Latest Fishing Reports: Wales
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04/07/2012
Fishing Report by Aaron Smith
on Bad Boyz VI (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
4 Jul 2012 by Aaron Smith
Report on-board Bad Boyz VI
Bad Boyz Charters
Plenty off fish around at the moment inshore.
We had the English Boat Squad out today on a training day for the big competition this weekend.
There are masses of fish inshore coming to all sorts of rigs and baits majority being Rays, Huss, Codling, Pollack, Wrasse, Whtting, Ling, Dabs, Gurnard and Dogs.
2 new species in 2012 for the boat so far a Rock Cook Wrasse and a Lump Sucker fish.
Out all over the weekend to the mid channel wrecks on the Pollack with a box of Side wineders at the ready
Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/BadBoyzCharters#!/BadBoyzCharters
Tight lines Aaron
View Boats Page
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03/07/2012
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
3 Jul 2012 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Well what can I say about this afternoons 7 hr trip a great bunch of lads from Warrington on their first ever fishing trip all with tackle hire .
We started off with some mackerel,then progressed onto some flatties and whiting ,dog ,small huss, and a couple of thornback rays then a 37lb tope for Scott ,then changed everybody over to the tope rigs and bang 55lb tope for one of the lads ,then we had a couple of fish pick the bait up and run only to drop it .
Then Karol had a massive run and eventually landed a fish of 52lb
all in all a cracking 7 hr trip which was over all too soon .
No other skippers info was used in writing this report
NO GIMMICKS , NO BULL JUST RESULTS View Boats Page
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02/07/2012
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
2 Jul 2012 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Well June finished in a damp windy blob , July has started off with a bang Chris Limbert and the boys were the guests onboard Supreme today 2/7/12 .
What a day it turned out to be we had dolphins , a Steaked Gurnard a first on Supreme ,then we had a Sunfish another first closely followed by a 53lb Tope for Chris which was the first tope Chris had seen in real life .
When Chris finally stopped shaking he realised what a cracking fish this was and started shaking again ,well done mate.
well I have got to do it all again tomorrow
No other skippers info was used in writing this report
NO GIMMICKS , NO BULL, JUST RESULTS View Boats Page
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01/07/2012
Fishing Report by Aaron Smith
on Bad Boyz VI (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
1 Jul 2012 by Aaron Smith
Report on-board Bad Boyz VI
Short sesion out today with a some locals.
Plenty of Dogs and Whittings and just a couple of Rays, 1 Blonde and 1 Spotty
Out again tomorrow with a few spaces left View Boats Page
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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
Over recent weeks My Way has sailed with great regularity. I wouldn’t say that the weather has been the best, far from it to be honest. But we have been able to work around most of what the wind gods have being throwing at us and taken each day as it comes.
This scenario helped out by some great crews aboard My Way, for example where our intended marks have been off to Holyhead Deep and the wind has blown, we have simply loaded up with a selection of rigs and baits including quality fresh peeler crab and enjoyed a species hunt inshore along with some great small shark action inshore.
Fortunately we have seen some very good double figure smoothhounds aboard My Way once again in 2012; sadly only 2 have topped the magical 20lb mark this year. But with many anglers reaching personal bests averaging 15lb and a few with 18 and 19lb fish it has again been a successful period for us. If our observations over recent years are followed, next year could be a return to bumper hounds for us.
As June has progressed the fishing has continued to improve, with good numbers of species being caught on most days. At anchor we have hooked into the usual dogfish, whiting, dabs and small codling along with a good amount of blonde spotted and thornback rays, in fairness though the vast majority of the rays small in size, nice to see never the less and returned to grow bigger in time.
Drifting around the shallow reefs close inshore sees an almost daily increase in quantity of fish being taken, there is still a very good amount of pollack in the 1 to 3 lb mark, the odd bigger specimen and also occasional codling and rogue coalfish falling to a variety of baits and lures. Hard fighting wrasse are growing in numbers and size as we are able to drift more on our favoured marks. Ballan and cuckoo wrasse are giving the light tackle enthusiast some exciting sport and these species will only get bigger as summer progresses.
Sadly strong winds have been a constant over the recent months, more so on neap tides, the very tides that we need for a good day afloat in Holyhead Deep. When we have been able to get out there, the fishing has been exceptional. Spurdogs have been in great numbers on the vast majority of trips, they have also been averaging double figures with some specimens topping the scales at over 16lb. Big huss have also been ever present over the slack water, and getting to the baits when the smaller spurs have allowed.
What has been missing in numbers for Holyhead and My Way is the tope. We’ve not seen any yet, although guess we’ve lost a couple based on hook ups and runs, speaking to Gareth on Spindrift he’s also waiting the great arrival, however having landed a couple himself. By now we have normally had a number of small pack tope mixed in with the spurdogs? This is the general situation from as early as April with the bigger tope moving in around June time, but so far none, strange really as our usual marks are producing well for double figure sharks, sadly though with the exception of tope. I’d like to blame the sporadic appearance of mackerel, but anyone knowing Holyhead will be aware that the only thing that is consistent about our mackerel fishing is the inconsistency, so no real indicator. Hopefully this situation will improve now as we head into July and we can add the thrill of hard fighting tope to the great species list so far for 2012.
A surprise species landed recently was a streaked gurnard. These are quite rare around the UK; I’d never seen one before during my personal fishing travels. Scratching around on a species hunt, Rob Field called a gurnard to upset his fishing companion Lloyd. A quick look indicated a tub or very pale red. However on closer inspection the blue on the tips of the pectoral fins of a tub was missing and the colour was certainly not red, even the shape of the head looked slightly different.
I did have my suspicions then and took a few photographs before the gurnard was released to the sea. Home that evening I emailed the photo to a good friend who for me is second to none on fish identification, a hobby that has turned into a passion over years. The reply came back ‘tis easy- a streaked’; superb and well done Rob.
Please check the galleries on our website (www.goangling.co.uk) for up to date photos and reports of exactly what is being caught out from Holyhead and particular aboard My Way.. View Boats Page
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29/06/2012
Fishing Report by Aaron Smith
on Bad Boyz VI (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
29 Jun 2012 by Aaron Smith
Report on-board Bad Boyz VI
June - weather has been up and down but when it was down boy did we get out to some great fishing offshore leaving the rest of the Holyhead fleet to fish under the rocks.
The wrecks have been producing big numbers of Pollac between 5-10lb with the few larger ones breaking the surface 10yards off the side of the boat just to make the show of the 10-14lb fish that little bit more exciting.
The Cod are still proving hard work were as this time last year there were masses of them around resulting in 200+ a day so fingeres crossed they arrive soon, Better late than never !
Anchoring in many of my offshore marks for Tope has been an experiance to say the least but without a single Tope !!
This is due to the numbers of spurdog we have seen this year and with a haul of 120 Spurdogs from 4lb to 17lb over 3 slack waters this proceded to be a fantastic few days fishing, unfortunatly we did have have a couple of Tope runs but with everyone hauling in Spurdogs they were rather over excited and managed to snap the off :(
This last couple of days we managed to try a few inshore marks despite the weather take a dive for the worst with south-westerly winds reaching 45mph.
Inshore is producing plenty of the usual species like Dogs, Huss, Whitting, Rays, Dabs, Gurnards, Codling and still a few Hounds here and there whilst on the drift the are plenty of Wrasse and Pollack to 4lb.
You can always check out last minute trips on our new Facebook page below -
http://www.facebook.com/BadBoyzCharters
Tight lines Aaron View Boats Page
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28/06/2012
Fishing Report by Gwyn Andrews
on Goldilocks (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
28 Jun 2012 by Gwyn Andrews
Report on-board Goldilocks
Things have certainly taken off in June.We have landed several tope topped by a nice 53lb for Leanne Wilson.There are mackerel every where along with gurnards, bullhuss,dab, whiting,dogs.The list is endless.
If your looking for a good day out and plenty of fish give me a ring. View Boats Page
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26/06/2012
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
26 Jun 2012 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
Wow !
What a windy month !
Luckily at Ramsgate we have Quality inshore fishing and some quite sheltered waters.
The Tope fishing continues to be exceptional with catches of 10 to 15 angry Tope upto 50lb not uncommon.
As the summer progresses and hopefully the weather improves we will catch some Big Females and set even more new Personal Bests for our Anglers.
The Mackeral are here in huge shoals now, bringing with them lots of predators like Big Bass.
We can fish for the Bass with livebaits from our tank, deadbaits or jigging. Whatever method you prefer and the best to suit the conditions.
The Ray and Hound fishing inshore and at the Margate and Goodwin Sandbanks is very good, with consistant numbers of both species now coming to Squid baits. Again as the Sun starts to shine on us this fishing can only get better !
Please don`t forget as we are now past the longest day and it is light untill 930pm, that we are still running our Evening Bass trips.
Pick an evening, weekday or weekend, and so long as I have 4 or more at £25 then we`ll go !
Our best Bass on an Evening Trip so far this year is a great 9 1\2 lb specimen for Alex, aged 12 3\4.
C`mon , you`re not gonna be beaten by a 12 year old are you !!!
Keep it Tight.
Remember, No Bullshit, Just Results.
Dave.
07774 294 959. View Boats Page
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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. View Boats Page
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20/06/2012
Fishing Report by Aaron Smith
on Bad Boyz VI (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
20 Jun 2012 by Aaron Smith
Report on-board Bad Boyz VI
The wrecks are fishing very well at the moment with plenty of fish between 4-8lb and a few from 8-14lb making an apperence on most trips.
Pictured is a group of lads I had on from the Wirral for a generel days fishing which we managed a few hours on a wreck due to the weather being kind, And with a good haul of 50-60 fish in a couple of hours its was smiles all around.
Only midweek dates left for the wrecks now so get booking to avoid dissapointment.
Winter Conger trips will be starting from late October with a few dates still available
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