Other than the abundant Ballan and Corkwing, the toothy Goldsinny was set to be my easiest shore-caught adversary – but it still gave me a good run for my money!

Perhaps I was just unlucky, but it took a good dollop of persistence to track one down. My hunt began on a warm day in the middle of August, with the scene of the showdown being the familiar ground of Weymouth Harbour.

The day started quietly and the harbour was as pretty as a picture in the morning sunshine, with plenty of big mullet ghosting around in the shallows. The 7am calm didn’t last (of course) and a few hours later the harbourside was heaving with holiday makers. I didn’t mind, I was knee deep in mini-beasts… The corkies, baby pollock and pouting were ravenous, and even the odd tompot blenny and juvenile black bream had made an appearance. Tactics were the stuff of textbook LRF; small isome worms from Jonny Lerfer, mini scratching rigs, and just one or two SSG shot to hold bottom. In reality the rigs were no different to my ‘big’ ballan rigs but they were just tied with finer fluoro (5lb Drennan Supplex) and finer hooks (size 14 Drennan Super Specialists).

The morning slid away in a frantic flurry of casting, striking, and hauling – but there’d been no sinny! It was well past lunch time when I was rewarded for my efforts, and not until I’d walked the length of the harbour, the Stone Pier, and back again… But I finally found my pot of gold in a quiet corner off the old Pleasure Pier, in a shallow spot between the limpet covered pier wall and a bed of eel grass. I’d dropped countless tiddlers on barbless hooks throughout the day, but thankfully the coveted Goldsinny clung on… And I’m glad it did, for it was a one and done affair. I was soon on my way for home, happy to leave the hot and heavy bustle of the harbour behind!