A 4-year wait ends in style : Day 1 back in Wales

Back in North Wales for a long weekend, my choice of mark was heavily reliant on the weather. I would ideally liked to have fished for tope for the whole duration, but a predicted 4ft swell at the mark I wanted to fish meant that it wasn't even worth going to check it was fishable for the first few days.

So day 1, I stayed on Anglesey for the day fishing at a wrasse mark of mine on the north coast during the day and then moving to the west coast for a bash at the rays/huss. The hours of light saw plenty of ballans caught with the largest being around the 3lb mark. Other species landed including pout, Pollack, rockling, poor cod, corkwing and goldsinney wrasse.

1st ray of the session

As the light faded it was time to switch venue. For this session I was joined by mates Rich (flyfish) and Ash. Getting down early to the mark in an attempt to get a few whiting for bait, I was soon rewarded with a couple before the lads arrived as well as a lonely dab.
As the tide dropped, it was soon time to start preparing the ray gear and conditions were far better than I could have hoped for, the tide, wind and swell being as close to perfect as I've ever seen, things were looking very good. Whilst me and Ash concentrated on them, Rich set his sights on the congers.

My first ray of the evening came swiftly after casting out a double sandeel bait, a small thorny of around 3lb. This was shortly followed by a second and then a third, all in this size bracket. Whilst I was bagging up on rays though, Ash was struggling to wade through the local doggie population, pulling them out one after the other throughout the period of slack water. Rich then started to get a little action, firstly a few small taps which never developed and then after a recast, a proper pull down and a fish on for a short period of time, which managed to throw the hook before we could get a look.




13lb 6oz of Thornback - New PB

As the low water approached my confidence grew and true to form, right on the prime time my rod slowly pulled round. Picking the rod up, the fish continued to pull away from me, so I struck instantly, this was a good fish. Playing it as hard as I dared to the edge, I soon found myself stuck on a ledge around 15 yards out, with the fish doing a good job of staying deep. After giving a little slack though, the fish popped up over the ledge and Rich risked getting wet feet in order to grab it from the oncoming swell and lift it onto the rocks. BOOM, this was the double i'd been after for 4 years whilst at University, but just how big was it. Well on Rich's scales it went 14lb, but fortunately there was another bloke close by to lend us his more accurate scales for a second opinion, pulling his scales down to 13lb 6oz, what a fish!
At this point, I was very tempted to quit whilst I was ahead, but lets be honest, I would have been stupid to do that. As it happens, I was wise to continue with the following few hours resulting in another small thorny, my first ever blonde ray from this mark and a sixth thorny which was another nice fish of around the 7lb mark.

Eventually though, enough was enough and with 7 rays including a massive new PB I couldn't have asked for a better return.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

A mid-February Gathering - Part 2

Here it is, I've finally had chance to write part 2 after a few busy days in work.

After the previous nights success on the congers and with weather meaning a huss session was out of the question, Lee and Scott suddenly had a change of heart and decided that they too would like a bit of rod-bending eel action the following night. But we still had a whole day to fish before that could happen.

Our first port of call on day 3 was to fish a local lake for the Pike. I know Lee in particular had been looking forward to this, but unfortunately it was extremely disappointing with not a single fish landed between the 3 of us for our few hours of effort. So approaching midday we sacked off the piking once again and I asked the guys what they fancied doing. With no definitive answer coming back, I gave them a few options, to which another day on the LRF at the power station was decided favourite.

We would only have a few hours to fish before the tide had dropped to a level where fishing was not possible, but once again we were pulling out the fish one after the other. Both Lee and Scott were still desperate for a tompot blennie and Scott finally got his prize after switching tactics to a small chunk of rag, Lee however had to settle for the dozens of corkwing wrasse and shannies that plague the mark. I was having no such problems with the tompots and landed at least half a dozen of them over the course of the session, most of which were taken drop-shotting white power isome. I just can't get enough of these fish, how anyone can find catching mini's boring is beyond my explanation. Oh well, there will always be haters I guess :)

That evening, as promised, I took the lads to my favourite conger mark but it wasn't to be unfortunately. We did have one good run on my right-hand rod which I let Lee strike into, but after a short tug of war, the hook pulled free and the eel was gone. A little disappointing after such a good session the night before. Will leave this mark a good month now before I head back to hopefully tame a leviathan.

The last full day of the trip was in my eyes a little bit of a disaster. Having looked at the swell forecast for the end of the Lleyn, I had suggested that it would be a bit rough and that staying local would be a better idea. Lee and Scott had other plans though and were determined to head down to Uwchmynedd, a good hour and a half drive away from Bangor to do some deep water fishing for Pollack and wrasse. Anyway, in the end I just drove down there for Lee and Scott to see what it was like and to see the beauty of the landscape in the area. As expected, the swell height made it almost unfishable which put me in a bad mood, after all I'd just had to drive 60 miles to prove that the forecast I'd seen was correct. Whilst there though, there was no point turning round and going back, so we decided to head to a little cove where the swell was just about manageable. Still annoyed, I spent the first hour and a half watching the others from the top of the rocks. Eventually though after seeing Scott land the first Pollack of the session, I decided to join them and have a fish. It wasn't long before I was into my first of 4 small Pollack on the 3" white delta eels and Lee managed to avoid the blank with a Pollack of his own soon after. Shortly after it was time to shoot to Ty Croes for the evening, where I'd hoped to get Lee and Scott a few rays.

 The tides were far from ideal for ray fishing, but as Lee had never had a ray of any kind and Scott had only had the one thorny, it was worth a shot. As we arrived in the carpark, our evening got a little worse, it wasn't packed but we'd just seen a bloke head off with his rods down the path. I knew full well where he'd be fishing, but I had to check just incase, sure enough though my preferred ledge was once again taken. Opting to fish way to the left instead, our chances of a decent haul of rays were greatly reduced, but we were on a spot where I'd had a good number of huss in the past so it wasn't all bad. As it planned out, we did get a couple of fish, a 5.5lb thorny for myself and a doggie for Scott, which he was happy with. With those fish came the end of our last evening session together, at least we had caught what we had gone for. I'm sure next time, they will both get a few rays themselves.


The decision on where to fish for the last day was simple really, the lads just wanted to end the trip on a high and catch plenty of fish, so for the final time we'd go after the mini's. Again we hammered out corkwings and common blennies and once again to Lee's disgust, I held my own with the tompots, bagging another half dozen or so whilst the others were left bewildered as to how I was doing it lol. The one highlight for me on the final day was my first lure caught mullet of 2013, a small but very welcome thick lip which took a liking to my white isome.



After 4 long days of fishing, the time had come to say our farewells, or at least we thought it had, half way back to Bangor, Scott realised he'd misplaced his phone. Positive he'd left it on the roof of the car before we'd set off, he had to make a tough decision : leave it and get his train home or go and have a look for it and miss his train. In the end he decided it was worth having a look for but after a thorough search it was nowhere to be seen. What a downer! So in the end it was just Lee we waved goodbye to that night and Scott kipped in my spare room having booked the next train northbound at 5am the following morning.

Wanting to make the most of my time off, I headed out again that evening for a spot of bass fishing whilst Scott decided to stay in and get some sleep. It was not a hugely productive session but I did manage to get my target with this bass of 45cm and roughly 2lb in weight, better than a kick in the teeth.

By the time i'd woken up for work the following morning, Scott had left so it was back to the day job for the foreseeable future.

It was great to see the guys once again and all things considered, I think we did a fairly good job. I was happy at managing to put them onto a few fish and I'm sure they enjoyed it. I don't think many people can say they've caught 14 species over a long weekend in winter, so we did a good job :)

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross
                                                                                                                                                                        

The rays are back!

1st Thorny of the year

Having had a few days of settled weather last week and with low water falling just after dark, I couldn't resist getting out for my first go at the rays. Joined by my friend Mike we set off to the west coast of Anglesey with high hopes. On arrival, we were greeted by ideal conditions, a small swell and a nice dark night; as an extra bonus, the preferred ledge was free :). Fishing with long homemade pulley rigs with size 4/0 Sakuma hooks and sandeel/squid wraps for bait, I wasn't waiting too long for my first bite. After a few very doggie like knocks, I gave it a good strike and felt a good resistance, this would turn out to be a lovely but very spiky thorny of a couple of pounds. Re-baited and back out in the water, we both then started getting a few small rattles. After realising they'd hooked themselves, we both reeled in to find whiting clinging onto our lovely ray baits, it wasn't all bad though as these would be frozen down for future ray/huss/conger baits.

My rod was next to go again with a lovely pull round from another thornback. Whilst, I was playing my fish, Mike's rod suddenly had a huge slack liner. Thinking I'd caught his line he thought nothing of it, until we both realised I was well clear of him. He wound down to the fish as fast as he could and after a good 10 seconds of reeling, Mike was also into a ray, this one would turn out to be a small-eyed though, the first one I had seen caught off this mark and Mike's first of the species!

Two at a time.... That's how we roll ;)

Mike with his 1st Small Eyed



1st Small Eyed of 2013

With the tide now starting to creep over the ledge we were fishing from, we had to retreat a little further up the rocks. Usually, this is the point at which  I leave, but we both had that feeling that there were still a few fish to be caught so the rods were cast out one last time. It was well worth it as well! My left hand rod soon had a quick knock followed by a slack liner. Just as with Mike's earlier fish, I found myself reeling quite fast to catch up with it, making me think maybe this could be another small eyed, this would be confirmed a few moments later. That rod was then packed up along with everything else bar my one remaining rod. In the mean time Mike had reeled in one of his rods as well after getting a few knocks, finding out he had our first doggie of the night attached. Mike had soon brought his second rod in too, but just as I was about to start reeling in mine, I had a small tap. After letting it develop, from nowhere my rod suddenly arched over and I was into a much better fish. 

New PB thorny of 9lb 10oz

Taking my time to get the fish in, I was hoping it wasn't one of those wing hooked rays that always feel huge on the retrieve. When I finally saw it though, I realised it could have been the double I've been after and got very excited. Safely landed and unhooked, the weighing was done and it dropped the scales to 9lb 10oz, a new PB by just under 1lb, what a lovely fish. This has really spurred me on to keep at it for the next few months though, fingers crossed that seemingly elusive double eventually shows itself for me.

Thanks for reading and until next time,
Tight Lines,
Ross

A fitting end to what has been an unbelievable year!

With just a week to go until my year long species hunt ends, this is almost certainly going to be my last blog entry of the year and I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Hovering on 69 species it was inevitable that I had to go in search of something a little special for number 70, so the planning began. After doing plenty of research and consulting with a few mates, we decided there was only one option, go big or go home, we were off to Oban to target the Skate! My good mate Scott sorted us a boat and some accommodation and I was left in charge of getting a few mates to join us on what had the potential to be a trip of a lifetime, two stepped up, Ad and Ed. With the 4 of us, the trip was a go and the dates were set to suit us all (20th and 21st December 2012), all that was left to do was hope for some favorable weather.

When the day came to make the long trip up North, the excitement from us all was clear, but after 7 hours in a car, I was drained and the others seemed a little shattered as well. Having switched our charter boat from the Thurs to the Friday due to a bad forecast, the first day was spent searching out a sheltered mark on Loch Etive. After first being blown off a mark in Aird's Bay, we found a spot the seaward side of Oban that was out of the wind. It was also a spot where Scott had been told was a good area to target thornback rays, a species he was dying to catch after watching me haul them in on our previous Etive visit. Anyway, all four of
us got the rods out with a variety of baits (macky fillet/heads, sandeel, bluey and squid) and the short wait began. I was the first into a fish, a thorny of course and I could see Scott was ready to throttle me, well that was until his rod buckled over just as I was landing my fish. Legging it to strike his rod it wasn't long until his fish was up on the surface and he had a thornback of his own, happy days! Then came the surge of the doggies, I think around 25 between us but during the onslaught Ed did manage a thorny of his own leaving just Ad to land a ray. Having had enough of the doggies I packed up the bait rods and switched to lure fishing and was quite happily pulling out a good number of small pollack to around the 1.75lb mark. Myself and Scott then decided to pack it in for the day and headed off for some chips leaving Ed and Ad to fish on. No sooner than we'd left though, my phone rang and it was Ed on the end to say Ad had landed a Cuckoo Ray, a species that is high on my list and I just knew I wouldn't hear the end of it :) It wasn't until the following morning after all the taunts from Ad, we'd find out that it was just a thornback with a very cool pattern, Ad was silenced.

Ed bends into a Skate

Eds monster at 208lb

Then it came, the morning we had all been waiting for, it was charter boat time. Up at 6am, we made our way down to Crinan to meet Archie, the skipper of MV North Star and at 8am we steamed out to the mark. All rods were set up with 4lb of lead, a large boom and a 250lb mono hook length and then baited with either a whole coalie or mackeral and dropped down 450ft to the depths. The suspense was killing us and all on high alert we watched the rod tips as if our lives depended on it. Sure enough though, an hour after dropping the baits down, the first run came and it was Ed that was lucky enough to get the first shot at landing one of these giants. Around 40 minutes after the hook up we gained our first glimpse of the fish and it was huge, it also didn't like the sunlight and had one last dive for freedom, effortlessly ripping line from the spool on it's way down. After a further 10 minutes gaining the line back the fish was back up on the surface and the skipper managed to gaff it nicely and bring the fish on board. With Ed's previous best sea fish weighing 12lb, this skate absolutely destroyed his PB, weighing a huge 208lb, a fish of a lifetime and the 2nd biggest Skate taken on the boat this year, well done that man!

Ad bends into a Skate

150lb Skate caught by Ad

To makes things fair, we had all made an agreement to take it in turns to hit the runs, so after spotting a good take on one of the rods Ad was the next in the line of duty. Ad took a different approach to Ed, opting to take the strain sat down. Unfortunately for him though, this meant that he struggled to gain much line back at any speed and so was stuck in a tug of war for around an hour and twenty minutes. When it did finally surface though, it was another big fish. Again the skipper did a great job of gaffing and boating the fish so that we could get a few photos and after taking the necessary measurements the fish was confirmed at 150lb dead, the second specimen of the day and we were only just into the slack water prime period.

Scott feels the power of a Skate

Scott's 45th Species of the year!

Next up to take a run was Scott. Again it looked as though it was a big fish, putting a large bend in the rod and occasionally showing its power with a strong run, to all our despair though disaster struck after a 10 minute tug of war and the hook pulled. Then things were made a little better for Scott when one of the other rods started nodding. With it being my turn for a run, I got kitted up with the reel straps and butt pad and prepared for chaos but after hitting the fish it wasn't the skate I was after. Thinking it may be a Conger, Scott was given the rod to winch the fish up from the depths. When the fish neared, the death rolls started and it was confirmed as a Conger, another fish that Scott was itching to catch. This fish was a milestone fish for him as well as it meant he had achieved his goal of 45 saltwater species in a year, congratulations mate!

There was now just myself to hit into a Skate and I have to be honest, with just an hour left before we had to steam in, I was beginning to regret not taking one of the earlier runs. But after rebaiting all the rods again, this time with very large mackerel and salmon fillet baits I had a renewed sense of optimism. Luckily for me, I did get my chance and I was soon bent into a very powerful fish. I managed to winch her off the bottom fairly quickly but after gaining 10 metres or so, the fish dived straight back down to the bottom, ripping line from the spool and leaving me feeling rather powerless. But, I didn't want to let this fish get the better of me and again hauled it from the bottom shortly after. This time, it was just a constant pump and wind action, giving the fish no slack at all.

Species 70 -  A 181lb Common Skate

After just 15 minutes of hauling the fish up, the line started kiting out from the back of the boat indicating it wasn't far from the surface and then she appeared. I had a minor panic attack when I saw that the hook was only just in the scissors, but the skipper eased my worries and did a fine job gaffing the fish before it could throw the hook. This was a huge relief and sure enough the hook popped before the fish was boated, very lucky! After taking measurements and some good pics it was time to watch her swim off, a truly magestic fish and such an amazing site. Then the skipper gave me the good news, my fish weighed a monstrous 181lb, a fish that is more than fitting for my 70th species of the year. This was to be the last action of the trip and once again it was time for that horrible drive home but my god it felt good.

The release - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGBaWCicznA

So 900 miles travelled and around £170 spent in total, I guess the question is, was it worth it?
Very simple answer - Hell Yes! So much so were already looking into booking a return trip in January.

A last big thankyou to Archie MacGilp who was an absolutely brilliant skipper, joining in with the banter and providing us with excellent advice as well as a cracking brew. I would recommend his services on board the MV North Star to anyone. This youtube video is what got us excited and I'm sure will excite you as well if your thinking about going up to Crinan for a go yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu6T6T4bszY

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it,
Tight Lines,
Ross

The end is in sight!

The end of the year is creeping up now and species hunting in particular is getting very difficult. With temperatures starting to plummet, many of the species that have spent the summer around the coastal waters of Britain are now moving off to deeper, more bait rich ground. There are however a few fish I haven't yet landed that are still targetable. To give myself a good chance of bagging a couple of these, I went up to Scotland again, firstly to the Aberdeen area where I would attempt to catch a ling and then to Loch Etive where I'd have a dabble for a spurdog.

So first stop was visiting my mate Ad in
Aberdeen for a long weekend. The promise of good sized cod and a reasonable chance of ling was to good to refuse, so off I went on a 5 hour car drive north, arriving just in time for an evening session. After a quick stretch of the legs and some of Ad's home cooked cod green curry, we were off to the mark. Baiting up with large combinations of macky, black lug, squid and crab it wasn't too long before we had a few taps, whatever it was though was not large enough to inhale the 6/0 hooks we were using. It was a good while before I had my first proper bite which resulted in my first Scottish cod of the trip, unfortunately only a small one at around 1.5lb. The next cast produced another small codling and Ad got off the mark as well. The session came to an end shortly after though when the swell picked up and we had to get off the mark quickly to avoid getting cut off. Over the following few days we tried for the bigger cod again and also ventured up to Peterhead South breakwater, the mark where I'd be targeting a ling. The highlight of these few sessions was a very big tadpole fish for Ad weighing 15.5oz, a species he'd never caught before and only the second one I have seen. The ling proved to be elusive for the duration but I won't give up on catching one just yet.

The long weekend was over before i knew it and a trip down to Edinburgh ensued where I'd be meeting up with good friend and mini-species legend, Scott Hutchison. After a night of rig making and research, the 5am alarm bells rang and we were both up and on our journey to Loch Etive, where we had booked a boat for the day through http://www.sea-fishing-loch-etive.co.uk/. The aim of the trip was for us both to tick off a new species for the year, myself desperate to get a spurdog and Scott wanting a thornback ray. We arrived in Taynuillt for first light with this scene to greet us and after a chat with the boat owner Doug Bannatyne, we were on our way to our first mark. As expected, the depth in Etive is incredible, even within casting distance from the shore we were in over 100ft of water. We tied up to a buoy and dropped down, as line kept peeling off the spool we were both wondering when we would find bottom but at 185ft we were down there. For 30 minutes the bigger baited hokkai's remained actionless so a change of plan was needed. I tackled up my plugging rod with a one-up one-down rig blinged up with plenty of lumi-beads. A 4oz bomb was all that was needed to hold bottom and in no time at all I had my first fish on. After pumping it up from the depths up came a small thorny, a good way to get off the mark. Next drop
and it was species number 2 for the day,  a lovely grey gurnard and probably the biggest one I've caught to date. Scott had now joined me with the lighter rod and it became a quite productive few hours, the majority of fish being pouting, poor cod or whiting. After a quick spot at another spot during which  I boated another 3 thornies, we decided to go and try a drift by the quarry, it was fruitless. Time was flying by and we were starting to get a little agitated by the constant hoards of manky parasite ridden whiting and poor cod. With just an hour left we headed back to the slipway where we launched just to try and see if Scott could get his thornback. After 20 minutes of nothing I suggested steaming out to the middle of Airds Bay just to see how deep it was. At over 200ft it was the deepest spot we'd fished on the day and I decided to drop down my bigger hokkai baited rig again and leave it. With a

Spurdog : Species 68

 few minutes left Scott landed a bigger whiting and began preparing the engine for motoring back to shore. Whilst he was though, I noticed a few knocks on my rod..... I left it to develop before striking and setting the hooks, fish on. After playing it up for what seemed like forever, we eventually caught sight of it and it was the species i'd come for, a spurdog. Scott quickly grabbed the net and slipped it under my fish, I'd done it, scraped one at the last possible chance and I cannot describe how happy as well as relieved I was. With that came the end of our trip and it was back to Edinburgh.

The morning of my last day in Scotland dawned and due to a drop in the wind, it gave us a chance to get down to Torness once more to try for one of the 2-spot gobies. Both Scott and Jake have had plenty of these little beauties on there previous visits so confidence was high even though it was bloody freezing. Scott kindly donated me one of his mini-fish special hooks, a size 26 tied on 0.5lb fluoro and it was go time. We both scanned the pools for the mini's and within a few seconds I had my first fish, a common goby. Then I noticed a small flounder so informed Scott and left him to try and catch it. Sure enough he did and it brought with it the first sign of a 2-spot. Out from underneath a boulder shot two of them, very interested in my power isome but not willing to take it properly. After trying for ages I nearly gave up but Scott decided to see if he could find me some bait. How he found a ragworm I'll never know but he did within minutes and so on went a slither of fresh worm. Straight away the mini's went for it and in seconds I had what we'd come for, a two-spot goby and my 69th species of the year.

The session and my trip was over, 2 new species and a cracking week in Scotland once again. Both Ad and Scott had been great hosts and I look forward to fishing with them again soon, maybe sooner than they think.  So that leaves me with just 1 species left to catch, but what will it be? Thoughts at the moment are that Ling would probably be the best to target but if your reading this and can see a species I've yet to catch that you can advise me on then please leave a comment.

Thanks for 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

 

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

Last cast hits the 'spotted'

Ty Croes 23/04/2012

This morning was simply a case of early bird catches the worm and with a start time of 4am I'm not overly surprised I was down there on my tod. It was dark when I arrived and walking along the path from the car park, I was greeted by the shining eyes of a herd of young bulls, luckily the opposite side of the fence to me. Conditions were pleasant with a light wind over my shoulder and a slight swell on, so I felt pretty confident of getting my target ray. As I peered over the tops of the rocks and looked down on the ledge I was after, I was disgusted at the amount of s*** that I could see. Whoever had been there had left a number of cans of fosters and red stripe - some half full, as well as 3-4 bait wrappers, a number of crisp/chocolate wrappers, plastic bags and more fag butts than I could ever imagine a group of people smoking in a fishing session. I hate fishing amongst crap so I bunged it all into two of the plastic bags they had left and began setting up my rods. p.s it took no more than 2 minutes to clean up, I just don't get the laziness of some people. Anyway rant over, on with the report. I opted for the usual 3ft pulley rigs with size 4/0 hooks and a large sandeel for bait with a 5oz gripper to ensure keeping it firmly on the bottom. It wasn't long before I had my first bite and in came a very lean and sorry looking doggy. Not what I wanted to see! The tide was still on the ebb though so I wasn't fishing the prime-time period just yet. The doggies came in numbers for the first hour and I think I'd had 8 before first light. It was soon to stop though as on low water the doggies disappeared and I had a tiny rattle. I left it for a while thinking nothing of it and eventually when reeling in I found the culprit, a little pin whiting lol. Again not what I had come for but I decided to make full use of it and chucked it out in hope that something big would have it. My decision to do this payed off after just 5 minutes and as I watched the rod bang over and the ratchet burst into life I thought it would be a gooden. It felt big, staying deep and was giving me a good tussle. I didn't want to rush it but shortly after it was in sight. It wasn't the monster I had imagined to see though, instead a thorny of 5lb 6oz (top left) that  had been hooked through the wing.

Oh well, I'll just have to wait for that biggie and hope all these hours I'm putting in come up trumps in the end. It was now around 6.30am so I decided to re-bait the rods for the last time and whack them out as far as I could. After a further 30mins and no bites I started to reel in my first rod. I had as good as packed it away when out of the corner of my eye I noticed my other rod had started arching over. Striking in an instant the hooks were set but it didn't feel ray like. I was convinced that a doggie was gonna pop up but as I caught sight of it under water I knew it was a small ray. It was only when it surfaced though that I realised it was a little spotted ray of around 1.5lb (species 27) You can't tell from my expressions in the picture due to tiredness but I was absolutely chuffed. I only managed a single spotted last year so its nice to get another and tick it off the list so early in the year. I stuck to the plan though and finished packing up before heading to the car. Now I'm back at home writing this report before most people are even out of bed lol although I think I may just have a few hours kip now to re-energise myself for what is innevitaby going to be more fishing tonight :)

Tight Lines all,

Ross

One hell of a session including a PB equalising ray!

 Ty Croes 12/03/2012

How do I even begin to describe how epic this session turned out to be. I met Captain Calamity and the danger squad ie, Ed, Ad and Gav L in Ty Croes car park for 4.30am making sure unlike last time, we caught the tides perfectly. This was in the hope that Ed and Gav, being ray virgins could bag themselves there first thorny. Having made camp on one of the lower ledges we rigged up with pennnel pulley rigs (as shown in rig section) and cast out just after 5am baited up with a sandeel and squid wrap.

Within 5 minutes of touching bottom and before the others had set up I had this little pecker  (top left) at 3lb 1oz. Cracking start! Within another 20 minutes I had ray number 2 on the bank, a little smaller at 2lb 13oz but still a nice little fish. Then it was Ad's turn to hook up with this small ray (top right) at 2lb 10oz before he had one a little bigger at 4lb dead (right). I do believe I told him what seems to be a funny joke just before I took the photo hense his silly face lol. The best fish of the morning was soon to be on my rod though as just after low water and as the sun made an appearance on the horizon, a classic slack liner lead to this fish (below). A nice thorny of 7lb 11oz :)

 This was the last of the rays for the morning session but as this was planned to be a long day it was really just the opening ceremony for what was to come. At around 10.30am I left the others to go home, have a rest and get some supplies for the team; bait, food and drinks etc. I didn't return until gone 4pm when the tide was getting to that stage again where the rays come out to play. The other 3 had now been there for nearly 12 hours and in the time I was gone, it was only Ed that managed a few fish in the form of ballan and corkwing wrasse. Having not ticked either of them of the species list yet, I spent my first 30 minutes trying my best to get one and got my reward when I got a small corkwing to a small rag bait (species 18). By the time I was done it was prime time for the rays again so back down on the bottom ledge fishing commenced.

 After thornies number 4 and 5 for the day I finally hooked into another decent ray (pictured left) and after a good scrap close in it was in my hands. It was a very nice fish and equalled my PB of 8lb 15oz beating my own 2012 record list fish by 4oz so theres the new target :)

The evening session would prove to be far more productive than the morning session and the next into a fish would be me again but whilst I was playing my fish, Ad had a drop back and was also into a fish. The fish were going mental! After both safely landing our fish we had a nice team photo taken. My fish on the left weighed in at 5lb 13oz and Ad's on the right came in at 5lb 3oz (picture below)

 

 This session was proving to be a right clonker but as Ed and Gav were still to land a ray it left me thinking what they were doing wrong. They were using the same rigs and bait but weren't getting any fish. They couldn't blame the spot they were fishing as Ed was in between myself and Ad and Gav was fishing in the spot I would usually opt for. Anyway we continued fishing and ray number 8 for me came in at 4lb 3oz before Ad manged his 4th ray of the day at 2lb 10oz. Then finally after nearly 17hours of fishing Ed managed his first ray ever. Hurraaayy! It was only a pecker at 2lb 5oz but a ray none the less.(pictured below) Now it was only Gav who needed a ray.

Ed having now landed his maiden ray

was on a roll and landed his second fish

10 minutes later at a slightly bigger size

of 3lb 3oz.(right) Desperate for a 10lb+ ray I continued fishing hard in match style, rigs baited up at the ready and when I felt a decent fish on my line soon after casting out I was praying for it to be the biggun. It wasn't to be though as per. It was another cracking fish though weighing 8lb 8oz (below). I just can't seem to break the 9lb barrier and this is my 9th ray now between 8.5lbs and 9lbs. Soon this 10lb ray mission will be succesful though if fishing stays like this or at least I really hope so. The next fish out was

to be the largest of the evening but was not our usual suspect. The fish came to Ad on a nice sandeel and squid wrap and was giving him some strong head bangs leading him to think it was definitely not another ray, and he was right. After the fish had managed to cross his other line and one of Gav's lines it was in sight and it was a cracker of a huss. It looked a certain double and after clambering down to the waters edge in my rockhopper boots the fish was safely on dry land. Ad's face lit up ten-fold when he saw me emerge up onto the ledge with his fish. It was truly a beast. After taking a number of photos we weighed the big fella. It came in bang on 11lbs and beat Ad's PB by just under 4lb. Some fish and the biggest huss I've seen landed fom Ty Croes...... so far! (picture below)

 

Ad then set his sights on congers determined to achieve whats known to us as 'the ty croes grand slam' which involves landing a ray, a huss and a conger in one session. Myself and the other 2 stayed at the bottom but after seeing Ad's huss I changed to a large Mackerel and squid bait fished at short range. When my rod bent over again I was sure it would be a huss but it wasn's unfortunately. It was however ray number 10 of the session for myself. My last fish came again on the large fish baits and was another clonker of 8lb 10oz.( pictured below)

Unfortunately for Gav L the session came to an end before he had managed a ray but with the fishing being this prolific we'll bag him one soon thats for sure. The final tallies were as follows:

Myself : 11 rays, 1 corkwing and numerous dogfish

Ad : 4 rays, a beasty huss and numerous dogfish

Ed : 2 rays, a few ballans, 1 corkwing, a dab, whiting and doggies.

Gav L : A hell of a lot of dogfish and some whiting.

We then proceeded to the pub for a quick reflection pint on the evenings fishing. This one is going to be a very hard one to beat was our conclusion. The evening did have a somewhat sickening ending though when just as I'd started my pint I had a phone call from my mates Steve and Ben who had been out near mackerel rock. Ben's car had been horribly vandalised and the guilty party had tipped his car on its roof smashing most of his windows in the proccess. Why people think this kind of thing is funny or clever I will never know but as I hadn't finished my 1st pint I went to pick them both up and bring them home. Ben was obviously fuming as this incident means he probably will be without a car now for a few years. I hope that the culprits are caught and are made to pay for his inconvenience. So ending on a downer, just be careful if you leave your car somewhere secluded.

Hope you enjoyed the read and get after those rays whilst there in numbers!

Tight Lines,

Ross