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

The last fortnight with bait

Various places on Angelsey

Its been a fotnight since my last post so this report will come in two sections. This first one will cover all bait fishing and the second all lure fishing (which is going to be far better :p )

Part 1: The bait fishing sessions over the past few weeks have been few and far between but I, along with a few mates have managed a couple of crackers. The pictures on the right are of a rock-cook wrasse caught on the ranges using baited sabikis. This fish stood out from the others due to its fantastic blue patterns and is the most colourful rock-cook i've caught ever. We did land a number of other fish including ballans, corkwings, pollock and scorpion fish but nothing of any note so they all went straight back without a photo.

Some of you will know that myself and mates have recently been on Myway with Gethyn. We've had 2 trips out recently with the first being a bit of an epic. We had been scheduled for a 10 hour trip but after 5.5 hours we were heading into port, not due to the weather but because one of the lads Andy had taken a turn for the worst. What had started as sea sickness had esculated into something far more serious, with Andy getting very painful chest cramps and pins and needles down one side of his body. Gethyn made the decision to get him to shore which was definitely the best option. After a short whizz back we carried him off up to the air ambulance which was now waiting for him due to Gethyns radio calls. Off he flew to ysbyty gwynedd to be examined (he was in there for neary a week :O) whilst we unloaded the boat of our gear and headed home. No smoothies but lots of doggies, codling and a handful of huss as well as plenty of banter. The second trip out though produced a clonker

for Martyn and being the only person to not be on the first trip I think he is a jammy git. Nevertheless it weighed 15lb 15oz which is one lovely fish and got to admit I think the rest of us were a tad jelous. This photo on the left is the best out of around 10 I took and was the only one in which I managed to capture Martyn smiling lol.

The last bait session proved a little more productive although all the bait used was freshly caught using feathers, technically meaning it wouldn't have been possible without lure fishing. Ty croes was the venue and it was such a nice day it would have been criminal to buy macky for bait so we decided to chance it and turn up with a plugging rod armed with feathers and the bigger rods for when we caught. After 2 hours or so feathering I'd managed 16 launce and 5 mackerel, one of which went out as a livebait just on the off chance of a passing tope. With plenty enough for bait though. we changed to our preferred ledge and got underway. Going big was my plan, 3/4 mackerel on a size 10/0 shaughnessy fixed to 50kg wire. I was hoping for tope, still early I know but no harm in trying. After 20 mins or so though I had a take. It looked very doggie like at first so I ignored it but then the bites became more aggressive so I struck. There was some weight there so I got excited but not much fight. When it finally reached the surface a few yards out we could see it was a nice huss. Steve did the honours of landing it and we weighed it in at 10lb 13oz and pictured it before chucking her back.

 No more huss were landed but a number of doggies and whiting fell to Ben's spinning rod with a one up rig and macky. Me and steve also had our fair share of doggies before Steve got his best fish of the night in the shape of this 5lb 6oz thorny on the right which fell to one of Ben's freshly caught whiting. We gave it another hour before calling it a day shorly before midnight. Believe it or not when back in the car my temperature gauge was reading 19C, this was midnight, its like being in Greece at the moment.

Hope you enjoyed reading and Part 2 will be up in the near future.

Tight Lines,

Ross

 

Wrass-tastic mini's session

 North East Angesey 13/05/2012

With the horrible winds blowing from the South West, my ideal species bashing mark was unfishable. Undeterred though I headed to find some shelter up near Amlwch and found a cracking little spot. I arrived there a few hours after low water and was hoping for some more species to tick off the list. I started off with LRF tactics, fishing a small piece of power isome (rag immitation) on a size 10 jighead and used in conjunction with a 0.5oz lead. The first fish of the day came after just 2 casts, a little pollock. I caught around 8 pollock before switching to more conventional mini-tactics. Now armed with a 3-hook flapper of rag baited size 12 sabikis it was wrasse time. I lost count of the amount of ballans and corkwings I caught, probably close to 20 of each in the end, but nothing of any decent size, will have a go with hardbacks soon to target the better ones. It was coming to high water and I still hadn't landed anything new so I moved a few hundred yards to another nice looking spot. The usual small ballans were there in force as well but after a while they turned off and I started to get a few more interesting fish. First off was a couple of small LS scorpion fish and then a few casts later, my 2nd rock cook of the year, which was a right fatty for its length. I kept at it, pulling in almost a fish a chuck for a good 90 mins and finally I got one of the species I was after, a gold-sinny wrasse (species 34) I could go home rather happy now but knowing there were at least a handful of species down there I was yet to catch, I continued. Only one more species came out and

 unfortunately it was one I'd already ticked off, a rock-goby. Though it was caught on unbaited sabikis, s new one on lures :) Last time the camera decided to pack in before I could get a photo so heres some proof of this one.So after 4 hours or so of mini-bashing I left the rocks a very content fisherman, with 7 species for the day and one new one for the tally. Just cuckoo wrasse to tick off now then from the wrasse family, unless I can somehow blag a baillons from Jersey later in the year, not holding out for that one though. The next report will hopefully involve a few smoothhounds from a boat trip we have planned for the 16th, weather permitting of course but I have faith in Gethyn to get us some fish regardless as long as its not called off, fingers crossed.

Hope you enjoyed reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross

Last few sessions bassing and species hunting

Lleyn mark, Ravens and Ty Croes

It was the day after my epic bass session and I'd arranged for another bass  session with webbo, his mates John and Dean (i think) and haydn (chiefbeef). I met webbo, John and Dean at the mark at around 3.30, which was just after low water. We fished crab and rag baits in the surf with just 3 doggies a piece for myself and Webbo, who also managed this fat turbot at 13oz, whilst Dean had a spider crab to show for his efforts. At 7ish Haydn came to try and get himself a bass, but by 9ish when I left due to tiredness (no sleep in near 48 hours), there were only a few more doggies landed. I think Webbo went on to get a bass after I'd left but I'm not sure about the others. I'm sure they'll update you in due time.

After a day of rest came the next session which was at ravens point. Inspired by Gareth's species session a few days prior, I set off with the intention of getting a dragonette. I made a few 2 up 1 down rigs with a luminous bead above a size 6 hook and baby ragworm as bait. I arrived to find 2 other blokes fishing so after a quic chat to see how they were getting on, I set up my rod and cast out. For 2 hours the only interesting catches were a spider crab and a tiny octopus, with the usual hordes of dogfish and dabs getting to the baits before anything else had a chance. After a couple of hours the other blokes decided they'd had enough of the dogfish and went home leaving me the mark to myself. Time to experiment! I chucked out my scratching rig at range and then set up a set of sabikis on my plugging rod. After a few fruitless casts I finally

felt a little nibble. Not the mackerel I wanted for breakfast, but my first new species for the day, a launce (species 30). I went on to catch 5 of them with this one on the left being the largest at nearly 28cm. The feathering died off for a while as did the scratching so my attentions turned to fishing the margins. I opted for a one up rig with a rotten bottom link. The hook length was 12lb fuorocarbon and attached to the end was a size 4 hook and rag.

The bites came thick and fast with plenty of

corkwings and small ballans falling victim to these deadly tactics. In the mix though was the odd tompot blenny and a few micro-pollock. Every so often though I'd get a tiny rattle and wasn't able to hook up. New tactics were needed. Same rig only this time with a size 12 hook. Again the ballans and corkwings came out in steady numbers but eventually after wading through them came that little rattling bite I had kept missing. With the size 12's on though I had no such problem and up came this little fella (left), a rock-cook wrasse (species 31) It was now getting late and after a few more chucks for the mackerl I called it quits. On arrival at the car though I was approached by an elderly chap who was part of the community watch. Apparently I looked suspicous even though I was wearing a bright blue billabong hoody, shorts and had a fair amount of fishing gear on me. On a serious note though, the reason he was checking up on me was due to a number of burglaries in the area by individuals posing as fisherman. After a nice chat though he realised I wasn't a yob and rather nicely said I seemed an intelligent young man (good job I make a good first impression), though he had said it was officially trespassing on private land and therefore strongly discouraged me and anyone else from venturing there. Just a warning for anyone thinking about a session there soon.

My last session to write about was today. After yesterdays warning, I stayed clear of ravens and instead headed for ty croes. It was a similar story to ravens to start with with dabs a plenty and dogfish making up the large part of my catch. There were the odd whiting in there though and a solitary codling for good measure. I again tried for a mackerel and again failed, only managing another 6 launce.(Maybe I need to bulk up my fluff so its more noticeable to the macky). Then I had a lovely surprise when a huge slack liner on my scratcher led to me hooking what felt a good fish. I hadn't a clue what it was and at the time I thought it may have been a triple header of doggies. To my great relief though not a doggie in site, instead a double header of pin dabs and this lovely 8lb 7oz thorny which visiting angler Colin arrived perfectly in time to photograph for me. Cheers Colin! The amazing thing was it was landed on a 12lb fluorocarbon snood and a size 6 hook baited with little bits of rag. Amazing how strong those sakuma hooks are even in that tiny size and my first ray to rag, bonus. After a further 30 minutes I was joined on the lower ledge by another angler who I had said could come down and have my spot as I was leaving shortly. After a few more dogs, dabs and whiting I called it quits, left the launce for the other chap now fishing the ledge and headed back to the car with Colin to show him a few spots I fish in the area. The rest of the day was spent hopping from mark to mark with plugs, meeting fellow plugger Paul Abbott along the way who was a pleasure to meet along with his little dog. Unfortunately this proved useless but found a few more nice marks for next time.

So the last few days has seen me reach the half way point on my species hunt which is pleasing and leaves me with just shy of 8 months to round up 29 more. This is when it starts getting tough though. If anyone has any suggestions on where to target the rarer species I'd appreciate any info possible. Thanks!

Cheers for reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross