HARDBACK CRAB SMOOTHHOUNDS
Hardback Crab Livebait Rig
SHORE
There’s still plenty of light left when the hound pack arrives.
Small crabs around the size of a 50p piece are best, and this is how to rig them…
01
Start with a single Sakuma size 3/0 circle hook and a 3ft length of 50lb Amnesia line for the snood, then tie on a small swivel to the end of the snood.
has. If you just release one straightaway there’s a good possibility of it beaching itself because it will be disorientated. As I looked over to my right I could see that Sam was playing a hound as well. Almost before I could draw breath my other rod screamed off and the battle commenced once more. This fish was running straight at me, and by the time I landed this hound I looked over to see Sam playing another one too. A couple of minutes later, Sam and I both had fish on the shingle at the same time. There was no time for photos with these hounds; we just looked at each other and started smiling because neither of us had a rod in the water at this time. It was soon high tide and the hounds were coming thick and fast – happy days! Both of my rods started screaming off again as the hounds were trying to make their way back out to sea on route to the Isle of Wight. Sam was in the same boat as me with both of his rods heading off at high speed
02
Pass the other end of the line through the eye of the hook from the shank side, then come back down the hook with nine turns around the shank of the hook to trap the swivel on the back of the shank. Then make a couple of turns back to the eye and pass the end of the line back through the eye of the hook again, on the same side where you started.
03
This creates a knotless knot, much favoured by specialist coarse anglers.
with fish on. After these epic battles we both decided to only fish with one rod each because it was complete madness trying to fish with two. The hectic sport continued for another two hours after the top of the tide. It was just a matter of setting up both rods, only casting out one and leaving the other baited up and ready to go. Throughout our session there was a constant flow of hounds – it was non-stop. With our arms aching, we both decided that it was time to return home after
our excellent haul of fish. We had a tally up of how many fish we had caught and, to be honest, neither of us could work it out. Then it clicked that if we counted our leftover crabs we could both work out how many we’d landed. I took three-dozen crabs with me and had 18 left, so I worked out that I’d landed at least 18 smoothhounds in just over three hours. What an amazing session we both had in the land of the ‘hounds of war’ – I’m not kidding, it was just like a battlefield!
Pretty standard beach gear is all you need for clean-ground hounds.
04
To hold the crab in place, get a small cable tie and push it through the swivel that is on the hook, then attach the crab with the cable tie. This will ensure that you won’t lose your bait on the cast. Total Sea Fishing 25
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27/08/2014 15:52