Sea Fishing and Walking in the UK

100 Miles per Fish, South Devon

Stu — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:34:00 +0000

We had been looking forward to going sea fishing in South Devon since we booked the cottage this time last year. Alas - things we not to go as we'd hoped.

We managed to find the local tackle shop which I'd found on the internet and initially they seemed very helpful, with all sorts of information on where to fish but in our eagerness to catch we were blinded by our own enthusiasm.

The first place we tried was Beesands, a very steep slopping beach, we didn't know what state of tide to fish it or really what bait to use so we took everything... and caught 2 spider crabs in 4 hours!

We tried all sorts of places but most of the rock marks we were pointed towards needed climbing gear or a helicopter to reach the water.

One of the nicest places we fished was Prawl point but after being told the water was deep we were a gain disappointed to find casting out only landed your bait in very shallow water. Wendy did manage to catch a couple of small Wrasse but again, I had nothing.

Another problem we encountered was the lack of bait in the area. The quality of the frozen bait was not up to the standard we are used to and with the weather being so bad there were no Sandeels available.

It became apparent after fishing at another very beautiful area in the Kinsbridge Estuary called Mill Bay but not getting any fish that the information we were getting was also not of the standard we were used to in Anglesey - we were not getting any details on tides to fish, conditions or tactics and we were getting a bit frustrated by this point.

Eventually after nearly two weeks of no fish and watching a few people trying for Mackeral off the beach at Torcross, where we had a very good sea food diner, I resorted to trying for Mackeral. Finally I caught some fish!!!

You could actually see the Mackeral about 10 feet from the edge of the sea so it wasn't skillful fishing by any means but I was desperate to catch.

We tried a few other areas but eventually just decided to enjoy the rest of our break without doing any more fishing.

So what went wrong?

I think we are so used to getting valuable local advice from the tackle shops in Anglesey, North Wales and the North of England that we assumed we'd get the same standard of information from the ones in Devon. We were wrong and a valuable lesson was learned.

So - what now! Well next year we're hoping to go to South West Ireland but we're staying at a place that specifically caters for the needs of the sea angler, with local guides, a boat, bait and tackle and as much information as you could ever need - I hope.

Tags: mackerel, prawl point, south devon, wrasse

14 Damp Days in Devon

Stu — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:39:00 +0000

Who'd take a holiday in Britain in this weather? We would that's who. We've just returned from a very relaxing, if not a little damp, 2 weeks in South Devon where we stayed at a working farm near a small village called Loddiswell.

Our intention was to do some sea fishing and walking around the area but to say the weather was against us would be to understate the amount of rain drastically. I'll go into the fishing in a later entry but thought I'd give my impressions of the area and show a few photographs fist.

South Devon, around the Kingsbridge Estuary area is a beautiful area and at the time we went was very quiet due to the schools not being closed for summer until just recently. But, it is almost impossible to enjoy the countryside in the same manner that I am used to in North Wales or the North West of the UK due to the massive hedgerows on either side of the many single track roads. When I say massive I mean at least 10 feet tall and with only a few passing places on the roads meeting another vehicle coming the other way was a bit daunting.

Another problem from the fishing point of very was access to the sea from the cliffs. I think the locals must be part mountain goat!

One of the better days out we had was a simple drive to Start Point, sandwiches and drinks packed we parked the car up and walked down to the lighthouse - looking back we could see the whole of Start Bay which in the blazing sun (yes, we did have a couple of days of it) was fantastic.

You can't really see it in the photograph but about halfway along the bottom of the cliff is the remains of the village of Hallsands which 'fell' into the sea during January 1917 after a heavy storm, due to the removal of gravel off shore which used to protect it from the worst of the weather. Hopefully people will learn from this mistake and not take our natural resources for granted although I doubt it.

While we were looking for a way down the cliffs in our never ending quest to find places to fish Wendy spotted this little chap sun bathing in a gap in the bracken. The last time I saw an Adder (Vipera berus) was at Abersoch in North Wales about 14 years ago so to see one and to be able to get a photograph was brilliant.

As for fell walking and bird watching - the weather just put us off and I'm sorry to say our impression of South Devon was probably tarnished by this as well as the other things I've mentioned. And I haven't even talked about the cost of the car parks!

So would I go back?

No - I don't think so. I think we've been spoilt by the fantastic countryside of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, North Wales and Anglesey and we were expecting something similar with good access to all places which South Devon just didn't provide. Don't get me wrong - it's a beautiful place but just not suited to our style of holiday - especially as it's about a 5 hour drive!

Tags: adder, kingsbridge, loddiswell, prawl point, south devon, start point

The Gardeners Friend

Stu — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:59:00 +0000

A lot of the time we have to go out of our way to see some of the amazing things mother nature has to show us in the country, but sometimes nature comes to see us.

We sere sitting outside enjoying a brief spell of sun before darkness fell and more rain came down when we heard a shuffling at the bottom of the garden, thinking nothing of it and assuming it was one of the many cats from the surrounding homes we carried on chatting until I looked up and spotted this little fellow looking back at me.

I managed to get very close and as you can see, the Hedgehog was in no way camera shy.

We left him to his evening stroll hoping that he would eat as many slugs as he could find, they eat up to 15 a night so that should save a few of the leaves on the plants.

We haven't been sea fishing or walking recently as the weather has been atrocious for June but we're hoping to get out and about once the rain stops but looking at the weather forcast for the coming weeks it looks like we'll have to keep our wellies handy for a while yet.

Tags: garden, lancashire, hedgehog

Angling on Anglesey, May Bank Holiday

Stu — Sat, 12 May 2007 09:43:00 +0000

We set off last Friday (just over a week ago) for our first trip to Anglesey this year, looking forward to a bit of fishing and a long weekend away. Our first stop was at a new tackle shop in Menai Bridge owned and run by Gareth, the founder of the fishing4u.co.uk sea fishing forum, where we picked up some bait and as usual bought some bits and pieces.

We spent our first evening targeting Bass out of the Menai Straits but all we could catch was weed as the wind was blowing strongly down the Straits, even if we'd had a bite I doubt we'd have seen it! A shame really as last year this venue produced my best ever Bass.

The following day (Saturday) the wind was very strong which made it impossible to fish anywhere on the West of the island, which is what we had planned so after a quick trip to see Gareth again for some advice we ended up on the East side on a beautiful headland called Caim Head.

The place was magnificent and very sheltered from the wind so we proceeded to empty the area immediately in front of us of Dogfish. No matter what bait we put out the call went up - Dogfish! We had a fantastic time and probable caught about 10 or so in total, some up to about 2lbs and we stayed until the light started to fail - another great venue on this beautiful island.

Sunday arrived and with it came the rain...

Rain doesn't really matter to sea fishing but the wind hadn't dropped at all so a very lazy day was had by us both, doing nothing except a bit of reading and watching the snooker final of all things.

Monday - time to go home. We stopped off at Penmon Lighthouse cafe for tea and a lovely slice of lemon sandwich cake and just sat, read and watched the birds and the boats go by. Not many fish this time but who cares - in such fantastic surroundings catching fish is almost a distraction.

Tags: anglesey, caim, dogfish, penmon

Spring is Here And Out Comes The Sun

Stu — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:05:00 +0000

What a huge difference to the world the sun makes. I've spent all my lunch hours for the past 2 weeks walking through Queenspark, Bolton and the difference in the flora and fauna is truly astonishing.

At the start of last week there were hardly any flowers except the Daffodils but this week the woods are full of Bluebells and Wild Garlic in every direction you look and whenever you stray off the path the smell of the Garlic instantly assails your nostrils.

I was listening to the radio on the way home last week and Wild Garlic is a very good salad ingredient and is good for you and although I haven't tried any myself there are a few recipes using it on the BBC Wiltshire Website.

Another thing that always amazes me at this time of the year is the insects. Where do they come from? I know, I know - they hibernate, then come out to lay eggs and then a second lot turn up that are migrants from the south but it's always a great sight - one day no butterflies - the next, they're everywhere.

I've seen the usual suspects such as Small Tortoiseshell and a few early whites but I've also seen the earliest Peacock butterfly I can remember as well as this lovely Comma (Polygonia c-album) sunning itself on a new leaf.

The birds are also busy with far too many species to list all busy building nests or feeding early chicks - this weather and the early proliferation of insects should give them all a very good start to the year.

I keep seeing the Kingfisher but I still can't find where it's nesting and to be honest I'd be a bit worried about disturbing it so I'll probably just enjoy watching it fly up and down the river.

No pictures of birds this time I'm afraid as they're either to fast, to far away or I'm just to slow with the camera.

And as for the sea fishing, we haven't been out since Christmas as we've been decorating and generally tidying up the house after winter but we're going on our first Bass hunt soon and we can't wait.

Blogtastic - Everybody's Doing it!

Stu — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:16:00 +0000

It seems to be that time of year when everyone is starting to blog for the first time or updating old websites, would you believe it's been a year since I started this one?

So here are a few blogs that have recently gone 'live' that are vaguely related to my life...

First up a new blog, Fresh New Creative, from Kathryn at work. Being a blog about all things 'cool' in her eyes - music, art or gadgets - it's all going to be in here. Knowing Kathryn I expect they'll be a few suprises in here!

Chris, another work mate, has a new blog about his exploration into the world of 3D modelling imaginatively called Untitled Side Project as well as some great new stories on his mountain biking blog rockyroaduk.com

Phil, the middle brother of the three of us has recently added a blog to his diving website and Charles, the youngest of us is still experimenting with his tropical fish tank with the newest blog entry about a canibalistic catfish attracting local media attention!

And for completeness we've finally got round to doing a blog for work, I'm not exactly sure what kind of things we're going to put on it yet but you can see the D-ROOM blog here. It will probably be an extension of our normal website but a bit more informal with articles not neccessarily about work.

Tags: blogging, creative design, diving, fishtank, mountain biking

The Weather is Psychic...

Stu — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:59:00 +0000

I haven't updated this blog recently as every time we plan to go out fell walking during the weekend the rain gods laugh at us and our outing has to be cancelled.

All except this weekend, the sun was out and the rain stayed somewhere else but... we had to go and pick some tiles as we're having the bathroom re-tiled next week. So not much going on recently except house maintenance and avoiding the rain.

The annoying thing is during the week, when I'm at work, the weather has been perfect for sea fishing - oh well - roll on Spring and Summer.

The Mighty River Ribble

Stu — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:19:00 +0000

Just a quick plug for a couple of blogs regarding one of our local rivers, the Ribble. Internationally important for it's diverse ecosystem it meanders 75 miles from West Yorkshire through Lancashire into the Irish Sea.

The Ribble Cycle Diaries
A blog dedicated to the River Ribble, one of Britain's last great wilderness areas, full of wild beauty, with many moods and seasons as it meanders through its Green Belt and Floodplains.

Save The Ribble
Dedicated to preserving the beauty of the River Ribble, and opposing the Riverworks 'vision' to build a barrage and develop green spaces, causing damage to wildlife and the environment and increasing the risk of flooding to our homes.

Tags: environment, lancashire, river ribble, wildlife

Winter in Bolton - what Winter?

Stu — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:16:00 +0000

After a couple of dismal weeks worth of bad luck regarding the weather, where it would be nice a frosty during the week and raining at the weekend we're not going to get out this weekend either as Wendy is 'on call' and has to stay within an hours traveling time of the local hospital.

So plans of fell walking are out but I do intend to get out somewhere before I go mad...

Walking through the park on Wednesday I was amazed to see a few flowers already coming out including the first hint of purple from the crocus' and a few wild primrose (primula vulgaris) and today during my lunchtime stroll the birds were in full song as if celebrating the arrival of Spring, a little early but I knew just how they felt.

It's amazing the difference a little bit of sunshine can make you feel.

I took this photo on Wednesday as well just to show the level of water that's now coming down the River Croal. It's like a completely different river compared to a couple of weeks ago. I was going to take some photos of the trees that have come down but the council had been busy and already chopped them into log-sized pieces.

So what to do over the weekend? I might go for a long walk along the River Douglas, do a bit of bird-watching or even go sea fishing although with Wendy not able to go far it will have to be something near to home.

Sorry about the lack of postings recently but I'm back on track now so expect a few more regular updates and thanks for reading.

Tags: bolton, lancashire, queens park, river croal

The Storms Come and the Rivers Flood.

Stu — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:40:00 +0000

The weather has been a bit breezy lately with strong gales and heavy rain battering the coastline up and down the country, not suitable for sea fishing or walking.

After seeing the state of the River Yarrow which I cross every day on my way into Bolton I had a walk around Queens Park to survey the damage done to the trees. They were in remarkable condition with just a few loose branches blown off but the River Croal was the highest I've seen it for a long time. Compare it to the photographs in this entry 'A Lunchtime Stroll' which I did in September last year.

Everything seems to be holding up well in the face of this weather which, listening to the news, you'd think was a suprise. It sometimes seems people forget what winters are supposed to be like.

I can't imagine what they'll say when these Northerly winds bring us all a bit of snow! I just wish it would get a bit colder and stop raining then we can get up onto the fells without wading through bogs that should have frozen months ago. Although saying that I am looking forward to spring and some sun.

Weather - what can you do?

But then if it wasn't for the rain we wouldn't have this magnificent 'Green and Pleasant Land' called Britain we live in...

Tags: lancashire, queens park, river croal

A View From the Other Side

Stu — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:03:00 +0000

In the interest of fairness, and because the pictures are so damn good, here is a link to my other brother's website which showcases some of the stunning photographs taken during his many dive trips, both here in the UK and abroad.

Phil's Personal Website - Great underwater imagery.

I Know how hard it is to take a good photo on land so how he managed these and remembered to breath is beyond me. Amazing to see the ocean from under the waves for a change but me, I'd rather watch it from above, chilled out in the sun with fishing rod in hand.

Tags: diving, photography

Welcome To The Year 2007

Stu — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:14:00 +0000

The new years is here and over on the west coast of the UK it arrived in some style, with winds gusting up to 70 mph. Where does the time go? We had every intention of going on a few fell walking trips as well as doing a lot more sea fishing over the Christmas break but before we knew it, it was time to go back to work.

It doesn't look like we're going to have any snow this winter either - we've not even had frost in lowland Lancashire so just to remind everyone what snow is the above picture was taken in March last year when we went walking over Fairsnape and Parlick.

Our promise to ourselves this year is to do more sea fishing, fell walking and birding and - if possible - to be out in the countryside even more than last year. A tall order but we're willing to give it our best shot!

As well as the usual we'll be going on another bank holiday Bass quest to Anglesey at the beginning of May and for a change we're going to Devon for our summer break, we're already looking forward to that and it's still half a year away! I've even bought an OS map of the area.

So here's wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year, Stuart.

Tags: anglesey, fairsnape, river alt, sea fishing, walking

Tropical Fish For a Change

Stu — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:55:00 +0000

Just a quick plug for my youngest brother's blog - finally he's got round to doing one after all the nagging!

One of his main hobbies is tropical fish keeping and this blog is a way of keeping track of all the coming and goings in his fishy world.

numpty's fishtank blog

Keep checking it - there's a huge fish tank on the way.

Tags: fishtank, tropical

Relaxing Sea Fishing at Rossall, Lancashire

Stu — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:31:00 +0000

Last night we had a quick trip up to Rossall near Fleetwood, Lancashire to see if we could snare a few fish before Christmas and to get away from the mayhem that seems to arrive at this time every year.

The weather was by no means ideal and when we got there the sea was flat calm with a mist rolling in. It's always a bit strange being on a beach during the night but with hardly a ripple on the sea and visibility down to 100 meters it was a little odd, but damn it was good to be out sea fishing after so long.

Hi-tide was about 1 o'clock so we fished from about 10.30pm through to 2.00am.

Bites were a little slow in coming to me during the run up to high water but Wendy was getting plenty of interest in her lug worm baits but just couldn't connect with any fish. Then as high water arrived she started landing a few Whiting then proceeded to show me how it's done by catching 2 at once.

It was another of those sessions where I was out fished by Wendy, 6 fish to 3 although I did manage a Flounder as well as 2 of the smallest Whiting I've ever caught. I'm beginning to get used to it but it didn't matter and all too soon 2 o'clock came and it was time to pack up.

Another great session sea angling on the Lancashire coast and just what we needed, a bit of peace and quite, the sound of the sea gently lapping against the promenade and a few fish - fantastic!

Tags: beach fishing, fleetwood, flounder, rossall point, sea fishing, whiting

Winter Storms and Christmas Cheer

Stu — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:45:00 +0000

Isn't Christmas great?

There was no fell walking, sea fishing or birding last weekend, as it was Christmas tree buying weekend! As usual we ended up chopping over a foot off the top of it to get it in to the house - it happens every year but we just can't help it. It is now in position and decorated with lights and baubles. It looks great and smells wonderful.

On Sunday we went up to my parents to get some Holly for the table decorations where we had a good chat, a wonderful diner and a drink or two which was very relaxing.

But what about the weather? The wind along the Lancashire coastline these past couple of weeks has been unbelievable and, looking at the forecasts for the coming weeks, is set for some time.

During the Christmas break we're hoping to go sea fishing up towards Fleetwood as well as do a bit of fell walking so hopefully the weather isn't going to be quite as bad as predicted.

If nothing else the storms are good for birding as all sorts gets blown of track and ends up a little closer to land than is usual so we'll probably have a couple of trips out to the coast without fishing rods.

Now that will make a change!

Tags: beach fishing, birding, fleetwood, hiking, lancashire, sea fishing, walking

Wild, Windy and Wet - No Sea Fishing This Weekend!

Stu — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:50:00 +0000

Well I can definitely say that the winter storms have arrived here in Lancashire this week. The weather has been awful and it looks like it's going to continue into the weekend. Damn!

We were hoping to go out on a boat trip (fishing a match with the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society guys again) onto the River Mersey but neither myself or Wendy are fantastic on boats in dodgy weather so we've cancelled - I hope they have a good time on Sunday - if the boat goes out!

The garden is now devoid of leaves and underwater so there's nothing to do there, so what to do over the weekend?

Christmas shopping has been done but I'm sure we're missing something...

The Christmas Tree!!! Yes, this is the weekend that we get our tree, a real one of course and kick-start Christmas off with putting up the decorations, and maybe a glass of wine or two...

Tags: boat fishing, lancashire, river mersey, sea fishing

A Rarity on our First Birding Quest

Stu — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 22:30:00 +0000

After purchasing the scope on Friday we were eager to try it out on something a little more challenging. There had been sightings during the previous month of a very rare bird to the UK so flasks were packed and like proper birders off we went in search of our quarry.

The destination was Fluke Hall, Pilling on the Southern side of Morecambe Bay. The weather was, once again, very windy and just to make it worse, showers were frequent and cold. I thought I'd spotted our target on the drive to the car park but wasn't sure until a very kind man confirmed our suspicions.

We came out of the woods a little apprehensively, would it still be there? YES! You could see it with the naked eye, closer with the binoculars and through the scope it was amazing. A Glossy ibis! So rare a visitor to the UK there have only been 87 sightings between 1958 and 2004. It's not even on the RSPB web site. Just as I pulled the camera from my pocket it flew behind the trees but just to see it was fantastic - a truly exotic bird in Lancashire - amazing!

It's likely that well be doing a lot more birding now that we have the scope so below are a few links that will keep the avid bird watcher up to date.

birdguides.com A free map with sightings or register for more in-depth details.
birdformum.net A massive resource for all things birding, from sightings to equipment reviews - to get started try looking in the section for North West England.

And last a link to rockyroaduk.com - views and stories from the saddle of a mountain bike, mainly around Lancashire. Some great photos and stories from Chris.

And the photograph above? Well, we had to go and have a quick look at the Little egrets at Marshside. I couldn't get a photograph, it was a bit dark but the moon was just visible as these Lapwing flew past.

After all - we've a scope now and it seems we've become birders...

Tags: birding, fluke hall, glossy ibis, lancashire, lapwing, marshside, pilling

A Couple of Birders Reborn - Martin Mere Revisited

Stu — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:36:00 +0000

I took a few days off work at the end of last week to do a bit of sea fishing but the weather once again had different ideas. A little wind we want but 45 mph gust onto the shore is a bit much by anyones standards. Fell walking was out of the question so where to go?

As Martin Mere is only a few miles from our front door we decided to pay another visit to this fantastic bird reserve owned by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

I've mentioned in previous posts that sometimes the birds are just too far away to see or photograph. Well on Friday we finally did it - we purchased a fieldscope (small telescope) from the very helpful Andy at the In Focus shop, it really does make a huge difference being able to set up many 'scopes' onto the same subject at the same time so that you can compare them. We ended up with an Opticron GS665 with a 20 - 40x magnification eyepiece, a tripod and a clamp for using it within a hide. After using it until the light failed we are both very pleased so far with our purchase.

The photo of the Great spotted woodpecker was taken as an experiment - I focussed the scope onto the bird then took a photo through the eyepiece of the scope using our digital camera. Not brilliant but not bad for a quick trial. After searching round the internet I've found this is called 'digiscoping' and there are brackets made for holding the camera in place so I might give that a go eventually.

Tags: birding, digiscope, great spotted woodpecker, lancashire, martin mere, wildlife

Magnificent Marshside - Birdwatch

Stu — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 19:45:00 +0000

The weather forecast yesterday was horrific with almost 40mph winds and heavy rain so we cancelled our sea fishing trip and hence didn't get any bait. Imagine my frustration on waking this morning to a light breeze and glorious sunshine - oh well, British weather, what can you do?

Not wanting to waste the fine weather I went walking around the Marshside RSPB reserve, near Southport, Merseyside. The drive took about 15 minutes and as I approached the car park down the coastal road I spotted a few bright white shapes on the seaward marsh. I quickly parked the car and raced back to the spot and got out the binoculars in time to see 4 Little Egrets, a first for me! To far a way for a good photo - I took a few but the birds were far to small in the images to make out.

I slowly walked back down the coastal road, enjoying the huge flocks of Lapwing and Starlings until I got to the nearest hide. By now the wind was getting stronger (thank goodness I wasn't fishing after all) so it was good to be in some shelter for a while.

Marshside is an amazing place if you stop for a while and look carefully at what you perceive to be empty fields. Most people will see the flocks of Lapwing flying overhead and the Pink-footed geese arriving in huge numbers to feed but look carefully and you will see thousands of small ducks; Widgeon, Teal, Pintail and Shoveler to name a few.

I spent a good hour just watching, being somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of winter visitors to our coastline.

At the second hide, which is about 500m further down the coastal path, the land is more open shallow water with the odd island. This is a favourite roosting patch for the many wading birds that visit our shore line as it provides a good safe refuge when the tide is too high for them to feed.

Again the area was covered in small ducks with many of the larger Shelduck present but as the tide reached it maximum height for the day huge flocks of Black-tailed godwits arrived. These will stay here until April when they travel to continental Europe to breed.

There are, however, a few breeding pairs that stay in the UK, three pairs on the Fylde Coast on the River Ribble estuary at Newton Marsh. These are the most northerly breeding birds in the UK out of a total of about 50 so are nationally very important to the species.

I made my way back to the car after a very enjoyable couple of hours doing nothing but watching birds - great!

I'll leave you with a couple more shots just to tempt you into a visit.

Black-tailed godwits arriving as the tide pushes them off the beach.

A mixed flock of Lapwing and Starlings.

Tags: birding, black tailed godwit, lapwing, little egret, marshside, merseyside, pink footed goose, pintail, river ribble, RSPB, shelduck, shoveler, southport, teal, widgeon, wildlife

First Cod of the Season, Fleetwood, Lancashire

Stu — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:43:00 +0000

After checking out the weather we decided on joining some of the guys from Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) on Blackpool North Wall to fish in a competition. On arriving (after driving through some sleet!) the choice was made to move the match to a more sheltered venue at Fleetwood, known as the Cadet Base, where the Sea Cadets have a building as the wind and hence the surf was too fierce.

The match was started at 8pm and scheduled to finish at 11.30pm. Wendy and I had been looking forward to the first Cod sea fishing session of the season and on my third cast I managed to snare a plump little codling of 1lb 12oz (42cm long), using a big lugworm as bait.

The weather stayed fine for most of the evening except for a very heavy hailstorm halfway through the session. I was the only one to catch a Codling but a few large Whiting came out as well as a small Rockling.

The top rod of the evening was Dave who was managing to pull in Whiting 2 at a time towards to end of the match using big chunks of Mackeral as bait.

The top bait for us was Blow Lug as we were primarily after Cod but we experimented with using Mussels as well which seemed to catch Wendy a few fish. It's difficult to know if this was due to the Mussels or not so we'll keep trying until we figure it out. The top bait for the night and the match was fresh Mackeral.

To catch the first Codling of the season during the first Codling session was great and it's currently being prepared and cooked for tea - fantastic!

Tags: beach fishing, cod, fleetwood, lancashire, lugworm, mackerel, mussel, sea fishing, whiting

A Plan for Cod, Fleetwood or Blackpool?

Stu — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 07:59:00 +0000

Well finally we're getting a bit of cooler weather and this coming weekend the signs are good for our first proper Cod hunt up at either Fleetwood or Blackpool, Lancashire.

Three different weather websites are giving almost the same forecast of strong westerly winds dropping slightly on Saturday night with no rain. The tides are going to be high and the peak of high water is at about 9.30pm. Westerly winds, lo-pressure and a night time high tide - a Cod hunters dream on the North West coast.

We'll make the final choice tomorrow after checking the weather so hopefully on Sunday I'll post a few pictures of some Cod!

Tags: beach fishing, blackpool, cod, fleetwood, lancashire, sea fishing

Winter Approaches and a Few Cod Arrive

Stu — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 21:56:00 +0000

With it being the Guy Fawkes celebrations during last weekend we didn't get out sea fishing or fell walking as we spent a very enjoyable time at my parents.

I did manage to go out on Sunday with my father, his two labradors, my youngest brother and his girlfriend. We went for a gentle stroll around Beacon Fell which as always was wonderful while Wendy and mother prepared a feast for our return. A very relaxing weekend.

There have been some signs in both Lancashire and Merseyside that the cold weather is finally bringing the Cod and the larger Whiting down from their Northern summer feeding grounds with Cod up to about 3 pounds being caught around Fleetwood and a few almost the same size coming out of the River Mersey in last weekends sea fishing matches.

Hopefully next time we're out I'll be writing about Cod and chips!

Tags: cod, fleetwood, lancashire, merseyside, river mersey, whiting

A Riot of Swans at Martin Mere, Lancashire

Stu — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:21:00 +0000

The tides were not suitable for sea fishing at any of our favorite marks last weekend so after a lazy Saturday we woke on Sunday to glorious sunshine. After having a quick look at the days weather forecast we decided to brave the crowds and go and give the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust reserve of Martin Mere a visit.

This is where last months BBC programme, Autumn Watch was broadcast from and as it's only a short journey from our front door after packing a flask, some snacks, binoculars, new camera and a good bird book we set off and arrived at about 11am.

Even though it is only a few miles away we've only been here a couple of times and pulling into the car park we remembered why, it was packed! We quickly entered and made our way as far from the crowds as possible.

Martin Mere consists of 2 main areas; the ornamental wildfowl section which is all fenced off and contains many different birds from around the world and the 'meres' which is where the main action is.

Every year tens of thousands of wildfowl use this area as their wintering grounds and the reserve is well know for the huge numbers of Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans that can be seen from the hides.

Even though we are still in Autumn the numbers of wildfowl is still impressive and as the colder months approach these number will steadily increase.

On our walk from hide to hide we managed to see all the usual suspects that are listed on the Martin Mere website but the most spectacular thing about this reserve is the sheer quantity of birds.

They were everywhere. From the smallest wading birds such as Ruff, tiny Teal and Widgeon, massive flocks of Lapwing through to the hundred plus Whooper Swans and the thousands of Pink-footed geese. It's impossible not to be moved by such sights.

We managed to coincide one of our hide visits to a feeding session where grain is put out for visiting Whooper Swans.

It was hard to believe that these were completely wild birds that only a few days ago were in Iceland. As the girl approached with a barrow full of grain they were almost climbing in to get at the food and it wasn't long until it was almost impossible to see the ground beneath the feet of so many different birds.

We saw that quite a lot of cygnets had arrived since Autumn Watch and it was amazing to watch what can only be described as a riot break out amongst the birds as they squabbled to get a good feed.

We made our last circuit of the hides and thanks to some very helpful people who let us use their telescopes we saw a Merlin perched on a fence, a Buzzard on a gate post and then right at the end we saw a Marsh Harrier effortlessly patrolling the area.

To see three species of birds-of-prey only fifteen minutes from our doorstep made the entire trip worthwhile. We'll certainly be going back but maybe when the crowds have died away and winter has set in.

Tags: birding, lancashire, marsh harrier, martin mere, pink footed goose, whooper swan, wildlife, WWT

Autumn Beach Recce - Rossall, Lancashire

Stu — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 22:30:00 +0000

After the rather unproductive sea fishing session at Crosby on Saturday night we decided to be a bit more pro-active in our search for winter fishing locations and journeyed up to the Rossall Beach area of our coastline, near Fleetwood, Lancashire.

This area fishes very well in the middle of winter when the tides are high and the wind blowing off the sea. In previous years we've had many Whiting and the odd Codling (Cod of less than 5lbs) from many areas along this stretch of the coastline, caught mainly on local Black Lugworm.

The beach is bisected with many groynes which help keep the sand in place but pose a few problems for anglers. When the tide is high these structures are almost invisible and you can easily get your lines tangled round them.

More importantly, the sand build up creates a bank which constantly shifts depending on the tides and weather and to be in with a chance of a good fish you need to know where the gaps are in these sand banks and where any deeper gullies can be found.

Thankfully there are a lot of sea fishing matches in this area and the local clubs have 'pegs' or areas marked in bright yellow so that the match anglers know where to fish from as these areas are drawn randomly for each angler before the start of the match.

This can help the pleasure angler as well as once you find a good area all you need do is find the nearest number to help you remember where you caught that prize Cod.

We took a lot of photos of likely looking places, as well as the nearest numbers so that we could identify where the images were taken and build up a map of areas to try.

We walked up to Rossall Point where there is a patch of rough ground covered in small mussels and tube-worms. On closer inspection it was clear that there were many types of wading birds present feeding in this area as it was uncovered by the receding tide.

This was a sure sign of food items being present and on a medium to high tides we think this area will fish very well using black lugworm with mussel whipped onto the hook although in the rough winter weather the area looks a bit exposed.

We will be doing a lot of fishing around Rossall over the colder months so with this bit of information we should be in with a better chance of catching a Cod to go with our chips.

Tags: beach fishing, black lug, cod, fleetwood, lancashire, mussel, rossall point, sea fishing, whiting

Cod Expedition - Saturday Night, Crosby, Merseyside.

Stu — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:49:00 +0000

We'd planned to go up to Rossall, Fleetwood sea fishing last weekend but the wind direction and strength played havoc with our plans so I arranged to meet a few friends at the venue known as Hall Road which is basically the sea front at Crosby, Liverpool.

This venue can throw up some good fish but needs an onshore wind so with the wind blowing up to 20 miles per hour left to right (Southerly) our chances weren't good but we managed to find a space and launched our lugworm baited rigs into the night. We soon found that the Cod were not in and all either myself or Wendy could manage were a few tiny Whiting of about 6" long. We heard that a larger fish had been 'lost' while bringing it over the promenade railings but no-one we know saw it.

So not a very good start to the winters Cod fishing but we're still waiting for a major drop in temperature. That should bring the Cod and the larger Whiting in. Good to be out though and like they say, "If you haven't got a line in the water, you'll never catch a fish".

Tags: cod, crosby, hall road, merseyside, sea fishing, whiting