Sunday, 25 October 2015

Summer Pictures

Well wait no longer! Despite lacking my own computer I've managed to source some of the better pictures and fish caught this summer.

Recently

I realise its been a long while since I posted on here, when I get my own laptop back I'll be able to upload a few more photos of the fish I've managed.

Monday, 27 April 2015

Beat the Bogey..?

Was looking at the weather forecasts through the week and it seemed to be a bit rough for my liking over the weekend until everything calmed down a bit. While at work Sunday I hatched my plan to head back out to the west coast in search of a bogey fish of mine, Bull Huss.

I arrived at the mark just after 10pm and was surprised to find only one other car there given how calm it was but by the looks of things everyone had been there in the day time. Got down to the cliffs and it loooked like this one other person had gone way to the right, leaving me with a choice of ledges. I opted for the "main ledge" where I have done well for rays in the past so setup 1 rod for rays, the other for huss. I had 2 quick doggies on the first casts and I thought I was in for another until I struck and there was a fair bit more weight to this. The fish stayed deep until right at my feet, then out of the murk popped a nice Thornback, just over 6.5lb.

My other rod I was struggling with, having not sorted either multiplier reel all I was using was a fixed spool with line that had seen better days which was snapping like bait cotton. Stripped about half the spool off before I found some more sturdy line so on went a pulley rig and it was dropped in short. A good bend had me panicking for a second, but as I lifted into it, it was surprisingly light. The culprit was soon found to be a bonus pollack about 12oz, and my first of the year. After a couple more doggies and a whiting things slowed down so I made a move to another ledge I have since nicknamed "huss hole" as despite not landing any I've had plenty of hook ups.

After a couple of doggies I lifted into another fish, this time it had some power and I could feel the head shaking I was sure this was what I came for. As it reached the surface and as I was stood quite well back, I first thought I had a plastic bag and a doggie tangled around it. then as it go closer to the rocks I thought I had another ray. Finally though it was revealed to be a huss as it unravelled itself from my line whilst in the swell. I wasn't massively confident in the line but the moment of truth had come, I got the fish riding a decent swell up the rocks... went to grab the trace... just too far out... grabbed the mainline.. PING!!! As soon as it went tight the mainline parted, leaving an decent double figure (guesstimate) huss beached for a few seconds before the next swell took it back into the drink.

After several choice swear words, good job there was no one else around, I focused on my remaining rod, still out there with half a mackerel for bait. I was about to call time as it was getting very late, when a tentative nibble became a series of good pull downs. Once again this was no doggie. Alas disaster struck again, as I lifted in to set the hook this mainline also gave way. Despite wanting to carry on and the adrenaline going I couldn't face the same thing happening again. I made my way back to the car promising myself a present of more reliable terminal gear!

Friday, 24 April 2015

Carmel Head

Myself and Paul ventured up to Carmel Head earlier this week. I had looked at it on the maps for sometime, thinking that it would be a place very few people have fished and it looks like the kind of ground that would be good for pollack and wrasse. 
We parked up just west of Cemlyn and walked along the northern coast, and walked, and walked some more!
We reached the white lady monuments and found the first ledge that we thought would be fishable. It looked good but the tide was absolutely racing past towards skerries. Every cast whether it was with lures or baits struggled to hold bottom, so we headed further west to find a spot out of the main flow. This second spot looked more likely and first cast I managed a rockling and things looked up slightly. However it seemed we were a little too far out of the flow to catch any serious fish. I went for both rods on bait while Paul went walking further on using lures and feathers but to no avail and we soon made the long trek back to the car.
Couldn't help but feel that it is the right place to go, just we were there at the wrong time, when the water was at peak flow, or we were fishing the wrong side and should have parked at church bay and fished the west side. Definitely an area we will try again at later in the year I think.