The season begins with British bluefin tuna, breeding woodcock in Cornwall and three very different shooting calendars. In the first full episode of Fish & Game, Avian Sandercock, Sam Turner and Jake Woolf set out their plans – and rather smaller personal ambitions – for the months ahead.
Sam wants to tackle Atlantic bluefin tuna off the South West coast, prompting a look at the boats, tackle and controlled fishery behind one of Britain’s most remarkable sporting recoveries. Jake is preparing for the opening of the partridge season at Warter Priory and a walked-up gundog training day, while Avian hopes to investigate reports of woodcock breeding close to his Cornish farm shoot.
There is also the proper place of elevenses in a shoot day, fried partridge and pheasant, forgotten wellies, a prospective 20-bore over-and-under, barefoot boots, beginner fly rods and the hosts’ continuing move towards non-lead ammunition. It is an opening look at the fishing, shooting, dogs, food and field adventures Fish & Game will follow through the season – with several promising rabbit holes already waiting.
In this episode
– Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing in British waters
– The tackle, boats and teamwork involved in targeting tuna
– Early-season shooting plans and Warter Priory
– Looking for breeding woodcock in Cornwall
– Why elevenses matters to the rhythm of a shoot day
– Fried game, venison and improving shoot-day food
– A 20-bore over-and-under and a first fly-fishing outfit
– Experiences with non-lead game cartridges
Links
Bluefin tuna fisheries in 2026 — Marine Management Organisation
Breeding Woodcock Survey — Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
Woodcock species information — British Trust for Ornithology
Warter Priory Estate
Bioammo Blue 12-bore cartridges — Just Cartridges
River Lynher
Credits
Presented by Avian Sandercock, Sam Turner and Jake Woolf.
Edited by Avian Sandercock.
Produced for SideCountry by Richard Prideaux.
DISCLAIMER
Views are those of individual speakers and do not necessarily represent SideCountry, its presenters, contributors, partners or sponsors. For general information and entertainment only. Laws, seasons, access and guidance change; check official sources, obtain permission and act within your competence.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain minor errors.
Fish and Game — Episode 1: Big Plans and Small Dreams
Announcer: Coming up on Fish and Game.
Jake Woolf: So you're sat in a seat, you've got a big rod between your legs and you've got a fair reel. You're in the stirrups and you're going for it. Now please tell me there's a cup holder for your beer.
Sam Turner: And so far I haven't used the tong bit, but I have opened 12 bottles of beer.
Avian Sandercock: Top crimp? I think you'll find it's side crimp, mate. We'll not get on to scones. Hello everybody, and welcome to the first episode of Fish and Game.
Jake Woolf: No, I'm not having it. Shut up. Go on.
Sam Turner: So now we've actually got to follow through on what we promised in Episode 0. Oh dear.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, that's a problem, isn't it? Big plans and small dreams. It's like we've queued this one up, isn't it, chaps?
Avian Sandercock: Have we got it the right way round though? I think it's small plans, big dreams is probably more a bit closer to the mark.
Jake Woolf: No, you know what I'm like on a Monday morning. I have huge plans. And then by Friday, I've completely exhausted myself.
Sam Turner: What about big, small plans, dreams? You've got to have a plan so you've got something to go wrong, haven't you?
Jake Woolf: I couldn't agree more. Fish and Game, gentlemen. It's exciting, isn't it? This is going to be a lot of fun. As we alluded to in the last episode, we're going to take you through the intricate sides of fishing, shooting, stalking and anything to do with it. We're going to go on a bit of a journey and have a bit of a laugh. Big plans and small dreams. This is a significant season, isn't it? For all three of us, we've got a lot going on. I've got TWENTY10 going along. I've got KuduRiver Gundogs going along. Chaps, you've got a lot going on in the syndicates. Sam, what about your loading? How are you going with your loading this season?
Sam Turner: It's steady. I'd always want more, but such is life with everything, isn't it? We're not at the 12th of August now, but as you're listening to this, it is the 12th of August, which is officially the start of the game season. So I think we've probably got to look at the game season more than anything now, haven't we?
Avian Sandercock: We? Well, I mean, you say that, but we are sort of running into the autumn fishing season. there's a lot of charter boat activity coming up as the summer finishes and all the emmits, as we call them down here, leave the beaches. we can get back out into the foreshore and do a bit of fishing. I think there's a lot going on. I guess that's part of the problem. We've been quite focused on shooting for the last three or four years, and this is a great opportunity to sort of spread our wings a bit. So I mean, what's your number one ambition for the year, Sam? What do you want to get done? Go big first.
Sam Turner: Actually, to be fair, the one thing I want to get done, and it will hopefully be in September, is go tuna fishing.
Avian Sandercock: That sounds cool.
Sam Turner: So not game season related at all. But yeah, no, there's some brilliant opportunities. I think this year is the first year that they're not tag and release and that you can actually land tuna on some boats.
Jake Woolf: Are they bluefin? Or I don't know anything. I just know what I see, you know, kind of like the game fishing stuff. So what have you got on your coastline, Sam?
Sam Turner: So to be fair, down, so a bit further south than me mostly, So we'd be kind of moving down Plymouth, New Lynn, that kind of way, and down into Avian's country down in Cornwall. There are, I want to say, 20 plus boats that can go out, that are licensed to go out and fish for bluefin, which have been doing the catch and release over the last few years, I think, just to try and work out numbers before they could then decide that they were going to be allowed to land some. So that'll.
Avian Sandercock: I mean, it's a fascinating thing because, I mean, for those who don't know, the bluefin tuna, it's not the little tuna you get in a tin. These things can be 7, 800 kilos. They can be as big as a car. Yeah. And I think it was back in the 30s, wasn't it? There used to be a very active sport fishing industry off the east coast of the UK. And a lot of the big American sport fishers came over here. I think Ernest Hemingway fished out there at one point. And then the fishery was fished out. And there was a guy down in Cornwall actually, who about 15 odd years ago was convinced that there were small numbers of bluefin tuna coming into Cornish coastal waters. And everybody thought he was a lunatic. And little by little, they started seeing more and more and more. And he was the one who was driving it. And now, as he said, there were some more scientific research studies going out. to try and see what these numbers of these enormous, fantastic fish were like. And the boat numbers have increased. And I think, as you said, Sam, they started off because they couldn't effectively net them because these fish will swim at sort of 40 odd miles an hour plus.
Sam Turner: Voracious hunters.
Avian Sandercock: So they couldn't net them easily. but they were obviously wanting to try and catch and release and tag them and monitor the species and find out what was going on. And the sports fishers were used because they were the most effective at selecting a fish, bringing it to the boat, having it satellite tagged and marked and recorded and released unharmed. So that was the bulk of it. And as you said, over the years, the number of boats have been licensed has increased. And now I think it's still predominantly catch and release.
Sam Turner: I think it is mostly. What do you think? I haven't looked into it enough yet, but what do you think is kind of bringing them back to waters around the British Isles? Do you think it's changes in sea temperatures? Do you think it's...
Avian Sandercock: I don't know. I mean, it's interesting.
Sam Turner: My first introduction to it was watching a channel called Wicked, I think it was called Wicked Tuner. which is obviously just mostly Americans competing to try and catch the biggest tuna they can.
Avian Sandercock: Yes.
Sam Turner: In probably a lot warmer waters than we get around here. But so do you think that's why their return is coming this way?
Avian Sandercock: It's an interesting one. I don't think the data's in yet, but I'm happy if anyone out there knows exactly what the data is behind it. But I know in Cornish waters and pretty much all around the South West coast over the last 20 years, We've been getting more and more sort of what you might call exotic fish coming in, trigger fish and a lot of sunfish and even the odd turtle washes up here now. So maybe it is climate change shifting water currents, who knows. But I think a lot of it is probably to do with the fact that there were a lot of quotas installed on the bait fish and the bait fish numbers have had a bit of a healthy bounce. And I think it's just drawn the hungry tuna in because, it's all well and good to say, the sea was too cold and they wouldn't live here. But we know that in the 30s, they were in the North Sea. So, is it a population that's been under less pressure and has expanded? I don't know. I'd be absolutely fascinated to know. But I must admit, Sam, I think going on a tuna boat would be brilliant, but I'm not really sure if I wanted to get sort of hooked to a school bus for four hours. Is that something you're keen on?
Sam Turner: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's a proper, I know there's always, whether you call it a fight or a battle or whatever you want to call it with a fish, if you're fly fishing or spinning or something like that, there's always that little element that you might lose it, you might get it, it's pulling hard and stuff like that. But you watch what these guys are doing on the tuna boats and that reel is almost catching fire. It's spinning out that fast. These are big. big fish. there's some you're getting up 1000 pounds in weight. It's a big.
Jake Woolf: So Sam, you're talking about weights there of the size of these animals. I'm sat here, I know very little about fishing. What gear do you need to catch these monstrous fish from? I mean, do you need a really big boat? And no, we don't have a big enough boat. I mean, tell me about the gear. All right, we got that one out of the way first of all. That's exactly it. Sam, tell me some more about gear, please.
Sam Turner: So I mean, we're not, you don't have to have huge boats. I mean, probably wouldn't recommend, and actually to be fair, every boat has to be licensed to go and catch them. So no matter what you say, you can't just pop out on your little 3 metre rib with a four horsepower outboard and think I'm going to catch myself a tuna. Because you'll probably end up in the water. But you know, these are, they're big sport boats that you can go out on. And anything you do, you're obviously doing it with guys that are seasoned in this. They know what they're doing. They've been doing it for a while. But your big rods, big reels, harnesses, seats with footholds, like you've...
Jake Woolf: So you're strapping in like you're going for marlin.
Sam Turner: Yeah, almost like your visit to the gynaecologist, some of it.
Avian Sandercock: You're not, you're not selling this, Sam, really, are you?
Sam Turner: Don't take your skirt off, Avian, it's fine.
Jake Woolf: So you're sat in a seat, you've got a big rod between your legs, and you've got a fair reel. You're in the stirrups and you're going for it. Now please tell me there's a cup holder for your beer.
Sam Turner: I would imagine.
Jake Woolf: How long is it going to take to land one of these tunas? Because I've seen...
Sam Turner: They can fight for hours.
Jake Woolf: I mean, they're apex, aren't they? they're a ball of muscle. And by the looks of them, they come in at like 8 foot long, with a circumference of, this big. And this is an audio platform. So I mean, they're huge, aren't they? Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: They are massive. They are huge. And you know, you've got to think that everybody has this assumption. We were told at school that fish are cold blooded. Well, tuna aren't. As tuna swim faster, they heat up and they basically turbocharge themselves. So, although the catch rate round here, you're looking at sort of 20 kilos up, but some of the big ones they're recording here, they are getting on for, to mix my imperial and my metric. They're 6, 7, 800 pounds. That is enormous.
Jake Woolf: And I'm assuming it's kind of like if you're hunting or if you're sorry, fishing them on bait. bait fish, which are naturally forming, you're putting out some fair big lures. Have you got to kind of like pick as if you would fly fishing? Have you got to kind of think, oh, okay, that's a sprat, right, get the sprat lure out. Or do they like flicky little kind of like octopuses, kind of trail out the back of the boat?
Avian Sandercock: No, they're very, very much predatory. They'll be hunting sort of mid-size bait fish. So if you think sort of mackerel size, they'll often chase in the mackerel shoals. And there are a couple of ways you do it. It's either you run ahead of a shoal of the bluefin and you're using the power of the boat to keep the lure in the top surface of the water. But I think predominantly down here in Cornwall, it is done largely out of sort of mid-sized day boats. So it's more a case of you watching the bird life, spotting where you might have feeding birds, which tend to feed above. the bait ball of the fish that the tuna are coming up from beneath on and you'll try and manoeuvre up to that and then you're putting lures into that bait ball and reeling them back as quick as you can, trying to get that fish to strike at it.
Jake Woolf: Okay, and you wouldn't necessarily use electronics and just cheat?
Sam Turner: You'd probably use a fish finder, you know, the guys are gonna...
Avian Sandercock: Radar because you'd like to find your way back.
Sam Turner: If you're going out for 10 hours on a boat, in the same way as booking a walked-up day, you're going to want to see something or have the chance at something. You don't just want to go out for a fishing trip and not even look at anything.
Avian Sandercock: I think it's a bit more organised than, I mean, they're great fun, but you know, the two or four hour trip round the harbour with a a few feathers and mackerel lines out the back and back in again. This is a bit more organised. I mean, we're not at the stage with the commercial fisheries in the US where they're using spotter planes and helicopters to find the shoals. But there'll be a lot of radio chatter between the skippers and try and put you on some active fish. But again, it's with all the electronics, one of the key ways of finding the fish is looking for the seabirds, as it always has been.
Jake Woolf: Fair play, fair play. And A great segue. These segues are going to get better and better. I can assure you. Sam's mentioned a walked up day and you just mentioned birds. Let's move this on chaps because what I'm really, really, really wanting to know is have you chaps booked a day yet? What's your first day? It's the 12th of August when this is being released. Where are we going? Have you got any days booked?
Avian Sandercock: I'm going to have to have a bit of a thin year this year. We've got a few other priorities, but we'll have our first shoot with our little club in November. I'm going down with a friend to his place in Wiltshire towards December. So between now and then, not a lot, but I'll be actively doing a bit of pigeon shooting on the barley fields around the farm here. and just enjoying time out with the dog and looking after our birds, to be honest.
Jake Woolf: Sam, what about you, buddy? What have you got booked?
Sam Turner: So this is going to sound bad. I think I've got a couple of days booked and I don't know what days they are. Actually, Jake, you probably know better than me what dates they are.
Jake Woolf: I do actually, mate. I won't be out.
Sam Turner: We don't need to see dates now, but I've got a little bit booked in. I'm hoping to blag myself a day down in Avian's Little Syndicate down in Cornwall again, because that was brilliant. fun last year. And we've actually got...
Avian Sandercock: You're not coming back, mate.
Sam Turner: Am I not?
Avian Sandercock: No, well, I mean, you know, it's obvious you need a PA because you can't even remember where you're going. I mean, do we need, you've been borrowing a gun off me for a year. Do you need some Wellingtons and pack your underpants and fold your teeth basically.
Sam Turner: Last time I came down, I had to buy some Wellies on the way, didn't I? Because I'd forgotten.
Avian Sandercock: You did, yes.
Jake Woolf: And I tell you, tapped you two together. It cannot, I mean, between you, make up one whole gun. You leave everything behind and Sam forgets to bring most things.
Sam Turner: So, but I just, I just, it just needs organizing a little bit better.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, 100%.
Sam Turner: But no, we've actually got some sim days that are running later in the year this year. We've got a wedding venue that we've been doing a few days for, and we've got days out.
Avian Sandercock: I hope it's outdoor.
Sam Turner: No, it is, it's not in the church, just echoes too much. They're always after a new roof anyway, aren't they? But no, we've got weddings up until November, so it's we're going to be busy on that still, which is quite cool.
Avian Sandercock: That's brilliant. Jakey, what are your big plans?
Jake Woolf: Here we go. There was a deep breath in there. The reason for that is, in a couple of weeks' time, I'm going to Warter Priory on the 1st of September. Then I've got the 3rd of September.
Avian Sandercock: There's going to be loads. We know what Warter Priory is because you bang on about it every year. For the benefit of people who haven't heard of Warter Priory, set the scene. What is it? What's involved? Why are you saying it in such breathless terms?
Jake Woolf: So Warter Priory is probably an estate most people want to visit. It's incredibly well known for its tradition and history. Sir Winston Churchill shot there, and some incredible people over the last 100 or 150 years have shot on this wonderful estate. It continues to attract overseas guns. It continues to attract everyone from the novice right up to the experienced gun. It's not ridiculously high birds, but it's challenging. The setting is beautiful. It's in Yorkshire. It's just wonderful. I'm very lucky to be part of a team that shoots there on the 1st of September every season. For those of you who don't know why the 1st of September is such an important date, it's the opening of the partridge season and the team gets together. We haven't seen each other since last September, and it's our once-a-year get-together. I'm so excited for it. It's a magical place. It sets the whole season, and I'm really, really excited. But that's just the first.
Sam Turner: So I've not shot Warter Priory because I'm obviously in different circles to you, Jake.
Avian Sandercock: Me too, mate. I haven't even been allowed to drive past it.
Sam Turner: Not just a partridge shoot though. They do pheasants there.
Jake Woolf: So it's a mixed shoot of partridge, pheasants and duck. But I've also got some really exciting other days coming up. Now I host a lot of days, so I have to get my shooting in the beginning of the season. I've got a walked up gun dog training day on the 3rd of September, which I've been invited to join a team. And now you chaps have seen me shoot. I said yes immediately. And this is an invite. And now I'm worried about how the hell I'm going to shoot for these dogs. These dogs.
Sam Turner: So you're not there with your gun dogs. You're there to provide birds for the dogs to pick up.
Jake Woolf: And they're two in the space of 72 hours, two completely different sides of the game shooting season and I'm really excited to come back and like tell you all about it and we can pick out bits throughout the season to talk about because there is so much even in this conversation but I don't know chats. Is there anything that you'd like to happen this season?
Sam Turner: I would quite like, and Avian will probably feel the same looking at his cover crops right now. It would be quite nice if we had some rain this season.
Avian Sandercock: I think for the whole country, that's a good thing. I mean, looking at my ambitions for the year, and I must admit, there's definitely no tuna fishing and certainly no water priory. Mine are a little more pedestrian. I think the first thing I'd like to do this year is fit into last year's outdoor clothing. And I'd love to find some wellies that fit around my big fat legs. That'd be rather nice. But I think that the couple of bits I really, really am keen on doing is we've had a bit of a steer from the guys at GWCT, that's the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. And I do a bit of work with the BTO, the British Trust for Ornithology. And there's a rumour that there are some woodcock nesting just next to our farm shoot in Cornwall, which for those who don't know, is really quite uncommon. They tend to be around in the winter and then move further north to breed. So we're really keen to see if that is actually a thing.
Sam Turner: With the woodcock, I remember last year when I was down with you, we saw woodcock. They were migratory, I guess.
Avian Sandercock: Well, that's what we'd always thought. And it was kind of the view in Cornwall, there's a lot of talk about woodcock and I think that's something we can get into in a bit more detail. And they are beautiful little birds. They're about the size of a pigeon, wading birds, very secretive, very quiet, fantastic eating, but it was always the view that there wasn't really a relevant breeding population in Cornwall. But over certain surveys over the last 10, 15 years, there is a consideration that we've got some very ancient water meadows down by the River Lynher. And the thinking is that people reckon they've seen woodcock there in the summer and potentially there's a small breeding population. So that's something we're going to try and find out.
Sam Turner: Do you think it would be different in a hot year like it's been this year though? because I know where I am. I'll see snipe if I have a really wet autumn and the cattle poach the ground up and it looks horrible. I'll have a good number of snipe. But I'm thinking right now, you know, you can't even, you can't even put a fence post in the ground down here. It's a struggle, let alone poach it up.
Avian Sandercock: It's like pushing cheese into concrete at the moment, isn't it?
Jake Woolf: It's not easy.
Avian Sandercock: I don't know, Sam, and I think, you know, there are records going back a fair ways, but I think. it had been left unrecorded for a while, but because it's right on our doorstep, the idea of having to go and spend a couple of hours on a warm summer's evening, seeing if you can spot Woodcock doesn't sound like a terrible evening to me.
Sam Turner: No, it's all fine out. There's worse ways to spend an evening, yeah, definitely.
Avian Sandercock: Very much so.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, that does sound really look quite nice. Something happened to me last season. where I forgot. Or did Toby forget his wellies? One of us. You did.
Avian Sandercock: You're the adult.
Jake Woolf: You forgot them. Between us, it's making sure that we turn up on time. I'm going to try and make that a pact for me: on time, with everything correct, and really look forward to that. However, that's one of those simple things about being a parent. I'm actually going to try some new things, chaps, with the elevenses.
Sam Turner: You say elevenses, Jake. Elevenses for me, pre-shooting, was always a cup of coffee with my grandparents at 11 o'clock.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, good point. I mean.
Sam Turner: I'm assuming this isn't a cup of coffee at 11 o'clock.
Jake Woolf: We should really explain elevenses, shouldn't we? So it can be a cup of coffee. It's normally a very hot, homemade cup of soup, along with sausage rolls or, you know, something that the gamekeeper's wife may have made or the shoot host.
Avian Sandercock: But what's it for?
Jake Woolf: So it's to break up the day and it allows the drives to take form, but you don't run through the day too quickly. You can get through four drives very, very quickly and it's nice to stop. It's nice to socialize. It's nice to have fun with the people that you've been shooting with. and to be able to enjoy the opportunity of being on that estate with that syndicate and meet people.
Avian Sandercock: Some days it's a nice excuse to stand in the drive for 20 minutes, isn't it?
Jake Woolf: Absolutely. So it's important that it covers all bases of enjoying the moment, taking it in, and it does help when you've got a very nice sloe gin and prosecco to wash down the wonderful homemade sausage rolls.
Sam Turner: You actually don't realise how long 11s is until you're loading on a day.
Jake Woolf: I agree.
Sam Turner: Because you're not involved in 11s, you're sat at the sidelines and it seems to drag forever. It's nothing worse. At the same time, when you're shooting for the day and you're enjoying yourself, it takes no time at all.
Avian Sandercock: I mean, I suppose it's kind of that the rhythm of a shoot day, isn't it? For people who haven't experienced it, you know, that broadly the scope of the day is People meet, they'll have a cup of tea and cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich or something to set the day up. They'll go out, they'll stand in a line and try and shoot some game. They maybe do that a second time. Then they come back in and have a bit of refreshments and then they'll go back out again. I mean, it sounds like Test cricket in a way, doesn't it?
Sam Turner: Well, it is, because then lunch always seems to be late in the afternoon, doesn't it? Not at lunchtime.
Avian Sandercock: Yeah, yes. Because I mean, that time of year, you have to remember that most shooting days, just by the nature of the weather and the fact that you want the birds to have a bit of a rest at the end of it, they're over by three. So, it's a gentle way of breaking the day up. And as you said, Jake, it allows everybody else to reset and get back in position and do what they do. But I agree with you, mate. I think, you know, a heavy lunch, I don't thoroughly enjoy if you're out in your wellies and you got wet tweed on, off you go. But I think The 11s is stood somewhere nice, shoot room, barn, back of a Land Rover, whatever it is. And it's all sort of hand food. There's no sitting down with plates and all that sort of nonsense. And it's just a lovely way to mingle and tease each other about the awful shots we've made or congratulate somebody for something brilliant and get to know the people you're with.
Sam Turner: But what's your new one you're going to try this year for 11s then, Jake?
Avian Sandercock: Yeah.
Jake Woolf: So we're going to look at doing just a little bit more adventurous, really. We are going to just bring in some new dishes. I find 11s can be a cup of hot soup, a sausage roll and a chocolate. Yeah, one of those little mini ones. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's good. No. 100%. But I think if you are offering a day at the price that these days are, you've really got to throw the boat out and you've got to make these 11s a grand day. You can't just have a gala pie in a slice and a packet of Walker's crisps. You need to really go for it. So what I want to do is just, you know, I've been playing with, bought myself a deep fat fryer and I've been playing with making Kudu River fried partridge and pheasant. There we go. It's a little spin on the KF. I don't know. Can we say that KFP? KFP. KFP. So Kuda River, Partridge and Pheasant. Looking forward to offering that to guests. And then, but equally, you know, Chorizo and Curried Pheasant, I'm very excited to be offering this year more with venison. I love the venison. We've got a lot of fallow around the area. And we're going to explain more about this as we go on through these episodes about the different kind of relationships we share with the countryside, how we harvest, all this type of stuff. So with all these big plans.
Sam Turner: I'll send you up some more venison jerky that you can dish around to some unwilling guests and tell me if they like their new flavours.
Jake Woolf: 100%. Anyway, we're getting lost into elevens and the shooting season only just started. So should we move this on, chaps? Bernard. Go on. Anyone, right? bought anything that they want to debut this season. Like we've just come back from the game fair, haven't we? Did you buy anything there that you're going to bring out? I saw some very nice boots that were released. And so looking around the places, I didn't get a chance to leave the stand that I was working on over the three days. Did you guys see anything you're going to debut for the season?
Sam Turner: I did, but it wasn't at the Game Fair, to be fair. It's something that's been in the pipeline for a little while, which is a 20-bore over-and-under. I've got another side-by-side that people will be horrified to hear I'm going to trade in, and get a nice 20-bore over-and-under.
Avian Sandercock: Are you of that age now?
Sam Turner: I'm not of that age, but the more coaching I do, and the more I do independently, it would pay for me to have a 20-bore over-and-under for smaller people, ladies who want to try a gun and things like that. So I think it will be a good tool in the armoury, so to speak.
Avian Sandercock: That sounds brilliant. Well, I'm going to say “20-bore over-and-under”. We'll come back to what all of that means on a different day because that's another rabbit hole if we're not careful.
Sam Turner: Probably a whole episode by itself though.
Jake Woolf: You've got the correct configuration there, buddy. You've got the barrels the right way up. But we'll come back to that in the future. If you found anything, mate.
Avian Sandercock: I have actually. Again, it's a bit pedestrian. Well, it's literally pedestrian. I've bought a pair of those. I can't remember what the brand name is, but the barefoot shoes and I bought a pair of those boots. We were up in Wales. No, these are brilliant. Don't knock the Crocs. No, we're up in Wales with GWCT, looking at the curlew chick count there. And the young lad on the farm, Tom, he spends half the year on the farm in Wales and half the year out in Australia on the sheep and cattle stations up in New South Wales. And he had these shoes that, first of all, they appealed to me because they look a lot like Cornish pasties.
Sam Turner: What, top crimp?
Avian Sandercock: Top crimp. I think you'll find it side crimp, mate. We'll not get on to scones. Yeah, was it? Yeah, no, you probably said this because you're wrong. And he said that he wears them everywhere and he wouldn't have any other kind of boots. And like I said earlier, I was trying to find some wellies that fit and I've got those odd sort of Cornish hobbit feet. that sort of all big toe and nothing else.
Sam Turner: Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: So I thought I'd try a pair of these and I must admit guys, they are absolutely fantastic. Have they got half the things I've ever worn?
Sam Turner: Like Crocs that would let your Cornish hairy?
Avian Sandercock: Hair, hairy feet to poke out. No, And I can't put those little croc jewels in them either. No, they're proper boots that look like Cornish pasties, but honestly, they are so comfortable.
Jake Woolf: No, those Vivo Barefoot, aren't they?
Avian Sandercock: That's the boys. That's them, Jake. Yes.
Jake Woolf: That's all right. Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: Vivo Barefoot, that's the ones.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, definitely.
Avian Sandercock: And I must admit, you know, generally if you buy a pair of outdoor boots, they're either rubbish or you have to break them in for a few weeks. I put these on and they were just like putting on your favourite pants. But on your feet. But on your feet, yeah. That's another feature of your Cornishman.
Jake Woolf: Fair play.
Avian Sandercock: Gloves and socks are interchangeable.
Sam Turner: Yeah, fair play. What have you bought, Jake, or what have you got in line to buy?
Jake Woolf: Well, everything. So, fly fishing rod. It's going to be a start thing because 9 foot 5. Right. So this is.
Avian Sandercock: Don't go down that rabbit. That's the same as guns. We'll get to that.
Sam Turner: I was going to say actually your first fly rod. There were people like adamant fly fishers will crucify me for this. Just buy a fly fishing rod off of eBay or Amazon.
Avian Sandercock: But not Temu.
Jake Woolf: So I've been looking.
Sam Turner: Just get out and, or Trago Mills. Trago Mills is brilliant. You probably haven't got one decathlon.
Jake Woolf: We've got a decathlon up here and I'm going to be going into the, so I've got to go for, here, help me out, a 9 foot with a 5. What's A5?
Avian Sandercock: OK, right. That's a long story. That's you're in the American Federation of Tackle Manufacturers grading system. So we won't get that.
Sam Turner: Just say you're going to get fly.
Avian Sandercock: Fishing rod this year. It's a beginner's middly one.
Jake Woolf: And then I'm going to get for cooking. You guys have seen them. The donkey long tongs. They're brilliant for outdoor cooking. Love them. With the new curried pheasant and chorizo for elevenses with the cooking in the oil with everything. I'm going to get a set of those because they're bloody awesome.
Sam Turner: I got some of those at the Game Fair from a very well-known stand. So far, I haven't used the tong bit, but I have opened 12 bottles of beer.
Avian Sandercock: I'll tell you, the research phase is important. You can't rush into these.
Sam Turner: You've got to try them both ways, you see.
Jake Woolf: And then for my shooting, I'm actually going to, I've been non-lead ammunition for three seasons now, but I'm going to try a good new style of ammunition, which is Bioammo Blue. And so that is my thing for the shooting season.
Sam Turner: So that's not lead, but not steel?
Jake Woolf: Yes. And we need another episode on that as well. So there's a mixture of compound metals in there and they've actually taken the bismuth out of it, this company. So it's going to be really exciting to see how that's going. I've seen it used last season at Branches Park and it had mixed reviews. And so I want to give it a go because what it allows in their 28 gram, and we're going to get onto cartridges and all these different grams and the jargon behind it all, it means that you can use your old side-by-sides and you haven't got to hang them up and you can carry on enjoying great gram.
Avian Sandercock: Well, I think certainly for the three of us, it's been a point of issue that we've pretty much moved away from lead ammunition and we've been trialling new non-lead ammunition. I must admit, pretty much all of my game shooting is now non-lead. I've still got a cupboard full of some old lead shot for pest control that I'm working my way through, but I'm very comfortable with it. The technology is improving and a lot of the issues are sort of fading away. I know it's something the three of us will definitely want to get more involved in, but we've been doing it for quite a few years now.
Jake Woolf: The three of us have actually. We've enjoyed some days together at the end of last season, didn't we? great day. And so it performs some big days as well.
Sam Turner: Yeah, that's exactly it.
Jake Woolf: And we'll get on to this.
Avian Sandercock: And some of those days, the cartridges were free and they were even better days.
Jake Woolf: It does help, doesn't it? But it's going to be an exciting season and I'm thoroughly, thoroughly looking forward to it. And what an adventure we are going to be able to take everyone on with fish and game. I'm really looking forward to it. We've alluded to it already. How about we bring this all into the harbour, chaps? We've we've enjoyed this. I think we'll finish up here, shall we? We'll lash it to the jetty and we'll come into ports and... oh, all right. You want to throw in the rave?
Avian Sandercock: No, I think we'll let Sailor Jake take us out on that one.
Jake Woolf: Until next time, episode 2 chaps, we're going to be looking at charter fishing.
Avian Sandercock: So Sam and I, we're down on the coast, down in the West Country, so I think we're going to get our teeth into sort of late summer, early autumn charter fishing trips and all of the fun that entails.
Jake Woolf: I've got Felixstowe. I've got North Norfolk. I've got my tide of the coast as well. I'm not too far away. I reckon.
Avian Sandercock: Yeah, your water's brown though.
Jake Woolf: Oh, here we go. Here we go. So yeah, I think.
Avian Sandercock: You want the crystal waters of the North Cornish coast. No, I think you're absolutely right, mate. I think, you know, it's something we want to look at, you know, obviously close to home, we're a bit more familiar with Sam and I, but definitely have a look at what's available. around the country and what opportunities there are. Because spending a day on a boat with a group of mates, if it's rough, it can be awful, but there's an awful lot of sort of disaster spirit. But when it goes well, there's nothing better than messing about on boats.
Jake Woolf: It's brilliant fun. It's exciting. And the children would have all started off and gone back to school and we could probably have a little bit more of a free time. So looking forward to that one and going from there. Anyway, let's call it a day. This has been a lot of fun, chaps. And I'm sure we'll come up with a better ending. Ahoy. I'm bored of you. Bye.
Fish and Game — Episode 1: Big Plans and Small Dreams
Announcer: Coming up on Fish and Game.
Jake Woolf: So you're sat in a seat, you've got a big rod between your legs and you've got a fair reel. You're in the stirrups and you're going for it. Now please tell me there's a cup holder for your beer.
Sam Turner: And so far I haven't used the tong bit, but I have opened 12 bottles of beer.
Avian Sandercock: Top crimp? I think you'll find it's side crimp, mate. We'll not get on to scones. Hello everybody, and welcome to the first episode of Fish and Game.
Jake Woolf: No, I'm not having it. Shut up. Go on.
Sam Turner: So now we've actually got to follow through on what we promised in Episode 0. Oh dear.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, that's a problem, isn't it? Big plans and small dreams. It's like we've queued this one up, isn't it, chaps?
Avian Sandercock: Have we got it the right way round though? I think it's small plans, big dreams is probably more a bit closer to the mark.
Jake Woolf: No, you know what I'm like on a Monday morning. I have huge plans. And then by Friday, I've completely exhausted myself.
Sam Turner: What about big, small plans, dreams? You've got to have a plan so you've got something to go wrong, haven't you?
Jake Woolf: I couldn't agree more. Fish and Game, gentlemen. It's exciting, isn't it? This is going to be a lot of fun. As we alluded to in the last episode, we're going to take you through the intricate sides of fishing, shooting, stalking and anything to do with it. We're going to go on a bit of a journey and have a bit of a laugh. Big plans and small dreams. This is a significant season, isn't it? For all three of us, we've got a lot going on. I've got TWENTY10 going along. I've got KuduRiver Gundogs going along. Chaps, you've got a lot going on in the syndicates. Sam, what about your loading? How are you going with your loading this season?
Sam Turner: It's steady. I'd always want more, but such is life with everything, isn't it? We're not at the 12th of August now, but as you're listening to this, it is the 12th of August, which is officially the start of the game season. So I think we've probably got to look at the game season more than anything now, haven't we?
Avian Sandercock: We? Well, I mean, you say that, but we are sort of running into the autumn fishing season. there's a lot of charter boat activity coming up as the summer finishes and all the emmits, as we call them down here, leave the beaches. we can get back out into the foreshore and do a bit of fishing. I think there's a lot going on. I guess that's part of the problem. We've been quite focused on shooting for the last three or four years, and this is a great opportunity to sort of spread our wings a bit. So I mean, what's your number one ambition for the year, Sam? What do you want to get done? Go big first.
Sam Turner: Actually, to be fair, the one thing I want to get done, and it will hopefully be in September, is go tuna fishing.
Avian Sandercock: That sounds cool.
Sam Turner: So not game season related at all. But yeah, no, there's some brilliant opportunities. I think this year is the first year that they're not tag and release and that you can actually land tuna on some boats.
Jake Woolf: Are they bluefin? Or I don't know anything. I just know what I see, you know, kind of like the game fishing stuff. So what have you got on your coastline, Sam?
Sam Turner: So to be fair, down, so a bit further south than me mostly, So we'd be kind of moving down Plymouth, New Lynn, that kind of way, and down into Avian's country down in Cornwall. There are, I want to say, 20 plus boats that can go out, that are licensed to go out and fish for bluefin, which have been doing the catch and release over the last few years, I think, just to try and work out numbers before they could then decide that they were going to be allowed to land some. So that'll.
Avian Sandercock: I mean, it's a fascinating thing because, I mean, for those who don't know, the bluefin tuna, it's not the little tuna you get in a tin. These things can be 7, 800 kilos. They can be as big as a car. Yeah. And I think it was back in the 30s, wasn't it? There used to be a very active sport fishing industry off the east coast of the UK. And a lot of the big American sport fishers came over here. I think Ernest Hemingway fished out there at one point. And then the fishery was fished out. And there was a guy down in Cornwall actually, who about 15 odd years ago was convinced that there were small numbers of bluefin tuna coming into Cornish coastal waters. And everybody thought he was a lunatic. And little by little, they started seeing more and more and more. And he was the one who was driving it. And now, as he said, there were some more scientific research studies going out. to try and see what these numbers of these enormous, fantastic fish were like. And the boat numbers have increased. And I think, as you said, Sam, they started off because they couldn't effectively net them because these fish will swim at sort of 40 odd miles an hour plus.
Sam Turner: Voracious hunters.
Avian Sandercock: So they couldn't net them easily. but they were obviously wanting to try and catch and release and tag them and monitor the species and find out what was going on. And the sports fishers were used because they were the most effective at selecting a fish, bringing it to the boat, having it satellite tagged and marked and recorded and released unharmed. So that was the bulk of it. And as you said, over the years, the number of boats have been licensed has increased. And now I think it's still predominantly catch and release.
Sam Turner: I think it is mostly. What do you think? I haven't looked into it enough yet, but what do you think is kind of bringing them back to waters around the British Isles? Do you think it's changes in sea temperatures? Do you think it's...
Avian Sandercock: I don't know. I mean, it's interesting.
Sam Turner: My first introduction to it was watching a channel called Wicked, I think it was called Wicked Tuner. which is obviously just mostly Americans competing to try and catch the biggest tuna they can.
Avian Sandercock: Yes.
Sam Turner: In probably a lot warmer waters than we get around here. But so do you think that's why their return is coming this way?
Avian Sandercock: It's an interesting one. I don't think the data's in yet, but I'm happy if anyone out there knows exactly what the data is behind it. But I know in Cornish waters and pretty much all around the South West coast over the last 20 years, We've been getting more and more sort of what you might call exotic fish coming in, trigger fish and a lot of sunfish and even the odd turtle washes up here now. So maybe it is climate change shifting water currents, who knows. But I think a lot of it is probably to do with the fact that there were a lot of quotas installed on the bait fish and the bait fish numbers have had a bit of a healthy bounce. And I think it's just drawn the hungry tuna in because, it's all well and good to say, the sea was too cold and they wouldn't live here. But we know that in the 30s, they were in the North Sea. So, is it a population that's been under less pressure and has expanded? I don't know. I'd be absolutely fascinated to know. But I must admit, Sam, I think going on a tuna boat would be brilliant, but I'm not really sure if I wanted to get sort of hooked to a school bus for four hours. Is that something you're keen on?
Sam Turner: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's a proper, I know there's always, whether you call it a fight or a battle or whatever you want to call it with a fish, if you're fly fishing or spinning or something like that, there's always that little element that you might lose it, you might get it, it's pulling hard and stuff like that. But you watch what these guys are doing on the tuna boats and that reel is almost catching fire. It's spinning out that fast. These are big. big fish. there's some you're getting up 1000 pounds in weight. It's a big.
Jake Woolf: So Sam, you're talking about weights there of the size of these animals. I'm sat here, I know very little about fishing. What gear do you need to catch these monstrous fish from? I mean, do you need a really big boat? And no, we don't have a big enough boat. I mean, tell me about the gear. All right, we got that one out of the way first of all. That's exactly it. Sam, tell me some more about gear, please.
Sam Turner: So I mean, we're not, you don't have to have huge boats. I mean, probably wouldn't recommend, and actually to be fair, every boat has to be licensed to go and catch them. So no matter what you say, you can't just pop out on your little 3 metre rib with a four horsepower outboard and think I'm going to catch myself a tuna. Because you'll probably end up in the water. But you know, these are, they're big sport boats that you can go out on. And anything you do, you're obviously doing it with guys that are seasoned in this. They know what they're doing. They've been doing it for a while. But your big rods, big reels, harnesses, seats with footholds, like you've...
Jake Woolf: So you're strapping in like you're going for marlin.
Sam Turner: Yeah, almost like your visit to the gynaecologist, some of it.
Avian Sandercock: You're not, you're not selling this, Sam, really, are you?
Sam Turner: Don't take your skirt off, Avian, it's fine.
Jake Woolf: So you're sat in a seat, you've got a big rod between your legs, and you've got a fair reel. You're in the stirrups and you're going for it. Now please tell me there's a cup holder for your beer.
Sam Turner: I would imagine.
Jake Woolf: How long is it going to take to land one of these tunas? Because I've seen...
Sam Turner: They can fight for hours.
Jake Woolf: I mean, they're apex, aren't they? they're a ball of muscle. And by the looks of them, they come in at like 8 foot long, with a circumference of, this big. And this is an audio platform. So I mean, they're huge, aren't they? Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: They are massive. They are huge. And you know, you've got to think that everybody has this assumption. We were told at school that fish are cold blooded. Well, tuna aren't. As tuna swim faster, they heat up and they basically turbocharge themselves. So, although the catch rate round here, you're looking at sort of 20 kilos up, but some of the big ones they're recording here, they are getting on for, to mix my imperial and my metric. They're 6, 7, 800 pounds. That is enormous.
Jake Woolf: And I'm assuming it's kind of like if you're hunting or if you're sorry, fishing them on bait. bait fish, which are naturally forming, you're putting out some fair big lures. Have you got to kind of like pick as if you would fly fishing? Have you got to kind of think, oh, okay, that's a sprat, right, get the sprat lure out. Or do they like flicky little kind of like octopuses, kind of trail out the back of the boat?
Avian Sandercock: No, they're very, very much predatory. They'll be hunting sort of mid-size bait fish. So if you think sort of mackerel size, they'll often chase in the mackerel shoals. And there are a couple of ways you do it. It's either you run ahead of a shoal of the bluefin and you're using the power of the boat to keep the lure in the top surface of the water. But I think predominantly down here in Cornwall, it is done largely out of sort of mid-sized day boats. So it's more a case of you watching the bird life, spotting where you might have feeding birds, which tend to feed above. the bait ball of the fish that the tuna are coming up from beneath on and you'll try and manoeuvre up to that and then you're putting lures into that bait ball and reeling them back as quick as you can, trying to get that fish to strike at it.
Jake Woolf: Okay, and you wouldn't necessarily use electronics and just cheat?
Sam Turner: You'd probably use a fish finder, you know, the guys are gonna...
Avian Sandercock: Radar because you'd like to find your way back.
Sam Turner: If you're going out for 10 hours on a boat, in the same way as booking a walked-up day, you're going to want to see something or have the chance at something. You don't just want to go out for a fishing trip and not even look at anything.
Avian Sandercock: I think it's a bit more organised than, I mean, they're great fun, but you know, the two or four hour trip round the harbour with a a few feathers and mackerel lines out the back and back in again. This is a bit more organised. I mean, we're not at the stage with the commercial fisheries in the US where they're using spotter planes and helicopters to find the shoals. But there'll be a lot of radio chatter between the skippers and try and put you on some active fish. But again, it's with all the electronics, one of the key ways of finding the fish is looking for the seabirds, as it always has been.
Jake Woolf: Fair play, fair play. And A great segue. These segues are going to get better and better. I can assure you. Sam's mentioned a walked up day and you just mentioned birds. Let's move this on chaps because what I'm really, really, really wanting to know is have you chaps booked a day yet? What's your first day? It's the 12th of August when this is being released. Where are we going? Have you got any days booked?
Avian Sandercock: I'm going to have to have a bit of a thin year this year. We've got a few other priorities, but we'll have our first shoot with our little club in November. I'm going down with a friend to his place in Wiltshire towards December. So between now and then, not a lot, but I'll be actively doing a bit of pigeon shooting on the barley fields around the farm here. and just enjoying time out with the dog and looking after our birds, to be honest.
Jake Woolf: Sam, what about you, buddy? What have you got booked?
Sam Turner: So this is going to sound bad. I think I've got a couple of days booked and I don't know what days they are. Actually, Jake, you probably know better than me what dates they are.
Jake Woolf: I do actually, mate. I won't be out.
Sam Turner: We don't need to see dates now, but I've got a little bit booked in. I'm hoping to blag myself a day down in Avian's Little Syndicate down in Cornwall again, because that was brilliant. fun last year. And we've actually got...
Avian Sandercock: You're not coming back, mate.
Sam Turner: Am I not?
Avian Sandercock: No, well, I mean, you know, it's obvious you need a PA because you can't even remember where you're going. I mean, do we need, you've been borrowing a gun off me for a year. Do you need some Wellingtons and pack your underpants and fold your teeth basically.
Sam Turner: Last time I came down, I had to buy some Wellies on the way, didn't I? Because I'd forgotten.
Avian Sandercock: You did, yes.
Jake Woolf: And I tell you, tapped you two together. It cannot, I mean, between you, make up one whole gun. You leave everything behind and Sam forgets to bring most things.
Sam Turner: So, but I just, I just, it just needs organizing a little bit better.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, 100%.
Sam Turner: But no, we've actually got some sim days that are running later in the year this year. We've got a wedding venue that we've been doing a few days for, and we've got days out.
Avian Sandercock: I hope it's outdoor.
Sam Turner: No, it is, it's not in the church, just echoes too much. They're always after a new roof anyway, aren't they? But no, we've got weddings up until November, so it's we're going to be busy on that still, which is quite cool.
Avian Sandercock: That's brilliant. Jakey, what are your big plans?
Jake Woolf: Here we go. There was a deep breath in there. The reason for that is, in a couple of weeks' time, I'm going to Warter Priory on the 1st of September. Then I've got the 3rd of September.
Avian Sandercock: There's going to be loads. We know what Warter Priory is because you bang on about it every year. For the benefit of people who haven't heard of Warter Priory, set the scene. What is it? What's involved? Why are you saying it in such breathless terms?
Jake Woolf: So Warter Priory is probably an estate most people want to visit. It's incredibly well known for its tradition and history. Sir Winston Churchill shot there, and some incredible people over the last 100 or 150 years have shot on this wonderful estate. It continues to attract overseas guns. It continues to attract everyone from the novice right up to the experienced gun. It's not ridiculously high birds, but it's challenging. The setting is beautiful. It's in Yorkshire. It's just wonderful. I'm very lucky to be part of a team that shoots there on the 1st of September every season. For those of you who don't know why the 1st of September is such an important date, it's the opening of the partridge season and the team gets together. We haven't seen each other since last September, and it's our once-a-year get-together. I'm so excited for it. It's a magical place. It sets the whole season, and I'm really, really excited. But that's just the first.
Sam Turner: So I've not shot Warter Priory because I'm obviously in different circles to you, Jake.
Avian Sandercock: Me too, mate. I haven't even been allowed to drive past it.
Sam Turner: Not just a partridge shoot though. They do pheasants there.
Jake Woolf: So it's a mixed shoot of partridge, pheasants and duck. But I've also got some really exciting other days coming up. Now I host a lot of days, so I have to get my shooting in the beginning of the season. I've got a walked up gun dog training day on the 3rd of September, which I've been invited to join a team. And now you chaps have seen me shoot. I said yes immediately. And this is an invite. And now I'm worried about how the hell I'm going to shoot for these dogs. These dogs.
Sam Turner: So you're not there with your gun dogs. You're there to provide birds for the dogs to pick up.
Jake Woolf: And they're two in the space of 72 hours, two completely different sides of the game shooting season and I'm really excited to come back and like tell you all about it and we can pick out bits throughout the season to talk about because there is so much even in this conversation but I don't know chats. Is there anything that you'd like to happen this season?
Sam Turner: I would quite like, and Avian will probably feel the same looking at his cover crops right now. It would be quite nice if we had some rain this season.
Avian Sandercock: I think for the whole country, that's a good thing. I mean, looking at my ambitions for the year, and I must admit, there's definitely no tuna fishing and certainly no water priory. Mine are a little more pedestrian. I think the first thing I'd like to do this year is fit into last year's outdoor clothing. And I'd love to find some wellies that fit around my big fat legs. That'd be rather nice. But I think that the couple of bits I really, really am keen on doing is we've had a bit of a steer from the guys at GWCT, that's the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. And I do a bit of work with the BTO, the British Trust for Ornithology. And there's a rumour that there are some woodcock nesting just next to our farm shoot in Cornwall, which for those who don't know, is really quite uncommon. They tend to be around in the winter and then move further north to breed. So we're really keen to see if that is actually a thing.
Sam Turner: With the woodcock, I remember last year when I was down with you, we saw woodcock. They were migratory, I guess.
Avian Sandercock: Well, that's what we'd always thought. And it was kind of the view in Cornwall, there's a lot of talk about woodcock and I think that's something we can get into in a bit more detail. And they are beautiful little birds. They're about the size of a pigeon, wading birds, very secretive, very quiet, fantastic eating, but it was always the view that there wasn't really a relevant breeding population in Cornwall. But over certain surveys over the last 10, 15 years, there is a consideration that we've got some very ancient water meadows down by the River Lynher. And the thinking is that people reckon they've seen woodcock there in the summer and potentially there's a small breeding population. So that's something we're going to try and find out.
Sam Turner: Do you think it would be different in a hot year like it's been this year though? because I know where I am. I'll see snipe if I have a really wet autumn and the cattle poach the ground up and it looks horrible. I'll have a good number of snipe. But I'm thinking right now, you know, you can't even, you can't even put a fence post in the ground down here. It's a struggle, let alone poach it up.
Avian Sandercock: It's like pushing cheese into concrete at the moment, isn't it?
Jake Woolf: It's not easy.
Avian Sandercock: I don't know, Sam, and I think, you know, there are records going back a fair ways, but I think. it had been left unrecorded for a while, but because it's right on our doorstep, the idea of having to go and spend a couple of hours on a warm summer's evening, seeing if you can spot Woodcock doesn't sound like a terrible evening to me.
Sam Turner: No, it's all fine out. There's worse ways to spend an evening, yeah, definitely.
Avian Sandercock: Very much so.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, that does sound really look quite nice. Something happened to me last season. where I forgot. Or did Toby forget his wellies? One of us. You did.
Avian Sandercock: You're the adult.
Jake Woolf: You forgot them. Between us, it's making sure that we turn up on time. I'm going to try and make that a pact for me: on time, with everything correct, and really look forward to that. However, that's one of those simple things about being a parent. I'm actually going to try some new things, chaps, with the elevenses.
Sam Turner: You say elevenses, Jake. Elevenses for me, pre-shooting, was always a cup of coffee with my grandparents at 11 o'clock.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, good point. I mean.
Sam Turner: I'm assuming this isn't a cup of coffee at 11 o'clock.
Jake Woolf: We should really explain elevenses, shouldn't we? So it can be a cup of coffee. It's normally a very hot, homemade cup of soup, along with sausage rolls or, you know, something that the gamekeeper's wife may have made or the shoot host.
Avian Sandercock: But what's it for?
Jake Woolf: So it's to break up the day and it allows the drives to take form, but you don't run through the day too quickly. You can get through four drives very, very quickly and it's nice to stop. It's nice to socialize. It's nice to have fun with the people that you've been shooting with. and to be able to enjoy the opportunity of being on that estate with that syndicate and meet people.
Avian Sandercock: Some days it's a nice excuse to stand in the drive for 20 minutes, isn't it?
Jake Woolf: Absolutely. So it's important that it covers all bases of enjoying the moment, taking it in, and it does help when you've got a very nice sloe gin and prosecco to wash down the wonderful homemade sausage rolls.
Sam Turner: You actually don't realise how long 11s is until you're loading on a day.
Jake Woolf: I agree.
Sam Turner: Because you're not involved in 11s, you're sat at the sidelines and it seems to drag forever. It's nothing worse. At the same time, when you're shooting for the day and you're enjoying yourself, it takes no time at all.
Avian Sandercock: I mean, I suppose it's kind of that the rhythm of a shoot day, isn't it? For people who haven't experienced it, you know, that broadly the scope of the day is People meet, they'll have a cup of tea and cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich or something to set the day up. They'll go out, they'll stand in a line and try and shoot some game. They maybe do that a second time. Then they come back in and have a bit of refreshments and then they'll go back out again. I mean, it sounds like Test cricket in a way, doesn't it?
Sam Turner: Well, it is, because then lunch always seems to be late in the afternoon, doesn't it? Not at lunchtime.
Avian Sandercock: Yeah, yes. Because I mean, that time of year, you have to remember that most shooting days, just by the nature of the weather and the fact that you want the birds to have a bit of a rest at the end of it, they're over by three. So, it's a gentle way of breaking the day up. And as you said, Jake, it allows everybody else to reset and get back in position and do what they do. But I agree with you, mate. I think, you know, a heavy lunch, I don't thoroughly enjoy if you're out in your wellies and you got wet tweed on, off you go. But I think The 11s is stood somewhere nice, shoot room, barn, back of a Land Rover, whatever it is. And it's all sort of hand food. There's no sitting down with plates and all that sort of nonsense. And it's just a lovely way to mingle and tease each other about the awful shots we've made or congratulate somebody for something brilliant and get to know the people you're with.
Sam Turner: But what's your new one you're going to try this year for 11s then, Jake?
Avian Sandercock: Yeah.
Jake Woolf: So we're going to look at doing just a little bit more adventurous, really. We are going to just bring in some new dishes. I find 11s can be a cup of hot soup, a sausage roll and a chocolate. Yeah, one of those little mini ones. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's good. No. 100%. But I think if you are offering a day at the price that these days are, you've really got to throw the boat out and you've got to make these 11s a grand day. You can't just have a gala pie in a slice and a packet of Walker's crisps. You need to really go for it. So what I want to do is just, you know, I've been playing with, bought myself a deep fat fryer and I've been playing with making Kudu River fried partridge and pheasant. There we go. It's a little spin on the KF. I don't know. Can we say that KFP? KFP. KFP. So Kuda River, Partridge and Pheasant. Looking forward to offering that to guests. And then, but equally, you know, Chorizo and Curried Pheasant, I'm very excited to be offering this year more with venison. I love the venison. We've got a lot of fallow around the area. And we're going to explain more about this as we go on through these episodes about the different kind of relationships we share with the countryside, how we harvest, all this type of stuff. So with all these big plans.
Sam Turner: I'll send you up some more venison jerky that you can dish around to some unwilling guests and tell me if they like their new flavours.
Jake Woolf: 100%. Anyway, we're getting lost into elevens and the shooting season only just started. So should we move this on, chaps? Bernard. Go on. Anyone, right? bought anything that they want to debut this season. Like we've just come back from the game fair, haven't we? Did you buy anything there that you're going to bring out? I saw some very nice boots that were released. And so looking around the places, I didn't get a chance to leave the stand that I was working on over the three days. Did you guys see anything you're going to debut for the season?
Sam Turner: I did, but it wasn't at the Game Fair, to be fair. It's something that's been in the pipeline for a little while, which is a 20-bore over-and-under. I've got another side-by-side that people will be horrified to hear I'm going to trade in, and get a nice 20-bore over-and-under.
Avian Sandercock: Are you of that age now?
Sam Turner: I'm not of that age, but the more coaching I do, and the more I do independently, it would pay for me to have a 20-bore over-and-under for smaller people, ladies who want to try a gun and things like that. So I think it will be a good tool in the armoury, so to speak.
Avian Sandercock: That sounds brilliant. Well, I'm going to say “20-bore over-and-under”. We'll come back to what all of that means on a different day because that's another rabbit hole if we're not careful.
Sam Turner: Probably a whole episode by itself though.
Jake Woolf: You've got the correct configuration there, buddy. You've got the barrels the right way up. But we'll come back to that in the future. If you found anything, mate.
Avian Sandercock: I have actually. Again, it's a bit pedestrian. Well, it's literally pedestrian. I've bought a pair of those. I can't remember what the brand name is, but the barefoot shoes and I bought a pair of those boots. We were up in Wales. No, these are brilliant. Don't knock the Crocs. No, we're up in Wales with GWCT, looking at the curlew chick count there. And the young lad on the farm, Tom, he spends half the year on the farm in Wales and half the year out in Australia on the sheep and cattle stations up in New South Wales. And he had these shoes that, first of all, they appealed to me because they look a lot like Cornish pasties.
Sam Turner: What, top crimp?
Avian Sandercock: Top crimp. I think you'll find it side crimp, mate. We'll not get on to scones. Yeah, was it? Yeah, no, you probably said this because you're wrong. And he said that he wears them everywhere and he wouldn't have any other kind of boots. And like I said earlier, I was trying to find some wellies that fit and I've got those odd sort of Cornish hobbit feet. that sort of all big toe and nothing else.
Sam Turner: Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: So I thought I'd try a pair of these and I must admit guys, they are absolutely fantastic. Have they got half the things I've ever worn?
Sam Turner: Like Crocs that would let your Cornish hairy?
Avian Sandercock: Hair, hairy feet to poke out. No, And I can't put those little croc jewels in them either. No, they're proper boots that look like Cornish pasties, but honestly, they are so comfortable.
Jake Woolf: No, those Vivo Barefoot, aren't they?
Avian Sandercock: That's the boys. That's them, Jake. Yes.
Jake Woolf: That's all right. Yeah.
Avian Sandercock: Vivo Barefoot, that's the ones.
Jake Woolf: Yeah, definitely.
Avian Sandercock: And I must admit, you know, generally if you buy a pair of outdoor boots, they're either rubbish or you have to break them in for a few weeks. I put these on and they were just like putting on your favourite pants. But on your feet. But on your feet, yeah. That's another feature of your Cornishman.
Jake Woolf: Fair play.
Avian Sandercock: Gloves and socks are interchangeable.
Sam Turner: Yeah, fair play. What have you bought, Jake, or what have you got in line to buy?
Jake Woolf: Well, everything. So, fly fishing rod. It's going to be a start thing because 9 foot 5. Right. So this is.
Avian Sandercock: Don't go down that rabbit. That's the same as guns. We'll get to that.
Sam Turner: I was going to say actually your first fly rod. There were people like adamant fly fishers will crucify me for this. Just buy a fly fishing rod off of eBay or Amazon.
Avian Sandercock: But not Temu.
Jake Woolf: So I've been looking.
Sam Turner: Just get out and, or Trago Mills. Trago Mills is brilliant. You probably haven't got one decathlon.
Jake Woolf: We've got a decathlon up here and I'm going to be going into the, so I've got to go for, here, help me out, a 9 foot with a 5. What's A5?
Avian Sandercock: OK, right. That's a long story. That's you're in the American Federation of Tackle Manufacturers grading system. So we won't get that.
Sam Turner: Just say you're going to get fly.
Avian Sandercock: Fishing rod this year. It's a beginner's middly one.
Jake Woolf: And then I'm going to get for cooking. You guys have seen them. The donkey long tongs. They're brilliant for outdoor cooking. Love them. With the new curried pheasant and chorizo for elevenses with the cooking in the oil with everything. I'm going to get a set of those because they're bloody awesome.
Sam Turner: I got some of those at the Game Fair from a very well-known stand. So far, I haven't used the tong bit, but I have opened 12 bottles of beer.
Avian Sandercock: I'll tell you, the research phase is important. You can't rush into these.
Sam Turner: You've got to try them both ways, you see.
Jake Woolf: And then for my shooting, I'm actually going to, I've been non-lead ammunition for three seasons now, but I'm going to try a good new style of ammunition, which is Bioammo Blue. And so that is my thing for the shooting season.
Sam Turner: So that's not lead, but not steel?
Jake Woolf: Yes. And we need another episode on that as well. So there's a mixture of compound metals in there and they've actually taken the bismuth out of it, this company. So it's going to be really exciting to see how that's going. I've seen it used last season at Branches Park and it had mixed reviews. And so I want to give it a go because what it allows in their 28 gram, and we're going to get onto cartridges and all these different grams and the jargon behind it all, it means that you can use your old side-by-sides and you haven't got to hang them up and you can carry on enjoying great gram.
Avian Sandercock: Well, I think certainly for the three of us, it's been a point of issue that we've pretty much moved away from lead ammunition and we've been trialling new non-lead ammunition. I must admit, pretty much all of my game shooting is now non-lead. I've still got a cupboard full of some old lead shot for pest control that I'm working my way through, but I'm very comfortable with it. The technology is improving and a lot of the issues are sort of fading away. I know it's something the three of us will definitely want to get more involved in, but we've been doing it for quite a few years now.
Jake Woolf: The three of us have actually. We've enjoyed some days together at the end of last season, didn't we? great day. And so it performs some big days as well.
Sam Turner: Yeah, that's exactly it.
Jake Woolf: And we'll get on to this.
Avian Sandercock: And some of those days, the cartridges were free and they were even better days.
Jake Woolf: It does help, doesn't it? But it's going to be an exciting season and I'm thoroughly, thoroughly looking forward to it. And what an adventure we are going to be able to take everyone on with fish and game. I'm really looking forward to it. We've alluded to it already. How about we bring this all into the harbour, chaps? We've we've enjoyed this. I think we'll finish up here, shall we? We'll lash it to the jetty and we'll come into ports and... oh, all right. You want to throw in the rave?
Avian Sandercock: No, I think we'll let Sailor Jake take us out on that one.
Jake Woolf: Until next time, episode 2 chaps, we're going to be looking at charter fishing.
Avian Sandercock: So Sam and I, we're down on the coast, down in the West Country, so I think we're going to get our teeth into sort of late summer, early autumn charter fishing trips and all of the fun that entails.
Jake Woolf: I've got Felixstowe. I've got North Norfolk. I've got my tide of the coast as well. I'm not too far away. I reckon.
Avian Sandercock: Yeah, your water's brown though.
Jake Woolf: Oh, here we go. Here we go. So yeah, I think.
Avian Sandercock: You want the crystal waters of the North Cornish coast. No, I think you're absolutely right, mate. I think, you know, it's something we want to look at, you know, obviously close to home, we're a bit more familiar with Sam and I, but definitely have a look at what's available. around the country and what opportunities there are. Because spending a day on a boat with a group of mates, if it's rough, it can be awful, but there's an awful lot of sort of disaster spirit. But when it goes well, there's nothing better than messing about on boats.
Jake Woolf: It's brilliant fun. It's exciting. And the children would have all started off and gone back to school and we could probably have a little bit more of a free time. So looking forward to that one and going from there. Anyway, let's call it a day. This has been a lot of fun, chaps. And I'm sure we'll come up with a better ending. Ahoy. I'm bored of you. Bye.