Fishing Fiend - Mad About Fishing

Excitement Turns To Disappointment (again)

15th March 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Ha Ha – silly me – Did I really go to bed last night thinking that I was going to have a great opening day.

Whilst I was asleep – the heavens opened and local rivers were unfishable by the time I woke with at least 3ft on the Irwell and 2ft on the other smaller local streams.

What a disappointment.

So – with me being the martyr that I am, I took the family for a nice country walk instead. I should never have let my wife choose the destination – as she chose to visit Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge – and I had to spend the day next to some classic Northern pocket water… deeply tea stained by moorland peat, beautiful Hebden Water — chocca with Spotties

Beautiful Hebden Water at Hardcastle Crags - a great value day ticket stretch — Beautiful Hebden Water at Hardcastle Crags – a great value day ticket stretch – I wish I wish I could have had a cast or two.

Arriving back home late afternoon – I threw the wife and kids out of the car and hotfooted off to the River Roch near Bury, hoping that the rivers would have fined down a bit during the day.

Sadly not, but seeing as though I’d made the effort to get there I decided to have a few casts anyway, and I worked my way up this run.

RIver Roch near Bury - this run is usually good for a few fish — River Roch near Bury – this run is usually good for a few fish

I used my go to combo of a scruffy black spider on dropper and an Irwell Imp on point. But the river was tinged brown with urban runoff, still 18 inches up and faintly wiffy of something I’d rather not talk about in polite company.

Irwell Flies - a scruffy black spider and an Irwell Imp — Irwell Flies – a scruffy black spider and an Irwell Imp

I worked my way up the run, and did well to avoid the rocks thrown at me by local “youths” but the fish showed no interest. Rather than hang about and be used as a human coconut shy I made my way around the corner to fish the Irwell at Dumers Lane.

When I got to the bigger Irwell – the water was still 2ft up, and raging through. Rather than waste my time wafting a fly around I just had a walk 500 yards downstream and back, and what I saw broke the heart of an Irwell loving fisherman.

Wet wipes and tampons adorning all the trees and riverbanks, and massive amounts of fly tipped rubbish on the river banks. The people of Bury should be ashamed of themselves, the Environment Agency should be ashamed of themselves and our local water utility company should hang their heads in shame as they make massive profits but leave our river in such a disgraceful condition.

I shall leave these two photos with you – they speak for themselves.

A Sewage Outfall plus wet wipe tree — A Sewage Outfall plus adjacent wet wipe tree

Little gifts left hanging in the wind - nesting material for our rapidly declining bird population — Little gifts left hanging in the wind – nesting material for our rapidly declining bird population

So sad – I’m going to make sure something is done about this 🙁 fuming is an understatement 🙁

New Season Excitement

14th March 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

As the coarse fishing season on my local rivers finishes and one chapter closes another trout season opens and a new chapter begins.

Fishing Fiend Junior V3 has been showing lots of interest in accompanying Daddy on the river bank this spring.

Not that I’ve been encouraging her interest (pink rod, pink reel, pink line, pink flies etc) but tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I shall be accompanied by an excited 5 year old casting for her first trout.

Getting Fishing Tackle Ready For The Morning

hot pink fishing combo — Hot Pink Fly Fishing Combo

Pink & Partridge - a new pattern — Pink & Partridge – a new pattern

My Daughter already has skills, I hope the rain gods are kind overnight and the river is fishable.

Bring on the 15th !

Lets hope the trout are as obliging

Waiting For The Tide To Turn

8th March 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Blank sessions, missed fish, bloody mindedness, bad weather and bad luck.

A bad February rolls on into a poor start to the month of March.

The weather cleared for a day so I managed a session fishing the Mersey Estuary in Liverpool.

Low tide in the morning saw me fishing the low water mark at Perch Rock. Two rods out, one baited up with squid and black lug wraps on a pulley pennel rig, and the other rod a two hook flapper rig with squid heads as bait.

Perch Rock - A good low water mark — Perch Rock – A good low water mark

Nothing – I fished two hours down and an hour back up — not a tap, rap or knock apart from this rogue crab

I’d never fished this spot before, so it was quite an experience being at the mouth of the Mersey fishing as huge ships passed close by.

As the tide rose and pushed me up the beach and off the mark I decided to use up the last of my bait back at Mariners Wharf the scene of a couple of recent blank sessions…. Mariners Wharf lived up to my expectations and I had another bite free hour enjoying the view.

Fishing Mariners Wharf Liverpool — Mariners Wharf Liverpool

I’m sitting here this evening typing this up, I can hear the wind howling through the trees in my back garden and the rain starting to hit the windows…. is this bad weather never going to end ?? Is this run of bite free fishing ever going to end ?

I suppose now that I’m doing a bit more sea fishing I’m going to have to slip in a few more nautical turns of phrase.

So as far as my fishing luck is going – I’m waiting for the tide to turn…

Roll on spring and some good weather.

An Anglers Challenge

29th February 2020 by Mike Duddy 2 Comments

I recently read the great John Wilson autobiography “60 Years A Fisherman” – and at the end of his colourful lifes tale he concludes the book with two last pages consisting of a list of fish that he had caught – both fresh and saltwater.

John had managed to catch 217 species of fish from 22 different countries… an amazing feat.

101 from Freshwater and 116 from Saltwater

It got me thinking about my past challenges of trying to catch as many freshwater species as I could in 12 months (my best is 31 for those who are interested).

I’ve never really recorded sea species before, or logged the weird, wonderful and colourful fish I’ve caught on holiday, so haven’t the first clue as to how many species I’ve actually caught in my fishing life time so far.

And another thing – just how many species are out there to catch ?

Other “Bloggers Challenges” I’ve seen, anglers list various types of rainbow trout (tiger, blue, leopard etc) as different species – also carp – (common, leather, mirror, koi etc) where to me – these are just freaks of cross breeding – and should be just classed as a single species… and in coarse angling I can’t see how anyone can claim various cyprinid hybrids as species too eg, roach/bream/rudd etc.

So I’ve decided to start having bit of fun with a species challenge again. No time limit this time – but I will stick to UK only species – one that are listed by the UK Record Fish Committee. I’ve made a little chart below which I will keep updated and do a little write up on each species as I knock them off the list. I’m going to start recording my holiday fish too on a separate list – just for forms sake.

As it happens – as I am sure you will work your way down the list to see how many of these you have caught – I’ve managed to knock off 59 species in my angling life… how many have you got ? I’ve numbered mine down the list as it goes… I’m resetting to zero – and look forwards to sharing each capture with you in future…

You are welcome to join “The Anglers Challenge” — tight lines !

Freshwater Fish	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Barbel		1
Bitterling		2
Bleak		3
Bream (Common)		4
Bream (Silver)		5
Brown Goldfish		6
Bullhead		7
Catfish – Wels		8
Carp common/mirror/koi		9
Carp – grass		10
Carp – Crucian		11
Carp – F1		12
Chub		13
Dace		14
Eel		15
Gudgeon		16
Ide/Orfe		17
Minnow		18
Motherless Minnow		19
Perch		20
Pike		21
Pumpkinseed		22
Roach		23
Rudd		24
Ruffe		25
Shad Allis	Alosa Alosa
Shad Twaite	Alosa Fallax
Smelt
Spined Loach
Stone Loach		26
Stickleback 3 spined		27
Stickleback 9 spined
Sturgeon
Tench		28
Zander
Game Species	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Arctic Char
Grayling		29
Trout – Brown		30
Trout – Rainbow		31
Trout – Sea		32
Salmon		33
Schelly/Powan		34
Freshwater Species 42
Sea Species	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Almaco Jack	Seriola Rivioliana
Angler Fish	Lophius Piscatorius
Bass	Dicentrarchus Labrax	36
Black Fish	Centrolophus Niger
Bluemouth	Helicolinus Dactylopterus
Blue Runner	Caranx Crysos
Bogue	Boops Boops
Bonito	Sarda Sarda
Bream – Black	Spondyliosoma Cantharus	37
Bream – Couches	Pagrus Pagrus
Bream – Gilthead	Sparus Aurata
Bream – Pandora	Pagellus Erythrinus	38
Bream – Ray’s	Brama Brama
Bream – Red	Pagellus Bogaraveo
Bream – White Sea	Diplous Sargus
Brill	Scophthalmus Rhombus
Bulll Huss	Scyliorhinus Stellaris
Catfish	Anarhichas Lupus
Coalfish	Pollachius Virens
Cod	Gadus Morhua	39
Comber	Serranus Cabrilla	40
Conger	Conger Conger
Dab	Limanda Limanda	41
Dogfish – Blackmouth	Galeus Melastomus
Dogfish – Lesser Spotted	Scyliorhinus Canicula	42
Flounder	Pleuronectes Flesus	43
Forkbeard – Greater	Phycis Blennoides
Garfish	Belone Belone	44
Greater Weever	Trachinus Draco
Greater Amberjack	Seriola Demerili
Guinian Amberjack	Seriola Carpenteri
Gurnard – Grey	Eutrigla Gurnardus
Gurnard – Red	Aspitrigla Cuculus
Gurnard – Streaked	Trigloporus Lastoviza
Gurnard – Yellow or Tub	Trigla Lucerna
Haddock	Melanogrammus Aeglefinus
Haddock – Norway	Sebastes Viviparus
Hake	Merluccius Merluccius
Halibut	Hippoglossus Hippoglossus
Herring	Clupea Harengus
John Dory	Zeus Faber
Ling	Molva Molva
Lumpsucker	Cyclopterus lumpus
Mackerel	Scomber Scombrus	45
Mackerel – Spanish/chub	Scomber Colias
Megrim	Lepidorhombus Whiffiagonis
Monkfish	Squatina Squatina
Mullet – Golden Grey	Liza Aurata
Mullet – Red	Mullus Surmuletus
Mullet – Thick Lipped Grey	Chelon Labrosus
Mullet – Thin Lipped Grey	Liza Ramada	46
Opah	Lampris Guttatus
Pelamid (Bonito)	Sarda Sarda
Perch – Dusky	Epinephelus marginatus
Plaice	Pleuronectes Platessa	47
Pollack	Pollachius Pollachius	48
Pouting	Trisopterus Luscus	49
Puffer fish	Lagocephalus Lagocephalus	50
Ray – Blonde	Raja Brachyura
Ray – Bottle Nosed	Raja Alba
Ray – Cuckoo	Raja Naevus
Ray – Eagle	Myliobatis Aquila
Ray – Electric	Torpedo Nobiliana
Ray – Marbled	Torpedo Marmorata
Ray – Sandy	Raja Circularis
Ray – Small Eyed	Raja Microocellata
Ray – Spotted	Raja Montagui
Ray – Sting	Dasyatis Pastinaca
Ray – Thornback	Raja Clavata	51
Ray – Undulate	Raja Undulata
Rockling – 3 bearded	Gaidropsarus Vulgaris
Rockling – Shore	Gaidropsarus Mediterraneus	52
Scad – Horse Mackerel	Trachurus Trachurus
Sea Scorpion – Short Spined	Myoxocephalus Scorpius	53
Shark (Blue)	Prionace Glauca
Shark (Mako)	Isurus Oxyrhinchus
Shark (Porbeagle)	Lamna Nasus
Shark (Six Gilled)	Hexanchus Griseus
Shark (Thresher)	Alopias Vulpinas
Skate (Common)	Raja Batis
Smoothhound (starry)	Mustelus Asterias
Smoothhound	Mustelus Mustelus
Sole	Solea Solea
Sole (Lemon)	Microstomus Kitt
Spurdog	Squalus Acanthias
Sunfish	Mola Mola
Tadpole-Fish	Raniceps Raninus
Tope	Gaeorhinus Galeus
Tosk	Brosme Brosme
Trigger Fish	Balistes Capriscus
Tunny	Thunnus Thynnus
Tunny (Big Eyed)	Thunnus Obesus
Tunny (Long Finned)	Thunnus Alalunga
Turbot	Scophthalmus Maximus
Whiting	Merlangius Merlangus	54
Whiting (Blue)	Micromestius Poutassou
Witch	Glyptocephalus Cynoglossus
Wrasse (Ballan)	Labrus Bergylta	55
Wrasse (Cuckoo)	Labrus Mixtus
Wreckfish	Polyprion Americanus
100
Mini Sea Species	Latin Name	Date & Location of Capture
Anchovy	Engraulis Encrasicolus
Argentine	Argentina Sphyraena
Barracudina	Paralepis Coregonoides
Black Fish (Cornish)	Schedophilus Medusophagus
Blenny-Black Faced	Triptarygion Delaisi
Blenny (Butterfly)	Blennius Ocellaris
Blenny (Tompot)	Parablennius Gattorugine	56
Blenny (Viviparous)	Zoarces Viviparus
Blenny (Yarrells)	Chirolophis Ascanii
Boar Fish	Capros Aper
Bream (Axillary)	Pagellus Arcane
Bream (Saddled)	Oblada Melanura
Butterfish	Pholis Gunnellus
Connemara Clingfish	Lepadogaster Candolii
Dab (Long Rough)	Hippoglossoides Platessoides
Derbio	Trachinotus Ovatus
Dragonet	Callionymus Lyra
Garfish (Short Beaked)	Belone Svetovidovi
Goby (Black)	Gobius Niger
Goby (Common)	Pomatoschistus Microps	57
Goby (Giant)	Gobius Cobitis
Goby (Leopard Spotted)	Thorogobius Ephippiatus
Goby (Sand)	Ctenolabrus Rupestris
Goby (Rock)	Gobius Paganellus
Pilchard	Sardina Pilchardus	58
Pilot Fish	Naucrates Ductor
Pipefish (Greater)	Syngnathus Acus
Pipefish (Snake)	Entelurus Aequoreus
Pogge	Agonus Cataphractus
Poor Cod	Trisopterus Minutus
Red Band-Fish	Cepola Rubescens
Rockling (5 Beard)	Ciliata Mustela
Rockling (4 Beard)	Enchelyopus Cimbrius
Sandeel (Corbins)	Hyperoplus Immaculatus
Sandeel (Greater)	Hyperoplus Lanceolatus
Sea Scorpion (Long Spined)	Taurulus Bubalis
Shanny	Lipophrys Pholis
Skipper	Scomberesox Saurus
Smelt	Osmerus Eperlanus
Smelt (Sand)	Atherina Presbyter
Smelt (Sand Big Scale)	Atherina Boyeri
Stickleback (15 Spined)	Spinachia Spinachia
Topnot (Common)	Zeugopterus Punctatus
Weever (Lesser)	Echiichthys Vipera
Wrasse (Baillons)	Crenilabrus Bailoni
Wrasse (Corkwing)	Crenilabrus Melops	59
Wrasse(Goldsinney)	Ctenolabrus Rupestris
Wrasse (Rock Cook)	Centrolabrus Exoletus
Wrasse(ScaleRayed)	Acantholabrus Palloni
48
Total Species 190		Fishing Fiend Lifetime 59

Piss Off February

24th February 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Arrgghh – what a month 🙁

My "Not Impressed" look — My “Not Impressed” look

I can’t remember a month like it – rivers high, winds strong, tides all wrong, fish hooked and lost – just piss off February 2020 I hope I never experience another month like it.

It all started to go wrong at the start of the month when I managed to snatch a few hours on the lake behind my house. I had an hours circuit of the lake, flinging out a YoZuri floating minnow and had two pike roll over / attack the lure during the final moments of retrieve but neither time did I get the hooks to hold.

Another hours walk around the same lake the next day saw me change lure to a size 5 Ondex Red Tag – this time I only got one take from an unseen but solid fish. I was with my daughter Kate and thought it would be a good time for her to play and land her first decent pike, but as I turned round to call her over the fish shed the hooks. Gutted wasn’t the word it was a much bigger fish than usual from this prolific “jacks” pond.

Weather and work then put a halt to any further piscatorial activity – but did allow me time to thoroughly research the fishing in and around Minehead which was my half term destination with the family.

Online – it looked idylic – a fishing tackle shop on the harbour, and beaches that regularly produce decent conger, codling and rays during winter months, and a variety of skippered charter boats from Minehead Harbour. – What could go wrong ?? Ha ha..

So – on arrival at Butlins – I found it difficult to extract myself from the bosom of my lovely little family. Until Mrs Fishingfiend noticed my face getting longer and longer as the days passed. So… with spousal consent I was let off the leash for a few hours one afternoon. Tide was all wrong, tackle shop was shut for the day, the pebble beach turned into ankle breaking boulder beach, and using a whole squid on a pulley pennel rig – I launched a 6oz lead out as far as I could into the teeth of a Bristol Channel Force 7 hooley.

Now can you imagine my surprise when after about 45 minutes I got a tap tap tap on my rod tip.

Here’s a few photos of this lovely fishing spot (did I mention it started to chuck it down as I was tackling up ?) and then I’ll continue with the rest of this lack of fishy tale.

Gasworks Beach Fishing — Gasworks Beach Minehead – ankle breaking cobbles

A grand day to be out on the beach fishing

Anyway – thats enough of the view. My rod tip was tapping away so I struck and could immediately feel a good solid resistance. Yessss I’m in. I played the fish for a good 5 minutes and got it in to the surf/boulder zone.. It was a lovely ray, a good fish pushing double figures.. and then it disappeared from view and everything locked up solid. My rig snagged up tight in the rocks. I let the line go slack for a good while but to no avail. The tide was coming in fast so I cut the line and tied it to a rock – hoping that the fish might free itself and I would be able to hand line it in, or in worst case scenario – i could come back as the tide was ebbing and collect both fish and rig. I came back early that evening to check as the tide was going out – and there was no sign of line, rig or fish.

I carried on fishing until my allotted time was up – without any more fish action, but lost another rig at the end of my last cast and was pretty cold and wet by the time I retreated back to the car. All in all it was a pretty crap session.

Next day – the weather improved a little. So I again got the nod to have a few hours on the rods.

It was high tide at 5.30pm as i set up at 3.30pm on Blue Anchor Beach. This location had a flat sandy bay backed by a steep shingle bank – a classic high tide only mark. But with there being only sand in front of me I was safe in the knowledge I wasn’t going to lose much tackle to the sea. Again I used a single rod, squid as bait to a size 4/0 pulley pennel rig.

Lets cut to the chase… there were 4 other anglers on the beach – so I blanked in good company. Not a bite, a twitch or a sniff.

I packed up just after high tide just before yet another squall passed over…

A Squall Is Arriving – A sunset photo is a sure sign of a blogger having a blank !!

A good angler never loses his mojo though – so despite my lack of success I took the opportunity to take my family out for a bit of fresh air and a country walk to help them escape the wonderland that is Butlins at Minehead.

A short trip out to Bossington Beach (another local mark of note) was our destination. The wind took our legs away as we crossed over the top of the shingle beach bar. I took a couple of quick photos as an “aide de memoir” for any future trips to Butlins – but my daughter Kate who was celebrating her 5th birthday (take note of fairy face paint and fairy dress in photo below) soon persuaded Daddy that it was too cold and windy to explore any further.

The Birthday Girl out with Daddy checking out future fishing spots

Bossington Beach – Certainly Worth A Cast Or Two If You Are Nearby

And that was it. Piss off February 2020 – the worst fishing month of my life.

I did of course bag up as all good anglers do – and the kids had a great time catching some new species too

Fishing Fiend Species Hunter 2020

1st February 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

In past years I’ve had a lot of fun trying to catch as many freshwater species as I can in a calendar year. I have a list of 46 freshwater species and I think 2014 was my best year when I knocked 33 of them off the list.

As much of my fishing this year is going to be done during family sea side breaks and with the children in tow there’s not much chance me being able to do a targeted species hunt and I will be having to get my fishing in whenever the opportunity arises.

So this year it makes sense to change my targets a little and include sea species… this makes the potentially huge and an impossible task… so my plan for 2020 is to catch as many species as I possibly can – both fresh and saltwater and to have as much fun as I can in doing so.

So far, including the fish I’ve caught on holiday in the Canary Islands I’ve managed to bag 11 species.
9 saltwater and 2 freshwater.
I will keep a running tally at the bottom of each blog post until the end of the year
I wonder what a realistic target is ?? 40 species, 50, who knows?

One thing I do know ,,, is that I’m going to make a great effort to improve my photography skills. Fish are beautiful things, with many of them having surprising hidden colours if you look hard enough… I’m hoping to upgrade my skills from being a snapper to being a photographer too. A busy year !

Bradshaw Hall Fisheries Lake 1 is brilliant for kids — My Little Helpers

Sea Species in Green Freshwater in Blue Ornate Wrasse, Common Comber, Painted Comber, Madeira Rockfish, Anular Bream, Pandora, Dusky Grouper, Rockpool Blenny, Madeira Goby, Roach, Pike (running total 11 species in 2020)

In Search Of Pike

21st January 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

I caught some lovely small roach from a local canal recently as I’d promised to “bang out” half a dozen live baits for a pike session later that afternoon with a mate.

There hadn’t been a hard frost the night before, but the weather was typical winter Manchester, cold hard and grey. Conditions that a lot of anglers struggle with (noted by their absence from the bank)

So on arrival I set up 4 sections of pole, a 2g pencil shaped float, a size 20 hook – fed an almond sized lump of sloppy liquidised bread and sat back and waited for the fish to wake up for breakfast.

It took longer than I thought as this method of fishing can often produce instant bites – and after 15 bite free minutes I was started to have a bit of a panic that my bravado of “oh don’t worry I’ll bang out a few live baits in double quick time” was going to result in me having egg on my face.

Much to my relief, my float gave a micro dip — so I lifted and brought in a lovely little roach of about half an ounce.

The session then continued as expected with a bite every put in, using my smallest size of bread punch, and within another 15 minutes the larger 3 and 4oz roach had started pushing the micro roach out of the swim. If i had continued fishing for the rest of the morning I would have added a bit of crushed hemp to the liquidised bread and usually within the first half hour or so the roach of 8 to 12oz would again move in and bully out the smaller fish. But this was not to be, I only needed a dozen fish to share between the three of us pike fishing later that day.

The roach were in superb condition – with a lovely iridescent purple/blue sheen to their flanks, a bright red eye and not a scale out of place. Check them out in the pictures below. Small – perfectly formed – absolute beauties.

Roach - a perfect fish — Roach – a perfect fish

So – I took tremendous enjoyment from catching these small roach, but it got me thinking that only through having years of experience did I catch them. Casting my mind back to when I was a youngster I would have been on a certain blank session on a cold January morning like today. The reason why I caught over a dozen fish in less than an hour was quite simple. I used a float and shotting pattern that is incredibly sensitive and a hook length and hook that were a match for a roaches eagle eyes in the gin clear water.

I see so many anglers both young and old with an inch of thick float showing, hook lengths like tow rope and a hook big enough to be fishing paste on a commercial in summer. I with tackle shops would stop selling this stuff – or at least advise the anglers buying these floats on how to set them up properly.

So back to the fishing.. I then drove the 15 minutes further up the canal to our usual haunt to meet up with Phil and his new mate Dean. A new mate ??? is this some sort of piscatorial affair – should I carry on and ignore this turn of events – or demand a fishing divorce ? maybe a period of reflection and mate/marriage guidance is necessary – we obviously need some sort of counselling – probably best done in a pub over half a dozen pints lol

Anyway back to the pike fishing. I know a lot of people think that live baiting is a cruel form of our sport, but its something that’s never really worried me. I stopped using treble hooks many years ago, and when I live bait I used a single circle hook through the top lip of the bait. If I catch I catch…. if not the live bait is released and swims off to fight another day.

I also think that live bait out catches any other pike fishing method – and I’m out to catch fish.

I met up with Phil and Dean further up the canal and set up my my usual rig – see pic below. I’ve started using these Size 2 Sakuma Circle Hooks – and again I caught a nice fish with the hook lodged perfectly in the top of the fishes mouth.

Rochdale Canal Pike — Its a pity the sun wasn’t shining as the gold flecks around a pikes gill plates reflect spectacularly in the suns rays.

My Live Bait Kit is pretty standard – a bung, a weight, a wire trace (essential) and a single size 2 circle hook

As you can see – it didn’t take too long for the canal pike to oblige – and itch had been scratched – and after spending the rest of the morning chatting it was soon time to go home to the family for the rest of the day.

My next few trips out are going to be in search of cod – as its that time of year. There are quite a few marks to try on the West Lancashire Coast – and I’m also going to book myself onto a charter boat out of Fleetwood… looking forwards to sharing a few posts with you soon

Fishing Fuerteventura (again)

12th January 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Over the years I’ve had many happy holidays on the Spanish Island of Feurteventura, but have done very little fishing whilst there. The harbours are full of mullet which grow to huge proportions fed on the bread and pellets thrown to them by tourists, and the harbour walls home to a huge variety of brightly coloured semi tropical fish – but sadly most of these accessible areas are off limits to fishermen.

The only time I’ve ever taken fishing tackle with me to Fuerteventura was on my last visit in 2016 – but despite picking up a little local knowledge as to the hots pots for catching Bonito and Bluefish from the shore – the pressure of having a young family ( 12 months and 3 and a half years old) meant that the suggestion of going fishing for any length of time was met with a death stare from my better half. I did manage half an afternoons fishing (spectacularly unsuccessful) but at least i had the right lure, the right method and the right location – it was just that the time of day, the tides and the wind direction were all not in my favour – you can have a read about it here http://fishingfiend.net/holiday-fishing-fuerteventura/

Of course I ended up catching nothing but a cold, but did learn a lot about what to do and what not to do when restricted to short fishing sessions on holiday. I also had a great time messing about in rock pools with my young son Tommy catching all sorts of little fish, urchins, shrimps etc. Hopefully passing on the fishing bug to him at an early age.

Happy Times - sunshine, rock pools, fishing net — Happy memories from 2016 – sunshine, rock pools, fishing net

So fast forwards to December 2019 – it had been raining (or it felt like this anyway) for months, the weather was miserable, we had been expecting to spend some family cash on a house extension that never happened, and we were fed up. I asked Mrs FishingFiend how she would like to spend her birthday (1st Jan) and her reply was simply “on a beach!”

I didn’t need any more prompting, and with the thoughts of TUNA FROM THE SHORE” pinging about at the back of my head – I suggested that a return to Fuerteventura and a return to the lovely family (FISHING) friendly resort of Caleta De Fuste…. not only does it have everything for a young family it also has a fishing tackle shop with a very friendly owner called Aram who has a full range of tackle, bait and is free with passing on (some) of his local knowledge.

So… a quick online search for a last minute holiday over the New Year period ensued and by very good fortune we found somewhere within budget. Yee Haaa.. A quick chat with the missus about taking some tackle and being set free from family duties and YESSSSSSS space was agreed for two travel rods and a bag of kit.

I played my hand of cards.. no fishing suggested for the first few days of the holiday, and lots of family time… but then a quick nip into the tackle shop to buy a new lure set the agenda for the remainder of the holiday.

The coast around Caleta De Fuste is very rocky, and in places there is deep water very close to shore. These deeper areas mean that Barracuda, Blue Fish and Bonito are within casting distance of the shore – and if you take a look at videos on Youtube like this it really wets the appetite and makes you want to target these fish. The location where this video was taken is actually from the rocks in the centre of the resort. And only a 10 minute walk from where we were staying.

So, with the hope/expectation/ridiculous dream that I was going to catch something special I splashed out 22 euro on an imported Japanese Yo-Zuri heavy sinking minnow from the local tackle shop. It certainly caught the eye… but would it catch any fish ?

Yo-Zuri Minnow — Caught my eye but didn’t catch any fish

Well the answer is that it caught my eye, but not the attention of any fish. I fished this lure for an hour off a rocky point behind the Elba hotel without a touch. I’ll get my excuses in early again – wrong state of tide, wrong time of day lol. However, after being given an hour of peace and quiet the kids turned up and I received the scorn of my family for not catching. Especially when my 4 year old daughter managed to catch a wrasse from a rock pool with her bare hands. Ego shattered – I retired a beaten man to a local bar, bought a beer and watched the kids playing in a park.

To be truthful I was more than a bit peed off that I hadn’t had a touch… especially as there are so many fish on view in and around the harbour (no fishing zone) and on the main beach (another no fishing zone) where there are so many fish that if you chuck in a bit a bread you can have 100s of them swimming around you within minutes.

Caleta Beach Fish - 100s of mullet, bream and derbios — Caleta Beach Fishing – 100s of mullet, bream and derbios

So back to plan B brought a small telescopic travel rod with me, a small reel with 6lb braid, some 3lb flouro and a box of shads, dropshot lures and my secret weapon Isome Worm.

The next day, the family fancied a bus trip down the Island to the next main town called Gran Tarajal – and I stashed some kit away in the family beach bag.

Fishing Fuerteventura Again — An old telescopic rod and my shad kit

After a walk around the rather nice but dull port of Gran Tarajal, we hopped onto another bus to visit another little town called Playitas… Playitas interested me because it has a little pier/wharf where it looks as though fishing would be possible from the end, and also from some of the cliffs nearby.

I was right…. and quite delighted when we got there as it looked like a perfect spot for a bit of light lure fishing. First cast resulted in this little ornate wrasse.

And then came a succession of small fish to a variety of jigs and on the dropshot with Isome Worm

The kids really loved sitting down and catching these pretty fish

Especially when I started to catch a succession of these small Madeira Rock Fish…. which I didn’t realise had poisonous spines until someone told me later… They were pretty though

The best method by far was by using a small piece of Isome Worm on the dropshot rig – the fish absolutely threw themselves at it. I also had some other flavoured worm that was bright red in colour but the fish wouldn’t touch it.

Just sat on the end of the pier… loads of fish

Now that the kids had caught a few fish,, they fancied having a go for some more. So the next day we headed off to Puerto Del Rosario the Islands capital, to spend a bit of time on the beach and also so that Tommy and I could get our Saturday fix of football when we watch Rosario beat another local team 3-1 (2 sendings off, 10 yellow cards, a dodgy ref, and a very poor standard of football) which was great entertainment.

I had a look on Google Maps and it looked like there was good fishing into snag free water at the end of the rock groyne that protected the beach. See pic below

I fished off the end of this rock groyne while the kids played on the beach

Tommy and I had half an hour on the jig head shads me casting and him retrieving but we couldn’t get a touch, but as soon as I swapped over to drop shot Isome worm we quickly caught half a dozen of these small fish which I haven’t a clue what they were but have been told that they are

The rest of the holiday was spent playing with the kids on the beach at Caleta but I did manage an hour off the low rock ledge to the right hand side of the beach and had this lovely fish (again I have been told that it is a Dusky Grouper) on a small shad.

On the last day of the holiday, the kids fancied having a bit more fishing so I thought it would be good fun to have a see what was swimming in some of the bigger rock pools. The area north of the harbour in Caleta De Fuste has some smashing rock pools that are exposed at low tide… though great care needs to be taken with the kids not to let them too close to the sea as there was quite a strong swell.

So with a heavy heart – we went back to the airport, boarded our plane and returned home. I still haven’t managed to catch a large fish from the shores of Fuerteventura but I guess I never will when family time is the priority. Some early morning or late evening sessions would be necessary and plenty of time would need to be devoted to it…. which just doesn’t fit well with a family holiday with young children. Nevertheless it was a great way to start the year and I’m really looking forwards to more fishing adventures both alone and with my little fishing apprentices in 2020

Bringing Things Up To Date

11th January 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

Life sometimes takes over, and I don’t have as much time or inclination to write about my fishing trips as much I used to… that doesn’t mean to say I’m not going fishing anymore… I most certainly am … just in a slightly different manner than I used to before.

Most of my fishing over the last 6 months has been with family and friends, fitting in with others plans etc… And having a lovely young family I’ve no doubts that these demands on my will continue into the future… work, family life, kids football practice and regular Saturday morning matches, running and other family stuff is limiting my time on the bank.

Anyway enough waffle/excuses – here’s what I’ve been up to since my last proper post in June

In July – I organised a little fish-in on one of my favourite sections of the River Irwell – the river fished well for those who took part – with nearly everyone catching small roach, dace and chublets, and I had a couple of nice trout too – all on trotted stick float maggot.

Wonky Swims Adelphi — The Wonky Building Swims

Duddy Fishing Irwell — A Small Irwell Brown

Towards the end of July, I joined in the celebrations of my mothers 80th Birthday at the Low Wood Hotel at Windermere in the Lake District…. again family time as in the ascendancy but i did manage to have a few casts of the lure rod off the end of the pier outside the hotel, and managed to hook into a perch nearly every other cast. Nothing huge, with the fish all in the 6 to 8oz bracket.

My next trip out was entirely different – at the start of August I had an odd day at work, a mornings meeting in Crewe followed by an evening meeting in Liverpool… so naturally I filled in the gap with a little cheeky session on the Shropshire Union Canal at Audlem… I’d never visited this bit of canal before.. I just had a look on google map and thought I’ll try there….

So i pulled up in the car park of the Bridge Inn, Audlem – payed for a few hours parking and had a nice session using hemp and corn. Sadly there was plenty of boat traffic but happily the roach were obliging – and I managed to catch a dozen or so decent fish up to about 12oz.

Shropshire Union Roach — Shropshire Union Canal Audlem

Shropshire Union Canal Roach — Plenty like this to around 12oz

I packed up after a few hours – some great roach fishing from a new spot for me.

Next up was a long weekend with the family to Holyhead in North Wales.. I only managed a single sort session at the Trearddur Bay flag pole. Using the remnants of a tub of denrobena worms, I set up a simple two hook paternoster rig and cast out into the bay. I was amazed by the results, school bass, pollack and about 3 or 4 species of little wrasse. It was a bite a chuck and I was smashed up twice!. I’d never considered using garden worms before for sea fishing but its quite obvious that the fish don’t mind

Flag Pole Steps Trearddur Bay — A Nice Little Pollack – one of many fish on dendrobenas

Alas family commitments that weekend only allowed for a single short session – I fully intend to come back to this spot next summer with a slightly beefier set up and see if I can hook into the much bigger fish that were smashing me up.

So October half term was spent on a Caravan Break to Devon Cliffs Holiday Park in Devon. As my in-laws were joining us I had free reign to do a bit more fishing. The weather was terrible for most of the time we were there but I managed a couple of good sessions. A nice afternoon on the beach at Budleigh Salterton on lures we caught some mackerel and garfish.

Kate is now 4 and she has loves her fishing with Daddy — Kate is now 4 and she has loves her fishing with Dadddy

Next up was a day trip to Brixham.. and ” I was amazed to find boats offering mackerel trips” lol.. which i suggested to my wife that the kids might like….

Just like a well baited swim and well presented bait… she took it hook line and sinker … so an afternoons mackerel bashing ensued..

I was delighted to catch my first ever pilchard ! – an added bonus

Plus then of course the mackerel arrived and we filled half a bucket full

Using the mackerel we caught – I then had a few sessions fishing into the night off the beach at Budleigh Salterton again…. Using my two 15 foot surf casters, and 2 hook flapper rigs I banged out strips of mackerel into the distance and sat back and waiting to see if anything was biting.

Beach Fishing Budleigh Salterton — A nice evening on the beach

It took about 30 seconds before my rod tips began to rattle, I thought it was crabs at first as the bites were just little rattles rather than more powerful pulls on the rod tips. I soon realised that Budleigh Salterton after dark is Pout city as I caught dozens of the cheeky little bait robbers. I soon gave up using 2 rods as the bites were just too frequent, and I was getting double hookups nearly every cast. And then eventually got fed up of catching Pout themselves, so rigged up a pulley rig with a dead pout on the end to see if could catch anything bigger

And it didnt take long to get a really positive pull on the rod tip. The culprit was of course a bloody dog fish…. not a bad one… but it signaled time to pack up and go home. That was the end of my fishing for this trip

I then managed a few sessions on the Fylde coast at Rossall with my mate Phil, but sea conditions and tides weren’t in our favour and we didn’t catch very much apart from some 3 bearded rockling and a couple of dabs and plaice.

And I finished the year by having a few sessions on Drinkwater Park Lake, but despite using a variety of lures, couldn’t get any takes,, and this despite taking my “lucky charm” with me

So the year ended with weeks of poor weather,, and I just didn’t fancy getting out fishing that much… and the year ended as a pretty damp squib.

To sumarise the year,,, I got out a lot, but mostly with the kids. I caught lots of fish, including a few brand new species (Pout and Pilchard) but other than a HUGE tench which I lost at the net, I didn’t manage any fish of note.

Imagine my delight when Mrs FishingFiend suggested we visit the Canary Islands for New Year …. 🙂

Read all about it soon!

Tackle Shed

26th December 2019 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I wimped out of fishing today. A slight tinge of boxing day hangover, and pissing down rain persuaded me to have a day indoors. (hence this post – and another to come shortly reviewing my fishing in 2019)

Mrs Fishing Fiend has been complaining recently about the smell emanating from my tackle shed so I’ve taken the opportunity to have a mid winter tidy up and to take stock of what I’ve got and whats to go on my shopping list.

I’m very glad to report that I think I need to buy more fishing tackle. My old friend Okuma Interceptor IBF50 has quite a bit of damage now after 17 years of heavy use. The bait runner tab at the back of the reel is half missing/broken and the bail arm spring has given up the ghost. I’ve already ordered a like for like replacement from Ebay as this Okuma is probably one of the best/most reliable reels I’ve ever owned.

I have this reel in both IBF40 and 50 size and have now decided to stock up on both of them before they get harder to source.

I’ve also got an old ABU506 closed face reel that has a slipping clutch and a chipped reel seat – this time to be replaced with the most up to date version. I received some tackle vouchers for Christmas and a new ABU is soon going to be on its way.

Other than that – my hook stocks needs replenishing, and my box of leads needs refilling. I have an over abundance of swim feeders but they should get thinned out over time. I also need to get the rings on my Drennan float master sorted out as there are a few missing through misuse.

Reels now oiled, and old bits of bait chucked in the bin. Am looking forwards to yet another great fishing year in 2020.

The marital disharmony has now been solved by the discovery and disposal of two packets of rotten worm that had been forgotten about at the bottom of my sea fishing box…. urgghhh