One of the great things about being a member of the Dawnbreakers Fishing Club is their Species of the Month competition.
Each month features a different target species that can earn you an awesome prize from one of our very generous sponsors. Recently that fish was Rig, which is not a fish that we were familiar with. Jasper was keen to learn more, and a quick internet search showed that the preferred bait is crabs or prawns. Having a few crab pots we decided to catch our own bait, venturing to Rabbit Island at low tide to wade them into the sea. We filled an ice cream container with our desired bait in about half an hour, pilchards proving irresistible to the crabs!
Bait in hand, we then headed to Tahuna’s Back Beach to give land-based fishing a go. The crabs were tied onto hooks with bait elastic, and then lobbed out into the low tide channel. Once secured in a rod holder, it was a matter of sitting back in our old camp chairs, and waiting for a bite. A few windy mornings, including a early 3am start for Andy and Jasper, saw no success.
The combination of a low tide and dusk proved to be our secret to catching rig, with the three of us catching our first rig each. My bait had barely hit the water when I felt a bite, and then it was all on! For their size Rig put up a good fight, especially when you want to stay on dry land, so the challenge is to angle them up into the beach. My 1m long rig came off just as it reached the shore, but luckily Jasper leapt into the shallows to wrangle it up onto the beach.
Rig don’t have big teeth, and unlikely spiny dogfish won’t stab you, so are generally easy to catch and release. Alternatively, if you want to keep them to eat, they benefit from being trunked to prevent ammonium releasing into the flesh. We were happy to let our rig go, the challenge of catching them satisfaction enough.
Although photos can prove challenging with rig preferring low light for feeding, with no boat to wash at the end, and beautiful sunset scenes, beach fishing is an enjoyable way to spend an evening with family, so give it a go!
