THE NUMBERS GAME
About 20 years back I started to set myself targets on the number of species I could catch in the space of a year. Living on the west coast I've a realistic chance of maybe 25 shore species, with another seven or eight possibles. I aim for 25, but try for more. I mostly hit 25 and always get in the low 20's. My best is 27 species.

I found that targeting species dramatically improves your fishing knowledge and inevitably massively improves your catch rate with blank days far less likely. It means using tackle scaled down to accommodate 3lb line and size 14 hooks, sometimes smaller, with the next session needing 30lb line and 6/0 hooks. You will be fishing tiny creeks, open surf beaches, harbour walls, rock marks, jetties, breakwaters, even marina pontoons. It can't get more varied than that!

Setting a species target

Renowned Yorkshire match man, Phil Arnott, winner of numerous big comps in the past, is a species convert. Phil and I have chatted at length about this and reckon that East Coast anglers should be able to get 10 species fishing hard, plus a few more possibles. Those plying the English Channel beaches should push this up to 15 at least, with west coast anglers considering 18 or 20 as a realistic target, but still with maybe another 10 available if you graft at it.

I guarantee that one year species hunting will teach you more about rigs, baits and bait presentation than five years of normal fishing ever will. The competition anglers I've spoken to advise any prospective match man to go for species first before trying the match circuit and they will triple their chances of early success.

TIPS AND TRICKS
If you rarely use your unleaded petrol lamps through the summer, make sure you fully run the tank dry of fuel. Boat mechanics tell me unleaded petrol only has a shelf life of around three weeks. Stale fuel can clog up jets on some lamp models and requires major maintenance work to get things running smoothly again.

Frozen black lug, if defrosted naturally, can become sloppy and gives poor presentation. If you defrost them in microwave they stay firmer and lose none of their appeal to fish.

EARLY SEASON CRAB TACTICS

Collecting early season crabs

You can still trap, but be discreet. I use natural materials to build small protective traps, usually flat stones placed on edge, with a flat stone for a roof pushed into the sand and leaving just enough room for the crab to crawl underneath the outer edge. These work well. If you can lay your hands on old sections of guttering, then these too can be placed at a low angle in to the sand with a few stones on top and are ideal for crabs to peel under.

If you have areas of rocks and boulders, then simply placing flattish stones up against the edges of the rocks and leaving a gap behind will be enough to get crabs interested and provide them with protective shelter.

Don't be too neat with your traps, set them in scattered fashion to break up their outline and it makes them less obvious until natural growth and silting over the rocks and pipes helps hide them.

All these types of traps look natural and draw little attention from passers by.

For the really early season crabs, try to place your traps in heavy mud and silt towards the low water line as the first crab moults still have to contend with cold nights and will seek out areas of mud burying in to this inside the traps to insulate themselves, plus at the low water line there is minimal time without water over them, and water is an excellent insulator from extreme temperatures.