A flash of silver. Another Catch and Cook story

Fishing is predictably unpredictable.
I love catching fish, I love catching new species even more but sometimes you just have to target what you think is there in front of you, even if its not what you are really after. But then sometimes you have to throw it all out the window and ride the wave of luck that comes in.

Last weekend  (16th November), I boarded a coach to Plymouth with a small lure bag and 2 LRF rods with the intention of searching out my first ever garfish and possibly some more shore squid for me and Owen.Arriving at midnight I walked to where I was staying for the night, had a brew and a catch up with my brother in law and got some Zzzz’s ready for the days fishing ahead.With no car, I packed up what I needed for the day including rods, lures, water and a rucksack we could fill with food and headed to collect Owen on foot.We then hiked to our first spot of the day and arrived at about 2 ours before high tide. It was time to catch some fish.I clipped on metals for us both, and dropped my lure straight down into a deep hole in a gulley I know can often provide shelter from the moving tide to fish.First cast syndrome……..?I got hit on the drop and my tip started shaking like mad as I flicked the bail arm over to prevent any more line coming away. For a second I though i was going to be into a wrasse as I have had so many from this hole but the fish dived hard and i immediately knew it was a pollock. A few turns of the reel and I saw it. Only small but it gave an account of itself at least and Owen came running over laughing. I joke about being ‘at one’ with this species of fish. I know everyone can catch them, but I can find them anywhere and everywhere and always seem to catch them. 

A few casts later with the same metal, I was hit on the drop again about 10  yards out into another gulley, I was praying for a different species but knew in my heart immediately it was going to be a pollock.We moved onto the platforms to try and shelter ourselves from the wind for a short while and had a chat with a couple of bait anglers and even gave a helping hand to unhook a really nicely patterned dogfish. I think it was the first Owen has seen and he now wants to target them another day.

We didn’t have much luck on the platforms and I tried a range of lures right along the structure and also retrieving at different depths. I switched back to a metal and then just under the rod tip I saw a bass in the flesh for the first time this year. It was charging up at my lure just as it was about to leave the water, it hit the lure as it broke the surface and I held my breath and did what we all do, bloody froze. The bass turned and splashed and disappeared, it missed the hook. I couldn’t bloody believe it. Argggh.I tried for another 20 minutes or so in that spot before deciding to return to the rocks knowing I had missed my chance. It was far too windy for most lures so I continued with my metal but tried to keep the lure on the surface by speeding up my retrieve.

I thought this would keep me out of the pollock zone and more likely where a potential garfish may be. Then whallop! I thought for a moment I had redeemed my missed bass as I saw a large flash of silver at about 20 yards out. The shape I saw was a lot bigger than what I eventually landed. I am not sure if it was the water magnifying the fish or a bass trying to hit my catch as I reeled it in, but it got me excited. When I finally saw the fish I had caught, I was still made up. My first Mackerel of the year!

With the tide now on the turn again we decided to make a move and get some food and also warm up before the next session.Fed and full of warm coffee (hot milk for Owen), we headed into Millbay docks as the sun was setting.

It was time to try for another squid. I set Owen up on a squid jig and myself on my new favourite combination of Ecogear Shirazu Jig head with a tiny pink straight pin tail soft plastic lure. It wasn’t long before I was catching small pollock again. I was watching Owens lure with every retrieve to see if there were any squid following but it didn’t look very promising.Once fully dark, I also changed to a squid jig and another chap joined us. we were all ‘squidding’ for a good hour but nothing was happening.

Occasionally we saw flashes of silver behind the lures but nothing was biting and there was a school of what we think were mullet swimming around slowly beneath us that weren’t really interested in the lures.When the other guy left, I let Owen carry on in pursuit of squid whilst I was starting to obsess about those flashes of silver. Back on went the jig-head and soft plastic combo and first cast I got a solid bite and a fish that was fighting hard. I knew pretty much immediately it was going to be a herring after hooking one 2 weeks earlier in the same spot only for it to tail-walk its way off the hook a few yards from the wall. This one didn’t have the same ingenuity though and was soon being hauled up and bagged for dinner.2 casts later I was in again and this one was a better size. I passed the rod to Owen to see if he could get one but nothing happened over 5 casts an he passed the rod back to me. My next cast, I was in again and then also on the next 3 casts taking my total of herring to 6.


I made Owen have another go and his first cast was very poor but he just missed a herring trying to hit him under our feet. His next cast was one of the best I’ve ever seen him manage with an LRF rod. I just knew he would hook up with that much water to cover back to our feet. he had 2 or 3 bites and then hooked up. He got the fish in and it joined the others in the bag.I took the rod back and it took me another 5 casts to find number 8 to give us a nice even number to finish on.After a bloody long day, missed bass, no squid, cold, windy, some rain, miles of walking etc. we were beat and decided to head back with our catch.We stopped at a shop on the way to pick up rice and vegetables and made it to my mother in laws house eager to warm up and eat.

I finished the day having caught 5 small pollock, a mackerel and 7 herring. Owen managed a herring right at the end of the day to save a blank. 


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