A duck broken. Well nearly.

They are, as they say, like buses. I've caught nothing for more than a year and then suddenly I'm catching more than I can actually remember in one outing, and throwing most of them back as to do otherwise would seem greedy - despite the fact that I do fish with the specific intention of eating my prey.
It was due to be a dismal morning, with winds blowing and waves chopping, and me and my mate had arranged to go out with Clovelly harbourmaster, lifeboatman, and fisherman, Stephen Perham. I was going straight from my sister's hours in Tiverton, where we'd been the night before, and had with me my wellies, big thick coat, waterproof hat... you know the score.
So I was delighted when I dropped down towards the coast at Appledore to pick up Matt that the clouds parted and the sun began to beat down on us.
Off we headed to Clovelly, where Stephen had been following a sponsored swim from Bucks Mills in his boat before we arrived.
We headed off in Neptune - a beautiful 50-year-old hand-built wooden boat that had previously belonged to Stephen's father - and first of all tried for some mackerel using feathers and lines.
The visibility was pretty damn poor and had been for several days, so whether the mackerel were there and couldn't see the lures or whether they had cleared off back out into deeper water I don't know. But not being able to catch a mackerel in Westcountry waters in the summer is never a great sign...
So we then moved on to a spot for dogfish and dropped down some hooks baited with mackerel and we waited.
And then I got my first bite, brought it up and there was the first of the day's many lesser spotted dogfish.
It's all very well to be very blase and cool about it now, but actually I was over the moon, ecstatic to catch something after about a year of trying. Fishermen can be quite disparaging about doggies, because they are the indestructible rodents of the seabed, but not us. tempting as it was to keep my first fish ever off the North Devon coast, I decided he looked a bit on the small side so threw him back. But I needn't have worried - there were plenty more to come.
I had felt good about the possibility of catching stuff and, much to the amusement of my wife, sister and brother-in-law, had taken along a cool box and several ice packs to keep my catch cool. Of course they all thought that was hilarious. The man who had never caught anything taking a big box along for my non-existent catch - a bit like buying a birthday present for an imaginary friend.
Anyway, I must have caught at least 10 LSDs and one bull huss, so that was cool and great fun.
After a while we got really contemptuous of the doggies and decided to go for something else. We moved over a muddy section of seabed and started using strips, instead of chunks, of mackerel for bait. The hope was that we would catch a thornback ray or something. But we didn't. Just more dogfish.
Fair play to Stephen Perham, he's a really friendly and interesting bloke and we enjoyed our morning out with him. Anybody wanting to arrange a trip can give him a call on 01237 431761. We'll certainly be keen to arrange another outing with him.
So, finally I've caught something - but not from the beach and not on my own rod and tackle. So my quest continues - my duck kind of broken but, if I'm honest, I won't be happy until I get one on my own kit.