Catch Up - Part 1

I'm really starting to lag again with these blog posts so apologies to any of you that have been regularly checking for updates. Anyway to cut a long story short, since my last post I've had an absolute ball of a time - I'll just post up a load of photos for you to see rather than bore you. These are from end of June only

Fantastic Pembroke Part 3 : Species bashing

The third day of my trip saw us targeting a variety of species. I am on a quest for 60 species this year from the UK shoreline so Ben had kindly set aside a day of my trip to concentrate on all things mini. We fished at a local mark to Ben who had informed me that the mark throws up trigger fish, a species I have never even thought about targeting. Armed with a few leftover rag, squid and fresh macky we started fishing just before low water. The rigs we were using were

 just half a set of size 12 sabikis, so in essence a 3-up baited flapper

rig with a 1.5oz bomb to get it firmly on the bottom. Bites came thick and fast for the first hour with Ben leading the way with a rock goby, myself catching the same shortly after. The new species started to appear though and before long I had my black goby (species 39 -top right). Ben had a really nice take on squid but the fish spat the hook before we could see what it was. Fishing a little closer to the wall though I kept getting tiny little rattles, eventually managing to hook one of the critters. Up from the depths came my first rod caught

butterfish (species 40) a cracking looking fish and it made me very

happy. Ben was still getting plenty of fish just off the wall managing a few small ballans and pollock before he managed a new one for his species tally this year, a gold-sinny wrasse. As if 2 new species wasn't enough I continued to pull out a vast amount of rock gobies before eventually getting a cracking take from this sand-smelt (species 41 - right) Another species ticked off the list. As the tide slackened the fish turned off with exception to the goby population down there, so we called it and headed off to another mark where Ben was confident I'd catch my first tub gurnard of 2012.

 After a short lunch break, we were on our new mark and ready to go. One up one down rigs were the plan with a 4oz rolling lead to keep it firmly pinned down. We both started with macky, myself opting to tip with squid to add a bit of movement to the bait. Ben had a bite almost instantly but the fish seemed to just hit it and leave it. Whilst he was holding his rod though, I got my first good knock and landed our target species, a tub gurnard (species 42). Re-baiting we continued to fish into an area that we were finding productive and Ben was soon into his 1st tub as well (up right) After the hectic start though the fishing went very quiet with one dab for me being the only other fish landed. We cut our losses and after another successful trip we headed home for some much needed food and rest. Yet again 3rd day running Pembroke didn't disappoint.

 On my 4th and final day we again targeted the smoothies after having some great fun a few days earlier. We spent a few hours collecting crab and then headed off to yet another different mark to try and get one of these doubles. To cut the story short, we managed another 2 smoothies each, no big ones unfortunately but I just love how much power they have in comparison to other fish of their size, just incredible. With the end of theis session came the end of my trip but I can definitely say I'll be back fairly soon, maybe to target some bream and that elusive trigger fish. The trip was a great success throughout with 18 species caught in total between us, myself landing 3 fish I've never caught before and smashing my Starry Smoothhound PB. Again a massive thanks to Ben for putting me on the fish every day, definitely a top lad and angler and I'm so jelous that he is surrounded by such a fantastic and diverse area of coastline. Back to North Wales it is now for a month or so though before I start on my adventures to Ireland, South Devon and Jersey.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Fantastic Pembroke : Part 1 - First day goes smoothly

I have to start off by saying a massive thanks to Ben Edwards for putting me on the fish all week. Without Ben I would have been struggling on where to start, with the coastline in the area being so diverse.  Also thanks to his parents and brother for putting me up for 4 nights and keeping me well fed, was much appreciated. Now for the report!

The 3.5hour drive down from North Wales was made bearable by the thought of catching my first smoothhounds of 2012 and having never caught a common that was my main target during our hound sessions. I had crab leftover from a few previous sessions saving us the job of bait collecting so after making a few rigs and offloading all of Ben's uni stuff at his house, we headed off to the mark. Single 3/0 pennel was the chosen rig with a 5oz gripper to hold bottom. After missing my first decent bite it was Ben who was in to the first

 fish of the session and it was a gooden. His rod nicely arched over and the fish taking line at will when it decided to run. The fish came into view around 10m out and it was a cracking smoothie, at an estimate in the 15lb range. The fish stayed deep as I stood at the waters edge poised with the net, it was so nearly up and then disaster, the hook pulled, the lead shooting past my head in the proccess. This got me very excited so re-baiting I chucked out again and sat waiting. I was rewarded as soon as the tide started running with just my second ever shore caught hound, a starry of around 3lb equalling my PB (Species 37 - top right) The hounds were now in a

feeding frenzy and I was only left waiting 15minutes or so before I'd have another fish on. The second fish being another starry at a slightly bigger 5-6lb and another PB. My third fish though would smash my PB for the 2nd time in three fish and was this Starry pictured right. The fish wighed in at 9lb 15oz and put up a cracking fight, annoying though that it was just 1oz short of a double. As if things couldn't get any better, I then managed my first ever Common  Smoothhound (species 38), only a small one at around 4lb but yet another species to add to the list on my hunt for 60. We did have a dabble for tope whilst we were there but after catching some fresh macky for bait we failed to even get a run on the tope front. Maybe still a bit early but a species I'm desperate to tick off this year so I'll be putting in alot of time and effort to get one.

 Still on a bit of a buzz and with crab leftover, we decided to head out again the same night, choosing a different mark but targeting the hounds again. Again we were into fish from the off, the first of my 4 coming very early on, another small common. This was shadowed though by my new PB Common the cast after. It was only 7lb 13oz but I was absolutely ecstatic. Not to be out-done Ben was next into a fish with a little common of his own, which I think I was more excited about than he was lol. He's used to catching smoothies you see so unless its a double it doesn't really matter to him. He managed

 his starry soon after as well (left) A fish of around the 4-5lb mark which was around the average on the night. I landed a couple more small ones including one of each species before we decided to call it a day. What a first day! 2 new PB's, 2 new species for the hunt and 1 species I've never caught before. I went to bed a very happy man, all be it a very tired man also having been up for over 20 hours.

Hope you enjoyed part 1, more to follow shortly,

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