I spent countless happy hours poking around in rockpools as a boy, scooping up their inhabitants with my flimsy net and into my castle-shaped plastic bucket for safekeeping. I was fascinated by the creatures I found: blennies, postage stamp sized turbot and flounders, crabs and on one occasion even a small lobster, which took me by surprise. Occasionally a bucket of prawns would make it home to be boiled, peeled and eaten that evening.
A HIGHER PURPOSE
Thirty-five years later and here I am again, kiddies’ net in hand, this time with my own children in tow, scooping the weedy crevices of the pools with the same enthusiasm I had all those years ago. Only this time the prawns, my target crustaceans, will have a higher purpose: to be used live to entice the bass that prowl, like packs of hyenas across the savanna, through the rocky gullies on the flooding tide. I had promised my girls 10 pence per prawn caught as an incentive to hold their interest, and ensure we had enough bait for a session!
Strictly speaking
