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…

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.

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

Double Shot of Whiting

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.

A Flounder from Rossall

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!

Robbie the Reindeer

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!

A Fleetwood Cod

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.

Two Whiting for Dave

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 Mackerel.

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!

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!

Autumn Colour

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!

Rossal - Looking North

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.

Number 144

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.

Fishy Features

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.