LEARN FROM JOE ARCH

As one of the leading shore anglers in the world, Joe Arch is a man on a mission, so, choosing our moment carefully, we tackle him about catching smoothhounds…

During the 25 years I have been working for Sea Angler magazine, I have fished with some of the very best shore anglers in the country, including several who have won an individual gold medal at the World Championships.

All have been extremely dedicated, skilful, committed and hugely experienced anglers, who, it would seem, could catch fish from a roadside puddle; anglers such as Joe Arch.

Living in South Wales myself, I’ve known Joe, who is from Cardiff, for many years, but on all of the previous occasions we have met on the beach he has been competing in a match. When this has been the case, Joe has been totally absorbed with the task at hand, which, for him, is never less than trying to win. Posing for photographs and idle chatter with the angling press is never on the agenda when he’s in serious match fishing mode.

I had an invitation to join Joe, who is a Tronixpro consultant and man behind its Naga rod, and two friends for an evening’s pleasure fishing session at Aberthaw, Vale of Glamorgan. Joe was hoping to catch some smoothhounds, so I seized the opportunity to watch him fishing for pleasure.

It was a Friday evening with low water falling around 7.30pm and we had perfect weather conditions for hound fishing – warm and balmy, with hardly a breath of wind.

Joe, his lifelong friend Roy Tapper and their pal Ray Christaforato, who owns the Holton Road Angling tackle shop in Barry, were all confident we would catch hounds, and their confidence was not misplaced.

Within 30-40 minutes of casting out, all three anglers had hooked into their first hounds of the session. Aberthaw must rank as one of, if not the most productive smoothhound venues in the country, and it is sessions like this that confirm its status.

SUCCESSFUL

Watch Joe fishing and it very quickly becomes obvious just why he is such a successful shore match angler. Every move he makes on the beach is made with a polished, practiced fluidity. Such is his familiarity with his fishing tackle and the beach environment, I am certain he would be able to perform equally impressively were he blindfolded.

Away from the competitive arena of a match, I got to know a different Joe Arch, one who is relaxed, chatty and always willing to pass on a new tip or two, though clearly he was still taking his fishing seriously. He was out to catch fish and had set out his stall to beach as many as he could, and, of course, there was the inevitable banter between the three anglers.

Putting friendly rivalry aside, that evening, I got to witness a Joe Arch who was thoroughly enjoying himself, a man who was happy being out on the beach on a fine evening with his friends, catching a few good fish.

Despite having fished countless sessions targeting hounds from the beach, I learned many valuable tips. For within minutes of starting fishing, the former world champion was passing on some great advice, including something so simple it is truly brilliant.

Before I continue, check out the major successes in Joe’s glittering career (right). Can you think of a more successful sea match angler? I can’t.

Q Aberthaw is well known for producing good fishing for smoothhounds, but what is the best time of year and peak time of the tide?

JOE: Hounds appear here from April/May until mid-September, and occasionally in October. I would say that the peak time at Aberthaw is generally around an hour before low water.

Such is the ferocity of the tide off Aberthaw, fishing is only realistically possible on small to mid-range tides, and even then for just a short three-hour window of opportunity from around three hours after high tide down to low water.

Even on small tides, as soon as the flood starts to push after low water, you’ll find holding bottom becomes almost impossible. Q The beach here is rocky. Is it rough ground fishing? JOE: This is definitely a rough ground venue, with the emphasis being very much on rough. You are going to lose a lot of lead weights, along with several rigs, so visitors must be prepared (Joe had a bundle of pre-tied rigs in his well-used tackle box).

Q I thought you’d use a pulley rig here, but you don’t. Why is this?

JOE: I prefer a fixed paternoster, rather than the pulley that most anglers use here and at other similar venues along this coast. My rigs are tied using Sakuma Mantra Extra hooks in sizes 1/0 or 2/0. When fishing here, I have a rotten-bottom attachment for the lead weight, in this case the tried and tested loop, weak link and pin. Q Most anglers rate crabs for bait. Are you the same? JOE: Yes, definitely. You simply can’t beat juicy chunks of peeler crab for attracting the smoothhounds. Q I have seen many anglers get distracted while smoothhound fishing and then turn around to see their rod and reel pulled into the sea. I notice you have a clever trick to prevent this. Can you explain it? JOE: Yes, I’ve seen that happen, too, and it can be quite funny watching their reaction. Because smoothhounds often hit a bait hard and fast, if you are not careful, the result can be upwards of £500 of rod and reel getting pulled out of the rod-rest and slammed on to the rocks, or even dragged into the water. That’s when it’s not so funny for the angler concerned.

Of course, the obvious answer is to fish with the reel in freespool, with the ratchet on. The problem with this when fishing in strong tides is that line is continually getting pulled from the reel.

As a result, many anglers leave their reel in gear, and slacken off the star-drag. Then, if a hound picks up a bait and charges off, the reel will give line. This works, but the problem is that, before you can reel the line tight and set the hook, you have to fumble to tighten the star-drag. That risks a hard-running smoothhound dropping the bait.

As you’ve noticed, my solution is to knock the reel into freespool, click the ratchet on, and rather than allow the line to run directly from the spool up to the first rod ring, I loop it around the freespool lever. This adds just enough tension to prevent the tide from stripping line, but allows my line to remain sufficiently free-running so that when a good fish does run off, it can strip line at will. Once I get a run, I pick up the rod, flick the spool back into gear, and strike. Simple, really!

Q I notice you strike in some style at the first indication of a bite. It’s impressive to watch, and an effective way of setting a hook when using highly elastic mono lines at what is often extreme range. Why is this?

JOE: Once I get a bite, I lift the rod out of its stand, point the tip out to sea in the direction of my bait and wait for the bite to develop further. This allows an interested fish to pull line without feeling excessive resistance.

As soon as I’m certain the fish has eaten the bait, I reel the line tight, run two or three steps up the beach and set the hook hard with a full sweep of my rod. Q The three of you are catching some decent fish. What can anglers expect from here? JOE: Today, we’ve caught fish steadily from the first cast and hoped for even better fishing, and we were not disappointed. The average size in this session seems to be 8lb to 10lb, but we’ve had several specimens in excess of 13lb. That is tremendous fishing from the beach, by any standard.

Amazingly, given the suitable conditions, we’ve had the entire beach to ourselves, and it seemed that almost always at least one of us was fighting a fish.