December Update

A belated seasons greetings! I haven't posted for a while due to being in work, holidays and a lack of fishing action.

In the run up to Christmas I had a few sessions, starting 15th December. With it being such a nice day I decided to take the plugs out for a rare soaking in the Strait. Probably not the best time of year to be trying this but at least it got rid of a few cobwebs. I tried a few different floating/sinking and diving lures but as expected it was a complete blank, no takers and no sign of fish.

The Saturday straight after was a planned conger hunt, and I was joined by Arwyn. We set up underneath Menai Bridge an hour before low with big mackerel baits. However it seemed we were there a little bit late as the current had already started running to the left. Two biteless hours we lasted until we moved before being cut off by the now rising tide, to a mark nearby. Expected at least a few fish but Arwyn managed 1 whiting, and I had an edible crab so we packed up after just an hour and saved ourselves for the Monday.

The plan was to hit a mark that has been mentioned to me in the past for producing big bass in winter. Myself, Paul and Arwyn arrived just on low to fish a good chunk of the tide in. Wasn't sure of the exact spot to fish but after a bit of gulley hopping we found some suitable ledges that wouldn't be covered for a couple of hours. The rod tips were getting sharp rattles which meant the whiting were around so instead of reeling in I decided to leave them out there for an extra 10 minutes to see if that could tempt a big predator.

Just as I was thinking of moving my gear back my plan seemed to work, with one of the lines dropping slack. I struck in to feel a decent weight and it began to shift, taking some line against the drag. Then it just felt like a dead weight, but seriously heavy. First thoughts were conger but as it edged closed it stayed deep and I was more convinced I had a decent ray on. It came into my torch light and sure enough it was a ray, a reasonable thornback but hooked towards the tail which explained why it took such a long time to bring in. Didn't bother weighing, but it was a reasonable specimen between 7 and 8lb, a quick photo and it was back in the water.

 We moved round the rocks to a spot we wouldn't be cut off for a couple of hours but a side from a few whiting and dogs the action was slow so we packed in ready for the quite hefty walk back to the cars.

In the meantime I have treated myself to some new gear, mainly lures gear, to focus on this style of fishing a bit more and catch a better variety of species (and hopefully make the car smell less!).