Easy Sea Fishing at Penrhos Country Park

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Penrhos beach - North of the coastal park

The wind continued to blow and showers were forecast so we elected to try somewhere with a bit of shelter. We’d been for a walk around the coastal park at Penrhos and had seem someone fishing north of the car park, just where the clay cliffs start so we parked up, donned waders and waterproofs and got going.

Weed was a bit of a problem initially as the tide ebbed from right to left and the wind blew the same direction, but once the tide turned everything became a little calmer.

A small Bass for me

This was another one of those infuriating sea fishing sessions where you know there are fish there, made even more so by the fact we could see birds diving for bait fish and we even saw a few fishing jumping, but no matter how hard we tried or what method, we just couldn’t hook into anything.

And then, while sitting and having a coffee, I noticed a slight bump on my rod but thought nothing of it as the weed and wind had been doing that all day, until it happened again – a tiny little knock.

Could this be a fish?

I wound in even more weed to find my smallest Bass yet attached to the bottom hook of my rig, a whole ragworm dangling from it’s mouth.

This was to be my first and only Bass of the hoiday but we’d found a new venue and got a fish out of it in conditions that in all honesty were probably best suited to sitting in the pub and having a pint. It doesn’t look very windy on the photo but believe me, it was blasting along the beach and after a while we called it a day as not only was the weather worsening but the tide was pushing us away from the deeper water.

Finally, a Black Bream from Pwllheli

A Small but pretty Black Bream from South Beach, Pwllheli

After a few days of chilling out, walking and catching up on some reading in the sun we ventured of Anglesey, over the other side of the Llyn Peninsula to have a go, once again, at Pwllheli south Beach, target: Black Bream.

My first (small) Black Bream

After a long, long wait, and trying far out, close in, big baits and small baits I finally managed to capture this beautiful little fish on a size 4 hook using ragworm with a strip of squid as bait.

Looking at the size of this little fellow it was evident that size 4 hooks had been too big and we’d have been better scaling down to size 6 or even 8. We tried this but the tide was starting to ebb so we called it a day after a few hours. Only one fish but one I’ve been trying to catch for years.

So now that I’ve caught this years target species, all be it a very tiny specimen, it’s time to thing of a new challenge – probably Small Eyed Ray in September / October.

The only thing that put a dampener on the day was that even on such a huge beach with hardly any one on it, people still let their dogs crap and kids swim unatteneded right in front of us – maybe we’re famous or something but I doubt it – it’s more likely that people are just ignorant.

Catching a Few at Cemlyn, Anglesey

Sandwich Tern returning to chicks with a Sandeel, Cemlyn

We arrived on Anglesey with two weeks of doing anything except work in mind and thats exactly what we did. Sea fishing, walking, photography and bird watching, Anglesey has never disappointed us and these past two weeks have been no exception.

Sunday started with blue skies and after discovering that there was a supermarket just up the road from where we have stayed for years we made some sandwiches and went for a short walk at Cemlyn Bay to see if the Sandwich Terns were still there. As you can see from the above photo not only were they still there but they were still flying backwards and forwards feeding their young.

There were hundreds of them and even when we walked around the headland you could still hear them calling and see them diving into the sea in search of Sandeels.

Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey

The bay itself is fairly steep and covered in shingle rather than sand which keeps away all but the most hardcore sunbathers so we almost had the place to ourselves. As you can see – hardly a ripple in site and we decided to come back later and have a go at fly fishing in the sea for the first time, more on that later.

Six Spot Burnet Moths on Ragwort

All along the edge of the beach and cliffs the Ragwort was flowering and covered in both the moths and caterpillars of the Six Spot Burnett (Zygaena filipendulae), the caterpillars look identical to the Cinnabar Moth ones I’d spotted in Bolton during the previous week (yellow and black stripes) but where the moths have a red stripe and a dot the Six Spot Burnett has six spots on each wing. Sometimes the simple beauty of our countryside and wildlife amazes me and this first proper day on Anglesey was turning out to be one of the best yet.

A small whiting for me

Later that evening we came back to Cemlyn for a spot of sea fishing.

The fly fishing, although not a total disaster proved a bit troublesome in the evening breeze but we’d brought our light beach / bass gear with us and as the sun set cast a couple of juicy crab baits to the ‘gutter’ formed where the shingle meets the sand which in theory is where food is washed by the tide and hence the fish are to be found.

A lad fishing down the beach from us told us his father had had a few Bass there the previous evening but as per usual this was not ‘last night’ and the Bass didn’t show for us or him.

I managed to save a blank with a greedy little Whiting then a darkness settled we made our way back to Ty Cristion.

Micro Tope – Sea Fishing at Blackpool

Blackpool, North Wall - Looking a Bit Like Rain

After a weeks worth of truly dismal weather we joined the guys from BLAS (Blackpool and Layton Angling Society) for an evening sea fishing match, fishing a couple of hours either side of high water at Blackpool North Wall.

We met at the boat club on the prom where the weather looked like it was preparing to throw a few suprises our way, but the forcast was for the wind to drop so we set up and got on with it just as the incoming tide hit the bottom of the wall. The swell was fierce and although we had initially been hoping for Ray or Smoothhounds it was looking more and more like Bass were going to be coming out – conditions looked perfect, the bottom being churned up nicely and a nice big surf.

As it turned out no Bass were caught by us although we heard of a few coming out either side of our group – typical.

My First Shore Caught Tope

About an hour in I managed to snare a small flounder that had engulfed my crab bait and impaled itself on a size 2/0 hook intended for slightly biger quarry. I decided to try something different and as the swell seemed to drop slightly I cast a sandeel fairly close in to try for a dogfish – not something I’d usually target, but this was a match and a fish is a fish after all.

While preparing my next rig with a crab I noticed my line go slack and start to move downtide, assuming the lead had been broken out by weed or the surf I wound down only to find it continuing to move at a very odd angle.

A little thump told me something was on but I had no idea what it could be until I landed my first ever shore caught Tope. Not the biggest specimen by any stretch of the imagination but still a perfectly formed mini shark, forget the match – this was brilliant.

After chatting to a few of the guys who fish the wall regularly during summer (they live in Blackpool) apparently this is fairly common and you can usually catch them using baby squid as bait.

We didn’t have and squid but you can bet that Wendy launched a sandeel bait seaward in her effort to snare one of these little beauties.

Wendy's Second Whiting

That was it for me although Dave got another small Tope on crab, Millsy a Whiting, Sparky a Whiting and Wendy, after trying every trick in the book managed to land a couple of Whiting.

As per usual with these matches the weather played a huge part in our lack of success and no one managed to land an insize fish but the evening was great, with good company and, much to our relief stayed rain free even if the wind didn’t drop as we’d hoped.

That’s probably going to be our last sea fishing session until we go to Anglesey but we are going to try and get out and do some fly fishing next weekend as all the new goodies we’d ordered after our lessons at Mere Beck arrived last week.

We’ve sorted everything out (as you do) and have got a couple of 8 weight rods for salt water fly fishing and a couple of cheaper 6 weight ones for normal fly fishing – for those times when no matter how hard you try time, tide and weather are against you. I’ll chat more about the gear once we’ve tried it.

So next weekend the plan is to go back to Mere Beck for a bit of practice on a lake before we attempt fly fishing in the sea and maybe, just maybe, catch a trout.

Early Morning Smoothhound Hunt

The 'Rock Channel', low water a mile past the 'T' Groyne, Wallasey

Just how fantastic has the weather been this past week?

I’ve never walked our local River Douglas so much, nor seen so much wildlife – from Arctic Terns flying up the river searching for fish to Painted Lady butterflies ‘dancing’ in the evening sun, it’s just been magnificent.

I’d been looking forward to giving the ‘Rock Chanel’ a go for years and now that I’d finally got some decent chest waders from Scierra I set off at 7am Sunday morning, armed with peeler crab as bait, to meet up with a few of the guys from wirralseafishing.co.uk at on Kings Parade, Wallasey, in front of the ‘T’ Groyne. Our target was to be the early summer run of Smoothhounds, we knew they’d caught a few from the boats in the area we were to fish although obviously further out. It was going to be big fish or blank.

The trek to this mark needs to be experienced first hand, it’s not nick-named ‘The Long Walk’ for nothing. It starts off as you wait for the tide to ebb enough to get across a deep gully that will give you access to what will become a sand bar bar running about a mile and a half out towards the far horizon. We managed to get across with inches to spare from the top of our chest waders then slogged through knee to waist deep water or soft sand to the end of the sand bar for about 1/2 hour – it felt like years and I was absolutely knackered by the time we got there.

Just a quick safety note here: Chest waders are essential and you need to pack up fishing and leave an hour after low water – the tide floods quicker than it ebbs and where we were fishing you wouldn’t be able to see it coming in behind you.

Looking NW from The "Rock Channel'. Not a soul in sight - perfect...

We launched our crab laden 3/0 hooks into the rapidly appearing channel and waited…

And waited…

And waited some more. As the sun beat down on us I was thankful that I’d brought a few cans of pop to drink and that my waders were breathable – some of the guys had full rubber or neoprene waders – how the hell they managed in the 25°C heat I’ve no idea.

If the Smoothhounds had of been there we should have caught almost straight away according to Kev, who’s had them (with photographic evidence) and an hour after low water we packed up and headed back.

As we got nearer the ‘beach’ where the sun had attracted a horde of people it was good to see the life-guards getting people off the bank and warning them of the incoming tide, most of whom would have been swimming to get back to shore an hour later.

So, no hounds yet but they’ll be here soon, and when they are I’ll be doing the ‘long walk’ once again to get them.

Another Sea Angling Washout at Fleetwood

Talking Tactics - Fleetwood Channel

With South Easterly winds and the weather playing silly buggers I didn’t hold out much hope for today’s sea fishing match up at Fleetwood but still, it’s always worth a go – with sea fishing you’re never 100% certain what’s going to happen or what you’ll catch.

As I’d successfully given Wendy my cold I arrived on my own and met up with a few like minded fools that were daft enough to brave the weather. And boy did we have some weather, cold winds from the SE and then about an hour before the end of the match the heavens opened, it was incredible and I was just thankful I’d decided to take my waders else I’d have been soaked.

Compare the picture above with the ones taken a month ago – how can the weather be worse now than it was then – looks like we’re in for a typical British summer.

Unfortunately the fishing for me, Millsy and Dave  turned out to be just as bad as I’d predicted with no bites let alone any fish but to either side of us Shacky, Sparky and JP managed a few Flounder, Eels and the odd Rockling. Looking back at it now there doesn’t seem to be any reason for our failure to connect with fish,  lack of peeler crab for bait may have had a bit to do with it but then Dave blanked and he was using the same Peeler as Shacky who eventually won the match.

Fishing! It does your head in!

Undoubtedly the best part of the day was seeing a small Porpoise swimming up the River Wyre and then a couple of hours later swimming back out again. I’ve seen them in North Wales but never in Lancashire so that was definately worth getting up for.

Fantastic Weather at Fleetwood, Fishing the Channel

Fleetwood Channel - Looking East Towards Knott End

We woke this morning to a truly stunning day and as we made our way to Fleetwood to fish a Blackpool and Leyton Angling Society (BLAS) match the weather just seemed to get better and better. Shacky and JP were already there and not soon after Sparky and Millsy arrived so we made our way down to the edge of the channel. Fleetwood channel is actually the estuary of the River Wyre and is kept clear (and deep) as Fleetwood is a working port with regular sailings to Northern Ireland and The Isle of Mann

We cast just to the edge of the faster moving water so that our baits could stay anchored to the sea bed rather than be dragged out to sea by the swiftly ebbing tide and, where we were hoping the fish would be hunting in the back eddies for food.

A Small Flounder for Wendy

It took a while for bites to start but a slight shift in wind (more like a light breeze) direction from East to West resulted in Wendy landing a very plump rockling, shortly followed by Sparky.

Then it developed into a two horse race as Shacky landed a Flounder, then Wendy, then Shacky again, all the while myself and the other guys congratulating their success, honestly.

Shacky finally landed an eel which with the other fish won him the match, with Wendy coming 2nd and Sparky third.

It was hard fishing, we tried all sorts of baits; Lug, Squid, Mackerel, Peeler Crab and it didn’t really seem to make much difference – Wendy was catching on Lug, Shacky on Crab.

But what a lovely day to be out, blue skies, light breezes and flocks of birds taking to wing opposite us whenever they were disturbed. There was even a seal swimming around in the channel that every so often would vanish then a few minutes later appear somewhere else with a fish in it’s mouth. Sometimes fishing is better left to the natives while we just watch.

The venue has produced some good fish, and in quantity, which is why the BLAS guys picked it for this time of year, but for some reason the fish just weren’t playing today…

…at least not for me.

Looking West Down Fleetwood Channel

Formby Bank Holiday Bass Hunt

Pumping for Black Lug, Formby

The call went out to all like minded fools (I mean sea anglers) that Kev was going down to Formby Point, Merseyside for a Bank Holiday Bass hunt. I didn’t need much encouragement although getting up at 4:45am so that I could have breakfast, make a flask of coffee  and load the car before arriving at the Lifeboat Road car park did make me wonder at the state of my sanity.

The foolhardy few that woke to the sound of the dawn chorus just starting up made our way on to the beach and proceeded to pump up some Black Lugworm which was to be the bait of choice. Throughout the morning we would keep getting Lug as the tide pushed us up the beach so bait was as fresh as it could possibly be.

We knew that we were pushing it to get a Bass as they don’t usually show for about another month at Formby but the weather forecast was good and it beat watching bank holiday TV or fighting through crowds of tourists to get wherever you needed to go.

The method is to cast out then keep moving backwards until you see the gully behind you filling up, then you can either cross the gulley paying out line as you go, or wind in and cross the gulley then wait for the tide to fill it enough so that it’s fishable. The Bass travel up the gulleys that run parallel with the beach as these are where the water is deepest, and the food items they are searching for end up.

The Worlds Smallest Flounder

Our predictions of it being to early were correct and the only thing caught was a very, very small Flounder in about six hours of fishing but were we disappointed?

Not really – it was a long shot at best but as the saying goes “you’ve got to be in it, to win it”

We left the beach at noon, just as the numbers of day tripppers started to get unbearable.

One great thing was that I ‘tested’ by new Scierra breathable waders / boots combination – wow – what a fantastic thing these are, they weigh nothing, are fully waterproof, ‘breath’ so you don’t sweat and since you are wearing proper boots are comfortable to walk in.

I wish I’d bought some years ago and I expect they are going to make my fishing a lot better this year as they will allow me to fish places I’d previously been unable to reach. Hopefully Wendys’ will arrive this week to give her time to test them before we go to Anglesey.

Marine Drive, Morecambe – A Plaice for Flounder

Morecambe Bay, The Bay Between the RNLI and the Yatch Club Tower

There had been a report on one of the fishing forums covering the North West of the UK that a few Plaice had been caught up at Morecambe, nothing huge – up to a couple of pounds, but as the weather forecast for today was good I nipped down to Crosby to dig a few Blow Lug after work on Thursday and we braved the traffic and ventured North. Along the M6, through Lancaster and an hour or so after leaving we arrived at Marine Road Central, Morecambe at about 10:30am.

A Small Flounder For Me

We were a bit early as you can see from the top photograph so we had a bit of a walk while waiting for the tide to reach the bottom of the shingle.

It didn’t take long for the water to reach us and with the sun shining on the mountains of the Lake District in the distance we cast our baits into the bay and waited. And Waited then waited some more. A few other people turned up to fish but it was definately a day for fishing rather than catching. I managed to land a small Flounder on frozen Black Lug and Wendy had a bite, although we think it was just crabs picking the mackeral tips of her lugworm baits, but most of the baits were coming back in untouched.

No Plaice for us but it was worth a try, maybe the fish are starting to feed on the crabs that should now be starting to peel, maybe they were somewhere else today, who knows?

But what a lovely day to be out and what a great view of the Lake District and the mountains over the other side of the bay. Morecambe is definately going through a face lift at the moment and it was good to see how clean the place (pardon the pun) is but I don’t think we’ll go back for a while.

We tend to like fishing where the only thing you can see is sand, sea, sky and rocks, not that we’re anti-social you understand…

Morecambe Marine Road Central - The Yatch Club Tower

One That Got Away

Don’t know how I managed to miss this while I was ‘fishing’ the internet on Monday but John Holden, well known for advancing beach casting techniques, teaching beach and competition casting and all round angler, angling writer and photographer has his own blog which is well worth a read.

You can find the blog at lets go beach fishing (nice name), with his main website at www.johnholden.co.uk which has information on the books and teaching videos John has produced.