January

After spending a fair bit of last year trying new marks and doing well at places I'd previously had little success I thought I would try and put a bit more effort into my fishing this year to get better results. I enjoy the fresh air, being outside and seeing things that you don't come across everyday while out but and the end of it all I'm still there to try and catch something!

Rhosneigr

My first session out this year was at the beginning of January, revisiting the beaches of Rhosneigr where I had done well for coalies in December. There was already a fella fishing and while I stopped for a quick chat he pulled in a nice coalie which got me going! After parting company I setup the other side of some rocks and first cast resulted in a tidy flounder. Back it went and I recast with greater optimism. However while the fella I had spoken to continued to get the coalies at a steady pace I was getting hit by a combination of small whiting and clumps of weed on the retrieve and I could see myself missing out on the target for this session. Short on bait and time I made do with using any scraps of black lug I had left at my feet and as the tide started to drop a better bite indicated I had my target. After a short fight coalie number 1 was slid up the beach for the obligatory photo before being returned. Not long after number 2, which was accompanied by a whiting was on the beach as well. Neither were big enough for dinner but I was relieved to get my target and get the ball rolling for the year.

Lillypond

This is a mark I have read and heard a fair bit about but never tried it until mid January this year. With my mate James acting as guide having been there before we were joined by his brother and one of his mates. As you'd expect for a night session in January it was cold, and windy but blowing from a North/North westerly direction the swell was not too serious and we got a nice bit of shelter just away from the cliff edge. What surprised me about this place is most of the available fishing places are quite high above the water which is great when its rough but in summer you'd want to be able to get nearer the water to land anything you could hand ball up. Anyway the fishing was quite slow for the three or four hours we were there with a few small whiting and codling, James had a nice one about 2 1/2lb, and a solitary dogfish for myself. Both James and I lost decent fish as they hit the surface, quite possibly codling but we'll never know. A decent mark though, will definitely be back to explore its potential.