Sussex Smoothounds - June 2017

It was good to be back on the beach down in West Sussex once again. May and June are good months for our shore angling here in Sussex. There's always a chance of a Stingray or a nice Smoothound and it was with these two species in mind that I headed west on a breezy Saturday afternoon.

I was loaded up with plenty of ragworm for the Stingray, a few frozen crabs and a box of squid for the Smoothounds. I like to keep my fishing simple and as such had tied up a few pulley rigs with nice sharp 3/0 hooks. These rigs are easy to tie and have never let me down. They clip down well enabling a nice streamlined presentation for the cast too.

It was rather windy when I arrived on the beach and I feared the worst with regard to the dreaded weed! I made an exploratory cast with just a lead tied on and to my surprise found the water to be totally clear. Game on!

I rigged up both rods, set up the tripod and baited both rigs with large worm baits. It's the stingers that I was really after having never caught a big one in the UK. I soon realised that the wind was going to cause me problems. It was so strong it kept pulling the lead out of the soft sandy seabed.

I ended up just using the one rod and casting up into the wind and putting a bow in the line which did the trick. I changed the worm baits every 20 minutes or so and sadly they came back untouched every cast!

As the light started to fail, I switched to crab baits and had a nice bite on the first cast that came to nothing. Upon inspection of the bait, it was clear to see it had been crushed in the jaws of something. Most likely a Smoothound.

With the wind slowly dropping it was much more comfortable, so I prepared another crab bait and sent it out to the 80 yard mark. It didn't take too long before the tip pulled over and sprang back again. I wound down and this time felt some good weight and resistance. After a lively scrap I had my first Smoothound on the beach...a pretty nice one too. It certainly pulled well.

CLICK BELOW FOR VIDEO OF RELEASING A SUSSEX SMOOTHOUND

With darkness approaching and a rumble in my belly, I packed up and headed home. Windswept and happy! There's always another day for the Stingrays.....Tight lines!