First Anglesey visit of 2006

Everything is packed, more sea fishing gear than a Discovery Reel time fishing show and almost as much walking stuff as Rays Mears could manage. The weather looks like it's going to be kind to us and the bait has been ordered ready to be collected from Victoria Pier Angling on our way.

We're staying at the Top end of the island in a cottage just North of Rhosybol on the Southern side of Parys Mountain so, if the weather holds at least we'll get some walking done even if the fish don't play.

Tags: anglesey, sea fishing, walking

River Alt Estuary - Flounder Fishing

Finally finished laying the floor in the downstairs bathroom on Saturday so treated myself by leaving Wendy in bed and getting down to the River Alt Estuary at Hightown, between Formby and Crosby, at 6.45am where I met a few mates for an easy light rod session catching Flounder. The weather was great although the fishing was very slow and we only managed a total of 4 fish before the tide went out too far.

The bait we'd usually use at this venue would have been fresh peeler crab but as the spring has been so cold the crabs are late in shedding their old shells so we made do with frozen black lug tipped with small pieces of mackeral. The rigs we used were 2 hook fixed paternosters with size 1 fine wire aberdeen match hooks. You use fine wire hooks as the Flounder tend to swallow the bait and these are easier to remove without injuring the fish so they can be released.

Tags: flounder, river alt, sea fishing

Caldy - River Dee, April 16th

After so much rain it was great to start a fishing match in the Sun. The was a good turnout for this one from both the BLAS and WSF guys and girls, especially considering it was Easter Sunday - we there were even a few people from NWASAC.

The venue known as Caldy is situated on the Wirral side of the River Dee estuary and is a well known Flounder mark - particularly at this time of year and the greedy flatfish will readily take a ragworm bait in as little as a foot of water as the tides races in.

Myself and Wendy were fishing next to Bill Linfield - a well respected match angler from the area and it was a pleasure to speak with him and gain a few tips on fishing the area. To say the fishing was slow would be an understatement and we were all a little disappointed with the lack of fish.

The weather though did hold up and we were able to watch some superb yatch handling skills as the local club held their race, then just before the end of the match i managed to snare this small whiting - to small to count in the match but at least it was a fish.

The overall verdict was another cracking day out, just a shame no one had told the fish.

Tags: caldy, flounder, merseyside, sea fishing, whiting

A 'Good Friday' on Clougha Pike

By Saturday we'd had enough decorating and headed north up the M6 to walk up Clougha Pike, which is the large hill to the east of Lancaster on the other side of the motorway. We parked just north of Quernmore and headed east up Windy Clough. Once we'd got to the northern end, in a moment of madness we went over Black Fell and headed around the summit of Clougha to Grit Fell.

The views of the moorlands we're fantastic and the wildlife is showing all the signs that spring has finally arrived. We saw a lot of Grouse, in full breeding plumage and even saw a couple of house martins souring in the breeze. It's amazing that this area used to supply millsotnes for the local area and there is even a broken one on top of the fell - image having to carve that only to have it break at the last moment!!!

This is Wendy at the summit of Grit, good views but tiny cairn (Wendy is only 5'1" tall!). From here we made our way back north to the summit of Clougha Pike where Wendy took the rather fetching photo of me posing against the trig point (above). It was then all the way down the hill and back to the car. A great day out, and considering it was easter weekend, very quiet - we only saw 7 other people on the whole walk.

Tags: clougha, fairsnape, hiking, walking

Walking and Fishing on Hold - Decorating!

Sorry I've not put the pictures up but I got home last night and Wendy was in full decorating mode. The wall paper is now off the downstairs toilet walls, revealing a rather fetching yellow colour complete with holes and filler. So tonight I'm filling in all the holes and sanding the walls flat ready for the white paint to be applied on Saturday as we're going up Clougha Pike tomorrow.

As for fishing, hopefully we'll have most of the painting done by Sunday as we're fishing another BLAS / WSF match at Caldy on the Wirral side of the River Dee. Hopefully we'll be somewhat more successful than our last outing and I'll have a few pics of some fish to put on here.

A Mountain To Far

Well we tried Pen-Y-Ghent yesterday but after getting about halfway up the southern slope Wendy's feet became very painful. She's had problem with her achilles tendons ever since having viral arthritis a couple of years ago. We took a few pictures and I'll post a proper blog with a few in it in a while.

We did sort out some fishing tackle though, ready for our weekend away at the end of the month to Anglesey - so although it was disappointing about the walk we're getting geared up ready for our summer fishing and hopefully catch some Bass.

We'll be trying the jif lemon floats we made which involved making a float / weight by filling a jif lemon with wax and attaching it to your trace and main line line via a couple of swivels. I believe it's a very effective way of fishing soft plastic / jelly worm type lures so we're going to give it a try.

Tags: hiking, pen y ghent, walking

The First Swallow Goes By

At last it seems that we're getting a bit of spring sun in Lancashire, although last weekend it rained almost constantly and flooded the garden once more. The picture is of one of the first cherry trees in our street, looking out of my front upstairs window. It won't be long now until we can get some proper walking and sea fishing done. Sea fishing in the rain isn't really a problem but fell walking in the mud isn't much fun.

Hopefully this coming Sunday Wendy and I will be taking on Pen-Y-Ghent but it mainly depends on the weather staying moderately dry. I purchased some new boots a couple of weeks ago and still havn't given them any challenges so before Sunday I'm planning on walking round the River Douglas marsh just to break them in a bit.

On another note I saw my first swallows of the year last Sunday. A group of about 4 flew past the back garden, heading North towards Blackpool and futher up the coast although with this cold snap in the weather I hope they'll be OK. My parents,who live at the bottom end of the Trough of Bowland near Chipping told me yesterday that their yearly visitors have already arrived (they nest in Dads garage every year).

Tags: garden, swallow, walking