It’s perfect, but…
As the lockdown eased, a charter party couldn’t wait to get out fishing, although there’s a bait problem to overcome
As skipper JJ Hadden flicked off the last mooring line and stepped into the wheelhouse to pilot Ice Maiden out of the claustrophobic, concreteencased lock chamber of Cardiff Bay Barrage, he said: “There are smoothhounds everywhere at the moment and both the weather and the tide are perfect. You’re going to fill your boots; I hope you have got plenty of crabs?”
In response there was silence, not a whisper, and the look on the crew’s faces told the story. No, they didn’t have plenty of crabs.
“I’ve got some frozen crabs, but not many,” volunteered the lad standing in the starboard quarter, but no, as far as crabs went for bait, we certainly did not have plenty.
Under normal circumstances a charter skipper’s immediate response upon discovering that a crew had turned up without sufficient bait for the day’s target species would have been both instant and brutal. On this occasion, ‘JJ’ simply shrugged his shoulders in acceptance of the situation. It was early June and Welsh anglers were only gradually being allowed to return to boat fishing following months of lockdown.
Faced with a five-mile travel limit along with numerous access restrictions, driving to a beach to collect their own bait for most anglers was simply not an option, and all
tackle shops within the Principality remained closed. Crabs or no crabs, we were determined to have a great day afloat in the Bristol Channel. Everyone was simply happy to be back aboard a charter boat and going fishing. On this occasion a perfect mid-summer’s morning was simply the icing on the cake.
CONSISTENT MARK
It was no surprise that the first mark JJ took us to was Aberthaw Bay. This is arguably the most consistent mark anywhere in the UK for smoothhounds, regardless of whether you are fishing from a boat or from the adjacent shoreline. Its broken ground is perfect for hounds, and this is a venue where you never know what is going to pick up your bait next.
At some time during the morning I had casually mentioned to JJ that this was the perfect time of year and the conditions were ideal to see a stingray, which are something of a rarity in South Wales. We didn’t see a stingray, but just two days later I saw shared images on social media of a 33lb stinger caught aboard another charter boat fishing very close to where we had been.
In this part of the Bristol Channel fishing the ebb tide is almost always more productive than the flood, and JJ had timed our arrival perfectly to coincide with the first of the ebb run after high tide.
Key when fishing this area is to ensure that your bait is always fishing hard on the seabed.
In order to achieve this, it is essential you use a decent grip weight either cast uptide in the classic way, or alternatively simply dropped off the transom. When you feel the lead weight tap on the bottom, release a bow of line in the tide to assist it to grip. The alternative is to use an unnecessarily large plain lead, which these days very few anglers elect to do.
Regardless of what bait you use at Aberthaw Bay, it is only a matter of time before something will eat it. Sure enough, within minutes of starting to fish, nodding rod tips indicated the first bites. It came as no great surprise when the first few fish caught were the inevitable strap congers and dogfish, but it wasn’t long before a healthy bend in Andrew Willis’s rod indicated
he had connected with a more substantial fish.
With his line gradually cutting uptide, we strongly suspected Andrew had hooked the first hound of the session. A few minutes later JJ leaned over the side with the landing net and scooped up a near double-figure fish. Yes, Andrew was the angler who had managed to bring some crabs, which throughout the rest of the session produced around half-a-dozen fish of a similar size for him.
FISH FILLED
By necessity, the rest of the crew were using either mackerel or squid for bait, both of which are very good for a wide variety of different species. Squid can be a reasonably effective
bait for hounds too, but not nearly as effective as a crab. If there are foraging smoothhounds around, then you’ll likely catch a few using squid, less so fish baits.
If smoothhounds are your target species then it is much better if several, if not all anglers are fishing with crabs because the combined scent of multiple baits drifting off downtide will attract fish in exactly the same way a rubby-dubby groundbait bag works for sharks. On days when this has been possible, I have experienced fishing where the sport has been nothing short of hectic. On the very best days, here at Aberthaw, it can be a case of cast a fresh bait out, place the rod in a holder, and almost immediately watch the tip buckle over, as yet another fish inhales the crab and swims off.
That day aboard Ice Maiden, the fishing never quite got to what you could describe as hectic, but we enjoyed a steady succession of fish from the first casts of the morning through until the last of the afternoon. Almost everyone caught several smoothhounds, along with plenty of eels and dogfish, and a few thornback rays which, as expected, started to move in over the baits when the tide eased towards low water.
I suppose you could accurately describe our trip as being a bread and butter, fish-filled day, which, of course, was precisely the sort of day that enthusiastic boat anglers had been craving throughout all of those long and tedious months of enforced lockdown. ■