; the goal being to catch fifty or more species of fish from the shore in 12 months. Ideally, I’d like to get fifty from the shore in Cornwall alone, but this may be a tall order and I’m prepared to resort to a trip or two away to top up the tally a bit if needs be. My best total for a year so far was 44 in 2014, but a good half dozen of those species were caught from Chesil and I wasn’t as deadly focused on the species game as I have been in the last six months. So far I’ve got 39 species for 2016, with two that are brand new to me (greater weever and thin lipped mullet) and two that I’ve not caught in Cornwall before (grey gurnard and coalfish). There’s one or two easier ones left such as tub gurnard, garfish and scad but most of the rest of the species I have left to go for are ones that are not common catches here in Cornwall. On the ‘to do’ list are things like Dover sole, triggerfish and red mullet; all possibles and all species that I’ve caught before but not in great quantities. What I thought might be fun to do is to talk a little bit about how I’ve caught some of the more unusual species in the past, how I might go about trying to catch them again and my thoughts on how to catch some of the things I’ve never caught before.
Looking at the way the weather has been so far this year, I’m hoping there will be a good chance of triggerfish this year. This species is really at the northerly limit of its distribution here in the UK (as evidenced by the amount of dead ones that wash up on the beaches in early winter) and warm and relatively settled seas are favoured. I’ve only caught one trigger before and that was from a local mark fishing out over the sand with a two hook rig and fresh mackerel strip: a complete fluke. I’ve read articles about triggers before where the anglers were actively looking for fish that were moving around feeding as a shoal, much like giltheads or bass. I’ve also got the impression that triggers will take up station over rough or mixed ground and protect their pitch as a territory. Either way, the tactics I have in mind could work for either situation. Groundbaiting is supposed to be effective for triggers so, where practical, I will make use of a browse of mackerel and a little bit of bread to hopefully interest any triggers in residence or that happen to be passing.
As far as tackle goes, I would expect a trigger hooked over roughish ground to make a beeline for a bolt hole so I would pick a rod and reel capable of stopping a decent size, determined fish. As far as I know, triggers close inshore spend more time in the lower part of the water column so I would expect light bottom fishing to be the most suitable tactic. Some sort of simple mono paternoster, probably with two hooks and some floating beads on the hooklengths would seem like a good start. Because of the territorial aspect of the triggerfish’ behaviour, the added waft of the bait caused by the floating bead could be enough to get aggressive reactions as well as feeding ones.
Baitwise, I think mackerel belly strip would be the safest bet. Mackerel should cut down on the interference of wrasse considerably and has a good visual presence. What I will probably do is concentrate the strips towards the bend and lower shank of the hook. That way, the rest of the shank can take the brunt of the trigger’s toothy bite and save me from getting bitten off. I’ll use fairly small but strong hooks for this such as Chinus or possibly the Varivas Aberdeen hook (which is strong for an Aberdeen pattern). I expect triggers to be fussy, pecky biters like black bream so I imagine it will be a case of trial and error figuring out the best time to set the hook.
Unlike triggerfish, there is little dilemma over the best time to lift into a Dover sole. The bites of these muscular flatfish can be very animated and the fish usually does the work of hooking itself. I’ve had some success fishing for sole at Chesil over the last couple of years and I’ve tended to stick to the same sort of tactics as used by many of the locals, a three hook rig with very short snoods and a grip lead to pin it down. Some use tiny hooks for the sole but I’ve gotten away with size 2s and still hooked fish under a pound. One aspect that I have found has helped is not to skimp too much on the bait. Some sources recommend using tiny pieces of worm but I’ve had more luck going for a healthier-sized offering, say half a black lug tipped with half a rag. Soles found their food by scent and feel so I think a reasonably substantial offering makes this easier for them. On top of that, slightly larger baits can be left to fish for longer and still retain pulling power.
Dover sole are not the easiest species to target and catch from the shore in Cornwall. Several areas (usually around estuary mouths) throw up odd ones but considering the waters around Cornwall hold enough sole to bring beamers from the Low Countries to fish for them, they are encountered pretty rarely by shore anglers. I’m not sure if this is just because not many deliberately fish for them, they are frequently caught by accident in other areas and I would expect people bass fishing with worm to catch the odd one if they were a substantial presence on our beaches. I’ve fished over areas where commercials say they catch plenty but I’ve yet to catch one from the shore in my home county. I aim to tackle this discrepancy with a good bit of zeal in the late summer/autumn and hopefully succeed where previously I have failed.
Red mullet are a species I’ve not had an awful lot to do with having only caught one in Cornwall and a few off Chesil. The red mullet’s appearance gives the impression of a fish that spends most of its time rooting around on the bottom for its food and presumably an approach tailored to put succulent offerings of lugworm into its path would pay off sooner or later. I have no shortage of marks on the list to try but I get the feeling it will be very much a case of either getting lucky early on or plodding away patiently until I eventually bag one. A lot of the information I’ve come across regarding red mullet points to them being much more active at night. However, many seem to get caught in the day also and I guess my mileage may vary according to where I’m fishing and the tides. Either way, I hope to catch one big enough to eat as I’ve never sampled red mullet as a table fish and it has an excellent reputation for its eating qualities.
To finish off with, I thought it might be an idea to go through how I approached and captured one of the more exotic species that I’ve had this year; the greater weever. I did spend a substantial amount of time last year fishing marks with reputations for throwing them up in the hope that I’d manage to snag one. Ultimately, this didn’t pay off and I decided to start afresh in 2016 keeping a keen eye out for the right conditions and news that the weevers had begun to show. Fortunately, through June, a few reports did filter through and after an initial couple of sessions that failed to produce anything venomous, I managed to finally catch two on a gloriously sunny afternoon.
The rig and tactics I used to catch weevers were more or less the same as I’d use to target turbot, specifically a long dropper style rig fished ‘mobile’ with the current using a plain lead. For targeting the weevers, I tried adding a small floating bead a couple of inches up the trace from the bait to give it more flutter. My thinking behind this was that weevers are ambush predators and are typically described as being more reticent about attacking and giving away their presence in the day. A little extra kick to the bait might make it that bit more tempting and too much for a watching weever to pass up. In the end, the rig with the bead caught so it obviously didn’t hurt although a good bit more fishing would be needed to decide whether or not it actually helped. The bait I used was based on advice I’d had from friends that weevers like a good bit of oil content. I tipped off a medium sandeel with a small section of fresh mackerel, particularly pieces from around the lateral line area with plenty of the red muscle tissue. This worked fine for me but on the day I had my weevers, other angers caught on straight sandeel so I couldn’t say with any certainty that the mackerel tip was of significant benefit. I do have a lot of confidence in the pulling power of fresh mackerel though and I think adding a little bit does spice up what would otherwise be a pretty plain bait.
Fingers crossed, my mission to catch 50 species from the shore in Cornwall in 2016 is going pretty well so far. I’m confident that I will make it to around 47-48 and with a little bit of luck, I’ll manage a couple of tricky species that will push me past the magic milestone. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed this year’s fishing a lot more than last year’s and this has undoubtedly been down to the species hunting approach keeping fresh challenges coming and giving me plenty of direction.
More about species hunting next time!