Penrhos on Anglesey as the tide floods

We’ve just returned from a couple of weeks sea fishing, walking and generally relaxing on Anglesey, one our favourite places to unwind. We stayed in a cottage at Ty Cristion which as usual was excellent and as the schools hadn’t broken up was very quiet so when we needed to just sit in the sun and watch the Buzzards circling overhead or read, our rest wasn’t shattered by the screams of “can we go to the beach now” from hordes of kids.

To say the weather was unkind would be a slight understatement as halfway through our break Anglesey and the North Wales coastline was battered by winds of up to 84mph and more rain in a couple of days than usually falls in an entire month but we still managed to get out a couple of times to wet a line, as the saying goes.

One of our favourite beaches on the island is Broad Beach (Porth Nobla) just South of Rhosneigr, where we fished a couple of hours either side of high water in darkness hoping for a Bass.

The sea was was almost flat, for once, and although it looked like weed may be a problem it only became an issue as you wound back in to re-bait.

Unfortunately no Bass were showing even though we tried every bait under the Sun (or Moon) – ragworm, sandeel, lugworm and crab, and it was looking like even Wales’ most infamous denizen of the dark, the Dogfish, wasn’t going to play until Wendy managed to land a small one then proceed to repeat the feat not much later while I was still staring at my motionless rod like a fool. Finally, about a half hour before we packed up, I managed my own Dogfish – not the target species but a fish is a fish and anything is good when you’re a bit desperate.

We had a few more trips out to various places including Penrhos to fish from low tide up, using ragworm to tempt a Bass but on this occasion even though we saw the odd small fish splash about near the surface the Bass were not to be tempted – outsmarted by a fish – again…

Before the chaos that the wind brought we had a quick go at Fly Fishing in the inland sea, a large tidal lagoon that separates Anglesey from Holy Island and although our skills and techniques are definitely improving the fish weren’t impressed and obviously found something better to eat rather than a hook covered in feathers and fluff.

Wendy snares a Three-bearded rockling at Cemlyn Bay

Another of our favourite beaches is Cymyran Bay, on the North West side of the Island, this beach has been fairly good to us in the past but our timing was off and we arrived at low water and looking back at it there really wasn’t much depth to the water. We’ve been told (local knowledge is everything) that the state of tide doesn’t really matter here, it’s more to do with the time of day as the Bass move in as the sun sets.

This was not to be and we’re now convinced it needs to be fished over high tide into darkness.

The Dogfish were quite obliging once the sun set and Wendy managed a couple of other species; a Five-bearded Rockling and a larger Three-bearded Rockling (her first) so although my tally was more Dogfish a new species was caught and a pleasant evening was spent watching the sun set over the headland.

And then the weather arrived and the fishing went on hold. In fact everything to do with outside went on hold for a few days until the sky cleared.

The wind had made the West coast beaches almost un-fishable due to the amount of weed in the water and the rains made rock fishing a little dangerous as the paths were now slick with mud so we spent the rest of our break going for walks around the island.

We didn’t get anything like as much sea fishing done as we’d hoped and for once never did any fishing off Anglesey’s  rock marks but we did, as always, have a great time and there’s always next time…

Dawn breaks over a mirror like River Mersey

Sea Fishing… it brings out the nutter in some people and last weekend I joined the crazy crew as a few of us arrived at the mark known as The Rock Channel at New Brighton on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside at 4:15am. Yes, you read that correctly just past 4 in the morning, I’d left the house at 3am arriving to meet a few of the guys from the Wirral Sea Fishing forum after driving South through an eerily quiet Southport and Liverpool.

This was my second assault (and probably last attempt for the year) on The Rock Channel to try and catch a Smooth Hound so after a quick chat we got suited and booted, waded across the gully and about 30 minutes later were fishing into the last of the ebbing tide as the sun rose over Seaforth Docks on the other side of the River Mersey.

The weapon of choice was a standard pulley rig armed with a Varivas 3/0 Big Mouth hook and baited with peeler crab. It didn’t take long for a greedy little Dab to somehow get it’s mouth round the bait and register the tiniest of bites. As the sun rose this was to be the standard scenario for the trip – the bait would hit the sea bed and a few minutes later the rod would give a little twitch and hey presto – another Dab – there must be hundreds of them.

Considering how many anglers turned up by the time the tide turned, if the Smooth Hounds were there, someone would have caught one but for some reason, even though they’ve been there for the past couple of weeks – they weren’t there on Sunday and after looking at the forums today – the results show they’re not there today either.

Maybe they’ve had their fill of Crabs out of the Mersey estuary this year, maybe with it being a big tide and the weather being so hot recently the waters too warm at low tide as it empties a lot more, maybe we were all just a bit crap… who knows, I know some of the guys I was with are very accomplished anglers and helped develop / discover this mark and they don’t why the smoothies weren’t there either so it just goes to show…

You can be in the right place at the right time, armed with the right bait and have fantastic local knowledge but if the fish aren’t there you’re just plain out of luck.

Anglesey for a couple of weeks in a couple of weeks so I doubt I’ll be out sea fishing till then as I’ve a load of stuff to get ready, although I may just sneak in a trip to the River Douglas to see if I can snare a Flounder or two or maybe go to Mere Beck and have a practice fly fishing before attempting to catch a Bass on the fly on Anglesey.

As I was driving through Liverpool the weather changed dramatically for the worse and by the time I exited the tunnel on the Wirral side the rain was bouncing almost as high as the car windows – I was starting to think maybe I was a little mad to attempt this until I arrived at New Brighton prom. to be greeted by a few more like minded fools. We were there now – rain wasn’t going to stop any one sea fishing with the chance of a smoothy in sight.

We waded across the first big gully about 2.5 hours before low water and set off along the bank to a spot about 1/2 mile from the shore. The sand bar and gully has changed a lot since last year and although the initial gully was over waist high the bar was clear of water which made things considerably easier than last year when we were wading knee deep for the whole treck.

Reaching the spot I baited a pulley rig armed with a big 3/0 hook with some fantastic peeler crab bought from Blackpool Angling Centre on Saturday morning and cast out eager for my first hound and waited patiently. It’s a good job anglers are patient as this was repeated many times for the next 2 hours with only a few small Dabs and a Whiting coming out – somehow managing to get the huge hook in their mouths.

Further up the bar one angler managed 4 Smooth-hounds and he was only a hundred meters or so from us but for me and my friends today was not to be a smooth hound day. Non were caught to the right of us, nearer the ‘beach’ so maybe the channel was slightly deeper where he was, we’ll know where to go next time though.

The trouble with fishing this spot is it changes every year with the sands and channels shifting all the time so the first few trips are a bit ‘hit and miss’ until you find where the deeper water is and hence, where the smooth hounds are feeding.

We called it a day about 1/2 hour after low water as the tide races in at this venue and it’s dangerous to stay any longer, sea fishing is great but it’s not worth taking risks when they’re easily avoided. In a couple of weeks the water should have warmed a little more, the tides will be ideal and we’ll know where to set up stall so hopefully, I’ll be out again and just maybe I can catch my first Smooth Hound.

A lazy hazy day sea fishing on the River Douglas

I’ve not been sea fishing for a while, or any other type of fishing for that matter. Not for any specific reason just other stuff to do around the house and garden while the weather is good. But with the weather being so good this past weekend I couldn’t resist a walk along our local river, The River Douglas, to see what was going on.

The river itself was quite quiet with the usual suspects bobbing along in the wakes of a few boats returning from sea fishing off Blackpool; Mallard, Shelduck, Geese and Swans with Oyster Catchers watching them from the shore.

The banks are very very dry at the moment and keeping low I managed to get a snap of a Skylark before he shot skyward proclaiming to all comers that this was his territory. Nothing quiet announces that Summer is approaching as the never ending song of this small unobtrusive bird with the most amazing song.

Further along the river there were hordes of people fishing. I say hordes – I mean more than 2, which is hordes for here. I don’t think anyone was having much luck but then I’m fairly sure they were all using Mackerel and realistically at this time of year, in the River Douglas or the River Ribble (of which the Douglas is a tributary) you’d probably be better off using peeler crab to catch the Flounder they were all after.

There were a lot of domestic (big white) Geese on the river with young so I couldn’t resist this final shot.

I’m not sure who is who’s parent but then I guess they’re not bothered either – so long as they get fed. Another great walk along a river that always makes me smile.

Saturday we did much the same thing except forced ( oh how tough it was!!!! ) ourselves to have a bash at the Bass entering the Menai Straights at one of our favourite locations just North East of Beaumaris. As the sun set you could certainly tell that the seasons are a bit late this year with snow still on the mountains of Snowdonia opposite us and a distinct ‘nip’ in the air – in fact it was bloody freezing. The Bass obviously thought so as well as our wonderful peeler crab baits came back in untouched so after a couple of hours we called it a night.

The following day we did much the same, a whole load of relaxing.

Towards the evening we again got ‘that itch’ that sea anglers get towards dusk and we headed of towards Cemlyn Bay, a place that has never thrown up a big fish for us but there’s always a chance.

We arrived just as the sun was setting and the tide starting to flood but damn, was it windy, blowing straight at us and making it feel even colder than the previous evening.

I’d brought my light rod but that stayed in the car and my normal beach caster went onto the beach with us. We tried all sorts of bait combinations, lug, rag, mackerel and crab but the first hour was mainly spent trying to keep our hands warm.

Finally a tell tail nod on my rod indicated a fish and I brought a tiny codling to the shore. Not long after Wendy had a more substantial bite and we both had the thought, BASS, but the tell tail glow of yellow eyes coming through the surf revealed the first of a couple of Dogfish for Wendy that evening.

With the Dogfish feeding I changed to a single hook pulley rig as they can really mess up clip down multi hook distance rigs as if you don’t see the bite they’ll swallow the bait and you’ll end up cutting the hook off rather than trying to remove it – the hook will eventually rust where as removing it will almost certainly kill the fish.

I lashed a big crab onto a size 2/0 hook and placed the cast just behind the breakers, or my approximation to that anyway – it was dark after all. A few minutes later and thump! the tip arches down and then springs straight as a fish picks up the bait and runs with the lead – this had to be a Bass! But no, another Codling, slightly bigger than before but still no monster – back he went and after a final coffee we left Cemlyn and headed back to the cottage.

And that was all the fishing we did – we were just far, far too relaxed to clamber over rocks or do anything remotely strenuous over the few days we were on the island but that was exactly what we both needed, a few days doing nothing at all.

We did do a bit of exploring and I’ve a few photos to download yet but they’re on the other camera which is currently under a load of other stuff.

Looking across the River Wyre to the Bowland Fells

The second match of the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) was held at the estuary of the River Wyre at the North side of Fleetwood. We’ve fished Fleetwood Channel a few times before and it’s fairly straightforward, helped by the fact that you can park your car on the esplanade, almost on the fishing mark itself.

Even though the seasons this year seem a few weeks behind, the weather was almost identical to that of last years match even if the wind was a little cooler. Six of us braved the glorious sun and tried desperately to get an early tan until the sun hid behind a few clouds and the chill reminded us that Winter has only just retreated.

Low water on the River Wyre, tactical discussion...

The fishing proved to be difficult and the baits, various mixtures of Black Lug, Mackeral, Squid and Razorfish were coming back in almost the same condition as when they were cast in – a sign of lack of crab activity, which in itself is a sign that the season hasn’t really kicked off yet.

Me, happy to catch a Rockling

Sven got an plump Five-Beareded Rockling (Ciliata mustela) at low water then it went quiet for a while until after going for a walk to the lifeboat pier to look for Mussels I reeled in another monster Rockling from the deep. Not quiet as big as the fish Sven got but still quiet large for this species.

The rigs we were using were standard 2 hook rigs armed with size 1 fine wire hooks as we were expecting Flounder and, although the flatties never showed up and the hooks were a little large for the Rockling, on the final cast of the match Shacky managed to land yet another – the same length as Sven’s hence tieing the match with me coming in third.

So overall the fishing wasn’t to great, in fact it was grim, but the weather was lovely, the company and banter entertaining as always and the views across Morecambe Bay of the Lake District Mountains fantastic. (Sorry about the image quality – for some reason I had the camera set to 800 ASA, I must have nudged the button in the shock of seeing a fish)

The third match is here again in a couple of weeks – hopefully someone will tell the fish…

All rods in but will the Flounder show up?

After some truly atrocious weather over the winter that convinced me that winter fishing is for those of a more hardy nature than myself it seems that spring has arrived in full force so I joined the guys from Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) for the first sea fishing match of the new season at the sea front next to Fairhaven Lake, Lytham, Lancashire.

Although the bait for choice for Flounder at this time of year is Peeler Crab I couldn’t get hold of any so armed with a score of Black Lugworm and some Squid I met up with the lads at 9 o’clock to be greeted with glorious warm sunshine tempered with a cold westerly breeze.

The tide races in at this venue where the River Ribble estuary is mostly flat and we knew we’d only have 2.5 hours of fishing time before the water vanished and so, as a variety of baits went seaward as the tide hit the wall we waited for that tell tail rattle indicating a fish. We waited, then waited a bit more, until i got bored of waiting, re-baiting and casting so went for a walk down the match length to chat to a few of the guys I hadn’t seen in a while.

Dave with a plump Flounder

Then finally, a shout went up from JP, a double header of plump Flounder, caught on Mussel of all things. Then a few more shouts, Dave with one caught on Crab, Millsy with another on Black Lug and Sparky one on Mackeral. But still, no fish for me and my baits coming back unmolested.

It was one of those matches where it didn’t seem to matter what bait went out – if the fish found it on their way up (or down) the river, they would eat it. Unfortunately for a few of us the fish swimming past our baits were blind with no sense of smell.

Distance didn’t seem to matter either, JP caught close in, Dave caught at distance and all the fish were caught using standard 2 hook rigs, with or without beads or other attractors.

Although I didn’t catch, it’s always good to meet up with the guys from BLAS, who although they are some of the best anglers I know and could easily fish and get in the points of some major matches, always have a laugh. If you’re looking for a sea angling club in Lancashire I can thoroughly recommend getting in touch with them by click here on the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society website.

Next sea fishing match is Fleetwood Channel – didn’t do that well last year but it was still fun so I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.

Good Sized Whiting for me from Cleveleys

With the high pressure dominating the weather and the rain finally giving way we manged to get out on Sunday night for a spot of sea fishing with a few of the guys from Blackpool and Leyton Angling Society (BLAS). Along with all sorts of seasonal running about I’d picked up some Black Lug from Wayne’s Tackle in Preston which although a bit lazy saved me having to pump any in the freezing cold at Formby so money well spent.

We arrived with about 3/4 hour to spare until the start of the BLAS match so had a good chance to catch up with friends we hadn’t seen for ages. After surveying the beach from the car park for any likely gulleys before the tide covered them up while wrapping up in almost every layer we had we made our way down to the waters edge.

With the sea almost flat we cast our Black Lug tipped with Mackeral baits into the darkness. It wasn’t long until the Whiting started to show, small at first but getting progressively larger throughout the evening. We swapped baits around a bit to see what else was there, using Squid to tip the worms or just on it’s own and managed to catch a few small codling (all undersized) as well as a just in-size Dab for Wendy.

Small Codling for Wendy

Moving up the beach as the tide continued to flood the fish just kept coming and one one occasion I felt my bait get ‘hit’ twice while winding back in to re-bait only to find a couple of Whiting had jumped on the bottom and top hook of a Pennel bait that was hopefully going to catch me a Cod.

It was one of those nights where no matter what bait you put out you were going to get a Whiting or two, regardless of what end tackle was used, the trick was going to be if you could manage to catch an in-size fish before the small army of little ones found the bait.

For once I was the lucky one and managed to come second in the match, admittedly out of only eight people but still, after not being out for a while it was good to catch anything and getting a few ‘points’ was a bit of an added bonus. Wendy, although catching the same number of fish as me, only managed one in size, the Dab, but still, 9 fish each more than made up for our freezing extremities.

The major revelation of the evening wasn’t anything to do with sea fishing though, as we’d be fishing from 6pm till 10pm we’d bought some food flasks and loaded them up with soup. Why we hadn’t done this before is a mystery as we usually take sandwiches but with it being a little chilly we thought something warm would be better. It was probably the best idea of the weekend.

Hot soup, a roll to dunk in it and a few fish being caught – who cares what the weather’s like…

Plas Cymryan - Is this the most perfect place to live?

We spend the last weekend of September on Anglesey searching for Small Eyed Rays and any other denizens of the deep we could find.

Unfortunately no one told the fish that our reason for being on the island was to catch a few of them and the two times we ventured out we didn’t even have a bite – let alone manage to land anything of substance. As it was we weren’t that bothered, we just needed a little break before the mayhem that is the run up to Christmas and if you can’t relax on Anglesey there is something wrong with you.

Perfect bait placement - now where are the fish?

As well as trying at Cymryan we had a go for Bass in the inland sea, which is the large body of water separating Holy Island from Anglesey proper but the only fish we saw were a few small Bass or Mullet jumping wherever our baits weren’t.

So that’s it for Anglesey this year – we’ll be back chasing Bass in the spring but until then it’s eyes to the weather as we hope for a few winter storms to bring in the Cod up here in Lancashire.

Sea Fishing – rocks, estuaries, beaches, everywhere…

Fishing on the banks of the River Douglas

It had to be the first thing I mentioned.

England, in fact the entire UK and Ireland coast has some of the best sea angling in Europe, if not the world, and we’re lucky enough to live very near the coast so we try to get out and wet a line as often as possible.

We’re not always hugely successful in our quests but the scenery and wildlife more than make up for any short comings in our angling ability.

Our most notable catches have been from Anglesey, but the fishing up here in Lancashire and its neighbour Merseyside, on the right day, can be truly stupendous where anything from Bass to Thornback Rays or Cod to Smoothhounds can show up to the skillful or lucky angler.

As we’re approaching winter all angling eyes will be firmly fixed on the weather reports hoping for some good westerlies to churn the sea bed up and a good drop in temperate. This should bring in the larger Whiting and following close on their fishy heals will hopefully be some large Cod. I’ve yet to catch one of the monster Cod that we know are caught around the Fleetwood and Liverpool area, 2.5 lbs is my biggest, but I’m an angler, and as long as there’s a line in  the water, there’s always a chance.

Hiking, Fel Walking, Rambling – whatever you want to call it.

Looking out to the Three Peaks

With the Lake District and the Three Peaks only an hour away, The Lancashire Fels even closer and North Wales only about 2.5 hours away it seems almost inevitable that loving the outdoors, we’d make the most of the hills and mountains surrounding us.

We’ve ambled for miles and miles around the surrounding countryside, in all weathers and at all times of the year but by far the best and most satisfying was when we went up Fairsnape in the middle of winter. As we climbed higher  we ended up walking through pristine snow covered hillsides until we reached the top to find a landscape that was so perfect it could have been a painting.

Bird Watching – another excuse to be outside.

Avocet in profile

England is truly blessed by the bird gods as all twitchers (as more dedicated than I am birdwatchers are called) will tell you.

Due to our sometimes less than predictable weather some very rare birds can be found almost anywhere in the UK.

Up here in Lancashire we have some of the best wetlands and salt marches anywhere in the world for migrant species such as Pink Footed Geese and when winter falls, the Ribble estuary is home to literally thousands of these birds as they escape the cold of more northern countries.

The RSPB have a couple of very notable reserves in the area. Leighton Moss at the top end of Morecambe Bay has a very respectable breeding population of Bitterns as well as a number of Marsh Harriers. Marshside near Southport, Merseyside is a terrific area to watch the huge flocks of geese during the winter as they move inland onto the salt marshes to escape the incoming tide.

As well as these two fantastic reserves we have WWT Martin Mere almost on our doorstep which has been host to BBC Autumn Watch in previous years.

So with so many brilliant opportunities is it any wonder we go bird watching. It’s another good excuse to get outside and most of the time we can combine it with sea fishing, walking (some of our fishing is a long way from the car) or both.

So… what are your three favourite things to do in England?

Are you like us and anything outside is good or do you enjoy going to see live bands, see new cities or go out to the pub. Whatever it is I’m sure you’ll agree, England, the rest of the UK and Ireland has it all.