Daiwa Fishing Tackle and Fishing Equipment

The best places for sea fishing in East of England, Part Two

I called a couple of my friends who were out fishing today at the Lowestoft South Beach and decided to change my location and move on to Lowestoft. So I packed up my sea fishing equipment and left.

When I arrived, I thought to myself how much the beach has changed since I was here last. The groynes used to be uncovered with the sea running by them, but now they are all but buried, and during low water they are 50 yards away from the edge of the sea. Still, this would fare well for the summertime as lots of holiday-makers visit here for the high quality of the beach and will get a surprise when they see how big it has become.

The main reason for the sand accumulating here is the new outer-harbour at Yarmouth, which just out hundreds of meters and has changed the flow of the tide for a large part of the coast. Some beaches have lost ground whereas others have gained – it is the laws of nature, plus a helping hand from man on this occasion.

I unpacked my sea fishing equipment, my sea fishing rod and my other sea fishing tackle. It was a whiting onslaught once again, only they were a much better size than at Sea Palling. Every cast produced a fish, plus a shed load of weed. Nevertheless, I stuck it out until my arms were hurting with having to haul in several pounds of weed a cast. I decided enough was enough, so I cut the trip short and spent the rest of the day working out a third plan.

Back at the beach house in Sea Palling, I knew that my last chance would be to have a crack at night because daytime had certainly been a failure. But the dilemma was where to go. It was late afternoon as I downed the dregs of a large scotch while pondering my options. As I was putting on my sea fishing clothing it dawned on me that the warming snifter had in fact made my decisions for me. There was no way I could get behind the wheel in search of new pastures – so it was back onto Sea Palling Beach.

As fate would have it, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I unpacked my fishing equipment and my sea fishing rod. The tide turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The tide was well on its way down, darkness was only an hour or so away and suddenly I had the feeling that I was going to catch a cod.

I set up my sea fishing equipment at the same place where I had started my fishing experience, actually, my footprints were still in the sand and so were the marking from my sea fishing rod pod. The first cast produced a codling of about 2lb to prove my gut instincts were spot-on. This came just before low water and I was made up. I now had a good while before the tide turned and started to push again. I knew I could catch some whiting in this slack water period, so I played with the three-hook flapper again to keep myself amused. After lots of the pesky little whiting, the tide began to move once more, so I sent out my sea fishing tackle to just beyond the sand bar. This cast produced another codling of identical size, making me imagine there could be a reasonable one lurking offshore, but even if my assumptions were right, the whiting returned with a vengeance, pecking at every bait I cast in. but I didn’t care because I had achieved my goal.

After a couple of hours I decided to try live bait tactic again, but no more codling appeared, which made me wonder whether the whiting were keeping the cod off the bait, or if the two fish I had beached had been lost. Still, it was just a great feeling being home again like the old days when I lived by the sea. I had enjoyed three days of sand, sea and fishing. Also, the pair of codling had been hard fished for, which made the catch all the more satisfying.

It was becoming cold, damp and I had my fun. My sea fishing clothing kept me warm throughout the night but the time has come. There was also a drop of whisky left waiting in the house. A perfect way to end a satisfying trip.

The best places for sea fishing in East of England, Part One

All anglers have a place they love returning to because of some happy fish-catching memories they hold. The destination at the top of my list is Sea Palling which has produced all kinds of species for me in the past, as well as some of my best ever sea fishing experience. Although the beach has never produced a lunker for me, there is just something special about being there and enjoying a deep-set feeling of contentment and well-being when I am perched on my tackle box watching the tips of my sea fishing rods.

Sea Palling is a charming little coastal village very popular with so many tourists as well as fishermen. This village lies between Waxham and Eccles –On-Sea and has always been under the threat from sea and had a bit of a violent history.

Part of Sea Palling disappeared under the waves together with its church and the large estate of Gelham Hall. One of the earliest accounts was written by John of Oxendes, a monk at nearby St. Benet's Abbey, in which he relates the destruction brought by the great storm of 1287" .. the sea, agitated by the violence of the wind, burst through its accustomed limits, occupying towns, fields and other places adjacent to the coast .... it suffocated and drowned men and women sleeping in their beds, with infants in their cradles .... and it tore up houses from their foundations, with all they contained and threw them into the sea with irrevocable damage".

Several more incursions occurred over the centuries and by 1604 the neighbouring village had also lost 56 houses and over 900 acres of land. Just 3 years later Sea Palling's defences were breached one more time as well as the neighbouring Waxham was flooded in 1655 and 1741 also taking away the first local sea fishing tackle uk shop. Lack of proper maintenance of the dunes led to continuous breaches and it was not until the 19th century that a programme of sea defence work was started. The great storm of 31 January 1953 took the lives of 7 Sea Palling villagers - part of the 100 who perished in Norfolk alone. (A memorial plaque is in St Margaret's Church). Following this tragedy the sea wall was extended in 1986 and in 1995 the Environment Agency undertook a multi-million pound project erecting nine barrier reefs.

I have always found the sea angling easy at Sea Palling and I hoped that this time was also going to be a nice experience for me. Last time I was here, I remember standing on top of a sand dune totally captivated by the sight of massive waves surged over the 12 feet high concrete defence wall. It was an incredible spectacle to witness. It was a one-off experience but one I may yet relive as sea levels rise.

My latest trip was a three-day stint and I arrived at my haven armed with some cracking bait bought from the Angling Direct sea fishing tackle UK in Norwich, Norfolk. The shop supplied me with some massive gutted black lug – the size of which I haven’t seen in ages, along with some common lug and unwashed squid. These baits are perfect for cod along the East Anglia coast. It is hard to come by a good sea fishing shops in UK, this is why I like Angling Direct they always have a good selection of products and helpful staff. I also like to get my sea fishing tackle online.

For this session my plan is to fish an afternoon session followed by two days at the shoreline. Hopefully all this effort should result in a good size cod being caught.

The trick to success when sea fishing is to find the right casting place, and this is precisely what I like about Sea Palling as its full of such places.

I have used the same routine here ever since I first cast a line of its beach. I park up and immediately rush over the sand dune to observe the sea conditions, as well as looking for the position of any sand bars by spotting waves becoming bigger as they pass over the shallower water and the holes will show as calm, flat areas. I can also gauge the stage at which the tide is at without referring to a tide time line. I soon found what I was after – the end of a sand bar leading into a hole where sea fishing tackle would certainly gather. This was where I would fish.

Previously I have caught on all stages of the tide here, although I do prefer the second half of the flood until the second half of the receding tide, so I would start my quest straight away and get my sea fishing rods unpacked.

For some unknown to me reason, I always seen to set up my sea fishing gear here faster than anywhere else. Maybe it’s because I feel really focused when I am here.

When sea fishing, I like to start as far out as possible to find the deeper water. In order to achieve great distance I use a single clipped-down paternoster with 3/0 hooks, loaded with black lug, and a flat-back lead to tow it out. A Daiwa 7th turbo, loaded with 15lb Ultima Powertseel and 80lb shock-leader, strapped to a couple of Century Tip Tornado Super Sport sea fishing rods, made my life easy to achieve this distance.

I had a second sea rod ready for close-range sea fishing, in a gulley on the inside of the sand bar, which had a three-hook flapper baited with common lug to search out any smaller stuff. To assist me, I used size one hooks as a pyramid lead from Gareth’s Weights. These sinkers are great in slow to medium tide runs, as they can hold out sufficiently and can also be easily moved, by raising the rod tip or cranking the reel handle, when it can trot for a bit then settle again. This is ideal for covering plenty of ground. You can probably find them in any of your local sea fishing shops or you can get find them in any sea fishing tackle online shop.

The long range sea rod was showing no signs of movement, but the close one suddenly started to rattle pretty much straight away. I knew this was a whiting, although I was hoping it might just be a dab as I fancied a one of those for my diner. But when a double shot of whiting broke surface I feared the worst. It was a nice sight, but I really wanted something bigger. With these little fellas in abundance my one hope was that large cod would be homing in to feed on them. That is when I noticed the long rod’s tip twitch – defiantly a whiting - so I left it out there as live bait.

Sadly nothing took the live bait and, after an hour or so, I decided it was time to reel in. the hooked whiting was fine and swam away; unaware it had been the unwilling bait for much larger prey.

Meanwhile, the three-hook setup had got me dozens of pin whiting. The tide had turned and way on its way out, which meant I would give it at least three more hours, maybe the better fish might show on the ebb.

But only whiting were interested in my offering, so it was time to call it a day. Instinct told me that the codling simply weren’t here, so contingency plan was in order.