SOFT TOUCH SMOOTHIES
Sometimes these feisty sharks play hard to get, so find out how to stack the odds in your favour
Tsmoothhounds regularly will know that fish up to 15lb or so behave in a fairly predictable manner, usually coming through in numbers but, periodically, there are spells of little or no activity.
Once they reach 15lb or so, their pack instincts seem to disappear and they become a more solitary fish. These bigger fish tend to show during periods when smaller pack fish have moved through after a hectic spell of bites, and then, suddenly, all goes quiet.
If you’re aware of this anti-social aspect of big hounds, you can begin to target the larger fish with some degree of consistency and success. That said, you need other factors to come together to give you the very best chance.
Ideal weather conditions for big smoothies are a period of fairly calm, warm weather with a somewhat settled, but not totally flat sea. Big sea swells and strong, persistent winds may push the fish out into deeper water and scatter them.
Depending on the water’s depth, in areas where the sea is fairly clear, then sunny days make life more difficult, whereas cloudy, overcast days often fish well. Light winds from the warmer south or western quarter are the most favourable.
In areas of fast tides, it’s often the middle-sized ones that produce the best sport for bigger fish, especially if climbing towards the bigger springs. You will catch on dropping, middle-sized tides, but catches are never as good.
In areas where the tide run is less fierce, it’s likely that bigger fish will appear on tides close to the biggest springs, with those two or three days before the biggest tide often best. Again, the fish show on dropping tides right down to the smallest neaps, but rarely achieve the consistency of fishing bigger tides.
THE SOFT TOUCH
Another common trend with big smoothhounds is that, being more solitary, they are far more cautious than smaller fish in the way that they feed. Picky feeders, at the best of times, in areas where the tide is less fierce, big fish seem capable of detecting resistance from heavy tackle. After a couple of tentative pulls on the rod tip, they drop the bait and move on.
This resistance is made worse using stiffer standard boat rods with braid line. Anglers often forget that while braid gives better bite detection, it also helps fish feel our presence too.
My hound tackle has changed over the years. I now use an 11ft European-style rod with a very soft tip that feeds quite quickly into a semi-supple upper mid-section, then stiffens quickly in the lower mid-section and butt. The soft tip, in conjunction with braid, gives great bite detection, but the tip gives a little when the fish tests the bait. It also minimises the resistance felt by the fish as it pulls the hooklength tight.
I checked this with Holyhead skipper Gethyn Owen, who agreed that the softer tips definitely account for a higher number of big hounds than conventional stiff-tipped rods that can produce more dropped bites.
For reels, I use 5000-sized fixed spools, which are plenty big enough for this style of fishing and hold masses of 30lb braid. I add a short piece of 40lb fluorocarbon as a shockleader. This takes the abrasion better should the line near the rig be in contact with a stony seabed. Additionally, if the water has some clarity, I prefer clear line nearest the rig, instead of coloured braid, in case the fish can see it.
RIG CHOICE
I’ve had the most success with a simple sliding leger rig. I’m looking to make the lead link slide as smoothly as possible on the fluorocarbon, so a zip slider-type boom can be used, but they can snag more if the ground is very rocky.
I prefer to use a pulley rig bead with a link attached because it has a longish, oval body. This shape is coefficient on the line, spreads any pressure over a wider area of line, thus reducing the chance of potential damage when under pressure and casting, and seems to snag far less.
Making the rig is easy. Slide a pulley rig bead with an oval split ring attached on the fluorocarbon leader. Add a size 5mm bead, and to the end of the fluoro, tie on a size 4 rolling swivel, and add 36in of 40lb fluorocarbon for your hooklength.
I like a fluoro hooklength for its abrasion resistance, and its slightly stiffer than mono, so less prone to tangling. It’s stiffer nature helps it sit across the seabed without getting snagged as much between rocks.
A 36in hooklength is my starting point. If the fish are cagey and you get a bite but retrieve a mashed or missing bait, your instincts may be to lengthen the hook line further, or even drop to 30lb line. I’ve tried, and it’s mostly proved to be a mistake to increase the length.
What I find works is to shorten the hooklength to 15in and watch the rod tip for
bites like a hawk. Due to the shorter length, fish are more likely to pull the rod tip over, giving you something specific to strike. Sometimes, all you’ll see is one tap on the rod tip. If I see that tap, I hit the bite and, more often than not, I get a hook-up. It’s obvious the fish are playing with the bait without moving off at all, hence the tap but no pulldown of the rod tip. If you leave them, they’ll just spit out the bait and disappear.
Smoothies have a biggish mouth and, when hungry, will easily take in a big bait and a single hook. I don’t like Pennell rigs for hounds. I fish a single Viking size 4/0, and it will land any big fish you hit. If I wanted to use a really big bait, I might use a size 6/0. I’m conscious that a big, cautious fish that’s playing with the bait might feel that something isn’t quite right, so mainly I stick with the 4/0.
What I do, though, is to really sharpen the knife-edge point with a file. I want a sharp hook with a long, tapering point that will get a firm hold with minimal line pressure as the fish comes up against the lead weight.
I also regularly adjust my lead weight to suit the tidal pull. I’m looking for the weight to be light enough to let me trot the bait away from the boat a few feet if I lift the rod tip and release line. I’ve noticed that hounds often investigate the noise of a lead weight bumping on a rougher seabed, which brings them close enough to pick up the scent trail. They also like a crab bait that moves up and down, so lifting the rod tip occasionally gives the bait the required movement.
On the other hand, I don’t want to go too light with the weight. When a fish moves the bait against a tight hooklength, I want the sinker to have enough weight when lifted against a tight line for the hook to get a firm hold.
BAIT SELECTION
The most successful bait for hounds is the shore crab, although they’ll take peelers and whole hardbacks too.
To prepare a peeler, take all the shell off the back and belly, and remove the legs on one side of the body. Now cut halfway through the widest part of the body. Holding the hook, slide the side with the legs still attached on the hook and continue until the whole body is mounted on the hook shank.
Now bind the legs around the top of the hook shank, and add a few turns of thread to the body for casting security. By having the legs up the hook shank, it forces a fish to take from the hook point end. The problem I sometimes find with a peeler is that it can attract dogfish before a hound finds the bait.
Hardback crabs can simply have the hook pushed in upwards from the belly about a third of the way in from the back. If you’re casting hard, tie a couple of the legs to the hook shank again, just to hold it in place.
If the fish are just playing with the baits, use the body of a peeler that is about to peel, leaving the brittle shell on, or, better still, a velvety soft crab. The fish can mess about for longer not taking in a hardback or crab bait with legs on fully into the mouth. It’s as if they are tasting them to see if they want them.
Hermit crabs can be very effective too. Some skippers put pots out for hermits and will pick them up on the way out to add an extra bait edge. Remove a hermit from its shell, and slide the hook point in through the soft abdomen and through the middle of the body, bringing the hook point through the head. One biggish hermit is enough, but you may need two smaller ones.
TOP TACTICS
I’ve noticed with big smuts that, in shallower water, they are loath to come right into the scare area of the anchored boat, preferring to stay away either well off the stern, or well out to one side. This is another reason why I like to trot baits back off the stern to find the fish, because it puts my bait out on its own.
If I’m in a mid-gunnel position on deck, or tight to the cabin, I always uptide a short distance away from the boat. Yes, this gets my bait away from the scare area, but it also puts my bait out on its own and not competing directly with other angler’s baits just a few feet away and just downtide of my bait.
Even a 20yd lob is enough to get the bait away, but make sure the rig free-falls as you allow line to spill off the reel. After you feel the sinker hit the seabed, release another 10-15yd of line, more in a very fast tide, to put that all-important bow in the line for the wired sinker to take hold.
You have to judge the right amount of line to release, given the tide strength, but try not to release too much because you need to maintain bite detection properties as much as possible.
Uptide fishing against a static wired lead obviously works well too, in areas of fast tide runs, but I find, when possible, a trotted bait with a plain lead takes more fish. Incidentally, the shorter hooklength also works well when standard uptiding too, when the fish are cagey and not hitting the bait hard.
That’s the way I tackle big hounds. It’s been a long process of eliminating mistakes to get a better return, but is worth doing when you finally catch a 20lb-plus fish.