Regular north west sea anglers might have already been to fish off Cleveleys beach, just outside Blackpool. The main promenade has been rebuilt in recent years and offers a brand new stepped revetment down the the beach, where angling takes place at high tide, and of course off the beach at low tide.

Just past the end of the new development, heading onto the northern end of the town and a shingle beach, is where you will find the majority of sea fishing and the regular competitions, organised by West Coast Tackle. There are pegs marked out on the sea wall, such is the regularity of the events, which draw sportsmen from all over the UK to some large matches.

If you fancy a spot of sea fishing at Cleveleys you might want to check out the website all about the place, www.visitCleveleys.info. It’s privately published by a local company and shares local information, views and all kinds of quirky stuff, and welcomes contributions from readers. Send in photos of your catches, or the views you take while you are there and see them on the site. During the course of this Spring, www.visitCleveleys.info is all set for a major redesign, and also to be joined by interlinked sites that cover the rest of the coast.

Thanks go to Jane (the managing director of a local Fleetwood based agency) for writing this article, who not only helped redevelop the new Cleveleys website but also lives within spitting distance of the beach front – not that I’m jealous you understand…

The weather these past two weeks has been worthy of biblical descriptions. Wet? I think that’s slight understatement, we’ve not wanted to go outside let alone go fishing and on the days where it’s been almost tolerable the wind has been all over the place.

We did manage to get out a couple of weeks ago for another attempt at getting a Smooth Hound at Cleveleys.  The weather was perfect – flat calm and a warm muggy evening but all we managed was a small Bass and a Lesser Weever, not my favourite fish as they have a sting on their backs and when you try and pick them up they arch in a way to try and stick you.

Pliers and forceps are my usual method of dealing with these little buggers as the sting is very painful.

Looks like the weather is going to be equally grim this weekend so we’ll just have to see and maybe, if there’s a slight beak in the wind and a small ocean isn’t falling from the sky we’ll try and get out fly fishing somewhere local.

After eagerly watching the weather and ordering 20 peeler crab and 20 black lug from Blackpool Angling Centre on Wednesday I woke up Saturday morning to find the wind hadn’t died down as expected and with the Westerlies blowing onto the Lancashire coastline the chances of catching a Smooth Hound sea fishing from Cleveleys, between Blackpool and Fleetwood, was slim at best.

But I’d got the bait and armed with a few extras from the freezer we made our way to the beach to be greeted by a surf that could only be described as ‘Bass like’. Good job we’d brought the lug, maybe a fish was on the cards after all.

After a bit of trouble initially with our two hook rigs getting tangled in the surf we both elected to fish single hook pulley rigs, armed with a 2/0 wide gape hooks, Wendy using Black Lug, me with Black Lug on one rod and Crab on the other.

Casting over the weed that the wind had brought into the shallows we left our baits for about 15 minutes before changing, any longer than that and the tide would have washed out any scent. It was getting a bit difficult to tell a bit from the movement of the rods due to the waves but suddenly there was a  thump on Wendy’s rod and a small Bass was landed, her first this year.

As high tide drew closer the wind did drop a little until on the ebb you could just make out some calmer water past the breaking waves.

I fired out a crab into what I hoped was a weed free zone, into this smooth water and left the other rod closer in, hoping for a Bass from the surf, then it happened, a bite that in no way could be mistaken for a wave. I wound down onto a solid weight, fish on! The line started kiting to the right and then I saw it in the last of the waves – a Smooth Hound! Carefully I lifted the rod high to avoid the weed and at that moment it went weightless as the fish either let go or wasn’t hooked properly.

I was gutted! To miss a fish is one thing, to actually see it then it get away is almost heart breaking.

Shaking I baited both rods up with crab and launched my baits into the same area as before, this was to be the last cast as the tide was ebbing quickly now and soon there wouldn’t be enough water to fish into to make staying any longer feasible.

Fifteen minutes later it was all over, no fish for me this time so I packed away one rod while leaving the other out as long as possible. Wendy had packed up a few minutes before as it was getting a bit chilly now but as I wound in the last rod I felt a slight weight on the line and as it got closer in again it started going right.

Odd, this doesn’t seem heavy at all I thought, and then it broke the surface, the world smallest shark…

Yes, once again fishing during the summer on the Lancashire coast I had caught a tiny Tope, I think they’re getting smaller.

When you consider these fish, a top UK predator, can grow to over sixty pounds in weight this one was minute, it must have been one of this years young. After a quick photo (I’d shouted to Wendy to witness my fish…)  I slipped him back into the sea to start his reign of terror and after packing up and checking that we’d not left anything behind I made my way up to the car.

So, not a total disaster by any stretch, out of a lot of anglers on the beach that evening I only saw our two fish landed and although they were not the weeks target it was great to be out and we’d made the best of the weather we’d got.

Young Tope - I'm sure they're getting smaller...

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…

Cleveleys Beach, Lancashire

As I hadn’t been fishing for a long time I decided to join a few guys on the beach at Cleveleys. They were holding a match and although I wouldn’t be participating I needed to get out fishing. The forcast was cold with maybe a touch of snow.

You can just make out two of the lads walking to the sea, waterproofs and warm clothes clearly evident, and boy was it needed. As I got down to the water after crossing a couple of gulleys (more on these later – you can just see them in the top photo) a blizzard started, whipping up the beach from the south (left to right) and the temperature dropped so much I could hardly feel my fingers.

Winter Fishing - We Must be Mad

They say anglers are mad and I’m inclined to agree but damn, it was good to be out after so long. Good company is worth a little hardship and if we didn’t fish in rubbish weather we’d never go out in the North West.

Normally I’d be re-baiting every 15 minutes or so but as my hands felt a lot better inside my pockets I left my bait out longer than usual so I could chat to the guys and catch up on gossip, and keep my fingers warm.

I was using Mackeral as bait as the cold weather had driven the lugworms deep into the sand making it almost impossible to gather them even for the professional bait diggers.

The usual banter was had with dave trying to convince us he could see a bite developing, we were convinced it was wishful thinking on his part but, as is not uncommon with Dave, he proceeded to reel in a lovely little Dab.

Dave lands a small Dab

This put the pressure on the other guys that were fishing the match – I was just glad to be there as by now the snow had stopped and it didn’t seem to bad after all.

I was started to regret not bringing my serious waterproofs though as they’re a lot warmer than the top i had on yesterday. I wasn’t cold as I had many layers on but my other top is padded, it’s just not very waterproof anymore so it was a case of increased warmth verses fully waterproof. With the snow at the start I guess 100% waterproof was the best choice.

I walked along and chatted to a few of the other guys then wandered back to my rod. If fished competitions before where every second counts but today I was just enjoying being on the beach with a bunch of friends.

Imagine my surprise when, after reeling in I had also caught a Dab – I just hope this is a sign of things to come, local knowledge and skill are very important – but you can’t beat luck.

As the tide turned we made our way back over the gulleys, we know that they fill quickly and it’s hard to see them in the dark – as I was only wearing wellies, all be it with fully waterproof salopettes, I was first to cross followed by the others. The first gulley crossed we fished for another 1/2 hour or so before I made my way back over the final gulley. I noticed that it was filling quickly and called to Dave who was next to me (wearing full chest waders) that I was shifting ‘camp’ to the other side of the gulley. Dave called to the rest of the guys then waded over himself.

A Small Dab For Me

By this time it was dark and as Dave reached me the water was up to his waist. What we couldn’t see was one of the other guys had become stranded on the sand bank on the seaward side of the gulley. He was not alone but he only had wellies on but he’d left it a little to late and his boots had filled with water. Ian stayed with him as long as possible then waded across futher up the beach to get help.

Then we noticed the light was still on, on the sand bank. Our friend could not get off, he was starting to get very, very, cold and the water was getting deeper and deeper. Only one thing for it, call the coast guard. Someone from the prom had spotted us and brought down a rope with a bouyancy aid attached but Dave got swept off his feet as he tried to make it across the now very deep gulley, thankfully the rope was firmly anchored on our side and he made it back but still our fried was stranded and getting increasing desperate.

But we couldn’t see Ian anywhere. Thankfully he’d found an area to wade across and rejoined us on the landward side of the gulley. He told us later his heart sank as, from a distance he saw someone’s light as they attempted a rescue knowing that the water was to treacherous and yelled at them to stop but couldn’t be heard. Thankfully Dave was wearing a floatation suit that is not only warm, but bouyant.

Time stretched and it seemed ages until the coastguard showed, our friend was getting desperate and was shouting that he was going to try and swim. Remember how cold I said it was? We yelled for him to stay put and just as it looked like he’d given up the light from the RNLI’s inshore boat could be seen, he couldn’t see it as the water was up to his chest by now but we could. We shouted at him to listen for it, anything to give him the strength to hold on and just stay put then they arrived.

From what he says the water was to shallow for the boat so two of the crew jumped in and swam to him and threw him on board. After a brief trip to the station and a cup of tea all was well but it could have been so much worse.

Now we are all very experienced anglers, we fish this coast a lot, we know the dangers and we know when to come off the beach when the tide turns. Looking back at it now I can see what went wrong. It was a very big tide so the flood (when it turned) was very powerful and came in quickly. The wind from the South made the tide flood even faster than usual. It was dark and it’s difficult to see the gulleys fill behind you. It was very cold and although our friend fishes a lot he is not as spritely as he once was, he says his strength just went once his boots filled.

So, needless to say after last nights adventure and looking back on all those times I’ve thought “just one last cast” I will no longer fish this area at lo-water on anything except the most moderate tide heights and during the day. And although I never do, it just goes to show you should never sea fish alone.

This was a lesson learned – thankfully with no lasting harm done. It was reported in the local paper – not entirely accurate but close enough – Blackpool Gazette

Here is the link to the RNLI and I encourage anyone who does anything anywhere near the sea to visit and perhaps make a donation – without them I’m not sure our friend would be here today.