Innehållsförteckning för 518 från Sea Angler

WELCOME TO ANOTHER GREAT ISSUE packed with a variety of superb shore and boat fishing coverage, along with loads of great hints and tips to help you catch more fish. With the weather improving, we can expect a larger variety of fish species to catch, so we’ve reflected that in this issue, which kicks off with Jansen Teakle describing the tactics adopted for black bream during a shore session on the Purbecks in Dorset (page 8). Meanwhile, Dave Lewis shows that spring codling and a host of other species are on the cards at a productive mark in South Wales (page 12), while Chris Clark goes in search of plaice (picture above) at Hengistbury Head (page 16). Our popular Down Your Way series visits South Shields and details the species…

FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING AND I’m in bed listening to 50mph winds battering the garden, wondering how many fence panels will need my attention in the morning. By nine o’clock I’ve made an inspection and all is good, though the wind is still blowing very hard. I make myself a coffee, sit down, savour a mouthful or two, and then receive a call from an excited Roy Tapper. “Dave, I’m fishing Newton Point, it’s lifting with cod, good fish averaging 3-4lb, get yourself down here!” Having known Roy, who lives in Cardiff, for a long time, he’s one of those anglers whose advice I listen to, so 10 minutes later I’m heading west on the M4. Located adjacent to the massive Trecco Bay caravan site east of the seaside…

HEADLAND, CLIFF AND ROCK EDGE venues offer a vantage point to fish from into deeper water for a host of rock species under your feet, and another variety of species out on the sand in the deep water. In fact, on the less accessible marks you may have the fish to yourself. You get two distinct styles of fishing in one place, with lots of variety in the fishing methods you can use. For many, a remote vantage point away from the angling crowds is ideal, but not all anglers like the extremes of height or the dangers associated with the cliffs. Access may be varied and the well-trodden cliff paths not as productive as the more challenging ones. Pick your fishing spot with an eye to the sea and…

LAST MONTH I COVERED THE TACKLE you need to get into light rock fishing, as well as some basic techniques. Now it is time to cover species, where to find them and the lures to use. Having a range of techniques and lures to match means you are able to catch a variety of fish. It is just a question of working out what the fish want and how to present it to them. So, armed with a 7-8ft, 1-8g LRF rod, small spinning reel, light braid PE0.6 or under, and a selection of lures, it’s time to investigate what is around you. HOW TO RETRIEVE LRF is still fresh and developing, but there are some basic techniques to suit whatever is in front of you. I hope what follows…

Using a Texas rig is a great way of creating a weedless lure and can really help you to fish rough ground without snagging. The key to this is using an offset hook pattern. I carry a range of hook sizes from 2-8 that cover most situations. They are usually fished in conjunction with a small cone weight that you slide on above the hook, followed by a bead. You can also tie on the hook and then pinch a split shot on the line above the hook to achieve the same result. 1 Slide on a cone weight followed by a bead, then tie on your offset hook. 2 Hook the lure through the nose until the hook point and barb are visible. 3 Slide the lure up the…

CONFUSED about the correct hook size for your bait? It’s critical to get it right to boost your chances of success. Our quick guide to seven key types of fish will put you on the right track. Pennell rigs can be used for all the species mentioned here, although for hounds and rays that are being returned, many anglers prefer a single hook to limit mouth damage. If you go down the one-hook route, take special care when mounting baits. You can use a wire spur attached to your hook eye to prevent the bait slipping and to give the bait and cotton a fixing point. There are patterns, such as Varivas PiggyBack hooks, with spurs included. Watch your fingers when using them. • Bass: This species has a large…

USING soft baits can be a real issue for anglers. Trying to whip a mussel, the innards of a hardback crab, or a nice, big juicy clam on to the hook is almost impossible. I don’t know about you, but I’m always left with a bundle of goo gathered around the bend of the hook – it doesn’t look appealing, and certainly won’t withstand any more than a gentle underarm cast. Therefore, we just don’t take the soft option! We need our baits to be durable and easy to get on a hook, and this is probably why worms and fish figure high on our list. This is a shame. We are forced to overlook a multitude of possible baits because we can’t present them properly. Some of these can…

Q: I keep reading about light rock fishing, but isn’t it just spinning? PAUL DONOVAN, POTTERS BAR, HERTS AK & DS say: You’re not the only person thinking that. The name LRF is a little confusing, but it doesn’t originate from the UK. The ‘Rock Fish’ in light rock fishing actually relates to a generic group of highly sought fish species in Japan. The closest relatives in the UK would be fish like wrasse and sea scorpions. In the UK we’ve adapted them to our own fish and made it ours. UK LRF isn’t limited to certain fish species and habitats, but the name has stuck. Q: What sort of rings do I look for when buying a new rod or replacing old rod rings? RAY FRY, BY EMAIL AY…

Every month, Bass Lures, the company at the forefront of the modern lure fishing revolution, is giving the star question winner on this page a starter bundle of soft and hard lures and accessories worth £150. If you have a lure fishing question for Henry Gilbey, email: cliff.brown@bauermedia.co.uk and use the subject line ‘Q&A’. CONTACT BASS LURES • Visit: www.basslures.co.uk • Call: 0800 0842227 • Email: sales@basslures.co.uk • Follow Bass Lures on Facebook and Twitter • Need a trade account? Contact Top Water Lures on 0161 942 1011 or info@topwaterlures.co.uk…

FROM 1893 UNTIL 1940 THE BRITISH Sea Anglers Society (BSAS) was the premier saltwater organisation and recorded notable fish, some of them national records. Its premises, including a museum and library, were destroyed in the Blitz and saw the end of the organisation, so in the post-war years Angling Times took on the responsibility of recording record fish, before handing over in 1957 to the newly-formed British Record Rod Caught Fish Committee, operating under the banner of the National Anglers’ Council. Today, the committee is within the Angling Trust and meets regularly. The first conger eel record can be precisely dated to 1922, when the BSAS received details from the Dreadnought SAS of a 63lb 3oz fish taken off Hastings by a Miss Bluebell Klean. There was an unsubstantiated report…

There was a big furore on the internet when scores of smoothhound carcass remnants and undersized bodies were discovered washed up close to the River Medina on the Isle of Wight by local angler Kevin Parker. Obviously the result of some commercial fishing activity, the finger was pointed at Continental vessels, as smoothhounds are not marketed here in the UK. This goes hand in glove with similar accusations regarding the marketing of UK tope elsewhere within Europe. These fish, unlike the smoothhounds, are a protected species throughout the EU. As part of his research into the DNA of smoothhounds at: http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/01/16/icesjms.fsn218 full Irish scientist Ed Farrell devised a quick test to not only differentiate the two smoothhound species from each other, but also from tope. This will allow fishery enforcement…

AS THE DAYS LENGTHEN FOLLOWING the spring equinox and the biggest tides of the year, the Bristol Channel takes on a transformation. With the cod season almost over, anglers turn their attention to new targets. On days when weather allows, we steam to offshore rough patches in search of spurdogs. These fish invade the western approaches to the channel shortly after Christmas. They are one of the most voracious of feeders and will make short work of virtually any fish that dares to get in its way. Being primarily fish eaters, herrings, sprats and pilchards will be high on the menu for the packs of hungry spurs. Most of these fish are females that come to the Channel to lay their young and can reach a fantastic weight on the…

IT’S A PRETTY AWESOME FEELING TO come across a perfect-looking fishing spot, or be tipped off about one by another angler. But how do you find out what a new mark will fish like and what you can expect to catch? Fist thing is to visit the place on a low spring tide when, in a one or two-hour spell, the sea gives up her hidden secrets. Revealed may be big deep gullies for bass to run up in pursuit of baitfish, or rocks and groynes on sandy beaches that crabs will dig under to shelter. Most importantly, you’ll find out where those horrible snags are that will cost you your favourite lure. BIRD’S EYE VIEW When you’re on a mark at low tide, get a feel for it from…

LAST YEAR WAS MY THIRD LURE fishing for bass, and it got off to a promising start. By late June I had doubled my previous year’s total catch and caught my second biggest bass. I was on a roll. Unfortunately, some unsettled weather forced me to fish alternative marks, where I blanked a few times. My lucky streak had ground to a halt. Despite this setback I felt sure I would start catching again once I could return to my favourite spot. When the weather did improve, I was straight back there. But I blanked, with no bites either - the bass had moved on. My number of consecutive blanks began to creep upwards. I’m no stranger to blanks since I took up lure fishing, and I knew I had…

After an enforced lay-off from the shore for several months, Sea Angler's Alan Yates got the rods out for a plaice session at Sandgate in Kent. Fishing the flood tide in front of Sandown Castle, he caught seven plaice, keeping three and returning four. He included two dabs and two herrings, with the bulk of the fish coming at high water and the ebb. Green and orange beads blinged up his black lug baits fished on size 2 hooks. The popular venue was covered by Alan in Down Your Way in our last issue (517).…

Saltwater fly-fishers from around the world will converge on Cornwall in September to compete in a new two-day event. The UK Saltwater Fly-Fishing Festival, takes place from September 24-27 and is based around historic St Mawes. Exclusively a shore fishing event, it will be fished from Port Isaac to Looe. The event is the brainchild of Amelia and Tim Whitaker, who wanted to promote saltwater fly-fishing in the area. Entry is £100, for which you get a goodie bag worth £75, a welcome reception and fly-fishing forum, a practice and demo day from top professional guides, two days of competition, an evening barbecue with live music, and a prize-giving reception with sponsor Kilchoman Distillery. Visit www.saltwaterflyfishinguk.com for details, or ring Amelia, tel: 01326 279278.…

• Jack Reynolds, from Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, joined his dad for a boat trip aboard their private vessel. Anchored off St Thomas Head, he dropped his lug tipped with squid bait only to have it snatched by this 10lb 8oz cod. • Jamie Clague, aged nine, from the Isle of Man, headed off to a nearby rock mark to target a wrasse. His chosen tactic was to freeline a frozen black lugworm and he was rewarded with this superb 4lb 6oz specimen. • Kyle Coleman, from Porthcawl, Bridgend, looks really happy as he poses with his super spurdog that tipped the scales to 14lb 1oz. The 11-year-old used a frozen sandeel on a pulley rig from his local pier. • A trip to the River Severn near Bristol saw Joseph…

CHESIL LEAGUE Abbotsbury, Dorset, 36 anglers While a light, north-easterly breeze aided casting for the 36 entrants, the fishing was slow to start, but some quality fish were caught including plaice, dabs, flounders, thornback rays, dogfish and whiting. Darren Cramer, of Southampton, was the winner with 7-14-0, and his 4lb 9oz thornback ray was the biggest fish. Darren Stevens and Ant Buik weighed in two massive plaice of 4lb 9oz and 4lb 4oz. • Result: 1 Darren Cramer, Southampton, 7-14-0 (3pts); 2 Darren Stevens, Bristol, 7-12-3 (2); Ben Stockley, Weymouth, 7-0-0 (1). Heaviest fish – Darren Cramer, thornback ray, 4-9-0 (0) NORFOLK SEA ANGLING FESTIVAL Cley to Sheringham, Norfolk, 54 anglers This biggest-fish event failed to attract the large entry the organisers may have expected, perhaps due to anglers not…

AFTER HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME during what was the best codling fishing in years, and some great ray fishing, my thoughts turned to plaice…and where to catch them. Having contacts on the South Coast, I had to play a waiting game. My information sources, Robin Howard and Craig Gosling, have superb knowledge of the area and told me plaice were showing, but only small, thin ones. Luckily, I had a Plan B up my sleeve. That was to fish nearer to home at Hythe in Kent. All I needed was a break in the weather, just three or four calm days on midday spring tides. A week before the required tides the wind forecast was north-east, backing north then veering north-east and backing again to the north. At Hythe…

WITH THE FIRST HINT OF SPRING trying to make its presence felt, it offered an ideal opportunity to search out some early plaice that filter inshore at several locations in Hampshire and Dorset. Although Sandbanks, at the entrance to Poole Harbour, is always a good bet for a few early red spots, on this occasion I was heading further east to the beach hut section at the back of Hengistbury Head, situated between Bournemouth and Christchurch. Reports of a few fish had already been circulating on the local angling grapevine, so it didn’t take much to persuade David Graham, from Southbourne, and Mark Hiscott, from New Milton, to join me. We met early on a misty morning in mid-March at the large pay and display car park that serves the…

STANDARD gear for fishing down in the rocks needs to be strong. A 6-8oz beach caster, minimum 30-35lb breaking strain mainline, a single hook rig and plain lead weight is standard for the bigger species like conger or huss. Multipliers or fixed-spool reels are used with the latter, having the edge as its retrieve ratio is large on its first turn of the handle. Terminal rigs include the standard pulley or one-hook paternoster. Multi-hook rigs are not recommended because they magnify the odds of getting snagged. A very popular alternative when fishing by the cliff is to use a sliding float, enabling the angler to fish a set depth off the seabed or alongside a ledge or overhang. It’s a great technique for wrasse and pollack, with a live head-hooked…

HARBOURS It’s fair to say that harbours are a mainstay of the LRF world. Not only do they hold many species of fish, but also they offer shelter from the elements. They provide easy access and are ideal for short sessions, so you can pitch up and be fishing very quickly. Harbour walls and pilings offer good fish-holding structures, and working a wall a rod-length out can throw up many species of fish. Wrasse, pollack and mini species love the cover that a wall gives them. Here are four easy ways to catch: • Simply dropping your lure down the side and hopping it along the bottom will work for all these species. • Casting out along the wall and working it back with a straight retrieve at different depths…

SQUID is great bait for tipping off worms, but you only need a small sliver, about a thumb size, in most cases to add sight and movement to a hookbait. 1 Remove the head of the squid and cut up the side of the body. 2 Open out the body, remove entrails and backbone, and peel off the skin. 3 Using sharp scissors, cut into small slivers to suit your requirements. 4 Add a finished strip to your main bait, such as lug, rag or even crab.…

Q: How fit do I need to be for kayak fishing? ROBBIE DAVIS, SWANSEA GR says: A basic level of fitness when starting out would be desirable, but not essential. Kayak fishing and paddling is not difficult, depending on where you try it. Rough water and strong tides make things difficult, so starting off at sheltered areas may be a better option. As your time on the water increases, so will your fitness level, very much the same way as you would find with cycling. With each trip you take out you will find that you can paddle further and for longer than the previous trip. Slowly but surely, even a very low level of fitness can be built upon. For the record I am not the fittest guy in…

THREE-FISH BAG LIMIT...BUT FOR WHOM? In a bizarre twist, anglers are now being told that rod-and-line anglers may be able to flout the latest, and desperately needed, UK bass conservation measure. We are hearing the three-fish bag limit, introduced by the European Commission on March 29, will not affect someone selling his catch, and this has already raised cause for concern with the Angling Trust (AT), which has worked so hard, along with the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society (BASS), to bring in new protective legislation. The Trust says a potential loophole exists, in that the killing of bass on rod and line for commercial reasons is not covered by the bag limit. Does this mean the angler fishing next to you, on taking his third bass, can carry on killing…

• In 1933 H.A.Kelly wrote the details of his catch, which included the 84-pounder, on the back of a tiny picture. • The year is 1936 and Yanny Jordanopulo (below right) is pictured with the 89lb conger from the Eddystone Reef that could have been the British Record had it been claimed. • Billy Oaten (below) was willing to drape his 95lb 11oz fish around his shoulders. It was caught from the leading charter boat of the time Our Unity, based at Brixham and skippered by John Trust and Ernie Passmore. • Robin Potter caught his record eel of 109lb 6oz in 1976. He was aboard the Plymouth boat Boa Pescador, skippered by Steve Barrett. • Hans Clausen bagged a 110lb 5oz fish, taken from Bill Warner’s Plymouth boat, The…

I’VE BEEN MAKING A CONCERTED EFFORT to chase the Sea Angler Shimano Mission badges and having a lot of fun in the process. Having started participating in species contests and earning badges elsewhere, trying for a few specimen fish was the natural progression. If you ask any of my kayak angling associates what I go after, the replies would mainly fall into the categories of species hunting or food, though, in reality, it’s just my way of life. I launch more than 100 times each year, in the sea or fresh water, because it’s what I like to do. The rest is just a bonus to keep me excited and to break away from the certainties of life. My first Mission badge came in May 2012, along with one for…

HAVING SPENT A FEW YEARS FISHING on charter trips, many anglers start to think about buying their own small boat. Usually, the dream goes something like this: “I’ll buy my own small boat, a vessel that I can tow and launch anywhere and whenever I like. I’ll be able to fish with whom I choose in an uncrowded environment. I’ll become skipper of my own destiny, taking full credit for the many specimen fish I shall catch.” That’s the dream; but what’s the reality? I can assure you that it isn’t all about catching fish, far from it. Running your own boat properly is a big undertaking requiring a hefty commitment of time, effort and money. It will be down to you to ensure the boat is maintained in a…

TONY CATON WILL ALWAYS BE remembered for being a thinking angler as well as the brains behind Gemini Tackle. While many of us were happy to fish with three-way swivels and crude, home-made sinkers equipped with fixed-wires many years ago, Tony would continuously be on the beach testing many of his revolutionary ideas that we all know and use today. It all began with sinkers – a lead weight that would dig in after being cast. Positioning a rig and bait when the tide was running hard meant that finding success as the cod came through was a revelation. This sinker, though, was equipped with wires that could be pulled from their stronghold, open up and allow the rig, and fish, to be retrieved with ease. Tony then decided that…

NOWADAYS, I CAN’T IMAGINE LURE FISHING without braid – but the nature of the stuff means it can be a problematic mainline if you don’t use it the right way. Love it or loathe it, its thin diameter and lack of stretch helps with long casts and gives an incredible level of feel and control over all manner of lures. Get it right and braid is actually very easy to fish with. So read on and allow me to help you lure fish effectively with this high-tech line. 1 DON’T OVERFILL THE SPOOL Overfilling the spool of your spinning reel is the single biggest cause of wind-knots. I know how tempting it is to fill your spool right up to the lip in the quest for a few extra yards,…

READING ABOUT RODS, REELS, LURES , rigs, bait or tactics is important, but we all know (if we don’t, we should) that 90 per cent of the battle for success in fishing is being in the right place at the right time. Every sea angler must, at times, wonder where would be the best bet for a fishing trip. How do you decide? Well one thing’s for sure there are lots of factors to consider. The best place to start is with a good map. I guess that the best maps to use are on Google Earth. It is quite easy to set yourself up with a detailed picture of your usual stretch of coastline and using ‘My Maps’ to mark on it each spot that you go to. The…

DEEP SEA LURE AND WRECK FISHING is not something that I had tried before. John and I managed to get on a trip with Ray Mclaren on his boat Oberon, out of Portsmouth, for a wrecking trip in the English Channel. Leaving the wall at 5am on July 27 last year, there was a light breeze and a few clouds in the sky. It was a three-hour steam to the first mark, giving us time to prepare our rigs. Ray showed us his set-up for shadding, the helicopter rig, which comprised of 8-10in of 60lb mono with a barrel swivel at one end and strong snap swivel. In between we had three plastic beads, then another barrel swivel topped with two more beads. A snood length of 6-8ft of 20-30lb…

Jason Carter kicked off casting's new Grand Prix season with victory, thanks to his cast of 254 metres with a 150g weight. At the United Kingdom Surfcasting Federation tournament on March 22 at Huntingdon Racecourse, Cambs, he recorded distances in the 125g (247.75m), 150g and 175g (238.43m) categories, pushing Danny Moeskops into second with a best cast of 248.81m, again with 150g. Third place place went to Andy Copping, with 247.20m using a 150g weight. Jason won both the 125g and 150g classes, but was third in the 175g category. Danny claimed the best distance in the 175g with 242.33m, while Andy won the 100g class with 229.57m. The second Grand Prix took place on April 12, and this time Danny led the field with a cast of 263.60m using…

Changing his venue when the wind picked up proved a good move when Joe Drew caught a last-cast bass weighing 12lb 5oz 6d. The fish was a new personal best for the angler from Devon, and a record for his club, Teignmouth Sea Angling Society. The plumber, from Teignmouth, had been fishing all night in Salcombe, catching a variety of species, including rockling to 1lb 4oz and pollack of 2lb 8oz, but nothing big. “As the strong winds picked up at 6.30am I decided to move to a new venue in Salcombe, for what I thought I was going to be a relaxing, chilled-out day,” he said. Several hours later he had caught a couple of plaice, so tried fishing a lighter hooklength of 12lb fluorocarbon to attract more interest…

Daniel Haynes (right), from Southampton, Hants, fished the Hop Inn SAC match on April 11 and caught this 6lb 7oz spotted ray on a side of Bluey. The 32-year-old angler was fishing at Gilkicker Point and used a one-up, one-down flowing trace with size 1/0 hooks. The fish, which was released, was part of his match-winning 14lb 15oz catch that also included four dogfish, a flounder, 10 pouting and two whiting. • Patrick Fulton’s 6lb 8oz 8dr spotted ray set a new record for his club, Castaways SAC. The angler, from Plymouth, caught it on a sandeel while he was fishing at a mark in the South Hams area of Devon.…

FANCY winning tackle from Shimano by catching a fish? Your target is to catch one over the weight given on our nominated species list. If you do, you win a Mission Accomplished badge, the chance of a great monthly tackle prize and the possibility of a top annual prize. This year’s qualifying period for the annual prize runs from issue 513 to issue 525. The overall winner, chosen on merit by the editor and announced in issue 526, gets a sharking trip for two on White Water III, out of Milford Haven, but if cancelled due to the weather it will be a winter trip out of Penarth. Each month we award a Shimano Nexave Surf 400 five-piece rod and a Speedmaster 8000 fixed-spool reel, worth a total of £325,…

WHEN I WAS TOLD OF A MARK ON the Dorset coast that consistently produced black bream to over 3lb, I might have thought my informant was exaggerating – except that his name happened to be Ben Stockley. In all the years I have known Ben I have come to realise that tall orders are his speciality, so it was with complete faith that I joined him one summer-like day to pursue these hard-fighting demons from the cliffs of the Purbeck peninsula. Ben was a little cagey about the exact location of the mark and, as I was about to find out, with limited fishing space on the hotspot, I could see why. But bogged down as I was with tackle and a mountain of camera kit, after negotiating several barbed…

LOTS OF SHORE ANGLERS PREFER TO take a leisurely stroll along a man-made structure rather than yomp along a beach to cast a line. It’s an easy option for chucking a bait into deep water where fast tides can aid your search for a few fish. South Shields pier stretches into the North Sea on the south bank of the Tyne estuary in the North East and is a popular spring, summer and winter shore venue where codling, coalfish, whiting, flounder, dab and plaice are regularly caught. THE FIRST GATE This is a popular spot during a spring tide, when casting into the estuary can be productive.The last of the flood and the first couple of hours of the ebb tide are optimum times to choose. Species like coalfish, plaice,…

• Try groundbait when fishing close to rocks. A few regular offerings of bait into your swim can attract a host of species. A chum mix of boiled fish and bread spooned on to the rocks over a session works well for mullet, mackerel, bream and garfish, while small chunks of fresh mackerel may attract the bottom feeders. • The contours of the rocks below you can be important to tackle retrieval. For instance, it may be better to stay back and higher up from the sea to gain leverage or create a better angle on the tackle for retrieve. • Hidden ledges and joints in the rock are common on rock marks, and one lost rig makes considering a small move of a few metres important. A change of…

• Blennies: Found in rock pools, alongside harbour walls and anywhere where they can hide in among structure.Jig head and split shot rigs work well and use lures around an inch in length. Bouncing a lure around boulders and tapp ng it against the seabed and harbour wall works well. • Scorpion fish: Catch these it rock pools, harbours, rock marks and anywhere with structure to ambush prey from, They have big mouths and are aggressive, so even take large lures. Try techniques where you are working a lure close to the seabed. • Wrasse: Found in rock marks, harbour walls, kelp beds and anywhere where there is structure for them to live. The bigger ballans can he quite aggressive and will take large lures. Most soft baits will work,…

ADAM KIRBY & DAN SISSONS The Portsmouth-based duo fish ultra-light from shore and boat. They’ll provide answers on light rock fishing (LRF), the go-anywhere tactic where size of fish is secondary to the fun of catching them. ALAN YATES Contributing editor and former England international angler, Alan is your shore fishing expert. DAVE LEWIS Based in Newport, South Wales, our contributing editor Dave answers boat fishing questions. GARY ROBINSON Galway-based Gary gets a thrill from fishing afloat on a kayak. Send him your kayaking problems. HENRY GILBEY Angler and photojournalist Henry, based in Cornwall, will answer questions on lure angling. Q: I’m looking for a new mullet rod and saw some LRF rods by HTO in my local tackle shop. Will they be suitable? PHIL DRAKE, LOUTH, LINCS AK &…

Q: Is the Fiiish minnow the only lure you need for lure fishing? I love hard lures, are they comparable? LUKE YOUNG, BY EMAIL HG says: At times, you could think so. The Fiiish Black Minnow is, as you say, a truly deadly lure, and as much as I would never contemplate going bass fishing without at least a couple in my box, it’s not a lure that is going to cover every eventuality for you. While I accept that I need to experiment more with their shallow head, I don’t tend to turn to Black Minnows for those really shallow, rocky locations, for example. Here, I would look at something like a very shallow-diving IMA Komomo SF125, a surface lure, or a soft plastic, rigged, weedless and weightless. I…

Angling Addicts is not a club, just a collection of fishing nuts who love being out doing what they enjoy most – fishing, be it sea, coarse or fly; they enjoy nothing more than wetting a line. In late February I received a disturbing email from a contact at Peel Ports, which owns the North Wall at Heysham, Lancashire. This is a favoured fishing spot that can throw up codling, bass, plaice, dogfish and other species, and offers what we call easy fishing. Park by the railings, get out and fish. Great for the aged, metal-hipped old stagers like yours truly, it is very popular with anglers young and old from most of the North West. The email stated that a local police search dog had been on the Wall,…

IN AN ARTICLE FROM THE 1970S, LEGENDARY Essex charter skipper Bob Cox described smoothhounds as ‘God’s gift to angling’, saying there was no other reason why a fish that spends its life crunching the shells of slow-moving crustaceans should be equipped with a tail and fins capable of delivering so much raw power. We didn’t have smoothhounds along the Lancashire coast back then, so I got myself down to Bradwell, from where Bob and John Rawle operated, to see if he was right – he was. Imagine my delight, then, when just a few years later the first hounds began to show up along my regular dinghy fishing haunt of Lancashire’s Fylde Coast. Nowadays they have reached well up into Scottish waters and have been regularly taken along the Solway…

IN THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE IN THIS SERIES we looked at the techniques commonly used when fishing over sandbanks from a drifting boat. This time we are going to drop anchor and look at how to tackle similar ground from a stationary boat. There are several reasons why you might choose to fish at anchor rather than on the drift. One is that it greatly increases the range of species you might catch, notably the various rays that tend to respond best to a bait that is either static or slow-moving. Other species such as tope and smoothhounds are typically fished for at anchor. The oils from various baitfish, which are used as groundbait (or chum) create an effective rubby-dubby trail that foraging packs of fish follow until they locate your…

ONE THING THAT HAS A HUGE bearing on how far kayaks paddle is the strength of the tidal flow working with or against the vessel. I learned to fish from a kayak on the east coast of Ireland, where there are strong tidal flows. Any distance that is covered on an outward leg of a journey has to be repeated to get back to your launch point, particularly important if you travel up or down tide, but just as relevant if you travel straight out to sea. Bearing this in mind, it would be good practice to familiarise yourself with the Rule of Twelfths. Well known to surfers, windsurfers and other water users, the Rule of Twelfths is a method used to understand when the peak flows of any tidal…

I HAVE LONG BEEN A FAN OF THE EXTENSIVE range of Jeanneau angling boats – a range designed and manufactured by a company that fully understands the needs of sport fishermen. The latest model I got to sea trial, the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 695 Marlin, has done nothing to change that opinion. She is a superbly built and practical boat with excellent on-the-water performance, the sort of craft anyone serious about their fishing would be extremely proud to own. The design, which I see as being sporty and clean cut, while retaining a pleasing traditional feel, was inspired by that of her big sisters the Merry Fisher 755 and 855 Marlins. Part of the thinking in building the smaller boat was to offer anglers a trailerable craft, obviously a key…

I CAN REMEMBER SPENDING MANY OF MY summer shore sessions stood on the rocks of Northumberland in search of the North East’s famous red cod that hide among the kelp tangles. The only trouble was that many of the marks I fished involved a bit of a trek to reach. Walking in a pair of Geordie pyjamas (as PVC chest waders are known up north) left me sweating and hot before I’d even started, even worse if I wore a pair of neoprenes. Then I discovered lightweight, breathable waders. Worn together with a pair of wading boots, yomping over rocks and through gullies and staying mobile was so much easier and much more comfortable during hot summer days. PATAGONIA RIO AZUL WADERS RRP: £230 The exterior fabric of polyester is…

LURE CASTING FROM A BOAT ON choppy water is a difficult and daily occurrence here on the west coast of Wales. In a way, I envy those lads who find a safe, smooth haven in the expansive natural harbours. It must be lovely heading out to sea knowing that as long as they hug the lee shore, the anglers will be able to stand. Not so for me, because I have no shelter here in New Quay, Ceredigion, unless the wind is in the south-east; and then it rains! I do, however, have bass, lots of bass. So what can you do to increase your chances of a hook-up with a hard-fighting bass in choppy water? Let us acknowledge that there comes a point when standing up to make a…

On my own stretch of the Dorset coast – within 20 minutes’ drive of my house – I can identify places which are fishable. For example, here are six distinct types: • Venues that produce good bass to surface poppers or weedless soft plastics on the second half of the ebb, as long as it’s not too rough to prevent you fishing. • Those giving a variety of species, including bass, pollack, scad, garfish and mackerel, to spinning, livebaiting or fly-fishing tactics, whatever the state of tide, but only when there’s little swell. • Marks about as reliable as you can get for bass spinning, but just for half-an-hour either side of high water on spring tides. • Places that fish best for bass on the ebb tide at first…

• A wrecking trip produced three personal-best ling for John Billett. The angler, from Frome, Somerset, caught fish of 19lb 8oz, 20lb 4oz and then 20Ib 15oz. John was using a Norwegian Herring lure, which he jigged on a 20Ib-class rod, while aboard Colin Penny’s Flamer IV, out of Weymouth, Dorset. • Essex angler Barry Edwards and Phil Browning, of Hockley, caught common skate to more than 200lb in the Sound of Jura, Scotland. Barry bagged a best of 202lb (below) on an octopus bait, while Phil 's 185lb fish fell to a frozen mackerel kebab-style bait. They were aboard On Yer Marks Too, skippered by Matty Burrett. • Taking a long trip to Chesil Beach, in Dorset, produced personal-best rays for Callum Chandler and his dad Richard. Callum, of…

Tony James caught this record-beating 5lb haddock on the March 10 while boat fishing in Porthkerry Bay, Barry. He was fishing from his own vessel, Bluefin, an Arvor 20. The bait used was a black lug, rag and squid cocktail. “It’s quite a rare fish for the Bristol Channel. In fact, it's the first one I have caught or seen in 35 years fishing this area. I didn’t realise at the time, but it more than doubles the current Welsh boat record of 2lb 3oz for a fish caught off Swansea in 1996,” said Tony, of Barry.…

An angler has caught a potential world record shore-caught ling during a holiday in Norway. Phill Hambrook (right), from Ash, near Sandwich, Kent, caught the massive fish while fishing around the Saltstraumen area in the north of the country. The kitchen fitter, aged 40, and three friends were on a holiday trip with John Strange, who runs Guided Fishing Norway. John specialises in finding unfished shore marks off the beaten track and puts countless hours in studying maps and sea charts. “We were on one of his first trips and I agreed to help John fish some new marks he had been researching over the past few months,” said Phill. "I have been fascinated with deep-water fishing ever since visiting the Skarnsundet Fjordsenter, where, with Phil Dale’s guidance, I hooked…

• EAST SCOTLAND Expect turbot at St Fergus beach to fish baits, especially fresh mackerel. A few being caught jigging LRF style. Wrasse starting to appear around Portknockie harbour on ragworms and soft plastics. The caravan site to the north of Eyemouth and the golf course to the south of the harbour produce mixed bags of fish, including cod, pollack, wrasse, coalfish, mackerel and dabs to worms or crabs, with the flood tide best. • Tackle shop: Somers Tackle, Aberdeen, tel: 01224 210008. NORTHUMBERLAND Expect mackerel on Roker pier this month. Try Daylite lures and spinners. There will be some pollack to 5lb on float-fished launce. Best spot is opposite the second set of pier steps. There will be plenty of flounders and small coalfish in the River Wear, with…

AS MATCHES GO, THIS IS RANKED AS one of the toughest and most competitive on the calendar. In fact, take a glance at the list of entrants and it’s almost impossible to pick a winner because the standard is so high. With a bait ban on peeler crabs and white rag in force, and fished to a measure-to-weight conversion, tactics would need to be spot-on. A single dogfish was worth a huge 70 points, while a bonus ray could boost a match card’s total considerably. Flatfish, codling, rockling, along with pin whiting, could prove vital to keep an individual’s score increasing. Sponsored by rod company Anyfish Anywhere and Conwy County Council, the two-day event was fished at Llandudno from late afternoon and into the evening over four hours of intense…

INDIVIDUAL WINNER 1 MIKE LAYCOCK (WINNING £750 WORTH OF PENN FISHING TACKLE) Mike Laycock, of Workington & District SAC, scored 86 points from the full allowance of 20 competitions. Aged 64, Mike has been a consistent winner in the Clubman since it began and was the winner last year (88pts from 20 matches). A retired maintenance fitter for an aluminium factory, he has been involved in angling and its organisation in the region for more than 30 years. He started out as a junior member of the Workington British Steel club, going on to win its senior championship 10 times. In 1992 he joined Flimby Sea Angling, winning its club championship 10 times. In 2004 he helped form Workington & District SAC. 2 SIMON LEWIS, MALDON SAC (£500 WORTH OF…

I’VE SEEN FEW TRULY SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS to maintain, yet alone improve, our oceans. On a wider historical note, commercial fisheries around Britain were twice resurrected from their death throes to fair health by the intervention of two World Wars. Of the western Atlantic and North Sea nations, Norway and Iceland are probably the best custodians of their fish stocks. Norway banned discards more than 25 years ago to save the Arctic cod. Though it was much to Britain’s disadvantage, I rather admire Iceland’s ultimatum during the 1972-75 Cod Wars: stay off our patch, or we’ll sink you. Modern European Union fisheries policy is mired in political chicanery and skewed by commercial lobbying. The Fish Fight to end the discard system is a reasonable example of how sensible changes can be…