Little Update

So due to a few reasons I haven't been able to fish or indeed write as much as I would like but I have had a couple of trips out.

Towards the end of September I hit the beach I took Dan and Chris to, hoping again for rays. Conditions weren't ideal but at least they were fishable. An easterly wind had knocked the swell right down and the water was looking very clear. I didn't expect much action with the flat sea, not least from any small eyed rays, and if there were any around it was unlikely they would find the bait with the presence of doggies.

However when its calm there's always a chance of a thornback so I stuck it out a bit longer than usual. As the tide was dropping fast I was wading as far as I could, and sticking to single sandeel to maximise casting distance. I noticed a small rattle which after 10 minutes or so developed into a slack liner. On reeling in though everything went light, and I found I had caught a whiting which had a couple of 'chew' marks on its side. One more cast it was, again at maximum range. The same thing happened, this time a good pull down and I could feel a bit of weight this time. It felt like ages reeling in due to the distance, I don't know how people can fish at 150+ metres every cast in a session - spend more time reeling in than anything else! - but eventually the eyes appeared in the torch light and a reasonable thorny was flapping in the shallows.


After running up and down the beach to get my camera I got a quick photo with it before wading out to release it into deeper water. I packed up satisfied that it wasn't a wasted journey.











Nearly two weeks ago now I returned to the same beach. I was very time limited, planning on 3 hours fishing max over what should be the most productive time. Despite being busy the lull in wind between the two storms was too good an opportunity to miss. On arriving to the beach I found a familiar face set up, it was Richard Butcher who I had seen here a few times over the last couple of years. After a catch up he said the weed had been especially bad, and that he was only casting occasionally to see if it had passed. Not the news I was hoping for but it was great to see him again and having made the effort I set up and got cast out.


Fortunately the weed had eased up by now, though the side currents and undertow made holding bottom a little tricky, even with 7oz weights. With the surf raging I thought there would be a chance of a bass before the rays came on the feed, but everything for the first couple of hours came back untouched. I carried on unfazed as "the window" was fast approaching and sure enough I saw what looked to be a bite, a stronger pull down followed by slack line. Striking in I felt the weight pull out of the sand and that horrible light feeling when there is no fish on the end. I cursed my luck before getting another bait out. Same again, only this time the line is lying virtually on the sand in front of me. I thought it could be the waves pulling the lead out but that would be a much more gradual easing of tension on the line.

I had just cast out a massive sandeel and squid wrap, that soon attracted another slack liner. I wound in as much slack as possible before ripping the rod back as hard as I dared so as not to miss another opportunity. It seemed to work, I could feel a good weight heading off to my right, using the undertow to take a few yards of line. Without rushing I soon had what I had gone for, a decent small eyed ray was on the beach. As my camera had ran out of battery Richard kindly took the photo and sent it over. I had hoped for more, but after two more casts the weed came back with a vengeance. On his last cast Richard also managed a ray. Both of us were happy to catch but given the timing of the session just after the first storm we thought we might have been in for a much more productive evening.

Since then I've had a couple of short lure session but nothing producing. I committed the sin of keeping my head torch on, looking out for signs of bass in the clear water but despite loads of bait fish, and some distant splashes there was nothing going nearby to raise the adrenaline. Thanks for reading, won't be long till I can get out regularly again!

Species spotlight - Rays

To continue the species spotlight is another popular target, the rays. One of my more regular targets on conventional beachcasting gear, they can be caught almost year round on the island of conditions allow. For the purpose of the article I've lumped them all together, there are 4 realistically catchable species and 2 that turn up very occasionally that I'm yet to encounter.

Thornback rays are by far the most common species found and encountered around Anglesey and North Wales. They are found close to the shore somewhere almost right through the year, however they turn up in biggest numbers from February to May, then again around September and October. The early part of the year I am usually fishing deeper rock marks around rhosneigr. Finding a gap in the weather can often yield several fish in a single session, one memorable session I had 8 fish to 8 and a half pound, although the fella who beat me to the mark had 20! I believe that the fish are so concentrated this time of year to either breed or lay their eggs. Once over they start to spread out and can be caught almost anywhere on the island that you are casting onto open clean ground. I have seen reports of them caught from the beaches in April and May but so far I haven't been able to establish a pattern through my own attempts. Summer months catches seem to be almost accidental but they are around, seemingly at shallower rock marks, again casting onto open sand. The later run sees fish caught from both deep marks and beaches. While not the numbers as in the early part of the  year, catches are pretty reliable. November to February catches become occasional again but possible in the right conditions. My preferred conditions for thornies are calmer the better, certainly off the beaches. At deep water marks a bit of chop or swell doesn't hurt but 3-4ft + swells and murky water seem to put the rays off. Through my catches of the last couple of years, I actually feel more confident fishing clear water for thornbacks. When I target them is entirely mark dependent, certain places fish better on neap tides, others springs but I definitely would try for them at night rather than daytime.

A tough call for the next most common, but I think it is arguably the spotted ray. Not the biggest of rays, a 2lb fish is good for this area, but from certain marks they are a reliable catch through late spring and summer. The odd one is caught in amongst the thornbacks early on, but mid April onwards to late August seems to see better numbers caught. While they do venture into shallow water I'm yet to encounter one in the intertidal like the thornbacks, so I tend to focus on deeper marks in the Trearddur bay and Rhosneigr areas. Like thornbacks I feel confident catching spotties in calmer conditions. I tend to target them in daylight as they seem to feed quite happily, and though I'm sure they would feed at night, the marks I find them tend to be crawling with dogfish at night, and I'd rather wait 3 hours for 1 ray bite than have doggies robbing the baits every ten minutes. The best point in the tide seems to be as the current is picking up or slowing down to about half full strength, so around 1.5 and 4.5 hours into the flood or ebb, but again it is mark dependent.

Small eyed rays are the next most abundant, while they are around there can be big numbers of them, but this is often for fairly short periods of the year. The most reliable time I've found for them is from September to early November they run the west coast beaches. I'm convinced they also run the beaches early in the year in April and May, but despite Paul catching one in April a couple of years ago, attempts since have been thwarted mostly by the weather. They can be a bit picky with the conditions. Too calm or too rough seems to put them off, if you turn up at the beach and there white water as far as the eye can see I would forget it. There is a chance but the conditions make fishing difficult and uncomfortable so I would save my bait for when the swells are between 1 and 3ft high. As usual on shallow beaches night fishing is more reliable but they are caught in the daytime also. I have also caught the odd small eyed from deeper rock marks but not regular enough to say for definite when and where to target them. As their name suggests their eyes are smaller, about half the size, of those on other ray species, and the wing markings are difficult to confuse with anything else.

Blonde rays are the most uncommon of the realistically target-able ray species around​ Anglesey. Realistic because they are there, and a handful are caught, or at least reported each year and this year I was fortunate enough to catch one myself, however small it was! I have been fishing mostly around Trearddur bay, but I have seen and heard off the occasional capture further south at Rhosneigr. It's hard to try and advise on the back of one catch but the information I have read and been told suggests that bigger tides are better and night fishing may produce better fish. I imagine calmer conditions are better also, if only from a safety point of view at least. Small ones are distinguishable from spotted rays by having numerous small eye spots on the wings, and the black spots run to the very edge of the wing while on spotties the spots stop a little short of the very edge.

The other two species are cuckoo ray and stingray. I can think of one example of each being caught on Anglesey since I started fishing, which was a while ago! With a lot of planning and preparation stingrays may be a viable target for someone willing to travel, on or two are caught around Pwllheli and Llanbedrog each year, however I think visiting Barmouth and Fairbourne (where a one time UK shore record was caught) in mid Wales would further enhance a keen anglers chances. Certainly one of my future missions, it didn't quite happen this year. Cuckoo rays tend to be found in deeper water than most of our accessible rock marks give way to. According to studies they do venture inshore for short periods of the year, and the presence of their empty egg cases washed up on beaches confirms this. However it would take many hours to find when and where they appear. One thing for sure if I do happen across one accidentally I'll be writing everything down to see if it happens again!

My usual ray fishing gear is 4-8 oz beachcasters with medium size multiplier or fixed spool reels. 15 to 18lb line with a shockleader for casting up to 7oz is ample, with the weights on the heavy side to gain distance and combat the tide. I have caught rays on my bass rod and flapper rigs but in general I'll use long pulley rigs (3ft hooklength) or up and over rigs around 3-5 ft hooklength to make sure the bait is nailed to the seabed where the rays are most likely to find it. Hooklength I'll use 30lb amnesia usually if theres a chance of bass, occasionally using 60lb as instead of teeth rays have bony sandpaper like pads for crushing prey, and they make short work of light hooklengths. Bait wise I would never go ray fishing without sandeel or squid. Usually double sandeel or sandeel squid wrap does the trick but if bites aren't coming whole squid on its own can catch the odd fish. Mackerel and bluey also have produced for me and I usually find myself alternating baits until I find what's working on the day. Rays also love whiting so I might be worth catching a few on a flapper and filleting them ready for the session. Better still, if you see a whiting bite on your carefully prepared sandeel bait leave it out there, if not a ray, Huss and congers also have a taste for whiting. Just resist the temptation to retrieve too soon as you may rip the whiting away from the bigger fish before it gets hooked.

Hope this gives an insight into Anglesey ray fishing for those wanting to catch their first, or trust them more regularly. They are slow growing and reproducing so it would be great to see as many as possible returned. Cheers for reading!

Species spotlight - Bass

While my fishing time will be slightly limited over the next few weeks, I will be writing species guides to many of us fish encountered around Anglesey and North Wales. It didn't take much thinking which would be the first fish under he spotlight - the mighty bass.

When beginning the adventure into guiding I knew bass would be a very popular target. There is a great fasination with them, and they tick all of the boxes; on the right gear they give a great fight, they look good and taste pretty good too if you like to keep the odd one. They also pose a challenge, many anglers including myself have spent hours stood in the surf holding the rod waiting for that telltale thump as a bass takes the bait. To the inexperienced fisherman catching one can feeling impossible task, and those more experienced may turn up at a productive mark in ideal conditions only to draw a blank and be scratching their heads. In this (fairly) brief guide I'll cover as many aspects of bass fishing as I can by drawing on my own experience, going through the methods tend to use at different types of marks, baits and when to fish. Anyone looking for specific marks I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed but my aim is to give you the knowledge to scout and try marks out for yourself.

Thinking back to sessions this year where I've caught bass, either targeted or accidentally there is one common factor - water movement. This means anything from a big spring tide, the incoming (or outgoing) tide through a narrow channel or round a headland, or waves breaking making the water 'fizz'. The amount and type of movement along with the location are linked to other factors such as water clarity and with the weather conditions usually dictate the methods I would use.

It's often written that the period of high tides two days either side of a big spring tide is best for bass. This is true at some marks, as sufficient water covers areas normally inaccessible for the fish to hunt over. Boulder fields, beaches with gulley's close to the high tide mark and narrow creeks and estuaries suddenly become fishable. At shallow rocky areas of open coast the fish will be mooching around boulders and along the margins of rock pools ambushing crabs, shrimps and small fish. Often bass will actually wait in the gulley and deeper pools for the tide and waves to wash a meal towards them. If the water is clear, a lure imitating the natural prey could work a treat while being able to fish a greater area, as there won't be bass in every pool. Otherwise in a rough, dirty sea, a big crab, worm or squid bait would be my preferred approach. The sheltered expansive sand/mudflats at the Bangor end of the Menai Strait also tend to fish better on a bigger tide as you get more time fishing when the water reaches the shingle - wading onto the mud is a definite no no as the water comes in faster than you can move.

Headland marks can range from shallow points at the end of a beach to rock marks that plunge into 30ft or more depth basically at your feet. In strong currents bass will position themselves in pockets of water close to the shore out of the lateral current. If the current is moving right to left it's a sure bet that the bass will sit and wait for a meal on the left side of the headland. With less tide run headlands can still be a great place to target as the fish will pass as they move along the coast, almost acting like a bottleneck. What time is very mark dependent and reliant on doing a bit of homework to find the fish holding features and the best state and size of tide to fish. On the shallower marks light ledgering a worm or crab bait that rolls around a bit can be effective, though if the ground is rough and water clear I would prefer shallow diving lures to reduce tackle losses. Deeper marks I have had results float fishing or deep spinning a sandeel very close to any rock structure. Don't be afraid to try for bass at any mark, if they are caught on beaches a mile either side of a deep rock mark they have to pass there at somepoint.

A host of marks on Anglesey come under the 'narrow channel' category. Parts of the Menai Strait have very narrow shallow channels at low tide, and there are many estuaries that virtually dry out at low tide. These are my favourite areas to fish as they pose a bit of a challenge. The window when the marks are fishable is often short and the window to catch is often shorter, before weed and strong currents make presenting a lure or a bait in a natural way difficult. They all fish slightly differently but I feel most confident fishing the first 2 hours of the flood on medium to neap tides. However in some Menai straits marks I will be persisting later in the tide, as I'm sure that another wave of bass would arrive further into the flood.

Standing in the surf with water lapping over the top of my wellies was where my sea fishing career began. On the mid Wales beaches holding the rod was the way to go, with a tripod more bites were missed than hooked. I find on Anglesey I'm waiting longer for bass bites fishing this way, and when there is a big surf on I'm fishing heavier and further out to find the fish than I would have done previously. I would go as far to say the rougher the sea and dirtier the water the better,certainly if you are fishing daytime. As well as fishing straight off a beach it would always be worth trying rocks adjacent to the beach that are accessible throughout the tide. Often the fish run close to the rocks looking for food washed out, and you aren't moving your gear every 15 minutes. Anglesey usually needs a few days of strong winds to whip up a decent surf and fishing in the middle of the weather can be very productive, but if that's not possible i would aim to fish the first sign that the wind is dropping or changing direction. State of tide depends on the mark but to give myself the best chance of catching at somewhere new I'd start fishing either side of low or high tide. That's usually gives away whether the mark would fish best on the flood or ebb.

So how do I set up for bass? Where possible I use a stiff 9ft plugging rod with 20lb braid for almost everything. I can plug away and if that's not working a quick rummage for a couple of crab and I can be ledgering with 1 or 2 ounce weight. I think I am almost too reliant on this gear when sometimes a light beachcaster and the need for a heavier weight would help hold bottom for longer. Rough weather and pounding surf usually dictates the need for heavier gear and despite feeling a bit overkill would go for 5-7oz capable beachcasters. Rigs are always made simple, either a running ledger with the weight simply slid into the line, or a pulley rig with pennelled hooks up to 4/0 size, even a small bass has no trouble with hooks that big. I have caught bass on all manner of different rigs but these are the two I would use when targeting bass. I can present a reasonable size bait at distance and if I'm going for bass, I'm not usually trying to catch small ones!

Lure fishing is still quite new to me but I've put a lot of hours into it this year. I carry a range of surface sliders and poppers, sub surface and deep divers as well as soft plastics. The ground I've had most success on so far has been shallow so naturally I am slightly biased towards using shallow diving lures. I've also narrowed down the lures I take out to mostly ones that look like natural prey items; mackerel and sandeel patterns are a favourite but also darker lures that look like small Pollack or blennies.

Successful bass fishing is all about being in the right place at the right time. The only way to do that consistently is to do your research on a mark, scout it in the daytime before fishing a range of conditions to find the most productive. Taking notes, both the blanks and catches, will help build a pattern, and I feel this is one reason I've had more success this year than previously. I hope this article has helped inspire a few people to give bass fishing a serious crack. Let them show their muscle on light gear, then give them the respect they deserve by letting them swim off again. Can never fail to bring a smile to your face.

Cheers for reading