Thursday, 30 August 2018

Fun On Top


A few hours stalking carp on floating bread crust. Not monster carp but streamlined hard-fighting fish, and a great way of catching them.


And I landed nine fish, including three doubles to 10lb 14oz - that’ll help my doubles count! And was a hell of a lot of fun!!

Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Back To The River


After a fantastic trip it was time to unpack and hit the river. Well it’s rained - the vegetation is green and the river overgrown. And those brown seed things that stick to you are everywhere! Time to dodge seeds and try and find a barbel...

The water was high and dirty, chub time? Third swim I hit a chub that I thought was a six in the water, it shrank in the net, but at 5lb 4oz it’s a new best from the river - and after releasing it I found my camera was set on macro - I know, photos or it didn’t happen!

I lost another big chub before landing two more, but these were regular size - going to have to catch a 5lb 5oz plus chub now, it’s going to annoy me. But the barbel made up for it; 2lb, 5lb 6oz and the cracking 9lb 12oz (below). It’s good to be back!

Monday, 27 August 2018

Shark Fishing 2018


Well back in London, looking back on another fantastic adventure. We caught 12 sharks including a 7’ 8” PB lemon shark for Roger, a 7’ 7” PB lemon shark for me & two bull sharks to 6’ 9”, a new species and PB.

It just remains for me to thank Brooke, Paulos and Sammi for their hospitality and Paulos for his exceptional guiding - you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s shark soup here, but it’s Paulos’ years of experience.

Judging from the lawn we’ve had some much needed rain, so it’s probably time to target a local barbel or two and it won’t be long before it is pike time - new lures ready to go...

Saturday, 25 August 2018

Peligro: Sharks


Last trip of the holiday and again the tide was pretty flat but the surf was full of mullet, hopefully the predators had followed them in. Fresh mullet were caught and chunks went out as bait...


For those who don’t speak the lingo; ‘PELIGRO’ is Spanish for ‘DANCE’, there is a diagram and some basic instructions, you may be asked to perform the dance before being allowed onto the beach!


A couple of hours passed before one of the rods pulled over, something heavy plodded about before we saw a decent stingray in the surf, this was followed by a bigger stingray (above).


After loosing a blacktip on a stingray rig, one of the shark rods slammed over. Brilliant aerial fight in the shallow water before a 4’ 9” blacktip shark was on the beach - mission accomplished!


Running out of time the rods were cast back out. And it didn’t take long before shark number 12 hit the bait - not a monster but a little blacktip to wrap the trip up. Simply brilliant!

Wednesday, 22 August 2018

Mini Sharks


Mini-rods, fingerling mullet livebaits and about a foot of water. Mini shark fishing and Brian Vs Sammi... And I’m not making excuses...

Brian 0 Sharks - Sammi 3 Sharks

OK, now for the excuses; Sammi practically grew up on this beach... And she’s obviously a lot better at shark fishing than me!

Saturday, 18 August 2018

Mullet Run


Paulos had warned us that the flat tides this week would make shark fishing tough - but you’ve got to be in it to win it. We grabbed the gear and headed for the beach - and we’re surprised to see mullet.


Loads of mullet - the run had started early this year. Where the bait-fish run the predators will follow, soon there will be black tips, red drum and big stingrays hitting the shallow surf...


And Roger hit an early stingray, cracking fight - he does like a stingray battle - before beaching the lovely dark fish above. Only fish of the afternoon, but an absolute beauty - brilliant stuff!

Thursday, 16 August 2018

Monday, 13 August 2018

Blacktip 22281


A trip to Blacktip Island, I’d been looking forward to this and to hopefully getting a big shark on the beach during daylight. Kit ready, bait sorted we were on the dock to watch the sunrise...


Me and Paulos we joining Capt. Keen for a 30 minute run out to the island. Capt. Keen was soon into a couple of sharks. Then one of our rods tried to rip from the spike - I’ll let the photos do the talking...


First fish - Blacktip Shark, 5’ 2”. Fight time: 0:10.


An hour or so later - Blacktip Shark, 5’ 4”. Fight time: 0:15.


And this Shark was tagged, number 22281, measured and reported!


And then I hit something really powerful...


Bull Shark, 6’ 7”. Fight time: 0:55. What a way to finish the session!