Woof Woof

Thursday evening I decided to go Surf Casting with Gonzalo and his brother Guillerno. As you might be able to tell from the pictures the sea was dead calm again, not too great for fishing, a little movement is always better especially if targeting sea bass and sea bream, but it made for another comfortable and pleasant night. The wind was blowing from the north-east which generally makes the water crystal clear and is accompanied by quite a chill factor, hence being wrapped up in the pictures.

We fished into the night without any sign of any fish at all, but around 2 a.m. I got the one and only hit of the night on the sardine. I was unsure what it was as I reeled it in but very sure it wasn’t a sea bass or sea bream. Even as it appeared on the shoreline I couldn’t make it out. If I’d been in an estuary or a beach I was unfamiliar with I would have said it was a conger eel by the way it wriggled on the sand although the fight was nothing like a conger nor was the colour. I was thrilled to see it was a dogfish. It was about 60-65 cm long and weighed under a kg. I’d never caught one before and think they are one of the most beautiful fish in these seas. It came loose the moment I landed it but the poor thing just didn’t have the energy to swim away. I had the picture taken very quickly so as to be able to return it as soon as possible, which is why I neither measured nor weighed it. It actually took a good 20 minutes to bring it back to life by making sure the water flowed through its’ gills (being sharks they’ll drown or suffocate if held still). I’m pleased to say it did revive and eventually swan away with strength.

This creature is the closest you can get, rays aside, to caching a shark from the coast, I’m pleased to say.

How I baited the hook with the sardine:

Small Light Weight Treble

It's better to thread the line through the baiting needle before you skewer the sardine as you can clog the needle making this difficult

I used a baiting needle (blunt, I don’t like pointed needles) to skewer the sardine and threaded the line through the middle of the needle (the head towards the treble). Then tied it with lycra thread to keep it secure. I sometimes use another small hook tied behind the sardine and hook the tail to keep the sardine nicely laid out but generally with rough seas or fillets of large sardine. On this occasion it wasn’t necessary.

Happy Fishing