Latest Fishing Reports: Wales
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31/05/2011
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
31 May 2011 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Well what can I say May has been very windy this year keeping the Supreme tied up on her mooring more than I care to think about .
When we have got out the fishing has been good but we have hardly been able to string two days together.
The end of May has produced the first tope of the year to be landed from Rhyl which was on the Supreme a 27lber to jags from the bucaneer sac from Liverpool .
I am praying that we now get some settled weather from June onwards
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25/05/2011
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
25 May 2011 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
A great run of Big Tope inshore at kentcharterfishing Ramsgate at the moment and they`ll hang around for a while.
Big Mike and the South London boys had a great day on them on wednesday. In 2 hours of fishing they had 6 runs and 4 fish bought to the boat, spectacular for inshore fishing, even better as it was one of our weekday individuals days so the 3 of them got to experience a fab days fishing from Excel angling for £40 a head.
Awesome fun, fishing Ramsgate with light tackle and getting 40lb+ beasties !
For the afternoon we went to anchor to get a few Skate so the boys also had some fish to take home as well as a great day sportfishing.
Bass, smoothounds and skate showing in good numbers , remember 3 or more on a weekday and i`ll go !
Keep it tight,
Dave. View Boats Page
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05/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
May 2011 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Our last report detailed the high winds that have battered much of the UK over recent weeks. North Wales has been subjected to some of the strongest and most prolonged periods of rough weather in May for a long time.
May is around the time when the annual smoothhound run gets into full swing in the waters off Holyhead; where we may lack the numbers of hounds that some places can boast, a good average day for us maybe seeing around 15 hounds to the boat, Holyhead and more especially My Way benefits from exceptionally large smoothies, possibly some of the best that can be found in UK waters, having an average size well into doubles figures.
Picking the mark and tide can be crucial when setting out on our trips to locate the first runs. Like most species the smoothies feeding patterns are influenced by certain states and sizes of tide.
Our first run out for 2011 was 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 Smoothie for early season!
This could only bode well for future trips.
It was a few days before we could venture out once again, excitement for the quality of the fishing was uncontainable, sadly though the strong winds battering around our coastline simply put an end to any thoughts of us carrying on our smoothhound fun.
We set sail a lot later in the day for our second outing, thus ensuring we fished the state of tide we needed to maximise the chance of hooking into more hounds. Only a small group of 4 anglers, booking the boat to themselves! Once again the smoothhound were obliging with John hooking the first, followed closely by Dic who landed a couple and a new PB for himself.
Gavin a relative newcomer to fishing was sat eagerly awaiting a bite on his rod whilst fighting off the dreaded feeling of sea sickness. Naturally we were all full of sympathy for Gavin offering greasy sausage sandwiches, making vomiting noises etc … as you do!
Gavin though, was to have the last laugh, despite feeling extremely poorly in the lumpy sea of Holyhead Bay, he continued to fish and this determination was rewarded late that afternoon when a smoothhound finally took his offered bait. Gavin played the hound for what seemed like an eternity, it came close to the boat on a number of occasions before making agonising late dives back down to the sea bed. Another half hour passed before Gavin’s shark broke the surface of the murky stirred up waters in Holyhead and it was a good one. The weigh sling and scales were required again to accurately record the latest shark aboard My Way. His first smoothhound had topped the scales at 24lb 11oz … Gavin no longer felt sick!
I must also give a small mention to Ari, who also took much stick from all of us for not landing a smoothhound all day, well not until the very end when an obliging 7lb hound took pity on him. With a few more trips planned for the smoothies, I’m sure this though can be beaten.
2 trips, plenty of big hounds including 2 over 20lb, this was an exceptional start to our 2011 smoothhound escapades. Sadly though, more wind blew into Holyhead and cancelled the next week of trips. It is very frustrating cancelling so many trips when you are so aware of the quality of fishing around! Equally upsetting is to know that they are only here for a certain number of weeks and on specific tides, please wind go away!
Our next trip out after smoothhound was to be a 2 day jolly with a group of 4 friends looking at landing some of our big inshore sharks. This has become an annual pilgrimage now to land double figure hounds on light gear. Sadly the winds were making every attempt to ruin our day. Deciding on a 7am sail in the hope of making the most of our time, we set sail with a fresh increasing wind. On reaching our destination, I made the decision to turn around and head back in – the forecast was a constant 10mpoh more than forecast with gusts over 30 – not safe and certainly not pleasant, back to Marina it was to wait out the wind as the new forecast was to drop around lunchtime. What did we do instead …. had a full brekkie on the boat whilst setting the world to rights and gossiping!
We motored back to our intended fishing grounds early afternoon and started hound fishing straight away. It was a little later in the tide than I had hoped, but was confident we would catch well. Our first hound was on the boat within an hour of fishing and fell to Davy Holt, a new PB for him at 16lb 10oz.
Davy's partner Linda was on her first smoothhound outing and was determined to catch one, regardless of what the weather had in store for us. This perseverance paid off when a short time after Davy broke his PB Linda hooked into what looked to me a very good hound. Playing the Smoothie on a light Fladen sensor tip rod, Linda could only watch and wait as the hound made darting runs for freedom. After a long fight that saw the hound remain very deep under the boat Linda’s hound came to the net weighing a staggering 20lb 10oz!!! Another 20lber!! Superb fish and well played.
Determined to beat Linda, Davy tried harder to land that 21lb Smoothie – the one that did look on course though turned out to be a low double, foul hooked! He did though manage to break his PB once again with another hound of 17lb 2oz. Smoothhound also came to everyone else on the boat, including myself, sadly though, none of us coming anywhere near to breaking Linda’s 20lber.
With 40mph southerly winds on the forecast we cancelled our second day afloat. We also cancelled the following few days – let’s hope the winds ease off pretty soon, we will be landing these hounds for a few weeks to come right into the middle of June weather permitting!
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05/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
May 2011 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Sadly the weather for the end of April and throughout May has seen far too many trips cancelled.
Strong N / NE winds or very strong southerlies have seen My Way left tethered to the pontoons at Holyhead Marina on more occasions than I care to think about. The photo on the right shows the weather on our berth at the start of the current period of bad weather, April 30th 2011. I cancelled our trip but despite the wind, it was a dry day – so down to the boat it was to do a few of the odd jobs on my list.
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 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?
Whilst writing this we have 40mph constant outside with gusts over 50-mph, not the nicest of days. Normally May is a fairly settled month in north Wales and we find ourselves afloat most days. At the time of writing this, 23rd May 2011, we have only sailed 5 times and cancelled 12. Think on all those that comment about charter boat operation being easy money – not so good when can’t earn it!
With the trips run, restricted inshore, we have still managed to locate a few fish, with early May offering a variety of species for the novice crews aboard My Way; catches included huss, thornies, spotteds, codling, pollack coalie and wrasse all mixed in with the inevitable doggie, pouting and dab etc.
I guess we are simply paying for the exceptionally good weather that we experienced during much of March and April this year. I am though sure it will come good and this run of very poor weather will be quickly forgotten about.
Where ever you may be reading this I hope the weather is not not hampering your fishing too much and your able to get afloat and have a great time. Hopefully my next report will be a little more upbeat.
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21/05/2011
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
21 May 2011 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
The main Glut of the crab moult has passed now and the smoothhounds have slowed down a bit. Within a week or so they'll be back taking the squid baits. Lots of Bass showing and some cracking skate inshore. All in all it's Happy Days when you're fishing Ramsgate !
Come on down, 3 or more on any weekday and we go!
Keep it tight,
Dave. View Boats Page
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04/2011
Fishing Report by andrew alsop
on White Water (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
Apr 2011 by andrew alsop
Report on-board White Water
A great days mixed fishing ....1 angler 10 species ...
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07/05/2011
Fishing Report by David Axtell
on Seren y Mor (Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan)
7 May 2011 by David Axtell
Report on-board Seren y Mor
Fished again today with the Danglers SAC from Milford Haven, conditions not great to start with a South Easterly 5 and rain giving a wet, lumpy ride to our first mark, the rain eased by lunch time but the wind continued to gust all day. We decided to see if the Smoothounds had arrived with the boys bringing plenty of crab. First into the fish was Jason Dennis quickly followed by Dave Frampton, these two fished hard throughout the day for top rod with Jason coming out on top with the biggest Hound at 13lb 2oz and most Hounds with 13. Ian Pratt took another nice Hound at 13lb and after a slow start Mike Steer took some nice fish to 11lb 4oz and a Blonde Ray of 10lb 8oz. Biggest fish of the day went to Clive Jones with a Conger of 18lb. with over 50 Hounds landed the signs are looking good for the Smoothound season.
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06/05/2011
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
6 May 2011 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
out on the 6th of may bit of a recce to see if there were any smoothhound knocking about myself,glyn and gwynie the skipper of the Goldilocks ,went to a mark up the coast from Rhyl first cast and I was into a fish of about 6lb then we had a couple more around the same weight I jammed a small bass .mission acomplished they were about so now looking forward to some bigger fish to come
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02/05/2011
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
2 May 2011 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
The Hounds are here Big Time !
Peeler crab will sort out the big mummas, with squid a close second.
The fishing has been great yet again from Ramsgate with lots of good hounds showing along with superb skate and brilliant Bass.
Although the northerly winds have slowed down the crab peel its still the number one bait atm.
Keep it Tight,
Dave. View Boats Page
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30/04/2011
Fishing Report by Aaron Smith
on Bad Boyz VI (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
30 Apr 2011 by Aaron Smith
Report on-board Bad Boyz VI
APRIL -
With some fantastic weather and some not so good to finish the month off saw us getting a variety of trips out through the month with some brilliant results from numorous good sized Rays, Spurdog, Tope, Bullhuss, Codling and Pollack with a few PB's thrown in.
The last few days of april has seen Northeasterly winds up to 30mph with gusts over 45mph.
April 29th,
With NE 14-20knott winds the days fishing was to be shellterd around the south side of the island around south stack and as far as Rhosneiger with main targets to be Pollack, Colies, Codling, Wrasse and some possible Mackeral off the many inshore reefs and within 2 hours of drifting every target was acounted for with the edition of some beautifully marked Cukoo and Corkwing wrasse.
With the wind picking up as the day went on the plan chaged from targetting the many species of rays from the many banks off Abberfraw to ' trying ' to shellter from the wind under Trearddur bay.
As soon as the anchor had hit the bottom we had fish comming over the gunnels, With plenty of the usual Dogies, Dabs, Codling, Whitting, Small Huss and a couple larger but not qutie touching the double figure mark, After a couple of hours and a nice few bowls of Hotpot we decided to try a few more drifts over the reefs on the way home.
With some lovely Wrasse being caught and a few Pollack the last drop of the day was upon us once again and not to be dissapointment for a regular Dave who caught a nice codling just over 5lb mark.
April 30th
NE/E 20-30mph and gusts to 40mph threw out the plans for Offshore Tope fishing but with the crew that booked being another regular party they decided to try there look with 8 hours under the headland at Church bay, With a bit of a bumpy ride to get there we found shelter with flat calm sea's, loads of bait, plenty of food and plenty of fish to keep us busy all through the day.
With the majority of fish being Dogs, Dabs, Huss and Codling with Pollack, Coalies and Plaice coming up every so often, After the 7 hours of fishing we had almost a dozen or so Codling around the 3-4lb and once again the last drop of the day producing a lovely 2lb 7oz plaice ( pictured ).
With the wind behind us we set on our way back to holyhead only to be met by the challange of gettin back onto the marina with 40knots of wind pushing us off, Luckily our good friend Steve off a local pleasure fishing the Louise Clare was on hand to get a rope on for us ( Many Thanks Steve).
Sunday 1st was cancelled with it being a fishing club only wanting to fish the famous Holyhead Deeps but as i was hopeing to have a day off it was interupted by a very busy day for many of the lifeboats around the island especially with it being a bank holiday Trearddur bay accounted for 4 of the incedents which kept me busy for most of the day.
Sun, Sea, Fish and Wind another lovely weekend off the north Wales coastline. View Boats Page
