Until just recently when I moved to live in Maryport, the only time I fished Maryports Grasslot beach would be in a club competition. The main expected species to be caught would be plaice and dogfish during the summer months with codling and small whiting in winter mainly off the ‘Black Rocks’ that appear at low water.

Now I’m a resident of Maryport I often have bait left from a weekends competition and as the beach at Grasslot is only 5 minutes from the house I often choose to fish there out of convenience. However going back 2 years to the present I have had some excellent fishing from this beach. I tend to fish between the pier and the old breakwater, which has a good depth of water and as I and other anglers have found out the species caught there can be outstanding in both size and variety.

In the spring late February into March the plaice start to show on the sand and they are in the best numbers up to May/June and then thin out a bit, but remain around until October particularly if the winds do not give prolonged rough seas. Dogfish can be caught also in numbers and I recorded a double figure bullhuss in June 2 years ago. This summer was excellent when the crab started to moult in May -June attracting some nice sized smoothounds into the beach. They seem to prefer the evening to the morning high tides. Also bass and thornback rays start to appear then and they can be caught into the autumn . Gurnards start appearing around June along with small tope pups and flounders and dabs can be caught all year round. From September through the winter months codling appear on the beach particularly around low water, a rough sea with a south westerly wind increases your chances of success. They tend to be in the 1.5 – 3lbs bracket and can be caught right up to high water.

This summer saw young Mason Stephenson getting his picture in Sea Angler magazine when fishing with his dad Wayne from the shingle, recording an outstanding session catching, bass, thornback ray and smoothound. Well done Mason, obviously a fishing star of the future!

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I would avoid the first 100metres from the pier as anglers on the pier quite often cast out to the side parallel with the beach and they could pull your gear in. It is worth starting off on the sand in front of the shingle from low water, but I find the beach is the most productive as the water starts to hit the bottom of the shingle. The water quickly deepens on the flooding tide and the fish come onto the sand looking for the shrimp, crab, sand eels and immature fish that reside there. The best conditions are usually a mid sized tide with a nice 10-20mph South Westerly wind putting a bit of colour into the water. The rays, dogfish and smooth hounds are not scared to feed at short range in these conditions.

If you like fishing two rods this is an ideal beach for it, with the steep shingle slowing the incoming tide down and allowing you to move your gear back in a timely fashion. I am not a great fan of fishing two rods, as I find all you are doing is baiting up and casting all the time, with no time to watch the rod and absorb the scenery. Also the fish can be that prolific, it can make things hectic. I like to set up a beach caster usually my Anyfish Anywhere Tournament Match Pro for distance and a lighter rod for scratching closer in if the fish are feeding in the 20-50 metre bracket. The beach between the pier and wooden breakwater is the deepest area, with the area from the breakwater to the coal wash carpark area shallowing out. This can fish well, but the deeper water is definitely more productive.

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Obviously the best baits depend what you are targeting, but if you have lugworm and sandeel you will not go far wrong and catch most species. Crab is a good bait in summer for the smoothounds, thornback ray, bass and in winter for the codling. Tipping off with mackerel will also put you in with a good chance of picking up a dogfish or thornback ray, but sandeel can be deadly and the gurnard seem particularly fond of a small section mounted on a size 4-1 hook. The plaice are always on the lookout for a nice bit of black lugworm and frozen black can be deadly on some occasions.

The only downside to this mark is the weed can be awful, so don’t fish it during a rough period let it calm down for a couple of days. You will blank on here, but the good days make it a great beach to fish particularly in the March to October period. It can throw up some great fish and in numbers on occasions and seems to be getting better each year. I can say it is one of my favourite marks on the west cumbrian coastline. If fishing the beach in the bird nesting season take care as you walk on and off the beach as oyster catchers nest at the top of the beach.