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I’m on a mission to explore the East Coast of the UK with a fly rod this year. The last time I went to Filey Brigg was on holiday when I was about 6. This time I was back with my 9 weight outfit and some saltwater flies to try and see what fish were lurking around this rocky outcrop.

I arrived at low tide, planning to fish the incoming tide, I started off on the South side of the Brigg casting a floating line over both sandy and rocky ground. I had a fast sinking braided leader, 15lbs fluoro leader (around 5 feet) and my tried an tested sandeel fly pattern

From my research, this side is a little less fished than the North but it looked like it could easily hold a few school Bass or even Mackeral if you could get a line out long enough. The wind was the issue fishing this side of the Brigg as it was on my wrong shoulder and it’s not practical to cast over the other shoulder when you are double hauling a 9 weight!

After a little time exploring this side of the Brigg, I clambered over the rocks to the North and found a perfect little gulley which was starting to fill up on the incoming tide. I switched to a heavy sinking line as it looked very deep with the shadows of kelp beds just about visible. Within a few casts, I started to get into a few juvenile Coalfish on the fly and was as pleased as punch with these.

Location and timing are probably the two most important factors when saltwater fly fishing in the UK. It feels like a venue that’s going to fish best around low tide using a fly as this gives access to some of the gulleys however I would love to have a cast here during high tide getting into some of the really deep water with a heavy sinking line. There are some dreamy looking ledges and drop-offs and one can only imagine what’s lurking around those!

Once the tide had filled up the gulley it was time to leave as the waves were big and crashing on to the rocks with force – keep one eye on the tide at all time when saltwater fly fishing this venue & take care as the swell can come from nowhere.

If all goes to plan, I’ll be heading back to the East Coast next week to try off the beach.

Free Video River Fly Fishing Course

20+ instructional videos, shot in 4k. Free to all new and existing newsletter subscribers – Click Here!