After such glorious weather it was almost inevitable that the weather for the Easter bank holidays would be grim as we turned up for the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) Match at Fairhaven, Lytham. This was to be leg one of the Estuary Cup and the target species sea fishing at this venue is Flounder. The tide races in and out here and if you are fishing off the wall as we were you’ll generally only get about 3 hours of worthwhile fishing unless you want to follow the tide in, up to the wall and back out again.

Six people braved the bitterly cold North West wind and at 11:15am 6 rigs armed with various baits were launched seaward in the hope that the Flounder would show. Baits for the day were frozen Crab, Razor, Mackerel and Blow Lug as we couldn’t get fresh Peeler Crab but it wasn’t long until the first fish came to Sparky who was also using Prawns.

Then it was my turn with the first of 3, double headers. it was one of those days where everything went right and it didn’t seem to matter what bait combination I used, the Flounder would greedily scoff down anything I threw at them.

The only reel quiet period came at high water but once the tide started moving again on the ebb the fishing picked up resulting in everyone catching a few flatties.

Time was called 3 hours after we started with me being top rod of the day, my first ‘win’ for a long time, with a total length of 238cm. Wendy managed 2 fish even though we were fishing next to each other and using identical baits – it was just ‘my day’ for some reason and it felt great.

You can read the full report and results on the BLAS website, posted by Shacky, here.

The great thing about this match was it was the first ‘proper’ fishing session I’ve had with my new rod since I’ve had the reel seat moved by Gerry’s of Morecambe. Do I like it? Yes – it’s fantastic.

I wasn’t 100% sure about the ‘continental’ style of a longer / softer rod with a fixed spool reel but this setup casts a bait a very long way without the stress of a multiplier potentially exploding line everywhere and has amazing bite registration.

My new gear is the Tubertini Boomerang with the Shimano Ultegra XSB 10000 loaded with Berkeley Whiplash Pro braided line in 30lb breaking strain. Gerrys have done a fantastic job of moving the reel seats (I’ve got 2 rod and reel combo’s) to a more comfortable position which helps casting and I’m looking forward to a lot more stress free sea fishing.

I don’t know when our next sea fishing session is but if we can keep this form up it promises to be a great angling year.

With the gear only just cleaned from our Anglesey visit the weather looked spot on for a touch of sea fishing at Formby Point, Merseyside. The strong Westerly made for some impressive looking surf as I arrived on the beach to meet up with Kev and Chris, Kev had already had one small Bass and Chris a Flounder of 1lb 9oz so things were certainly looking hopeful.

Unfortunately for me that’s all they did, look… Even with the freshly pumped Black Lugworm that Kev supplied I couldn’t manage a single fish not matter if I cast far out or close in and the only other fish landed during the session were a couple more Flounder.

It may actually have been too windy although that does seem a bit unlikely for Bass, a fish that’s hunts in the surf, but we think the main problem was the speed the tide raced in with the wind behind it. It didn’t really give us much chance to fish the gully’s that run along the beach as we were constantly on the move as the tide flooded.

A smaller tide would give you more time to fish the (hopefully) more productive areas on a beach that is otherwise a featureless expanse of sand.

Warning: The tide races in here and all along the North West coast, take waders and be careful of the gullies filling up behind you – it is not a beach I’d confidently fish on my own unless I was going for a high water down session.

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.

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

Our final sea fishing trip to Anglesey this year coincided with what was hopefully to be a run of Small Eyed Rays feeding up in the shallows of Cymyran Bay ready for winter and although the weather forcaste looked a bit rubbish we still took every single piece of fishing gear we owned to make the most of our time on the island.

We arrived on the Island just after lunch after stopping off in Liverpool to get our POLSAF permits sorted so we can fish Liverpool docks, and after doing the normal ‘on arrival’ food shopping grabbed some bait from Valley Baits in the form of some Black Lug, Sandeel and Squid made our way to Cymyran Bay to have a quick sea fishing session for a couple of hours either side of high water.

Although the wind was fairly strong and blowing at us which is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination we still thought there may be a chance of a fish or two, and with a bit of surf running even into the ‘bay’ formed by the bend in the channel between Holy Island and Anglesey proper I set up two rods; one with small size 1 hooks baited with either strips of Squid or Black Lug for Bass and the other with a large 3/0 hooks baited with Sandeel for rays.

The weather managed to stay clear but the fish didn’t turn up until about 1½ hours into the ebb when the rod armed with the small hooks and baited with squid strip gave a violent jerk then a typical slack line bite, indicating a fish had picked up the bait and was running towards the beach. I quickly wound down into it thinking ‘only a small one’ until I managed to get it to the edge of the beach where suddenly it locked solid as the fish got caught in the backwash.

All you can do in this situation is hold on until the the wash brings it ever closer, then once beached make a grab for it, hopefully before another wave turns up. Thankfully Wendy was very adept at this and the first and only Small Eyed Ray of the session was landed – a lovely 7lb 8oz female which after a quick photograph was safely released.

It goes to show though – even a small hook can land a big fish and it’s worth noting that it’s always worth using good quality gear and strong hooks – the rig that caught this fish was only armed with Varivas Semi Circle hooks – size 1 but they certainly did the job even if the rig suffered by having a few of it’s beads shattered, easily fixed though. Typically the rod aimed at rays caught nothing…

The following day the weather was truly dismal so our next session was Sunday night, same place, same state of tide but this time into darkness.

The weather was a bit kinder with hardly any wind and we glad we got there early as the beach to the left of our chosen spot was packed with anglers. Apparently lots of rays had been caught off the flat beach on the ebb but fishing a tide down on a flat beach is tough, always having to cast at maximum range and move to follow the tide out then 10 minutes later do it all again as your bait is only in inches of water. Not my idea of fun and the little bay we were fishing in almost guaranteed a decent depth of water for a couple of hours after high water.

We had high hopes as darkness usually helps beach fishing but again only one Small Eyed Ray was landed, another female weighing 5lb 5oz, this time on a beefed up two hook rig armed with size 3/0 Varivas Semi Circle hooks baited with Sandeel about 2 hours into the ebb.

We also caught Whiting and a small Flounder but this was to be my weekend for catching Small Eyed Rays with non falling to Wendy’s rod although we were casting the same distance using the same baits and almost identical rigs.

Monday was even windier and forcaste rain so we decided against fishing although we did have a look at a mark called Lily Ponds which looks promising for the future but I’m not a big fan of fishing rocks in 25 mph wind and rain, fishing is great, but not great enough to take that sort of risk.

We left Anglesey on Tuesday after calling in at the Pilot House cafe at Penmon Point already talking about our return visit in the Spring of 2011. Not that we’re addicted you understand…

Rainbow over Penmon Lighthouse - right place, right time, not the best photo but lucky eh?

All rods in but will the Flounder show up?

After some truly atrocious weather over the winter that convinced me that winter fishing is for those of a more hardy nature than myself it seems that spring has arrived in full force so I joined the guys from Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) for the first sea fishing match of the new season at the sea front next to Fairhaven Lake, Lytham, Lancashire.

Although the bait for choice for Flounder at this time of year is Peeler Crab I couldn’t get hold of any so armed with a score of Black Lugworm and some Squid I met up with the lads at 9 o’clock to be greeted with glorious warm sunshine tempered with a cold westerly breeze.

The tide races in at this venue where the River Ribble estuary is mostly flat and we knew we’d only have 2.5 hours of fishing time before the water vanished and so, as a variety of baits went seaward as the tide hit the wall we waited for that tell tail rattle indicating a fish. We waited, then waited a bit more, until i got bored of waiting, re-baiting and casting so went for a walk down the match length to chat to a few of the guys I hadn’t seen in a while.

Dave with a plump Flounder

Then finally, a shout went up from JP, a double header of plump Flounder, caught on Mussel of all things. Then a few more shouts, Dave with one caught on Crab, Millsy with another on Black Lug and Sparky one on Mackeral. But still, no fish for me and my baits coming back unmolested.

It was one of those matches where it didn’t seem to matter what bait went out – if the fish found it on their way up (or down) the river, they would eat it. Unfortunately for a few of us the fish swimming past our baits were blind with no sense of smell.

Distance didn’t seem to matter either, JP caught close in, Dave caught at distance and all the fish were caught using standard 2 hook rigs, with or without beads or other attractors.

Although I didn’t catch, it’s always good to meet up with the guys from BLAS, who although they are some of the best anglers I know and could easily fish and get in the points of some major matches, always have a laugh. If you’re looking for a sea angling club in Lancashire I can thoroughly recommend getting in touch with them by click here on the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society website.

Next sea fishing match is Fleetwood Channel – didn’t do that well last year but it was still fun so I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.

The 'head' of the River Douglas

After Saturday where we did all sorts of house and garden type things we went to the River Douglas just up the road from where we live for a spot of Flounder fishing with a lot of sitting, lazing, in the sun thrown in for good measure.

A Chubby little Flounder for me

As per usual for this venue I took my older fixed spool rod and reel and Wendy took her normal match fishing gear. Rigs were ‘normal’ 1 1up 1 down flappers armed with size 1 fine wire aberdeen hooks which we’ve found are easier to remove from the fish if you want to return them alive and unharmed.

Bait was Black Lug and Ragworm from Waynes Tackle on Water Lane in Preston, and was in excellent condition for bought bait and although I would have preferred to get my own Lug as we’d been busy the previous few days I just hadn’t had time.

The fishing was very slow although it was very pleasant to watch the leisure craft go past including a few intrepid canal boats that must have been making their way up to the lock at Tarleton after crossing the River Ribble. It’s only been possible to cross the Ribble recently as a method of getting from the Lancaster Canal to the Leads Liverpool Canal.

Wendy, as per usual, snared the first fish, a tiny Eel of about 8 inches which covered her gear in slime and tied her rig in a knot, it seems small ones are even more of a pain than large ones.

Next fish came to me just as the tide started to ebb, on Lug, a plump little Flounder of about 3/4 pound – nothing to shout about but a fish is a fish.

Wendy finally get a Flounder

Wendy’s rod gave a knock just as we were considering packing up for the day and she also landed a small Flounder, this time on Ragworm.

After that the tide had ebbed so quickly and so far that there was a stretch of mud between us and the water so not wanting to retrieve our gear through all the gloop we packed away and spent a whole 10 minutes driving home for a mug or two of tea.

Not sure why the fish didn’t show today, there were a few other anglers along the river and they didn’t seem to be having much luck either so we’ll put it down to ‘one of those things’. The crabs should be moulting again soon so I expect our next river sea fishing trip will see us using peeler crabs as bait.

Only time will tell if it’s any more successful but as is often said “that’s fishing”.

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.