Angling Trust Species Hunt 2024–25
I found out about this competition late into 2023, and really wanted to join. I decided to start it at the beginning of next years hunt, to give myself a fighting chance. Like all competitions, I don't go in with the intention of winning, but rather my own personal goals; I think these hunts are a fantastic incentive to get out of the house! As these catches overlap with my 2024 species tally, I won't go into detail on every catch, rather I'll do a brief overview of each month.
April
Kicking off at the first month to the hunt, I headed to somewhere reliable for at least a few species on LRF. It was still tough following the Winter, but out came a surprise Ringneck Blenny, which wasn't even on the list of counted species (though they accepted the catch), and whilst spending far too long trying to get a Two-Spotted Goby, a micro Corkwing (first I'd seen in months) takes the lure, spooking them off. This would be the theme for the rest of the month, with havng to scale down far smaller than I would usually to find willing species.
May
With 7 species added in a few short sessions, May was a good month. I explored Fowey more than I had usually done before, and decided to dabble with using bait after some encouragement from Cal and Reuben. I initially wanted to do this lure only, like CLF and The Big Lerf, but there were targets in this hunt I could realistically only catch on bait, so I thought if I'll be using bait later on, why be too particular on what I'm using now? This is by no means the new normal, as I far prefer lures. Fish are very receptive; I can move a small lure like a live version of the creature its imitating, whereas I can't move a spec of dead ragworm or limpet to look live. I try to save the boring, static baits for beach casting and carp fishing! Though, I can't deny, I was curious to see how smelly bait would fair on the ultra-light gear.
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| Now appearing in the top 20 rankings! Joint tied with 14th (AT initially forgot to tally my last two species). |
June
Like with much of the year, I only had time for two sessions in the month, but I still managed to tick off the targets I was hoping for. For once, I was plagued with Poor Cod instead of Pouting in Plymouth, and caught Lesser Weever and Whiting in abundance. I normally consider it a good session, if I managed just one of those abovementioned species, let alone tens of each of them!
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| Slipped down a place to 15th, but still holding top 20! |
July
A road trip up country with Cal saw us both achieve five species of wrasse in a day (Ballan, Corkwing, Goldsinny, Rockcook, and Baillon's) with the two rarer ones to add to the hunt. Contrasting this, I later get into some of the common species which had been eluding me since the hunt began.
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| Shot up to 11th place! |
August
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| A slow month, but only dropped down a place to 12th. |
September
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| A competitive month saw me drop to 13th place. |
October
This was a great month, though not for adding anything to the tally. I caught my second Connemara Clingfish of the year, had plenty of Red Bream, including helping Jack Perks catch one for an episode of his new series of Chasing Scales, had some nice sized wrasse, including a couple of PB Corkwing, went on a boat charter for Triggerfish, though none came to the boat this time, and had an enjoyable session on the Mackerel and Bass on Caleb's boat.
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| With nothing to add, I fell to 18th place, but miraculously still holding top 20! |
November
A single session with nothing to add defined this month's fishing, and it was only a short one. I went to a spot where I had seen female Cuckoo Wrasse, and had focused on catching them. Unfortunately there was too much swell for the mark to even be fishable, so I had worked around the nearby gulleys, out came some Ballans, very large Corkwing, and an interesting looking Goldsinny.
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| Clinging on to top 20 by a thread, in 20th place. |
December
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| Tied in 17th place with four others, depsite only adding one fish! |
January
I took a break from the hunt this month, as I wanted to focus on personal targets from the start of 2025. I got in a session early on a Cornish reservoir, hoping for my first pike. We started off dead baiting, but with no interest after a few hours, we walked round casting out lures in the margins. I lost far too many in the trees, so I cast out into open water, and immediately snag into a hidden tree, typical! The next cast after that though, and a lovely little Jack pike.
Dropped to 18th place, the hunt has really slowed down for others too!
February
I did a session or two looking for Cornish suckers, as I had seen my friend pull out one in an earlier session, no luck though, but did have a few of the usual rockpool suspects, and also did a little wrassing around the local harbours.
Still holding 18th.
March
The last month of the hunt, and I got plenty of fishing in this time, from wrassing on the rocks, to travelling up country for minnows, bullhead, grayling and trout, all new species! I finally managed to winkle out a Cornish sucker that had eluded me the month before, and I caught two! This was the last species I managed to add.
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