Sabiki Fishing, Samphire Hoe

The Species Hunter

Samphire Hoe, Dover, Kent CT17 9FL, UK

After a stormy day putting a stop to my fishing plans, but by lunch time it had turned to sunny and hot, with only a pack of squid, and time running out, I decided my best option would be to return to Samphire Hoe in the hope to increase years tally on species. My plan was to fish 3 hours up and through high water till dusk, leaving most my tackle and fishing clothes at home, I pulled out my old Fox Warrior 12' rod, a carp rod with a 2.5 test curve, a light rod which I opted for, rather than a shorter spinning rod as the length meant that the line would be kept free from the wall when the rod was leaned against it as a rod rest, I paired the rod with a shimano baitrunner reel loaded with 10lb mono. I cut a sabiki rig with size 14 hooks in half so it had just 3 hooks left and baited them with squid tentacles, which looked fantastic, like a little fish which would of fluttered about in the current, Feeling the 1.5oz plain lead down to the bottom of the sea wall, I set the rod down with a gentle curve and put the bait runner on as I remembered nearly losing a rod here to a tiny Pollock.

Sabiki baited with squid tentacal

A Pouting Pouting?!?

Fishing was slow, frustratingly I had missed a few violent bites, As I very slowly worked along the wall trying straight down and out a little further about 5 meters from the wall attempting to find some fish, I didn't seem to matter, all was quite, but just as the tide turned, a rattle rattle on the rod tip followed by a pull down, I lifted the rod and was into a fish, a beautiful Tompot Blenny, and exactly what I was after a new species. the next few cast resulted in missed bites, but at least the fish were biting, and the third cast resulted in a Pouting, which put up a good fight on the light tackle, I was on a roll, and the next cast resulted in a small Corkwing Wrasse and again another new species for the tally. the flurry of missed bites and fish came to an end. It had gone quiet again, my rod had not moved for at least 20minutes, I tried jigging the Sabiki rig, bouncing the lead gently up and down off the rocks at the base of the sea wall, but to no avail.

Tompot Blenny

I set the rod down and became distracted with the beautiful view of the cliffs and watching other anglers, "Your rod!" shouted Sarah, I looked round to see the rod bending right over, I pick it up and gently lifted it up, oh no!, I'm stuck on the bottom, then it freed itself, then tap tap, and stuck again, It felt like a Wrasse darting into the crevasses of the rocks for safety, I pulled it free again, and the fish was still on, I could feel it tapping away, then it got stuck again, and again with a nervous pull I freed it up, but this time whilst reeling in I lifted the rod right up in the air and pulled what ever away as far away from the rocks as I could, bearing in mind I was fishing with tiny size 14 Hooks, which had allready been bent back into a curve several times by myself after getting straightened because of catching the rocks,
 

Corkwing Wrasse

I lifted the fish over the sea, I went to grab the fish and for the first time in a long time I recoiled. I didn't recognise the fish as it spun around. it kind of looked like a sea cucumber, but as it slowed down from its spin, I realised it was a flat fish curled up like a pirates map. what I had caught was a first ever for me a Topknot!, a very strange flatfish with a rather large protruding mouth. As I offered the unknown fish for a picture It clung very tightly to my hand using its side fins to form a kind of sucker, I later googled and found that the fish can cling to rocks even upside down in underwater caves where it waits camouflaged before pouncing of passing fish and crustaceans. And I must thank the anglers next to me who were kindly able to identify the species for me. As without them I may still be trying to find out.

Topknot, nice to meet you, you sticking around?

All in all, although it was a fairly quiet session, I had done exactly what I wanted to do, and that was to add new species to my shore caught year tally, which now stands at 16, which is no small feat considering that its not even half way through the year, and am well on my way to my target of 25 species caught in a year from the UK shore. There are many more species left for me to target, but I'm hoping for a few more surprises catches of unknown species that I may encounter on this challenge that are hopefully as strange and as fascinating as the little clingy Topknot.