Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 607 i Sea Angler

Having children inspires you to share the knowledge and skills you have gained during your lifetime. With each of my four children, three girls and a boy, I have endeavoured to ignite a passion for fishing so they can experience the joy this great sport has to offer and give me the chance to pass on my knowledge from 52 years of fishing. This also perpetuates the next generation of sea anglers: an important task for us all during this digital age. Each of the girls expressed a brief interest – possibly just to have Dad’s undivided attention for a few hours and get out of doing their chores – but eventually they moved on to other things. This left Mikey, my youngest, who, in order to nurture a budding…

Cold Knap Point is a rocky headland that separates Watch House Bay and Old Barry Harbour from The Knap pebble beach. At first it’s a challenging venue to fish. In addition to very rocky ground the lateral pull of even a small neap tide here is very strong, so expect tackle losses to be high. In addition to which, climbing down to access the best area, which is adjacent to The Monkey Pole – a prominent fixed South Cardinal Marker – is a bit of a scramble. As a result, few anglers fish here, with most preferring the convenience of fishing almost out of the back of their car on the main pebble beach at The Knap. TACTICS Like so many venues throughout South Wales, Cold Knap Point is at…

BASS ■ Shore: 19lb 13oz 8dr John Locker ■ Boat: 19lb 4oz Wayne Milton BLACK BREAM ■ Shore: 5lb 5oz 1dr C Le Monnier ■ Boat: 6lb 6oz Tony Heart COUCH’S BREAM ■ Shore: 2lb 15oz 1dr Lynton Carre ■ Boat: 7lb Becky Lee Hodges GILTHEAD BREAM ■ Shore: 9lb 8oz Scott Smy ■ Boat: 10lb 2oz Roger Simcox PANDORA’S BREAM ■ Shore: 1lb 2oz Baz Wheater RAY’S BREAM ■ Shore: 6lb 1oz Jordan Colwell RED BREAM ■ Boat: 6lb 4oz Patrick Meegan BRILL ■ Shore: 6lb 12oz Mark Griggs ■ Boat: 13lb 10oz Tony Hayward BULL HUSS ■ Shore: 21lb 9oz M Urquhart ■ Boat: 23lb D Nicholson BALLAN WRASSE ■ Shore: 9lb 4oz Darren Swift ■ Boat: 9lb Glen Carter CUCKOO WRASSE ■ Shore: 1lb 13oz Joe Edward…

■ EAST TARBET Last month we covered Sandhead Bay towards the Mull of Galloway. Next on our southbound journey is East Tarbet, which is a small shingle bay towards the south-west end of Luce Bay. East Tarbet itself is a popular area for camping. There are no facilities, such as toilets, in East Tarbet, so visitors should keep this in mind. Launching boats is possible however there can be a fairly large shingle bank which is normally flattened by the Farmer. A good 4x4 is essential for launching here. ■ THE MULL Just south of East Tarbet lies the Mull of Galloway, Scotland’s most southerly point. A very popular area for shore anglers, as the rocks can lead into some fairly deep tidal waters.In terms of species expected around the…

Herne Bay stands on the north coast of Kent looking out over the North Sea and the outer Thames Estuary towards Essex. It’s a busy seaside town during the summer and has one of the oldest angling clubs in the country, situated right in the heart of the town centre. LAUNCHING A permit from the council to use the slipways within the district is needed but only costs £50 for an annual pass for an angling boat, which includes your own key to the slipway gates. A double-laned slipway at Neptune car park, right in the centre of the town, makes launching your boat as easy as possible, even without the need for a four-wheel drive vehicle. There is plenty of parking for trailers right by the slipway and parking…

The running leger is probably the oldest and most widely used of all the sea angling rigs; easy to tie, able to be fished from both the shore and from boats, providing direct contact to the fish and the mainline, and able to be fished both static and rolling – or on the drift from a boat – it allows baits to be presented on the seabed for a wide variety of species. In this version a second hook length is added allowing two baits to be presented, with both still in direct contact to the mainline, providing excellent bite detection. Step-by-step 1. Tie the link clip to your mainline and clip a size 2 rolling swivel to the link clip. Then tie 100cm of 80lb rig body line to…

Well, as we all know, the Northeast coast is famous for its cod fishing, and what do cod like to feed on inshore? Yes, crabs. If the crabs keep dying, that’s one of the cod’s food sources disappearing and they will move elsewhere to find food. I’m not even going to begin to think what is, or could, be happening to the cod in the area if they’re eating shellfish that’s loaded with pyridine – if it’s making sea birds and dogs sick, it could well be bad news for the local fish population too. Then, of course, there is local bait collection. No peelers in the spring? Are the worm beds affected? This debate is going to keep running for some time I would imagine, and all the while…

Long gone are the days when I used to edit sea fishing magazines and rarely had to buy any fishing tackle. Back in the day I used to get sent gear for review each month, and a lot of it never had to be sent back. These days I buy all my fishing gear like everyone else, so it’s important to me that I buy what I know I can rely on. I’ve long been an advocate of Daiwa kit. In fact, I’ve been using their Saltist BG20H reels for many years, and just this week I’ve bought myself a shiny new BG4500A to take to Norway later this year. Guess what I’ve loaded that one with? Yep, 40lb J-Braid. As you would expect, over the past three decades I’ve…

ABERDEEN THISTLE OPEN Aberdeen, 19 anglers ■ Result: 1Mike Horn Kirkcaldy 6.7kg (1); 2 Chris Horn, Kirkcaldy 4.1kg; 3 Mark Summers, 4kg. Heaviest fish, Scott Patterson, 1.5kg. FOUNTAIN OPEN Hythe beaches, 91 anglers Strong winds and at times driving rain greeted the 91 anglers as they set up in readiness for the match. Thankfully conditions eased through the day, and with plenty of whiting and dogfish along with thornbacks, dabs pout and rockling showing right from the first cast. Anglers who had travelled from across the country were set for a good day. Result: 1 Jimmy Price, Abergele (9), 827 points; 2 Joe Wales Shoreham (8), 701 points; 3 Saul Page, Deal, 618 points (7). Zone winners were Richard Yates, St Margret’s Bay, 533 points (3) and Mark Rogers Maidstone,…

For much of the population, estuaries are an irrelevance to their lives. Put simply, many people simply see these muddy, often smelly, landscapes as the point at which rivers empty into the sea, and that, quite honestly, is as far as it goes for them. Others may associate estuaries with pollution and the heavy industry of ports, like the Mersey, the Humber or the Thames. Whether it’s a tiny tidal creek or a mighty mouth of one of our biggest rivers, very few groups of people appreciate just how unique and how important estuaries are, and what role they play in our lives. However, there are some who do, and one of those groups is sea anglers. FISH FACTORIES For one thing, the creeks and intertidal mudflats of estuaries and…

Wintertime for many sea anglers who fish the Bristol Channel means just one thing, cod. Yes, the Channel still has a great reputation for catching big cod in winter, but those fish are currently very few and far between. It’s not that I just want to be different, but I also love catching flatfish and I’m a big fan of short, snappy, sessions targeting them in the winter months. One of the best things with the Bristol Channel is you always have a chance of catching something special, and that, for me now, is catching big flounder. However, flounder are no longer abundant in the Bristol Channel, certainly not from the more open beaches, and not even in the narrower estuaries like they used to be. Much the same as…

Overlooked by the imposing Criccieth Castle there is a small sandy beach directly adjacent to the castle rocks. The beach gives way to wooden groynes and rough boulder ground as you head west along Marine Terrace Road. The beach ends at the mouth of the Afon Dwyfor (river). It offers a variety of fish but in summer is best fished at night when tourist activity is more limited. SPECIES Summer: The sandy beach section before the rough ground starts is mainly clean sand straight out in front of you but gets rougher as you work towards the groynes. It can produce the odd thornback ray, but typical summer species are flounder, bass, dogfish, turbot, mackerel and garfish. The rough ground produces bass to plugs, spinners and baits, also the odd…

GETTING THERE Pevensey Bay is on the A 259 east of Eastbourne To access the main beach at Pevensey Bay, there are several places to park in the town. The most central is the Sea Road Car Park BN24 6EJ which is signposted from the town centre and accessed via Sea Road which runs between the Beach Tavern and The Bay Hotel in the centre of the village. Instead of following the road around to the right and go through the town, continue straight on towards the sea to enter the Sea Road Car Park. Alternatively, the North Road car park (directly in front of Anglers Den, BN24 6AY) is a Free car park, and is a two-minute walk to the beach. The beach in Pevensey Bay can also be…

2000 The hold on male domination was broken in the 2000 title chase by Maureen Walsh of Telford with an eel of 55lb 4oz taken at a wreck off Plymouth from Dave Brett’s boat, Scorpion. 2001 A year later, in the Championship draw for boat places with 120 competitors involved, Maureen again drew Dave Brett and Scorpion and on the second day of the event successfully defended her title with a fish of 52lb 10oz and had another of 51lb that would also have won the Championship. Bad weather ruled out the first of the two days and there was still a force five and a rough sea with heavy rise and fall on day two, making terminal tackle control difficult – so success didn’t come easy. It is still…

Since the completion of the Cardiff Bay barrage in 2001 the vast freshwater lagoon that was created has become a major hub for boat anglers. Of course, the eastern end of the Bristol Channel has long been a popular area with anglers fishing aboard both charter and privately owned vessels. But up until the completion of ‘the barrage’ the only secure berthing facilities were located within Penarth Marina, which at the time was only accessible for around three hours either side of high water. Today, boat owners can readily access these productive fishing grounds 24 hours a day. Likewise, Penarth Marina, too, can be accessed at any time. The completion of the barrage created opportunities for the development of many more berths within the enclosed bay, and the boat angling…

As a base for the private boat angler Salcombe takes some beating; it has great weather, sheltered waters, plus a remarkable array of species – 29 at the last count have been recorded. It’s also within an hour’s run to open sea marks with a big reputation when weather allows. The balmy conditions are the reason for the availability of exotic gilthead bream, its first UK boat record being a fish of 4lb 13oz taken in 1975 that has risen in six stages to 10lb 2oz 4dr recorded in 2015. So many have been caught Salcombe could be given the title “Gilt Eldorado”. THE BAG The main areas for gilts include the channel abeam Portlemouth and the moorings known as ‘the Bag’ giving access to the Kingsbridge Estuary. On its…

There aren’t many places in the UK where you’re pretty much guaranteed to catch cod and codling these days. The Bristol Channel can be hit and miss, but this year there have been quite a few quality cod caught there. However, for consistent numbers of codling and cod up to double figures, the River Humber has proven itself to be the single best place to go in recent years. I’ve been lucky enough to fish out of Grimsby for the past three consecutive years on numerous occasions, and I’m yet to blank there. NEW (OLD) BOAT I received a phone call from my good friend, Roger Cooling, back in October informing me that he’d ‘bought another boat’. It soon transpired that he’d actually bought a fully-operational charter boat and his…

For boat owners who keep their vessels on permanent moorings or berths in a marina, the first lift out of the season can be a daunting task. What’s more, the sight of hundreds of tiny barnacles, which have made the hull of your vessel their home, can be worrying, to say the least. Don’t panic; it’s never as bad as it looks, and if you keep on top of it by lifting, scraping, and spraying them away every year you should have nothing to worry about. However, leave your boat in the water, and the barnacles to their own devices, at your peril. LIFTING OUT You should always get you boat lifted out each year, even if it’s just an annual check to make sure the underside is sound and…

JAMES MADSEN Bristol Channel angler James Madsen is here to solve all your shore angling problems. JOHN HOLDEN A Sea Angler contrbutor for over four decades specialising in casting and rod building. BEN BASSETT The Plymouth angler and blogger will provide answers on the sport of light rock fishing (LRF), the go-anywhere tactic. DAVE LEWIS Based in Newport, South Wales, our contributing editor Dave answers boat fishing questions. HENRY GILBEY Angler, blogger and photojournalist Henry, based in Cornwall, is our lure expert. HOW TO ASK A US QUESTION ■ Email: sa.ed@kelsey. co.uk or online: www. facebook.com/seaanglermag By asking a question you are giving us permission to use your name and where you live in all versions and platforms of this magazine.…

Q I’m going to Norway in July and am hoping to catch large coalfish. Can you suggest a decent spinning rod and fixed spool combo that’s not overkill, and suggest some soft lures that would be good please? TONY SHORT DL says: For many years I have used a Shimano Saragosa 5000 for large coalfish when fishing both in Norway and Iceland. With the reel loaded with 15-20kg braid, I have caught several 30lb plus coalfish, and cod. My favourite lures are the 120g Storm Swim Shads, shown. These are easy to fish by simply dropping to the bottom and retrieving through the water column to locate the fish. The current Shimano STC and Shimano Travel Concept range of rods includes several excellent and reasonably priced models which would perfectly…

Sea angling manufacturers are starting to produce more and more EVA luggage which is tough, waterproof, lightweight, easy to clean, and won’t rot like some fabrics when exposed to a saltwater. Late last year, Tronixpro launched a full range of EVA-based products, developed to be a modular system, taking organisation to the next level. BAGS There are four bags in the range. Three are made from the same EVA waterproof material with welded seams, while the larger Rubber Bakkan is made from thicker EVA and has a hard plastic base. All bags feature the same two-way zip opening that can be fully opened for easy access. The zip sits underneath a lip for waterproofing, so any water that might ingress through the zip won’t get into the main compartment. The…

COX & RAWLE SPECIMEN XS HOOKS - SCR29XS RRP: £3.75 The Specimen XS hook from Cox & Rawle is a short shank version of their popular wide gape Aberdeen style hook. Ordinarily, their standard wide gape Aberdeen is available in both fine and medium gauge wire. The Specimen XS hook is only available in the medium gauge of wire at the moment. There are two hook sizes available, 3/O and 4/O. These hooks are extremely strong and this is reinforced by the fact they have a shorter shank. Super sharp points, along with a micro-barb, allows really good hook penetration. Altogether, it’s proving to be another great addition to the Cox & Rawle hook range. You have a number of options when it comes to the use of this hook.…

■ Keep any eye on what’s being caught around you. Don’t try and catch species that aren’t there. It’s a percentages game that you are playing; think about the points the species are worth. ■ Memorise the points scoring system. Keep track of your points and the points of the anglers around you. Very often the last fish of the day wins the match by those anglers who know what species, and how many of them, they need, in the final minutes of the match. ■ Hooks — use as smaller hook as possible. You can catch a 40lb conger and a 4oz rocking on a size 2 hook. Big fish sometimes take small baits! I use Tubertini series 2 which are really strong. The size 6 wouldn’t bend out…

When I was still in my early teens I took interest in a book, Sea Angling with The Baited Spoon, written by John. P. Garrard, who, interestingly, signed himself as “Sea Angler”. The book described his experiments in using a variety of retrieved, fluttering, spoons to initially attract flounder in towards the bait which was being dragged along just rear of the spoon. It was highly successful and in turn his adapted advice caught me some fish too. Things move on though, and I’ve recently gone back to a spoon technique with a modern slant. I’m finding it a useful tactic to have in these times when fish are not always so easy to catch, especially when sea and weather conditions make everyday tactics less likely to succeed. What’s more,…

LONG QUARY POINT Late 18th and 19th century coastal quarrying at many places along the Torbay shoreline in south Devon left a legacy of notable shore marks. Long Quarry Point is accessed from the Walls Hill area in the Babbacombe district of Torquay by a steeply descending and heavily overgrown path. SPECIES The mark’s most famous fish is an electric ray of 47lb 8oz caught by Brixham SAC member Roger Pearce, beaten only once in the many decades that have elapsed. Deep water up against the quarry edges is a feature and only a moderate cast is necessary to put a bait into 20ft of water during a low tide for a wide variety of species in their respective season. Bass to 11lb 07oz have been caught between May and…

GETTING THERE Off the main A497 coming west from Porthmadog, as you come down the hill into Criccieth take a left turn signposted Traeth (Beach), drive over the railway level-crossing and turn right along Castle Street. As you pass the castle on your left you come to Marine Terrace and the beach is immediately on your left as you go down the hill. There is some roadside parking but during May to September this can be very limited. There is alternative parking on the promenade east of the castle and in the town. TACKLE SHOPS ■ Criccieth Tackle Box, 45 High Street, Criccieth, Gwynedd LL52 0EY. Phone: 01766 523633.Website: http://www. cricciethtacklebox.com/E-mail: info@cricciethtacklebox.com…

FANCY WINNING SOME QUALITY mono, braid and fluorocarbon from Sufix by catching a great fish? In our catch competition, your target is to catch one over the weight given on our nominated species list. If you do, enter our contest and you automatically stand a chance of winning either our shore or boat bundle. Each issue we award a superb Sufix package to the captor of the best shore fish and best boat-caught fish, both chosen on merit. There is no choice of prize which is awarded at our discretion. Mike Cave, Southampton FISH: Spurdog 22lb BAIT: Whole mackerel VENUE: The Needles DATE: January 25th Barrie Chambers, Plymouth FISH: 18lb 9oz Undulate ray BAIT: Mackerel VENUE: Plymouth DATE: February 11th Karen Gallagher FISH: 15lb Bull huss BAIT: Mackerel VENUE: Plymouth…

GETTING THERE The easiest way to the foreshore is to leave the A48, Eastern Avenue, at the Cardiff Docks/ City Centre exit at Llanedeyrn. Follow the signs for Cardiff Docks, first along Southern Way then Rover Way. The dock entrance is just past the steelworks. Parking is restricted because access to the docks is not allowed unless fishing a prearranged open match. Park on the approach road near to the security gates and walk past the heliport to reach the foreshore. FACILITIES Channel View Leisure Centre, the location of the main public launch site, is located at Jim Driscoll Way, Grangetown, Cardiff, CF11 7HB. Contact reception to confirm opening times on Tel: 02920 378161 Penarth Marina can be contacted on VHF Channel 80 or Tel No.02920 705021. For more information…

The rosy, or crimson, jobfish (Pristipomoides filamentosus) is a species of snapper found throughout the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean as far east as Hawaii and Tahiti. Locally this species is very important to commercial fisheries. However, the species is increasingly popular with travelling sport fishermen, which is hardly surprising as, pound for pound, these are one of the strongest fighting fish you can hook in the tropics. The average size is probably around 8lb-12lb, with the IGFA record for the species held by a fish that weighed 19lb 6oz, caught off the coast of South Africa. TACTICS A voracious predator, the vast majority of rosy jobfish I have seen have been caught speed jigging, usually when fishing in deeper water over, or in the very near vicinity…

Q I take it I can convert a multiplier rod to a fixed spool by obviously changing the eyes, but do I fit the new fixed spool set of eyes to the opposite side that the original multiplier eyes were on as the compression of the rod during a cast would now be on the opposite side? How do I then get the spacing of the new fixed spool eyes correct? KEITH MCALLISTER, COUNTY ANTRIM, NORTHERN IRELAND JH says: We could dive into a muddy mixture of myth and magic. But let’s keep it simple. Ringing for fixed spool work in the old days meant using just four or five very big rings. This was the British way, reflecting tournament casting but also flying in the face of the rest…

Many sea anglers like to take their catch home for the family to enjoy; being able to keep a variety of delicious fish you catch is one of the benefits of sea angling. The health benefits of wild-caught fresh fish are well known but fish can be very expensive. To help you make the most of your fish we’ve enlisted the experts from The Boathouse Fisheries in St Mary’s Bay, Kent, to give Sea Angler readers a masterclass in fish filleting and preparation. This month we start with flatfish. In the next few months our shores will be visited by hungry plaice and dabs, both of which make excellent eating but can be tricky to know how to prepare. All flatfish are filleted the same way apart from Dover sole…

If you’re on Facebook, then you’ll probably remember the posts and pictures of thousands of dead crabs and lobsters lining the Northeast shoreline back in October. It all began with several sea birds dropping dead, followed by the mass deaths of crustaceans, and then dog walkers reporting their pets becoming ill after walking the same beaches. There has been much speculation throughout the following months on what is actually causing it – yes, there are still loads of crabs and lobsters being found washed up, even now. However, a recent independent report published by the Northeast Fishing Collective, a group of commercial fishing associations, angling societies and stakeholders along the Northeast coast, assimilates the cause of mass mortalities to a specific chemical – Pyridine. ALGAL BLOOM A multi-agency investigation led…

I’ve been using Holy Mackerel oil now since I first saw it in my local tackle shop, Plymouth Angling, last summer. I’ve been wanting to try a fish oil attractant for a while after seeing other people using it in videos. I first tried the Holy Mackerel oil for mullet and I had excellent results by making ground bait and also soaking the hook bait in oil before casting. I have noticed a difference in how quickly bites appear when I use the oil compared to when I am not using it. When you use it in ground bait you can see a nice trail of oil on the surface that most definitely attracts the fish to your bait. I spent a couple of months only fishing for mullet; we…

NEW SUZUKI OUTBOARDS Suzuki is introducing three new models to its outboard range for 2022 in the form of the DF140B, DF115B and the DF100C. These new outboards are mechanically controlled and replace the out-going DF140A, DF115A and DF100B models. These additions to the range provide an upgraded compression ratio of 10.6:1 for better top speed and quicker acceleration, as well as increased fuel economy through improved thermal efficiency. These new outboards also include a 40-amp alternator that delivers improved output and battery charging at low idle speeds. A redesigned cowling incorporates a new air intake structure with improved water separation and a silencer-resonator system to provide a more pleasant boating experience at all engine speeds. The new design also gives a smoother and more dynamic aesthetic appeal. To make…