Latest Fishing Reports: Wales
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12/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Dec 2011 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
A look back through the last 12 months
To view this report with photographs please copy and paste this link into youir internet browser
http://www.goangling.co.uk/review-2011.htm
2011 kicked off with My Way being lifted out of the sea for some well earned TLC. We pull the boat out of the water each year for various jobs, along with a routine service My Way was this time due a good lick of paint. Stripping the red right back, the undercoat for the red was pink. Yes I did receive some very unwelcome comments and wolf whistles!
Our first few trips of 2011 saw is staying close inshore and fishing around our numerous marks in Holyhead Bay. Early season in Holyhead is never going to set the angling world alight with record breakers. If weather allows us to move offshore, we may be lucky enough to hook into congers, spurs and huss, but normally we tend to maximise the fishing time and fish in and around the bay. Here for certain the fishing is going to be consistent with plenty of fish and a fair good variety of species coming to those anglers braving the cold mornings winter breeze!
Reliable species include dogfish, dabs, whiting, codling and huss all of which are caught on the majority of marks we fish early season in our Bay. You can then add to the mix, pollack, coalies, thornbacks and blonde rays along with a fair amount of mini specie. It’s a good time of year to have a go at catching fish in numbers, regardless of specie and size a proper test for aspiring match anglers, where 3 fish a drop should be essential.
As the waters slowly stared to warm up in March and April our fishing adventures improved. Broken ground always throws up a variety of species for early season, but equally as important, a consistent supply of fish. We’re not renowned for our plaice fishing in this part of north Wales and sadly those we do get are rarely the dustbin lids you see in the magazines; but this one caught mid-March was good enough. Our first for 2011, but as captor Monty Burns pointed out that this was his first ever plaice whilst aboard My Way.
One day, where I had originally planned to drop anchor the mark was covered with lobster pot markers. Never one to opt for the ‘near enough’ option, we had a little look around the area for a spot of broken ground that …. looked fishy! Using the down-looking imaging on our new Lowrance HDS system, we were able to isolate a patch of ground that appeared to have fish holding capabilities; anchoring uptide, so that our baits could trot back nicely over the broken ground, the rewards where very quickly upon the boat with everyone catching plenty of fish and many double and triple shots from the off.
The sheer number of small huss coming aboard the boat today was astounding, brilliant broken kelp covered ground, ideal for small fry to shelter and small huss to feed on them! With winds scuppering offshore marks in February and early March our first deep water anchor for 2011 was not until 26th March.
April was a month of glorious weather, the sun was often up high and we seldom had any wind of note! Big fun in deep water was the regular plan; before then though we’d set sail to load My Way with some fresh bait and fodder for the dubby bag to help bring the bigger targets to us. We managed to hook into a fair number of small pollack and herring over various marks on our travels around to Trearddur Bay, the herring were to prove extremely useful for dubby. Their extremely oily bodies can prove a major attraction for many species around our shores. 3.5hrs was an average spell in the deeps, catching continuously huss, dogfish and some cracking spurdog. Many spurs are released outside of the boat with only a handful of cracking double figure specimens coming aboard for a quick photograph.
Now into mid-April the water temperature was rising and fish quantity and species were ever increasing. When launched the sea temp in Holyhead Bay was a mere 7’, it had now though increased to 9.5’ and this was being reflected in our catches, fishing continued as reported for both inshore and offshore marks. With weather finally on our side, April saw us spend a lot of time in Holyhead Deep where spurdog numbers were again delighting our anglers and the first small tope of 2011 were coming aboard.
Towards the end of April we had an additional bank holiday in the UK to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The F6 NE wind on the day was not going to dampen our spirits. Never one to pass on an excuse for a party we fished inshore and tucked into various items of food, similar to all the streets parties being enjoyed on dry land. Check out there photos here
Foul weather welcomed May and this weather was set to continue off and on for most of May. In fact it was the worst start to May that I can remember with gale force winds keeping My Way tied to her berth. When cancelling I think it is fair to say that all skippers take careful consideration of the day that may lie ahead. It is not simply a case of throwing the ropes away and rushing out for cover. Safety is no doubt paramount, but our enjoyment is the next most important thing on the agenda.
Sometimes the weather scuppers the odd plan, such as a trip to Holyhead Deep, yet a safe and enjoyable day catching a variety of fish is still possible elsewhere in the bay. Although when the wind is howling to the extreme and your boat is going to swing around on anchor, throwing gear or the anglers around as the next wave hits the beam of the boat – is it really worth it?
May is traditionally the time of year that My Way is involved with some of the best smoothhound fishing in north Wales. Our first run out for 2011 was mid-May with a crew of My Way regulars from Merseyside; this bunch of hardened anglers are smoothhound mad and boast many fish landed aboard My Way in the high teens and also a 20lb 2oz monster a couple years ago. Our first hound was on the hook within an hour of fishing and fell to Ian ‘Golden Peeler’ Tomo who went on to land a further 2 hounds and smash his PB once again. However the sweep fell to smoothhound novice Graham, who, as everyone watched Ian play the first hound, quietly went about his business of fighting a reasonably good hound. As Graham’s smoothhound broke the surface, it was a little more than reasonable and deserved a weigh! At 20lb 3oz, it was another monster, a whopper for a first hound and one hell of a start to our 2011 Smoothhound season!
For the next 5 weeks we spent the vast majority of our time fishing only for smoothies, resulting in amongst the many double figure hounds, 7 over 20lb. Check out our 20lb hound gallery on our website. We also set a new Holyhead boat record of 28 hounds landed in 1 session. This was when Boat Fishing Monthly Editor Dave Barham and BFM photographer Jim Midgley made their annual smoothhound pilgrimage to Holyhead. You can read Dave’s blog on the trip va the BFM website.
For the Spring Bank Holiday we ran our first Smoothhound Challenge competition The event was a great success with many hounds being caught, with the winner taming an 18lb specimen to win the first prize of a new Fladen Sensor Tip Rod and Multiplier reel. Next year we have managed to secure sponsorship from Fladen for the event that has now been increased to 2 days.
July the 4th was another day to remember! With it being a day that people in the USA celebrate the declaration of Independence from the UK, we decided to pay our own tribute and celebrate ... My Way style. Yes, this meant only one thing Fish & Food, so it was off we set in bright sunshine whilst waiting for our breakfast of big thick ¼lber burgers to cook. Fishing did interrupt our food at times as doggies, huss, gurnard, whiting, dabs etc came aboard My Way from the 30ft spring tide. It was soon lunch time and I had planned some great big US of A hot dogs. Pete Chant, originally from Holyhead and now living on the Wirral brought along a massive pan of chilli – chilli dogs it was. As everyone munched down for lunch we made our way around to Trearddur Bay where drifting for wrasse and pollack made the agenda once again. Then on the sail home we rounded USA day aboard My Way with jam donuts and caawwfeee! Superb, great fishing, great food and certainly a great laugh.
Moving further into July the weather tried its best once again to put the dampeners on our days afloat, un deterred we set sail regular and our anglers were rewarded once again with an excellent mixed bag of inshore fish ranging from the ever present lesser spotted dogfish to 18lb smoothies, a great array of pb’s and many angling firsts.
It’s always a pleasure to take anglers out on their first time fishing, when planning days like this I much prefer medium to big tides, thus keeping us inshore, the water flowing and allowing us to help the angler get the most from both drift and anchor fishing. Putting someone new onto a mixed bag of species has a great effect on them and certainly helps heightens their desire for more.
When the weather allowed, the deep waters off Holyhead didn’t disappoint, for little over 3 hours on most days all the rods aboard My Way bent double time and time again with wither huss tope or spurdog.
Whenever we venture to these grounds, it is simply a case of baiting up big. You avoid the smaller fish and concentrate simply on those double figure sharks that like to pull back. During July we helped film an episode of the welsh Language fishing show Sgota. We were tasked with finding a variety of both big and small species for present Julian Lewis Jones and My Way regular Sion Hughes to catch.
We managed to help the guys out with a variety of species including codling, pollack, wrasse, huss and tope. But the best catch of the day fell to Sion. The budding WRU star has sailed with us on many occasions; sadly for a couple years I have failed the young angler with his wish to catch a spurdog. Despite watching others catch, the spurs simply ignored Sion's baits. This day, with cameras rolling My Way finally came up trumps for Sion, with a superb spurdog of 19lb, a mere 13oz under the current welsh record
August was the final month in north Wales of any resemblance to good weather. 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.
Despite numerous tope from Holyhead Deep in the 25lb bracket and a few tope in the bay, our largest tope this year has just gone 40lb. In August occasionally anglers 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. This though is a crew choice and cannot be forced upon the anglers, sitting out for a long period of inactivity in the hope is not for the majority.
The various reefs produced very well this year - wrasse, pollack and codling with the sizes of the latter reaching 6 or 7lbs on occasions, 2011 saw the best influx of codling in and around Holyhead for many years, sadly though the reliability not always as good as the anglers would hope for.
Reliable though is the wrasse, plenty of good specimens averaging 2 to 3lb, with the odd fish going up to 4lb. As August continues these will improve and offer fish touching the 5lb mark on calibrated scales.
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September and everything started to fall apart, westerly winds over force 6 battered north Wales leading up to the Military InterService championships, held from Holyhead for the second year running. More high winds during the event meant we lost the 2 practice days. Day one was spent in 30ft of water inside the harbour catching dogs, whiting, huss etc, For the second day we managed to sneak out but still the fishing was hard work with high winds, choppy seas and very coloured water. As these photos show, the conditions were not ideal at all, this is within the inner harbour!.
Through Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec much of the UK and especially north Wales has suffered from the worst winds for a very long time. We have managed to grab the odd day afloat, but nothing you’d class as a run, in fact the best only a few days before the next set of West or gale force winds blew hard. Despite everything, it has been another good year aboard My Way; the fishing has been fantastic at times, poor on others … that’s fishing! I’m sure you have always seen My Way try hard to put you amongst the fish.
Our species list once again fell short of my target of 50, but 35 is still a great achievement for all the anglers who helped us along. So amongst our 2012 targets we‘ll still be aiming for 50species!
The My Way species list for 2010 totals 45: -
Main fish list - bass, black bream, bull huss, codling, coalfish, dogfish, dab, conger, flounder, grey gurnard, red gurnard, tub gurnard, herring, ling, mackerel, plaice, pollack, pouting, blonde ray, thornback ray, spotted ray, 3 bearded rockling, greater sandeel, scad, ss sea scorpion, common smoothhound, starry smoothhound, spurdog, tadpole fish, tope, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, whiting
Mini Specie - tompot blenny, dragonet, black goby, rock goby, shore rockling, ls sea scorpion, corkwing wrasse, goldsinny wrasse, rock cook wrasse, lesser weaver
Thank you to everyone who has supported us through 2011.
View Boats Page
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23/12/2011
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
23 Dec 2011 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
We would like to take this opertunity to wish all past, present, and future customers a very happy christmas and a fish filled new year. Looking forward to seeing you in 2012
Steve and Eileen View Boats Page
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23/12/2011
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
23 Dec 2011 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
Weekend and weekdays available in Jan/Feb/March.
Book now for Lunker Cod, awesome Skate fishing on The Sands and the Spring Run of codling.
Full-time professional Skipper and Full-time Angling boat.
Individuals welcome weekdays and Weekends.
Keep it Tight ,
Dave. View Boats Page
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15/12/2011
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
15 Dec 2011 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
15th December update.
All the usual suspects showing nicely now. Lots of Quality whiting and good numbers of Codling with an odd lunker or two in amongst. Early Skate are starting to show and there`s plenty of tasty dabs inshore.
Still an odd space or two between Christmas and New Year.
Book early for the best tides in 2012 on Ramsgates top Full time angling boat.
Best wishes to all for a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.
Dave. View Boats Page
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22/11/2011
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Goldilocks (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
22 Nov 2011 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Goldilocks
Fantastic day out on the River Mersey with Gwynnie Andrews (CAPTAIN CRACK OFF)and his crewman Steve Quinn plenty of cod ,thornies,dabs,whiting , dogs.Plenty of tea and coffee,bovril through the day .
well worth getting down to the river at the moment fishing its head off View Boats Page
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20/11/2011
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
20 Nov 2011 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Out Sunday group of 8 lads on from Warrington on a charter 7 having rod hire and fairly new to boat angling well it was fish from the off Dabs, Whiting , Dogs ,Huss,2 and 3 at a time with the odd Coddling,Sea scorpion ,Grey gurnard ,Poor cod and Pout thrown in for good measure .
The weather gods were on our side beautiful day flat calm and sunny spells you would never have beleived it was the back end of November. View Boats Page
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20/11/2011
Fishing Report by Carl Davies
on Gwen-Paul-M (Conwy, Conwy)
20 Nov 2011 by Carl Davies
Report on-board Gwen-Paul-M
Offshore pollack fishing excellent today with a few coalfish and codling thrown in. Pollack up to 10lb with a good 'stamp' of fish around the 4 - 6lb mark.
View Boats Page
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11/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Nov 2011 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
The last couple weeks have seen a rest bite from the onslaught of gale force winds that have pounded not only north Wales but most of the British Isles for the past 2 months.
September and October are normally reasonable months where the weather is concerned, however despite a well-balanced diary My Way was tied up on its berth on more occasions than I care to remember.
On the odd occasion we did scramble out, the fishing was up and down, as the seas settled the fishing would pick up and offer the anglers plenty of variety along with numbers of fish, only to be knocked on the head once more as the next tail of a hurricane blew across the Atlantic.
Entering November and despite still suffering from strong winds, we have sailed on a number of occasions. The fishing has been fairly consistent for Holyhead in late autumn and entering our cold winter period, catches have maily been made up of dogfish, whiting, codling and bull huss with other species such as pollack, coalies and dabs adding to the mix.
November 13th saw the first of our autumn winter fun matches to go ahead, the previous 2 having been cancelled because of the weather.
The day though did start with a hiccup as I received a phone call to inform me that a group of 3 individuals where running late and would be unable to reach us for the 8am sail, in fact they finally arrived just before 9am.
So a couple cups of tea and a chat about world’s politics was required whilst we waited. Setting off at 9am, we had a party of 3 local lads from Bethesda, Dave and Tim form Cheshire and Barry and his fellow watchmakers from Wigan! The forecast for the day was a 17mph SE decreasing slightly, leaving the marina we had a good easterly breeze whipping up the sea. Our initial stop was changed and we travelled up towards Church Bay for some shelter and calmer waters.
By the time we had arrived, the wind had increased by a good 10mph and considering it was offshore we still had white water all around us close in. Here we dropped anchor and the lads prepared baits ready for the off; mackerel, sandeel, squid, black lug and ragworm.
All but Dave and Tim were relatively new to angling and were using rods and tackle off My Way – this was certainly well poised for a fun match.
With the wind restricting our movements, the fishing itself was going to be centred on, dogs, whiting and huss. The majority of anglers fished basic 3 down scratch rigs and occasionally changing tactics to have hooks off the ground whilst looking for other species such as pollack and coalfish.
This though proved difficult through the day with only the odd pollack and poor cod taking the baits.
Dogfish kept everyone busy for the best part of the 6hrs at sea, some anglers taking double and the odd triple shot. Over a dozen huss averaging 8lb in weight graced the boat to add to the species tally and reward the captor with a good 3 points instead of the one gained for a dogfish.
The fun matches are as titled fun and a great way to try hone your angling skills a little not just into catching a fish, but catching then in numbers and sometimes targeting different species, only this time, the wind dictated quantity and not variation!
Each group had their own pitched battles going on against each other and soon enough comments and banter was passing as all on-board vowed to outdo the last to catch; with each captor making certain that not only his friend knew of his catch, but now the whole of the boat.
The fishing could not be described in any form of imagination as world beating or even totally inspiring, but, it was consistent and along with the hot drinks, warm food and colourful banter throughout the day, the time soon passed by with jokes, dogfish and huss in full flow.
Good fishing through the day saw Dave finish in first place from Tim, by only 2 points. Tim had been able to claw back a 5 point deficit in the last half hour as Dave struggled to hook into the what ever was nudging his baits. Sadly for Tim, 10 minutes from the end Dave lifted his rod and wound into 2 dogfish to steal the victory and £25 from the jaws of defeat!
Please visit our website for details of our next fun match on 10th December, still spaces available. View Boats Page
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15/11/2011
Fishing Report by Carl Davies
on Gwen-Paul-M (Conwy, Conwy)
15 Nov 2011 by Carl Davies
Report on-board Gwen-Paul-M
Plenty of pollack and coalfish to 9lb on offshore wrecks on 15th November, space on 10 hour trips 19th and 20th November
View Boats Page
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06/11/2011
Fishing Report by Carl Davies
on Gwen-Paul-M (Conwy, Conwy)
6 Nov 2011 by Carl Davies
Report on-board Gwen-Paul-M
Very good late season pollack fishing on Sunday 6th November. Averaging 5lb with a couple of fish 9-10lb. Room on a trip on 20th November.
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