The Best Place in the World

I pointed the van westwards and chugged along for a couple of hours to a quite remote part of Devon. Well, not remote but difficult to get to in a big square box of a camper van.

Squeezing along the high walled lanes I came to a tiny village and found a place to stop. A proper breakfast on the green and I was on the usual long trek to do some rock fishing.

I've been here on many occasions and it is, officially, The Best Place in the World. Absolutely stunning and usually fairly quiet especially early in the morning or in the evening.

Wrasse lures at the ready and I tried several spots where I muttered the usual " there MUST be fish here ". Maybe there was but I couldn't catch them. 

I moved to an absolute banker mark, a little rock sticking out into a bay, surrounded by deep gullies with 25 plus feet of water under your rod tip. After twenty minutes and just a few rattles, the rod whacked over as a fish crashed into the lure under the rod tip.

The clutch was done up tight but still a few yards of line ripped off. I was grateful for the short heavy nylon rubbing leader I'd tied a few minutes before. A beautifully coloured wrasse appeared in the gin clear water and I carefully used the  gentle swell to bank the fish on the rocks.

What an amazing looking fish.

Next day I tried a different area, shallower but with boulders, weed and loads of cover. I had a couple of wrasse and then started dicking around in a massive rock pool that was thirty yards long or more. I love messing around in places like this.

I put on a small piece of Isome worm and a split shot an inch away and lowered it in, jigging it along the bottom. First fish to show was a giant goby. Not a big goby, a fish called a Giant Goby. I hope you're taking notes ?

Very aggressive creatures, it appeared from nowhere and munched the lure immediately.

The fish in these rock pools are ultra wary of any disturbance and seem to be able to see or sense you from miles away, you really do have to creep about very carefully. Which makes it even more fun.

More gobies followed along with lots of shannys ( or shannies.....) and then a couple of quite stunning scorpion fish. I watched as these little beasts whacked into the lure.

The tide was now starting to flood so I called it a day and started the long trek back where cheese and cider were waiting to be demolished.

Another great day.