Its official. Salmon are now running the River Mersey looking for suitable spawning beds in its upper tributaries. Yet 13 years before the first salmon reports, large portions of the river were periodically being declared biologically dead. That is the scale of the turn around on Merseyside. From running sewer to running salmon, along with almost 50 other fish species, has taken a mere 13 years. Throughout that time, whiting, cod and dabs were providing reliable winter sport close to the entrance to the river. Now anglers regularly catch them up to several miles inland, with fish like bass and soles going even further upstream that that. Compared to the rest of the country, winter anglers in these parts have long been saying 'cod crisis, what cod crisis'. On the right tides, dinghy anglers can take between a dozen and twenty cod per tide, with the thriving charter fleet seeing even more. And not all small to average specimens either. Double figure fish are always a possibility, as are good sized thornback rays. But the winter of 2006-2007 didn't see quite so many fish as in previous years, which not un-surprisingly set alarm bells ringing in some quarters. The reason behind this however could be nothing more than un-seasonally high winter temperatures keeping the huge Mersey crab population resident in the river for longer, which to some extent is a double whammy to anglers as they not only provide an abundance of food for the cod, but strip worm baited hooks into the bargain.

The importance of crab to the local food chain cannot be over stated. The river is full of them, and despite years of complaints by anglers nationwide about finding hard backed crabs inside cod, yet never being able to catch cod when using them, in the Mersey this most certainly is not the case. My fishing buddie Charlie Pitchers has laid that particular ghost to rest on more than the odd occasion. When his worm baits come up with a dose of crabs hanging from them, he carefully lifts them inside the well of the boat before shaking them fee. They then go into a bucket for use when the cod come on the feed. First he crushes them with his boot, then lashes them onto the hook. As many as three cod have been taken on the same crab bait, so it isn't some freak flash in the pan. Having said this, under normal circumstances, the key baits for the Mersey are black lug and squid, either used individually, or better still cocktailed together with maybe three whole worms and a full calamari on a four foot flowing trace armed with a couple of 6/0 hooks rigged as a pennel. Most of the rivers cod and thornbacks will usually be up to having a go at that. And for the smaller winter fish like whiting and dabs, more of the same though in smaller portions on a 2/0 hook, particularly when the tide begins to slacken should do the business, though for some reason, whiting were also conspicuous by their apparent absence also last winter.

Changes to the way launching is administered and policed have been another aspect small boat anglers are having to get used to. Though the potential has always been there at New Brighton slip to close and lock the metal barrier across the slip entrance, until recently, particularly over the winter months, it had been the exception even to be stopped and asked for sight of your RYA level 2 and boat insurance. Now you have to produce both, plus evidence of insurance for the towing vehicle even to get a permit. The Clearwater training school just around the corner can still issue permits, if there is anybody in at the time. They also lock and un-lock the barrier for small boat access. And with nowhere else along either side of the river to put a boat in, there isn't much anyone can do about it. What the river clearly needs is a better, purpose built launching location, preferably over on the Liverpool side, and most definitely a couple of miles further up river. Small boats launching at New Brighton can have a tricky time of getting in and out, particularly in lumpy conditions, yet up river where most end up fishing, it can be like a mill pond even with 30 knots of wind from the prevailing west to south west. You always have beach conditions on your mind for coming back. The charters boats, who could take a bit more weather if they needed to, start off up river from Liverpool Marina where its always calm. That however is going to prove tricky over the 2007-2008 season due to extensive refurbishment works around the marina to the point that many of the Rhyl boats which regularly over winter there will not be presenting themselves for business this season.

Despite there being plenty of fish which are relatively easy to find at most places along the channel edges, particularly over on the Liverpool side, the Mersey isn’t always that easy a venue to fish. It runs like a train, even on the smaller tides. Anything over a middle ranging tide of around 8.7 metres is going to be hard work, particularly at peak flow. What tends to happen on the bigger tides, particularly for the charter boats, is the fishing of 5 hour trips over the high water period which means they not only miss the un-fishable peak flows, but can get in and out of the marina before the lock gates are closed. Small boats less tied by times tend to fish full tides. So tide size is a major consideration, with some parts of the river worse than others. Fishing ebb tides also seems to add to the run as both the tide and the river are moving in the same direction. Wind direction too can play its part. West to south westerly winds are the dominant direction in these parts and present no problem, particularly over on the Wirral side. I fished a cod competition a couple of years ago aboard Tony Parry's Jensen in 57 knots of wind and it was fine (see Video Vault). North westerlies and south easterlies are the winds to watch out for as they follow the river channel. North westerlies in particular as they can give nasty sea conditions for beach launching and some worrying swells for the first mile or so moving up river.

For obvious reasons, braided lines are always going to offer advantages, though they can fall down when there is a lot of grassy debris in the river such as after heavy rainfall in-land. This tends to gather on the line above the trace swivel. It can be very difficult to remove and will, depending on the brand of braid being used, separate the outer coating from the main core weakening the quoted breaking strain. It's important therefore to keep checking the first couple of feet of line above the swivel, clipping it out as and when is necessary. Complimenting the braid is a good grip lead. Standard grips are okay when there isn't much run. Of the over the counter grips, Gemini are by far the best, especially when nose extensions are fitted. The problem with shop bought grip leads is that they are hard to find bigger than 8 ounces, and despite having four wires protruding from them, only ever have two in contact with the sea bed at any given time. I make my own in weights up to 12 ounces with four functioning wires, both fixed and breakaway. Space doesn't allow for a detailed explanation of how this is done. One of them employs two Gemini breakaway heads working together, which is very good when fishing some of the snaggier patches. For more information on just how this is done, again take a look at the Video Vault.

Staying with the subject of grip, you are also going to need a very good anchor with plenty of heavy chain. Ours is a 10 Kg fisherman pattern which only rarely jumps. Care needs to be taken when putting it down and getting it back. This is no place to be making mistakes such as having the rope go under the boat or become wrapped around the outboard leg. Accidentally coming to rest side on or stern on to the flow, particularly when its running hard can be lethal. I speak from experience here. Its easily done and very difficult to extract yourself from to the point where the only safe option could be a knife. Grip is also an important consideration on the beach, only this time from your tyres. Two wheel drive cars do launch here. I've done it myself, but mainly on an ebbing tide when I know that if I get stuck, I have time to sort things out. Cars regularly get into difficulties here. Usually this is towards low water when the trailer wheels bed in during winching on giving the car no chance at all. A good idea is to rope the boat and pull in clear of the water before trailering up. An even better idea is to use a 4WD vehicle. The Clearwater training school close to the slip have a tractor which will launch you for a fee. It can also help out with car rescues. But better not to get into difficulties in the first place which I know is often easier said than done.

As is often the case, when we fish the Mersey, the weather tends to be grim. Our first choice venue for winter cod fishing was always Blackpool, though to be honest, over recent seasons, it has not been a patch on fishing the river. But being so exposed along the Fyled Coast, the slightest bit of wind from the west can rule out any hopes of fishing there, and it doesn’t fish well on the smaller tides anyway. So we have tended to keep the Mersey in reserve for windy weather, which these days seems to be all of the time. But increasingly it is becoming our number one venue for the winter. And from what I hear, and have had some first hand sample experience of in recent times, it has the makings of a top summer venue too, though much of the warmer weather fishing takes place outside the immediate shelter of the estuary for bass, smoothhounds and rays (see Article Archive & Video Vault – Back To The Wall). Seemingly, it gets better all the time, which has to be heartening, even if you live so far away as to never consider it as a venue for you, because if so much good can come from one big concerted clean up effort instigated by then Environment Minister Michael Hesseltine in the aftermath of the Toxteth riots, then it can happen anywhere.