Latest Fishing Reports: Wales
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20/09/2009
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
20 Sep 2009 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Last Saturday, 20th September saw us set sail with the first of our autumn/winter fun matches. Weather conditions were great for what we class as fun filled matches more than serious angling competition – sunny and warm is always a good way to start a day afloat. With tides of 32’ upon us the fishing was to be kept fairly local to Holyhead bay, with the maximum distance offshore being a slack water over the mussel beds.
Despite the fun element, the day was planned to test the anglers slightly with varied fishing over different grounds. Our day started approximately a mile from Holyhead breakwater on a small bank of mud that has a tendency to throw up all manner of species from dogs and whiting, to huss, rays and tope on occasions.
Fishing started well for most on board, whilst not hectic a constant stream of dogs, whiting and poor cod came over the gunwales, broken only when a cry of haddock came from Gareth P on the port side. Having already reached 50 species for 2009, Gareth was soon camera and species card in hand to record his 53rd specie of fish from British waters in 2009; a great achievement.
Pete Minns added 2 haddock to his tally, and quite possibly the smallest codling I have ever seen; speedy our old Goldfish was bigger!!
With the tide book showing slack water at 1230 we moved to the mussel beds for 1130 to catch the last of the flood and hopefully a few huss. Sadly though, my timings or the tide book was slightly out! More to do I think with the large tide of the day, with slack water upon us, we had a brief 45mins on this mark before the tide ran through like an express train. After a fruitless mud anchor, Simon finally got into the action here with dogs and whiting. A few dogs and whiting later, with a solitary dab for Jon, we upped anchor to go onto the drift for wrasse and a few pollack.
Drifting over the shallow reefs around Holyhead is a firm favourite of mine, and a style of fishing we’ll always partake in during a day afloat. With the big tides and slight E wind we opted for a west facing patch of rocks where we spent an hour in search of wrasse. Ian was the first to land a small pollack, not in size for the pan, but as we were fishing Catch & Return all size of fish count – 6 points for Ian. Gareth P recording the only goldsinny of the drift
The trio of Gareth P, Pete Minns and Jon Law catching consistently throughout the drifts, with Jon catching the rocks as many times as he caught a fish. Good fun as it is, drifting can sometimes become a little disheartening when snag after snag tackle is lost, slightly more disheartening for Garth P this time, who decided to snap his 6lb rod in the process!!
After our drift, we sheltered from the large tide in Church Bay. Here the fishing was consistent, with dogs, whiting and a few huss coming to the baits. Jon was slowly sneaking away with the odd dogfish adding 4 points apiece to his tally when Gareth P appeared to be struggling with a good bend in his fishing rod. Assuming a decent huss, it went slightly better for Gareth when his rig broke the surface with a brace of dogfish and a small huss attached.
Standing with his back to his rod, Pete Minns relayed yet another interesting joke to us all as Jon and I watched his rod tip bounce into action. As the rod started to bend over and the ‘fish’ appear to take line, we thought it best to let Pete know he had an enquiry!
After 10 minutes of action on Pete’s SuperSensor2 fishing rod, a small smoothhound of around 8lb broke the surface, attached to his size 6 hook, baited with a small slither of squid.
For a couple years now, Pete has tried to break his smoothhound virginity with a double figure smoothie aboard My Way. Despite being aboard as many smoothies have been landed and also despite helping others with rigs, bait and bait presentation – Pete’s mission for a smoothhound of his own has failed. Well maybe sometimes we just try too hard and when you’re least expecting ….
Simon, having suffered a fairly poor day with us so far, managed to catch the second smoothie of the day. Made more satisfying once again as it was another first ever.
With half hour to go, Pete had dropped back slightly, possibly due to the excitement of catching his smoothhound, however it was honours equal between Jon Law and Gareth P, not a fish scale separating them both. Once again it was touch and go for each angler as they matched each other for fish. Finally Jon got the break with a double shot of dogs, followed by a bull huss to edge him 7 points clear as the final whistle blew.
Unlike a Home Game for Man Utd, we play to the correctly allocated times!
1 Jon Law 165 £25 + 1 individual voucher
2 Gareth P 158 £20
3 Pete Minns 138 £10
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09/2009
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
Sep 2009 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
17th Sept.
North Easterly winds easing at last ! Nice big tides this weekend should see the start of the proper inshore cod along with a better stamp of whiting.
Probably the best months of the year, Sept/October for a proper lunker Bass.
Dave. View Boats Page
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08/2009
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Aug 2009 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Goodbye August.
What a disgrace this summer weather has been! Personally I blame the education system, as whenever the kids break up for summer holidays, the weather turns foul .
The last 4 weeks has seen wind, followed by more wind, followed by the remnants of every Hurricane to hit over the other side of the Atlantic, wish they’d stay there. Our days afloat have been severely hit, so in all honesty there is very little I can off by way of a report.
Our best day over the last month was way back on 12th August, when John Angell (terrible blue nose) and colleagues enjoyed the early start of 0645am owing to the weather and neap tides. Fortunately the gang were compensated with a fair few tope, followed by baskets full of mackerel, with some pollack to 4 ½ and then ending the day with bull huss.
Since then, we have managed to sneak out on only a handful of times; and in all honesty the fishing has not been electrifying; considering the weather - consistent and enjoyable would be a little more apt I think. On the drift, the fish have not disappointed, wrasse are as usual in abundance with ballans, cuckoos and corkwings the mainstay, with a few goldsinnys thrown in. Mackerel and pollack have also shown, but not in any numbers to really crow about.
At anchor, typical inshore windy fish have come to our aid, doggies, whiting, gurnards, pouting, the odd dab, some decent sized huss a couple tope and a few more small haddock, a very rare sight this far south, Normally a colder water fish, associated with our fishing buddies in Scotland, we have landed nearly a dozen now; none of any mentionable size, but an interesting development in these times of Global warming.
I’m sat here now writing this on yet another windy day (06th September 2009), having not sailed for another 7 days. The forecast was a hard one to decipher yesterday as it showed 14mph at 7am, 17 mph-10am, then 21mph-1pm concluding with a 30mph at 4pm, the decision to fish or not was hard despite a southerly wind, that would in all honesty allow us shelter from the breakwater and Holyhead Mountain, Wind over a 29ft tide from 12pm would mean us sticking close inshore for a few doggies at best. Even the drift would be hard work with the amount of water as we reached the top of the flooding tide.
Isobars looked close together; 30mph later on could come early. What to do?
Cancel, you have to be fair.
Well, best call I think for all concerned, weather observations are showing it was 20mph at 7am and 22mph at 9am, think the F6 to 7 may be in early, so we would have been twisting at anchor, with the winds in our hairs (well those of you with hair), for very few fish.
Looking ahead, we are being told that September is going to be a far more settled month. The signs are promising – from this Wednesday (09th) the temperatures are climbing and winds are settling down. Fingers crossed, a nice run of trips and good fishing, would soon help us all forget what summer has had to offer.
Good luck and happy fishing where ever you try View Boats Page
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24/08/2009
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
24 Aug 2009 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
Good numbers of bass shoaling up on the bigger tides at the moment, many fish in the 5 to 8lb range.
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07/2009
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jul 2009 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Only last month I was praising weather, for the last couple years June has been a windy and wet affair but this year warm settled seas have seen us sail regular with high hopes for the following months.
In typical fashion, good old British Summertime kicked in during July, just as the kids break form school and many anglers look forward to the summer days afloat. Wet, windy and to quote from a radio station I was listening to recently - typical April weather'. Un deterred we have set sail on many occasion in search of numerous species including last years elusive tope.
Tope fishing has been a hard push the last couple years with the weather putting paid to many a trip. Those who sail with us on a regular basis know only too well that small tides and no real winds are required for our Holyhead Deep adventures.
So far we have managed to fish in the deeps on quite a number of occasions with some fairly good results.
The tope have not been big by Holyhead standards, but the number of pack tope averaging 20 - 25lb offer some excellent sport on light gear and also great hopes for the coming weeks, when numbers tend to increase and sizes tend to double and often exceed the 60lb mark.
Returning to our recent catches, all species have a hold on us for different reasons. Wrasse fishing though can offer you adrenalin pumping action and more, basically a much greater chance of success. Whilst afloat the most popular and productive form of fishing for wrasse is on the drift. More often than not the grounds you will be fishing will be relatively close to shore, in shallow waters of below 60ft. By nature of the wrasses habitat, these grounds will be weed covered rocky areas; therefore tackle loss will be inevitable during your quest for these hard fighting species. But lb for lb, they are offer some of the best sport in UK waters
With plenty of huss, rays, gurnards, dogfish, whiting, codling and many other species coming aboard My Way, hopefully the weather for the next few weeks will settle down for us to enjoy our fishing once again. View Boats Page
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01/07/2009
Fishing Report by Steve Lewis
on Blue Shark (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
1 Jul 2009 by Steve Lewis
Report on-board Blue Shark
Just getting into the swing of things this year 2009 good Bass showed end of June but the 24th June was best day with the rgulars getting into the Tope off St Govens and the big wreck at the Smalls giving double figure Ling and that bis COD Father.
July is wet & windy at the moment. More soon View Boats Page
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11/07/2009
Fishing Report by john naisbitt
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
11 Jul 2009 by john naisbitt
Report on-board Supreme
Cracking day on 11th July. Mackies were difficult to come by and it was hour and a half before we hit them in numbers some way out. Off the same mark Paul from Stockport reeled in a 41lb Tope, a cracking fish which took him some time to download the 'rush'. Back to a mark off Prestatyn and the fun started with two snapped lines before a number were hauled aboard between 20-30lb. Weather was great despite a poor forecast. Geoff's bass was a surprise but a nice fish which will look good on the plate. Big Glenn was looking blankish but came in with a late double.
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11/07/2009
Fishing Report by glen smith
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
11 Jul 2009 by glen smith
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At last!!!!! Nezza caught a tope today,now your the "DOPE WITH A TOPE" Nezza.Then Geoff "THE BALLOON!!" caught a nice bass, but the whimp wouldn't have a photo with it until someone introduced it to a priest.Hope it tastes nice Geoff.Best fish of the day went to Paul 2 from Stockport 41lb,not bad for his first tope! Bad luck to Paul 1 from Stockport though,as he had been fishing with the tope rod ,but got bored and swapped with Paul 2 who was catching maccies for bait. Within 10 minutes along came the forty pounder.Eight tope, 1 huss,1 bass, plus maccies,gurnard,whiting,and weavers.It would have been a much better fishing day if the maccies had shown on 'Q'.But they didn't so we coudn't get to our first choice mark until later.Never the less with an excellent skipper and a good group of lads, and good weather,it was an enjoyable day!
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07/2009
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jul 2009 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
Unlike the past couple of years, good fortune has finally fallen upon us with June far more settled than the previous couple of years. Light winds and plenty of sunshine has seen us set sail on many occasions, searching for a variety of species whether it be on the drift or hard at anchor.
Smoothhounds continued into June, but became harder as the weather improved. With the catches dwindling we soon resigned ourselves to wait for the 2nd run later on this year.
Drifting the many rocky outcrops that surround the north western edge of Anglesey can be a fantastic experience not only from the fishing but the scenery as well, South Stack and its array of birdlife including the likes of cormorants and puffins always a favourite with the camera buffs. Close in under these cliffs however; anglers have been having a field day with numerous catches of pollack, coalie, mackerel & wrasse - ballans, cuckoos and corkwings. Using light sensor tips and an average ballan size of 2.5lb, the ballan wrasse fights extremely well; with tackle certainly under test when you have a brace fighting in all directions.
A recent surprise whilst drifting this mark came in the form of a Topknot. Weighing no more than 4 or 5 oz, this is certainly this fish of the year so far, A first for it’s captor Monty Burns, but also a first ever aboard My Way and a welcome addition to our species tally for the 2009.
Anchor work has improved with each passing day. Inshore has seen a variety of species including, gurnards, red, grey and tub, huss, mini specie, ray – thornback & blonde, smoothies and congers to name a few. Offshore marks are also starting to produce a few nice fish.
From mid June we turn our attentions a bit more to chasing after the tope. With settled weather on Thursday of last week Paul Whittle took the helm of My Way for me in search of some double figure shark action at the bottom of Holyhead Deep. With only a 3hr window to fish, the crew from Merseyside were rewarded with 20 tope to 25lb, over 20 huss averaging 16ld and a couple spurdogs, along with whiting and dogfish. The best of the spurdog last month went to Sam Smith with a cracking 17lb 13oz specimen. Not bad for our first foray after Holyhead’s tope. As time progresses the numbers should increase along with the size of tope.
Chicken cam is proving a bit of a hit and adding a little fun to our days fishing The unfortunate soul who is first to leave a rod un attended whilst venturing to the toilet is rewarded on return to his or her rod with the fight of a lifetime. Chicken cam is certainly raising a giggle amongst the crews, no one knowing when the chicken will be despatched! View Boats Page
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06/2009
Fishing Report by David Hancock
on Excel 2 (Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire)
Jun 2009 by David Hancock
Report on-board Excel 2
June has been a super month again, lots of cod on the wrecks.
When we`ve been inshore there`s been a good supply of Large Smooth hounds, good catches of skate and the Bass are showing in numbers, along with the ever present doggies !
Now looking forward to July for those Big Momma Bass !
Top tip, Fresh Mackeral fillets fished hard on the bottom in coloured water will get results. View Boats Page
