Seacombe Promenade, River Mersey

Last Sunday (24th Sept.) was the first match of the WSF (Wirral Sea Fishing) Winter League held in conjuction with a BLAS (Blackpool and Layton Angling Society) match, held on the Wirral side of the River Mersey along Seacombe Promenade.

We met up at 9am to sign in for the match which, considering it was the first of the season, had a good turnout of about 50 hopeful anglers. After making our way to our chosen mark and getting set up the shout went up and we all cast our baits seaward.

Myself and Wendy weren't expecting much but we were hoping to get a few Dabs close in on frozen lugworm and squid as we'd always done quite well using this tactic in the past.

But then the heavens opened, and I mean it hammered it down constantly for about an hour. The forecast had been light rains so thankfully we'd packed waterproofs but even we weren't prepared for thunder and lightening. As the first bolt struck 50 anglers stepped smartly away from their rods which remained exactly as they were until the storm past about an hour later.

Modern rods are about 13 foot long, made of carbon fibre and are excellent lightening conductors!

Then the sun came out. It was like a different day and everyone was busy changing baits regularly to try and catch a few fish and get an early lead in the league.

Unfortunately no one told the fish we were having a match and only about 10 were caught in four hours by 50 people (a few Dabs, Plaice, Flounder and undersized Codling and Whiting) - not a good start.

Wendy and I came in joint last - with about 40 others! At this time of year it is difficult to fish the Mersey as the summer species have moved out and the winter fish have yet to arrive so those that caught fish did very well.

We did get some excellent views of Liverpool across the river, where you can see all the famous landmarks.

Tags: cod, dab, flounder, merseyside, plaice, river mersey, sea fishing, whiting, wirral