Smoothhound Fishing

Catching Smoothound From The Lincolnshire Coast.

The Ever shifting sands of the linconshire coast north of skegness is a must for any serious sporting angler during the summer months. When the hords of smoothounds hit the beaches it can result in some of the best sport available in the UK anywhere. A good session could easily see 10 - 20 smoothounds per rod ranging from 4lb right up to mid double figure fish, with the average stamp of fish been around the 5-8lb mark. Fish of 15lb + are caught regular every summer and there is stories of 20lb+ monsters beached in the dead of night and bigger fish lost that have screamed line of the reel at such a rate they have just bust the anglers rigs and left them thinking "errr! what just happened?, did i fould hook a speed boat?".

Locations and marks For Smoothhound Fishing

The angler visiting Lincolnshire has a choice of venues to fish. Firstly there is Moggs eye. This beach is located on the Coast road between sandilands and Chapel St Leonards. Traveling south on this road you will see a rather convenient sign directing you to Moggs Eye beach, as you turn of at the sign you will notice that the beach has a very roomy parking area complete with a toilet block right on the beach practically. A short walk over the sand dunes onto the beach and you are faced with a steeply shelving beach with gullys and holes which are obvious fish holding features at hi-tide, and it is these holes that you must fish into if you want to catch, some are as close as 40yds out from the hi-water line and then there are some at 120+ yrds which are for the big hitters! it is possible to catch at short range here but there is no doubt about it if you can put a crab bait over 100yrds it will only result in thicker and faster action as the hounds come within casting range. Next beach mark heading southwards is Chapel Six marsh, again a nice big sign to direct you to the beach which has its own more than ample car park and toilet block. This beach is similar to moggs eye but has more depth to it and has more clay beds which tend to hold the odd peeler crab, which the hounds come in to feed upon. Again look for the gullys and holes in the beach which the hounds will patrol up and down at hi-water The right hand side of the beach tends to be a little deeper than the left and produces more fish as a result. Just a 5 min drive further south is the "jewel in the crown" of the Linconshire smoothound fishing, Chapel point. The point is the place to head for if you want a really big bag of hounds Just a 2 minute drive south of chapel six marsh you will see a Cafe on your left, Park in the cafe carpark (again easy parking and a toilet block right on the beach) A couple of pound charge is made to the cafe for parking here. Walk over the steps and onto the beach, this beach is Deep, steeply shelving sand bank giving way to flat sand intersperced with holes and channels in the sea bed. Anywhere along this beach will produce but the locals tend to favour the point itself as it usually has a deep hole at around 80yds.

Tides/Times For Catching Smoothound In Lincolnshire

From mid June right thru to mid September is the peak months for the Smoothounds I tend to pick a small tide after a long settled spell of warm weather and westerly or south westerly winds, although I have had good results on brisk southerly winds in the past. I would start fishing 2 hours after low water and fish it until 3 hours after hi, this gives the best chance of a fish or two, with the best time been 1 hour either side of hi water although fish are caught over low on occasions. Daylight tides far outfish the night tides, by quiet a long way in fact. if you can pick a hi-tide around 6am these tides can have some awesome results as the hounds really switch on at 1st light, and what better time to be out on the beach. night tides do produce but they just don't seem to really go crazy as in daylight hours.

Rigs and Baits For Smut Fishing

As for rigs ther is only 2 that u will ever need to target the hounds. A long pully rig of around 2.5ft long made up with 80lb bodys and a 30lb snood. i prefer the 80lb as apposed to 70lb as it gives a little more protection if a hound should roll on the trace at some point during the fight as they have very rough and abrasive skin. and the other rig is a 3ft up and over pennel rig, made up with the same 80lb body and 30lb snoods hooks are simple, a 1/0 or 3/0 pennal rig, but the hook must be strong enough to withstand the runs of a hound and be sharp enough to penatrate the fishes hard gums, i prefer the Sakuma Manta range in a 1/0 and a 2 pennal Baits, all that is needed is a small peice of crab, not a full crab, just something the size of a 50pence peice, go to big on the baits and it results in missed bites as the hounds tend to have a big nose that pushes a large bait out of the way as they attack it. On many occasions, frozen crab will outfish live, even dead smelly crabs will catch fish when they are there in big numbers.

Other Species

Not only are there smoothounds to keep the angler entertained but more and more thornback rays are turning up in anglers catches, these tend to turn up in amongst the hounds and fall to the same rigs and baits, fish to 8lb have made regular appearances this summer already. Also to be targeted are lots of flounders, schoolie bass, small turbots odd dover sole and eels. Very occasionally a big sting ray will turn up, only a few years ago local match angler Dean sumner caught a 48lb 8oz sting ray in a match The winter sees hordes of big whiting invading the beaches with many fish going well over the 1lb mark, amongst the whiting there is cod, most around the 1-3lb mark but around xmas time see a few double figure fish landed especially after a onshore blow.

Article By Chris Mack