This month has been incredibly frustrating with so many days of wind and very few fishable periods. Once again, the luckier angers with flexible work patterns or the freedom of retirement were able to grab an opportunity when a weather window opened. One of those was Peter Atkinson, a member of SMAC and also owner of Anyfish, the fishmonger in Bishops Waltham. Peter also runs a private charter Rodman 1040 called Dotty. He is also lucky (and skilled) enough to have a Bluefin Tuna licence and this month he finally caught three Bluefin Tuna in a single trip out of Southsea Marina. This is certainly a first for a SMAC boat and is a fantastic achievement. I think we can expect more catches as the tuna move progressively eastwards and anglers’ experience and knowledge increases.
In other news, bass, bull huss, conger and rays made up most catches (if you don’t count strap conger, dogfish and pout). The first whiting are showing and at the time of writing there are rumours of codling caught off the beaches. Here are three fine bass caught by two anglers on Pete Churchill’s Sea Biscuit.
Squid are worth targeting at this time of year and some good catches have been made by boat anglers that use squid tackle and tactics. A rig of one, two or three squid lures, jigged and drifted across structure and broken ground will find them. They are predators, so where you find small fish you will find squid hunting them. Don’t be afraid to try drifting open ground too, I have caught squid in Langstone harbour over a flat sandy bottom so all marks are worth trying.
The water remains warm and mullet are still around. SMAC Fish Of The Month was won by a huge mullet of 5lb 4oz caught by Andy Bird.
