WEATHER PATTERNS
I try to arrange my early April local trips around settled conditions and lighter onshore winds, which might surprise you. I’ve found the fish left inshore move less in calmer conditions and remain closer to the shore. If the sea roughs up, even for just a couple of tides, it can push them too far out for any consistency of numbers.
That said, bass and codling like a little surf, but huge seas and crashing breakers on the shallow beaches of north-west Wales are the kiss of death. Ideal conditions for these are a Force 2 to 4, with a steady breaking surf that breaks no more than, say, 50 yards to 75yd from the tide line. If the breakers are beyond the 150yd mark, the fish won’t run close because they will struggle in the shallow surf.
Onshore winds are good, but for the flatties and whiting, light offshore winds can also produce fish, even if the surf is minimal. What makes the difference is when you go fishing. Basically, daytime makes it doubly hard. If the sea is clear, shallow and has little surf, the fish will stay out beyond the mean low-water line. In these conditions it’s imperative to fish at night, ideally on a tide that turns in the dark.
Tides that flood in daylight are always less reliable. You can get fish in daylight, mainly flounders and school bass, if the water carries colour and there is heavy cloud cover, but it is hit and miss.
TIDAL INFLUENCE
Most anglers would try to fish the bigger spring tides on generally shallow surf beaches. It makes sense because more tidal movement washes more food from the sand.
In addition, the increased flow sees round fish, such as school bass, codling and whiting, available in better numbers as they move in with the tide and follow the scent from washed-out food items. This scent is carried by the tide, with the fish facing into the oncoming tide gradually dropping
back to enable them to pick up the scent and then follow it back to its source.
Bigger tides are the right ones to fish for this trio, but within that full-flowing tide period there are peak times for each species. Bass won’t be many in number, but tend to show if there is a nice surf from low water and for the first two hours of the flood. During the peak flow mid-tide period they go off, but can return for the last hour or so before high water.
Cod are equally predictable and show mostly in the mid-tide period when the flow is strongest. Cod are less likely at low and high water. Whiting, which have been staying later and later in the last decade, appear in number just as the tide really picks up about two hours after low water, feed well through the mid-tide period, and then ease away as high tide approaches.
Knowing this means we can specifically target bass over low, switch to the cod for the mid-tide period, and maybe have a whiting bash for the last two hours of the flood up to high water. You’ll also catch flatfish, but usually in lower numbers than on the neaps, and here’s why.
On neap tides, a lot of these west-facing surf beaches have a clear spring tide low water line where there is shelf of rising sand with slightly deeper water behind it. The flatfish, flounders and dabs mostly, but also the first plaice, drop back and hold station in this deeper water until the next flood tide.
If you fish a low-water neap, a medium cast can often reach this demarcation line and you’ll be putting baits right in among a static audience. A peak time for these flatties is just as the new flood starts to pick up for the first two hours.
Flatfish will advance with the tide, too, on to clean sand, but it’s usually the flounders leading on the edge of the breakers, with the dabs and plaice following suit. Generally, the mid-tide period is not that good for flatties. However, the 90 minutes of the flood sees them come again, with flounders running close near the shingle line or high tide mark, and the dabs and plaice staying in the mid-tide areas.
TACKLE CHOICE
Go with two 5-6oz beachcasters with Penn 525Mag3 reels, 18lb mainline and 60lb shockleader that give the option of short or maximum range and anything in between. If you prefer a fixed spool, a good combo is
a longer 14-15ft Euro-style rod matched to a fixed spool with a long cast spool loaded with 20-30lb braid and a shockleader for maximum range to cover all options.
For the bass and codling, which will be sub3lb mostly, I fish a paternoster rig with a size 2/0 or 3/0 loop Pennell hook system. Make the hooklength from 30lb fluorocarbon because its stiffer nature, compared to mono, will minimise tangles in the surf. Keep the hooklength short at around 15-18in to bring the fish up against the lead weight quickly, and keep the bait tight to the seabed.
For smaller flatties and whiting, a twohook clipped down loop rig is a good longrange option because it puts two baits tight together for a strong scent lane.
A good general hook is a size 2 Kamasan Aberdeen B940, which will land bigger fish should one take the bait. For close in work, it’s hard to beat a plain three-hook flapper, but I like one hook tight behind the lead weight, another in the middle of the rig, and the top hook a few inches below the connector swivel to spread the baits a bit. Reduce the size of the hooks on a three-hook rig to size 4 B940, but go to size 8 hooks and tiny baits if bites are really difficult to get.
Again, keep the hooklengths short at around 10-12in of 20lb fluorocarbon to minimise tangles. This shorter hooklength also keeps the bait tight to the seabed. Fish can be lethargic during cold spells and won’t chase baits that flutter wildly in the surf and tide. A good dodge is to add a small artificial lead shot just above the hook to make a small bait more static and an easier target for the fish to intercept.
BEST BAIT
As always, fresh bait gives you a big edge. It’s all about maximising the available scent in the water. Blow lug is essential for bass and any codling because it releases an explosion of scent in the water. Black lug is not as good, but will catch fish. If you need to eke out the blow lug, use 50/50 of frozen black lug and blow lug, with the blow lug nearest the hook point. Fresh mussels can be a good early April bait, as can razorfish.
It’s much the same for the flatties. Blow lug will take everything, black lug is a useful second option and is really good for dabs. Make sure you have some blast-frozen mackerel, or as fresh as you can get it from the supermarket. Mackerel, at this time, is underrated and is a very good bait for flounders, dabs and whiting. The simple rule is to maximise the scent in the water.
If you can get fresh crab, it’s a big edge for the bass and codling over the rough patches. This coast has seen later crab peels over the past few years, nor have there been the numbers of crabs available.
ESSENTIAL TACTICS
Make every effort to check the ground at low water and find the mean low-water lift, any parallel gullies, and especially any patches of rougher ground and boulders. Fishing specific ground features triples your chances of catching fish as opposed to putting baits on featureless ground.
I fish one rod in very close, and start with the other out at maximum range, but bring it closer in if bites aren’t forthcoming. This maximises the coverage of the ground and is a major contributor to catching fish that may be spread out.
If the beaches you fish are very shallow at low water, go for the bigger 7500-sized fixedspool reels because their bigger line capacity allows you to cast a long way, but still have the reserves of line to walk back a fair way, paying out line as you go. This leaves baits out in the deepening water longer until the water is deep enough for conventional casting. This simple trick can pick up other surprise fish like early thornbacks.
It’s a good idea to position your rods slightly differently in the rod rest when fishing varying distances. On flat sand I like the long-range rod at a good angle, but not nearly upright. This keeps the line out of the worst of the surf and helps bite detection. The short-range rod is dropped down at a much shallower angle on the rest to reduce the angle of line entry into the water. With a three-hook rig, this keeps all the baits fairly tight to the seabed.
If I have the time, I’ll fish a full flood tide. If only a couple of hours, then I’ll judge the state of the tide and target only the fish I think will be there at that stage of tide and fish for them accordingly. It’s basically fishing for one bite at a time, which is more effective at this time of year than trying to cover all options. It’s still good fun and a bit of a challenge, before the spring species arrive in force. ■