Cornish Lure Festival : 1700 miles, a British record, a couple of monsters and a podium finish.

Due to lack of work over the summer I had resigned myself to missing out on the Cornish Lure Festival at the start of last month, however I recently turned 40 and my wife surprised me by not only offering to pay for the trip but also offering to single handedly look after my two children while I was away. What a magnificent birthday present as not only do I love fishing in Cornwall where it's relatively easy to catch fish but it would also let me pit my wits against like minded lure fishermen to see who came out on top. With Scott being a very organised bugger, having decided to go months ago, planning on doing his own thing on the south coast for ten days and deciding not to take part in the festival I decided to give my friend Dan Sales a ring to see if he had heard about it and to see if he would be interested in coming down with me to Cornwall to join in.

Dan is an extremely accomplished angler, a former Ebro guide who has caught literally thousands of big catfish and carp and his UK exploits with monster perch have earned him a sponsorship from Fox Rage. Dan is one of the very few anglers that have matched my passion for fishing and although his saltwater experience was limited his skills are certainly not! When I explained the concept of the festival Dan was already there and we hastily organised to meet at his home in Stevenage. I arrived on Wednesday after a drive of 387 miles and we spent the evening playing with lures and discussing tackle and tactics. The next day we wouldn't be leaving until Dans partner Krystal had finished work, as she wanted to come too, so that gave us a day to play and we hatched a plan to fish the nearby canals for perch.

The next day we got up early and joined the rush hour traffic heading towards London and after a brief stop so I could pay for a rod license and grab a sandwich we arrived at the first section of the canal. I was kitted out with my LRF gear and rigged up a 3" white Ecogear Paramax on a Ecogear Shirasu jighead. With the sun so bright it wasn't ideal perching weather and with the summers increased boat traffic the canal was pretty muddy. We focused our casts around the moored barges as that's where the perch would normally hang around. It didn't take long to get some attention, all be it from a large carp that grabbed the tail of the paramax, but rather annoyingly when I struck I pulled it right out of its mouth!

I swapped to a smaller 1.5" Grass minnow again in pearl colour and began to hop it across the bottom of the canal. I could feel the tail of the lure vibrating with each lift of the rod tip and so could the perch and as the lure came into the margins a nice little perch grabbed the lure before being unceremoniously hauled out into my hands. I unhooked it and released it without taking a pic as I really believed there would be much bigger! I carried on catching a further six small perch and had another follow by the carp and again I left the camera in the bag as I hunted for one of Dan's lunkers. After twenty minutes Dan called time at this section as if the big perch were around we would have had one, so we hopped in the car and nipped off to another part of the canal.

On the brief journey we discussed the carp attacking the lure, Dan said he had never actually had one take a lure before, which was interesting considering the amount of time he had spent hunting these stretches of canal. We arrived and made our way to fish around some pontoons and moored boats all the time hoping for some big perch. After twenty minutes or so we noticed a few carp milling about and Dan managed to plop a lure right in front of one them. Quick as a flash it greedily sucked the lure in and Dan set the hook as the carp went roaring off. Dan put his Fox Rage rod through its paces and really lent into the fish curtailing its run and quickly guiding it back to where we could land it. Dan is an expert with carp and the fish was quickly landed, photographed and released before it knew what was going on. It was a nice looking mirror around 10lbs and remarkably his first lure caught one from the canal. I carried on trying for a perch before trying for the carp which were still milling about. Dan followed his first with another two carp both mid to low doubles, whilst I tried for perch but soon it was time to go and get ready for Cornwall.

Dan expertly plays this carp, his first on a lure from the canal.

A brilliant start, Dan then went on to land a further three carp on lures!

After sorting our gear and packing it in the car we picked up Krystal, made the awful journey along the M25 during rush hour and eventually arrived at the campsite in Cornwall at around midnight. We hastily got our bivvies and mattresses set up and promptly fell asleep.

Friday dawned and we were up early keen to get our bearings and start fishing, we grabbed some breakfast then headed down to the beach next to the campsite.

Full of excitement, Dan and I make our way down to the first Cornish mark.

It was another glorious day, sunshine, blue skys and a flat calm sea so we excitedly made our way to the rocks and gullies at the end of the beach. First stop were the large rockpools to show Dan and Krystal what lurked in them and my LRF gear was rigged with a #10 2g jighead and tail section of Gulp Sandworm. I lowered the lure into a rockpool and gently jigged the lure alongside a boulder. Right on cue a blenny popped out and promptly nailed the lure, Dan was amused at how aggressive they were especially how bitey they could be when being handled! He and Krystal both had a go and quickly winkled out a couple more before we turned our attention to other areas nearby.

Dan headed off to fish into the open water and he rigged up a Slug-Go on a 10g #2/0 jighead while I stuck with my LRF gear and searched the slowly flooding gullies. As I searched it didn't take long to get some interest from the resident wrasse and I watched as the small fish came out of the weeds to check out the lure. A couple of little ones came out and pecked at the lure before a bigger one muscled its way in and grabbed it. It did its best to get into the weeds but was soon landed and Krystal was on hand to take a photo. It turned out to be a clonking corkwing wrasse which weighed 195g and was a specimen fish. Back it went leaving me to continue searching the gulley. Dan was in next with a nice 2.5lb pollock which was landed after a fun fight, putting a great bend in Dan's rod! We fished on for another half an hour before we made our way back to get to St Austell to sign in for the Cornish Lure Festival.

Searching the gulley soon put a bend in my rod.

A clonking corkwing weighing in at 195g.

After we signed in we quickly slipped into competition mode and headed straight down to our first harbour mark. The plan was to fish this until evening when we would head back to the beach to see what else we could catch from it. Tactics wise I thought that if Dan and I fished together we should end up on the same amount of species, barring freak captures! Dan's limited saltwater experience mattered not a jot as all I had to do was recommend a jighead and and lure and he was able to work it to catch the target fish. Krystal acted as our fishing caddy and was always on hand to grab a camera or make vital shop runs, when she wasn't too busy catching pollock! Fishing wasn't great but we decided to stay and by the time Scott arrived to spend a few hours fishing with us we had racked up a reasonable amount of species.

Species #1 : Pollock.

Species #2 : Sand smelt.

Species #3 : Long spined sea scorpion.

Species #4 : Common blenny.

Krystal also got in on the act with four species. Pollock, common blenny, giant goby and this long spined sea scorpion.

One of Dan's many long spined sea scorpions.

Urrgh! Scott hooked this ling carcass from the harbour. It provided some much needed light relief.

Species #5 :  Poor cod.

Species #6 : Dragonet.

In amongst the usual species I also manged to catch my first tompot blenny and when I first hooked it I thought it was a small wrasse such was its size! I knew it was a big fish so after a quick measure it was 19cm long and weighed 205g. It was only when I got home that I discovered that was heavier than the British record, which stands is 156g and was caught at the same venue!

My first tompot blenny was well over the British record which is 156g.

Once I got the fish to lie still it measured 19cm, it wouldn't lie still for the camera though!

205g of tompot blenny sits in my hands, my first tompot blenny and the first time I've bettered a British record!

Fairly late in the evening we went back to base to get a bite to eat before meeting up with Scott again at the beach near the campsite to try for bass. I left the harbour with six species not including my British record beating tompot blenny as all blennies were classed as one species for the competition. Dan was on five as he was missing a dragonet after becoming the pied piper of poor cod, even though he was trying for a dragonet the poorcod were throwing themselves at Dans lure. After fishing the beach with Scott for a while it became dark and we fancied trying the rocks where we'd caught a few fish on Friday morning. Scott, not being in the competition, feeling very tired and having made plans for the following day already to go wrassing in the morning before leaving Cornwall in the afternoon wished us luck for the rest of the competition and headed off. Our midnight foray in the rockpools and gullies provided us with a nice surprise and saw us catching our first ever giant gobies. We got back to the campsite at about 1am and hastily grabbed some shut eye.

Species #7 : Giant goby.

On Saturday we woke up later than we hoped but were back fishing the harbour by 8am and Dan was first in. He had rigged a #14 hook to 3lb nylon with a chunk of Isome and weighted with a 3g olivette. He was working the weed line along the wall when he got a couple of taps so he struck and all hell broke loose. At first we thought he was snagged but the rod kept lunging down. Dan managed to get the beast out of the weeds and we saw the most enormous lobster rising up from the depths. With disbelief we managed to get it into the dropnet before landing it to hysterical laughter! The relief and sheer size had us in stitches, a truly amazing capture. We estimated the Lobster to be about 8lbs and despite offers from people to buy it Dan decided to release the old girl back to her home, much to the disbelief of the locals!

Dan grapples with a real monster!

We couldn't believe the size of it

At around 8lb and landed on a #14 hook to 3lb nylon, this lobster is a lucky beast as Dan returned it to the water!

The fishing was tough as we fished the tide down but I managed to add a launce to my tally and also managed to get a goldsinny after Dan had found a little shoal of them. Dan had kept pace well but had failed to get the elusive dragonet and the launce were proving elusive for him too.

Species #8 : Launce.

Species #9 : Goldsinny wrasse.

We then headed to the south coast to a sandy harbour mark where we hoped to pick up some sand dwelling species. Dan was pretty surprised when I said to fish the shallow incoming tide, the water would only have been a foot or two deep. He was even more surprised when I pointed out the hugely aggressive flounder chasing after my lure. I then went on to catch about ten or so of them before I added a lesser weever to my tally. Dan soon had the hang of it and added a couple of weevers and some flounder to his count. Dan had also spied a load of launce hanging out behind the harbour and after ten minutes finally managed to get one on a 1.5gram #10 decoy rocket jighead and pink isome combo!

Species # 10 : Flounder.

Species #11 : Lesser weever.

We then headed to another part of the south coast, with the intention of finding some nice ballan wrasse marks. This was one of the fish that Dan had been really looking forward to catching as the tales of their hard fighting and beauty had really whetted his appetite! Unfortunately our visit turned into disaster when I got a parking ticket from some random bitter old man hiding in a car. Rather than waste time trying to find a new mark we decided to head back up to the beach by the campsite as I knew there were probably some good wrasse to be had there. Upon arrival the tide was just starting to ebb and I gave Dan a Lunker City Ribster in Arkansas Shiner, mounted on a 10g #2/0 football jighead. I advised him to work the lure in the gullies tapping on the rocks and bouncing it over and through the kelp. While I was still tying up my drop shot rig Dan had bounded off leaping over gullies to get to a good looking skeer of rock. While I rummaged in my tackle bag casually chatting with Krystal I heard Dan call out and looked up to see his rod doubled over as he fought a big fish. It was a wrasse and a really good one too and Dan had to fight it hard as it tried to get under the ledge he was on. It was a tough fight but Dan is a master at landing big fish and he soon had the better of it. I grabbed the camera, ruler and scales and quickly made my way over to see Dans beast. When I got to Dan he was grinning from ear to ear and rightly so as his fish turned out to be an utter kelp donkey! We measured and weighed it and it came in at 49cm and 4lb 10oz, a really great fish and Dan's first ever ballan wrasse and would no doubt see him in the running for the longest wrasse section of the festival. I was really pleased as I really wanted Dan to experience the joys of wrasse, their beautiful colours, aggressive lure taking and their powerful fight, Dan was blown away. He ranked it as one of his most memorable captures and it was a truly magnificent fish. Dan released the fish and it  went off like a chubby rocket with a big tail splash. Dan had used a landing mat and this made sure it went back in pristine condition and this has really made me think about using one too in future more often to protect fish.

What a fish! Dan's first ballan wrasse was an absolute cracker!

I grabbed my rod and rigged up a swimming ribster and straight away I started to get interest from the resident ballans. A stream of wrasse fell to Dan as I lost a couple before eventually landing one of about 37cm which took my tally to twelve species. We carried on fishing for more wrasse but as the tide dropped they went off the feed so we turned our attention to bass. We spent a few hours working various lures and I managed to hook a fish at range which certainly felt like a bass. Unfortunately it manged to throw the hook about half way in so I never got to see it, I tried to console myself by thinking it was just a pollock, but deep down I knew it was probably a bass. It had got late by this point so we called it a day as we had to go and get some sleep in order to get up early the next morning.

Sunday dawned and with it our last few hours of the competition so we headed back to the harbour mark to try and grab Dan a dragonet as well as hunting for the elusive corkwing wrasse. The fishing was even tougher than the day before but after a couple of hours Dan finally managed to winkle out a dragonet bringing his species tally to twelve as well. We carried on but after another hour of no corkwings we decided to head back to the gulley where I had caught one on Friday. We were running out of time so after we parked up we ran down the hill to the mark. We had about fifty minutes to fish before we would literally have to run back up the hill again to pack up the camp and head to Wadebridge for the sign out. We searched the gulley and after half an hour Dan managed to tempt a tiny corkwing to take his lure and I managed to winkle one out with about five minutes to go before we had to leave.

Species #13 : Corkwing wrasse.

We ran up the hill and got to the car utterly exhausted before tearing off to get back to the campsite to pack up. The roads were full of Sunday drivers and it seemed to take an eternity to get back, we decided we would just have to grab Krystal and come back later to pack up camp. However on arrival Krystal had everything packed and ready to go, she even dealt with my horrible dirty socks which she deserved a medal alone for! Unbelievably we packed the car in under five minutes and made a mad dash to the Royal Cornish Showground where we would register our efforts and attend the prize giving. We eventually arrived at the showground at about 11.50am only to be informed that sign out was on till 1pm! Doh, we could have spent another hour at the beach mark which could well have yielded some Cornish silver in the form of the elusive bass!

The prize giving was set up by a small lake, a small lake that held blue trout and after double checking we could fish it we grabbed our gear. I rigged up a Berkley Gulp 1" Minnow on a 1.5g #10 Decoy Rocket jighead and Dan did like wise. We made our way to one of the fishing platforms and within minutes Dan and I had both had one Blue trout each, much to the surprise of the other anglers! After ten minutes we had both caught another two before we called it a day but it was fun to do especially with an audience watching.

Dans first blue trout, taken while we were waiting for the end of the competition sign off.

We both ended up with two each on our impromptu trout session!

We chilled out in the sun, chatting happily with our fellow anglers before registering our catches. It turned out that we had done really well, Dan's Wrasse was the 3rd biggest landed over the weekend and our impressive species tally of thirteen each put us both on the podium in joint second! I was over the moon, Dan and I had been a great team and although his sea experience was limited he really helped us achieve a quite impressive species count. It was also very pleasing to fish against the local anglers who have an extensive array of marks that they fish a lot, whereas Dan and I had to use our instincts and skill to find the fish without relying so much on local knowledge. The places were announced and we both got a great cheer as we went up to collect our prizes!

Winners from left to right, Kyle Robinson winner of Junior section, Joint first were Dean Pilgrim (standing) and Josh Fletcher and joint second were Ben Church with myself and Dan!

Joint second on thirteen species each, Dan Sales, myslef and Ben Church.

We chilled and chatted and felt thoroughly exhausted but really, really pleased, the fishing was excellent, and the company was too. It really was a great experience and one I will not forget. We met a lot of like minded anglers and  made some vague plans to get them up here for a crack at some wilderness fishing. Ben and Jo from Art of Fishing put on a fantastic competition and their generosity with prizes as well as the whole organisation of the competition was truly awesome. They really have made it the premier lure fishing event in the UK. You can read Ben's write up of the event here. Finally it was time to head back to Stevenage to drop off Dan and Krystal and the journey although long was completed in a very happy daze. This trip was one of my favourite fishing experiences, great fishing, a British record tompot blenny, a massive lobster, huge wrasse and spent with a good friend who is right up there with the top anglers in the country. I can't thank Dan and Krystal enough, what a result! Dan and I are already planning the return next year, although I hope we can get them up here for a fish before then!

Tight lines,Schogsky.

More micro fishing for gobies.

A few weeks ago Jake and I went to Ravensheugh beach to target turbot. When we got to beach Jake saw some small fish in a rockpool. After a while we agreed they were gobies and tried to catch a few. Jake almost managed to get one but it fell of his #20 hook as he was lifting it up. After a fruitless hour or so searching for turbot on the beach at the mouth of a small stream I returned to the rockpool and after a lot of perseverance I managed to catch one of them. At this point I realised I didn't have my camera with me so I popped it into my empty water bottle. I then caught a second and then I caught a tiny dragonet. Jake then returned having worked his way along the beach a fair bit and back along again.

I worked the stream whilst Jake wandered along the beach.

We popped the tiny fish into a small rockpool to look at them and I took a couple of pictures using Jake's camera. Still unsure about the exact species of goby I had caught we headed off as Jake wanted to try for bass at Torness Power Station outflow.

At the time I thought they may be painted gobies due to the saddle markings. But it turns out they were two spotted gobies. You can just make out the spots.

Still not sure quite how I hooked this dragonet. It was about the size of my thumbnail!

A short walk back to the car and a drive down the coast and we were at the outflow. Once there Jake soon caught a few bass, first of all using a Hansen Pilgrim spoon and then, after losing that, on a Lunker City Ribster fished on a jighead.

One of a few bass Jake caught, much to the annoyance of others who weren't catching that many.

I meanwhile had been exploring and had spotted some more gobies in a large sandy bottomed rockpool and when we left I told Jake I'd like to get some smaller hooks and return to find out what they were. Jake visited twice in the last week and had managed to catch some two spotted gobies confirming the identity of the two I had caught and had also caught a small goby that we were pretty sure was a common goby.

Jake and I were reasonably certain he'd caught his first common goby and would later have this confirmed.

On Monday some new Gamakatsu 6315 #26 hooks to nylon arrived so yesterday we headed down again to catch a few more and get confirmation. Upon arrival I headed straight to the rockpool to get started. Jake went to try for a bass. The only rod I had with me was the "beast tamer". I was focused on goby hunting and nothing else!

My Ron Thompson Ice Fishing Pimple Lux 60cm Medium. 2 foot of goby stopping power!

Weapons of micro destruction!

Ultra fine wire hooks to increase my chances of hooking the tiny fish.

Tiny pieces of Power Isome and Gulp! Sandworm were the lures of choice. Split shot was placed a few inches above to help keep it down as it was fairly windy.

It took me a while to get them interested in my tiny chunks of Power Isome and Gulp! Sandworm but just after Jake came over to see how I was doing I managed to catch a two spotted goby, my 29th saltwater species on lures this year. Jake hadn't managed any bass but he then spotted a small flounder in the rockpool and soon had it hooked on a pink Ecogear Minnow SS. That's the first time I've seen one caught in a rockpool! I then moved along a bit to a spot where Jake had whipped the gobies up into a frenzy by jigging his brightly coloured lure around. After jigging my Isome around lightly amongst them I managed to catch a small goby. Careful examination would confirm it as being a common goby. A new species for me and my 30th saltwater species on lures this year. I was over the moon having reached my goal for the year.

Isn't he cute.

Rockpool flounder caught on the Rockfish UL.

Ecogear Minnow SS proved to tempting for this stranded flounder.

My first ever common goby.

Nine soft ray fins in the second dorsal fin along with other features confirms this as a common goby. Sand gobies have at least ten.

I had a small clear plastic tank with me that gave us an opportunity to study the gobies closely. We examined them carefully admiring their markings and subtle colourations before we both took turns with the "beast tamer" catching some more. Both of us ending up with one two spotted goby and three common gobies each.

Viewing gobies like this lets you see every detail.

Note the pale blue markings on this common gobies

The examination tank. This enabled us to take our time and confirm that all the gobies we'd caught were two spotted gobies or common gobies.

A few of the bass anglers took an interest in what we were doing too and had a look at our catches before I released them all again. Micro fishing is great fun and it's strange to think that it's taken us so long to investigate the gobies as we've spotted them there before. We just assumed they were sand gobies I suppose. In future we'll be investigating any gobies we spot as there are quite a few more species in the U.K. for us still to catch!

Tight lines, Hutch.

Cornish Lure Festival : Topknots and Tantrums!

Last week on Thursday Scott and I drove almost 600 miles down to the north coast of Cornwall to take part in the Cornish Lure Festival. The festival had been arranged by Ben and Jo at Art of Fishing in St Merryn with two types of competition; a bass section and a species hunt. We were going to focus on the species hunt aspect of the competition and sample some of the truly magnificent fishing that Cornwall has to offer. After setting up our tent we decided to go down to Padstow harbour for a look. We spent the next couple of hours being tormented by big shoals of mullet and, true to form, the mullet ignored our offerings. I managed to winkle out a solitary blenny and Scott hooked three but they all came off as he lifted them up but apart from that the fishing was surprisingly hard. After a couple of hours we headed back to the campsite to get some much needed sleep. This was quite hard to come by as I had somewhat foolishly brought a million tog sleeping bag. This had the same effect as wrapping your body in clingfilm and sitting in a sauna. As I lay there I kept thinking about techniques and lures and the competition in a kind of sweaty malariaesque delirium.

It was a relief when dawn broke and we could end the humid hell and prepare for the competition proper. First stop was Art of Fishing in St Merryn where we met Ben and Jo. The shop is amazing, a mecca for all things lure fishing. It was great to see all the products in the flesh although hard to resist spending a fortune on them! Ben gave us some advice and a couple of marks to try and we headed down to St Austell to meet some fellow The Lure Forum members and sign in for the comp. We grabbed a bite to eat, met up with Rod Lugg and Steve Richardson and signed in. After meeting a few more The Lure Forum members we followed Rod and Steve to our first port of call. This involved a rather arduous decent down a steep Cornish hillside. I was wearing felt soled boots and these are exceptionally slippy in muddy conditions. With the aid of some ropes I slithered and sweated my way down to the mark, privately dreading the return journey. Finally we made it down to be greeted with a great looking mark; gullies and boulders and a crystal clear sea. Perfect!

Scott geared up his LRF gear and went exploring in the rockpools. I went straight for bass and went for a topwater lure. Within a few casts I had a swirl at the lure but then things went really quiet. Scott was first to catch anything.

Species #1 for Scott. A long spined sea scorpion.

After half an hour with sign of any bass I decided to try some rockpool exploration. Things were very slow for the next hour and every second that passed without fish put me on edge. Scott pointed out a large rockpool that had a large boulder in it where he had seen some blennies, as he wandered further along the coast and had a go for bass, I climbed down into the gully to see if I could winkle one out. What happened next will remain etched in my memory for a very long time. The boulder was big and had a large overhang which meant if I crouched down I could get the rod tip under the rock and present a lure right in amongst the fish. I mounted a 1.8g #10 Decoy Rocket jighead with a red 1" Gulp! Fish Fry and slipped the rod tip under the rock. There was no room to jig the lure with the rod so it was a question of tapping the line to make the lure tap against the bottom. I watched the lure tapping against the rock and noticed one of the rocks underneath start to move. The moving stone came into view it was flat with prominent eyes - a topknot! I have never seen one in the flesh before and with shaking hands I continued to tap the lure. The fish approached my little red fish fry and just stopped about 6" away watching it. My heart was in my mouth, contrary to my instincts I hopped the lure a little further away from the fish and it followed! This time it stopped 2 " away from my quivering lure. The fish really seemed to focus on the lure. Then, with incredible speed its mouth extended 2" and sucked the lure deep into its mouth! No need to strike the fish had hooked itself and with disbelief I quickly landed my first ever topknot. At this point I realised that getting a pic was going to prove problematic as I realised had left my camera in the car at the top of the cliff! Scott had his but he was way down the coast. I squealed like a schoolgirl until Steve took pity on me and came over to take a picture for me. Thanks Steve! Scott quietly wet himself laughing at my distant pleadings for a shot of his camera.

Species #1 for me. A topknot!

A special fish deserves a second photo!

The fishing slowed down for the next couple of hours apart from Scott having two pollock launch themselves completely out of the water to get at his Kiddy Brill Bait but missing it in the process. An hour before we were due to leave I had a large ballan tear my Slug-Go off the hook followed by Scott hooking but losing another ballan. Finally as we were making our way back I had a good bite and after a brief fight landed my first Cornish ballan wrasse.

Species #2 for me. Ballan wrasse.

Next came the slog back up the hillside to our cars after which Scott and I planned to go to a harbour. A quick breather after the climb up and we were on the road again and after a short drive we arrived. First port of call was the inner harbour where quickly spotted small wrasse grazing on the barnacles. Scott and I both rigged Isomes on a Shirasu jighead and added a 3" length of line with a #18 hook and a tiny piece of Isome. This worked a treat and we soon both had a couple more species.

Species #3 for me. Common blenny.

Species #2 for Scott. Corkwing wrasse.

Species #4 for me. Corkwing wrasse.

Species #3 for Scott. Common blenny.

We kept trying in the hope of getting a goldsinny wrasse as we were sure there were one or two there, but after a succession of corkwings and blennies we headed round to try in the corner. Scott clambered out onto a finger of rock and spotted some slightly bigger wrasse. After a bit of persistence he managed to catch one.

Species #4 for Scott. Ballan wrasse.

After this we decided to head to the outer breakwater. This proved to be a good decision as I soon added another species to my tally.

Species #5 for me. Pollock.

At this point I suddenly realised that I hadn't eaten since the morning and was finding it really hard to think! After a bit of a moan at Scott who said he wasn't that hungry and stomping off in a hunger induced grump, I managed to drive aimlessly round the town, find somewhere that was still open, beg to get some food as they were actually just closed, before heading back to pick up Scott who had managed to get himself another species in my absence.

Species #5 for Scott. Pollock.

We fished for a bit longer but then the skies opened. The rain was torrential and not wanting to try and put up a tent in it Scott quickly managed to somehow find us a caravan using his iPhone and Google! We drove for half an hour in the torrential rain and fog, conversed pleasantly and had a cup of tea with the lovely caravan owner before going into the caravan and passing out.

Saturday we headed back to the harbour again but it was very different. The inner harbour was very muddy with the overnight rain, so we headed to the outer wall. I tried with a Slug-Go and quickly caught a small pollock. I had a couple more but apart from a bass coming to have a look at the lure it was very quiet for me. Scott meanwhile had got off to a good start with a pollock and then proceeded to rack up a few more species for his tally.

Species #6 for Scott. Mackerel.

Species #7 for Scott. Goldsinny wrasse.

Species #8 for Scott. Pouting.

I swapped over to my LRF gear and after what seemed an age managed to hook and land a fish to add to my tally.

Species #6 for me. Long spined sea scorpion.

Scott then added another species to his list before I added one to mine again.

Species #9 for Scott. Dragonet.

Species #7 for me. Pouting.

We then went down to Porthleven where we would be based for the next two days. Scott had booked a weeks holiday there before he found out about the comp so his girlfriend, Lillian and his sister and her partner had driven down and we went to meet them at Rod Lugg's cottage "Tregonning" next to the harbour there. Needless to say we fished the harbour but it would only yield a few blennies and a solitary pollock for Scott, before we had to grab some food. After dinner we discussed tactics and I remembered reading reports that rocklings had been caught from Penzance marina so we headed there in the hope of finding something new. Using the same jighead with a  #18 hook teaser baited with Isome, we began searching the clear patches in between the weeds around the edges. Soon Scott had spotted some small fish attacking his lure. Gobies he declared and 10 minutes later had manged to hook a tiny one. It took about half an hour for me to recreate the feat but I managed it too. 

Species #10 for Scott. Rock goby.

Species #8 for me. Rock goby.

The relief was amazing! I felt I was really lagging behind with the numbers and it was now possible to get to 10 and beyond. We then had to help a man who had fallen down the slope into the harbour whilst relieving himself, dislocating his arm in the process. Scott and I climbed down using the ropes that the boats are tied up to and managed to haul him back up and get his girlfriend to take him to hospital. We couldn't however, include him in our species hunt as he wouldn't take a lure, and we had to resort to hauling him out by hand. We moved down to the main harbour in search of coalfish but all it yielded was a couple of new "personal worst" pollock before we called it a night. We snatched four hours kip and then it was back into the car and an hour up the road to the harbour to hunt mini species again. I was determined to get some of the species Scott had caught the day before. Sure enough when we arrived there were a few others taking part in the comp trying to do the same, all busy fishing. So it was on with the Isome and on with the fishing. I must be honest and say that up until this point I had not really been enjoying the competition. The main reason for this being that I saw everyone else as competition, which annoyed me a bit as I would liked to have fished with them rather than against them. I was also desperate to hit ten or more species and I only had a few hours to do it. I was fishing next to Luke Fox we had a chat and I began to relax and just enjoy the fishing. Twenty minutes later I felt a small bite and there was a bit of weight on the rod. It felt a bit different and with utmost care I brought the fish to the surface to see my prize.

Species #9 for me. Dragonet.

Another first for me. This was the game changer so next target was mackerel. I rigged up my bass gear with a Savage Gear Psycho Sprat that Scott had caught his Mackerel on the day before and cast the lure a country mile out to sea. I had no luck high up in the water but Scott told me I he caught his quite deep down using a very slow retrieve and it wasn't long before I was hit by a fish which started tearing around. The rod tip was juddering and when it started veering off to the side I knew what it was!

Species #10 for me. Mackerel.

Double figures finally! We carried on fishing for another hour before deciding to spend our last couple of hours trying for bass at a nearby mark. The mark was beautiful and looked like a scene from the Mediterranean bathed in sunshine with crystal clear water. We tried Patchinkos first and I had a fish come up and swirl but no takers. We also saw fish breaching the surface in pursuit of sandeels sending them scattering like silver shrapnel. Still no takers on the Patchinkos. I then tried a Megabass Vision 110 but no joy after 10 mins. Next I tried a MaxRap this time I got a couple of hits but no hook ups. This always amazes me as merely trying to get the lure out of my bag had me nearly hooked! Scott had switched to a bombarda and Kiddy Brill Bait by this point. I too had enough messing about with hard lures so on went a 4.5" Slug-Go on a 10.5g #2/0 AGM football jighead. The results were instant; first cast on the drop a feisty wee pollock! Scott then had one too. Another seven followed before we headed back along the beach. With that we pretty much had to head back to sign off at the competition.

When we arrived I was shattered, tired and grumpy and after a bit of a mix up with registering our catches and a bit of a hissy fit thrown by me (Sorry Matt!), we headed over to the prize-giving. First place in the species hunt was won with 14 fish which was great going. Can't help feeling I could have got similar if I had done a bit more research and planning and a bit less stressing out! Still, Scott and I came in at joint 4th I think with my topknot being possibly the most unusual catch over the weekend. Next came the raffle and at this point I turned to Scott and Ross Johnson (who narrowly missed out on a prize place with 11 species) and said "I may as well go sit in the car as I never win anything in raffles!". First name out of the hat was mine! I couldn't believe it! Scott and Ross laughed. I got to choose my prize so went for a 9' Major Craft Crostage sea bass travel rod despite Scott shouting "Get the booze!" when I went up to the table to pick what I wanted. I was totally stoked! There was also a free product handout at the end so Scott managed to get a few packets of interesting soft lures as well as a couple of coveted Ecogear caps. All in all we did pretty well to get 10 species from a place we have never fished before. I know I can get more next time. Many thanks to Ben and Jo and the staff at Art of Fishing for putting on such a great event.It's one that will stay with me for a long time and certainly worth the 1200 miles, sleep deprivation and one sandwich a day diet! Also many thanks to all the good people from the Lure Forum that I met, just a shame I couldn't be more social due to my competitive nature getting the better of me at times! Roll on next year when I'll hopefully be able to relax and enjoy it a bit more!

Tight lines, Schogsky.