Fishing Marks: Laxey Breakwater
Location and description
Laxey breakwater is situated on the Northern end of Laxey Bay, There is plenty of parking available at the free car park right next to the beach. From here, the breakwater looks tantalisingly close but to access it you have to walk a litte way back up the river toward the Shore Hotel, and then turn right and follow the well marked footpath past the holiday cottages, up onto the headland and then down the steps to the breakwater. The path is steep in parts, but is sound underfoot. It will take no longer than 10 minutes to travel from your car to the fishing spot.
The breakwater itself has a narrow back wall, which you can fish from (take care) as well as a raised platform around the lighthouse area. There is some rough ground close to the breakwater itself, but clean sand is found only a few yards out.
Laxey is a busy harbour for leisure craft, and you can expect boat traffic to interupt your fishing from time to time.
It is not safe to fish from the breakwater during strong onshore winds when high waves crash dangerously over it.
Species
There are a large number of species to be caught here, including ballan, coalfish, callig, dogfish, flounder, gurnards, mackerel, mullet, plaice, pouting, rockling and whiting.
Tackle required
A standard beachcasting rod coupled with a light spinning outfit will cover all situations. Distance is only an advantage when targeting plaice. Best fishing is off the back wall for most species, apart from flounder and mullet which can be caught fishing back into the harbour. Ballan are literally under your feet from the back wall and grow to good sizes. Driftlining or float fishing is a good way to target mackerel, ballan and callig.
Sandeel and mackerel baits will tempt most species, but lugworm or ragworm are be better for ballan and flatties.
Best fishing
Laxey breakwater offers comfortable year round fishing. Large shoals of whiting and dogfish make up most of the winter catches, and mackerel provide sport for everyone in the summer. Several species can often be caught in the same session, and the variety usually makes for an enjoyable trip.
There are some very good ballan to be caught from the back wall, but expect to lose some tackle. If you are lucky enough to land a decent ballan then far better to return it from the steps on the lower platform than to throw it back from the height of the back wall.
There is virtually no water depth at low water, epecially on bigger tides when even the back wall is dry. This is not so much of a problem if you are fishing at range, but for light tackle you ideally want to fish from half tide up.
