There is a Plymouth local who is pretty famous in our LRF scene, Mr Maurice Mitchinton. Maurice helped me out a lot as I started my Light Rock Fishing journey, giving me advice and showing me some tricks that are staples of my fishing. I wanted to sit down and interview him for my blog, which was a slightly awkward thing to ask a friend! Luckily he said yes and, as the wise old man of LRF, I knew he would be entertaining and have some strong opinions; he didn’t let me down. I have tried to capture his unique style as much as possible. His one instruction to me was to make sure he didn’t come across ‘flowery’, as apparently that’s how he thinks I write… Constructive criticism taken!
Please read on and I hope you enjoy the interview as much I did.

BB – Hello Maurice, tell me a bit about yourself, how old are you now?
MM – Oh, I’m aged 44…
BB- (laughs)
MM – No I’m 74.
BB – And you are from Plymouth?
MM – Yes, well not originally, no, but I have been here long enough to be a Plymothian now.
BB- Oh really? So where are you originally from?
MM – Lincolnshire
BB – What brought you down here?
MM – Mother and father in the army and I had to follow them, I didn’t have an option!
BB- Some people know you as Dave is that right?
MM – Dave, Mitch, cos where I worked before, there were two Maurices, so they said what can I call you? So I said Dave. Some people who worked with me then knew me as Dave, others from before know me as Mitch, Maurice, Silly Old Sod, whatever…

BB – So how long have you been fishing?
MM – About 8 off of 74!
BB – So you started fishing when you were 8?
MM – Yes, seriously. I think my cousins up in Lincolnshire fished in the rivers and drains; dykes they call them in the fenlands, and somewhere along the line that stuck in my mind. Because I come down here when I was 4 years old, so that stayed with me. When I got to a certain age, we moved to Ernesettle, I believe it was, and I saw these little tiny bass in a pool. This was behind Bush radio, that then went to Toshiba. When the tide went out, there was these like, lagoons left behind, tiny ones. I started off using little bits of breadflake, digging up worms, winkles and catching these bass. Only 4 inches long on a tiny float. One I made up with a quill and a bit of cork…
BB – Makeshift fishing?
MM – Yeah that was all we had back then.
BB – So that was the first fish you caught? A pretty good starter fish.
MM – Yes and little tiny flounders.

BB – So, when did you get into lure fishing?
MM – Well I have always lure fished in a way, even in the early days. Not lure fishing as you know it now. A lot heavier rods, a lot longer rods, 11 foot. Spinning off Queener point. I used to ride a bike over to Whitsands, all the way, then leave the bike at the top all weekend and it would still be there Sunday evening, then jump on it home.
BB – So what years we talking here?
MM – Oh, late sixties. Then I took up freshwater fishing in a big way early seventies. I got into fly fishing for trout, got into salmon fish on the river Tavy; which back in the seventies was like a £100 a season. I was only earning 11 pound and 10 shillings, so that was a lot of money to pay out!
BB – So how were you earning your money?
MM – I worked on the buildings, I worked all hours, because I loved my fishing. I knew Simon’s dad (Simon Kingdom who runs the tackle shop, Osborne & Cragg in Plymouth), I used to give him some money now and again until I got what it was for the licence. And away I went. Got big into reservoir fishing at Siblyback when they started stocking bigger trout, farmed fish. Yeah, fly fishing I did that for a number of years. I also had a licence to fish the river Plym.
BB – So what was that like back then?
MM – Brilliant, I had salmon to 12lb, I have got photos somewhere.
BB – You used to take photos on Polaroid right?
MM – Yeah but I went to get them out of the box the other day and they are all blank and faded! Because they had no fixings for any length of time. Some of the one’s I had nice fish on, someone wrote in biro on the back and that’s gone right through and it’s all on the front!
BB – So they are ruined forever?
MM – Pretty much.

BB – So when did you start fishing LRF?
MM – I was getting on in age, basically. I did a lot of beach fishing before, catching bass, in fact my biggest was just under 11lb down near Portwrinkle (Cornwall). Back then the rods were a lot heavier, firing out 6 ounces and didn’t do the fish justice. So LRF came along and I just saw it somewhere, I can’t remember where and I thought I fancy having a go at that, so I did! I went down to see Simon (at Osborne & Cragg Tackle Shop) and asked him what all this LRF stuff was about? Then I read up on the Jersey Angler’s book and realised LRF was from Japan. Now I have a few friends in Japan that send me ideas, I don’t always understand them! When it comes through translate, it doesn’t always make sense and you get a lot of rude stuff!
Basically it was that and it was to me like fly fishing, I think that was the thing. It was more of a touch and a feel, rather than trying to hammer out a big lead.

BB – So what is your set-up these days?
MM – Everything, I’ll do everything, I don’t stick to one basic thing, I have just put a split shot rig on tonight.
BB – What rod and reel are you using tonight?
MM – I have my Calzante (GOCAXS-762UL-T 0.6-8g) that I have snapped and repaired. My reel is a Daiwa 2004, rather expensive reel, loaded with 8lb Nanofil but its very low diameter.
BB – How do you compare the fishing now compared to how it used to be?
MM – Umm, if you are a good angler you can still catch plenty of fish but there’s not the amount there was. Now you have the trawlers sucking them up by the thousands of tonnes. No, it doesn’t compare in no way. I remember walking to where the long room is, you know the swimming pool (Devils Point Tidal Pool), when the tide has gone out. All the Stonehouse women have come out of the flats and they have been loading buckets up with, either sprats in the winter or mackerel in the summer. There would be massive shoals of mackerel; they used to say you could walk across the Tamar (river) on their backs! Back then they would go right up the Tamar, you very rarely get that now.
You know how we get them in the corner some nights here (in Millbay)? That’s how it was all the time.
Going back then, things have changed in another way. We didn’t catch scad, or if we did they were few and far between and we didn’t know what they were!
BB – And things like triggerfish?
MM – No we didn’t get them, but I remember hot summers like this when we would see sunfish in the Tamar, massive things and the seagulls would come land on them. Unbelievable.

BB – What advice would you give young Maurice if you could, fishing wise?
MM – I don’t know really, I don’t think I would give him any advice. You have got to progress, to become good at something you have got to actually do it yourself. It’s a good thing with all the modern technology, you can just ask somebody, that’s if they want to tell you the truth! Which I’m quite guilty of not doing…
BB – I know, I have been a victim!
MM – (laughs) It’s good, technology is good but it makes people lazy, they are not learning the hard way for themselves.
BB – That leads me onto the next question, you use social media a lot, what benefits do you get out of it?
MM – The benefits are sharing your experiences with other people. Some youngster might see it and there might be an older person who might think, ”oh he can do it, why am I sat here moaning?”. If even just one youngster takes it up then I haven’t wasted my time have I?
BB – And you have Instagram accounts..?
MM – You been following me around?!
BB – You follow me!
MM – (laughs) I do sometimes.

BB – There are not many 74 year olds that have Instagram accounts, that’s pretty forward thinking of yourself?
MM – Well, yeah, it’s the way to go isn’t it? You can find out who’s where and who’s catching what. I’m getting older! So I’m getting like the youngsters now, I’m using that more than having to walk miles and fish it for a week. I can’t afford to waste time now, I gotta get there and get a fish. So if they put it on there I’m gonna use it!
BB – (laughs) Fair play! What would you say is your favourite LRF technique, if you could pick one?
MM – I don’t particularly have a favourite because I think I mix and match. I don’t stick to things in books etc, I change it around.
BB – OK, so how would you go about fishing here today at Millbay?
MM -Like I say, if I do something for 15 minutes and it’s not working, you have to be pretty stupid not to change somehow. Colour of your lure, Isome etc, it’s common sense. You don’t have to be really clever to fish.

BB – Do you have a favourite unscented lure? I know you are a fan of Fiiish Black Minnows.
MM – Yes, in the 90 and 70 sizes, I lost a very good bass the other day on one that snapped my rod!

BB – Ouch! So what’s your favourite scented lure?
MM – If I’m after big wrasse, you can’t go wrong with the big Gulp Sandworm or the Lugworm, that’s really good, like a real lugworm, they (wrasse) absolutely hammer that! The trouble is the smaller ones chomp the tails off.
BB – And how do you store your scented lures?
MM – I just chuck it in a tub together, all this rubbish about how you can’t mix them, I chuck everything in. It’s a mixture of Gulp, Isome, Ecogear lures.

BB – Favourite mini species?
MM – I would say corkwing (wrasse) really, for the size, puts up a reasonable fight and look like a tropical fish. You get them when they are in their mating colours, they are a fantastic little fish. Or a little bream, which I had in just this very spot and lost the bugger!
BB – Favourite of the larger species?
MM – I love my ballan wrasse, it’s just sheer power innit?
BB – Definitely! What’s your biggest?
MM – About 5 and half pounds, that was at Stoke Point (South Devon).

BB – A good fish, it used to be really good fishing out there.
MM – Yes me and Simon went there the other week, it was poor, like it’s been everywhere. All the big wrasse seem to have gone. I get only the small ones really.
BB – That’s weird because that’s the size that they are supposed to be taking to the salmon farms (in Scotland), we should have only big fish?
MM – Yes, but I have noticed that in the pots they catch the big fish too. I’m wondering if they are killing them as well? Using them as pot bait. They are supposed to be putting them back but if there’s money to be made I can’t see them putting them back.
BB – It’s been a hot topic for a couple of years now, I have seen a difference in wrasse numbers, have you?
MM – Yeah, definitely. The worst thing is, they take them and once they are past their sell by date they get rid of them. It’s devastating, it’s money, it’s what it is all about. Since we are talking about this, it is the same with the bass. As we speak now there are big trawlers out there scooping up millions of tonnes, buggering off to Spain and Portugal with them and we are allowed one!
BB- It’s heartbreaking, although do you think you have seen more schoolies around recently?
MM – Millions, which again, doesn’t make sense. We should have just the bigger fish but maybe the little ones are moving in to the space left by the big ones. Last year I got fed up with catching them! I had about 150 up to 4lb in the end.

BB – Finally, many people in their seventies have given up fishing, what’s your secret?
MM – Never give up mate, I could have given up when I had my bad knee two years ago but last week I was up and down a cliff!
BB – Any plans for the future?
MM – Just live longer! Keep going and not just sit down when I feel unwell, I have had that and I have thought, I will just go down the docks. It stops me worrying about everything else and to chill out.
BB – Brilliant! Well thank you Maurice.
MM – My pleasure.

As always, thank you for reading.

For further reading/watching please check out the following links.

My page on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/benbassettfishing 
My page on Instagram 
https://www.instagram.com/benbassettfishing/ 
Richard Salter aka Devon Lerfer – LRF videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2GYWRxohx3J6Qq7vFqZS0w 
Neil Sutherland at Aquazid Studio – LRF based T shirt designs and more
http://aquazidstudio.com/ 
Simon Kingdom at Osborne & Cragg – Plymouth based tackle shop with a great selection of lures and everything else 
https://www.facebook.com/osborneandcragg/ 
Andy Mytton – LRF Extraordinaire, with great tips and photos
https://www.facebook.com/WeymouthLRF/
Dominic Garnett – Top angling author and a real fan of LRF.
https://dgfishing.co.uk/