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.

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…

JP with a Blackpool Flounder

After visiting the RNLI the BLAS (Blackpool and Layton Angling Society) guys made their way onto an area of Blackpool promenade named ‘North Wall’ for the last sea fishing match of the season.

I went along to keep them company and to see if I could temp anything out of the perfectly coloured water which had a bit of a ‘chop’ to it to it looked promising.

To say the angling was tough would be an understatement and although I tried various baits, rigs and distances I managed to come away without catching anything. Not that it mattered much, I wasn’t in the match I had a good chat with friends I hadn’t seen for some time and the sun came out – finally.

All that came out were a few Dabs, some (only just in-size) Flounder and a few Rockling.

Shauns' matching winning Rockling

The match was eventually won by Shaun, pictured here with a small Rockling – doesn’t look much does it but this fish and another of similar size won him the match.

After chatting to the guys last week and today they’ve been telling me that this winter the fishing on Lancashire coast has been terrible, not only have Codling been in short supply but so have Whiting which is very unusual. We’re putting it down to the lack of storms churning up the sea bed and dislodging food for the fish to come in to shore and eat – at least that’s what we’re hoping…

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.

Seacombe Fishing Mark

Last Sunday (24th Sept.) was the first match of the WSF (Wirral Sea Fishing) Winter League held in conjuction with a BLAS (Blackpool and Layton Angling Society) match, held on the Wirral side of the River Mersey along Seacombe Promenade.

We met up at 9am to sign in for the match which, considering it was the first of the season, had a good turnout of about 50 hopeful anglers. After making our way to our chosen mark and getting set up the shout went up and we all cast our baits seaward.

Myself and Wendy weren’t expecting much but we were hoping to get a few Dabs close in on frozen lugworm and squid as we’d always done quite well using this tactic in the past.

But then the heavens opened, and I mean it hammered it down constantly for about an hour. The forecast had been light rains so thankfully we’d packed waterproofs but even we weren’t prepared for thunder and lightening. As the first bolt struck 50 anglers stepped smartly away from their rods which remained exactly as they were until the storm past about an hour later.

Seacombe, Wirral

Modern rods are about 13 foot long, made of carbon fibre and are excellent lightening conductors!

Then the sun came out. It was like a different day and everyone was busy changing baits regularly to try and catch a few fish and get an early lead in the league.

Unfortunately no one told the fish we were having a match and only about 10 were caught in four hours by 50 people (a few Dabs, Plaice, Flounder and undersized Codling and Whiting) – not a good start.

Wendy and I came in joint last – with about 40 others! At this time of year it is difficult to fish the Mersey as the summer species have moved out and the winter fish have yet to arrive so those that caught fish did very well.

We did get some excellent views of Liverpool across the river, where you can see all the famous landmarks.