A lazy hazy day sea fishing on the River Douglas

I’ve not been sea fishing for a while, or any other type of fishing for that matter. Not for any specific reason just other stuff to do around the house and garden while the weather is good. But with the weather being so good this past weekend I couldn’t resist a walk along our local river, The River Douglas, to see what was going on.

The river itself was quite quiet with the usual suspects bobbing along in the wakes of a few boats returning from sea fishing off Blackpool; Mallard, Shelduck, Geese and Swans with Oyster Catchers watching them from the shore.

The banks are very very dry at the moment and keeping low I managed to get a snap of a Skylark before he shot skyward proclaiming to all comers that this was his territory. Nothing quiet announces that Summer is approaching as the never ending song of this small unobtrusive bird with the most amazing song.

Further along the river there were hordes of people fishing. I say hordes – I mean more than 2, which is hordes for here. I don’t think anyone was having much luck but then I’m fairly sure they were all using Mackerel and realistically at this time of year, in the River Douglas or the River Ribble (of which the Douglas is a tributary) you’d probably be better off using peeler crab to catch the Flounder they were all after.

There were a lot of domestic (big white) Geese on the river with young so I couldn’t resist this final shot.

I’m not sure who is who’s parent but then I guess they’re not bothered either – so long as they get fed. Another great walk along a river that always makes me smile.

Spring Couples - Oyster Catchers, Shelducks and Avocets

As the weather has been so great recently I went for a long walk along our local river, the Douglas to practice my photography skills and to see if i could manage to get a half decent image of birds in flight with my current equipment.

With the dry weather and the sun the banks of the River Douglas had dried considerably leaving shallow pools for wading birds to sift through for food, the usual suspects were in abundance; Oyster Catcher, Curlew, Shelduck, Mallard but it’s the first time I’ve seen Avocet on my local patch although they do breed at RSB Marshside, Southport which is about 10 miles up the coast.

As for catching birds in flight? These are the best of a LOT of photographs.

Lapwing on flight -probably pushing the lens a little here

Shelducks in flight - sometimes luck is all you need...

I’m pleased with the one of the Shelducks which just flew right past me while I had the camera set up ready to go, although the sky could have been a bit more interesting – can’t have it all I guess. The Lapwing was a bit tougher, they fly very erratically at this time of year and realistically the lens I have (Canon 55-250) isn’t up to the job – hence they’re a bit blurred, although still recognisable.

Still… practice makes perfect.

All sorts of ducks on the River Douglas

After some fairly dismal weather these past couple of months I finally managed to get out for a walk along our local river, the Douglas, and as I’m a bit (understatement of the century) rusty I took out my camera just to check it (and me) is working as it should.

There wasn’t really much to see exfcept a lot of ducks including some Widgeon (which make the amazing whistling noise), Teal, Shelducks and the usual suspects of Mallard and Oyster catchers. I tried to get some pictures of them in flight but a small Duck is very very fast so I gave up.

Spring was certainly in the air today though as i saw a few lambs on my way down to the river, thankfully the boys below didn’t have any as it’s best to stay out of the way of sheep at lambing time so as not to distress the ewes and their newly birthed lambs.

"The Managment" of the banks bleats "non shall pass"

They do look a bit like the mafia though and it felt like I was trespassing on their field…

Hopefully, now the weather seems to be changing for the better I’ll get out fishing, it was almost this time last year that we fished this very river and caught a few Flounder – there were a few people fishing today but nobody had caught anything. It seems the seasons are a bit late this year, but i seem to recall someone saying that a cold winter heralds a hot summer – so here’s hoping…

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”.

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.

River Alt, Merseyside

Almost every angler who’s been sea fishing for a while will have caught a few Flounder in his or her day but there are still people out there that rate this fish as hard to find. Once you’ve figured out where they are – catching them is relatively straight forward and doesn’t require any special tackle although if you fish with a the lightest set up you can get away with these usually overlooked flat predators can put up a fait fight that during the spring months will put a smile on any anglers face.

Living in the North West we have a few areas that are very well known for Flounder fishing – probably the most well known is Arnside in Cumbria which lies where the River Kent enters the North East of Morecambe Bay. With ample parking along the promenade the best fishing is about a couple of hundred meters to the left of the car park. Fish here as the tide floods but be very careful as the tide is very, very quick so be prepared to move backwards as it comes in.

Almost on my doorstep is the Ribble Estuary at Lytham, Lancashire. The best fishing I’ve had here has been a couple of hours either side of low water but to get to the mark involves a bit of a trek through some mud so a lot of people fish the area at high water from the safety of the embankment. Again – once the tides start to come in keep an eye out behind you for gulleys filling in and if in doubt move. The mud is very sticky and it would be easy to get stuck as the tide comes in. The area we fish is at the bottom of Fairlawn Road, Lytham.

River Douglas at low tide

Going up the River Ribble (if you were in a boat that is) the large tributary to the right is the River Douglas. This really is almost on my doorstep and I do a lot of walking along the River Douglas. During the spring and summer I have had some very pleasant days sat on the river bank, casting ragworm into this river and snaring some nice plump Flounder. The easiest way to get to the river is to drive down Guide Road in Hesketh Bank and take one of the many small tracks to the right – all of which go to the river. For those of you interested in small boat fishing – if you’re in the area Douglas Marine, the manufacturers of the Predator 165 are based on the River Douglas so you could do a spot of fishing then have a look at some boats.

Flounder from the River Alt

Coming south along the coast, past Formby where Kev got some Bass last year you arrive at the River Alt at Hightown, Merseyside. This is one of our favorite Flounder marks, easy to get to, very close range fishing and a nice sandy beach (if you don’t stand in the mud at low tide). Park along Riverside then walk towards the yatch club (large gate on the West side of the road) – go left past the club and the river is over the dunes. If you walk left for a while you come to a bend in the river – fish just after this bend into the river.

We always fish this from low water up to high, the best sessions always seem to coincide with an early morning start but that’s probably because we’re mad and just like an excuse to fish somewhere easy and have a sausage fry up for breakfast. Here are a couple of reports from a while back regarding the River Alt; one form the end of April using lug as bait and one from June, a BLAS match using crab as bait.

The tackle we use is just the normal beach fishing gear unless it’s within the rivers (Alt or Douglas) in which case I use my light shore / Bass rod as I’m not casting far, as light a lead as I can get away with – usually about 3oz for close in work and that old favorite – a flapper rig armed with 2 size 1 fine wire hooks.

Bait can be almost anything from lugworms to chunks of Mackeral but during the spring the Flounder will be gorging themselves on the moulting crabs, or peelers as anglers call them, and during the latter part of April, May and in to June you’d be hard pressed to find a better bait for Flounder than half a peeler on each hook.

So there you have it, a few Flounder hot spots in the North West. Keep your tackle as light as you can get away with and go out and snare a few ‘bin lids’. You’ll be suprised how much fun can be had flattie bashing…

Douglas Boatyard

After saying in my last post that the weather was a bit grotty, last Sunday afternoon the sun came out so I went for a walk down to the boatyard and along the banks of the River Douglas.

I’ve been walking along this stretch of our local river since I was a child (a long time ago) and my father used to keep his boat on a fixed mooring in a creek off the river.

I remember going out in the middle of the night fishing off Blackpool and not being able to come back until the tide came back in.

After getting to the boatyard I turned left and walked along the top of the embankment that keeps the flood tide out of the fields.

This tree stump has been here almost as long as I can remember. The tide floods the area I was stood on during spring tides so it must weigh a good few tones not to have been washed out to sea.

Continuing on, the river bends to the left and heads almost in a straight line until it joins the River Ribble which then meets the sea at Lytham.

I didn’t walk that far although it is possible to get fairly close to the Ribble where plans have been submitted by the RSPB to re-flood the reclaimed land and create a wetland nature reserve called Hesketh Out Marsh. This would be fantastic and would be a great addition to the RSPB reserve at Marshside, Southport.

You can see in the photos that the panorama that evening was stunning and I was almost alone for the entire walk except for a few Shelducks, Black-headed gulls, Barnacle geese and Swallows, all taking advantage of the lovely evening to grab a bite to eat.

Before heading back inland I came across these sheep, the land is continually grazed by both sheep and cows owned by the local farmers – these are, in essence, the managers of the river banks, keeping the plants manageable and fertilising them at the same time.

In the spring walkers need to be aware that the sheep will be lambing and dogs should either be left at home or kept on a lead. I used to walk my dog, a yellow labrador called Elsa, along hear about 20 years ago and apart from a few new boats at the yard it hasn’t changed a bit – long may it stay that way.