Latest Fishing Reports: Wales
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07/2013
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jul 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
The month ahead - July
As we enter July, we tend to say goodbye to the large influx of smoothhounds around Holyhead and Trearddur Bay. They can still be caught, but not so much as a targeted fishery, with average sizes now at only 8lb. July often signifies the start of some great and varied fishing around the bays, with many trips giving up to 20 different species of fish in any one day.
Many trips start drifting around the coast for a selection of different species that include Pollack, Cod, Mackerel and 5 different types of wrasse. IInshore drifting for such hard fighting species can be great fun, especially when using light gear. Fishing waters of around 45ft using spinning rods and similar you feel every bite and dive from your fish. For those not having such rods and reels and wanting to 'test the water' fear not, we have a selection of superb rods from Yuki & also Hart from Tronixpro available free to use. Coupled with some excellent multiplier or FS reels your enjoyment is almost guaranteed.
At anchor the bigger targets inshore include Bull Huss, rays, strap Conger, smoothies and the odd Tope ... with sizes varying for all from the very small to those well into double figures. Double figure Bull Huss for example are regularly seen from some of our favoured marks. Thornback rays are also present along with the odd Blonde ray and Spotted ray.
If weather allows we'll travel to the famed Holyhead Deep we will almost certainly be targeting bigger Pollack, Spurdog, Tope, Bull Huss and Conger. Drifting around the wrecks we have the potential for some great Pollack, few of which go well into double figures.
At anchor we tend toi think big -- tope, spurdogs huss and eels. A great draw for many anglers, it is always recommended that everyone tackles up on the big side, and goes all out to land specimen sharks. There are other species to be had, Whiting, Dogfish and Gurnard the most prolific, but these are also achievable inshore, no point in missing out when in the deeps. As with most fishing trips travelling offshore we need a few elements to fall in our favour, neap tides and calm weather the most important.
Competition Time
We have teamed up with the guys at Tronixpro and World Sea Fishing to bring you a great competition. Starting late July, everyone fishing aboard My Way in coming months is in with a chance to win a superb light boat Rod & Reel combo! There will be one available each month for July, August, September and October.
Look out for more details, available soon on our website and via our Facebook page.
Website: www.goangling.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GOAngling
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29/06/2013
Fishing Report by Wayne Morgan
on Sarah Louise (Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan)
29 Jun 2013 by Wayne Morgan
Report on-board Sarah Louise
On Saturday Sarah Louise was chartered by a visitor from America for Tope and smouthhound.
The Tope did not show but the customer was delighted with over 25 smouthhound landed to 15lb. View Boats Page
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01/07/2013
Fishing Report by Carl Davies
on Gwen-Paul-M (Conwy, Conwy)
1 Jul 2013 by Carl Davies
Report on-board Gwen-Paul-M
Two Day Isle of Man Trip
We had a two day Isle of Man trip booked this weekend on Sunday and Monday. It was a tough decision as to whether to put the trip on or not as the forecast gave strong southwest winds on Sunday afternoon. However less wind on Monday would mean a more comfortable day to travel back home to Conwy. So we left for the Island on Sunday morning.
We fished a few wrecks in the shelter of Anglesey but fishing was slow with a few pollack up to 6lb. The wind freshened as forecast so we decided to make a dash over to Port St. Mary and arrive a couple of hours early extending the day on Monday when the weather was forecast to be more favourable. We arrived in Port St.Mary to be greeted by a bustling harbour wall full of people and stalls. The annual queenie festival was being held that weekend. Queenies are basically a small scallop and the lads took advantage of some great food stalls to recharge after the hard trip over the Irish Sea.
The following morning as forecast the wind had altered direction and decreased. We fished some of the reefs and wrecks around the Calf of Man which produced steadyish pollack fishing to about 4lb. Many fish were taken on live launce which we caught on a sandbank just off the Calf.
The wind continued to decrease and allowed us to start our journey home via 4 or 5 wrecks. About 8 miles to the south of the Island we spotted many gannets and shearwaters working. We stopped and had the best mackerel fishing I have seen so far this summer. A couple of the lads had smoking boxes at home so were very pleased to catch some for smoking.
The pollack fishing was steady, with fish up to 7lb. We also had one ling.
The wind continued to decrease for a pleasant passage back to Conwy. We were also treated to a display from a few dolphins as we drew closer to Anglesey.
The weather looks unsettled again for the next couple of days but by the end of the week it finally looks to be settling down for a few days. View Boats Page
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06/2013
Fishing Report by David Axtell
on Seren y Mor (Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan)
Jun 2013 by David Axtell
Report on-board Seren y Mor
Same old story weather playing havoc with the fishing here. When we do get out the smoothounds are really thick on the ground everywhere, crab being the top bait of course. Bream are showing in decent numbers when the weather is a little more settled but mackerel are very patchy. Bass are now showing in good numbers and the rays are also numerous on the offshore banks so lets hope we get some sort of summer in July. Photo is of Peter Griffiths from The Naval Club in Port Talbot with a decent bass.
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06/2013
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jun 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
2013 Fladen Smoothhound Challenge
With bad weather cancelling 2 days of our 2013 Smoothie Challenge kindly supported by Fladen Fishing UK we had another 2 rod and reel combos up for grabs. To continue with the theme of the heaviest hounds, we decided to run the comp through June. We managed to catch a great amount of hounds, with the vast majority in the mid teen area .... we also caught 6 that went over 20lb in weight, magnificent fishing by all those involved.
However there can only be two winners,
Tom Reay 24lb 5oz
Neil Harrison 23lb
Runners up …
Graham Ellis 22lb 10oz
Peter Hamilton 22lb 5oz
Tojo 20lb
Did I mention I also had a new PB at 24lb 10oz
Many thanks to Fladen for their support once again this year, very much appreciated.
Pictured is winner Tom View Boats Page
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29/06/2013
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
29 Jun 2013 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Another good day plenty of mixed species including two nice Tope for Ken and Simon
REMEMBER NO BULL JUST RESULTS
Steve View Boats Page
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20/06/2013
Fishing Report by Wayne Morgan
on Sarah Louise (Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan)
20 Jun 2013 by Wayne Morgan
Report on-board Sarah Louise
Motored west from Swansea
Landed smouthhound to 12lb.
Also 20 Sea Bream to 2lb. View Boats Page
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27/06/2013
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
27 Jun 2013 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
With a window in the weather allowing us to get the day in.
We had good mixed fishing for Dennis and the gang various species caught by all onboard including the huss in the pic which spewed a lobster up as the hook was removed .
If you fancy a days fishing check out the calendar and give me a call and I will see if I can get you out fishing .
Remember no bull just results
Steve View Boats Page
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25/06/2013
Fishing Report by Steve Andrews
on Supreme (Rhyl, Denbighshire)
25 Jun 2013 by Steve Andrews
Report on-board Supreme
Out today on a short 5 hour trip with some environment agency workers on board Supreme.
Turned out to be a cracking trip nice steady supply of Mackerel ,Dabs , Whiting ,Dogs ,Huss, and a cracking 41 lb Tope for Ian Oakes
Remember no bull just results
steve View Boats Page
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06/2013
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Jun 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Report on-board My Way 2
June I am so glad to report has been a hectic month aboard My Way, the weather has on a couple days thwarted our plans, but thankfully not too many to mention. For the first few days of June I was joined aboard My Way by a great group of friends from around the UK - various parts of Scotland, down to Oxford and the nearest a relatively short journey from Cheshire.
This has become a regular trip over the years with our main targets Holyheads Smoothhound. We have though also suffered from the weather and many times have had a day or more cancelled. This time around we had an extremely favourable forecast for all 3 days.
We caught plenty, everyone had some great fun with hounds the vast majority of which were in the mid teen weight class, Davy Holt taming most of his hounds on the light £20 Yuki Rubymar rod. Top honours though went to Peter Hutchinson, who ignored the comments of being the ‘tangler’ and caught many large hounds including one at 19lbs and another magical smoothie at 22lb, above left. I also managed to find myself a new personal best smoothhound on the last of these 3 days, weighing at 24lb 10oz.
Another annual pilgrimage followed on later that same week when Harry and I were joined aboard My Way by the Boat Fishing Monthly Team, this time Dave and Jim bringing ad man Daz up to sample some hot fishing and hot Holyhead nightlife. As with last years couple days, we were also joined by Mike Thrussell jnr from World Sea Fishing and also a competition winner who had won the chance to fish aboard My Way with the great possibility of joining that VIP club for 20lb hound captors.
Sadly last year the hounds played hard to get, we did land a few doubles on light spinning gear, but never got near the 20lb threshold. This year I was confident, the fishing had finally kicked up a few gears following 2 months of doldrums had - sun was out, the crabs were peeling and we had already landed a 20lb, you can read the full story in an upcoming issue of BFM, but yes, Tom made it with a 24lb 5oz beauty.
We remained smoothhound hunting for the coming weeks – some days also adding general fishing for dogs, dabs, huss, gurnards etc. to the day when the tides never suited for an all out assault on the hounds. When hounding some days fished far better than others, there was no definite cycle to the days that we struggled, nothing I could say was to blame to be honest just a simple case of the smoothhound not being there.
What we need to remember is that with the smoothhound off the Holyhead coast tending to be mainly double figure sharks, they do seem to be more solitary feeders and not pack fish associated with those in smaller sizes. We sometimes see 3 or 4 come through, then it goes quite for an hour or more, then others swim through! Challenging fishing indeed that really does try your patience!
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Entering the 3rd week in June and we had some great settled weather, light variable winds and all coinciding with neap tides. A quick chat with the crews and it was soon decided to shoot offshore to the edges of Holyhead Deeps were we would be able to try out a few wrecks in 180foot of water for pollack and codling. Over slack water we would drop anchor and hopefully connect with more sharks but this time tope, spurdogs and huss.
Fortunately the gamble over these 3 days paid off, during the few hours on the drift over the ebbing tide, we pulled out many pollack averaging 6lb in weight. We also managed to pull out a dozen fish into double figures, the best weighing 11lb 8oz. With all days for individuals, it was a great mixed bag of abilities as well as fish, with everyone reeling in something of note.
On the Monday we had a group of regulars from Burnley in Lancashire, having fished the previous week in some poor weather, but still managing to land the targeted hounds, today was a great blessing. Having had many trips cancelled of late and the one fished remaining inshore, a foray offshore for bigger stuff and possibly a few table fish was music to everyones ears. Thankfully everyone was rewarded with pollack on the drift, and then huss, spurdogs and tope at anchor, the best going 22lb for Pepe … was a great day, made better with some great biscuits and scones from Mrs Eve, thanks.
The following couple days followed a similar pattern for us, out to the wrecks for the last few hours of the remaining ebb tide. This saw most of the crew catching a good amount of decent sized pollack for our small part of the Irish Sea. At anchor numerous spurdogs, huss, small tope and the ever obliging dogfish kept us busy whilst drinking tea and coffee and enjoying our sausage & black pudding sarnies.
Sidewinders, shads and jelly worms all being used to great effect from our varied crews, with certain colours out fishing others more noticeably at certain stages of the tide (it’s great to just sit back and watch sometimes).
I even managed to bag a few pollack myself on the light Ruby h fishing rod. This £20 rod never ceases to amaze me, as well and pollack from 180foot of water, over these few days the rod hauled in spurs, huss and one small tope and once again made everything effortless. I will though add that reel choice is also of great importance when using these rods. Inshore a small multiplier of fixed spool is adequate, Holyhead deeps requires a decent large retrieve reel such as a good Daiwa, Abu or as I was using an Avet!.
We have been using these rods often of late, but at £20 they are worth every penny. Check out the videos on our My Way TV page at www.goangling.co.uk and see for yourself
With tides increasing and an unsettled weather forecast we ended last week by remaining inshore for a spot of general fishing, followed by another bash at the smoothhound.
Thankfully this plan came together and after a few hours with dogs, dabs and a few other species, the lads were rewarded with some great double figure smoothhounds; the best of which fell to Neil Harrisons ledgered peeler crab, an astounding 23lb and our 4th twenty of 2013.
Good weather is rolling in once again for the last week of June, good luck to all :) View Boats Page
