I had just begun working on this feature when Paul Cottell, the Angling Trust’s Wyvern division records officer, rang to say that two superb giltheads, both shore caught, had been entered for the division’s June and July “Fish of the Month” award. The biggest weighing 9lb 9oz 4dr from Salcombe was by Plymouth angler Dave Horrill, a personal best in the shore category. The other of 8lb 5oz 12dr taken from the Plymouth Sound shore by Stephen King was also a personal best. This excellent start to the exotic bream season is a welcome indication that great catches can be expected.
In the 1980s when it mysteriously began to leave the waters of the Western English Channel and Atlantic
