Out of the Blue

I finally managed to track down a hard copy of Chris Yate's Out of the Blue last month!

It's not a long book, and I devoured it hungrily in the land-locked state of my 'veterinary' existence whilst working very long hours at a small animal hospital.

The book begins the chronicle of Yates' return to sea fishing and was just as captivating to read as a soley coarse angler as any of his other books. 

In fact I was inspired to head out from my landlocked position at the next suitable weekend, and threw my spinning rod, some of Dad's old sea tackle, and two friends and two tents into my little Jeep (in roughly that order too actually).

We headed off to Wales around the area of Llandudno, to attempt to fish at pretty much the wrong time of year, from all the wrong places (why fish a pier when a cliff is so much more isolated?) 

But we had a fantastic time. 

Christian caught some Scorpion fish on the first evening using bait on some gigantic hooks, whilst I failed to tempt anything (unsurprisingly) with my 99p illuminous squid lure. I'd spotted it in the tackle shop and as it was the most ludicrous lure I'd ever seen, of course had to test it! The next day we traveled over toward Angelsey and found a beautiful beach to fish from, and where I managed to lose the lure I had found on a beach in Australia. I hope it washes ashore and some other angler picks it up...

On the beach I caught a herring, with my bare hands! (The herring was rather unwell, but still it counts)

And what has this got to do with coarse fishing at Lonsdale? Well sea fishing seems to lack alot of the refined finesse of coarse angling and has made me really appreciate my home waters, but the energy and unknown involved have me thinking about Allonby (a beach I've written about before, one of the most beautiful in Britain and one of my favourite places to be) and Silloth which is only about 25 miles away.

Anyone who's read Out of the Blue, and wants to tag along with me would be most welcome - I have alot to learn and I'm sure many of our regular visitors have never managed to explore Allonby which really is worth leaving Lonsdale for (honestly!).

www.lonsdalepark.co.uk