Porgie and Jeff

Jeff's detailed plans and painstaking preparation with tide times and launch spots were repaid in spades with a glorious weather forecast which looked to allow us three full days of shark fishing on the North Devon Coast .
I travelled down overnight and after a few hours sleep off we went with along but beautiful run along the coast to the chosen shark grounds . We were lucky to see lots of Porpoises on the way which I always think is a good sign of prey fish being about .
Jeff has mastered the grisly business of "chum" , with the use of salted trout. Now when it comes to the actual preparation the hand mincer process has been superceeded by the industrial use of a garden mulcher , but its still a messy old business ! But rubby dubby is the key ingredient to catching Shark so the better the slick , the better the catch ! The oil from the trout is amazing , but I must admit the idea of eating a farmed trout is now not on the top of my menu list .

 

 

So we sat in the slick created by Jeff's fantastic oily concoction in the hope of a Porgie paying us a visit . But unfortunately despite the fantastic weather we did not strike lucky . However some fish were caught by other boats so ....next time lets hope the shark catch the slick trail of Jupiters Moon .

The Tinca Trail

I am a great one for lists so I set about writing a list of fishy based targets for the coming year , and one of them is a fixture which has remained unresolved for many years : a 7lb Tench.
So following on from Jeff's success last year  and Tenchfisher Club members advice I made my way with Jeff  to the local pits armed with maggots and feeders .

Using a short hooklink and a 2 oz semi fixed Drennan maggot feeder I managed to get a lot of runs but few successful hook ups. The above two weigh in at 5lbs . Its strange they look huge on the unhooking mat but pick them up and they don't ! I suppose when you are a great big oaf like me at 6ft 4 and with hands like shovels they don't stand much chance ! Jeff fished the same tactics in the next door swim and managed this lovely example .

A second trip coincided with some of the windiest weather I think I have ever fished in ! luckily the swim was very  sheltered by a hedge and trees , but I did check the trees a few times as one of them landing on you would not be a good thing !
Same tactics as before and loads of runs but again a few lost to hook pulls or non hook ups was frustrating . But the weights are going up , and the best topped the scales at 6lb12oz.

The next trip takes me to a hopefully sunny and calm North Devon coast for a spot of fishing for the elusive Porbeagle shark.