Innehållsförteckning för Issue 595 från Sea Angler

MAIN THEME OF this issue is spring fishing for bass, which are becoming almost an all-year species in some regions. There have already been plenty of reports of fish from both the north and south of the country. Well done particularly to a few lads in Northumberland who’ve been catching some, not just lone fish either. You can check out all the latest catches starting with our Mission competition (page 30). We’ve also got some interesting interviews and stories from some leading anglers, two of whom are charter skippers. They are Kevin McKie (page 46) Gethyn Owen (page 50) and Roy Tapper (page 94) and they’ve more in common than you might think. As always, we’ve got plenty of product information and reviews in this issue, including the new Anyfish…

If any UK anglers catch a tagged bass, and a lucky few do, then record the tag number. Ideally, measure its length (nose to the fork of the tail), and ease out up to five scales from just under the tip of the extended pectoral fin. You only need give a rough idea of where you caught it, such as the nearest town or county. Email the information to bass@fisheriesireland.ie or phone the number on the tag. In turn, you will get details of the original date and area the fish was tagged, its age, and length when tagged. It’s a simple way to do our little bit to preserve Irish bass fishing in the future. Irish anglers interested in contributing by recording detail and taking scale samples can find out…

CASTING A METAL SPINNER, Dexter wedge or an Abu Toby from a pier wall or open rock mark is often an early experience for any sea angler. Easy to cast, robust and capable of searching huge amounts of water, these lures prove to be successful time and time again. It was my introduction into an active style of lure fishing and convinced me that the constant casting and moving would result in a big fish grabbing my lure at any moment. Deep-water rock marks, piers or clean beaches are usually recommended for casting with metal lures. Yes, metals sink quickly and are vulnerable to getting snagged on rough ground but many lure anglers are reaping the rewards of fishing in areas that may have been avoided before. Places such as…

COD FISHING IN THE HUMBER had an unbelievable start this season with plenty of fish, including a few double-figure specimens, from marks along both the north and south banks of the river. The timing of this run of big cod could not have been worse for me because I was flat out with my building work and really under pressure to get jobs finished before Christmas. I was working six days a week and spare time was limited. With the word of specimen cod being landed, some of the more popular or easily accessible venues were extremely busy. A lot of anglers from far and wide were putting in the hours in search of these fish. I don’t enjoy fishing in a crowd at best of times so I decided…

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…

WITH LOCDOWN likely to ease and anglers being allowed to travel to go fishing, coupled with the ‘Rule of Six’ coming back into play as far as charter boats are concerned, it’s time to look forward to what could be available from April. I love this time of year. For me it’s all about light-tackle fishing with spinning rods and reels. Plaice, in particular, are often found in huge numbers and are willing to feed hard. The thing to remember here is that they are returning from spawning, and as such are ravenous. I rarely keep one to eat at this time of the year because they tend to be really thin. Experience has shown that even if I manage to scrape off a wafer-thin fillet, the flesh is usually…

WITH A PASSION FOR THE sea, a love of fishing and a desire to lead a life of his own choosing, you could say Gethyn Owen seemed destined to forge a career as a leading charter boat skipper. Like many, his angling started in childhood and his route to becoming a successful skipper took in international boat angling as part of the Wales team. Now he is best known for running his boat My Way, based in Holyhead, North Wales. Having fished with Geth for quite a few years, I’ve got to know him well. Along the way I’ve caught some great fish and made many new friends fishing alongside his regular anglers. Q An obvious question, but who or what got you into angling and when? Did they have…

WINNING QUESTION Q I have been fishing for over 50 years and have only recently heard of cart. Can you tell me what it is and where to find it? JAMES PEGRUM, CUMBRIA PF says: Cart is the inner meat and all-important coral found inside an edible hen crab. The coral consists of the eggs carried and then stored inside the crab. It’s easily recognisable by its distinct orange colour. Rather than harvest their own, most anglers prefer to buy the crabs from a fishmonger, or a fisherman who works crab pots. HOW TO MAKE CART 1: Remember to only use edible hen crabs that are of legal size. These sizes can vary somewhat, but are generally 130-140mm across the back. 2: Pull away the shell and carapace to reveal…

PENN 525 MAG4 RRP: £160 THE MULTIPLIER REEL MARKET HAS BEEN mostly dormant for a few years, and it would certainly seem that the movers and shakers in this industry have run out of ideas. However, the boffins at Penn have been busy scribbling down designs of a reel that will surely raise an eyebrow among many sea anglers. Over the years, trends have swayed somewhat. While a majority of shore anglers have drifted to ‘Team Fixed-Spool’, the lovers of the multiplier (me included) finally have something to get excited about. Those long hours spent at the design stage have definitely been worth it for Penn because, at last, this is a multiplier to lust over. It’s a reel that offers strength, smoothness, control and, ultimately, the performance to match.…

SHIMANO VANFORD C3000HGF RRP: £194.99 HAVE WE got to the stage with modern spinning reels where our hard-earned money is buying us more quality and features than we could have ever imagined? I think back to only 10 years ago and then I take a close look at this stunning new Shimano Vanford and, for under just under £200, I cannot believe how much lure fishing goodness has managed been crammed into this ridiculously lightweight reel. Weighing a miserly 191g when loaded with braid, the Vanford C3000HGF is so smooth when you turn the handle that I have to wonder how much better a more expensive spinning reel could be. By the way, the letters HG mean high gear. I favour a 3000 size Shimano spinning reel on lure rods…

AMONG ANGLERS IN GENERAL there seems to be a growing thirst for playing around with old tackle, perhaps for the same reasons people enjoy restoring and driving classic cars. There was a time when I’d never go for a drive without a set of tools and a spare set of contact points in my car. Similarly, with old reels, keeping them running is all part of the game. People own vintage reels for all kinds of reasons, ranging from serious collecting to just wanting something cheap to use. Whatever the case, you do have to get used to them and this can be a challenge. Old multipliers are more demanding than modern 6500CT-type reels but they’re perfectly reliable and predictable once mastered. Quality vintage fixed spools are heavier, clumsier and…

As a stalwart of the Welsh angling scene, he’s seen many changes and reckons there is much to celebrate, even though some anglers still make fishing far too complicated WITH A FISHING CAREER GOING back to the good old days of the 1970s and 80s, top shore match angler and keen specimen hunter Roy Tapper has seen many changes. Here the former Wales shore team international talks about his favourite types of fishing, the changes in tackle and how anglers who fish the Bristol Channel have responded to the rise and fall of different fish species. Q How old were you when you first started sea angling? RT: I was seven or eight and my grandfather took me fishing at our local Rhymney River. We fished the freshwater part of…

APRIL 2011 ■ A potential record spurdog was caught off the Kent coast by Justin McGregor, of Canterbury. His fish, weighing 24lb 5oz, easily beat the record of 21lb 3oz 7dr, but it was not weighed ashore so could not be accepted as a record. He was fishing on the Trinity Bank, out of Deal. The boat record now stands at 25lb 4oz with a fish caught in 2017. ■ Kayak angler Rob Appleby caught a 29lb cod while fishing off Watchet, Somerset, and added another of 14lb 8oz in the same session. ■ A prototype lure produced a 27lb 1oz pollack for Barry James, of Plymouth, Devon, while fishing on the local boat Happy Days, skippered by Aaron Lidstone. Earlier in the session he caught a 22-pounder to give…

BASS ARE DRIVEN BY INSTINCT, to eat as much as possible, grow as fast as possible, and breed as prodigiously as possible. They don’t swim around wondering how to deal with fake news on the internet, when to clean the tadpole pond, or whether a three-ounce bomb weight’s going to move around too much in a five-metre tide. On the other hand when I am near the water I spend the majority of my time deep in contemplation. The reason I’m bald, I reckon, is that I’ve scratched my head so much. People sometimes say to me “You think like a bass.” It’s a compliment so I’d be churlish to tell them “You’re wrong, fish don’t think at all.” There is, however, one aspect of life where I have a…

DOWN HERE IN CORNWALL we never quite know when the new bass fishing season is going to kick off, but there are two things I am convinced about. Firstly, I believe that the previous winter a on a or and secondly that social media gives us an indication about when other parts of the UK and Ireland start to fish for bass. It’s good that so many anglers enjoy sharing details of their catches (be careful with precise locations) because it gives an interesting timeline of when different parts of our coastline switch on. I would also suggest that these days there are more anglers lure fishing for bass, and that those old rules about seasons have been disproved and discarded. I notice it with wrasse as well. Who’d have…

IN THE MIDDLE OF MARCH LAST YEAR, after the long winter months started to melt away, I was really champing at the bit for an early plaice session. Rumours were circulating of a smattering of red spots appearing along the Devon coastline and a few phone calls confirmed an element of truth in the information, although the action was spasmodic. A few days later, fired up with enthusiasm, I was on the road with my pal Steve Lawrence heading west from Dorset to Budleigh Salterton, situated along Devon’s south-east coastline and about 15 miles from Exeter. We were meeting Stuart Withyman during the middle of the afternoon in the main beach car park on the town’s eastern flank. Our plan was to fish for three hours in daylight with the…

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. Tommy Fraser, Burra, Shetland Islands. FISH: 9lb 5oz torsk. BAIT: Sidewinder shad. VENUE: Lunna, Shetland Islands. DATE: February 27 Dougal Martindale, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. FISH: 24lb 15oz 8dr spurdog. BAIT:Double squid on running leger rig. VENUE: South of…

£25 TACKLE VOUCHER WINNERS Fishingmegastore.com awards a £25 voucher prize to each of two winners - the youngster with the best shore fish and another with the top boat catch. The winners can use the voucher to select tackle from Fishingmegastore.com which is based in Glasgow and Edinburgh.…

FOR EVERY ANGLER THERE IS A moment in fishing that sticks in your mind and stays with you all your life. It is often the thing that got you hooked, such as catching your first fish or enjoying an angling moment with family and friends. For me this happened when I was 11 years old during the summer of 1991 on a family holiday to Anglesey in North Wales. My dad took my brother Greg and I to Holyhead Breakwater. We were armed with fresh lugworms and ragworms from the local tackle shop. We were keen coarse anglers but had no sea tackle. All we had was coarse feeder rods, 6lb line, one-ounce weights and size 6 hooks. We dropped our lines down the side of the wall and were…

WITH THE ARRIVAL OF spring, more daylight and gradually increasing sea temperatures, it means the start of a new plaice season. These popular fish are often caught over generally clean ground, especially in the vicinity of beds of seed mussels. Being specific, most plaice caught in the UK come from sand and shingle banks. The famous Skerries off Dartmouth in South Devon and the Shambles off Weymouth in Dorset are two of the best-known marks, yet, increasingly, many good plaice are taken off Sussex and the south coast of Kent, along with the northern sector of the Irish Sea off the coast of Cumbria. During spring and following spawning offshore, plaice move inshore to recover and consequently feed ravenously, and, as a result, at times huge catches of fish can…

PAUL FENECH Shore angler and tackle expert Paul is here to solve your shore angling problems. MARK CRAME Suffolk-based Mark gets a thrill from fishing afloat on a kayak. Send him your kayaking queries. DAN SISSONS The Portsmouth angler 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 and photo-journalist Henry, based in Cornwall, will answer questions on lure angling. HOW TO ASK A US QUESTION ■ Email: sa.ed@kelsey. co.uk or online: www. facebook.com/ seaanglermag…

Fishing without attaching a shockleader is not a crime against humanity. What started as common sense guidance has morphed into an all-encompassing law imposed by certain zealots. For the record I sometimes use a shockleader, sometimes not. I sometimes stick to the old formula of 10lb of breaking strain for each ounce of sinker weight, but sometimes not. I always use a 50lb shockleader when I’m casting a long way with 150 grams or more of lead weight. I know from experience that 50lb test is far stronger than I actually need. The extra poundage is handy insurance against cuts and abrasion from the seabed and compensates for the inevitable dodgy knot. My preference is for ordinary monofil with a bit of stretch, and I use the same material for…

Casting a baited rig into rough ground brings with it so many challenges. Dealing with tackle-hungry snags and thick weed can be demanding not only on you, but also the kit you use in such harsh territory. By using the correct gear, though, the rewards can be spectacular and bring with them a huge sense of achievement. ROD AND REEL First and foremost, you will need a rod and reel that can withstand a substantial amount of punishment. They must be able to deal with the rigours of pulling hard and exerting plenty of pressure. For multiplier users, the Century Eliminator T1000 rod is right up there and capable of dealing with the rigours of rough ground fishing. Equally, the Anyfish Anywhere GB FS Pro MK2 (see page 82) is…

AFAW GB FS PRO MARK 2 and TOURNAMENT MATCH PRO MK2 RRP: £525 AS I STOOD STARING AT MY ROD RACK, admiring my beach rods secured in position against the wall, and realising they had remained idle for over a year due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, I still felt a real sense of satisfaction. I don’t possess a huge collection of shore rods, but those I do own have certainly served me well over many years. Everything I need is right there at my fingertips and there is absolutely no need to replenish the stock by adding more. As I gazed on the line of carbon blanks, I lifted out one of my Anyfish Anywhere blanks – an original Tournament Match Pro. Next to it is the GB FS Pro…

Your at-a-glance match events planner l = Penn Sea League Please note that some fixtures may be postponed or changed due to Covid-19 regulations in various parts of the UK. APRIL l 3: Chesil League rnd 7 & open, Masonic, 7pm-midnight, booking essential, Dave 07977 132951. l 3: North Norfolk National Sea League rnd 4 & open, Salthouse, Tony 07780 793141 or thomasamt@btinternet.com l 3: Sandwich Bay open, Deal, 11am-4pm, £30 all-in, lug, fish and squid only, book in from 7.30am at Chequers car park, Mark Rogers 07770 973062. l 9-10: Minehead Festival, shore fishing, fully booked with reserve list, James Madsen 07900 651071. l 10: Scottish FSA spring open, Riverside Drive, Dundee. Subject to change. l 11: East Anglian Teams of Five open, Shingle Street and East Lane, 10am-3pm,…

CROUCHING LIKE A HUNTER keeping his profile low, Glen Wightman tenses and strikes. The bass swims deep before splashing to the surface. It is under 3lb but gives a good account of itself. Immediately, he starts working with the fish on a mat, measuring it, recording the details and applying a tag. The fish is out the water for less than a minute before it is tasting saltwater again. He holds it lovingly for a moment and then with a waft of the tail it swims off carrying that vital little tag. Only five minutes later Glen lands another fish. His fishing partner Kevin Crowley is working the same ground in close proximity but, apart from one follow, has no joy. I quickly establish I’m wasting my time trying to…

IN ORDER TO KEEP YOUR LIGHT ROCK fishing fruitful during the tricky time when the seasons change from winter into early spring, finding the best potential venues is essential to beat a disappointing blank. Tide can be really important in locating such features so this list of the top seven places to fish is based on what I target when fishing from low tide to high water. 1 ROCK POOLS Hunting species in rock pools was one of my favourite childhood fishing memories and it is still just as much fun today. You are unlikely to be catching large fish but the selection of species is fascinating. Working out how to catch them on a lure is really good fun. A jig head and soft plastic approach works very well,…

MONTHLY WINNERS: BASS SHORE ■ Mike Watts, Weston-super-Mare, 7-2*, Burnham-on-Sea, Feb 22 BASS BOAT ■ Garry Willis, Eastbourne, 10-2*, Sussex, Jan 1 BREAM SHORE ■ Martin Larkin, Devon, 8-6 gilthead*, Devon, Feb 28 BULL HUSS BOAT ■ Barry Chambers, Plymouth, 13-0*, Plymouth, Feb 22 BULL HUSS SHORE ■ Ryan Ashmore, Bideford, 11-1*, North Devon, Feb 28 ■ Josh Harrison, Cardiff, 10lb*, Welsh rock mark, Feb 28 ■ Kev Madeley, Paignton, 10-0*, South Devon, March 6 COD SHORE ■ Adam Brain, Aberdeen, 8-4, Aberdeen rock mark, Feb 25 ■ Ian Carpenter, Cardiff, 10-0, Sully, Feb 1 ■ David Leavens, Hartlepool, 7-4, Hartlepool, Jan 2 COMMON SKATE BOAT ■ Steve Stringer, Stranraer, 107lb*, Portpatrick, Feb 28 FLATFISH SHORE ■ Jay Citysen, Preston, 2-3 plaice, Blackpool, March 6 ■ Hallam Earl, Brighton, 2-8…

WITH RESTRICTIONS preventing many of us from travelling to venues, it’s been difficult for bait diggers to supply tackle shops with fresh bait. As a result, with quite a lot of free time on our hands, my dad and I have been collecting our own from the local beaches and harbours.› The North East of England has excellent beaches to dig fresh lugworms, along with muddy harbours where we can regularly collect ragworms too. We can even fill a bucket with palm-sized mussels on the larger tides. You simply can’t beat prime fresh bait for going fishing and the best of it is these bait beds are right on our doorstep. I like to dig at a nearby harbour that holds a variety of baits including lug, ragworms (harbour and…

FEW BLUE WATER ANGLERS WOULD argue that of all of the species of gamefish caught in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, the blue marlin ranks as number one. A visually beautiful species of billfish, it possesses incredible power, stamina and speed, and when hooked is guaranteed to provide a spectacular display. For many anglers catching one is the pinnacle of their fishing career. Records for two species, the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific, are kept by IGFA. The all-tackle record for the Atlantic blue is 1,402lb 2oz, caught in 1992 off Brazil, and that for the Indo-Pacific version is 1,376lb, held by a fish caught in 1982 off Hawaii. Much larger specimens have been taken on rod and line but were not accepted for record status. The largest…

IN AN IDEAL WORLD IT SHOULD never be necessary to drive on to sand to launch a boat with its obvious risk of the vehicle or boat trailer becoming stuck. My first choice would be to launch and retrieve from a concrete ramp and not to drive on the intertidal zone. However, with care and a little experience it is possible to safely launch and retrieve on many sandy beaches. This is just as well because there are many areas of coastline that do not have designated launch sites and, invariably, these include those areas closest to the most productive fishing grounds. The optimum time to launch or retrieve on most beaches is usually during the period midway between high and low water, where not only is the sand usually…

Each month we’ll award a prize to the best shore, boat and lure/LRF question. ■ The shore winner receives two spools of Sufix Tritanium Neon Orange 0.35mm mainline, two spools of 80lb Sufix Zippy Shockleader and two spools of Sufix Shock Max 0.18mm-0.50mm tapered shockleader worth £52. ■ The boat winner receives a 300m spool of Sufix 50lb X8 Stealth Green braid and a 250m spool of Sufix 50lb Matrix Pro braid worth £53. ■ The lure/LRF winner receives five of the new Rapala MaxRap lures worth £65 To view the full range of Sufix and Rapala products, visit: www.sufixfishing.fishing and www.rapala.co.uk T&Cs: * One prize per winning question will be chosen by the editor. Prizes cannot be exchanged and no correspondence will be looked into. We reserve the right to…

WINNING QUESTION Q: Could you tell me how to use a T-bar disgorger properly? I try to return as many fish as possible but still struggle to use this so-called simple tool. CARL DODDS, EXMOUTH, DEVON DL says: The biggest mistake most anglers make when first attempting to operate a T-bar is to use it as a disgorger. To work a T-bar effectively you need to develop a knack which may seem illogical at first, but if you persevere you’ll find a little bit of practice makes unhooking fish very easy. A big advantage with using a T-bar is that if you intend releasing the fish you do not actually need to handle it, therefore preventing any possible damage to delicate internal organs and the removal of protective slime or…

AS A PROFESSIONAL BASS GUIDE, I AM fortunate to be in a position where I can borrow one of my client’s rods for a try during or after most sessions. As a result, I have used the shortest, longest, flimsiest, cheapest, nastiest and probably least suitable choices, including those awkward and nearly obsolete ‘spinning rods’, through to the most expensive, exclusive and seemingly best lure rods out there. If you’re new to this type of fishing or looking to upgrade, where you should you start? It’s a divisive subject, hence why I won’t be listing specific rods. There are two schools of thought when choosing – firstly the type of ground and secondly the attributes of a particular rod. The first point is simple enough. If the topography of your…

DAIWA BASIA SURF TOURNAMENT 45 SCW QD RRP: £650 EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, AN ITEM OF tackle comes along that will play on your mind and thoughts of it wake you in the middle of the night. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it can be cruel. This torment started at the end of last summer. Forget all about pandemic restrictions, social distancing and face masks because we had become accustomed to that. On this occasion, my eyes saw something that I couldn’t shake out of my memory. A worrying seed of temptation had been planted. Who was to blame? Daiwa, that’s who, for bringing to my attention its Basia Surf Tournament fixed-spool reel. That fleeting glance left me knowing I had to have it, even though…