Craig
Well-known member
Morning all, a little report from a few days away on the island.
Managed to get a few jobs done Tuesday morning and set off in good time on the long drive over to North Wales, traffic want too bad and with blue skys and sunshine most of the way, I had high hopes.... I arrived on the island around 3-4pm and got a few bits of gear together then set off for a quick walk to the mark.
Now I had no real plan apart to go fishing so catching anything was a bonus and I didn't have high expectations after reading a few recent reports.
So I arrived at my chosen spot, near a race circuit, fairly quickly after a brief chat with someone else then off down the same place, he set off a few minutes before me and managed to get the more sheltered ledge, but the wind wasn't too bad so wasn't the end of the world.
Not the worst weather to turn up to. Was a lovely evening to be on the rocks, just a slight breeze, that I will admit did get abit chilly as it got nearer dusk,but was still better than sitting at home.
First cast went out, half a Sandeel on a running ledger, thinking there may be a ray or two about. Second rod setup and sent out with squid, then the first one starts bouncing away, so I decide to see what's there and get greeted by a feisty little Pollack, maybe 1/2lb.
Now after all these poor reports recently, I thought I was off to a good start and had high hopes, but apart from a spider crab that fell off just below me, that was the only action I saw in the 2 1/2 hours I was fishing.
Still better than catching nothing. So I retired for the evening a happy bunny to have caught something and avoided a blank.
I had a check of the weather for Wednesday and was slightly disappointed as it would throw my usually spots out of the window and I'd have to venture to either new or not so favourable grounds.
Wednesday I got up to find the weather report had sadly held true and the wind increased enough to make me drive to the other side of the island in search if shelter (I'm becoming a fair weather angler as I get older apparently!).
I arrived at llanbadrig late morning and decided to fish for a few hours and if no luck I'd just go exploring new marks and some places I haven't been to before.
Wasn't a bad day there, out of the wind and the sun was out so shouldn't complain. I had two bait rods again, this time I only had salted rag and squid with me. I sent both rods out with different baits and sat back waiting for all the action to start, or so I thought.... The first rod had been out about two minutes when I get a definite pull down, so I leave it for a few minutes and then reel in at the next sign of life, which produced the North Wales blank saver, a dogfish! I had a few pulls and a couple of instances where line was being pulled off the reel as I'd set the drag relatively loose, but nothing came of any bites after the lonesome dogfish. That was all the action I saw there in the few hours I fished, but the sun made up for the lack of fish and the ever increasing wind.
After llanbadrig I decided to go have a drive around and check out some new spots, I found a couple and revisited an old one for a look about aswell, finally ending up at ABC for a chat with Malcolm and a few bits of gear.
After that I had a drive down the straits to a new mark for a few casts, but that came to absolutely nothing apart from one lost hook and I found a weight as I was leaving.
By now the wind had really got up and I wasnt expecting Thursday to be too good, neither were the met office, predicting a poor morning leading to a calmer afternoon. So I hatched a new plan, head back for the night, have a lazy morning Thursday while waiting for the wind to drop enough that I'd be confident fishing a west facing rock mark.
Thursday morning I got up to abit of rain and a slightly calmer wind but still more than I was happy to fish in, so I set about sorting my gear and getting ready for the day, had some breakfast and then sorted through my gear again.
Around 11, I checked the met office again and they'd decided it might not be as bad today so I went for a walk to find conditions weren't too bad and the swell didn't look too much if an issue. So, I gathered my gear and set off for a slightly longer session, 12-8pm, with a few packs of squid, the last of the salted rag and a pack of ropey looking joeys. I arrived to find the swell was surging over my preferred ledge and I knew if have to stay up high for atleast a few hours as the top of the tide hadn't even arrived yet, So I set up base camp about 15ft up and got some rods out, today's were the 6and baits and a 10ft for messing around and feathering for mac's. Both rods out and I sat down, and sat, and sat, and sat, and adventualy got up for a walk about.... Now, I'd heard things were quiet round north Wales but this was nothing like it normally fishes, Ive only ever had one blank in the 6-7 years I've been fishing the island. But then again, I handy caught on my first cast, so maybe the curse of the first cast catch hadn't stuck for a third day in a row.
An idea of conditions, though a picture never does it justice. There was a good swell running and even at the height above the water that I was, I still had the odd splash higher than the rod tips.
I kept at it though and was finally rewarded with a lone mackerel that fell off as I lifted it out of the water, so my confidence was boosted for a short time.... I kept at the feathering for abit with no more joy so recast the bait rods with some ropey pre packed mac's as a change from the squid I'd been using, and also decided to cast on of them into a known huss spot to the right of where I was, this move paid off surprisingly quickly with a good bite within a few minutes. This resulted in a small huss that actually out up abit of a fight, more so than the bigger ones that resemble reeling in a wet sack.
This boosted my confidence further and got me a little keener on on rebating more often.
All the while I was having odd casts with feathers for mac's as I needed fresh bait. This adventually paid off when I found a few, so got 4 in a rockpool to keep cool for use later.
This turned out to be abit of a blessing as I managed a few fish in quick succession just after I caught the Mac's.
I had a couple of dogs, another little Huss and a flattie (dab?).
well, I'm saying I caught it as I saw a bite and reeled it in ?
That was the last of the action for abit so I decided to get the little rod onto bait aswell and have a search around the rocks close in, this provided possibly the smallest cod I've ever caught!
By this time, the wind had died down to next to nothing and the sky was clearing so I had a look at the lower ledge and decided it looked worth a go as it was pretty much dry and the water was atleast 6ft below it now aswell as the swell now being around 1ft not the 5ft I turned up to. It always amazes me how the weather changes in Wales, it must have taken no more than 30 minutes for it to go from the grey cloudy to this!
After abit of a faff moving, I got the feathers out to find some fresh bait agin and discovered the Mac's were in a tiny little bay next to me and I could get to them with a 20 yd cast, was fun watching them follow feathers up to the surface. I managed to ger another couple for bait for the last hour or so and set about getting the big rods back out. I also carried on with the feathers hoping for some bigger ones to take home, but only joeys and another tiny cod were the result of about an hour feathering. The lower ledge has more cover and as the wind had picked up a tiny bit, this was a welcome treat for me to be able to get out of the breeze. By now I was hopeful of something like a big huss close in or a ray at distance as this is usual form for this mark, especially with fresh bait and the tide easing, but sadly this was not the case, so as dusk approached I decided to call it a day while I still had enough daylight to pack up easily and climb back up to the top.
All in all, a very enjoyable few days away, shame the fish didn't turn up for me, but that's fishing, and my poor planning regarding tides and weather. Next time I might check them before I arrive and see if I can plan my trip abit better to improve my luck slightly.
Hopefully I'll be back over again before the end of the year for another few days and might even catch something worth taking a picture of?
Managed to get a few jobs done Tuesday morning and set off in good time on the long drive over to North Wales, traffic want too bad and with blue skys and sunshine most of the way, I had high hopes.... I arrived on the island around 3-4pm and got a few bits of gear together then set off for a quick walk to the mark.
Now I had no real plan apart to go fishing so catching anything was a bonus and I didn't have high expectations after reading a few recent reports.
So I arrived at my chosen spot, near a race circuit, fairly quickly after a brief chat with someone else then off down the same place, he set off a few minutes before me and managed to get the more sheltered ledge, but the wind wasn't too bad so wasn't the end of the world.
Not the worst weather to turn up to. Was a lovely evening to be on the rocks, just a slight breeze, that I will admit did get abit chilly as it got nearer dusk,but was still better than sitting at home.First cast went out, half a Sandeel on a running ledger, thinking there may be a ray or two about. Second rod setup and sent out with squid, then the first one starts bouncing away, so I decide to see what's there and get greeted by a feisty little Pollack, maybe 1/2lb.
Now after all these poor reports recently, I thought I was off to a good start and had high hopes, but apart from a spider crab that fell off just below me, that was the only action I saw in the 2 1/2 hours I was fishing.
Still better than catching nothing. So I retired for the evening a happy bunny to have caught something and avoided a blank.
I had a check of the weather for Wednesday and was slightly disappointed as it would throw my usually spots out of the window and I'd have to venture to either new or not so favourable grounds.
Wednesday I got up to find the weather report had sadly held true and the wind increased enough to make me drive to the other side of the island in search if shelter (I'm becoming a fair weather angler as I get older apparently!).
I arrived at llanbadrig late morning and decided to fish for a few hours and if no luck I'd just go exploring new marks and some places I haven't been to before.
Wasn't a bad day there, out of the wind and the sun was out so shouldn't complain. I had two bait rods again, this time I only had salted rag and squid with me. I sent both rods out with different baits and sat back waiting for all the action to start, or so I thought.... The first rod had been out about two minutes when I get a definite pull down, so I leave it for a few minutes and then reel in at the next sign of life, which produced the North Wales blank saver, a dogfish! I had a few pulls and a couple of instances where line was being pulled off the reel as I'd set the drag relatively loose, but nothing came of any bites after the lonesome dogfish. That was all the action I saw there in the few hours I fished, but the sun made up for the lack of fish and the ever increasing wind.
After llanbadrig I decided to go have a drive around and check out some new spots, I found a couple and revisited an old one for a look about aswell, finally ending up at ABC for a chat with Malcolm and a few bits of gear.
After that I had a drive down the straits to a new mark for a few casts, but that came to absolutely nothing apart from one lost hook and I found a weight as I was leaving.
By now the wind had really got up and I wasnt expecting Thursday to be too good, neither were the met office, predicting a poor morning leading to a calmer afternoon. So I hatched a new plan, head back for the night, have a lazy morning Thursday while waiting for the wind to drop enough that I'd be confident fishing a west facing rock mark.
Thursday morning I got up to abit of rain and a slightly calmer wind but still more than I was happy to fish in, so I set about sorting my gear and getting ready for the day, had some breakfast and then sorted through my gear again.
Around 11, I checked the met office again and they'd decided it might not be as bad today so I went for a walk to find conditions weren't too bad and the swell didn't look too much if an issue. So, I gathered my gear and set off for a slightly longer session, 12-8pm, with a few packs of squid, the last of the salted rag and a pack of ropey looking joeys. I arrived to find the swell was surging over my preferred ledge and I knew if have to stay up high for atleast a few hours as the top of the tide hadn't even arrived yet, So I set up base camp about 15ft up and got some rods out, today's were the 6and baits and a 10ft for messing around and feathering for mac's. Both rods out and I sat down, and sat, and sat, and sat, and adventualy got up for a walk about.... Now, I'd heard things were quiet round north Wales but this was nothing like it normally fishes, Ive only ever had one blank in the 6-7 years I've been fishing the island. But then again, I handy caught on my first cast, so maybe the curse of the first cast catch hadn't stuck for a third day in a row.
An idea of conditions, though a picture never does it justice. There was a good swell running and even at the height above the water that I was, I still had the odd splash higher than the rod tips.
I kept at it though and was finally rewarded with a lone mackerel that fell off as I lifted it out of the water, so my confidence was boosted for a short time.... I kept at the feathering for abit with no more joy so recast the bait rods with some ropey pre packed mac's as a change from the squid I'd been using, and also decided to cast on of them into a known huss spot to the right of where I was, this move paid off surprisingly quickly with a good bite within a few minutes. This resulted in a small huss that actually out up abit of a fight, more so than the bigger ones that resemble reeling in a wet sack.
This boosted my confidence further and got me a little keener on on rebating more often.
All the while I was having odd casts with feathers for mac's as I needed fresh bait. This adventually paid off when I found a few, so got 4 in a rockpool to keep cool for use later.
This turned out to be abit of a blessing as I managed a few fish in quick succession just after I caught the Mac's.
I had a couple of dogs, another little Huss and a flattie (dab?).
well, I'm saying I caught it as I saw a bite and reeled it in ?That was the last of the action for abit so I decided to get the little rod onto bait aswell and have a search around the rocks close in, this provided possibly the smallest cod I've ever caught!
By this time, the wind had died down to next to nothing and the sky was clearing so I had a look at the lower ledge and decided it looked worth a go as it was pretty much dry and the water was atleast 6ft below it now aswell as the swell now being around 1ft not the 5ft I turned up to. It always amazes me how the weather changes in Wales, it must have taken no more than 30 minutes for it to go from the grey cloudy to this!
After abit of a faff moving, I got the feathers out to find some fresh bait agin and discovered the Mac's were in a tiny little bay next to me and I could get to them with a 20 yd cast, was fun watching them follow feathers up to the surface. I managed to ger another couple for bait for the last hour or so and set about getting the big rods back out. I also carried on with the feathers hoping for some bigger ones to take home, but only joeys and another tiny cod were the result of about an hour feathering. The lower ledge has more cover and as the wind had picked up a tiny bit, this was a welcome treat for me to be able to get out of the breeze. By now I was hopeful of something like a big huss close in or a ray at distance as this is usual form for this mark, especially with fresh bait and the tide easing, but sadly this was not the case, so as dusk approached I decided to call it a day while I still had enough daylight to pack up easily and climb back up to the top.
All in all, a very enjoyable few days away, shame the fish didn't turn up for me, but that's fishing, and my poor planning regarding tides and weather. Next time I might check them before I arrive and see if I can plan my trip abit better to improve my luck slightly.
Hopefully I'll be back over again before the end of the year for another few days and might even catch something worth taking a picture of?
