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Shore crabs are most effective when peeling or as a
soft back. A peeler crab is simply a crab that is shedding its current
outer protection, the shell, to grow larger. Underneath the current hard
shell you will find a new softer and bigger shell. Such crabs are found
sheltering in soft sand, or mud flats etc under rocks or other pieces of
debris that offer them protection from predators. With its shell soft, the
crab is prone to attack from smoothies and other fish wanting to feast on
this delicacy. Peeling crabs ooze a very pungent orangey/yellow liquid,
which the smell of drives many a fish such as smoothhound, cod and bass
into a feeding frenzy.
Peeler Crab When using a peeler, many anglers choose to peel the
outer shell and remove the crab’s gills, in preparation to wrap this
particular bait into a neat little parcel for the hook. If choosing this
method, don’t wrap the bait too much. Often you see crab baits aboard My
Way that would look better in an Egyptian Mummy’s museum and not trotting
along a sea bed. Care when hooking the bait, and a few gentle twists of
cotton, will allow the juices to seep from the bait unhindered. However,
is the trouble of peeling and wrapping in cotton actually required, after
all the smoothhound is not used to this level of food preparation before it
munches down on its prey. Smoothhound is a member of the shark family, who,
as most of us are aware have a very sensitive level of smell, and are
reputed to detect scent from a food source from a fair few miles away. My
preferred method is to simply hook 1 or two crab once through the back,
and hey presto job done. In doing this you are presenting to the
smoothound a more realistic looking food, yet still releasing the scent
from the crab, however this time a little more controlled, this safeguards
against the smell being washed out of the crab too quickly.
Furthermore there are always other predators in an
area where smoothies are being targeted. These fish also after a feed,
such as dogs, small codling, whiting etc, are all drawn to abundant smell
of the peeler. Therefore another saving grace by using the simple method
is that it can reduce the number of hook ups from unwanted pests at the
time of your smoothhound fishing. |
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Let’s catch a smut |
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Hounds first move in during early May, and hang around until early
July. These fish often hit well into double figures with some
specimens taken just shy of the 20lb mark. Off Holyhead in the past 2
years, we have also noted a return of the fish for a month from late
August into mid September, with these fish averaging around 8lb. Owing to the shallow depths of water usually associated with
smoothhound fishing around the North Wales coast, targeting this
species benefits most from uptiding; launching the bait out of the
scare area around the boat, and anchoring it hard to the sea bed.
There is no real need to trot bait around the sea bed when fishing for
smoothies, as they are pack fish and tend to swim in feeding shoals
that will hunt down your bait with ease. |
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Rods, Reels and Rigs |
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A good uptider will happily cope with the rigours of
playing a fast and hard fighting smoothhound. In the 9 – 10ft length and
with 4-8oz casting weight, most uptiders will cope, rods such as the Team
Daiwa X, Abu Suveran and Fladen Maximus, offering most budgets something
to choose from. Coupled together with a SL30SH or, ABU 7000 sized reels,
you could be on the road to a big smut.
When choosing your main line, you should be looking
for something in the region of 20 – 25lb breaking strains. The choice
between braid and mono has to be down to the individual and their
preferred reel line, however if choosing braid, a 40 or 50lb shock leader
will help absorb any impact if the fish makes an impromptu bid for
freedom. |
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There are not too many variations of rigs when
fishing for smoothhound. A simple running ledger of either 1 or 2
hooks, or 2 hooks rigged pennel style will suffice. Your trace line
should be between 40 and 60lb breaking strain, with hook sizes between
2/0 and 4/0. If rigging up a 2 hook rig, each hook can be baited using
a single crab, or a half each of one big crab, the combination of 2
hook baits, equalling that of using one large juicy
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| When looking at targeting the much larger smoothhound,
then sometimes it is wise to upgrade your hooks to 5/0 or 6/0, thus
allowing you to fish bigger baits, such as whole large velvet or swimmer
crabs. Naturally you may find that hook ups will be reduced, but as with
most forms of sea angling, with perseverance you could be rewarded with a
fish in excess of 20lb. |
