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.

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

Pumping for Black Lug, Formby

The call went out to all like minded fools (I mean sea anglers) that Kev was going down to Formby Point, Merseyside for a Bank Holiday Bass hunt. I didn’t need much encouragement although getting up at 4:45am so that I could have breakfast, make a flask of coffee  and load the car before arriving at the Lifeboat Road car park did make me wonder at the state of my sanity.

The foolhardy few that woke to the sound of the dawn chorus just starting up made our way on to the beach and proceeded to pump up some Black Lugworm which was to be the bait of choice. Throughout the morning we would keep getting Lug as the tide pushed us up the beach so bait was as fresh as it could possibly be.

We knew that we were pushing it to get a Bass as they don’t usually show for about another month at Formby but the weather forecast was good and it beat watching bank holiday TV or fighting through crowds of tourists to get wherever you needed to go.

The method is to cast out then keep moving backwards until you see the gully behind you filling up, then you can either cross the gulley paying out line as you go, or wind in and cross the gulley then wait for the tide to fill it enough so that it’s fishable. The Bass travel up the gulleys that run parallel with the beach as these are where the water is deepest, and the food items they are searching for end up.

The Worlds Smallest Flounder

Our predictions of it being to early were correct and the only thing caught was a very, very small Flounder in about six hours of fishing but were we disappointed?

Not really – it was a long shot at best but as the saying goes “you’ve got to be in it, to win it”

We left the beach at noon, just as the numbers of day tripppers started to get unbearable.

One great thing was that I ‘tested’ by new Scierra breathable waders / boots combination – wow – what a fantastic thing these are, they weigh nothing, are fully waterproof, ‘breath’ so you don’t sweat and since you are wearing proper boots are comfortable to walk in.

I wish I’d bought some years ago and I expect they are going to make my fishing a lot better this year as they will allow me to fish places I’d previously been unable to reach. Hopefully Wendys’ will arrive this week to give her time to test them before we go to Anglesey.

Morecambe Bay, The Bay Between the RNLI and the Yatch Club Tower

There had been a report on one of the fishing forums covering the North West of the UK that a few Plaice had been caught up at Morecambe, nothing huge – up to a couple of pounds, but as the weather forecast for today was good I nipped down to Crosby to dig a few Blow Lug after work on Thursday and we braved the traffic and ventured North. Along the M6, through Lancaster and an hour or so after leaving we arrived at Marine Road Central, Morecambe at about 10:30am.

A Small Flounder For Me

We were a bit early as you can see from the top photograph so we had a bit of a walk while waiting for the tide to reach the bottom of the shingle.

It didn’t take long for the water to reach us and with the sun shining on the mountains of the Lake District in the distance we cast our baits into the bay and waited. And Waited then waited some more. A few other people turned up to fish but it was definately a day for fishing rather than catching. I managed to land a small Flounder on frozen Black Lug and Wendy had a bite, although we think it was just crabs picking the mackeral tips of her lugworm baits, but most of the baits were coming back in untouched.

No Plaice for us but it was worth a try, maybe the fish are starting to feed on the crabs that should now be starting to peel, maybe they were somewhere else today, who knows?

But what a lovely day to be out and what a great view of the Lake District and the mountains over the other side of the bay. Morecambe is definately going through a face lift at the moment and it was good to see how clean the place (pardon the pun) is but I don’t think we’ll go back for a while.

We tend to like fishing where the only thing you can see is sand, sea, sky and rocks, not that we’re anti-social you understand…

Morecambe Marine Road Central - The Yatch Club Tower

River Ribble Estuary at Fairhaven, Lytham

Well not exactly a fiesta but the first match of season for Blackpool and Layton Angling Society (BLAS) got off to a cracking start today with light winds and glorious sunshine as the eight of us met up at lunchtime at Fairhaven Lake, Lytham, which sits on the other side of the promenade to the Ribble Estuary into which we would be fishing.

The target species today was Flounder as they moved into the river with the tide to feed on crabs, worms or whatever else these greedy fish can get their mouths round. Usually we’d fish for Flounder with peeler crab but there was non to be had without having to travel for hours so Wendy and I had got hold of some black lug, ragworm and mackerel which we were hoping would be OK for today.

Shackys' Fairhaven Flounder

We waited for the water to hit the bottom of the wall, and the walkers to move off the beach and then all cast in, hopes high for some non-stop Flounder action.

Most of the guys were concerned about lack of crab for bait but it didn’t seem to make much difference for those anglers that had it as the fishing was very slow. Shacky was into a fish about an hour into the match of about a pound in weight but mine and Wendys’ baits were coming back in untouched until about half an hour later when Wendys’ rod showed a very positive bite.

She waited awhile until it showed again then quickly reeled in to find… nothing. We were all a bit shocked that nothing was hooked but I suppose that’s fishing.

A few minutes later I saw a slight knock but thought nothing of it until on reeling in when I managed to land a Flounder as well. Not as big as Shackys’ but still, a fish is a fish when your match fishing.

A Fairhaven Flounder

And then it went quiet, occasionally bites registered but we just couldn’t connect with the fish for some reason as all they seemed to be doing was nibbling at the Mackerel they seemed to prefer today rather than gulping it down like they normally do.

We called it a day at 3 o’clock as the tide was started to ebb and soon there wouldn’t be enough water to fish into. Dave managed to win the match with three fish, Neil with two then Shacky and me with one each. As this match was the RNLI trophy we had a collection for the lads and lasses of the RNLI and raised a bit of cash to help in their funding.

The fishing was not as good as expected but the weather was fantastic and it was great to be out on the first sunday of Britsh Summer Time. The next match is up at Fleetwood in about three weeks, at a venue we’ve not fished before called Fleetwood Channel, so we’re looking forward to that one, hopefully someone will inform the fish.

A Flounder from the River Douglas, Hesketh Bank

We’d had quite a busy day on Saturday doing all sorts of house related stuff so after the obligatory trip to the tip this morning (how does a house generate so much junk?) we drove the whole of 10 minutes to the River Douglas where we fished an hour and a half up to high water and about an hour down.

I’d finally got round to clearing out the bait freezer in the garage and given it its’ once when ever I remember defrosting so we took a box of squid, a couple of Mackerel and about 40 frozen black lug which we’d got from Formby beach in 2006 (a little old to say the least).

Wendy with a Flounder from the River Douglas

The sun was high and the weather was great as we cast our ‘well past their sell by date’ lug into the murky water but it wasn’t long until Wendy landed the first plump Flounder – a fish of about a pound in weight. The rigs we were using were nothing more complicated than 2 size 1 aberdeen hooks mounted on snoods about 18″ long, 1 near the lead, the other about 20″ up the main line, anchored to the river bed with a 5oz grip lead as when the tide comes in the Douglas has quiet a swift current.

I was using one of our older fishing rods and a fixed spool real which I purchased about 6 years ago, as my normal multiplier distance casting outfit would have been a bit overkill for the river. Short casts we’re going to be needed to land the baits on the mud slopes of the river where the Flounder would nose around as they searched for food – multipliers are a swine to cast short distances in my experience.

Fishing on the banks of the River Douglas

All in all we had an extremely pleasant afternoon as we promptly caught fish after fish on old black lug and although we tried the other baits only lug was catching today. The final ‘score’ was 5 Flounder to Wendy and 4 to me, although I did catch the biggest, a lovely thick Flounder of just under a pound and a half.

We’re going to be re-joining BLAS (Blackpool and Layton Angling Society) in a couple of weeks at their first match of the season which will be another flattie bash at Fairhaven, Blackpool, but I expect that the shore crabs will have started to shed their shells by then so peeler crab will be the bait of choice, but we’ll take lug as an option – although it won’t be from the 2006 vintage as all that was left is now in the bin.

Random River Douglas Fact (I think): The River Douglas used to be called the River Asland which I’ve read somewhere means River Dirty Water – from the muddy colour of the water as the banks of the Douglas and the Ribble are all mud, creating a great, if a little muddy, environment for all sorts of wildlife.

Small Creek on the River douglas

As the weather was fairly good today I went for a walk along our the local River Douglas, a tributary of the River Ribble that is easily accessible from an anglers point of view at Hesketh Bank. Although the river is very close I hadn’t been along it’s banks for a while as it tends to get very muddy in the winter due to the banks flooding with the higher tides, cows grazing on the salty grass and the sheer volume of water the low lying banks seem capable of holding.

I started my investigation at Douglas Boat Yard where I was hoping to get a look at one a completed Predator 165 – their newest small, purpose built angling boat, but it being sunday everything was locked up. Never mind – I continued along the public footpath that runs along the bank, heading North towards the Ribble.

I know that in the past Thick-Lipped Grey Mullet have been caught in the Douglas and the Ribble using a net from a boat, drifting with the tide and netting the fish as they travel upstream. As far as I’m aware this method of fishing is no longer done hence giving the angler with a rod a chance at catching these fish, if they still travel these waters. The other thing that gives hope (what would anglers be without hope?) is that Mullet have been caught during the past few summers in the River Mersey – which is only just down the coast a few miles.

What I was looking for was a bit vague – even to me.

I was looking for a place to ambush the Mullet as they nose upstream looking for food. Somewhere that I can lay down some bait on a regular basis to draw the fish to a specific area so they get used to food being there. Then when I fish for them, at least I’ll know they’re there – at least that’s the theory. Now the problem is the Douglas has a strong tidal current so any bait put into the river will be washed out almost straight away so I was looking for a creek or eddy – somewhere that would look interesting enough for a fish to investigate and be made more interesting with the additional of some mashed up bread and Mackeral into the area.

River Douglas Creek

Mullet are deceptive and take small baits and hooks as they sift through the mud looking for small worms and shrimp so oily fishy bread fished using light float tackle with a small hook is going to be my weapon of choice.

Walking up the river I managed to find a few such areas as can be seen in the photographs – as well as coming across a few anglers fishing for our old favorite – the Flouder. The guys I spoke to seem to have been having a good afternoons sport with up to half a dozen fish weighing up to 1.5 pounds – all caught on Black Lug.

I can see a few lazy days are going to be had spent on the banks of our local River Douglas. Even if we don’t manage to snare a Mullet, at least the Flouder will be there. Now all we need is some sun to dry the banks out a bit.