Innholdsfortegnelse for #3 Saltwater Fish i Sea Angler Guides

A stunning silver-sided fish with a crown of gold on the forehead, the gilthead bream is hard-fighting and has acquired a cult-like status among specialist sea anglers. Traditionally, they were predominately a species of the South West, but due to warming temperatures, their once quite distinct boundaries are slowly pushing further north and east, making them available to more and more anglers across the UK. WHERE & WHEN The noted areas for gilthead bream are the estuaries and surf beaches of Devon and Cornwall, but as mentioned, the past decade has seen them push further east along the South Coast of the UK, while recent years have seen giltheads caught as far as the north coast of Kent and even from the Suffolk coast. Though rarely reported, without doubt they…

WHERE & WHEN Bull huss are a year-round target and the only time when they thin out a little is roughly six weeks between late February and mid-April during breeding. Through late spring and summer, numbers build inshore, while the autumn period is a good time for overall catches, but it’s often December, January and February when the biggest fish are caught from the deep-water rock ledges in Devon, Cornwall, Wales, the Scottish west coast, and from the south and west coast of Ireland. Smaller neap tides are a good starting point when fishing off the rock ledges. Huss like a little run in the tide, but not too much. They feed well for the first two hours of the new flood, then intermittently through the faster mid-tide period. Slack…

WHEN AND WHERE These flatfish are caught on most tides. Although many anglers target the bigger spring tides, it is often the smaller neaps when the flounders don’t need to move far to feed that can give the best fishing because it concentrates their numbers more. They feed best when the tide is flooding, so the hour after low water and through the middle tide period is good, with bites slowly easing away as high water nears. Being fish that hug the inner surf tables, they can be caught only a few yards out. Even in daylight they are not frightened to come into relatively shallow water just a foot or two deep. A common myth is that flounders do not feed at night. It’s actually the best time, although…

Lure fishing, especially LRF, is the most mobile and adaptable form of fishing known to man. You can be an opportunist, taking advantage of a spare hour or two, and you never know what you will catch. The joy of LRF tackle is that it is very easy to carry a rod ready rigged in the boot of the car. Add a small tackle bag and a selection of lures and you’re good to go. Here LRF expert Jake Scholger gives the lowdown on the gear and tactics required, and the species to catch. RODS AND REELS Ideally you will need an LRF rod with a casting range of 1-8g. Length is variable, but for harbour work I like a rod 7-8ft long. It can be solid tipped or hollow…

With the rod-caught record conger from the shore standing at an impressive 68lb 8oz you can see why some anglers get a kick out of catching them. Hook one though and you will find they have a couple of sneaky tricks for getting off the hook like swimming backwards and spinning to break the line. A switch to catch and release in recent years has seen a gradual comeback of the species after years of over-fishing by commercials and anglers around deepwater wrecks, where the large breeding females were decimated. The exciting thing about conger fishing from the shore is you never know what you are going to get size-wise, and once hooked you don’t even know it you are going to land the fish, which hide among rocky ground…

Arelative of the tuna, mackerel are a true tropical species that can show an amazing turn of speed. Fished for with light gear, lure or float, they can put up a lively scrap although it is a sucker for multiple lure rigs. Thousands of would-be anglers get into sea angling after catching their first mackerel, maybe during a holiday trip. They are certainly a lively fish and great fun to catch but then things can get serious. A cheap rod and reel combo gets you into fishing, especially from piers where mackerel shoal and can be captured pretty easily. The step up from mackerel to proper sea angling may be a major one, but feathering with a string of lures is fun and a pastime that is enjoyed by thousands…

One of our most common shorebased flatfish, it is commonly called Dover sole but is also referred to as black sole or common sole, these being more localised commercial fishing names. Reaching weights in excess of 6lb, though much larger fish have been commercially caught offshore, they are usually between 1lb and 2lb. These flatfish are not always a common catch for rod and line anglers unless you specifically target them, due to their small mouth and sometimes localised distribution. WHERE & WHEN Found throughout the UK and Ireland, they are commonest in the southern halves. Hotspots occur in the UK from the mid English Channel and up the east coast as far as the Humber. In the west there are good sole grounds inside the Bristol Channel with the…

WHEN & WHERE To get the best out of your bass fishing, you need to understand the changing seasons and how the bass adjust their feeding to coincide with seasonal peaks in the food chain. Traditionally, the bass season begins in April, with fish moving into estuaries and on to rough ground beaches to capitalise on the first real flush of the peeling shore crabs. By May the bass will be present in numbers, with June the best month of all just prior to the crab peel slowing down in July. In estuaries, the bass run with the tide using the main channel like a motorway, then veer off to explore rougher weedier ground along the channel edges. They also enter side creeks, while over high tide on spring tides…

In past decades golden grey mullet have been confined to mainly some southern and south-west English beaches and estuaries, and a couple of specific venues in south-west Wales. Yet, in the recent years a few vanguard fish have been caught from the south-east of England and even some beaches in mid-Wales. In Ireland, they are found most frequently in the Cork area and westwards. Occasional fish are reported from Wexford and the Kerry beaches in perfect conditions, again indicating this shift into a wider area. WHEN & WHERE Golden greys, or GGs as they are commonly called, are a summer fish with mid-June being the accepted time of their common arrival, though County Cork in Ireland can produce fish in mid-May in warmer spring weather. In all areas they tend…

Shore pollack require a mobile approach, but they are free biters, fight well, and though the majority of them generally might be no more than 3lb in weight, there is always the chance of a much bigger fish. Pollack can be caught all-year round, but from December through to May, the majority will be fish weighing up to 2lb, though an exception is always possible. Generally speaking, the pollack come back inshore from May onwards, building in numbers through the summer. The best of the fishing, especially for bigger fish, is from September to late November, even December if the frosts are few and the weather mild and not too rough. The rock ledges along the west coast of the UK offer the best fishing for pollack, though they are…

Thick-lipped mullet are one of our hardest-fighting sea fish and often dubbed the UK bonefish, and on appropriate tackle, that’s not too far off the mark. Known as ‘grey ghosts’, they can be frustrating at times, showing interest yet not taking the bait. Sometimes they certainly seem to be impossible to catch, but the rewards for perseverance are immense. WHEN & WHERE Mullet are found right up into the north of Scotland, but for numbers the emphasis is on the southern half of the UK and around Ireland. Mullet are lovers of warmer water and migrate back in from about early April in the far south, though some fish can overwinter in mild years, especially in the South West. Further north, it’s usually late April or early May before the…

This order of species is called Anacanthini, which includes the Gadidae (cod family), all of which are well known to sea anglers. However, some confusion exists in the identification of rockling and their small relatives. Here, we’re only including the main species relevant to anglers in the UK and Ireland. There is only one of the ling that is considered a mainstream angling target, although two are found, but the blue ling is not included in the record list. The rest are a mix of small specimens specific to a particular type of shoreline or habitat, usually rough ground and deep water. These include the torsk, forkbeard, tadpole fish and various rocklings. All are small and fairly insignificant unless you are a match angler, a record-hunter or love light rock…

One of our most common species and well distributed right around the UK and Ireland, ballan wrasse are a muscular fish that have evolved to live in turbulent surging water adjacent to hard structure. Pound for pound, they fight exceptionally hard for their size. WHEN & WHERE In mild winters, wrasse can be taken almost all-year round, especially in deeper water off the south-western coasts of the West Country, Wales, the west of Scotland and around much of the Irish coast. That said, wrasse are very susceptible to cold inshore water temperatures especially when this occurs as a sudden drop. In colder winters they move offshore into much deeper water with a more constant temperature. The best period for wrasse fishing is from April through to November, with the peak…

Come mid to-late February, the first plaice start to show back inshore after spawning. For the shore angler, plaice are the first sign of an imminent spring. Yes, initially, they are thin and out of condition, but they soon pack on weight, feeding voraciously throughout spring and summer to reach peak condition from the late summer months into autumn. WHEN & WHERE Although found throughout the whole of the UK, plaice can be somewhat localised, being resident in one area yet rarely seen just a few miles up the coast. Typical ground for plaice are the corners of surf beaches, where clean sand butts up to rock, also in any deeper gullies towards the low tide and mid-tide mark where the plaice will sit as the tide floods deeper. Mussel…

Amember of the shark family, the smooth-hound is widely distributed and commonly caught south of a line drawn from roughly the Mull of Galloway across to the Holderness coast in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Hotspots are the South Coast and southeast beaches, and both sides of the Bristol Channel, but good fishing also occurs along the Lincolnshire coast up into East Yorkshire, also from North Wales, and also the Lancashire coast. In Ireland, the Wexford and Wicklow beaches give the best of the fishing. BAIT CHOICE You need to be selective with your bait. In most situations, peeler or soft-backed crabs will be the best choice. However, hounds take hardbacks as well because its exactly what they are looking to eat. In all cases, bind the crab to the…

September signals the start of the autumn whiting season and by early October, their numbers are increasing rapidly nationwide, reaching a peak from November through to Christmas. It is a time of plenty for the shore angler who sets out with a simple, but effective, approach to maximise catches. WHERE AND WHEN Whiting are a shoal fish and stay out in deeper water by day, but migrate inshore with the onset of darkness. They can be caught from shallow surf beaches, deeper steep-to shingle-backed beaches, also from man-made structures such as piers, breakwaters and harbour walls. Man-made structures normally give access to deeper water, so both smaller neap tides as well as spring tides can be productive. The best tides for beach fishing generally, though, will be the rising middle-sized…

FLOUNDERS Sight fishing for these flatfish is an exciting style of fishing, particularly when a good flounder caught on LRF gear gives a tidy fight too. The flounder operates in shallow water close to the shore, so is a perfect target for LRF. One of the best strategies is to use the tides to your advantage. Generally, a favourite part of the tide for flatfish is the first couple of hours of the flood. Being camouflaged and flat, they can hunt successfully in only inches of water. A great thing about this time of the tide is that it is very easy to see the fish, which means you can have some brilliant fun when sight fishing. Polarised sunglasses help massively, as well as an elevated fishing position. Luckily harbours…