In typical sea fishing style after a beautiful day on Saturday I arrived at the Venue know as Rossall Hospital nr. Fleetwood and it was chucking it down. As this beach is very exposed the gullies change location so while I was waiting for the rest of the BLAS crew for our 3rd match of the season I had a quick look up and down the stretch of beach we’d be fishing.

The best of these gullies was already occupied but looking North I spotted a likely looking spot so once everyone arrived I made my way to where I remembered seeing the break in the sandbank – remembered because in the short time I was waiting the sea had completely covered the sand and was breaking against the shingle.

Eight of us fished this match, the first leg of the beach cup, and it was hard going – at least for me.

Although there was a good surf on, a Bass like surf, no Bass showed – we didn’t expect any as it’s a little early but it would have been nice. The main species that was coming out was Dab and Flounder but the only thing I was catching was a few rays of sun.

Although the sun made me feel a bit better Tom, fishing a few yards North of me after having a bit of trouble with his reel came over for me to witness his Dab – I was pleased for him – at least a little bit…

The tide was ebbing quite quickly now so, using just Black Lug to try and keep my bait streamlined, I launched a bait as far as possible. Needless to say the cast went a bit wrong as these things always do when you’re under pressure and as Shacky called ‘all out’ I wound in thinking of my first ‘blank’ of the season only to find a fat Three Bearded Rockling firmly attached to my rig with half a large Black Lugworm down its gob. Possibly the greediest fish in the sea but I’ve never been so relieved to see that little Rockling.

As well as Dab, Flounder and Rockling an undersized Plaice was caught. Everyone caught something and had a good natter so once again thanks go to the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society guys for a great morning and hopefully I’ll do a bit better at our second visit to Fairhaven in a couple of weeks.

Not a wave in sight - lets hope the fish don't notice...

Sunday dawned bright and clear and although I’d been out the night before and lost an hours sleep due to the clocks going forward I arrived at the chosen venue, Fleetwood Channel, in plenty of time for the 2nd BLAS sea fishing match of the season.

Nine of us fished into the estuary channel of the River Wyre a couple of hours down to low water and a couple of hours back up again using predominantly peeler crab as bait with the odd try of Lug, Mackerel or Squid.

Once again I was first in with a fish, a plump little Flounder of 33 cms which went safely back then, as per last week, I had to wait ages for a second while people either side of me caught but eventually I did catch another Flounder of 31 cms which was a relief – I was starting to think that I was only being allocated one fish per match by the sea fishing gods.

A few other species were caught such as Codling (all undersized), a Plaice (again undersized) and a Long Spined Sea Scorpion (I think) of 20 cms. Almost everything was caught using Peeler Crab which seems to be the only bait of worth at the moment.

Flat calm on the River Wyre estuary looking towards Knott End

Great weather, good company and some fish – if there’s anything better I’m not sure I know what it is…

While chatting we did notice a bottle floating by and when it was washed up next to us we found it was a genuine message in a bottle, with a wax sealed cork. After struggling to get the paper out we found a note written by someone called John on 25/9/10 and thrown in the sea at Aberystwyth – which is an ‘up the coast’ journey of about 175 miles.

Not a genie in a bottle but still, a little bit different.

Next week proper beach fishing from Rossall – time to break out the long range stuff.

After an absolutely beautiful Saturday spend doing all sorts of DIY round the house Sunday morning dawned damp and cold and as I made my way to Fairhaven, Lytham St. Annes for the first sea fishing match of the year the weather got progressively worse. Oh well, a bit of rain wasn’t going to stop me and I was was first there I parked up, donned some waterproofs and watched the birds on the lake for a while.

I was quickly joined by the guys from Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) and as the water hit the bottom of the promenade wall eight damp but eager anglers casts their baits into the River Ribble estuary. The bait of choice for this time of year for our target species, Flounder, is Peeler Crab but I couldn’t get hold of any so I was using various combinations of wild Ragworm, Black Lug, Squid and Mackerel on a standard 1 up 1 down rig armed with size 1 fine wire aberdeen hooks.

It wasn’t long until the tell tale thump of the rod tip announced the presence of a fish and I was the first to catch with a plump little Flounder of 31cm.

Throughout the morning everyone managed to catch a few fish although I only had the one. Thankfully after a couple of hours the rain stopped and the weather warmed up a little giving us chance to dry out a bit. Crab was definitely the bait of the day with Shacky catching five or six Flounder for a total match winning length of 177 cm.

It wasn’t fantastic fishing for me but it was fantastic to be out and great that everyone managed to catch and get a few points in the first match of the 2011 / 2012 sea fishing season.

It was also impressive to see the huge barge come out of the river that had been docked up at Preston, it had been delivering a new transformer for United Utilities each of two parts weighing a massive 270 tonnes. I remember wondering why the roads were blocked last week and looking up the story on the internet and seeing the pictures of this beast of a thing being transported it now makes sense. The barge itself was massive – I’ll bet they were glad the sea state was calm.

New weekends match is up at Fleetwood with Flounder being the main target again, I think I’ll put a bit more effort into getting some crab…

For technical, offshore fishing apparel, check out Henri Lloyd sailing clothes – essentially high-quality sailing and outdoor gear.

• 20th Match 2011: h/w@11.10, 33.9ft, Fairhaven, fish.09.50 to 12.20, meet @ car park 09.10, Ordinary Match.
• 27th March 2011: l/w@12.55, 24.0ft, Fleetwood Channel, fish 10.00 to 14.00, meet opposite the Euston Hotel 09.15, 1st Estuary Cup.
• 3rd April 2011: h/w@12.00, 29.5ft, Rossall Hospital, fish 10.00 to 14.00, meet @ car park 09.15, 1st Beach Cup.
• 17th April 2010: h/w@11.00, 31.5ft, Fairhaven, fish 09.45 to 12.15, meet @ car park 09.00, RNLI Trophy.
• 1st May 2011: h/w@10.55, 28.2ft, Lytham, fish 09.30 to 12.30, meet @ fairlawn rd 08.45, 1st Don Nicholson & Danny Nicholson Jnr Cups
• 8th May 2011: h/w@15.00, 27.2ft, Rossall Hospital, fish 13.00 to 17.00, meet @ car park 12.15, 1st Chairmans Cup.
• 29th May 2011: l/w@16.10, 25.3ft, Fleetwood Channel, fish 13.00 to 17.00, meet opposite the Euston Hotel 12.15, Over 50s Cup.
• 5th June 2011: h/w@14.00, 28.9ft, Lytham, fish 12.30 to 15.30, meet @ fairlawn rd 11.45, 2nd Estuary Cup.
• 26th June 2011: l/w@14.20, 24.3ft, Fleetwood Channel, fish 11.00 to 15.00, meet opposite the Euston Hotel 10.15, 2nd Don Nicholson & Danny Nicholson Jnr Cups
• 3rd July 2011: h/w@13.18, 29.9ft, Rossall Hospital, fish 11.30 to 15.30, meet @ car park 10.45, 1st WSF/BLAS Trophy.
• 17th July 2011: h/w@13.15, 29.2ft, North Wall, fish 11.15 to 15.15, meet @ st stephens ave 10.30, 1st Wall Cup.

Although these are sea fishing matches they are very laid back and even though sticking to the standard match format of catch, measure and release are much of of a social get together of like minded anglers who are just as happy having a few laughs with their mates as trying to ‘out fish’ them at every opportunity.

Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) is well worth joining, I’ve met some good friends though the club and enjoy fishing along side them, the club is over 100 years old and has an impressive trophy collection for budding match anglers to try and get their hands on.

This years AGM was well attended and although I couldn’t make it due to work commitments it’s good to see a few new faces collecting the silverware.

With the sea being almost flat calm and no movement of consequence in the water the humble Dab was the target species. Armed with 30 or so frozen (past their best) black lug and some Mackerel as bait I met up with the guys for a few of hours before high water then selected a spot in front of what I thought looked like a ‘fishy’ gully, set up a couple of 1 up 1 down clipped rigs with size 1 hooks (just in case anything bigger turned up) and waited for the shout of ‘all in’. We cast our baits into the darkness and then the wait began.

It was a good job the company and banter was good as the fishing in the area I selected was grim, not a bite for 2 hours. It was so bad a couple of the guys left early so I moved along the prom 50 yard or so to continue – hoping to maybe locate a fish or two.

The move payed off and I landed my first fish of 2011, a small Dab of 24cm. It seemed I had found the fish but time ran out on me and the call ‘all out’ came far too soon.

Although it initially looked like the fishing was going to be rubbish over half of those present handed in catch sheets which considering the less than ideal conditions was a great result all round.

First sea fishing outing of 2011, a fish and a good chat with some mates – what a great start to the year.

I’ve not had much luck here this year either due to weed, weather or just being a bit crap but I was determined to catch. The sea was flat calm but there was no sign of the rafts of weed that have plagued us recently and the temperature was at least above zero (just).

The only drawback was lack of fresh bait due to the cold snap earlier in the week so armed with frozen Black Lug, Squid and Mackerel I set up opposite a small gap in the sandbank hoping that the smelly May 2009 vintage Black Lug and Squid cocktails would tempt a few Dabs.

Eight of us fished to the right of the slipway while the Fleetwood club, also having a match, set up to the right and the wait began. Shacky was first in with a double header of undersized Dabs  and soon everyone except Dave had caught some of these little flatties. As well as an in size Dab I managed a small Flounder on Mackerel (too small dammit) and Tom managed to snare a half decent Whiting on his last cast.

I had a great afternoon with good company which was made even better by finally breaking my run of bad luck, admittedly it was only a Dab but damn – it was good to catch a fish. I even came third and this being BLAS’s only cash match won a whole… wait for it… TEN pounds.

This is one of the reasons I love being a member of Blackpool and Layton Angling Society, there is some stunning silverware to be won and some of the anglers within the club are exceptionally skilled but being part of BLAS is all about mates, matches are realistically just a good excuse to get together and catch (pardon the pun) up.

The Fleetwood club set up to our right

I’d love to say that our time spent on the beach in sub zero, almost flat calm conditions, paid off and we all landed huge amounts of fresh run Cod, Whiting and Dabs but out of the 8 BLAS members that braved the less than ideal conditions plus all the other sea anglers we met on the beach no-one got a bite let alone a fish.

It was great to be out and chat to the guys but on the Lancashire coast an easterly wind really does kill the sea fishing although not to have anyone catch was unusual.

Another blank… it’s getting to be a bit boring now.

Next match is Perch Rock on the Wirral in a few weeks where we’ll also be holding the Christmas Cup match again so I’m hoping for a few westerlies to liven things up a bit before then.

Although the forecast wasn’t too bad the wind was bitterly cold sweeping down the beach from the north and by the time our black lugworm baits were in the water we were wondering if this was such a good idea after all. This was confirmed as after 5 minutes our tackle was loaded with weed and was almost impossible to retrieve. After a few more casts Wendy decided to sit it out for a while to see if the weed situation improved while I launched my baits as far a possible, setting the rod high on the tripod and hoping to keep the line out of the weed.

After a couple of hours of this, Wendy rejoining our struggle against the weed we’d had enough and just to drive home the point I lost my terminal gear on the final retrieve as the line parted under the pressure of the amount of crud on the line.

It was interesting though to be on the beach after such wild weather, there were literally hundreds of Starfish washed up with all sorts of crab including a few Hermit Crabs (I tried one as bait) and the odd Masked Crab which you hardly ever see on the beach. There were also a lot of Sea Mouse, which look like something out of a cheesy Sci-Fi movie.

It’s a shame that the conditions beat us as the report by Shacky shows the conditions and fishing improved, we probably should have stuck it out longer but after looking forward to the trip all week the weed just killed off our enthusiasm for the session and after a couple of hours we said our goodbyes and made our way home where the only cold thing I encountered was a beer while watching the TV.

Wind whipping the sand along the beach at Perch Rock

Met up with a few of the guys from Blackpool and Layton Angling Society for an afternoon sea fishing match at Perch Rock, New Brighton, and to get details of how to get a Port of Liverpool Sea Angling Federation (POLSAF) permit to enable us to fish Liverpool Docks Alex Wall in time for the winter Cod season (I can always hope).

As BLAS matches aren’t exactly serious I elected to alternate casting fairly close in with a two hook rig baited with frozen Lug / Squid or Sandeel sections for Dabs or Whiting with another single hook up and over pulley rig baited with Sandeel or Squid for Thornback rays.

The wind was a lot stronger than forcaste, blowing down the estuary, out to sea which endeavoured to cover everything in sand, I’m still finding it in my eyebrows the following day after having a shower.

The fishing was poor with only Kev and Simon managing to catch anything of match worthy note; a Whiting and Dab to Kev and a Mackerel to Simon, the first I’ve heard of coming out of the Mersey. I managed a half decent Whiting that was just to small to count plus a few other ‘pin’ Whiting while the other guys had similar results to me.

So, after a run of blanks, although my fish didn’t count in the match, I did finally manage to catch something.

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…