The Ultimate Angling Bucket List

589 Pages·2017·55.06 MB·English

by  Phillip Williams

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THE ULTIMATE ANGLING
BUCKET LIST
Dr. Phill Williams

Copyright © 2016 by Dr. Phill Williams
ISBN 978-0-9957216-1-6
All Rights Reserved

To be born a fisherman is to win first prize in the lottery of life

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THE ACTUAL BUCKET LIST

100 species of fish from British and Irish waters
300 hundred species in total worldwide
A 200 pound fish from my own trailed boat
A 200 pound fish from the shore
A 100 pound fish from freshwater
A double figure trout
A double figure bass
Any fish in excess of 1000 pounds
A British record fish
A European record fish
A World record fish
Write features for all the UK sea angling magazines
Produce 200 archive audio angling interviews
Complete a fishery based Ph. D research project
Produce and publish this book

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I've been taking photographs of fish and fishing, often badly, for as far back as I can remember, and as
a result, I have recorded a lot of angling history as well as different fish species.
Unfortunately, many of what would obviously have been the best and therefore most important
photographs have not survived, primarily because magazines often didn't extend the courtesy of
returning transparencies, used or otherwise, in the days before digital cameras.
To some extent, the knock from this is reflected in the illustration used here, of which I acknowledge
there is rather a lot. In addition to the sheer volume, the range of coverage in terms of quality is another
factor worth mentioning.
This includes everything from high resolution digital images and old black and white shots through to
scanned colour transparencies. Even occasionally, scanned newspaper clippings, and to fill in the gaps,
a few pencil and ink sketches here and there which due to my RA problem were extremely difficult to
do.
I make no apology for all of this. To my way of thinking, this range and diversity in terms of age and
quality actually contributes to the finished item as a historical piece, charting one anglers life-time
progression from that first serious wetting of a line through to semi-retirement from fishing on medical
grounds, with all the changes in technology and fortunes that have paralleled it along the way.
In order to illustrate and support the text to the extent I wanted, I have had to turn to a number of angling
friends, journalists, and other members of the angling community for help, which in all cases, and at
times even from people I didn't previously know, has been freely given, and without whose generosity
the finished item would most certainly have been much the poorer. So to the following people I owe a
particular debt of gratitude.......
Graeme Pullen: for photographs, accommodation, and many instances of good fishing both home and
abroad over the years.
Dave Lewis: as with Graeme, for photographs too numerous to mention individually, accommodation,
and instances of good fishing both home and abroad.
Mike Millman: West Country journalistic legend and copy right holder of so many amazing big fish
pictures accumulated over that period of angling history when there were still plenty of big fish about,
with excellent record prospects, and Devon and Cornwall sitting right at the epi-centre of it all.
World Sea Fishing (WSF): Both Mike Thrussell Jnr and Snr for shots of wreckfish, john dory and
gilthead bream.
Bill Rushmer Anglers Mail: Not only for some beautiful shots of crucian carp, grass carp and golden
orfe, but also for steering me in the direction of other missing photographs.
Ron Greer and Alastair Thornes: Ferox 85 co-founders, for providing some of the ferox pictures and
some excellent memories of some truly wild fish caught in truly wild conditions.
Andy Griffith: for photographs of mako and porbeagle sharks in particular, plus others including black
mouthed dogfish and albacore. blue shark, blue fin tuna and conger.
Michael McVeigh: Irish charter skipper based near Downings and pioneer of blue fin tuna fishing who
provided some of the tuna photographs, plus several other less common species such as megrim and
cuckoo ray.
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Colin Penny: skipper of the Weymouth based charter boat 'Flamer IV' and the man behind many
amazing catches and photographs including here, undulate rays, sunfish, axillary bream, and many of
the smaller less commonly caught species such as red band fish.
Keith Armishaw: my man at Angling Heritage who provided some of the freshwater photographs and
his PB common skate.
Mike Winrow: River Ribble barbel specialist and the man who introduced me to barbel fishing. Mike
provided not only some of the barbel photographs, but also shots of big tench, bream and carp.
Rob Rennie: Welsh charter skipper and shark specialist who provided the thresher shark picture.
Mark Everard: who as you might expect from a specimen roach fanatic provided the roach photographs,
plus some of the smaller freshwater species which for me were difficult to get in front of a camera lens,
including the pumpkinseed.
Warren Harrison: for photographs of his world record carp haul from Euro Aqua Lake which included
fish of 87, 90 and 94 pounds.
Alex Wilkie: Scottish fly fishing fanatic who attempts to catch everything in freshwater and at sea on
the fly.
Andy Bradbury: Fleetwood charter skipper who I often fish with and who helped out with pictures of
scad, sole and mackerel.
Paul Kirkpatrick: Whitby charter skipper who provided some of the cod and halibut photographs.
Paul Maris: A man I have fished with on many occasions for tope and skate. A big fish specialist who
provided the specimen conger picture, plus quite a bit to write about with regard to big fish.
Kev McKie: Liverpool charter skipper who provided photographs of a number of unusual fish including
the topknot.
Jon Patten: Big fish specialist whose name appears under many enviable fish pictured throughout the
book.
Sean McSeveney: For the streaked gurnard photograph.
Dean Lodge: Species Hunt App – for pointing me in the direction of some of his species photograph
sources, and for providing the greater pipefish shot.
Jonathan Law: Provider of pictures of butterfish, connemera sucker and other mini species.
Adam Kirkby: Pictures of leopard spotted goby and bogue, plus setting me up for others with several
of his Face Book friends.
Andy Copeland: well known shore match angler, species hunter and LRF fanatic who baled me out
with some of the rarer mini species.
Sven Hille: German Baltic trolling expert who provided me with some excellent fishing, plus
photographs of salmon, sea trout, pike and cod.
Aram Taholakian: Owner of 'Gone Fishing' Fuerteventura where I walked in off the street to talk fishing
and came away with shots of some of the rarest fish around.
Tony Parry: Rhyl/Mersey charter skipper and friend who has provided much in many ways including a
dragonet picture for this book.
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Greg Whitehouse: For taking thin lipped mullet fishing to another level and providing the photographic
evidence, some of which is used here in the form of two record fish.
Ken Robinson: Some interesting cod fishing sessions over the years and a photo of his Scottish shore
record cod from Balcary.
Shawn Kittridge: Photographs of rudd and gudgeon.
Duncan Charman: Beautiful shot of brace of elusive 3 pound plus Silver Bream.
Robin Howard: fishyrob.co.uk for his amazing grayling picture.
Steve Perry: stingray and giant goby photographs.
Alastair Wilson: Irish dinghy caught blue fin tuna photographs.
Richard Torrens: Tanked photograph of bitterling.
Eddie Weitzel: Sketch of the late great Les Moncreiff.
FaceBook as a concept through which I spent many hours searching for suitable pictures and people to
contact, some of whom contacted me when they realised the project was on.
Philip Gill: Who not only prepared the working template along with giving guidance on its use, also put
in a lot of time tidying up pictures and illustration, followed by an even longer time finally presenting
the volume for website upload and free download.
I would also like to throw in one extra comment about one of my photograph suppliers, Ross Johnson.
Despite still being in his twenties, already he has racked up nearly as many UK species as I have in 40
years. Even more creditable, most have come from the shore. The same is true on the international scene
with amazing catches such as halibut, black mouthed dogfish and chimeara. Under the banner of “The
Mobile Angler 1000” he has set himself a worldwide mission of 1000 species. My guess is that barring
for accidents or similar misfortunes, this most definitely is the man to watch.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
The Actual Bucket List 3
Acknowledgments 4
Table of contents 7
Introduction 16

PART ONE – Home waters species
The cartilaginous species
Cartilaginous fish biology 18
Mako Shark 24
Porbeagle Shark 26
Thresher Shark 31
Blue Shark 33
Six Gilled Shark 38
Tope 40
Common Smoothhound 47
Starry Smoothhound 48
Spurdog 51
Bull Huss 54
Lesser Spotted Dogfish 57
Black Mouthed Dogfish 59
Monkfish or Angel Shark 60
Flapper Skate & Blue Skate 62
Bottle Nosed Ray or White Skate 69
Thornback Ray 72
Small Eyed Ray 78
Blonde Ray 80
Spotted Ray 82
Undulate Ray 84
Cuckoo Ray 86
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Sandy Ray 87
Sting Ray 88
Eagle Ray 90
Dark Electric Ray 91
Marbled Electric Ray 92
The bony fishes
Bony fish introduction 93
Introduction to Cod Family 93
Cod 94
Pollack 106
Coalfish 110
Haddock 112
Whiting 115
Blue Whiting 119
Pouting 120
Poor Cod 121
Hake 122
Ling 125
Torsk 128
Greater Forkbeard 129
Tadpole Fish 129
Three Bearded Rockling 130
Four Bearded Rockling 131
Five Bearded Rockling 132
Shore Rockling 133
Introduction to Flatfishes 133
Plaice 136
Dab 142
Flounder 145
Lemon Sole 149
Witch 150
Halibut 151
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Long Rough Dab 153
Turbot 154
Brill 159
Megrim 163
Common Topknot 164
Sole 165
Introduction to Bass Family 167
Bass 168
Comber 178
Wreckfish or Stone Bass 179
Dusky Perch 180
Introduction to the Mullets 181
Thick Lipped Grey Mullet 181
Thin Lipped Grey Mullet 185
Golden Grey Mullet 190
Red Mullet 191
Introductions to Mackerels & Tuna’s 192
Blue Fin Tuna or Tunny 193
Big Eyed Tuna 198
Long Finned Tuna 199
Pelamid 200
Mackerel 201
Chub Mackerel 204
Introduction to the Jacks 205
Scad 205
Greater Amberjack 206
Guinean Amberjack 208
Almaco Jack 208
Blue Runner 209
Pilot Fish 210
Introduction to the Sea Breams 210
Black Bream 211
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Red Bream 217
Gilthead Bream 220
Couches Bream 222
Bogue 223
Pandora Bream 223
White Bream 224
Axillary Bream 225
Saddled Bream 225
Rays Bream 226
Introduction to the Wrasses 227
Ballan Wrasse 227
Cuckoo Wrasse 233
Corkwing Wrasse 234
Goldsinny Wrasse 235
Rock Cook Wrasse 236
Scale Rayed Wrasse 236
Baillon’s Wrasse 237
Introduction to the Gurnards 238
Tub Gurnard 238
Red Gurnard 240
Grey Gurnard 242
Streaked Gurnard 242
Introduction to the Garfishes & Skippers 243
Garfish 243
Short Beaked Garfish 245
Skipper 245
Introduction to the Herrings 246
Herring 246
Pilchard 247
Anchovy 248
Twaite Shad 248
Allis Shad 250
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