fishyfishy: Cardiganshire, Patch

Hoping for a flounder at 'Patch'.

From the town of Cardigan take the Gwbert Road, the A4548, along the north side of the Teifi Estuary, the road drops down to run alongside the beach at Coronation Road; at the end of the flat as the road swings up and to the right there is a boatyard on the left and a narrow lane running down to the beach. To the other side of the lane is The Patch Caravan Park. The beach is firm enough to drive on but you should be aware of how high the tide might come up and park accordingly.

The seaward side of 'Patch'.

This venue is a ridge of stone and sand formed by strong currents in the estuary, the beach to the seaward side is scoured by the tide and is fairly rough ground so some tackle loss can be expected, the upside to this is that crabs hide under the rocks and soft or peeler crabs can be collected. If you do look for crabs make sure you replace the rocks carefully as you found them. Leaving the rocks turned over with weed trapped underneath means the habitat for the crabs is ruined. Fishing a legered bait of crab or worm will perhaps tempt a bass, flounder or pollack.

The landward side of 'Patch'

On the other side of the bank conditions are quite different, the current swirls back around and deposits sand which forms a large sandbank which is exposed at low tide. Lugworm can be dug on the bank if you are feeling fit. the inlet can be waded across without too much trouble or you can walk around dry-shod. The inlet here is prime hunting ground for flounder and the mullet which can be seen cruising in large shoals, legering works for flounder and maybe a bass but float fishing is the way to go for the mullet. Mullet fishing is a black art and possibly to succeed you must sell your soul or spend years learning the techniques for this most frustrating of all fish. Just ponder, they don't get that big or occur in such numbers by being caught!
From the end of the spit you can fish into the main channel, there is a strong current for most of the tide cycle so techniques have to be modified to suit, grip leads will be needed but if there is a lot of weed even these will be ineffective; you could try float-fishing a bait with the depth set to drag the bottom or try a spinner or plug.
This is a good safe place for kids, in summer there are pontoons where the kids can hand line for crabs or paddle and explore the sandbank at low tide.