I won't pretend there's a single magic trick to pull double-figure rays off slippery tidal ledges — but after a few seasons of stubborn dawns, soaked waders and the odd ecstatic shout when a big shoulder rolls at the surface, I've learned a reliable pattern: exact peeler timing plus the right...
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How-To Guides
I always get a buzz when the harbour lights start to bleed into the water —...
How-To Guides
I spend a lot of spring mornings standing on low, wind-scoured sandbanks,...
How-To Guides
I fish harbours at night more than I admit to my smartphone’s location...
How-To Guides
There are mornings when the estuary mouth looks like someone flipped a coin and...
I fish harbours at night more than I admit to my smartphone’s location history. There’s something addictive about the way pollack light up under quay lamps, how a single glow stick makes the water read like a topographic map of current and...
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,...
Winter cod sessions around Wales mean cold fingers, early high tides and kelp that seems determined to eat every rig you send out. Over the years I’ve lost more than my share of rigs to sharp kelp blades — especially when casting heavy leads...
There’s a particular hush that falls over a tidal ledge just before first light — wind down to a whisper, water tucking around the rocks, and the promise that a double-figure ray could be cruising somewhere in the incoming. Over the years I’ve...
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...