Mid-February gathering : Part 1



Having planned for a 4-day fishing marathon about a month ago, myself and mates Lee Goddard and Scott Hutchison were all eagerly anticipating a nice relaxing break from work and some long hours on the rocks species hunting. Our chosen venue was Anglesey, which being my local area was ideal and would give me the chance to show off what North Wales has to offer in what most people refer to as the worst month of the year for fishing.

Scott was first to arrive late Thursday night but no fishing was done, instead a few pints, a takeaway and the Inbetweeners movie was looking the best option. Friday morning came round though and the first port of call was a trip pike fishing. Terry had reported to us that he'd had a number of fish that morning at the mark we were going so expectations were high, but on arrival conditions seemed against us with bright sunshine and only around 6" visibility in the water. Perhaps we should have been up earlier as we had definitely missed the best of the fishing, the only action being a small pike I'd hooked on a yellow kopyto which threw the hook at my feet, can't say I was majorly bothered :)

You have to love tompot blennies, such a cool fish!

We sacked the piking off around midday and headed to the power station for a spot of LRF. Due to the constant flow of warm water, the mini-species tend to hang around all year at this mark, so it's a good banker spot when fishing elsewhere is a struggle.
When down at the preferred spot, I first chucked in a few ladles full of chum hoping to see some mullet show up. Sure enough, they did and before long I'd hooked and landed one of the thick lip variety freelining a small piece of breadflake on a size 12 hook.
Though that turned out to be the only mullet of the day, we were both kept more than busy by the masses of Corkwing Wrasse and Shannies down below and I managed to winkle out a few tompots as well, a good way of spending a few hours :)



Scott gets 1st new species of the trip

That evening our third member arrived and was keen to get straight into some rod bending action. As neither of them had ever caught a rockling of any form, I decided to take them to a spot on the North Coast where I've had a good number of 3-beard and shore rockling, all be it usually whilst I've been fishing for eels. The tide was not ideal with what I considered to be the prime time falling at around midnight, but as they were so keen to wet a line we got there a good few hours before hand on the off chance of catching our target. I first showed Scott and Lee the most productive spots and then went a bit further down the rocks myself to see if I could tempt an eel. As it played out the first few hours were very slow with Scott managing to land the only fish, a small codling. As the prime time got nearer, the bites started coming, myself and Lee both losing Congers in quick succession and all of us missing a few rattly bites which I believed to be lobsters. Just before midnight though, Scott hit the jackpot and got his first ever rockling, a nicely patterned shore rockling. That would be it for the night, not a hectic session but we'd got what we came for so job done!

The next day I was back in work so I had to leave the guys to it for the majority of the day. When they visited me in Menai though they had nothing fishy to report, but they had caught plenty of crabs and had found that enjoyable, each to their own I guess lol. When I was finally free to go at 6, I'd had enough time to check the tides and was set on a trip conger fishing at my favourite conger mark on the island. For one reason or another though, the lads were determined to get out with the LRF gear. I did my best to convince them otherwise and pointed out that it was low water, at night in February but that just seemed to spur them on more to prove me wrong. So in the end, I dragged my mate Steve out with me, who is yet to catch an eel and I dropped Scott and Lee at Amlwch breakwater, which would be there best chance of a few fish........... they wisely took some mackerel fillets with them!
Fishing was not to bad for them, Scott turning to the bait and landing a good variety of fish including whiting, poor cod, codling and another shore rockling whilst Lee stuck it out with the lures for the majority, managing a lonely poor cod for his efforts before also switching to bait and landing a few whiting as well as a codling himself.

In the meantime, myself and Steve headed over to my mark, nicely sheltered from the wind and almost spot on tide wise, I was very confident of a few eels. I was right to be confident as well, for at the end of the night, I had landed a brace of eels, one of which already had a trace down its throat and a scorpion fish, also dropping a third eel, whilst Steve had dropped what was surely his first Conger ever and landed a cursed doggie. Not a bad night all round!

So with two days down, we'd notched up a total of 10 species but there was more to come!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2,
Tight Lines All,
Ross

A cracking day on the lures in December

It seems to be very quiet on the bass front at the moment in North Wales, very few people I've spoken to have caught anything at all on the plugs in the last few weeks. That in mind I thought I'd make the most of this one day gap in the weather and get out with the LRF gear. I tried fishing at 2 marks, both of which produced plenty of fish. The first mark I stopped at was thick with small pollack, I think I landed around 20 of them in an hour or so, most being taken on the VX35 vibe-baits and a few taken on the new white power isome which also tempted a solitary poor cod. 

The second mark I fished was a different ball game all together. Instead of being packed with a single species it was very diverse, which was great for me as a species man. The first 4 fish landed were different species including corkwing wrasse, shanny, tompot blenny and rock goby. After that I did get quite a lot of corkwings and shannies but surprisingly no ballans which are usually plentiful at this mark. 

Whilst all this was going on I couldn't help but notice the odd silver flash under water, immediately presuming they were bass. It wasn't until a fish followed my white isome up to the surface I realised they were actually mullet. Switching to a smaller jighead and using an isome section around an inch long, I began working the lure mid water, getting small knocks on almost every cast and then watching a group of mullet trail my lure until it was right up against the rocks before shooting off again. After persisting for 20 minutes or so, I finally managed to get a positive take and landed my first mullet of the session, a small but very welcome thick lip. As the light started fading, the fish came on big style and I started hauling in small mullet every other cast, all of them thick lips until, I got so confident of catching, I made a short video on my camera. P.s It was like a bar of soap to hold, was going everywhere as you will see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2koLf5tNOU&list=HL1355869618&feature=mh_lolz

Sure enough, I was lucky enough to get footage of what was my first ever lure caught golden grey, by the end of the session I'd had 4 of them :-D Eventually though, the light disappeared and with it went the mullet and the session. I can honestly say that for this time of year, I couldn't have expected anything like that, it was a real cracker of a day and I enjoyed every minute of it despite it still being cold, I just wish it could have lasted longer.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the write up,

Tight Lines,

Ross

Back with a bang

Having returned from Ireland after fishing some really tough conditions, it felt really good to be back on the North Wales coastline for a few days. As it was only a short return I really crammed in my sessions and fished hard for 3 days. Unsurprisingly when putting in that sort of effort I was expectant of a few nice surprises. With the TLF species hunt now getting tight at the top, it was time to break out the LRF tackle once again in hope of adding a few more fish on lures. Amlwch was the venue of choice and after some very disappointing sessions there this year, I had my fingers crossed that the mini's had moved into the area properly. It usually takes seconds for a bite when fishing the margins here so it's fairly obvious whether the fish are there or not early in the session, luckily for me this time they were :) First up was the ever present rock-goby which took my sabiki teaser. Then the fun started, with a bite a chuck for around an hour. After a number of small ballans and corkwings, I finally got through to a gold-sinny and my first new lure caught fish of the day. It was not going to be the only new one though. It really was exciting fishing and
although the other fellas on the breaky thought my mini fishing was silly, I couldn't see them catching anything but doggies so I wasn't to bothered and continued racking up the daily species tally with a smile on my face. The next fish was a nice surprise and came in the form of my first Amlwch dragonette which again went for the teaser. Surprisingly not a new lure caught species though due to my Cornish lure adventures at Mevagissey where I had 6 of them. Then there was another period of ballans again with a couple of pollock and a single coalie thrown in. After 20 or so minutes and nothing new I had a move from the end to the ladder on the inside of the breaky. First drop I had species 8 for the day, a blennie followed next cast by another of the blennie species, a tompot. Again more wrasse followed for 10 minutes before I finally got what I'd come for and species 49
 of the year, this beauty on the right, a leopard spotted goby which took the larger shirasu jig head and isome. That put me into double figures for the daily species tally and it wasn't ending just yet, although my stay on Amlwch breakwater was over.

I then switched spots to Sewer pipe in the Ravens Point area in hope of a cuckoo wrasse. I had watched one caught there a few weeks previous so new they were there and my fingers were crossed. The fish were there in good numbers with plenty of ballans jumping on the lures as soon as it touched bottom. I did think it would be a case of wading through them and after a good 20 fish I got the 11th species for the day, a small poor cod. At this point I had my usual shoulder pains so I had a short rest and watched a few guys on ravens pull in a few fish, including a fat tub gurnard. I couldn't resist a few more drops though before calling it a day and it proved to be a good shout. My 12th and last species for the day, a rock cook, again on the isome loaded sabiki. So after a good 6 hours fishing I had another 3 species to add to my lure caught tally and one

 new one for my overall tally. What a result!

Hope you enjoyed reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

NEW MARK: SAME OLD SPECIES

 PORTH EILIAN AREA 10/02/2012                                                                                        Decided to try out a new mark last night that I have never seen mentioned on the forums. Setting off at 8.30pm, myself, Jon and Matty headed off up to Porth Eilian not really knowing what to expect. Having arrived and parked up at the roundabout where people park for Point Lynas, we headed off left along what seemed to be a coastal path. After 10-15mins walk we spotted a nice looking ledge and so made our way down. Setting up with 2-hook rigs we cast out to find a decent amount
 of depth in front of us which is always an encouraging start. After 20 mins or so and not a nibble between us, it was time to reel in and change bait. Off out it went and this time almost as soon as the lead hit bottom the rod tip started tapping. I left it for a minute or so until a better knock and slight drop back forced me to strike. Fish on! Knowing full well it was a small fish I cranked it in to find this small codling hanging on to my rag/squid baited hook. Blank averted I chucked out again only to be waiting a further 20mins for any more action. In the mean-time Matty had been going about his business and had brought in a little whiting which he said he had not even noticed the bite for on Jon's Beastmaster that he had borrowed for the session. As it was Matty's first session of the new year though, it was good news for him and he had avoided a debut blank. Shortly after his second fish of the session was on the rocks, this time everyones favourite dogfish. Jon kept on going but he couldn't seem to connect to anything leading him to think his hooks were a bit blunt but either way, when he did finally manage a hook-up, he snagged on the way in and the fish came off before the lead came free. Fishing was slow for the night and bites were few and far between but before the night was over I managed to add a further 3 whiting, a doggie and a tiny poor cod to my tally. Matty finished with a dogfish, 2 whiting and a poor cod and Jon unfortunately blanked this time round. Not a brilliant nights fishing but always good to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Certainly better than being sat indoors doing lit-reviews and watching bbc iplayer. Hopefully the weekend will prove far more fruitful!

Tight Lines, Ross

AND SO IT BEGINS!

 AMLWCH BREAKWATER 8/1/2012

The first outing of the year saw myself, jon, ed and gav head over to the north east side of anglesey to fish amlwch breakwater, a spot which has always been good to simply catch a fish whatever the season.

 We had a reasonably early start time, leaving Bangor just after 9am in order to catch the high tide at 10.30. 

We had a quick stop at malcolms on the way for some fresh rag and lug which was very beneficial as he kindly donated us a £10 voucher for the individual who managed the largest codling. Cheers Malc!

So off to the mark it was. Upon arrival it was clear that we had made a good decision on where to fish, the breakwater was empty, the wind was non-existant and the tide was nearing high. B-E-A-UTIFUL!

The rods were set up and launched out on either 3-hook flappers or a 3-hook baited feathers rig and within ten minutes Jon had broken the deadlock with a triple header of a whiting, a poor cod and an octopus. That was soon followed by a couple of poor cod for Ed. Meanwhile myself and Gav stuck it out fishing down the margins in search of pollock and coalfish which was very unproductive for the first hour or so unfortunately. It was Jon who managed to add a few more species to the list after bringing in a tompot blenny fishing down the side and also a couple of codling. Ed also managed a different species by catching a long spined scorpion fish (pictured left). Still having not managed a bite myself and gav switched spots and fished the outside wall of the breakwater, again down the margins and it wasn't long before I finally hooked into a small pollock. My first species of 2012, relief! After catching my first fish of the session it started to pick up a bit and before the end I managed to catch another 3 pollock as well as a couple of small poor cod (species 2). Having been on the breaky for roughly 4 hours and with the wind picking up we decided to pack it in. This was not the last of it though as Jon reeled in his rod to find a dab hanging on the end, jammy bugger.

 All in all it was a decent start to the new year with conditions as tough as they were. Hopefully the weather will improve soon so we can head over to the west coast in search of the huss and the rays.

2/50 species down!