Innehållsförteckning för Issue 600 från Sea Angler

IT’S ANOTHER MILESTONE here at Sea Angler with this being our 600th issue and next year we’ll be celebrating 50 years in print. To mark our 600th issue, we’ve put together a great package consisting of a 116-page magazine, 16-page Sea Angler Guides taster, a sticker sheet and two competitions. We’ve got lots of great plans too, so why not keep up to date with all the latest news from Sea Angler by signing up to our digital newsletter? It’s easy to do by visiting our new-look website, seaangler.co.uk. It has been a time of change here at Sea Angler over the last year under new ownership and things are really moving forward, thanks to your continued support. New readers are joining us all the time both for our popular…

POLLAC ARE A POPULAR SPORT fish in the UK, Ireland and Norway because they are not hard to catch when lure or float fishing and put up quite a fight. In their early years, pollack stay close to the coast and only when they reach 35cm to 40cm do they head for open water. Here they will look for structures that offer protection and a food source. In the North Sea, these are usually the ship wrecks where pollack have been caught for years but more recently their numbers seem to have increased. This species prefers a strong current. Where I live in the Netherlands, it’s fair to say pollack fishing is far from common, unlike in some areas of the UK and Ireland. For some years I spent a…

GETTING THERE On the A1098 seafront road (Kings Road), go past the Cleethorpes Leisure Centre and then the boating lake, where, on the left, there is the smallest pub (Signal Box Inn) and the light railway. Turn left next to the showground caravan park and follow the road round to the Meridian car park. Then go through the wooden gate and follow the track to the beach. TACKLE SHOP ■ Anglers and Danglers, 96 Haycroft Avenue, Grimsby, DN31 2DP, tel: 07758 12131. ■ Trading Post, 141 Hainton Avenue, Grimsby, DN32 9LF, tel: 01472 345376.…

GETTING THERE From Dartford, take the A2 towards Gillingham to Farthing Corner, then on to the A249 toward Key Street and Howt Green before going over the Sheppey bridge on to the island. From the west, use the M25 through Leatherhead toward Oxted and at Otford, take the M26 toward Snodland. The M20 will take you to the A229 at Ditton and at Maidstone the A249 takes you over the bridge on to the island. TACKLE SHOP ■ M & A Tackle, 31 High St, Sheerness, ME12 1NX, tel: 01795 581175.…

BASS BOAT ■ Martyn Vincent, Plymouth, 16-8*, Plymouth, July 14 ■ Mark Wilson, Ipswich, 14-0, Felixstowe, July 18 BASS SHORE ■ Matteusz David, Seaford, 8-4*, Eastbourne, July 26 ■ Alex Leadley, Whitby, 7-8*, Whitby, July 22 ■ Jaydon Hayes, South Shields, 8-0*, Hartlepool, July 3 ■ Kevin Knights, Poringland, 9-0*, Dunwich, July 16 ■ Peter Whittaker, Liverpool, 9-4*, River Mersey, July 20 BREAM BOAT ■ Dave Colclough, Poole, 4-11 Couches*, Penzance, July 20 ■ Jay Hemming, Bournemouth, 3-8 Couches*, Penzance, July 20 BREAM SHORE ■ Will Cooper, Falmouth, 6-4 gilthead*, Falmouth, July 6 ■ Ashley Elms, Plymouth, 7-8 gilthead*, Kingsbridge Estuary, July 31 BULL HUSS BOAT ■ David Holman, Swindon, 13-0*, Penarth, June 12 ■ Wayne Riley, Holyhead, 10-0, Holyhead, July 18 ■ Nathan Willet, 16-0*, Rhyl, July 1 BULL…

Asso Lines are a huge range of well-known products produced by Gruppo DP, one of the biggest monofilament companies in the world. Our winner gets an Asso package consisting of Bullet Proof, Classic, Ultra, Ultra Cast, tapered leaders, Ever Green braid, Ultraflex (50m) and Oblivion (100m). Contents, worth just over £100, may occasionally vary. ■ BULLET PROOF – originally designed for carp fishing, but its durability attracted sea anglers. Available in six breaking strains. RRP: £13.99 for 4oz spool. ■ CLASSIC –its high-impact strength, low stretch, superior abrasion resistance and durability mean anglers use the 50lb, 60lb and 70lb as shockleaders. Available in 15 breaking strains. RRP: £5.99 for 4oz spool. ■ OBLIVION – described as ‘another dimension in monofilament’, this is for making rigs. It has no memory and…

IT TOOK JUST SIX WEEKS FOR FISHING competition organiser, Ross Honey, to pull together this massive launch event, which saw a huge prize table worth over £20,000. And, when I tell you that the official first event to be held in 2022 is set to have a prize table ten times that amount, you can see why the whole world of boat angling is buzzing right now. Ross is more well known for organising the World Carp Classic, World Predator Classic and Forces Carp Classic events, so he’s well versed in putting on a great show. It was back in early March this year when Ross first called me to chat about his plans for a “massive boat fishing event” in the UK. I can remember the phone call vividly.…

WITH A NAME DERIVED from the dark stripes on its body, which fade with maturity, the tiger shark is second only to the great white in recorded fatal attacks on humans. Capable of attaining a length over 16 feet, the current IGFA world record is jointly held with a fish that weighed 1,785lb 11oz which was caught Australia in 2004, and another of similar weight caught in South Carolina in 1964. Tiger sharks are widespread throughout tropical and temperate seas around the world, notably the Pacific Islands. The species is described as being primarily nomadic, guided by warmer currents but staying closer to the equator throughout the colder months. It favours deep water adjacent to reefs, but some fish do move into channels to pursue prey in shallower waters. In…

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…

GUY HARVEY’S UNDERWATER WORLD RRP: £38 World-class angler, diver, photographer and artist, Guy Harvey shares his signature artwork, outstanding photographs and fascinating stories from the waters of the world in his new book, ‘Guy Harvey’s Underwater World’. He weaves together fascinating stories, scientific discoveries and insights into the behaviour of dozen of gamefish species to give an up-close picture of his time on and in the water in places such as the Caribbean, Alaska and Australia. The beautifully illustrated, large format, hardback book has 340 pages, 400 colour illustrations and measures 311mm x 241mm. Published by Rowman & Litchfield, the ISBN is 9780811769907. * Available from Amazon and to order from all good bookshops. FISHING FROM THE ROCK OF THE BAY RRP: £20 Sea Angler contributor James ‘Leakyboots’ Batty has…

EXPERT CHOICE PENN CONFLICT II LC6000 RRP: 219.99 BUYING NEW FISHING TACLE SHOULD BE exciting, well it certainly is for me. I first got my hands on a Conflict ll LC 6000 in January and I’ve enjoyed many hours of fishing with it ever since. This fixed-spool reel from Penn has been a joy to fish with on my local beaches and from a boat. It casts really well and has proven to be both strong and durable. I’ve really put it through its paces too and landed some nice fish along the way. BUILD QUALITY At £219.99, I’d class the Conflict ll in the higher end of the Penn fixed-spool reel price bracket. Those extra pound notes you are spending on this model will buy you a slightly higher…

ENGINE INNOVATION CATCHES MICRO-PLASTIC Suzuki has developed a world first innovation with a device that collects micro-plastic waste from seawater pumped through an outboard engine as part of its cooling system. Easily installed, the device does not affect the engine’s performance since it only utilises the returning water already used to cool the engine. This innovation complements Suzuki’s existing Lean Burn technology, which is on all of its electronically fuel-injected outboards. Lean Burn technology predicts fuel needs according to operating conditions, then delivers the optimum fuel/air mixture to the engine, across the entire rev range. This means fuel-efficiency and range is increased. Suzuki remains focused on providing the ultimate marine experience, which requires a healthy and clean marine environment. Since 2011, Suzuki has been voluntarily conducting its “Clean-Up the World…

HAVING A REPUTATION AS BEING elusive and frustrating at times, it is little wonder that many anglers give mullet a wide berth but these fish don’t deserve such stigma. Given a sensible light-tackle approach, along with the minimum of disturbance, nothing could be further from the truth because mullet provide superb sport and never know when to throw in the towel. Surprisingly, from May through to the end of October the various species of mullet are some of our commonest summer species with every harbour, estuary and little inlet along the South Coast seemingly alive with them. You can often watch their ghost-like grey bodies cruising just below the surface and leaving a bow wave along with a few ripples. There is some substance to their reputation as to being…

ANGLERS VISITING RINGSTEAD BAY in Dorset usually fish at night for conger eels, jumbo pouting and occasional rays, but this vast shingle beach is almost forgotten for daylight fishing. Nestling along the Jurassic coastline, the huge sweeping shingle beach oozes fishing potential yet has gone untapped for years until recently when it became fairly popular for lure anglers targeting bass. In an attempt to get to grips with its true daylight potential, I teamed up with Steve Lawrence and Chris Rogers from Poole and we were joined later by Dave Lane from Weymouth. We approached along a private road leading down to a car park and small cafe at the western end of the bay. From the parking area to our destination at the eastern end of the beach, where…

TUCKED AWAY AT THE EASTERN END of Oxwich Bay, Three Cliffs can be one of the most productive surf beaches on the Gower Peninsula, although, as with any surf venue, timing is everything. Usually the best fishing is either before or following a decent onshore blow. Three Cliffs is usually fished during the last couple of hours of the ebb and the first couple of hours of the flood. The most productive tides for bass and flounders are mid-range and ideally on a rising sequence of tides, that’s 11 to 11.8 metres on the Swansea scale. At high tide, especially on springs, your retreat from the beach is cut off. SEASONAL SPECIES For most surf anglers, bass are the main target species and, given just the right conditions, Three Cliffs…

GETTING THERE  Leave the M53 at junction 1 taking the A554 to New Brighton. Drive along the promenade past the Marine Point Retail Park and straight on past the marine lake into Fort Perch Rock car park opposite the Floral Pavilion. Free parking (currently) is available in the car park at the eastern end of the lake. It gets busy on weekends and bank holidays. Walk down the left of the fort. At the corner is a small tarmac ramp down to the beach, with the lighthouse on the left. It’s a five-minute walk to the river, with the fishing on the sand between the two groynes. SAFETY  A channel fills with water behind (from another channel that leads up to the lighthouse) but this only occurs after three hours…

FISHING-MAD MATILDA BJÖRKLUND is certainly making an impression on the specimen angling scene thanks to some great catches in recent months and is tipped for further success by none other than Martin Larkin, holder of the British record for a shore-caught conger. Originally from Sweden, Matilda (24) now lives in Plymouth where she works as a nursing assistant looking after patients with dementia. A keen photographer and angler, she started coarse fishing with her dad during her childhood. It was when she moved to England in 2019 and met her partner, Phillip Waring-Jones, who is in the Royal Marines, that she rekindled her passion for angling. “My partner took me to a local spot called Rame Head where I caught my first sea fish, a ballan wrasse. After that I…

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…

SA SIMPLE YET POTENTIALLY valuable nugget of information the other day. Did you know that the tompot blenny is attracted to yellow? This attraction is so great that if ever you are looking to specifically catch one of these grumpy-looking fish, as an ever-increasing number of avid species hunters are, then your chance of success will be enhanced if you use lead weights that are painted yellow. That’s not all. Those anglers in the know, anglers such as Colin Orme-Thomas, ensure that they include a small bead positioned immediately above the hook when they tie their rigs, but not just any old bead. Colin’s preferred beads are of a very specific size and shade of yellow. They are sold for fly-tying and can only be sourced in Ireland. The inclusion…

WE OFTEN COVER SAFETY issues in this magazine, although there is one subject that really can be the difference between life and death – first aid. Are you capable of rendering assistance if a fellow angler has a heart attack, suffers a deep wound, has a diabetic coma or shows signs of hypothermia? The list goes on. My advice to all anglers, but especially boat anglers, is to enrol on the RYA ‘First Aid at Sea’ course. This is a one-day event covering many aspects of basic first aid, and also teaches resuscitation skills. It is worthwhile course for anyone to take because you never know when you could be required to put your skills into practice, even at home with your family. Typically up to 12 candidates can sit…

Q I enjoyed the Cormac Walsh’s article on watercraft (Cracking the Code) in July’s magazine. How do you work out how each state of the tide affects the feeding behaviour of fish? NEIL COOKSON, NEFFYN, GWYNEDD JM says: This is a complicated subject and I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction. Ultimately, you will learn good watercraft from getting out and fishing certain venues regularly, at all states of the tide and in different weather conditions. You should take note in a diary (some anglers use spreadsheets on their computers) of what has worked best for you during your sessions, in order to formulate some sort of plan. It’s often a good idea to seek out other people’s experiences first, especially on venue’s which are new…

WINNING QUESTION Q I want to buy a very large landing net that is suitable for tope and conger eels but have not been able to find one. Do you know where I can obtain a very large landing net? PAUL WHITE, KIDDERMINSTER, WORCESTERSHIRE DL says: Contact Steve Batchelor, who is based in Lymington, Hampshire. ‘Stainless Steve,’ as he is widely known, specialises in custom fabricating for all sorts of high-quality stainless steel boat hardware. You’ll find his products, including large landing nets, aboard many if not most of the UK’s top charter boats. Check out his website: www.stainless-steve.co.uk Q I have two rig queries. On a recent trip out of Minehead for smoothhounds and rays, I used a shop-bought hound rig which was semi fixed. I usually use a…

This is a variation on the theme of a standard single-hook clipped-down rig and ideal for seeking bigger fish. In many paternoster rigs, the hook snood is the same length or shorter than the main rig body but here it is made much longer and goes up and over a top clip, hence the rig’s name. It can be used with one hook or with a pair set one behind the other on the snood to create a Pennell, which is a good way of presenting a hook positioned at each end of a larger baits such as a calamari squid. Step-by-step 1 Tie one end of a piece of 0.70mm line on a Genie Link Clip. This will be used to attach to a link on the end of…

The thinner braid offers an advantage with bite detection as the braid does not stretch to any degree, so even tiny bites at long range can easily be seen and felt. Braid is better when there is some tide running. Being thinner with less surface area, it suffers less pressure from a lateral tide run. Choose 20-30lb braid mainline for general surf fishing and 30lb braid for pier fishing. In both cases also use a braid or mono shockleader of 60lb to take the strain of casting. We suggest 18lb mono as a good mainline for general beach fishing in combination with a 60lb mono shockleader. Mono stretches far more than braid, making bites harder to see, and being thicker for the same breaking strain suffers more lateral tide run…

ONE OF THE GAME CHANGERS TO CATCHING more fish is using and understanding the characteristics of fluorocarbon line. There are still a fair few anglers who believe its added cost compared to mono isn’t justified, thinking clear line is just clear line whatever its construction. While mono as a hooklength will catch you plenty of fish, in my experience fluorocarbon will catch you more. Fluorocarbon for fishing was first introduced around 1970 in Japan and developed with fishing in mind from the middle of that decade onwards. However, it was the early years of this century before it made a real impact in the UK. DENSITY Fishing fluorocarbon is derived from polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and is extruded as a single strand of line exactly the same as mono. The molecules…

OUR VIEW OF LIFE IS MOULDED BY people, things and events. For me, fishing has certainly not been focused on rods and reels or tackle in general. Everyone has favourites, but the essence of fishing – why it becomes so important – is much deeper than that, though tackle may play its part. A piece of kit, something that happened or somebody we meet may trigger new skills and ideas, a shift is attitude or even a new direction in life. These are a few things that shaped my connection with sea fishing… BREAKAWAY LEAD Casting became huge in the late 1960s, and at the same time influential anglers such as Clive Gammon and Ian Gillespie pushed for more sporting beach gear. One thing held back real progress: the traditional…

DATE FOR PENN FINAL Felixstowe in Suffolk is the venue for the Penn Sea League final being held on Saturday October 23. Qualifiers from the 2019 and 2020 league seasons have been contacted by SAMF. PENN PLUS MATCH SMOOTHHOUND OPEN Chapel St Leonards, Lincs, 73 anglers There was a great turnout for this open with 73 anglers from all over the UK taking part on a hot sunny day in a flat calm sea. Hopes were high for a glut of hounds but it was not to be. Some areas, especially the ends of the zones, had some good spells with some big hounds turning up. Wayne Leason won the match with a fine performance to catch nine hounds for 91-7-0 at peg 1 in zone B. He…

AUGUST 21: Southern League rnd 7 of 12 & open, Hill Head, 8pm-1am, pegged, measure & return, undersize fish count as 1oz, £15 match entry, £5 pools, booking ends one hour before start, Darren 07919 073232, Mike 07983 579596, Ian 07736 004714 or Ant 07775 691916. 21: Hastings & St Leonards AA D Moore Cup open, 7pm-11pm, 01424 430120. 21: Millom SAC open, Silecroft, 9am-1pm, limited to 50 pegs, C&R, book on from 7pm at beach front car park, Matty 07908 003158 22: Rainham open & Summer Series rnd 4, 11.15am-4.15pm, book in 9.45am at car park (MR13 9BJ), booking essential, Ian 07791 234318 or Russell 07990 686735. 28: Chesil League rnd 4 & open, Cogden, 7pm-12am, booking essential, Dave 07977 132951. 29: North West ASAC open, Blue Bridge, 2.15pm-6.15pm,…

THOUGHT I'D GET OUT FOR A QUICK session. The water looked lusciously good with no weed obvious, except for the washing lines hanging from the rods of the bait anglers. I started using my new Drift Shoal Stick, which is ideal for wafting around structure. As I progressed along the shoreline the water became more stained and the density of weed increased. I put on a Live Target Mullet, but couldn’t get any real control. This hollow soft plastic surface lure with a big weighted weedless hook floats and the weight towards the rear keeps the nose out of the water. As the weed got worse, I switched to a four-inch Bait Breath TT pearl shad. It’s quite small with a big kicking tail, which I thought would make it…

SEPTEMBER 2011 ■ Phil White, skipper of Chinook, out of Bradwell, Essex, caught a personal best bass of 14lb on a chunk of fresh mackerel while fishing 20 miles offshore. ■ Suffolk angler Paul Fitch boated a 25lb 4oz smoothhound while fishing from his own boat, out of Shotley on the River Orwell. ■ A 30lb cod thought to be the biggest caught out of Sunderland fell to local angler Anthony Ross, who fished a Sidewinder lure at a wreck 10 miles off the local coastline. ■ Steven Surtees, of Bedlington Station SAC in Northumberland, boated a 23lb cod while out on Chieftain, from Whitby, and then saw his son, also called Steven, catch one of 19lb and a quadruple shot comprising fish of 13lb, 12lb, 11lb and 7lb on…

I ONCE WENT INTO A COFFEE SHOP IN Mexico where the owner had diligently attempted to translate the list of coffees on offer into English, but had come badly unstuck trying to describe cappuccino. The unappetising result was “Café with Scum”. Not a winner. Scum a entirely negative connotations and something best avoided. Right? Not necessarily, as I’ll explain. I’m talking about the unpleasant-looking brown sea-froth that is a common sight on surf beaches through the summer and autumn. Step on to a surf beach and you’re often faced with a colossal expanse of generally smooth, featureless sand. That can be a daunting experience for any angler. For me, the fly-rod remains firmly my favourite method of sea angling, and for the most part, the science of saltwater fly-fishing revolves…

HAVING LIVED IN CLEETHORPES for most of my life it was not until last year that I fished a hidden treasure situated behind what was Pleasure Island, also known as St Anthony’s Bank. Access is easy. Park in the car park and walk across the marsh to a glorious stretch of beach. Take care because the marsh can be quite soft in parts, but there are plenty of well-worn tracks that are safe. You come to a clearing, where, to the left, you see what resembles a pirate ship on the top of the beach. The beach is a great area for the family, being safe, well-kept and not too busy. It shelves off and gets deeper in parts, but there are also sandbanks closer in, especially where you get…

GETTING THERE There are several access points from where you can walk down to Three Cliffs Bay. They are all are located off the main South Gower road, the A4118. Travel light because it s a 20-minutes or so walk down to the beach. I park at Shepherd’s store and cafe in Parkmill, where there is a nominal parking fee. Follow the path up through the woods, then along the narrow valley past the old castle until you reach the Three Cliffs. TACKLE SHOP ■ Country Stores, 3a Church Street, Gowerton, SA4 3EA, tel: 01792 875050.…

THIS ISLAND AT THE MOUTH OF THE River Thames offers sea anglers a number of varied and interesting venues to fish. Mainly a shallow water area, it has the potential to produce good thornback rays. Being less than an hour from London, in summer it gets very busy with holidaymakers due to many caravan parks situated all over the island, so early or late tides give the best chance of uninterrupted fishing. Local knowledge from a tackle shop or other anglers is beneficial to finding the best places. The gently shelving beach at Minster has very good access for anglers with limited mobility because the parking is just behind the beach. Other venues on the island include Barton, Warden’s Point, Leysdown, Eastchurch Gap and Shellness (main picture), with the ground…

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. Gary Jones, Blackpool, Lancashire. FISH: 12lb 2oz smoothhound. BAIT: Black lug on a pulley rig. VENUE: Five Bar Gate, Cleveleys. DATE: July 8. Peter Sillito, Great Sutton, Cheshire. FISH: 76lb halibut. BAIT: Savage Gear 350g cutbait. VENUE: Muckle Flugga, Shetland,…

February 2021 will be the month that will stay with me for the rest of my life because I went down with Covid-19. Up until then I was fit and healthy and I so enjoyed sea fishing, I was fortunate enough to have my own boat. It’s my pride and joy. Before I got the boat, I was always down at Seaford beach every spare minute I could get. I remember feeling very unwell one evening and the next thing I knew I was in hospital connected to a ventilator. This was the most frightening thing I have experienced in my life. I spent three weeks in hospital before being sent home but was on oxygen 24/7. Within three weeks I was back in intensive care. The consultant explained that…

AS WITH MOST ANGLERS I AM passionate about the sport and keen to improve our fishery and help understand fish stocks and movements. So, I was very pleased when the Zoological Society of London (ZSL London Zoo) contacted myself, and several other skippers, asking if we wished to be part of a project investigating how some species of sharks use the Greater Thames Estuary. The plan was to start gathering data on three of the small shark species we catch– tope, starry smoothhound and spurdogs. We would tag the larger, healthy individuals over 70cm, with small, T-bar mark-recapture tags. The scientists told us that according to the most recent IUCN assessments, the tope is now a critically endangered species globally and the species is facing an extremely high risk of…

AS ANY SCOTTISH ANGLER about the enigmatic Loch Etive in Argyll and Bute and they’ll wax lyrical about the towering mountains of Glen Etive, the untouched wilderness surrounding and the mystical depths of the mighty water. They’ll also tell you that it’s the strangest mark to fish. One day you’ll struggle to fish two rods because the action will be so frantic; the next day with exactly the same conditions, bait and tactics, you’ll be lucky to connect with a solitary fish. Being over 500 feet deep in places, having its own unique tidal system and a huge freshwater top layer at times, there are few places quite like Etive. The variety of species is huge too, with spurdogs and thornback rays the main target for anglers but it’s not…

JAMES MADSEN Bristol Channel angler James Madsen is here to solve all 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…

EXPERT CHOICE SHIMANO ULTEGRA 4000FC RRP: £139.99 ANEW VERSION OF SHIMANO’S ULTEGRA reel will be out soon. It is a feature-packed powerhouse, offering premium performance for all anglers, and is described as “ruggedly designed from cover to core, with a hint of elegance in design.” And so the technical blurb continues, the text liberally punctuated with key Shimano buzz words, such as the weight-saving CI4+ composite body, cold-forged Hagane Gear, MicroModule Gear II and SilentDrive, and last but not least, Shimano’s X-Protect technology which makes it ideal for use in the tough saltwater environment. When it comes to Shimano products and reels in particular, I am biased, having been involved with the company since 1996. That said, I can honestly say that were I not 100 per cent happy to…

EXPERT CHOICE PENN OVERSEAS XT BOAT 30/40 RRP: £143.99 THIS NEW EASY STORAGE OR TRAVEL ROD was taken to sea on my charter boat AlyKat, out of Minehead and put through proper workout against our target species of conger eels and bull huss. My first impression was very positive. Yet again, Penn has pulled out all the stops to give this blank a modern and attractive livery. Once out of its protective carry case, the five sections fitted well into the sturdy spigot fittings. The high-quality aluminium screw-down reel seat holds a substantial reel firmly in place. The EVA grips are both durable and very comfortable, an important virtue when fishing long, hard days afloat, while the smartly fitted Fuji Alconite guides cover the blank well with thoughtful distancing. Besides…

■ With £10,000 in tackle prizes spread over the two divisions, points, based on entries, are awarded to the top three, section winners and captors of the largest fish caught in each designated Penn match. Penn also awards a prize of a Spinfisher fixed-spool reel to the angler scoring the most points in matches shown in each issue. If there is a tie, the winner will be the angler whose total is from the greatest number of results and is then chosen on merit by the editor. An angler can win only one reel during the year. To win a prize you must be registered with the Penn Sea League – supply your name, address, phone and email. Send fixtures, results and league registration by email to: sa.ed@kelsey.co.uk…