DORSET’S DELIGHTS
Here’s a head start towards your next red-letter day on the banks or wrecks
Bank and wreck fishing out of Poole.
Spring down in Dorset is my favourite time of year to go fishing. After a couple of months of fishing for cod and whiting in Poole Bay, it feels good to venture farther afield to enjoy some variety in the English Channel. Having skippered charter boats from Poole for 12 years, it is interesting to look back at some of my old trip logbooks to review how the fishing has changed or progressed over the intervening period. One of the big changes is the resurgence of the spurdog population. Only seven or eight years ago we used to get perhaps half-a-dozen spurs a season, but for the last four seasons we have averaged around 100.
I’m not a scientist, so I can’t tell you why these stocks have risen in the English Channel, but I can see a change of mindset among most recreational anglers. Gone are the days where nothing was put back and no thought was given to what would be caught in the future. It is nice to see so many anglers keen to release their target species. This modern mentality can only mean good things for recreational fishing stocks.
Another local change has been the arrival of large tope as early as January. In the last couple of trips while writing this I have landed four tope in two days, and all of them weighed more than 30lb. You never used to see a tope off Poole before May, so this is something new.
It’s a great bonus species to have around, but it requires heavy mono on your traces. I used to say 100lb trace line was enough, but with these big toothy critters swimming around, 150lb is essential to prevent rigs being bitten off. There isn’t any benefit to going light when fishing offshore because even spurdogs bite through 60lb or 80lb mono quite frequently.
ANCHORING THE BANKS
When choosing where to fish on these spring days at anchor, it’s important to look at the type of ground. A chart plotter gives me a general idea – for example, ‘M’ would be mud, ‘R’ for rock, ‘S’ for sand, ‘Sh’ for shingle.
From my experience, areas with mud usually produce more conger eels, whiting and maybe a few undulate and thornback rays. Areas of rock and harder ground can produce some good days on the spurs, but you can get a lot of bull huss, pouting and, again, congers.
My go-to is usually a bank or feature made up of stones and shingle. Here I can expect