There are mornings when the estuary mouth looks like someone flipped a coin and the sea chose "empty": flat water, no bait flicks, and that sinking feeling that today's session is going to be a long, cold lesson in patience. This particular morning, I left my house with 90 minutes of pre-dawn to...
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How-To Guides
Winter cod sessions around Wales mean cold fingers, early high tides and kelp...
How-To Guides
There’s a particular hush that falls over a tidal ledge just before first...
How-To Guides
One of my favourite night sessions in an estuary involves watching a bank of...
How-To Guides
I’ve lost count of the number of times a promising session in a rocky Welsh...
One of my favourite night sessions in an estuary involves watching a bank of streetlights smear across the water and waiting for the telltale slashes of pollack cruising the lit edges. Over the years I’ve learned that the right glow-stick...
I’ve lost count of the number of times a promising session in a rocky Welsh cove was spoiled by marauding mackerel taking my bait clean off the hook. They’re fast, curious and relentless — and if you don’t set your gear up to deal with them,...
I’d been battling Southerndown’s long, wide beach for years. Some days I’d put out 140–150g leads and feel like I’d sent the bait into the sea, only to reel back line that had piled up in the spool or tangled at the swivel. Other days my...
I like winter cod in shallow kelp bays because everything about the session feels deliberate: timing, bait, and a careful read of the water. Over the years I’ve learned that you don’t just “turn up and hope” on these spots — you pick a...
Late-summer bass sessions along the Welsh coast are some of my favourite days: the water is warming, bait fish move inshore and the shoreline comes alive with subtle signs that don’t shout at you — they whisper. Learning to read birds and foam...
I’ve had a soft spot for rays since my first double-figure thornback took my peeler crab off a rough, kelpy ledge at dusk. Getting a big ray from a rocky cove on a light surf setup is all about matching subtlety with brute respect for their size...
I’ve had a few sleepless nights and one very wet kitbag when I misjudged the exit line on a ledge fish. Since then I’ve made spotting the exact cliff edge exit my pre-cast ritual. On Wales’ ledges the tide can run faster than you expect and...
I love a low-tide microsession on sandy flats near estuaries — short, focused, and often deadly for flatfish if you pick the right slot. These sessions are the kind I plan around a coffee, a quick check of the tide app, and the knowledge that...
I always leave the house thinking I’ll only be out for an hour, and come back two tides later with pockets full of bait, a soggy map and — if I’m lucky — a few good photos to show for it. Early on I learned the hard way that lugging big...
Windy nights are part of coastal angling — and so is the frustration when your leader kites and your hard-won hookset turns into a missed opportunity. Over the years fishing Wales’ rugged shores I’ve learned that a lot of kite-tailing and weak...