Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2024 i Sea Angler

Hasn’t 2024 come around quickly? I hope 2023 was a successful fishing year for you, assisted, of course, by the advice and inspiration Sea Angler provided! This month’s issue is another magazine packed with great features, expert reviews and the best advice on where, when and how to fish for a variety of species from shore and boat wherever you live in the UK. Kicking off is Dr Roger Munro with an exclusive feature for Sea Angler readers on bites, striking and how to improve your hook-up ratio. We’ve all struggled with it: bites that, try as we might, fail to materialise into hooked fish. With an expert insight into fish behaviour Roger unpicks the problem and shares his ten top tips to turn more bites into fish. Don’t miss…

Along with a multitude of other marks located to the east of the mouth of the River Usk at Newport and the River Wye at Chepstow, Redwick used to be one of the most popular and productive autumn and winter shore cod venues anywhere in the country. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s it was normal to see hundreds of anglers eagerly staked out along the sea wall or peat ledges, many of whom had travelled a considerable distance to get there. All were focused on catching just one species of fish: cod. These days the runs of cod are a mere shadow of what they once were, but each autumn, winter and, increasingly in recent years, during the spring anglers successfully catch cod here, occasionally in good numbers. The average…

It was, perhaps, a brave move to launch a new in-person event in early 2022 at the tail end of the pandemic. However, because of the increased interest in boating during the pandemic the organisers identified an appetite from both industry and the boating public. Boat and marine electronics sales had rocketed and although the now well-documented supply chain issues made life tricky for many companies the chance to get in front of anglers and boaters to show their latest products was too good to miss. And so BoatLife was born and in 2023 the event really took off. The key aspect for anglers was the introduction of an Angling Zone which proved to be the most popular part of the show. The organisers installed an angling stage and held…

The Wire leader Figure of 8 knot is a very quick and compact method to secure single and multi-strand wire to lures, hooks and swivels. The knot works best with relatively light wires and eliminates the need for crimping. The Haywire Twist is another popular knot for tying wire but some people find the figure of 8 knot better for tying multi-strand wires, while the Haywire Twist works better for single-strand wires. It’s a great knot when tying wire hook lengths for tope or conger. Step-by-step 1 Pass the tag end of the wire through the eye of the hook. 2 Double it back and pass it behind to form one loop before bringing it under and over the wire main line to form the second loop before passing the…

BOAT ANGLER For dinghy anglers trailing a boat and being able to select the right kind of trailer for your boat is essential. There are all sorts of trailers available, new and second hand, but if you’re in the market for a new trailer then some of the newer technology available can make trailering boats a safer and smoother experience. At last year’s Southampton International Boat Show we took our first look at a new trailer available from Dutch manufacturer Vanclaes. COIL SPRING SUSPENSION Independent coil-spring suspension is something the car industry has benefitted from for a long time, and now trailers can enjoy the same level of sure-footed safety and ride quality. Vanclaes has developed a coil-spring suspension system that significantly improves stability and road movement. Whether fully laden…

REVIEW In my opinion, competition is a good thing. I welcome the arrival in the sea fishing tackle industry of new players with innovative new offerings and brands being brave enough to challenge the status quo. SeaGlo is one of those brands. It was started in 2019 by Kent-based Michael West. At the time, as a lifelong passionate sea angler, he wanted to find a way out of his daily job as a tattooist so that he could spend more time with his two sons, both of whom have autism. Michael founded SeaGlo and began making articles of terminal tackle by hand, spending time with his children during the day and working late into the night when home was much quieter. I have known about their kit for some time;…

LEADER BOARD AS OF NOVEMBER 30TH 2023 The monthly winner for November is Neil Cutler from Gateshead HOW IT WORKS ■ With £10,000 in tackle prizes the points, based on entries, are awarded to the top three plus 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…

SHORE CONGER Mild winters over the past decade have produced good shore conger fishing in February with some bigger than average sized fish taken. TIDE TALK The best action is typically off the deep water rock ledges during the small to medium sized tides. These fall from the 1st to the 8th, and again from the 16th to the 23rd. Congers feed best on tides rising higher each day rather than the dropping tides, but the latter still produce. They usually feed for short intense periods of time within the first and second hour of the new flood, this being the prime time for overall numbers. Congers can switch on and off like a light bulb when it comes to feeding and often do this in numbers at the exact…

YOUR FISHING CATCHES HOW TO ENTER Email only to sa.ed@kelsey.co.uk Please supply these details: angler’s name, age, address, telephone number, email, type of FISH, weight of FISH, where caught, DATE caught, BAIT/rig, whether caught from shore or boat, if from charter boat, give name of boat, port and skipper. Please state if the FISH was retained or returned. Send us your entries and win some great prizes ■ SHORE LURE OPTION: Solaris 4000 or 5000 reel, RRP: £60, Epixor 15-50g rod RRP: £80 ■ SHORE LURE OPTION: Solaris 4000 or 5000 reel, RRP: £60, Epixor 15-50g rod RRP: £80 ■ BOAT: Classic CLX, RRP: £60 Cortez Boat Rod, RRP: £90 ■ SHORE BAIT OPTION: DSA reel RRP: £60, Wave Power surf rod, RRP: £80 YOUR TARGETS... Catch a FISH on…

For me sitting on a boat fishing as the sun rises is a liberating experience. However, this experience of liberation is somewhat of a paradox: to be liberated is to be free and being stuck on a boat surrounded by water is somewhat confining. There is also the cost of it all; the only real thing being liberated is one’s bank account. Owning your own boat is quite a commitment. There are the ongoing costs like mooring fees, maintenance and insurance. All this is before you have even used the thing! Take it from me, it takes a lot of practice to ignore the time and costs involved and simply enjoy fishing from your own boat. I have owned a few small sixteen footers and had many adventures, and even…

REVIEW If you think about fishing companies which have grown and prospered over recent years, the name Akios must surely spring to mind. Initially specialising in high quality multipliers, the company has built on that foundation with fixed spool reels, three piece rods, boat rods, luggage and much more, including a range of terminal tackle and accessories through their partnership with Inova. So what was the next step? Well, it was into the, often unforgiving, world of traditional two piece-style rods. Ideas and suggestions were collected and discussed by “The Radicals”, a team of anglers from around the UK, Ireland and beyond who help develop and promote the company’s products. This close-knit group of passionate anglers have been a big part of the Akios success story. The primary objective was…

It was one of those rare days which don’t happen often, but in which we find ourselves from time to time if we’re lucky. My wife was in work, my daughter out shopping with friends and I, for once in a blue moon, found myself at a bit of a loose end. Come to think of it, loose end is a very appropriate phrase, but more of that later. What to do? All the jobs around the house were done, the evening meal was prepped hours in advance and it seemed I had the whole day and nothing to fill it, so before too long I found myself parked on the living room floor, background music blasting, waist deep in rig-making paraphernalia. Honestly, it was utter carnage. There were swivels…

In association with £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…

UK & IRELAND SPECIALIST SPECIES HUNTING From time to time I receive images of fish that have been caught by anglers who are keen to have the identity of their catch confirmed. In some cases I remain as baffled as the fish’s captor. Thankfully, in other cases, I am able to positively confirm the identification. So it was in October this year when I received an email from Robert Christie who had caught a colourful bream-like fish whilst fishing in Guernsey. One glance was sufficient to identify it. It was a species I have caught on several occasions fishing in and around the Mediterranean: the comber. The comber is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Serranidae, the sea basses. The comber has an extensive distribution in the…

How to improve your casting skills The big lesson I learned about fishing in heavy weather is that casting flat-out with my regular gear always fails. Timing goes downhill; backlashes and exploding baits inevitably follow. And when I do throw a good one out there, waves and currents quickly spit the rig downtide and back ashore. Time for a rethink. Easy cruising power with a chunky sinker works much better. I may dial the casting power down to little more than a lob because fish often come in much closer in wild water anyway. The priority is to stay in control, to keep the baits on and to hold bottom, or at least to reduce seabed drift. When the North Sea turns spiteful and the gale is straight out of…

INTERVIEW NEW SERIES TM: What got you hooked on sea fishing? JW: My passion was football but I wrecked the cartilage in my right knee. To put it right would have meant an operation and weeks off work. This wasn’t possible at the time as I was a self-employed carpet fitter with a young family, so I had to find a sport to fulfil my competitive nature. I lived by the sea at Pevensey Bay and enjoyed both boat and beach fishing as an occasional hobby; I decided to switch over and focus fully on sea fishing. It was the best thing I ever did as I took to it like a duck to water and I can still enjoy fishing from my boat and from the shore. TM:…

Quality rig components and fishing tackle serve as the critical delineation between a highly successful and a potentially disastrous fishing session. I am sure that many of you can relate to the frustration caused by crack-offs, gear failures and the shortcomings of equipment being put to the test and ultimately coming up short! As a dedicated enthusiast of fixed spools and braided lines, my preferences in leaders have adapted to align with the nuances of my unique set of needs. I’ve experimented extensively with various leader materials, navigating between braided leaders, non-tapered monofilament leaders and tapered leaders that fell short of my expectations. My requirements are just that: my own! Each choice I made had its own set of irksome drawbacks—those aggravating occurrences that raise blood pressure levels. Braid leaders…

As many of you will know, there has been huge excitement among UK recreational anglers over the news from the government that recreational anglers will be allowed to fish for bluefin tuna later this year. Since 2021 a small number of UK charter boats, mostly based in the West Country, have been licensed under the CHART tagging programme to take anglers out to catch and tag fish. At the same time CHART was launched recreational angling groups began discussions with DEFRA to design a full recreational fishery with a target of opening a full recreational fishery from 2024 onwards. However, there were significant obstacles, partly because of the requirements of ICCAT (the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) which meant licenses would be required for anyone targeting bluefin.…

From time to time any fishing reel, especially those used in saltwater, will require a thorough strip down and service. Note that I said, ‘from time to time’ not ‘every time’; you do not need to completely dismantle a reel after every trip. Provided that you take care of your reels and clean them after each trip it is very unlikely that there will be any need, or benefit, in completely stripping down a reel more than once a year. The only exceptions to this rule are when you either ‘hear’ or more likely ‘feel’ that some internal component is not functioning correctly, or following complete immersion of the reel in saltwater. The cold, dark winter months are the ideal time to service your reels, but before we look at…