Pure Smut. 25th July 2008.

[Mark Crame]

It was the Thursday evening before the Crazywater Demo Weekend at Mudeford and I was driving down with a trailer and van filled with kayaks when my mobile rang. Lozz was on the other end and he was treated to me telling the GPS to shut up as I knew I’d gone the wrong way while I was pulling into services near Cambridge to chat. The question he had was would I be up for fishing on the Friday evening…well, there’s no other answer to that is there! Lozz had read the forecasts and congering was out on tide and wind predictions so we agreed to head for Smoothounds at 'a mark on the south coast'. That decided I carried on south.

 

The next day saw the setting up and first day of the demo weekend with lots of children and a few adults trying out the twenty kayaks we had on the beach. Lozz turned up in the early afternoon and after everything was stowed for the night we set off to book into my hotel. To cut a long story short I was homeless and so, after making a new booking and consuming the worst fish and chips I’ve ever been sold, we headed off for the mark, arriving as it was getting dark.

 

Ten minutes spent lifting rocks and weed saw a plentiful supply of small hardback crabs, a couple of small softies and one excellent, large softback which Lozz graciously gave to me as I’d not had a Smoothie before (well, almost, I had one many years ago in South Africa).

 

We launched and headed out around a mile around low water. I was in a demo (and unrigged) Scupper Pro and was bungeed off Lozz’s bow. With one 10ft spinning rod fitted with a 5/0 conger trace and a running 4oz round leger and the other with ragworm-baited Hokkai’s I dropped down and waited. The tide was running and after ten minutes I reeled in to see a load of weed masking everything. I recast after clearing this and after another five minutes had to do the same. After maybe forty minutes we decided to head in and try again.

 

We were maybe half a mile out now in six feet or so of water. Lozz didn’t hold out much hope but it did seem that the water was running less here. I dropped down again and after ten minutes Lozz was into the first Smoothound of the session. A superb fight ensued and I got my first sight of what they can do on light tackle in shallow waters as this fish jumped, thrashed, leapt the bungee between us and splashed Lozz until he finally brought it in and unhooked it. A double, it was a sign that perhaps we would have some good sport.

 

I reeled in and removed very little weed. I had the big softback crab on, whole and with plenty of elastic around it. Just before recasting it I decided to give it a good squeeze to get the juices flowing – I felt a pop and decided it should be fine now. In it went and I settled back, the ratchet on, the drag light and the butt placed into a scupper hole. I didn’t have to wait very long.

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I grabbed the rod, struck and wound it tight – I could feel the fish pulling well. I placed it safely and grabbed the other rod; reeling it in as quick as I could to keep tangles out of the battle then returned to the Smoothie rod.

 

As I brought it up towards the yak the fish went mental – it was up to the surface

 

 

Then it exploded out of the water

 

 

A superb ten-minute fight followed before I grabbed it alongside by the pectoral fin and hoisted it aboard. My first smoothie from the kayak. I duly placed my custom-sized Species Hunt voucher on the fin and took a photograph.

 

 

Of course a fish like this deserved a better photograph and so I picked her up and got one that showed its features more aesthetically:

 

 

Beautiful! A starry Smoothound lip-hooked and around 6-7lbs in weight I gave it the customary kiss on the snout (a custom with shark species) and popped it back in. I was amazed to see it swimming around on the surface in the light of my head torch.

 

The bait was still on and so I recast. Lozz was soon in again with another fish and after his battle my baited Hokkai rod let out a scream as another smoothie took the bait…

 

A bigger fish this one, a double for sure, and after I had it alongside, beaten, I let go of the trace to try and get a photograph alongside. Another Starry, I couldn’t get it close enough with such a long rod and while pulling the rod towards the stern and leaning forward with the camera zoomed out (the flash not being that powerful) it came off. Ah well, that’s life and the photograph would have been worth it.

 

Lozz was soon in again and another double came to the yak before coming off during landing. I put a hardback on with the softie and recast. Then came another scream as the baited Hookahs went off again.

 

Another long battle followed, though not pulling as hard as the first two, and at the end of it I had a Common Smoothound alongside. I needed this in for the Species Hunt photograph so didn’t try and photograph it in the water. I grabbed the wrist of its tail - I couldn’t close my fingers around it - and it shook itself free. Another couple of minutes passed until I’d got it back alongside. I grabbed hold of the wrist again and…disaster! It curled itself upwards and snapped through the lower half of the trace! It shook itself out of my grasp and was gone…and I had a hook in my hand, fortunately not up to the barb. But in the yak or not, I’d had the fight and had the fun.

 

Then Lozz was in again. Another good fight followed and again it refused to come aboard. In the meantime I’d had a couple of dropped pick-ups. Then, with my largest hardback on, the ratchet screamed. I struck - this was no Goby – and it was easily pulling harder than the others. It shot off for about twenty seconds and as I tightened up the drag and began to fight it the line went slack. It was off. How? It felt like it was hooked. I reeled in and to my annoyance found that the hook had snapped off on the bend, presumably weakened from the stress of pushing it through hardbacked crabs.

 

Soon after we headed back in. A fantastic introduction to Smoothounds with both species captures. Thank you Lozz for being a top fishing partner.

[groyne bandit]

Nice one mark & well deserved ,,,,,,,,,beats stickle backs on size 22 s, rich,

Edited July 30, 2008 by groyne bandit