Happy hound hunters

At long last we are enjoying a taste of summer, even if it is to be short lived should the Met Office be believed. Hot, settled weather in Somerset means only one thing for Bristol Channel Anglers at this time of year- smooth hound fishing. And like the weather, it has been hot, hot, hot!

When these terrific mini sharks hit our inshore waters, many anglers get their first real inclination to wet a line since the madness of the cod season and shops sell out of peeler crab now as fast as they do lugworm in the middle of winter.

Location seems to be everything, but even then, nothing is set in stone. Even those marks that have a track record of producing fish have been inconsistent at best and it has been a frustrating time for a number of anglers. But for some, the right place at the right time has meant the fish were there for the taking.

Martin ‘Taff’ Pearce of Bridgwater found a few fish at Lilstock including a new PB common of 15lb 12oz. Thornback rays and congers added to his bag of fish.

Meanwhile, Andy Copping and Rob Yorke travelled from Plymouth to a mark a little further up Channel (these boys cover some miles in a month!) and found some real quality fish.

Rob Yorke with a 17lb example and Andy Copping with a 13lb beauty

Our very own Harry Brake has fished as much as anyone this season and with mixed results, but for the most part he has had a fabulous time of it landing numerous including a PB of 17lb 1oz as well as good numbers of double figure fish in a single session.

Double trouble for Harry! All fish landed on Varivas Chinu hooks.

Another consistent angler has been Mark Bryce. Like Andy and Rob, Mark travels from Plymouth to fish the channel and when he gets a sniff that the fish are in town, tools are dropped and he heads north to get in on the action. Favouring the reef marks, he has had some tremendous sport with fish to over 16lb in weight.

Feeding fish when the sun goes down… A near 16lb stunner for Mark Bryce

A few days later and Mark is in on the action again with another fab fish under a brilliant blue summer sky.

Mark Bryce with sixteen-and-a-half pound of stocky smoothhound

Fingers crossed that this amazing run of fish continues to provide a load of fun throughout the summer and that the weather allows for us to get out there and have a go.

As the saying goes- Make hay while the sun shines!