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

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
                                                                                                                                                                        

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

The good part : Last fortnight with lures

 The bumble: 18-21st May

Day 1: Having had a few pm's from some fellow LRF'ers about the bumble, I'd happily agreed to pick both Lee and Scott up from Bangor station at midday with the intention of heading straight out fishing. After a meet and greet, we headed for Ravens point, with the prospect of some new species for the list. It was slow going in all honesty and the flow made it hard to get the lures down deep enough, but after some perseverance we managed a few fish. Scott was first in with a pollock of around 1lb before I had a tiny pollock on the ever faithful isome. The next fish went to Scott again somewhat fortuitously, when a mackerel I had hooked on a dexter wedge had thrown the hook only to head straight for Scott's isome lol or atleast thats what seemed to happen. Lee got his first pollock of the day after a small climb to a ledge just next door, another fish of around 1lb. Whilst there though we also rescued a seagull that had been caught in a rig some mindless moron had left fully baited on the rocks. One hook through its beak, the other lodged in its wing and a 4oz lead dangling from it, no wonder it was struggling to move.
As the tide started rushing, we headed off to the ranges to a nice spot where I've had some success in the past. I realised once parked up I'd left my camera on ravens, so I made sure to show the lads the mark and where to get down before bombing back to get my camera which was luckily still there, phew! Upon arriving back, Lee and Scott had a sly grin on their faces, both had had a few fish including Lee's first ballan of the trip and a number of pollock. I went with a little IMA trilobite and was into a few pollock fairly quickly with the biggest going around 1lb again. We stayed for a few hours with myself and Scott both getting ourselves a ballan each in the proccess and all 3 of us getting a few more pollock each. On the retreat though we realised we'd been cut off. As I'm a confident climber I made my way over the rocks without to much bother but for Scott and Lee it was a case of trying to limit how wet they were getting. In the end I took a soaking to help them both safely off the mark, after all I had led them there in the first place.

Day 2: The saturday morning was the first chance to meet up with all the bumblers. We all met shortly after 9am and were greeted by hot drinks and bacon and sausage butties as well as Billy's car boot lure shop (which was very good I may add) It was nice to finally put a few names to faces and it was a good turnout. We headed our seperate ways though around 10.30. This time it was myself, Ad and Ben and we had planned to go to a difficult access mark again on the ranges. We arrived to a lovely flat sea and first drop I had a pollock on the way up. This mark had some incredible depth with around 50-60ft of water less than 2ft from the rocks. It was a bit more productive than the previous day with myself finishing with 3 ballans and 2 pollock with the biggest ballan going 2lb 5oz whilst Ben managed 2 pollock and a ballan as well. Ad unfortunately blanked but had a few of his x-layers munched by wrasse and dropped a number of pollock as well. After this we headed for what we thought was a meet at the pub at 6pm but when we arrived it was only us and Haydn there.

We were joined by Terry, Lee and Scott shorty after but where everyone else was is a mystery. Oh well, we had a chat about marks and decided to hit the straits. We all met in the carpark, joined by Den and a few other bumblers and walked off down the beach. We left the group and had a wander a little further round. This turned out to be rewarding for me as I landed a little schoolie on my feed popper after around 10 casts. Ads day got worse with sea trout jumping right in front of him and a bass lunging for his lure and missing, no luck for him on the day. After an hour we headed back to the group, stopping for a few chucks on the way which resulted in Ben's first bass of 2012, finally off the mark and again on a surface lure We called it quits and had a chat with the others.

As far as I'm aware Scott, Den and Terry had all had a fish, I don't know about the others though. I offered to take Scott and Lee back to Amlwch to save Terry a drive, who had in fairness been a taxi service for the day and I know the lads appreciated his effort a lot.

Day 3 : Picked Lee and Scott up and headed for Wylfa power station, home to all sorts of wee beasties expecting a few different species from the previous day. It started well with blennies galore much to scotts delight. He happily sat pulling them in on little bits of isome whilst I tried down the bottom for a mullet. The bloke previously on the ledge had left a bit of bread so I sneakily pinched some on the hook throwing the rest in as grounbait and had a mullet almost instantly, didn't count though of course. Back on the isome we all persited, Lee also getting in on the blenny action.

The first new species fell to Scott though who managed his first ever tompot, well done that man. He was clearly delighted and finally a new one for his species hunt. The rest of the day went very well for me. First off I had my first lure caught corkwing, followed shortly by a second, then a few tompots but finally to set the record straight I had a thick lipped mullet on my isome. It was my turn to be happy as it's my first mullet on a lure and one I hadn't really expected.

We stayed in the area for a while ending with around 40 blennies between us (20 for me) before moving slightly round the coast to some deeper water and big pools. Scott was the only one who managed to catch at that spot though with a nice ballan of over 1lb. We then headed off for a drink at Terry's were we again discussed a few possible marks, cheers Terry.

We ended up at the ranges though near the fangs.

 A lovely little pool that Lee and Scott had found the day before on their recce day. I managed one small ballan and Scott got a few blennies, including one good sized one. I think Lee had a ballan too. We finished the day on holyhead head breaky, down at corkwing corner. It turned out to be pollock corner though with each of us catching 2-3 pollock each before calling it quits for the day.

 Day 4: It was the last day of Scott and Lee's visit so I treated them to a trip to Porth Wen, a lovely mark up on the North Coast of Anglesey. I picked them up from Amlwch again and had a quick food/drink stop before heading off. We walked down to the mark and I could see the lads eyes light up when they saw it. Not only is it a decent fishing venue, it also has some stunning scenery which almost makes you happy to be there. I spent the first hour climbing up some rocks to get a few decent photos of the fishing action. After though it was down to business. Today was Lee's day and he managed a little ballan to take first blood before getting himself a better one just shy of 2lbs. It put a lovely bend in his rod though and he deserved it for his weekends efforts.

 I eventually managed one myself, only a tiddler though. Today was not Scott's day though and I watched a wrasse take his gulp after bumping it over a boulder just to run and snap him. It was a cracking site to watch from my high vantage point and something I'd love to see again. We left the mark though quite happy. We tried a few more spots to no avail eventually finishing in the pub for a nice refreshing pint. After the pub though it was time to say goodbye and I dropped Scott and Lee off at the station. I had a cracking few days and enjoyed every minute of it, it was a real pleasure fishing with them both and I look forward to some trips over the next few months to visit them both.

Mission Sea Trout continues: Tried again for a sea trout the other night with no success. However did pull out 6 schoolies, a pollock and a codling all on lures. The lures used were the IMA calm 110 and the faithful toby in silver and red. The codling takes my lure caught species for 2012 up to 20.

Uwchmynedd : The most recent session was one a bit further afield. Decided to try a new mark in the uwchmynedd area. We arrived at around two hours before high and fished it up. First cast resulted in what turned out to be my best fish of the day at just under 4lb (pictured right)

Fish fell to a carolina rigged storm sandeel fished weedless and put up a cracking fight on my plugging gear. The session was a great success and can't wait to get back to the mark. The finishing tally was 5 pollock and a wrasse for me and 3 pollock to Ben. I have a feeling theres some monsters at this mark though so hopefully the next time will produce a potential new PB.

 

 So as you can see, the lure fishing has picked up considerably. I guess for the majority of the summer now my lure rod will never leave my side. However with Pembroke looming next week, the chance of a shore smoothie and tope is on the cards as well as a chance of black bream, red mullet and a few other targets for my species hunt. Hopefully I'll hit the 40 mark before the 2nd week in June. Fingers crossed.

Hope you enjoyed part 2,

Tight Lines,

Ross