I have talked many times about the social side of LRF, how marks are shared, anglers are friendly and meet ups are common. In these odd times, the social element becomes even more important as we try to forget about the drama going on in the world, so we can just enjoy being by the sea. Social media, for all it’s problems, has been a huge help to link us together and keep us updated on how the fishing is going. I had seen one of my LRF mates, Joe Mole aka Dawlish LRF on Instagram, starting to catch gurnards around his way. A quick message later and we soon had a plan to meet up, with the added company of Richard Salter and Dominic Garnett – Dom having never caught a gurnard on lure before.

It was a calm and muggy June evening, I had made the hour or so drive to the mark from Plymouth. I pulled up next to Richard’s luminous green Peugeot, a clear sign he had already been there a while. My Facebook Messenger app buzzed in my pocket and confirmed he had already found a tub gurnard – things were looking positive! I decided to take my Light Game rod – the Daiwa Gekkabijin ML-T rated to 10g (but can cast much more than that). The hope was that the added distance I could cast would find me a few more fish.

The railway at Dawlish is protected by a big wall of boulders, these are easily accessed and are really popular with bait fishermen. I can see why as you can fish from the path above and cast right out on to clean sand. For light lure fishing though it’s best to get really close to the water. That was where I found Joe and Rich, already having been fishing for half an hour. Rich was clearly enjoying himself, having landed his first tub of the year shortly beforehand. I got myself set up and found a boulder to cast from. Shortly afterwards arrived Dom, keen to catch his first ever lure caught gurnard.

We were all fishing pretty much the same way. Using small metal shore jigs we were casting out, letting the jig hit the sand, then flicking it up of the bottom, letting it sink back down, pause and repeat. It was exactly the same technique I used to target turbot in my previous post (read that here). This tactic searches the sand for these colourful predators, while also imitating an injured fish or a fleeing sandeel. It takes a bit of faith – and a mark with no snags! But once you feel confident with this way of jigging, the possibilities open up for many bottom dwelling species.

The tide was pushing in slowly and the fishing was of a similar speed, many casts were made by all of us until the next fish hit. Who had got lucky..? It was of course Devon Lerfer himself, Richard – living up to his name. This time a slightly bigger tub gurnard, flexing it’s blue rimmed fins in the evening light. Dom, who was using a more continental style jig setup – with a trailing hook baited with Marukyu Isome, soon was into a fish himself. I clumsily made my way over the rocks but just as I got to him to net his catch, the gurnard threw the hook! Dom had the look of a man who just been dumped, he was gutted.

I was struggling to get any hits as I cycled through my considerable collection of metal jigs. Joe soon had a fish, so two of us had caught. It was soon to be three as Dom’s rod pulled up into a lovely arch. The rod tip thumped away in the usual gurnard way. These little tubs were barely fighting until they got near the rocks and then they went mad, trying to wedge themselves into the crevices at our feet. Dom’s fish was no different but he soon had it beat, the relief was palpable, mission complete – Dom had it first ever tub gurnard on a lure.

The thought of blanking spurred me into action. I changed up to a smaller 5g metal – the Savage Gear 3D Slim Minnow Jig in natural mackerel colour. This was a jig I had been slating to Richard only 10 minutes earlier but I had a feeling it would work for the tubs. The reason I had slated it was because I was very unimpressed with the action, there’s very little to be honest. The wrapped design is beautiful though and it was only the slim profile that I required.

I cast out, using that same slow methodical retrieve as before, stopping plenty. I got closer to the shore and soon had that brilliant feeling of a tub hit! What followed next though was a very unremarkable fight, I had caught the smallest of the evening! Typical… But at least my tub account for 2020 had been opened. My only regret being that I hadn’t picked up the lighter rod so I could enjoy the fight a little more.

The tide was approaching high and the fishing started to switch on, Dom had another tub, both Richard and Joe were catching. My next hit was by something a lot more substantial. As is often the way when fishing like this, this big take came from lifting the jig from the sand, the fish walloped it with power and sped off. The power and vibrations feeding back up the line from the rapidly beating tail gave the fish away, it was a mackerel and a decent one too. As is always the case with big mackerel, the fight is endless on light gear. Line ripped from my reel and the Daiwa, despite it’s builky frame for a light rod, was bent right over into it. I have said it before and I will keep saying it – feathering for these fish on big rods is a crime, the fight you get from a single fish on light tackle is epic. I was really enjoying myself but decided to crank up the pressure on the fish and get it beat. I brought this chunky mackie to the rocks and lifted it out. A long fat fish who, with a shake of the hook, fell between the rocks and was gone! Obviously photo-shy. I wasn’t that worried, it saved coating my rod in scales and damaging the fish more. The fight was worth it alone.

I decided to switch over to the Spinmad Impulse Pro 6.5g I had bought from Streetfishing London. I had bought it with gurnard in mind and with this perfectly clean ground, this was an ideal opportunity to test it. Meanwhile Joe caught a couple more, including one on an Ecogear Breamer Vibe – a mad looking metal lure used in Australia for their bream species. I have had luck catching bass on them before and it was brilliant to see Joe using it to great effect.

The Spinmad Pro is also a ‘vibe’ style lure – that means the lure vibrates rapidly as you retrieve. My plan was to use it the same way I had been fishing the metals, close to the bottom and lifting to get the action then let it rest again on the sand. It didn’t take long to receive interest and I would love to say this time it was a beast… But it was not. The guys laughed as I pulled in another baby tub. Still, the lure worked, there had to be a better fish out there for me.

All around us the rocks were lined with people fishing. Big heavy leads and chunky smelly baits being launched out in search of smoothhound or rays. I even had a few choice words to say to one bait fisherman who wanted to fish over us! He soon moved on. I couldn’t help but notice that a few envious eyes had noticed our success with the tubs, and were quickly trying to fashion some sort of lure fishing setup from what they had in their boxes. We never did see them catch anything, other than a small smoothie further down the rocks. Meanwhile we were doing well, Richard had started experimenting and that gave me a chance to catch up, as I tempted two tubs in quick succession. The biggest smacking the lure as it lay still on the sand only a few metres from where I stood.

Dom had been getting into swing of things too with multiple tubs caught, including some of a slightly better stamp. It was a relief to see him doing so well. Dom is a fantastic angler but I had already failed once trying to get him our target species, so the pressure was off now. Dom’s technique of using the trailing hook with Isome, from a HTO Shore Jig, had proved really effective. So effective in fact, he had decided he had caught enough and it was now time to return to his family duties and his young daughter, leaving us to fish on in the declining light.

I managed one more small fish, taking my tally to 5 tub gurnard and one mackerel, a superb evening’s lure fishing. We had all managed around 5 each, so twenty tubs between us was a healthy tally. These fish are a true LRF/Light Game target, I couldn’t recommend fishing for them more. They come close to the shore, are adorned with incredible colours and are super aggressive. Next time you find yourself at a beach mark, try keeping your metal jig or black minnow close to the sand, if gurnard are there, you stand a great chance of superb sport.

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