As a child I was fortunate enough to have a father who himself was a keen angler. This usually meant that even from an early age most family holidays entailed, if not revolved around fishing. Weekends would be spent in my fathers touring caravan on the banks of the Shropshire Union or Llangollen Canal. Where, from first light my father and I would fish for bream, roach and gudgeon until we hastily packed up (always at the last minute) and ran back to the caravan for breakfast. But for our longer, annual holidays we would venture down to the coastal regions of Anglesey, the Llynn Peninsula or Cornwall. Although coarse fishing was available in these regions I did find that the attraction to salt water was much greater.
It all started with the usual crab line. A bright orange nylon chord wrapped around a wooden frame formed the basis. And, along with this a with a flat, circular lead and a fine wire hook attached via six inches of thick mono and a small steel boom completed the set up. Whilst my father fished off the rocks for pollack, wrasse and the like I used to spend hours hoisting up common shore crabs, the occasional bright red edible crab and the elusive swimmer with its vivid blue markings. Whilst pulling out these crustaceans from various gullies and rockpools I soon noticed that small fish were constantly attacking my limpet hookbait which had been prised of the rocks with my new pocket knife (when on holiday I always bought a new one every year – it’s a boy thing I think!). Anyway, by pestering my father for some smaller hooks I managed to start to catch these aggressive little creatures. We used to call them rockling, but I think their correct name is the common blenny. They are a lovely mottled brown colour with big bullish heads and rows of needle sharp teeth. Despite the fact that they rarely exceeded six inches in length these little terrors drew blood on more than one occasion during unhooking.
As well as the blenny my brother and I also managed to catch small bullheads and three bearded rockling, from the pools and deep gullies. These were then usually deposited into a shallow rockpool, which served as a natural keepnet until the tide came in to set them free. Unfortunately the crab lines made it difficult to manoeuvre our baits into position so these were soon abandoned in favour of a garden cane. A six-foot length of mono was then tied to the end of the cane and a small hook (size 6-10) tied to the other end. Weight was provided by nipping a couple of swan shot six inches from the hook. This increased our catches dramatically, we would wait until we felt the tell tale ‘wriggle’ transmit through the cane and set the hook with a swift strike (sometimes too swift!) before swinging in another victim. These rigs were then refined further by adding a small float – usually a bright little perch bung made of cork, enabling us to present a bait in mid-water tight to the shear faces of the rocky outcrops on which we would be perched. Once again this increased our returns as a taking fish could swim off without instantly feeling the resistance of the garden cane, thus giving it more time to engulf the bait. 
One particular year we were to stay at a place called Aberdaron on the tip of the Llynn Peninsula and this time I had prepared myself for the trip much more thoroughly. In advance of the holiday I had scrounged a small solid glass spinning rod from my grandfather and used my pocket money to buy a little fixed spool reel (I think it was the compulsory, but horrendous ‘Black Prince’ by Intrepid). Once again another forward step had been taken in my sea fishing adventure and instead of fishing under the rod tip I was now able to cast into open water and to the far side of the boulders and gullies. I was also now using ‘proper’ bait. The limpet had been discarded in favour of small lug and ragworm, with cockles and mussels being used as a back up. Not only did the quantity of fish I caught increase but so did the quality. Suddenly I was catching Ballan Wrasse of a staggering size (6 -12oz) and boy did these pull back. As the holiday progressed more and more fish came my way and for two weeks I practically lived on the rocks that would border both sides of the beach. This was truly exciting stuff, spoiled only intermittently by my mum’s insistence that I had to stop fishing for an hour or so each day to eat sand filled sandwiches and drink from plastic cups full of pop, each with their own little beach at the bottom. Food was thrown down as soon as possible and I would run back to my favourite spot so not to miss the peak time as the tide came in.
Looking back I’m not sure how or why my mother put up with it, holidays were chosen with fishing a priority, beaches were selected for the suitability of the surrounding rocks, meal times revolved around the tide table, and so it went.
This love of sea fishing never left me, despite, and maybe because of where I live (many miles inland) the sea still remains a big draw and whether I am working or on holiday near the coast I still always find time to cast a line. Now a generation has passed and it’s now my turn to take my children fishing. Karlie, my eldest daughter loves fishing and seems to enjoy fishing the sea more than freshwater. I suppose basically this is partly because of the environment (what kids don’t like the seaside?) and also because of the relative ease that you can catch quite large fish from the sea.
Tackle
The nice thing about the style of sea fishing I enjoy is that you can draft into use your standard carp or pike gear. This not only saves on purchasing specialist equipment but it also makes the fishing itself much more sporting and also, in my experience, more productive.
My standard set up is a 12ft 2lb -2.5lb test curve carp rod (make sure its an old one as it gets bashed about quite a bit on the rocks) coupled with a large fixed spool reel which is loaded with 12-15lb mono. A bead is positioned either side of a sliding polyball float and threaded up the line followed by a drilled bullet, another soft bead is threaded below the bullet to protect the knot then a swivel is tied on the end. To this swivel I then attach eighteen inches of 10lb mono and finish of with a forged carp hook, the size of which is dictated by the bait but is usually somewhere between size 2 and 6. A sliding stop knot was then tied above the upper swivel and this is regularly adjusted to present my bait at the required depth.
I take with me a small rucksack, which will contain spare hooks, lead, floats and a knife. I also carry a pair of forceps, a large ballan wrasse crushes limpets and hard back crabs in its jaws so I wouldn’t recommend putting your fingers in its mouth! With this minimal amount of gear you can cover a large area of rocky shoreline without being tempted to stay in just one location. Be sure to wear a stout pair of walking boots with a good tread, this enables you to hop from rock to rock like a mountain goat as you search out new areas of the coastline. Training shoes or the like become pretty useless when wet through, especially if you are walking over rocks covered in wet seaweed.
Bait
Fresh bait is VITAL, I cannot emphasise that enough. When sea fishing a crap angler with good bait fishing adjacent to a good angler with crap bait will catch more fish every time. Do not be tempted to buy poor quality bait just to save time. If your preference is lugworm or ragworm go to one of the better tackle shops and get good quality fresh bait. But, if you are on holiday and even more so if you are with your family, you should gather your own. Believe it or not the gathering of bait can be just as enjoyable as the fishing itself.
Wait until the tide is almost at its lowest ebb, get the kids and head for the beach. They (and probably you) will happily spend hours rummaging through rock pools and turning stones in search of crabs, fish and shrimps. Give them a net each, a nice brightly coloured bucket, and the wife will marvel at your patience as you spend hours with the little horrors, entertaining them just so she can have a few hours peace and quiet in the sun…….. More brownie points for when you go fishing!
Undoubtedly the best bait I have used is live shrimp. These can be easily gathered by purchasing one of the semi-circular nets available in any of the many gift shops found on the sea front. A good tip though is to make sure you buy one with wire thread holding the mesh to the frame, this ensures that the net is not damaged when scraping against the rocks. The shrimps are best gathered where a flat rock face, strewn with seaweed meets a sandy bottom. Scrape the flat side of the net against the face of the rock and usually two or three shrimps will be present, springing about like miniature jack in the boxes in an attempt to escape the mesh. Drop them into a bucket containing salt water and seaweed and they will quickly settle down. The amount required for a days fishing is directly related to how many fish you want to catch – sound silly I know but it is such a good bait that nine times out of ten you will get a fish for every shrimp you have collected. They are hooked once through the tail with the point of the hook facing upwards and, if the intention is to return your fish (I always do) a strike should be instantaneous as they are totally engulfed every time.
Crabs are another excellent bait and if you can find the green shelled softback variety all the better as these really are first class bait. These are simply common shore crabs that have outgrown their hard outer coating, as it sheds its protective armour it becomes soft and extremely vulnerable. If wrasse however are to be the main target I have seen little difference in results when fishing the hardback variety as their powerful jaws make short work of the crab’s outer casing. Turning over a few stones just above the low water mark will soon have a bucket full of bait, look for stones which lie flat against sand or pebbles and are strewn with bladderwrack or other seaweed.
Crabs either like a particular kind of rock to shelter beneath or are very fond of their own company. This I assume to be the case as you can turn over a dozen perfect looking stones to no avail then find a bucketful under one small pebble!
I usually fish small crabs (about the size of a 50 pence piece) whole and larger ones in halves, not forgetting to thread a few of the legs on the hook which swirl enticingly in the current.
Please remember though that bait should be fresh and even the sea does not have unlimited resources. With this in mind I always release any unused bait at the end of a session, besides, the children usually get upset when all there new ‘pets’ have died by the morning.
Timing and the Tides
As mentioned earlier in the article most of my sea fishing is done when I am on a family holiday, so, in order to keep everyone happy (well, reasonably happy) fishing time is at a premium and as such must be utilised to its best effect.
To enable you to do this buy yourself a timetable from the local tackle shop and use it to plan when you will be snatching a few hours fishing. The best time I have found is the couple of hours prior to high tide; so after spending the day entertaining the children (gathering bait!) you can take a well-earned breather yourself. Or, as in my case, take them with you, that way you can always blame them when you come back later than arranged. An obvious restriction with this however is safety, the sea is far more treacherous than a stillwater and coupled with sharp, and obviously hard rocks you need to choose a spot that is reasonably comfortable and easy to access otherwise it all ends in tears. And lets face it there is nothing worse than being on a shedful of fish and having one of your ‘little angels’ crying to go home.
Location
This again is pretty easy, what you want to look for is deep water, close to the shore. Preferable the water should be of such a depth that it is still fishable at low tide. Although I have caught fish over areas that are exposed during low tide the most consistent fishing has come from areas where the fish can forage at any time of the day. Don’t make the mistake of casting too far out, pollack, and wrasse in particular will be right under your feet pulling shellfish from the rocks and searching through the seaweed for any unfortunate crustacean that leaves itself exposed.
For Ballan Wrasse my particular favourite type of swim is the long, deep gully with vertical sides. I work my bait up and down each face then through the open water in the centre and it can be amazing just how many fish you can take from a swim such as this. Also any large boulder that you can see either exposed or sub-surface will usually have a fish or two sheltering underneath. Cast as close as you dare or use the tide to drift your bait towards the obstruction, the bite when it comes is usually pretty ferocious with the float hurtling downwards and anything but an instant strike and maximum pressure results in the wrasse finding sanctuary amongst the boulders.
Although I have caught many pollack, coalfish and bass from this type of swim these species do tend to stay a little further from the shore than the wrasse. By this I am only talking 15-20 yards or so but a live shrimp or fresh crab suspended in open water has taken more of these fish than I would care to remember. I generally set the float for about two thirds of the depth but have also taken many in the surface layers so it pays to vary the depth you present your bait.
Fishing this method can be fast and exiting; every time the float buries you wonder what you will strike into. I have landed wrasse, pollack, coalfish, mackerel, bass, garfish and even mullet fishing in this manner. Wrasse in particular are superb fighters on this kind of gear, they seem to encompass the brute strength of a tench with the ability of a chub to find a snag. It seems a shame to fish for such sporting fish with hopelessly unbalanced tackle which seems the norm in sea fishing. Many, many times I have fished alongside sea anglers using heavy beachcasters, multipliers and all the ‘right’ gear and had fish after fish as they struggled for a bite. Sure, in all probability they catch some good fish on these methods but I do think a lot of sea anglers are very blinkered in their approach to their fishing. If you want to catch a few fish in the minimum amount of time available then I would go with the ‘heavy coarse’ approach every time.
That’s about it really, totally simplistic I know but it does catch a lot of fish. Next time you get a few days by the coast take along some of your coarse gear and give it a go, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
