Dogfish Fishing Charters

Most anglers mean the lesser spotted dogfish, or small-spotted catshark: a slim, sandy brown shark freckled with dark spots, living on sand, gravel and mud from the North Sea through the Mediterranean. It hunts by smell, mostly after dark, for crabs, shrimps and small fish, so a bait left on the bottom often comes up with one attached. The fight is short. The handling is what people remember: the skin is as rough as sandpaper and a dogfish curls round your wrist when you lift it, so hold it by the head and tail together. In Britain it has long been sold skinned as rock salmon. Most go back.

In Kent it is part of the day on Lady Ann, a bottom fishing boat for up to 10, on a full day from 08:00 or four hours from 16:30, with bait, tackle and tea supplied. For children a dogfish is a real shark they can hold.

In Spain, Pesca a fondo runs private four hour trips from Cádiz at 09:00 for up to 6, aimed at families who want plenty of bites; there the fish is the pintarroja. In Malta, Aquaholic bottom fishes reefs and wrecks out of St. Paul's Bay with Captain Paul, a commercial fisherman, on private trips of four to eight hours from 09:00 for up to 12. Neither skipper goes looking for dogfish. They take the bait meant for something better, and on a quiet day they keep the rods moving.