The numbers game

Species hunting certainly hones your skills as an all-round angler, as Gary Blake, catcher of no fewer than 56 individual species in 2016, can testify…

 Issue 14 (Jan-Feb 2017)    Gary Blake    Gary Blake & friends

So, with the Christmas dinner finally starting to digest, the end of the year is in sight. With only a few days left and not much hope of me getting out fishing until the New Year, it’s time to take a look back at 2016 and some of the good fishing I had, to try and cheer myself up and act as a reminder that the nice weather, long days and decent sea fishing will roll around again soon! I competed in plenty of shore and boat competitions and chased the odd specimen-sized fish but what I got completely obsessed with in 2016 was species hunting. Twelve months ago I noticed some Facebook friends posting pictures of fish with a card labelled ‘Shore and Boat Species Hunt 2016’, so I asked them to add me to the group so I could get involved for a bit of fun. Little did I know it would completely change the way I look at fishing and have a huge impact on the way I approached fishing for the rest of the year…

The first session I had back in January was down in Co. Kerry when my fishing buddy Stephen Gibson and I made a break for the Kingdom one Friday afternoon. We had both just had a crazy Christmas period in work and just wanted to get away for the weekend, if we caught fish it was a bonus. The weather was awful and so was the fishing but I managed 7 species to start off my year species hunting. They were all small fish but size doesn’t matter when collecting species. Looking back, it actually turned out to be a pretty successful weekend for me. I had many sessions like this throughout the year where I might not have caught the biggest of fish or the most amount of fish but I managed to pick up a couple of new species to add to the list. It always made coming home from a long trip a little bit easier whereas in the past I would have basically written it off as a blank.

The winter was tough for us Irish species hunters in the competition, especially for me on the east coast where a decent fishing trip in winter is when you catch something other than whiting! We were competing against guys on the Channel Islands who were racking up species in January including all the wrasse species which we wouldn’t usually get until around May/June time. It was very disheartening and made me think that there was no way I could keep up with them boys. They were even catching species I had never heard of, like Baillon’s wrasse, which are a bit like a corkwing and are more of Mediterranean species. These guys were good anglers and they had extremely rich fishing grounds on their doorstep, so I knew I had my work cut out for me.

As the summer went on I kept building my species count and managed to take a good lead on the Channel Island lads but then realised that I had much stiffer competition closer to home with my two good pals Evan McGovern and Izaak Bradley from Cork, who were both creeping up the leaderboard. I spent a lot of time fishing with these two guys this year and we became good mates. We had two very memorable boat sessions together in the summer. One was with skipper Tom Collins in West Cork  where we all caught skate, myself and Izaak managed three blue shark between us and I had a 33lb conger, a ling, mackerel and launce. They all added to the species count nicely. Another session we had was with renowned skipper Kit Dunne from Wicklow Boat Charters , where we collectively had about 40 tope to 30lb, plenty of bull huss and smooth hounds plus a few tub and grey gurnards. That day on board Kit’s boat we had the two guys from Cork, two lads from up north and two anglers from Scotland, all chasing species they couldn’t get at their own local venues and everyone got what they were after. If only every day was that successful!

I also did a lot of my species hunting with Michael O’Reilly (previous “The Future” contributor for the magazine, see here )  who had been holding the 1^st place spot on the junior leader board for pretty much the whole of 2016. Even though he’s a youngster I must take my hat off to him; his knowledge of LRF and mini species is second to none and I wouldn’t have caught half the mini species I have without him. There wasn’t a single session where I didn’t hassle him for a bit of 6lb fluoro or a dropshot lead or a size 16 hook – he’s a lot more prepared than myself I must say! The LRF played a huge part in my year species hunting. I always had an LRF rod set up in the back of the jeep ready to go. As it stands (end of December) I’m on 56 species and just about half of them were caught on my LRF rod. It’s very satisfying to go out and target a mini species and actually catch it.

On one marathon session Michael and I had, we drove for four hours to a mark where we suspected we’d find the very rare red mouth goby. We had an idea where it was but the locals wouldn’t give us the exact mark, so we had to pull a sneaky one and zoom in on some pictures and cross check them with the marks we knew. As it turned out, we were bang on the money and first drop down Michael was into a beautifully marked red mouth, and I managed to land one as well just before it got dark. For most anglers, such a small fish would have no meaning to them whatsoever but we were both absolutely buzzing. I have to say I’ve really fallen in love with the mini species around Ireland. Just knowing there are so many different species right down the side of pier walls and in little rock pools is amazing, and to learn how to successfully target each one is more amazing still.

If you are thinking of taking up species hunting for 2017 be warned, it’s extremely addictive!  Every week the admin team in the group I was involved with would put up an update on the overall scores and if I saw someone getting near me or creeping up the leaderboard I’d be straight out into my jeep with the gear and gone out to chase something new. One evening I was sitting in with the girlfriend and Michael text me to say he’d found a nest of the elusive corkwing wrasse. I asked the girlfriend did she fancy going for a walk down the seafront and when we got there I whipped the rod out (steady). She just said, ‘I knew you were up to something!’. In fairness to me, we did go for a walk as well but I did also manage to get a small corkwing after a couple of drops along the wall. I even bought her an ice cream, so everyone was happy.

After my first full year of dedicated species hunting, there are a few tips I would give for anyone looking to do the same, be it for themselves or for a competition:

1. Make a list: I broke my list into sections; white fish, wrasse, rockling etc. The easiest in each section would go at the top of the list and I worked my way down to the hardest.  I think I have a bit of OCD and if I make a check list, I’m not happy until I’ve ticked everything off. I kept the list over the visor in my van so I could easily keep tabs on what I had caught and what I still needed, which made planning the next trip a bit easier.
2. Always bring an LFR rod! I always had one set up with mini Sabikis. If I passed a harbour or rockpool I could just pull over and have a quick cast to see what’s around. I also kept a small container in my main tackle box full of small hooks, 6lb fluoro, small weights etc. That way I was always prepared to fish for mini species even if I was fishing a beach for species like bass and smooth hounds.
3. Talk to other anglers: I found social media a great help. If I was struggling to find a certain species I would often put it out to my Facebook friends and usually the advice would pour in in droves.  Most anglers will pick up mini species and throw them back with no regard but they could be valuable for you in a species hunt scenario. I actually had lads who were actively supporting me by the end of the year, who were always asking how I was getting on and trying to think of more info they could give me, which was very much appreciated.
4. Don’t become complacent: I spent a lot of time targeting the harder species and often forgot about some of the easier ones or just thought ‘Ah I’ll get them along the way’. I did this with the Weever fish, garfish and Painted ray, three species I was ”obviously” going to catch along the way but left it too late!
5. Try your best to fish more than one rod: If I was fishing a pier for example I’d have a beach caster out far, a boat rod tight to the wall for rockling and conger and I would be walking around with the LRF rod trying different spots for minis. If I was fishing a beach I’d have a rod out far with a pulley rig or 3 hook flapper and another rod in close usually with smaller hooks trying to pick up weever’s, dragonnette’s, flounder etc.
6. Always have some ragworm! I always had a box of rag with me for the mini species. I found it to be the best all round bait. Many other species hunters always have Isome worms and other soft plastic lures which probably makes more sense as they are non-perishable but I just always preferred to use rag but you can decide that yourself.

So with only two days left in 2016 as I write this, I may only get out for a few hours to try for a last-minute painted ray but if I don’t my final score will be 56*. I can’t complain as my target back in January was 40 which has been well and truly smashed. My pal Evan is leading the way on 59 and Michael is leading the juniors with 46. I would advise anyone to give it a go, whether you’re a complete mackerel-bashing beginner or a seasoned match angler, species hunting will make you a much better all round, adaptable angler.

Until next time, thanks for reading,

Gary Blake

*Note: Gary did indeed finish on 56 species for the calendar year of 2016, a remarkable achievement but one that, incredibly, was bettered by Evan McGovern who managed to catch 59 individual species. Young LRF ace Michael O’ Reilly managed to hold on to 1st place in the junior side of the competition, racking up a total of 47 fish species.