Start to the Year

So I've been a bit quiet on here while I've attempted to work on other things but now I'm determined to keep more up to date with this blog.

My fishing started in Mid January, attempting to bag an early ray from the west coast with Paul. We had two marks in mind, to fish the rocks in the day over low, then move to the beach over high tide in the evening as the forecast swell increased.

The weather couldn't have been better however the fishing was a bit dismal. We made do with sporadic attacks from whiting with the odd dab thrown in, and I managed to dink out a long spine scorpion fish dropping small baits near the rocks. After about 3 hours we called it a day and got some tasty revenge at a local chippy and recharged for the second venue. Despite ideal conditions on the beach, all we managed was a few scrawny whiting. We packed in as the tide raced out and took our hopes of catching anything bigger with it.

 The weather then played havoc when trying to plan anything else for the next few weeks but after getting withdrawal symptoms of not being by the sea I decided to try a east coast rock mark where I've had a bit of luck before. I took another mate Ethan along with me, to give him a taste of a "proper" fishing session. We both managed a few doggies and whiting in the 3-4 hours we were there but while always occupied the action was never frantic. Could probably have been put down to the dropping small tide.

Next up was another all day double header, with me and Tom trying a new mark on the north of Anglesey. With deep water in front of us I was optimistic however the tide run soon caused us problems, dragging our gear into snags and under the submerged ledges in front of us. While I lost 2 sets of gear, Tom only lost a couple of hooks, and we both managed a pollack each of nearly 2lb. A good result for a completely new mark.

 After an ever faithful doggie we called it a day, a quick stop for food then off to the west coast, back on the rays. During daylight I planned to have one rod with a bit bait, one with a flapper, and my bass rod in close after some mini species. Action initially was pretty sporadic with mainly whiting and the occasional doggie. It took a while but in close I eventually managed a pollack about 12oz followed by a wrasse a similar size which nearly took my rod in when I wasn't looking. As night fell the whiting came on the feed properly, sometimes coming in three at a time. Now I wasn't overly hopeful of a ray given the spring tide but fortune favours the brave. Tom had packed up by this point as we were winding down the session, and I watched a bite develop on a big sandeel bait that had been in for a while. It looked like another doggie but there was a bit more resistance so I put my money on a small huss but low and behold a ray approx 2-3lb broke the surface.

A nice end to what had been a very long day. I had 1 more cast, as you do, but this just resulted in another whiting and we called it a day.


Not to miss out now I know that the fish were in I made plans to head back there on the Monday night straight after work. I wasn't hopeful of getting "the ledge" and with 4 cars already parked up I considered heading elsewhere. However I decided to wander down anyway, as I'd already driven up I may as well have a look.

Unbelievably the spot was free, so I scrambled down and got set up in double quick time. Before I had my second rod set up the first was already going and a small ray was soon at my feet (top left). Without any company for this session I had to make do perfecting my self timer skills on the camera. Not long after this another baby ray came flying in (bottom left), and I thought that tonight was going to be a bonanza. This was probably slightly wishful thinking as most of the time from now on was spent dealing with the ever present doggies and whiting, before a better bite resulted in a better fish of just over 6lb which put up a good scrap on my bass rod.

After this sport quietened down a lot, with just a couple of whiting and doggies in the next hour, followed by one more tiny ray. Time between bites started to get longer, the temperature got a lot colder and it reached the point where my hooks were coming back bare so it was obvious that the fish had gone to play elsewhere. I packed up and headed back, at the car park a fella told me he had a nice conger and a 4lb cod which can't be complained about either.

So far a slow start to the year has now picked up in the last week, hopefully will have more to report after my next session later this week.