27/08/2015 - Trigger happy!

Ever since I came back from Gran Canaria I've been hankering to get to the coast for more sea fishing. Chance finally came with a trip down to Pembrokeshire for the last week of August. I'd been watching the tides carefully and the first morning gave me an opportunity to fish low water at a mark that was becoming known for an unusual species at this time of year. My usual bait supplier was out of ragworm, so I had to make do with some frozen squid and some raw prawns from the supermarket - not a hinderance as it turned out. Got to the mark and had an exploratory drop down the side of the wall to find I was fishing in about 8 foot of water, instead of the usual 20 ft.

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Baited up my simple, two hook flapper with prawn and dropped it down the wall. Didn't have to wait long before the rattles started and was a bit over eager, striking into thin air. Next drop down was met by something more positive. Was expecting a small wrasse to pop up, so was over the moon when it turned out to be my target species - a perfect, little grey trigger fish.

Get in!

Took a quick snap and dropped down again and soon had another enquiry that put a proper bend in the rod. Again, I was expecting a wrasse as the fish fought like stink to get down to the bottom. However, one of the local boat owners turned up at this point and I think we were both surprised when another trigger fish finally rolled into the landing net.

Cracker!

Next fish was a bit of an anti-climax as a little rock goby managed to snaffle my bait. However, next cast I was into another battle, with the fish banging away on the end of the line like a perch and making short, determined runs to the bottom. Turned out to be yet another trigger fish - the biggest of the morning and easily over 3lbs.

Chunk!

I was please with the first one....but three in four casts? They are really interesting fish. Mostly grey, but with varying amounts of striping and a flash of azure blue when they "cock the trigger" - the small, spiny dorsal fin. Also have some impressive dentistry for crushing shellfish....and fingers as I nearly found out when one gave me a warning "snap" of the jaws when I went to take out the hook!

Flash

Went a bit quiet after this, so scaled down the rig and fished slivers of squid to see if there were any mini-species about. After a procession of rock gobies and suicidal micro-pollack I packed up and headed home for lunch - mission acomplished!

BOOM!!