smoothounds

[warjoe]

Never had a smoothound ,What makes a good smoothound beach or venue.

[Norm B]

warjoe:

Never had a smoothound ,What makes a good smoothound beach or venue.

:cool: Best ask a smoothhound. For years we've had 'smoothhound beaches', this year they are on every beach or no beach. Try a big crab bait and see if you get a smoothhound, chances are you will at sometime.

[macky]

deep sandy beaches with small holes and gullys and a bank at 120yds

 

the ideal hound-ground

 

but they will follow the food as will any other fish

 

find the peelers find the fish

[chappers]

whereabouts are you may be able to give you some specific venues

[Ken Davison South Wales]

How about estruary channels like the mouth of the Loughor?? I am hoping to try this weekend whilst I fish for bass.

[warjoe]

I live in N.Ireland but have found a beach with lots of hardbacks and peelers on it but it is shallow with mixed ,sand ,stone and kelp what do you think guys ,whats best day or night

[Salar]

Night from a shallow beach, day from a boat or deeper/coloured water. Smoothies are probably more distributed than we know, you would usually only catch them from shore at night in warmer weather with crab baits. If you weren't fishing for them deliberately you might never know they were there, unless you accidently caught on worm baits which does happen.

[islander]

Caught my first Smoothound in March this year from a sandy beach on NW of Isle of Wight. Estimated water depth would have been 6 feet, just after dusk and directly after low tide. Also hooked a small Thornback at same time I guess they were harrying Pout as they were present too.

 

Bait wise I was using 3 different baits cocktailed on a three hook rig: Sandeel/rag/ and mussel but can't recall which fish took which bait as the rig was so tangled by the time I got the fish to the shore.

[Salar]

islander:

 

Bait wise I was using 3 different baits cocktailed on a three hook rig: Sandeel/rag/ and mussel but can't recall which fish took which bait as the rig was so tangled by the time I got the fish to the shore.

It has been sugested that smoothies picking up those baits were actually munching a crab that was munching the bait. Never proven because the crab would have fallen off or been swallowed by the time you land it.

[Vagabond]

Salar:

It has been sugested that smoothies picking up those baits were actually munching a crab that was munching the bait. Never proven because the crab would have fallen off or been swallowed by the time you land it.

Interesting thought. Many years ago we used to fish the west gantry (which we code-named "The Scaffold") at Littlehampton for bass, using huge pieces of squid. The crabs would swarm on the bait, which needed replacemant quite often.

 

I was convinced then that when a bass took, it was really going for the ball of crabs swarming over the bait - even did an article on that theme for "Fishing" - as a result got a lot of letters asking for the precise location of the Scaffold

 

We called it the Scaffold because it was just about the most dangerous structure I have ever fished from. Even in those days, some handrails and walkway planks were missing, with plenty of others attached fairly loosely - and the Arun estuary has a pretty rapid tidal flow.

 

Anyone falling in on the ebb would be halfway to the IOW before he could start swimming. We used to fish it at night - saying with black humour it was too scary in daylight !

 

Caught a lot of bass tho'.......