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06/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jun 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
This report is by Lloyd Rush and can be found at www.shoreangler.co.uk
Holyhead, Anglesey
It’s been a while since I fancied going up to Anglesey to sample some of the best Smooth Hound fishing the UK has to offer. Whilst I live close to the Bristol Channel and just under 2 hours to the clear waters of the Dorset / Hampshire coastlines, which could also lay claim to such a title, it was the first hand reports from my fishing buddy of 20+ years (Rob Field) that put this venture at the top of our 2012 ‘to do’ list.
Boat wise, there’s one that should be at the front of any serious ‘Smut Hunters’ little black book, and that’s My Way out of Holyhead skippered by Gethyn Owen. Last year Gethyn boated 7 fish in excess of 20lb and hundreds in the 15-20lb class, for most of us a fish of a life time, but for Gethyn just part of the annual Smooth Hound Season.
Anglesey
Anglesey, particularly Holyhead, doesn’t have the diverse array of fishing that I’m used to fishing out of Weymouth. What it does have is an abundance of those species that our there. Excluding the Dog Fish, you can expect to catch most Rays, Pollock, Codling, Whiting, Wrasse, Huss and ‘Husslets’, the odd Gurnard, oh and not forgetting the Smooth Hounds. Further offshore you can expect to add Spur Dog, yes Big Spur Dog and plenty of them, a recent trip was rewarded with some 40 fish into the high ‘Teens’. The deeps add big Huss, Conger, Tope and Ling to the growing list.
Rob made the 370 mile slog from London via Bath to pick me up with his Caravan, 2 bags of Jelly Babies and the same of Licorice Allsorts. He also came supplied with a couple of cans of Monster Juice and a catalogue of bad jokes. Given the news that Rob and I were traveling to North Wales, most of the UK stayed off the roads and we made good time over the Menai Bridge and onto Anglesey, a first for me.
News was the strong tides would keep us inshore for the 3 days we had, ruling out any Tope and a trip to the much fancied deeps. On a plus side a few hounds had been showing, and although not big fish the boat was seeing plenty to 12lb in previous days.
Doing it My Way, or Gethyn's way . . .
Having traveled the best part of a day and looked forward to Smooth Hound Heaven for much longer, I wasn’t best motivated about drifting the North Stack in 20-30ft water for Wrasse and juvenile Pollock. However, as I explained earlier the Holyhead fleet has to make best of a full tide and My Way has a routine that will excite even the most negative of species hunters - if it’s fish for the table you want then go to Sainsburys, it’s cheaper.
Our first drift produced small Ballan Wrasse and juvenile Pollock in slightly coloured waters (given the bashing the coast line had take in the previous week the colour wasn’t too bad) Our second drift introduced us to ‘Colin’ an overgrown fish munching Seal. An attempt to feed him off with endless supplies of Mackerel failed as Colin continued to munch his was through anything we hooked. I did take a very decent fish only for Colin to convert it into ‘Brunch’ after a few interesting moments on my Conoflex QT Jedi Kayak rod (a great rod not just for little yellow plastic tubs, but a brilliant Bass and Wrasse rod, only wish it was a foot longer)
A Quick Streak from Rob
We moved grounds in an attempted to evade Colin the Seal and put a few different fish species on the boat. I took a Dab, Codling and endless Dog Fish to nudge ahead in a species bet with Rob. His repost was to equal my Dab, much to his and most the of the boats amusement, later he took what looked like a small Red Gurnard but a closer inspection raised a few questions and the fish was duly photographed. We’ve had it confirmed as a Streaked Gurnard, a first on My Way and indeed the first I’ve seen. I’ll certainly look at any small reds much closer in the future! Well done Rob. Incidentally, Rob went on to beat me 13/12 in that competition and I was delighted to be beaten by such a fish.
Onto the Smooth Hound
Shortly after we move onto grounds known to hold bigger more solitary Smooth-Hound, the downside was there are much fewer fish, a risk we all agreed worth a go.
Rig wise the fishing couldn’t be more simple. A running ledger with 6ft of 30-40lb fluorocarbon to a Size 3/0 or 4/0 Sukuma Manta. Some other anglers, including Gethyn have recently moved to Tronix Big Fish in 2/0s, a heavy gauged hook that is less prone to the hook point going blunt or turning in having been pushed through the shell of the Peeler Crab. I’ll certainly consider using them in the future for Tope and Huss, I just don’t catch big Hounds and I use plenty of Mantas for my general fishing.
Bait, simple. Peeler Crab but not cut up and entombed or mummified in ribbons of elastic, but simple hooked from underside into the middle of the shell and if you wish lightly bound onto the hook. Although the elastic was not mandatory it was the preferred presentation of the skipper, I personally chopped and changed depending on how ‘popped’ the peeler was e.g. if the shell was ‘hanging off’ then elastic it was.
Rod & Reel. I opted for a light approach to get the most fun I could out of the fishing. My Tubertini F1 Atlantic was fitted with a Tubertini AP Power 8000 fixed spool reel. The reel has an unbelievably smooth drag, which is good as it has no back wind! Once you’ve used the drag once you don’t ever worry about the fishing running too hard. The ‘in fight’ adjustment is precise and for a front drag I honestly haven’t used a better reel.
Rob opted for a Tubertini Tatanka Hyper and the same AP Power 8000 reel as myself. Rob’s doing a review of the Tatanka at the moment and I’ll not steal his thunder other than to say it’s one of the best rods produced for general UK fishing by the Italian ‘tackle tart’s’ for many moons!
Bites started slow, but before long we had a small near double on the boat. I think it was Ann on the middle of the stern that took the first fish (female pheromones work again!) Ann knows her way around a rod and reel and out fished most of us most of the time, Ann preferred to dig out the ‘Fighters’ in the box of peelers which would give here a bait with extra movement. It seemed to work as I think she had the 3rd fish too!
I took the 4th fish (or as I remember) and soon mighty glad of the silky smooth drag as the fish hung low in the water and continued to dive just as I was making good ground and the bright sunlight became too much. It wasn’t too long before Gethyn promised Rob he’d knock it off and approached me with the net and a smile that made me nervous [see utube video] Moments later the fish was in my arms and being snapped by the netsman, who’s also a decent photographer. Although blessed as a brilliant skipper, angler, photographer the good Lord had sense to give him a shinny head and a funny accent, so don’t be too jealous.
The following 2 days we ventured onto different grounds in search of more consistent smooth hound sport, although I wasn’t complaining about day 1 with new PB and about 8-10 fish on the boat. Each of the remaining days we started with an inshore drift for ‘species’ and then onto the mussel beds which are a short steam into Holyhead Bay almost due North West out of the Breakwater, whilst they offered a bite a chuck for Whiting we’d hoped for the bigger Huss and Rays.
On count back the mussel beds turned up better Huss, a nice blonde for Billy and a Spotted Ray for a couple of local lads on their first ever boat trip, Gethyn has since told me they’ve booked on again, a good judge of the fun had. Also on this mark Billy took a very decent Thornback Ray having taken a bit of stick for being slow of the mark on day 3. We event took a 8lb+ Huss that threw up 2 whole Whiting giving value to the tactics adopted.
The last part of the day was all about the hounds as the tide turned and we moved inshore a little to the green Buoy that marks a drop into the deeper water we’d previously fished earlier in the day. A popular area for Hounds in good numbers if not the the big near 20lb fish. That said the best fish around 16lb went to the skipper on day 3 as he made one of his many brews for the anglers.
Rob didn't quite managed to beat my 14lb 1oz, although this 13lb+ fish came close, his PB remains 4lb+ bigger than mine. I must try harder.
I went on to nudge my PB to 14lb 1oz and lost count of the LSDs that would take our crab baits. I even took a greedy LSD on a whole whiting bait put down for Huss! Gethyn, Rob and fellow angler Billy kept me in stitches with a range of fun activities such as ‘knock my best smooth hound off with a landing net’ as played by Billy and ‘Stealth Bumming’ apparently something popular in North Wales when the sheep are too far up Snowdonia. Many people get the Holyhead ferry to Dublin that sits due West just for the ‘Crack’ but I reckon they’re waisting the money on the ferry crossing. The real crack is on My way.
On trips like these the fishing sometimes takes back seat to the new friends we make. Gethyn, Billy and Ann all fell into that bracket this week and I hope to fish will all 3 again in the future. Gethyn as skipper of My Way provides a brilliant service, including all bait and lunch. I’ll be doing a review of My Way and pop a link here. Best value for money charter I’ve even taken.
Billy the Vampire Slayer.
Billy spins a yarn like no other, often getting his words confused and often key words to within the story, which in themselves are priceless moments between bites on the boat. Billy was telling us how he’d wandered though is local allotment after a long night in his local boozer. He recalls loosing a moccasin and waking to some discomfort in his leg.
A trip to 2 hospitals (first one too busy) resulted in the doctor informing Billy he’d been - in his own words ‘Bitten by a Vampire’ - I think Billy meant reptile (Adder) but in Billy style put the wrong word to the right story. Laugh, I think we could be heard roaring with laughter back on shore. Billy went on to reveal he found the shoe almost a year to the day in the allotment and it was as good as the day he lost it, which was a good thing as he’d not thrown away the other one! He claims the ‘Vampire’ had kept it for a while before returning it to it’s rightful owner.
Priceless.
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