THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

world all tackle records included, were discovered off Sumburgh Head in Shetland and Dunnet Head
on the Pentland Firth.
The west coast of Ireland, in particular Co. Clare was also a regular producer, including those shore
caught specimens mentioned earlier by legendary Irish angler Jack Shine fishing from Green Island at
the mouth of Liscannor Bay. But sadly, there too the trail now seems to have gone cold.
However, in West Wales in July 2016 fishing from a well known rock mark, Simon Shaw and Mark
Turner beat and released the UK's first ever shore caught porbeagle which had taken one of their tope
baits, the fish being estimated at around 150 pounds.
Though perhaps not immediately obvious, there is a link here between many of these potential porbeagle
holding areas, with the possible exception of Cardigan Bay. That link is disturbed tide of the kind often
produced by islands and headlands with submerged reefs and strong local tidal influences, though it
should also be said that many of the current Milford Haven fish are taken well offshore.
The Isle of Wight, Mull of Galloway, Lundy Island, Sumburgh Head and Dunnet Head are all typical
examples. And let's not forget the stretch of coastline to the north of Padstow running across the Devon
border up to Hartland Point, because this is where my link to the scene kicks in. An episode which starts
with Graeme Pullen, Pete Scott, and a small trailed fifteen foot displacement boat launched (and
occasionally swamped) through the pounding surf tables at Bude in the late 1990's.
Graeme's exploits with big sharks on the world stage are legendary, so if there were sharks there for the
taking, he was the man who would find them. But even he was to be surprised by the levels of their
success. For while it had long been the known that porbeagles in the area frequented the tide rips and
headlands dotted all along this inhospitable stretch of cliffs, most people had given up on trying for
them thinking they had all gone. But not so, as Graeme and Pete would demonstrate.
Some of the encounters the duo experienced close into shore were scary on a number of fronts. Huge
fish in poor conditions from such a small boat, broken rods, big sea's, and with absolutely nowhere to
run to in a sudden bad weather emergency, this can be a most unforgiving area, but also a very
productive one, both for big fish and for big numbers of fish.
Fortunately, they survived it, though at
times perhaps only just, coming away with
the knowledge that the very biggest fish
were still there to be found almost within
touching distance of the shore during March
and April, backed up by larger numbers of
smaller pack fish in the sixty to eighty
pound bracket further off over the summer
months.
Porbeagle at the boat
any stretch of the imagination.
Typical of a summer trip is a two day
session Graeme and I videoed for YouTube
in 2009 aboard his seventeen foot Wilson
Flier. By this stage, Boscastle had taken
over from Bude as a far safer launching
site, though not without its own pitfalls by
The harbour there sits in a long very narrow ravine with poor access and a ramshackle slipway which
can only be used for maybe half an hour or so either side of high-water on a big tide. Then there's the
exit-entrance which is an 'S' shape.
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