The Underwater Clockwork: Understanding the UK’s Seasonal Baitfish and Predator Cycles Every sea angler knows the frustration of a “blank” session. You can have the most expensive rods, the neatest rigs, and cast a mile into the surf, but if the water in front of you is a desert, you won’t catch. To become a …
There is nothing quite like the scream from the drag on the reel when a smoothhound hits your bait. It’s a sound that marks the true beginning of the summer fishing calendar. As water temperatures climb, these hard-fighting, sleek mini-sharks make their annual pilgrimage into the shallows. If you want to feel the raw, muscular …
Read more “The Hounds Are Back: Your Ultimate Guide to Early-Season Smoothhound Success”
With the latest Atlantic storm battering the South West you could be excused for thinking that it might be a good idea to just stay at home this weekend and give fishing a miss. If you do then you could well miss out on a great fishing opportunity. The wind on Saturday is due to …
It’s been a long winter for anglers, especially those who have practically missed a season due to lockdowns and predicaments. Trapped worse than the fish in some cases. Now though, things are looking up and it’s possible to visit lakes and rivers again for some angling. But what are the best flies and lures to …
How to fillet salmon Having caught or maybe even bought a Salmon you are delighted that you have salmon as a lunch, but before adorning the tabletop with it, you need to cook it and if you were lucky enough to catch it yourself, you will need to fillet it. Filleting a salmon like any …
Every lure angler has gone through the struggle of choosing the right spinning reel. Some learn from their mentors, others from mistakes. But if you don’t have a personal mentor that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make mistakes to learn. Not in this era! I have designed this guide on how to choose a …
Read more “How to choose a spinning reel – a beginner’s guide”
If you’re new to fishing, you need to be prepared to fish and act responsibly. Responsible fishing keeps fish healthy and ensures you’re not causing unnecessary damage to the wildlife, water, and environment in general. Here are 10 things every new angler should know about responsibility. Make Sure You’re Allowed To Fish First of all, …
LRF has been a part of the UK saltwater lure fishing scene for over a decade now. For most though, it’s still either a curiosity or a mystery – why are these LRF anglers so excited to spend their days catching tiny fish? I guess the quick answer to that is: it really isn’t just …
Stories about fishing are as old as the waters that hold them. Before starting on a fishing adventure, you might need some quality books to help you with some important aspects of fishing. Be it a story exploring some rich, deep history or an account educating you about the right techniques and expanding your knowledge. …
The latest advice as of the 7th of January is that yes we can go fishing locally. This information has been released by the Angling Trust, whom have fought very hard for anglers to be able to resume fishing after the government initially decided to suspend angling in the third national lockdown. However the resumption …
Read more “Are we allowed to fish in the new lockdown in 2021?”
Whether using an indoor grill or an outdoor grill, the art of cooking fish on a grill takes time and practice to perfect. Unlike chops or burgers, grilling fish can be a notoriously difficult task as fish is typically thinner and much more fragile so it lends itself easier to breakage whilst cooking, while it …
Winter sea fishing is all about Cod, Whiting and Flounder right? Wrong!! They are certainly the species most anglers automatically think of when the last flushes of autumn have gone and we face months of cold and wet weather. However it certainly doesn’t have to be that way, there are still loads of other species …
August is the month that normally throws up a few exotic fish around the UK waters and this year is no exception. We have heard reports of an unusual species that as a Mediterranean fish that I am familiar with as well as some other fish that have reached UK waters. One of these species …
The Daiwa Sokkou Knot Tool If like me your hands are not as dextrous as they used to be this handy little tool does one job and one job only, namely it makes the tying of leaders to mainlines an absolute doddle. It used to take me 15 minutes to tie a leader, sometimes more …
We have some strong south westerly winds heading our way this weekend, but that doesn’t mean I am going to be sat at home! I love it when the wind stirs things up. It can really improve fishing for certain species, especially Bass at this time of year. Yes it can muck up some of …
Have you ever had those moments when you are fishing and see someone hooking into bass while you are blanking with every single cast? People assume that other anglers are just lucky. Well, it is true that luck does play a part, however, understanding both the behaviour of bass and using the correct …
What can I catch on Chesil and other South West fishing marks in July? This year I want to look ahead at what we can expect to catch from Chesil Beach in July. I always look forward to July as it marks the start of the better fishing. Most of the summer species have moved …
Read more “Fishing forecast and Catch reports for Chesil Beach, July 2020”
Over the past few years Shark fishing has had a resurgence of popularity. Back in the70’s and early 80’s I used to read in awe about the shark fishing from ports out of Cornwall. Unfortunately in those days you would often see the sharks strung up as trophies, rather than released as is the usual …
Early indicators are that the mackerel have arrived at the usual time of year, with marks such as Chesil Beach producing good numbers of fish over a short period of time. Does this mean we are seeing a return to normal for mackerel fishing or have the super trawlers all but wiped them out? Over …
Perhaps you’re new to fishing, or have been doing it for a while and not having as much success as you would like. Maybe you are like hundreds of others and look in envy at other anglers posting great catches in various Facebook groups and timelines. A lot of these anglers will often proudly mention …
Read more “If only I had a better rod – the best £150 you will spend”
The one shop that I have missed visiting during the lockdown is my local tackle shop. The good news is that from the 15th of June most of the tackle shops will be open, subject to them being able to provide social distancing. So what have you missed most about your tackle shop? For me …
How many of you were as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve the day before yesterday, counting down the hours until we can get out and fish again? I know I was and as luck would have it, I was able to get out on the first day. The question was, where to go? …
The question on everyones lips is can we go fishing again? Unfortunately the Prime Ministers speech last night left a lot of us scratching our heads in confusion, myself included. In all honesty it raised more questions than it answered. Facebook was flooded with differing opinions on people interpretations of what was said, so I …
Baitcasting set ups are slowly becoming more popular with UK lure anglers, but they are nowhere near as widely used, as they are in other countries. This article looks at the reasons why you would want to choose a baitcaster over a traditional spinning or fixed spool set up and if its the right choice …
Lugworm, in my opinion, is one of the most under-rated baits there is. When you think about what we all think fish prefer to eat, we think of blood, guts, smell etc and Lugworm is one of the best baits which fit all of these criteria. Couple that with the fact that Lugworm is one …
I used to dream about wining the lottery, now I just dream about going fishing again. All the indicators are pointing to a level of relaxation on the social distancing rules, probably in a couple of weeks time. If the government are starting to phase people back to work, there is no reason why a …
Smoothound’s are a shallow water species and so being either on the South Coast or the West of the UK, having lots of shallow coastlines, we are lucky enough to be in the most common areas where they are caught. However with more and more anglers catching and releasing these shark like fish, their range …
Do you want to know what the best fishing destinations in the world are? Over the next few months we will be looking at some of the best fishing on the planet. Some of these I have fished myself, others are written by people that I know and have fished with in the past and …
What do you do when you’re living by one of the best rock fishing marks in the world, you are literally thousands of miles away from the nearest tackle shop, and you have no lures? This is the situation I find myself in as I pen this article. A few weeks ago I moved to …
When I am out and about fishing I often have people comment to me about me wearing a life jacket, especially when I am fishing rock marks. In truth I am not wearing a life jacket, but instead I normally wear a flotation vest, or in the winter and I am on the beach it’s …
Read more “What’s the best life jacket or flotation device for fishing?”
Pulley rigs are one of my go to rigs for fishing at distance. You can either use them with a single hook or add an additional hook to make it a Pulley Pennel Rig. The second hook helps to present a larger or longer bait at range, It can also help to increase the number …
I am sure most of you are like me and itching to get out fishing again. Covid-19 may be playing havoc with our social lives and preventing us getting out fishing, but it could well have some added bonuses. We are still early in the fishing year and still a few weeks away from the …
Read more “This is going to be the best Bass fishing season for years!”
This period of lockdown has given me plenty of time to think about the future of Fishing Tails, both as a business and as a website. I started the site as a blog way back in February 2012, as a way of giving people regular reports on catches and conditions on Chesil Beach. I hope …
“Don’t be a Kn*b, just do as you are asked for a while!” These are the words tweeted by Johnny Mercer, Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View and Undersecretary for State of Defence. On this rare occasion, I couldn’t agree more with him. I make absolutely no apologies for what I am about to say, …
This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content. If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. …
This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content. If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. …
This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content. If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Melville. That’s why …
Once again we were battered with another Atlantic gale at the weekend. How come it never seems to blow during the week, then have a lull during the times most of us can fish? It looks like today could be a brilliant day on Chesil. We did have a couple of days this week, where …
So maybe you’re thinking of getting out amongst our local sharks? The question is with what? Well there are many different opinions on the best tackle for sharks. Some anglers prefer to tackle up lighter and enjoy the sport of smaller sharks where others prefer to tackle up for the monster from the depths and …
Fishing conditions this week have been brutal to say the least and unfortunately there seems no let up for this weekend, or at least not on Chesil, so if you are in any doubt as to whether the beach is fishable I think you can see from this impressive picture taken this morning by my …
It was one of those weekends that could have been good, or a total blank on Chesil. The tides were dying away, the water was clearing and we still had an easterly wind for the most part. As it turned out, Chesil produced the way it was typically remembered for, by producing a number of …
Once again Chesil Beach has produced a cracking weekend of fishing for some. But it wasn’t the Cod that everyone has been seeking, it has been the flat fish that have hit the headlines, with a potential British record breaking Brill and some amazing Rays. Bernard Johnson weighed in a huge Brill of 8lb 3oz, …
I did say on Monday that November is one of the best months of the year for big Bass and Ben Male proved exactly that, with a 12lb Bass caught at Seaton on Garfish. I have to admit to never having used Garfish as a bait, other than to catch Garfish, but I had heard that …
It is with great sadness that I hear the news this morning, of the sudden death of John Wilson, who died after suffering a stroke in his home in Thailand. John was a fishing legend that inspired so many people, myself included. I was lucky enough to meet him once and I was awed by …
I am delighted to say that Fishing Tails is back and will be even better than ever. I won’t bore you with the details as to why I haven’t been around, but I would like to say thank you to those who have supported me over the past few months and have persuaded me to …
We have updated the MLS page to reflect the new Bass rules for 2018. The dust has now settled over the new Minimum Landing Size (MLS.) for Bass so we thought it might be interesting to test your knowledge of the MLS. and protection status of some of our most common UK Marine fish. No …
John Gierach once wrote “…. how often do you have a chance to get skunked while casting a fourteen-foot spey rod in the shadow of a castle built two hundred years before the American Revolution?” You’ll be thinking that I quite like John Gierach. Well, I think I do. I like his writing and his …
Autumn is without a doubt the best time for sea fishing in Dorset. We still have all the summer species around, but the winter species are now starting to show, so you never know what your next catch will be. It could easily be a hard fighting Smoothound from Seaton or a tasty Cod from …
I am guessing many of you have looked at the weather forecast for the next few days and thought I don’t fancy going out in that. I look at the conditions and it makes me almost tremble with excitement. I know that this is one of the best opportunities that I am going to get, …
At first glance, fly fishing for carp appears to be a very modern phenomenon; all deer-hair pellet flies and punk camo clothing. But you’d be very wrong! What if we told you that fly fishing for carp is probably as old as fishing itself? And the first reference to fly patterns specifically for carp date …