The Port of Liverpool Sea Angling Federation (POLSAF) have a new website which has all the details about affiliated clubs, rules, areas where we can fish, etc. so if your thinking of trying the docks this winter for the Cod that seasonally show up in the River Mersey it is well worth visiting the POLSAF website.

Sea fishing at Seaforth Dock, Alex Wall and other marks within the Freeport complex is always popular during winter as the venue is safe and secure and usually protected from the worst of the winter storms. Normal beach or rock fishing gear is all that is needed as long casts are not required. Undoubtedly the best bait for the winter season Cod is black lug and peeler crab (if you can get it).

During the warmer months there is a good chance of catching Thornback Ray from Alexendra Dock Wall or Alex Wall as the mark is called, using Sandeel and/or Squid as bait.

Fishing is along the outside of the breakwater rocks at Seaforth Docks

After picking up our POLSAF (Port of Liverpool Sea Angling Federation) passes a few weeks ago we joined a few of the guys from Wirral Sea Fishing for our first venture fishing the rocks at Seaforth docks. As we were new to the venue we thought it better to tag along with some guys that were familiar with the mark so we met up with the guys at the designated car parking area 2½ hours before high water.

The target species was to be Cod as Kev had managed to catch a few a couple of days ago. After a quick chat about where the best area to fish was we made our way down the rocks to a place where, if we were to catch anything, would make landing a fish as safe as possible.

The bait of choice was black lug tipped with frozen peeler crab mounted on pulley rigs armed with 2/0 hooks mounted pennell style (where one hook is tied to the end of the snood line and the other is just threaded on the line futher up and hooks into the top end of the bait).

Things looked great as Wendy, on her first cast, managed to snare her first decent sized Codling of about a pound and a half, and our first of the season. This fish was obviously a River Mersey resident as it colouring was a bit blotchy so after a quick photo was released.

I was getting plagued with tiny bits that I just couldn’t connect with so I started changing baits, alternating using squid or squid wrapped lug as well as lug or lug and crab.

It wasn’t long until the Sun started to set and in the golden glow of the Autumn light Wendy managed her second species of the evening, a small Whiting.

I was getting a little concerned by this point as it looked like I was going to end up going home with another blank under my belt but not long after landing hers a Whiting fell to my lug and squid cocktail – not a monster but my first fish from this venue so I was happy with that.

We could see the guys to the left of us catching the odd fish but they were not coming out in significant numbers and a few of them seemed to be finding snags on the river bed, which is always a pain as if you are constantly loosing gear you’re spending more time messing about with that rather than fishing.

We managed to avoid snags until later in the evening when the tide started to ebb, when Wendy lost three sets on the run and I lost a couple – luckily by then it was time to go but not before the Dogfish put in an appearance.

Looking across the Mersey to the Wirral and North Wales

Once the sun set fully these plagued everyone and it was tough to keep a bait in the water long enough for anything else to find it before a Dogfish pounced on it. Now I’ve caught loads of dogfish in my time sea fishing but these fish were big, I landed 3 in total and lost a few on the way in, all of them were well above 2lb in weight so although they were only dogfish, they were fairly good specimens.

Just a darkness fell proper and I was starting to think that it was not to be, I managed to land a fresh run Cod of about a pound and a half, not quite big enough to take but a fantastic result. You could tell it was a fresh rather than resident fish as its colouring was a lot paler and it just looked ‘nicer’ – not a blotch in sight.

And that was that, first outing at Seaforth Docks for Cod and we managed to catch the target species plus a few Dogfish and Whiting. Needless to say we’ll be coming back, it’s an easy place to fish once you find a comfy rock, with good parking and being part of the docks, your car is secure.

We’ve been informed that once we get into November it’s not unusual to bag fish of 3 or 4 pounds with the odd fish of 10 pounds falling to the lucky angler. With the venue being less than an hour away we’d be daft not to go…

Sea Fishing at Seaforth Dock – Venue Information

Seaforth Docks is part of the Port of Liverpool complex on the River Mersey and you will need a valid POLSAF permit to fish here. The best fishing is anywhere within about 100 metres of the car park and the area can be fished either from the concrete walkway above the rocks (easier footing) or by making you way down the rocks (easier to land your catch). Long casts are not required, anything around the 40-50 metre mark is fine and the bait of choice is black lug with or without peeler crab.

Target species is Cod during the winter with Dogfish appearing once darkness falls. The further from the car park you go the shallower it is and you will get Whiting and Dabs if you fish here.

The area can be fished on anything up to a 26 foot tide (liverpool tide height) as weed and holding in the current becomes a  problem in anything larger. The venue is usually fished a couple of hours to hi-water and 1 hour down.

We were hoping to go out on a boat trip (fishing a match with the Blackpool and Layton Angling Society guys again) onto the River Mersey but neither myself or Wendy are fantastic on boats in dodgy weather so we’ve cancelled – I hope they have a good time on Sunday – if the boat goes out!

The garden is now devoid of leaves and underwater so there’s nothing to do there, so what to do over the weekend?

Christmas shopping has been done but I’m sure we’re missing something…

The Christmas Tree!!! Yes, this is the weekend that we get our tree, a real one of course and kick-start Christmas off with putting up the decorations, and maybe a glass of wine or two…

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!

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.