Ian Tyldesley of Ammo Baits fished off his home port of St Ives aboard local Charter Boat ‘Bluefin’ Charters skippered by Sam Narbett and  enjoyed success with porbeagle shark. During their latest trip they scored a double hook up of male porbeagles. These were two of four fish brought to the boat on a calm December day. The fish were drawn to the boat using chum created at the Ammo Factory using a blend of new oils. All shark are carefully released to ensure the survival of these enigmatic predators that haunt the clear waters off the North Cornish Coast.

I questioned the capture of porbeagle shark in mid winter as I had thought of these as a fish of the warmer months. Ian told me that the shark have always been present at this time of year but are not often targetted. This got me thinking about what else may be lurking in our waters that we do not target? The seasons are undoubtedly becoming less defined and if this is the case we perhaps need to think outside of the box a little more.

                 We now catch grey mullet all year off the North Devon coast when we used to consider the season from May until late October. We catch smoothound in December and occasional tope in January. I wonder what lurks in the deep waters off Lundy during the winter months?

During late autumn and winter large shoals of herring mass in the waters off North Devon. We often see large pods of porpoise in pursuit of these fish. Could there be porbeagle shark beneath the waves? In a previous article I published I used the picture of a porbeagle caught in herring nets off Heddon’s Mouth. If only we had more time and money to explore these possibilities.