Matt Thomas caught this brace of fine huss weighing 9lb 4oz and 8lb whilst fishing from a popular North Devon Shore mark. The huss were both tempted using bluey hook-baits.
Spurdog Days
Times they are a changing! There was a time twenty odd years ago when winter saw anglers flock to the North Devon Coast in search of big cod and in those far off days they were caught by those who put in the hours. With the demise in cod along the North Devon coast it is now spurdog that seem to be flourishing and providing the incentive for anglers to brave the cold nights. Unfortunately it is not just the spurdog that seem to have increased in numbers for their relative the humble Lesser spotted dogfish also seem to have increased in numbers as I found out last night when I hoped for a spurdog and wound in numerous LSD’s!
The last couple of weeks have seen numerous spurdog landed in addition to Michael Toogoods stunning haul of eight reported earlier this week.
Top tips for spurdog – Deep water, whiting shoals and use fish baits with a wire trace hook size 4/0 to 6/0…
Ollie Passmore 9lb 4oz
Dan Miles Redmore 11lb 1oz
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News from the coast
Daniel Welch fished a local rock mark to land a specimen conger eel scaling 20lb 12oz. The eel was one of several and was significant in that it had a bite mark that had partially severed its tail. Likely candidates are seals, tope or shark?
While most sea anglers are targetting big fish from the coast with baits Jeremy Johnson and Antony Jestin followed a hunch and set out with their lure rods and enjoyed some fine sport landing nine bass between 2lb and 2lb 8oz. Nothing big but a great catch at this time of the year when most anglers have put such tackle away. In these times of changing climate it is vital that anglers experiment and try to think outside of the conventional. Fish according to the prevailing conditions, challenge normality and experiment.
Jon gets spurred on in the cold night
Jon Patten has allowed me to post his latest exploit here on North Devon Angling News. This is the second spurdog I have heard of from the shore so far this year which is a promising sign so early in the winter season.
Decided on a little evening session the other night based on the hunch that there may have been a spur or two about from one of the local beaches,With temperatures failing to minus 5 we hoped that we would be busy thus keeping us warm. Baits were sent out into the murky depths of the Bristol channel where hopefully something would dine on our scrumptious offering, Barely 10 minutes had passed and the first of our bites came, in fact a flurry of bites consisting mainly of dogfish, eels,whiting and huss……Nothing big but enough to keep us occupied which was very pleasing watching the rods continuously nodding amongst an array of shooting stars coming down from the skies
Our session was almost over when i saw a bite that after a couple of pulls the line fell slack almost to the floor,a couple of turns of the handle saw tension regained and a swift movement of the rod top saw weight at the end of my line
After a little bit of a scrap i could see eyes at the waters edge signalling the reflective eyes of our intended quarry the spurdog, it might not have been a big one ………but the account was open and hopefully the first of several this winter as this once rare visitor now visits our shores more frequently than years gone by
Varivas sport 20lb main line, 130lb flouro carbon trace and 8/0 BMX hooks
Bait used ……squid, sandeel, mackerel and bluey