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  • 09/2011 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)

    Sep 2011 by Gethyn Owen

    Report on-board My Way 2

    As we entered August, I’m guessing most boat anglers had fingers crossed for calmer weather conditions compared to the windy Augusts of previous years. Sadly 2011 has proved to be a similar affair, with very unsettled weather blowing through our country with increasing regularity.

    Flicking through the diary it is though fair to say we managed to sail on the vast majority of days in August, sadly many of these days were with restrictions as to where we could search out our prey. With many days seeing us sail no further than Holyhead Bay itself.

    All said, inshore fishing around Holyhead bay can be very rewarding, if anglers are prepared to change tactics and baits in search of the vast variety of species ... you can be in for a fun filled day afloat.

    On occasions some choose to sit out in the hope of a good inshore Holyhead tope, these are amongst the largest in north Wales, with the current Welsh record of 79lb caught and released aboard My Way 6 years ago. Despite numerous fish from the deeps in the 25lb bracket and a few tope in the bay, our largest tope this year has barely hit 40lb. The largest confirmed capture for our port in 2011 stands at a whopping 70lb, landed aboard Spindrift in August.

    Consistent through the year have been the rays, I’d never take a trip to set out and target the rays, with blonde, spotted and thornback being our most common. But when on a few particular marks there is always a good chance of a ray if particular baits or rigs are used. As these photos show, there are some nice fish to be had.

    Huss and dogfish are plentiful, the latter being the scourge of many anglers, but also the blank savour on the odd day. Often referred to as the match anglers favourite, light rods, 3 at a time, fun can even be had with the trusty old dogfish ….. honest! Huss though can be fun, with specimens regularly exceeding 12lb in weight, they have two fight modes – give up or scrap, you just never know!


    If species hunting for the smaller fish in our waters, then your rigs really do need to be honed in to near perfection. Fun can be had on a number of marks when searching out the more elusive of species such as scorpion fish, blennies, gobies and corkwing wrasse etc. Maybe not on the A-list in fish, but these can be a welcome tick to many a species list for that year, or even lifetime species goal.

    September has followed suit, hurricane winds across the pond leaving us with extreme gale force weather has hammered last month to the ground. With 28days booked afloat with for us and only managing to actually sail on 10 occasions, not exactly a winning ratio is it. The fishing has been hard on the days we have managed to get afloat with the sea left behind not allowing us to do everything we had planned.

    Needless to say some angler have been able to catch a variety of species and quantity of fish and on other days nothing has gone right, with the crew struggling to locate the even the dogfish, but hey that’s fishing, not for the want of trying for certain.

    Where ever you’re reading, hope the seas have been kind to you of late and fingers crossed for some settled weather for everyone.

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