Innehållsförteckning för July 2025 från Sea Angler

Wind – it’s the curse of the boat angler. Almost constant northeasterlies buffeting the north Kent coast mean I didn’t get afloat once in May, and it’s been driving me mad! Not only have I been kept from launching my own boat but a planned trip to travel to Scotland to fish the Mull of Galloway Sea Angling Festival tope event this weekend was blown off due to high winds and unsafe conditions. While wind is the curse of boat fishing there are many more ‘curses’ any shore angler could list: swimmers, seaweed, dog walkers – if you can’t control your dog in a public space then don’t blame me when it swallows a three-hook flapper! IN THIS ISSUE It’s three of these curses that Lasse Bøe explains how to…

Let’s face the fact once and for all – shore angling is a lifestyle. Whether you like it or not, the outcome from a session from the shore is reliant on a lot of factors. Some of them are destined by your own ability to adapt to a situation. Others are based on elements you as a shore angler, with the knowledge and skills acquired, have learned to endure. And some of them are simply influenced by factors you as a shore angler can’t do anything about. I had my first boat session in seven months the other day and it quickly struck me how comfortable it is to fish from a floating block of plastic that you can place over a desired point on the map. It started to…

Light levels effect where fish swim in the water column, also how they feed and how they behave at a given time. Most sea fish don’t have eyelids as being in water their eyes never dry out, so the best way they can regulate brightness entering the eye is to adjust the depth at which they swim. The deeper they go the less light penetrates the water column. SHORE In clear, calm, shallow seas, predatory fish tend to work over rougher ground. This offers greater camouflage than when swimming over clean sand. If you’re bass fishing in gin clear seas, look for areas of rough ground and fish over these, or target weed beds where the fish can get some natural cover. Over clean sand the fish will push deeper…

The day commenced with the party of Combe Martin SAC members meeting up in Minehead’s Wetherspoons for a full English. The breakfast agenda proved interesting as members entered a lively debate dissecting the nuances of poker, politics, health and economics. Minehead is a lively coastal town that owes much of its prosperity to the Butlin’s holiday camp that dominates the skyline on the seafront. The frequent whistle of the steam trains operating on the West Somerset Railway add a nostalgic essence to the town’s soundtrack. The harbour, sheltered from the prevailing winds, provides moorings for a fleet of private boats and a small fleet of charter boats. The day’s trip was with Steve Webber on his boat ‘Osprey’. Steve has been operating out of Minehead for close to 40 years…

Scan the pages of the British record fish list and you will come across a listing for a six gilled shark, Hexanchus griseus, weighing 9.5lbs caught by FE Beeton out from Plymouth back in 1976. With achievable weights pushing 2000lbs and lengths up to around 20 feet, found throughout the deeper waters of all the world’s tropical and temperate seas, this inclusion is probably the single most unrepresentative example of record-worthiness to be found in the entire list. If you want, or need, to catch a ‘grander’ (a fish topping 1000lbs), as I need to do to complete my life-long angling bucket list, then this without equal is the species to target. For unlike marlin, tuna and some of the other large shark species, there are still good numbers of…

Our experts solve your fishing problems I’ve spent several months refurbishing our youth club unit. It’s not finished yet and I realised that it was not going to be in time for the England Talent Pathway event that we were hosting. A massive tidy up session last week made sure the place was, at least, tidy for the two-day event. Saturday saw all the candidates for the event arrive. This included the current England Under 16 team, the management team and a number of young people trying to get into the England squad training camps – including five young anglers from my own club, East Hastings Sea Angling Association. We spent the day running through watercraft, bait presentation, rigs and spent some time on the shingle casting. The bait presentation…

This month we are focusing on the grey ghosts. Helping us choose the top three floats that will boost your mullet catches is mullet maestro Ben Conway. Ben is mad on these silver devils and is hugely experienced at catching specimen fish all year round. Whether it is the thick lip, thin lip or golden grey varieties, these floats will increase your chances of presenting your bait correctly and catching that dream fish. DRENNAN LOAFER Like all of the options here, this is a float designed for freshwater, specifically in rivers targeting chub. Chub are quite similar to mullet in that they can be spooky and inhabit turbulent water, so this float translates perfectly to mullet fishing. Made of blow-moulded plastic, these are light and extremely tough. Being clear, they…

THRUSTME CRUISER MOTOR FOR KAYAKS The Cruiser is an electric motor weighting just 3.5g with a Rechargeable Li-ion 18.5V 14Ah battery included, making it easy to fit on a kayak. It’s controlled with a remote making it easy to use. It has a brushless motor giving 16kg of forward thrust (14kg in reverse). It has a snap on/off remote controller and a magnetic kill switch and 6 levels of forward and backward thrust. Running time is four hours and it comes with a mounting harness, storage bag, remote with wrist band, a safety cord and 230v charger. ■ £800 from most marine chandlers MERCURY THRUSTER Mercury Marine has once again raised the bar with this cutting-edge system, which seamlessly integrates joystick piloting with bow thruster control. Designed for single-engine vessels,…

BOAT READY ‘Lucky G’ is up and running, just waiting to take us out into the channel to go fishing, but things always seem to get in the way. The constant east winds have put us off going as it creates a horrible sea and puts the fish off the feed. Then, when one of us is available the other isn’t. If it isn’t the weather, holidays away or looking after grandchildren, there’s always trips to the dentist, Specsavers, to the garage for a MOT or some other commitment that can’t be avoided! When we do get going, I’m dreaming of us catching plenty of plaice, pollack, smoothhounds and bass; then I woke up! SAILFISH My boat partner, Ross, has been on holiday in Mauritius, where he booked a fishing…

JULY • 6: Skegness Pier Angling Club Marsh Yard, Anderby, Lincs, 13:30 till 17:30, Marsh Yard beach car park Booking in from 12:00 Pegged £10 Entry, Russ Parsons -07385 150259 - russinskeg@gmail.com • 6: NWASAC Maddocks & town hall banks LW 12:45pm- 4:45pm book on from 10:30am, Contact Danny Parker, danielparker096@gmail.com • 6: Reckitts summer open catch and release matches, Easington, Meet 9am Fish 10am - 4pm, £10 entry. No bait bans, 3 hooks, pre book, contact Lee Smith on 07944 128805 • 12: Chesil League & opens, Bexington, 6pm - 11pm, best 8 from 10 matches, sponsored by Anyfish Anywhere, Weymouth Angling Centre, Arno Hooks, Angling Centre West Bay. Catch & release fishing to SAMF chart, further details Dave Lane 07977 132951 • 12: Smoothound Open, Chapel St Leonard’s…

If you’ve read any of my books or articles you may be surprised to see me writing about tackle. After all I’m notoriously frugal, not to say tight as a tick, and I have almost no brand awareness. Last time someone on the beach asked me what kind of rod I was using, I could tell her it was eleven-and-a-half feet long and it cast 2 - 4oz. For further enlightenment she had to give me a few moments to find my reading glasses, wipe the spray from the lenses, and peer at the very well-worn label (Shakespeare as I recall). My favourite lures long have been a 20g silver and white Toby and a sandeel shaped weedless soft plastic, not exactly at the cutting edge of expensive modern design.…

My entire obsession with lure fishing for bass can be seen through the massive photo library I have. If I were to go back a number of years I could show you photographic evidence of the point when soft plastic lures started to become a vital part of my bass fishing. From whacking out those ready-to-fish Storm Shads for pollack and then finding out that they also worked for bass, through to currently hunting the quiet estuary margins for bass with crab imitation ‘creature baits’, I would argue that there is very little we can’t do in bass fishing using soft plastics. Okay, so I understand the topwater hard lure argument; I can’t get enough of it when a bass smashes into a lure I am walking across the surface.…

The weather could not have been better: a light breeze, bright skies and calm seas. The perfect conditions for a brilliant day afloat. Spirits were high as 26 boats launched from Sparkes Marina to take part in this exciting event targeting the hard-fighting black bream – the arrival of which in this part of the English Channel marks summer is soon on its way! This was the first time Team Squidward 3 had fished the event, and it certainly won’t be the last. We had a fantastic time on the water and it looks like this is going to become a firm fixture on our calendar for years to come. It was a very well-organised event, held in a brilliant location. Sparkes Marina, based at the eastern end of Hayling…

Common skate in excess of 100lb are frequently caught in some areas of the UK both from a boat, and the shore. The largest member of the skate and ray family, the current British boat caught record for skate stands at 227lb, with a fish caught at Tobermory, Inner Hebrides, Scotland in 1986. The shore caught record is held with a fish that weighed 169lb 6oz, caught at Loch Raig on the Isle of Lewis in 1994. There is little doubt that larger skate have been caught and released in both categories, as it is extremely difficult to accurately weigh such huge and cumbersome fish without damaging them. A very accurate estimate of the weight of a skate can be calculated by using a size to weight chart, which can…

Thursday night, at home, ‘Top Of The Pops’ is blaring away on the TV somewhere in the background. I’d never heard of most of the acts, most of whom were pumping out nothing more than repetitive computer-generated dross, backed by naff and equally repetitive lyrics. Finally, a proper band takes to the stage; that is, a band I had heard of, a rock band that plays proper instruments like guitars and drums, with a lead singer who actually has some stage presence. The band: metal icons Iron Maiden whose latest single, ‘Wildest Dreams’, was riding high at number six in the charts. Just 24 hours later I was sitting in the bar at the Hotel Keflavik in Iceland, enjoying the first of several horrendously overpriced drinks while chatting to Bruce…

One of the great pleasures of sea fishing is enjoying the fruits of your labours: taking some delicious, freshly caught, fish home for the table. But how fresh is it after a day at sea sitting in a bin bag in the sun? Ater the effort and expense of catching it why not take the time to make sure it’s in prime condition to take home and enjoy. Follow these top tips on keeping your catch as fresh as possible this summer. SLUSH ICE Mixing ice with sea water creates slush ice which is ideal for storing fish. The salt in the seawater brings down the freezing point of the water creating ice water that’s actually below freezing temperature, keeping the fish fresh without freeing the flesh. FISH WELFARE Dispatch…

May is the month that the first of the stingrays venture within casting distance from the UK’s southern shorelines, usually showing in the Solent and beaches towards Bogner and the surrounding area. A few weeks later they will appear on the north Kent and Essex beaches. Stingrays tend to feed over sandy, muddy and clay seabeds, foraging for ragworms, crabs and small fish. On the coastline where I mainly fish for them you can almost set the date in your calendar to target them around the last week in May. On the north Essex beaches, I have seen them caught in all types of conditions, but I prefer an easterly onshore wind creating enough movement and surface chop. This seems to encourage them to feed and brings them inshore. I…

Let’s get this little misconception out of the way: the best anglers do not always catch fish. In fact, there are times when I’m sure that even regular matchwinners and world champions fail to buy a bite, never mind land a fish, for challenging conditions and difficult sessions come to us all, regardless of experience and ability levels. So now that we acknowledge the fact that even the best anglers do not always catch, what is also fair to recognise, however, is the fact that even if they do draw a blank, those top anglers have done everything within their power to try to ensure that they do not go without catching. This is where the myth of the infallible angler originates. When the chips are down, conditions are conspiring…

In association with MONTHLY WINNER £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. ■ Send your Young Rods entries by email to sa.ed@kelsey.co.uk…

I have been fishing for black bream now for over 20 years and pretty soon after I started I began to look at building a swim feeder to use from my boat. I bought myself some 110mm plastic pipe from a plumbers merchant. Once I had done the basic assembly I started drilling the tube, but my goodness there had to be an easier way! And so was born the mark II version. The thought occurred to me that by using some form of plastic mesh I could do away with the laborious task of drilling the many holes. The resulting revised feeder worked very well but suffered a lack of rigidity as the thin plastic mesh was very flexible. As it happened, this model came to a tragic end…

ASK THE EXPERTS When sending your question, please remember to include your name and address CHRIS KENNEDY Chris is a specimen hunting specialist based on Sark and answers shore fishing questions. DAVE LEWIS Based in Newport, South Wales, our contributing editor Dave answers boat fishing questions. DAVID MITCHELL David is Sea Angler’s editor and is an expert on sea angling policy and conservation . DANNY PARKINS Southwest based Danny has worked within the angling trade for 20 years for various brands’ BEN BASSETT The Plymouth angler and blogger will provide answers on the sport of light rock fishing (LRF), the go-anywhere tactic. BRIAN PASK Brian is a qualified sea angling coach and casting tutor who works with young people and experienced anglers to improve their fishing skills. SHORE ANGLING Q…

WESTIN EXPLORE CAM It isn’t just freshwater anglers who are using underwater cameras; it is becoming more popular in the salt too. For those interested, it is worth looking at the Westin Explore Cam. Weighing only an ounce, the compact Westin Explore Cam can record an impressive 1 hour and 25 minutes of high-quality footage. The Explore Cam’s small size ensures it remains discreet to fish, and its lightweight design allows for use with lighter rods than ever before. It is easy to use and can be adapted to different lures and fishing techniques. These cameras are often associated with lure fishing but can be used to see what fish are having a look (or not) at your bait too. ■ RRP £149.99 ■ Available at myfishinglures.co.uk TRONIXPRO WEIGH SLING…

For anglers who tow their boats, a correctly set up trailer is essential. Firstly, find out the optimum hitch weight, or nose weight, for your car and trailer, along with the maximum vehicle gross weight and the maximum towing weight. It’s important to get this right. You need to make sure you get both the right trailer for your boat but also that your car can handle it. The hazards of having an overloaded trailer could have dire consequences. Having towed a three-ton boat from Southampton to Scotland and back twice, I can tell you getting this right is really important. HITCH WEIGHT Distributing the load within the boat is just as important for towing as it is for being at sea. Setting up your trailer nose weight has several…

Only those who have scored 8 points or more are featured TOP SCORERS FOR MAY 2025 This month’s winner is Dai Llewelyn with 11 points. * not registered with the Angling Trust HOW IT WORKS Points are awarded based on the number of anglers fishing an open match registered for the Angling Trust Sea League and go to the top 10 per cent of anglers (limited to 20 anglers), zone winners and heaviest fish. League scoring runs from January to December and the top 45 highest point scorers each year are invited to the Sea League Grand Final hosted the following season. New for 2025 - the best Lady and Junior, alongside the season’s most improved angler, will also earn an invite to the final. Along the way are some…