The summer arriving in the UK brings with it all manner of new species to catch from both our beaches and boats. The species that gets most of us anglers excited though has to be the big, brutal beast that is the Smooth hound. Coming from the shark family these sleek, grey torpedo like beauties always manage to make me feel like I’m duelling with jaws just without the teeth!! With pictures appearing on social media from all over the UK we were waiting for them to hit the beaches we fish for them on. Un Fortunately mother nature had other ideas, constantly making the winds everything but the much-needed westerlies that flatten the sea right off and make the hound hunt a viable option. As we waited and waited for these conditions to come right plans were made for us to make a raid down south onto the mighty Chesil beach, the idea for down there was to fish light lines for a species hunt meaning the winds had to be spot on as well. In the days leading up to the Chesil trip though the weather forecast was showing big south westerlies, not what we wanted but changing the goal posts up on the hound beaches of Lincolnshire. It didn’t take much for us to change our plans and set the wheels in motion for a hound hunt.
Bait wise for a smooth hound hunt the number one morsel that I like to have in my armoury is fresh peeler crab so the next part of our mission was to find some of these before we left, now don’t get me wrong, hounds can be caught on nearly all baits out there but in my eyes fresh peeler will always ensure you snare the fish if they are about. With fresh peeler being like gold dust at the time of this trip things were not looking great, I was starting to think I would have to go and grab some hardback crab the night before when Breakaway Tackle of Ipswich came up trumps and supplied us with some quality crab, that was my confidence back up and the hope of hounds was back on.
With the day of the trip arriving the winds had not shifted, weather reports were still showing south westerlies and the jungle drums were banging, reports of a few hounds showing up and down Lincolnshire were getting us excited but as with any fishing trip each tide is different, they can be in a certain spot a few hours previous then totally disappear without a trace. Hopefully this would not be the case tonight but time would tell, messages were going back and forth and with just an hour before I was due to leave the first beach of choice was written off with reports of it being weeded out. Plan B was soon in force, the venue was now going to be the Trunch Lane area of Skegness, having fished here before I knew what to expect but my partner in crime Scott Lewin had never been on these beaches so to say he was excited is an understatement. With the clock striking 18:30pm Scott arrived at my house, it didn’t take long to sort out the crab bait and load the van, with a quick goodbye to my mrs and the kids we were off. With a 3-hour journey ahead of us we stopped off and stocked up on energy drinks and snacks to keep us going and we were back on track, the journey up was smooth as you like, not much traffic or road works, one thing I will say is what is it with Lincolnshire drivers?? Nearly every time I have made the journey up there I see a very near head on collision and this time was no exception with dangerous driving by others appearing to be the theme of the day.

Arriving at our destination we already knew a few others that would be over on the beach, with one of the Norfolk lads, Chris Palmer, already on the sand. We started unloading the van with our tackle and getting ready for the night ahead. My weapon of choice for tonight’s raid was a new rod in my collection, the Grauvell Vertix Eclipse, this rod is super light and is the perfect scratching tool but this would be the ultimate test, pitting itself against one of the most powerful fish available from the UK shores, paired with this would be the Grauvell Eclipse fixed spool reel loaded with Teklon Gold line in .25 17.5lb. Rig wise my choice for the night was to be a long up and over rig armed with a single 3/0 hook attached to 25lb rig body, being clipped down this rig would allow me to present my bait at distance if the hounds were there and of course my bait for the night was to be fresh peeler crab.
Shutting the van doors we loaded up and made our way up the ramp to the beach, arriving on the promenade we were met with perfect conditions, the south westerly wind had really flattened the sea right off, the only things that could ruin it now were either weed or the lack of fish. Walking over the soft sand we dropped our gear near the water’s edge and I wandered over to speak to Chris who was already set up and fishing, it was only his first cast but the news from others fishing the beach was that a few had been caught on the day tides so hopes were up that they would show themselves. After setting up and baiting my hook with a prime fresh peeler crab I waded out a little way and sent my rig out into the sea. A lot of the beaches up in Lincolnshire are very shallow as the tide ebbs and Trunch Lane is no exception so waders can be a godsend just to gain you a little bit of extra distance. With the tide moving out so quickly on this beach I decided to use a sand spike for ease of movement, lumping a tripod about as you chase or retreat from the tide can become a bit tedious, with Scott to my left the hunt was on!! Would they show or wouldn’t they? A shout from our right told us Trevor Scott had landed 1 albeit a very small pup but that’s always a good sign, it wasn’t long before my tip twitched, winding down it soon became apparent I had something on and very soon a tiny little pup was on the beach for me, after being quickly released I waded back out and sent another crab bait seawards and settled back in the wait for the proper hounds. It took a little while for my rod to show another bite, a couple of strong pulldowns followed by a little bit of a slack liner and another fish was on, yet again it wasn’t a proper hound and imagine my surprise when a chunky Flounder flapped its way up the beach, the greedy thing had wolfed down a whole crab on a 3/0!! Not the intended target but still very welcome in my eyes.

The ebb tide came and went without any more fish for any of us bar Scott Lewin who pulled in another chunky flounder, as the tide started to flood Trevor wandered over for a chat, stating that he was probably going to call this cast his last as he was starting to think they wouldn’t show, he wandered back to his rods and I stood chatting to Scott when the clutch on my reel gave a short burst followed by a screaming reel as a hound felt the hook and made a bid for freedom. Winding down into the weight he was on and a lovely scrap ensued, the rod took it brilliantly though and soon hound number 1 was on the beach and being unhooked. Once a few pics were rattled off he was slipped back in and after ensuring he swam out back to sea rather than doing the standard smooth hound trick of re beaching himself I was back fishing again. The tide soon started to pick up pace and with it came a little plastic mixed into a fair amount of weed. The rod was holding perfectly though and once I saw the tip slowly move back I knew another hound had snaffled the crab bait, this one decided to charge straight at me though, at points I was winding like mad just to keep a tight line to him and it wasn’t until the final 30 yards he put up any sort of scrap. Yet again he was quickly photographed and released and yet again another bait was sent out, the tide was really pulling now and the weed was getting worse and for a while it appeared to put the hounds off. Trevor and his son decided to call it a night and Scott moved to my right to fish in the gulley that was there which was a good choice as he was soon into his first hound of the night, which was soon photographed and back on its way out, of course he was now a happy chappy and with the tide flow easing off hopes were high for a few more. Pretty soon my tip slowly pulled over and kept going as hound number 3 made off down tide, this one put up a good scrap with the rod thumping away as he tried to make good his escape.
With the sun now rising It was Scott’s rod that was next to go, another nice hound putting a lovely bend in his rod, and the smile on his face said it all, no doubles yet but these hounds were putting up great scraps on the lighter continental rods. It soon became apparent the weed and plastic was still in the water and after hooking another hound it was a case of walking back up the beach for me to land it as the weed and plastic completely clogged up the top eye of my rod, nervous times but he was soon on the sand along with half a ton of weed on the lead and around the rod tip. The only way I could see to combat this weed would have been to drop line diameters which in a normal situation I would have done but as it was hounds we were catching I felt 8lb line was far too under gunned and with the plastic that was floating around mixed in with the weed, it would have been a recipe for disaster.

Time was slowly ticking down and it was nearly time to leave I was now on 5 hounds and Scott on 2, looking up at his rod we both saw his line was now laying on the beach and pointing a long way down tide. Winding up the slack he connected with hound number 3 and he was soon on the beach being photographed and sent on his way. As the sky’s opened up and the drizzle hit the beach it was now time to leave and make our way home, no big girls for us but I think that’s due to the fact they had all pupped and left already, the winds stopping our chance to target them earlier in the year leaving just the smaller male fish, but fishing for these hounds that were left on light rods is still really good fun, we both agreed it was a good night, not massive numbers of hounds that I have seen in a single session previously but we still caught the target and agreed we would definitely be returning soon to target more of the big grey dogs.