The number of deaths while shore fishing in the British Isles (Ireland included) is usually between 25 and 30 each year. Some of these are caused by folly, some by bad luck, some by misadventure. It is a statistic that could be reduced with more caution and planning. The majority these deaths are associated with rock fishing.
I regard myself as being a cautious angler who lives to fish again another day, but I was caught out badly with two mates on the main rock mass at Usan several years ago. This was an organised shore event. We were on a little elevation near the centre of this football pitch sized rock mass, setting up, when a wall of water that reached up to our necks hit us out of nowhere. We survived, I was knocked off my feet and bowled over, one of my buddies was dragged about 10 meters towards the edge, the other was not moved at all (he saw it coming and managed to brace himself but had no time to call out a warning). We were soaked (two of us had not yet put on our flotation suits), dishevelled and very, very lucky. We lost a couple of rod rests and some tackle wallets and our pride had taken a huge knock. The rest of our gear was scattered across the rock.
We moved to fish the inner part of the natural harbour formed by the south side of the rock mass, we caught nothing. Later on that day we did witness an angler being swept of a large rock 60 yards the south of us. It was sobering to stand there and watch him struggle, knowing that all you could do was phone the coastguard. It was too dangerous to enter the water. Luckily his buddy managed to help him out from the gulley between rocks where he managed to struggle to. This pair of anglers lost a lot of gear, jackets, tackle wallets and set up rods. They managed to retrieve one of the rods as the terminal tackle had perversely ended up on the rock that had been swamped. Having had such a close call they packed up and left immediately.
After that, when pleasure fishing that coast, I would sit and watch the beach for a time in stormy weather to try and judge the wave pattern before picking a spot to fish from. (This is difficult to do at the start of a competition if everyone is rushing to bag a favoured mark.) I would avoid areas where there was no place to retreat to. A few of the best marks are in that situation, being at the foot of precipitous cliffs that are difficult to negotiate. If you fish such a beach and a big wave sweeps in you are very likely to be swept in, I recall being told that the north end of Auchmithie beach is particularly dangerous in this respect. Things can also be tricky in that areas behind you, on a rock platform that you judge to be safe, can be swept by rogue waves. I have witnessed anglers losing their catch in such circumstances - they had stored the fish in what they thought was a secure area!
In some ways drownings are avoidable tragedies waiting to happen especially if a competition carries on despite adverse weather conditions. Organisers might have to consider cancelling events or moving to a “safe” area. Fatal Accident Inquiries are not pleasant things to attend and Sheriffs can be very scathing in their attribution of blame. The whole liability issue is something to consider in the present culture of smothering “Health and Safety”.
There are several more big East Coast rock events coming up, let’s hope they pass off safely and that anglers are cute and canny in assessing sea conditions. One of the problems is that you only learn to assess such conditions through experience. I would ask forum subscribers to read Stevie’s article carefully. It is written from a background of acquired wisdom and acute experience. Stevie, would it be worth linking the article to the account you published in the past of the experience of a very able angler who was swept off the rocks and survived? No names, I cannot remember if you kept it anonymous or not.
