LOCAL IN LOCKDOWN
Fishing on your doorstep can bring decent rewards confirms reader Matty Preston…
A reader and his son go flounder fishing in Morecambe Bay.
I emotions for anglers recently – a global pandemic, the disappointment of being plunged into another lockdown and fishing being off the cards, followed quickly by the news that the hard work of the Angling Trust had resulted in us being set free to fish again, all be it with some sensible restrictions. It was interesting to see the variety of reactions from anglers on social media. e majority were pleased to have fishing available, while others suggested they would rather stay away from the beaches. e question of what counted as local was raised many times and was very much in my mind when I contemplated a session with my son Luke. Reports of codling being caught from areas such as Fleetwood and the River Mersey were frustrating because, as we live in Carnforth, they were out of our reach. We would have to stick our part of Morecambe Bay, which is a large expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the north west of the UK. Well known for its dangerous quicksand and fast tides, it means anyone thinking of fishing low water here should seek local advice beforehand. e bay has seen something of an angling revival in recent years. e improving smoothhound and thornback ray fishing has been a welcome addition to the excellent plaice sport. However, these are mainly spring and summer fish. When the colder months arrive, the bay becomes the poor relation to Fleetwood and Blackpool and to Cumbria, both with track records for good cod fishing. We are left to scratch our way through whiting and dabs or to fish the estuaries for flounders. We’ve had occasional decent years of cod fishing, but these can feel a distant memory. We chose to fish at Morecambe, following the tide out to low water over an old mussel bed in the hope that the recent snow and resultant fresh water would have pushed the flounders out of the estuaries into the bay. We selected continental-style rods and fixedspool reels to maximise our sport. Our rigs were one-up, one-down flappers baited with frozen black lug and blow lug, with mackerel for tipping off. e use of attractive bling on the rig is personal preference. I like to the gum-type attractors that provide both added attraction and a bait stop. My usual tactics for flatfish here are simple. I use grip leads for the first couple of casts until the tide run slows down, when I switch to a plain Turkana lead weight (above), which are made in various shapes. Some of these allow the baits to roll around the seabed to seek out fish, while others enable me to twitch the baits or work them in the hope of attracting the inquisitive flatties. With three hours until low water, we walked out towards the retreating tide and got our baits in the water. e cold snap had given way to milder weather and our hopes were high. Five minutes later Luke’s rod registered the first signs of interest. You should always give flatties a bit of time on the bait, which can mean catching more than one on the rig, whereas striking early often ends in disappointment. Having waited a few extra minutes, Luke lifted his rod from the rest and pulled the lead weight free. A series of good thumps on the rod put a big grin on his face. Soon a doubleshot of two plump flounders was at his feet. His second cast had the same result. It was lad four, dad nil. My blushes were soon spared when I had a double shot of my own. e flounders must have been present in good numbers because the next couple of hours brought some great sport with fish on most casts and lots of double-shots. It was great to be in the fresh air catching fish and enjoying some quality time with my son. It was also the first session with my Akios Utopia rod and reel, which proved to be a lovely light setup that I can’t wait to use for those summer hounds and rays. With low water approaching and the weather beginning to take a turn for the worse, we headed for home. For those of us who live nearer to the coast, keeping it local isn’t so bad after all. It’s time we all looked at those marks close to home that we have neglected in favour of heading further afield.