New Mission

A family walk last year along Dinas, revealed evidence of a different species that I thought would make a nice challenge in the future. I had kept this in mind and fast forward a few months, all the planning fell into place Wednesday just gone. Initially I was a little concerned that the easterly winds of the previous week would persist and kill the fishing on the night but fortunately the day before everything swung to a south westerly breeze. Next concern was the forecast of 15 - 20 mph gusts. Having been to Dinas several times on this type of forecast I know it could have been flat calm, or gale force but in while at work it looked like it would stay on the calmer side of things and the decision was made.

What was going to be a four man mission became two men on the day due to various reasons but this meant I could concentrate fully on my own fishing. Me and Paul arrived at the car park and headed down the beach until we found a suitable looking spot. I showed him this "evidence" that led us to the mark for this particular target. Initially I only fished one rod, being unsure exactly how snaggy the ground in front of us was. It turned out not so bad as despite being able to feel the bumps of the rocks, nothing got stuck solid.

While setting up my second rod I had a take on the first and soon enough the first doggie of the night was on the beach. Not long after I had another climbing the beach and Paul was getting stuck in as well. While re baiting this rod I had another bite not too dissimilar to the first two. I felt a bit of resistance and the fish made a slight break to the right but you could have put it down to being an over active doggie.

Through a bit of luck and some skill in there as well I timed the landing with the next wave. As the water drained it revealed a nice huss on the beach and the target had been achieved after barely an hour of fishing.

It was a nice female fish about 7lb estimate. She was very wirery and wouldn't stay still long enough to get a decent photo. She went back and still with two hours till high tide we were optimistic that there would be more to come. Sadly it wasn't to be, as there were a few more doggies taken between us no more huss came to play. Having managed to catch one at the first attempt at this mark I lost a bit of focus and started breaking down old rigs which mean missing a couple of bites. Paul fished hard for the last hour and a half but despite moving further along the beach could manage anything other than dogfish either.

Even though the session fizzled out towards the end I think this mark has good potential and I will definitely be making more effort to investigate it in daylight again to get the best out of it. With the weather taking a sudden turn this weekend it was a nice last session to end on before a slightly enforced break!

Last Week

Ended up being quite busy the back end of last week and not managing to get the reports up, however the sessions were fairly uninspiring anyway!

Last Tuesday I decided I would try Llanbadrig and fish further round the headland than I have done previously. I arrived to sunshine but a brisk easterly wind meant layering up like the Michelin Man to keep warm. It was about mid flood tide as I started fishing at the rip around the headland was pretty strong so I kept my casts closer in slightly out of the current. To cut down on the waffle, this was a massive blank, even the tide getting slacker towards high didn't result in any fish. The only fishing action I got was one bite which I missed, and not long after that I had an octopus. I was kept entertained by a pod of porpoises, I think, that were doing a bit of surfing/hunting in the current. The novelty wore off as they started to move further offshore and I was left thinking with the weather we were having I should have gone to the otherside of the island.

Thursday looked spot on for a bash at the rays, and after not catching anything notable for a few weeks I was itching to get out there. I went straight from work but had to take a detour over the Menai Bridge, as there was an incident on Britannia Bridge. I'm not sure whether this cost me time or saved me waiting in traffic but as I got to the car park a couple of fellas had just scarped down the track and sure enough were heading to "the hotspot". I settled for the rock next to them but the fishing was very poor as I only managed about three whiting and two doggies all night, with baits coming back basically untouched about low water I got fed up and called it a night.

I had considered a trip to Cymyran on Saturday night but being very weary and unmotivated I binned that plan for the time being in order to recharge.

Last Few Days

Had a total of 3 sessions over the last few days, despite the lack of funds there was gaps in the weather, or so I thought, so took full advantage.

On Sunday 6th me and Tom headed to the top of Anglesey on a prospecting mission to, and give me a chance to try out me new reels. We arrived at the mark, got set up and cast in with everything going according to plan. Not 5 minutes later the wind picked up and the sky opened so before long we were wet through and we felt like we were skating on ice with the rocks being very slippery. This carried on and off every 30 mins and made life hard going. As for the fishing it was nothing special, 5 or 6 doggies in total, and with bites slowed down as the tide dropped we packed in not long after midnight.

Tuesday 8th me and Jim headed up to Amlwch for the breakwater. With Jim not having done much sea fishing previously I thought it would be a gentle introduction and an almost guarantee of catching a few. Unfortunately the weather again was against us with strong wind and persistent rain, my plan to do a bit of casting practise was put on hold in favour of keeping all my gear dry. Things were surprisingly quiet when dropping baits down the side so we started casting around and Jim was first in with a little codling.

Not long sport picked up a bit in the shape of dabs and whiting. Then what turned out to be last cast Jim had a tiny octopus which rounded off the morning nicely.

Still with ragworm to use up I decided to head to llanfairfechan in the afternoon to try for a few flatties and finally get some practise casting. With the massive tide on the drop I was always chasing it out, and at one point the rod that was fishing ended up high and dry as the tide went out.
I also got a bit distracted by all the creatures that were left stranded on the beach because if the tide. I found a live Icelandic clam, a giant starfish, sandeels, hermit crabs and sea mice. However the pick of the bunch was this masked crab which reared out of the sand as the tide started to flood.

The fishing was completely hopeless as baits came back untouched pretty much every cast. However I did mange to practise a few off the ground casts with my old Abu 6500 Multiplier and realised I could hit a decent distance, just need some (lots) of extra practise to get the direction right. Once I get that down, I'll be attempting to tame the diawa slosh 20's!

Llanfairfechan attempt

Just a quick post of a session from last week. After reading that rays can be caught at Llanfairfechan me and Paul decided to check it out in the hope it might prove to be a half decent back up venue if the west coast is unfishable due to the weather. Plan was to fish a couple of hours up to high, and seeing as I had never there before decided to fish straight out the car next to the cafe.

Weather was not quite as we expected, with a reasonable breeze in our faces carrying rain and maybe even snow, going against the light winds and calm night forecast. Paul was straight into some whiting, at one stage getting 4 on a 2 hook flapper, I struggled but eventually managed to get 3 whiting. As a last resort, at high tide I changed to a massive lug and razor combo in the hope a bass might have been lurking in the waves.

By now it had gone midnight and time of pack up with no sigh of any more action other than a few more whiting to Paul. On reeling in my "bass" bait I found a chunky rockling hanging on the end, I believe it is a 5 beard. Not an amazing session but more knowledge gained and another species on the board for the year.