LET’S TALK TURBOT
This time of year there’s always reasonable numbers of small turbot on the west facing Welsh beaches, but this year their numbers have escalated dramatically. I’ve never seen as many and those fishing scratching tactics over the past couple of months have caught huge numbers of hand sized fish with the odd better one to around a pound.

I did a little ringing round and contacts in Cornwall also tell me they’ve got loads of little turbo’s too, on all their sand surf beaches.

Why the sudden increase I’m not so sure. They are close to their northern limits here in the UK and one theory is that a change in the Gulf Stream flow last year may have pushed more turbot larvae towards the UK coast than normal.

Inevitably this increase in numbers will hopefully, over the next few years, see a few bigger than normal turbo’s caught off the shore. Those of you looking for a challenge should target a 3lber as being a good fish, with anything over 5lbs, and these are caught from time to time, classed as a fish of a lifetime. Sandeel is the top bait, mackerel or bluey a good back up, with the mouths of estuaries often a good spot to pick up a better sized fish if you fancy a try.

THE CRAB PEEL IS WAY LATE
I had a look for peeler crab last weekend and as expected found nothing. In fact there were barely any hardbacks in the mud even thinking about shedding their hard overcoats. Winter has left a deep, cold claw on the land and I fear it will be the next set of tides before we see a few show, but it will be a month until the real numbers start.

Again phoning round I’m told the crabs are starting to peel in better numbers in the Southwest, but numbers are said to be low and inconsistent at best. It’s much the same along the south coast too. Even inside the Menai Straits in North Wales, an area where the peel gets going early, numbers are so far poor. This will have consequences down the line too!

I think the better sized bass will be about a month late here in Wales as there’s next to nothing for them to eat inshore currently. Yes the odd sizeable vanguard fish might show and some schoolies, but the odd swallow doesn’t make a summer, neither does the odd bass. I’m expecting the bass fishing to be slow right through until mid/late May now at the earliest, but I hope I’m wrong. Much depends on what the weather in April does, and we need a quick and prolonged warm spell to get things moving. Once the bass do move in, I’ve a feeling some decent fish will be caught.

A few of you have been asking me when the mullet and mackerel will be in, and again I’m sorry to say I’m expecting them to be late by a good two to three weeks or more. The sea temperature is still struggling to make 9C currently in the south, and off Wales some websites give the sea temp as just 7C (and trust me it feels like it) and this coming week’s return to cold weather won’t help. I like to see the sea temp hit a consistent 10C before things really click in to gear. Mullet…then in the south there will already be a few in the sheltered harbours. In Wales it’ll be another month before they appear in any sort of numbers. Mackerel, then there might be a few in the next two or three weeks off the Cornish coast, but I’d expect them to show about the end of April north of the Bristol Channel if you’re rock fishing, the boats should find a few though come mid/late April inside Cardigan Bay. The rest of the country will lag behind even further generally speaking.

Most areas seem to have launce in decent numbers for boat anglers fishing shrimp rigs, so consider these as a fresh bait source for the time being, but make sure you take enough frozen mackerel with you for the day.

FORECAST FOR EASTER
The forecast for the coming week sees winter come back for one last kiss. They reckon snow in the north for Tuesday night, and further south for Wednesday and Thursday, then heavy rain and wind over the Easter weekend. No snow as such in the south, but it’s colder and wet there too, though it might be better in the Southeast of the UK. Typical UK holiday weather then!

I think the secret to catching a few fish over the coming weekend is to find some shelter and stick to scratching tactics. At least then you’ll be in with a chance of catching a few fish, albeit not big ones. And avoid the west facing beaches, and especially the estuaries which will have too much flood water in to carry any fish worth speaking of.

Our local forecast looks really poor, so the beaches will be out. I fished last Sunday night catching turbot, whiting and dogs, but the weed on the ebb was impossible and I’d expect this to hang in the surf now right through the weekend. I’ll take stock of the weather on Thursday when it’s more accurate for the short term and maybe look at rock fishing on a lee coast as the tides are small over Easter.

It’s a case of making the best of it…so good luck!