nickw

Yes agreed, why mark wartime wrecks as different hence my reference to the liner that sunk off Cornwall. It is the physical disturbance of the wrecks that could cause offence. Mooring near a wreck and rod and line fishing is some what different to diving and deliberatly retrieving artifacts - look at digging up crashed aircraft on land. I have a relation who was drowned in a lightship on the South Goodwins but would have no problem with people angling at the wreck site in the same way as I have not problem with someone walking over the site of a Civil War battle or shooting pheasants there either. However if some one was to take a JCB and start digging it up or taking a grappling hook to the lightship ... nick

It is obviously a complex situation and ethics and sensibilities are involved. As I see it a wartime wreck can be a warship or a merchant ship sunk by enemy action but there are just as deserving cases from other marine tragedies such as passenger ships that have hit reefs e.g. SS Mohegan on The Manacles in Cornwall. Often ships sink on top of each other and wrecks can be complex sites and spread over hundreds of yards. Perhaps ship wrecks can be seen in the same way as other wartime sites e.g. minor battles or bombings where life now goes on now with what has happened before almost forgotten. All the time we are walking and driving on sites where people have died in wartime. It would be difficult to go through all these ship wrecks and choose which are to become war graves. There may be a case for stopping fishing and diving on a few high profile sites but in general it can not make sense or be achievable. Nick

Hi CJS2 Must admit i'm currently buying my squid in fairly small freezer packs from Gary at my local tackle shop. I had been thinking of buying in more bulk but not sure where to start, any suggestions ? nick

Yes I had a similar experience with tackle passed down to me including from my gamekeeper grandfather who had worked a large estate up in Norfolk. As you say I still caught enough as a six year old to hook me for life. Nick

When it comes to DIY the east coast sees a few home made efforts on the beaches nick

Looks pretty civilised to me. I usually fish aboard Tracy-Jane out from the Ferry. Good crowd but no pies Nick

join the navy and see the world !

Enjoyed the report and the pictures, Felixstowe is my fishing ground as well so could picture the scene ! I normally fish near the Washington Bouy. Which day did you fish ? Nick

Question - ... are they doing anything illegal... What has been described could probably be classified under Breach of the Peace. “the concept of breach of the peace has been clarified by the English courts over the last two decades, to the extent that it is now sufficiently established that a breach of the peace is committed only when an individual causes harm, or appears likely to cause harm, to persons or property, or acts in a manner the natural consequence of which would be to provoke violence in others.” The police can carry out an arrest for the above “Where: (1) a breach of the peace is committed in the presence of a person making the arrest or (2) the arrestor believes that such a breach will be committed in the immediate future by the person arrested although he has not yet committed any breach or (3) where a breach has been committed and it is reasonably believed that a renewal of it is threatened.”

"Let me know when you will be going. It would be nice to put a face to names seen on these pages." Same here I wouldn't mind a trip, I usually fish Felixstowe as its close but i've fished Aldeburgh a few times and like it as a venue especially if you can fish a quieter night (midweek?). nick

The docks at Felixstowe have been closed because of the high winds. Evidently gales and container cranes don't mix ! A SE is an on-shore wind for us so probably better for stirring up the sea than a northerly. Could do without trhe rain though ! Nick

Hi Sam spell check ! look out for your use of fuel (you've used fual) and hear when you probably want here. All the best nick

Good idea to have the poll. How about running it again after 1 month ? nick

Whereabouts in Tenerife are you going ? Big difference between North and South of the island. Generally Fishing off the harbour walls can be productive for smallish fish especially bream can be caught by float fishing bread or prawn with prawn being the favourite. From the harbour walls and jetties you can see the shoals of bream etc. swimming around in the clear water. There are also plenty of mullet and some wrasse; the occasional bass and baracuda, small live baits or lures would be best for them, baracuda need wire traces and forceps to unhook them ! Most of the outside harbour walls are reinforced with huge concrete blocks and they are alive with crustaceans and fish. Most of the fish you see in day time are fairly small so light weight tackle and small sea floats are fine as well as being easy to hide in the luggage Beware of fishing inside the harbours as this is against the bye-laws and usually strictly enforced, by the local civil police. Strictly a rod licence is required even for sea fishing but I don't know of many people on holiday who bother and I've never heard of anyone being asked for one. Boat fishing all depends on what you are looking for and you need to decide that and choose who you go with as its not cheap and there are some good and some very bad nick

Sorry couldn't oblige with the catch Elton I did enjoy myself and used to do a fair amount of beach fishing a number of years ago and i'm just getting going again now that I have a little more time to spare. The tackle is looking very old and i'm going through making some replacements. MP. Thanks for the comments really helpful. I like to think about my fishing, for me that is part of the enjoyment along with being out in the open air with the sound of the sea on the beach etc... On Friday when I fished Languard there were loads of whiting and pout and the rods were constantly rattling with fish pulling at the bait. I deliberatly tried some bigger hooked rigs and caught a couple of slightly larger fish - however everything went straight back. I was a bit stuck for range, which might have helped as the squid I had with me had defrosted and was very soft, I had forgotten to bring any thread so I was only chucking out a short distance. You were dead right about the weather the sea was flat and the sun very bright, not at all ideal for fishing but OK for my tackle test. I now know what I need for some hopefully more productive session - from a codling point of view but if I get some time off I might well go anyway just for the pleasure of being out. Nick

I would agree with most of what is being said. The magazines are fairly useless for up to date info on how a particular place is fishing. With tackle shops you have to be a bit suspicious of the motive of what is being said - boasting from customers and over optimism from some owners. Some of the other forums e.g. www.leader-lines.com are holding reports of codling OK some of those will be made up and others might be exagerated but i've heard enough from people I trust that there are some fish about. Personally I can only catch the whiting but its nice to see some action and maybe I will bump into a cod on the way. Nick

Hearing now about a number of cod being caught along the Suffolk coast. So went this afternoon (Friday) to Landguard and fished opposite container park at the end of the sea defences, from 14.00 to 16.30. Very bright and sunny, sea exceptionally calm. No problem at all holding with a 5oz breakaway. Bites all the time from small whiting and pout but I was trying out larger hooks on a pennel rig hence did not land many. I found a small tackle snag nothing too bad and brought in a few bits of line without losing any myself. By 16.00 I was the only person on the beach - no one else fancied the ebb ! It was my first beach trip for many years so dusting down all my old equipment and really enjoyed myself now looking forward to the next trip but before then I need a new rod and reel ! Nick

B_C where abouts are you fishing ? I'm hearing about a few cod being caught here in Suffolk from the beaches but is looks like 10 or 20 undersize whiting for every codling.

With these large baits e.g. squid for Cod how do you decide if you have a bite with lots of whiting about. Do just leave the rod and allow the Cod to hook itself against the lead ? Nick

Dave, the trolling possibilities are interesting as in most cases the 'edge' between clean ground and the reef will be quite distinct, unlike most natural reefs or rocky areas where there will be an area of dirty ground before the clean sand or shingle is encountered. In tenerife the bass and baracuda were patrolling these drop offs on the edge of the reef. The smaller ones in shoals but the larger fish appearing to be more loners. Nick

And ban netting, including 'hobby' fishermen in the estuaries then the reefs would quickly self populate. Artificial Reefs sound a great idea especially in those areas that have little protective habitat from natural reefs. I've just got back from Tenerife where the local harbour wall was protected by huge square concrete blocks. The place was full of a huge variety of fish and crustaceans, whereas swim a few yards away over the sand and there was not a fish in sight. From my experience I would agree that the artificial reef had as many and possibly more fish than the natural rocky areas I was swimming over. As long as the site was properly considered in terms of longshore drift etc. I would welcome seeing the experiment extended to my area - Suffolk. And why not the coast here is already artificially affected by coastal groynes and the dredging of the shipping channel into Felixstowe !

From the shore anglers point of view its the small professional and hobby fisherman who are most visual, especially when you stand on Aldeburgh beach and the fishing boat comes past pulling a trawl within casting distance. Or the 'hobby' fisherman puts his estuary catch of bass mostly undersize straight in the back of his car and is selling it in local pubs ! Although small scale this is the stuff that immediately affects us.

Many thanks Rudd for the update I was fancying Wednesday late afternoon / early evening, I think high tide is about 5pm. As long as the rain forecast does not get any worse ! Its a while since I fished off the beach so i'm really looking forward to it. Nick

Anyone got any feedback for fishing down at Felixstowe recently ? I'm planning a mid week trip down there, probably to Languard. Thanks Nick

So how did it go at Gorleston ? I'm thinking of trying Felixstowe mid week but the forecast is lots of rain, which is rather putting me off. Nick