Announcing a new epic website

So it has taken a while but Epic Fishing Trips now has its own website which you can find here www.epicfishingtrips.co.uk. Our previous website will keep running as I build Epic Fishing Trips into the future. All should be finalised by October 2016 but for now do have a look and let me know what you think...

How lite can you go?

I seem to have blown up a storm over in the World Sea Fishing Forum where the local inhabitants have got very excited (and a tad too personal) about a Blog of mine that is posted there. (Find it here http://www.worldseafishing.com/columns/tim-harrison/). I chose to call the piece 'Bass don't fight', knowing as I did so a title such as that would challenge entrenched preconceptions and stimulate grey matter. I believe that it is right that those of us that write about lure casting for sea bass do so in a manner that challenges convention and promotes discussion. After all, discussion stimulates ideas and by using ideas we anglers all better what we do.

I am now firmly of the view that it is better to fish lite for bass. And that equals using lightweight rods and lightweight lines. Braid technology is advancing quickly with some of the new on the market (and often Japanese) 8 weave lines having an incredible strength to diameter ratio. These materials are strong and when teamed with the right rod more than able to handle any bass that still swims. Five years ago I was using 20lb bs Powerpro. I am now spooling some of my main reels with 15lb and the HRF stuff with 10lb. Remember though that I don't use leaders and as such feel totally confident in lite line running through to the lure (as above picture shows).

The argument for fishing heavier than this is that you might get broken by a big bass. Truth be told I can not remember being broken by a bass? Must have happened I guess but it does not stick in my memory, so its so infrequent as not to be an issue at all. As I am boat fishing, bass don't seem to fight mean, they don't run for cover and the only time I am ever fearful of a lost fish is if one is taken across a barnacled reef. Then cut off's do occur but no matter how strong your line, it will always shear when taking on barnacles.

Lite line casts better, cuts through the water better, produces better feel and allows for more skill full fishing - thereby more chance of a bass hook up.

So I stand my ground. Those of the closed and blinkered minds that are unable see the advantages, I implore you; please stick to your firmly held views and beliefs and keep doing what you are doing. You are quite correct you will catch plenty of bass: But my clients and I will catch more.

What a load of Scallops

Living close to the sea or rather next to the sea, practically in the sea and for all of the summer on the sea; one of the things we are never short of is fresh seafood. You will know that I put both lobster and prawn traps out, you will understand that we are well blessed with fish to eat and you will recognise that a healthy network into the local commercial fishermen brings foody rewards. Our only problem is one of time because in mid summer after 12 hours at sea I simply can't face gutting, preping and cooking more fish.

At this time of year things are very different and with a office full of to do's its a welcome relief to go hunting and then spend time preparing, fresh sea food. My latest great get was this batch of 30 odd scallops. I'm indebted to local fishermen Len for these splendid shells. He was kind enough to keep some from a fresh batch ready to go off to market that day and then charge me a very fair price. I was salivating as I collected them, more worked up still as I journeyed home, listening to the beasties flapping in the back.

There is only one way to treat live scallops and that is to sashimi them. The Japanese consume more sea food per head of population than any other country in the world. And the vast majority of the fish they eat is eaten sashimi...So many Japanese can not be wrong and they are not.

I am told that it takes as long to train as a sashimi chef in the Japan as it does to train to be a doctor here. Boy do they take their raw fish seriously! I can't possibly compete with such skills, so for me its dive in, shuck the scallops out and go for it. Shucking out scallops is not all that difficult, doing it well and without waste takes practice. I'm ok at it and what I do leave behind on the shell I scrape off with a spoon to pan fry. Once a scallop muscle is in your hand wash it well before drying it in a piece of kitchen paper. Then with a samurai sharp blade hold the meat on its side and slice it at least three times. Suddenly you now have three thinnish rounds of scallop. If you are lucky the muscle will still perceptively shimmer.

Waste no time now. Grap the rounds with chop sticks (well you have to be authentic), dip in slightly vinegared soy. I like Kikkoman's sashimi soy, dab with the best wasabi you can find, lob a round into your mouth and enter food heaven.

I can honestly say this is one of my top foody things to eat. Sashimi scallop and sashimi tuna would be both be in my top 10. Correction top 5, yes they are that good.

Timely reminder

Very recently I spotted a press release from CEFAS (the Governments fisheries research wing) about a new tagging program that has been initiated in a effort to better understand sea bass populations. You may have spotted that I posted their flier on my Facebook page and if you haven't already done so you can check that out here.

Blessed with or should I more properly say; trained with all the relevant skills to undertake fish tagging I once seriously considered doing some small scale tagging aboard 3 Fishes. It is easy enough to import Floy Tags (a firm in Australia supplies them through an online portal) and Floy Tags are easy enough to use on bass. Their signature dorsal fin provides the perfect base in which to lodge the T of the tag. If you have never seen one close up they are very like the annoying bits of plastic that clothing retailers seem intent on using to add pricing labels to garments. And better still bass are very obliging when it comes to the tagging process as, if you lie them upside down (on their backs), they will become motionless as if in a trance. Other fish do this too but bass are particularly receptive to being still on their backs. So there is no need for anaesthetic which is good news as in order to use some a whole tranche of bureaucratic hoops must be jumped through.

So getting the tags is easy and not very costly, doing the tagging is easy and getting the bass is not all that difficult either - lets face it I make a living taking people fishing for them so if I haven't got a ready supply of the things then I have no business.

Why in hell have I not done it then? Well for two prime reasons. Firstly although bass tagging is easy it does demand attention if it is to be done well and without harm to the fish. I have a myriad of other things demanding my attention at the moment a bass comes aboard, primarily 3 Fishes and take you mind off her for a few seconds and you are asking for trouble. And secondly, just imagine for a moment getting a customer a nice six pounder, tagging it and releasing it (all fish over 55cm are released aboard 3 Fishes anyway). Job done you might think. True it is until a few days later when someone hands me the very same tag pulled out of the very same fish that they had caught and killed. Now that is going to hurt.

Call me overly emotional but I want to believe that the fish I release head off to survive, thrive and recreate. I certainly don't want to know that someone killed it.

Cutting the festive cake

At the moment I'm reminded that it is nearly Christmas time almost every second of every day. Radio adverts, TV adverts (am I alone in wondering how a scentless film of a perfume bottle, sells perfume?). The shops are full of boxes of Quality Street and my wife is stressed. Even the dog is wearing a look of fear as it worries over the imminent arrival of the dog sized plastic rain deer antlers. Last night I tried escaping to crew training at the village Lifeboat House only to be bombarded with need to make my starter, main and pud choices the forthcoming Christmas meal'? Bah humbug...

I am not alone. I am quite sure that others suffer the same affliction. So why then am I making the same mistake and pestering you with Christmas greetings? Well partly because we just have to do it. It is within our culture, our society, our inherited persona to pass on seasonal greetings to all whether we feel cheery or not. We have to send Christmas cards, we have to pull crackers, suddenly we have to like bread sauce, we just have to be  festive; ok!

Mostly though I write because this time of year heralds (no Christmas pun intended) the beginning of the next fishing season. And frankly this is something to very be cheery about! This is fun, this is fishing!

Next season 2015 we will start fishing in Mid March. March and April is spurdog time and these feisty sharks are great fun. 2014's best went over 20lb and we intend to beat that fish in spring 2015. My main spurdog marks are sat there quietly developing and untouched. Can't wait to get a piece of squid trundling across them.

Early spring is also king Whiting time. We had some lovely hauls last year with plenty of 2lb + fish popping up. I like whiting fishing, they are plentiful and the eat superbly. I will deep fry mine gutted but whole, no flour just in the fryer they go. They come out crisp and juicy and a squeeze of lemon and a spoon of tartar sauce turns them into fish meal heaven.

The fist bass will arrive in April, the first Mackerel in late May and then the summer is up and running. We will be pollacking on the offshore wrecks, breaming locally. Grabbing hold of the rods and holding on for all we are worth when the first Tope arrives. As the summer months wear on so the fishing just gets better and I can not wait.

I love Christmas. Let the feasting begin, let the angels sing and praise the new born king because soon after comes the best time of the year. Time to go fishing.

Happy Christmas all.

The bass crisis

I have just learnt that scientific advice in 2013 asked for a 36% cut in bass catches, which was not acted upon and now the latest advice from the International Council for the Exploitation of the Seas (ICES) released June 2014, advises that an 80% cut in catches of bass across the EU is required in 2015! 

I am becoming more and more afraid that increasing commercial bass fishing is pressurising the bass stock rapidly to the point of no return. The estimated six thousand commercial fishermen remaining land £160 million worth of fish 80% of which are of little direct interest to us anglers. Of the remaining 20%, £32 million is made up of those same fishery resources upon which the £1.23 billion sea angling industry is dependent and include £5 million worth of commercially landed sea bass. 

A £1.23 billion recreational angling sector and a £32 million commercial sector? It is immediately clear where the benefit to the UK lies and yet over fishing continues. It is a deeply worrying trend and one that can only be addressed through politics. I'm going to write to my MP and my AM. You should too.

What gave the hardest pull this year?

 Whether the day is just breaking and we are on passage from the harbour,

or whether we are on the way home just coming onto the pier, thoughts naturally turn to the best fish of the day.

The hopes and aspirations at the start of the trip are matched equally by the pleasure of memories of fish caught during it. So what did give the hardest pull this year? To be honest I'm not really sure. A big ray kiting across the tide can be a beast to deal with and there has been some muscle straining action as a wise old Thornback is pumped up. Tope, now when they are in the mood they seriously pull. Funny fish tope though because at times they will come to the boat like dogs on a lead, whilst at other times the first adrenalin filled run is like hooking a steam train, In fact my best analogy is its like tying the reel line to the collar of a Labrador, throwing a ball and yelling fetch. Unstoppable.

Then there is the mighty bass, a good one on light tackle is a different prospect to anything else we fish for here in the UK saltwater. They pull hard. The surprise of the early season were the bountiful spurdogs that use guile and muscle to put a cracking scrap into any effort to boat them. The seasons best went to 20lb and my word did it fight. Similar in so many ways are the smooth hounds but they pull harder still. If the Labrador analogy works for tope then smooth hounds are grey hounds. Keep up with them if you can. But perhaps the thing that pulled the most was this boat. Broken down and in need of a helping tow, 3 Fishes knew she had a scrap on!

So here is the list.... enjoy.

Bass - 9.5 lb

Tope - 51 lb

Spurdog - 20 lb

Ray - 10 lb

Smooth Hound - 7lb

Huss - 15 lb

Cod - 3.5 lb

Pollack - 4.5 lb

Gurnard - 2.5 lb

Whiting - 2.5 lb

After this the list gets almost endless and includes, flounder, plaice and dabs, coalfish, mackerel, herring, 3 species of gurnard, 2 species of weaver, launce, garfish, 2 species of wrasse, scad, pouting, 2 species of eels, dogs, dragonet, etc etc.