Dogging Part 2

The big fish - well, I think it was this one, I caught so many!

The next morning I am out of bed before 6 am with the familiar excitement gnawing at my stomach. After a hasty breakfast I grab my fishing gear and venture out once more. It is a bright, sunny Tuesday morning and there are only three of us fishing the early tide.

For three hours I fish up and then down high tide. Nothing. I can’t even complain about the one that got away as my fishing rod hardly moves during this time.

I am disappointed, particularly when I discover the other fishermen have caught 6 dogfish between them. Was I just unlucky? No, that is not the answer. For during those three hours and from talking to the other fishermen I learn an awful lot about fishing. I learn that fresh bait is very important and that it must be presented to the fish properly. That different strategies are needed to catch different fish. Sea Bass for example will feed close to shore, looking for food among the pebbles higher up the beach as the tide disturbs them. I notice that most of the seasoned fisherman fish with two and sometimes three rods. I had assumed that this was merely a way of improving the chances of catching a fish. It turns out that the rods are cast to different lengths and often with different baits to attract a variety of fish.

I mull over what I have learned on the walk back to the cottage and know what I must do.

Before the morning is over I am in the nearby harbour village of Watchet talking to Dave, owner of the Westcoast Angling Centre. When I explain to Dave that I am fishing with the rod and reel my parents bought me when I was 18 years old he replies:

‘Well, rods and reels have changed a lot in ten years.’

I study his face closely to see if he is taking the piss, but I cannot detect any sign that he is.

‘Actually, it’s over thirty years,’ I correct him.

‘Blimey. That’s longer than I’ve been fishing,’ concedes Dave. He is impressed that I should have caught two dogfish on my antique gear.

It is clear that if I wish to take my fishing seriously and have any kudos among fellow anglers then I will need to take out my wallet.

After a brief discussion about budget I eventually settle on one of Dave’s special offers – a combination of rod and reel for fifty quid.

The rod is a very nice, two piece beachcaster and that afternoon, while the tide is out, I take it onto the beach for some casting practice. My first cast is a personal best and I am soon casting a good 30 yards longer than I was managing on my old rod.

As the evening high tide approaches I set up once more on the sea wall. Unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worse and even when it is not raining massive waves leap over the wall and drench me anyway.

My second cast with my new rod finds a nice little codling, about a foot long and maybe a pound in weight. He is joined by a second codling later in the evening.

Over the remaining few days of my holiday I fish as often as I can. On my last full day in Blue Anchor I have plenty of mackerel fillet left for use as bait so I take both my rods down to the sea wall and set up. The gods of fishing have smiled on me. There is a particular point along the wall that I have wanted to fish from all week. It is at the point where a storm drain empties into the Bristol Channel. I had observed that people fishing here tended to catch more fish. Although there are already a number of anglers casting their lines along the wall by the time I arrive to fish the 10 am tide, for some reason none of them have taken this prime spot.

With both rids baited I wait eagerly for the action to start. It is a good 30 minutes before I get my first bite and reel in a nice sized dogfish. It all goes quiet again until suddenly, in the hour after high tide I am caught in a frenzy of fishing activity as first one and then the other rod catches a fish. At one point I am struggling to get a decent sized dogfish off the hook on one rod when the other rod starts to bend crazily. I just manage to unhook the doggie, chuck it back in the sea and grab the second rod, striking fiercely.

As I begin to reel in I can tell there is something sizeable on the other end of the line and sure enough a very big dogfish soon breaks the surface. He is so big in fact that once out of the water I struggle to reel him up the sea wall. Fearful that the line will break I resort to pulling the fish in by hand, slowly hauling it up the wall and landing it on the footpath. Armed with a tape measure this time I measure its length from nose to tail – 25 inches. The dog fish is very rotund too and I estimate that it weighs well over 2 pounds.

That last day proved to be my most exciting and bountiful. I caught six dogfish and a small whiting, bringing my total for the week to nine dogfish, two cod and two whiting. More fish in one week than I had caught in the preceding 30 years.

The question remains as to whether I achieved my goal – to catch a big fish.

When setting objectives at work I always made them SMART, which is mnemonic for Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. I had made the mistake of not being specific about what exactly constitutes a big fish. Without a specific weight or length a ‘big fish’ is very subjective. Therefore I feel that it falls to me to decide what a big fish means to me.

There is no doubt in my mind that nearly all of the dogfish I caught were ‘big fish’. They were a good three or four times bigger than any sea fish I had reeled in before (I have caught trout in a well stocked trout lake before, but I think that is cheating). Certainly a fish over 2 feet long qualifies as big in my opinion, so objective achieved and well done me.

Had I not succeeded then I was prepared to resort to desperate measures. This would have involved putting to sea in a boat to catch fish under the tutelage of a proper fisherman. I think we all know by now how that scenario was likely to end.

Live long and prosper - and see you next week as I am away to Berlin tomorrow morning with number 1 son to sample more of that beer that the Pope drinks.