North Wales Be careful what you wish for.

[Andy 1965]

Despite catching my first bass of 2023 last week in flat calm conditions, I couldn’t help thinking what sport would have been like with a decent surf . Fast forward one week, and after a sustained South Westerly blow, the surf was up on the beaches all the way up the West coast of Anglesey .

Armed with a plentiful supply of live rag, backed up with frozen black lug, sandeel, mackerel and squid, I arrived at my chosen venue an hour before high water, where I was delighted to find a steady surf of maybe 2 to 3 foot high rolling ashore . Within 20 minutes I had 2 rods set up, both rigged with 3 hook flappers and baited with a variety of the offerings in my stash, and I was waiting excitedly for the action to start. Unfortunately, despite my high levels of confidence, the bass didn’t want to play ball, neither did any other species of fish for that matter .

Thinking that sport could potentially pick up at any moment, I fished on expectantly and after an hour or so I finally had some interest, when a pin whiting took a liking to half a sandeel, but it still wasn’t exactly the bite a chuck I had anticipated. Another 30 minutes later and a second whiting couldn’t resist a mackerel bait, but incredibly the worm baits, which made up the majority of my bait supply, remained completely untouched .

As if the lack of bites wasn’t enough, about 90 minutes after high water the sea was suddenly full of loose weed, and within 30 seconds of casting out I could see the rod tips gradually pulling hard over, as it built up on my rigs literally by the minute . Over the next hour I brought in some proper lumps of cabbage, including this particular beast which could quite possibly be a personal best weed monster .


Save for the odd period of clear water, the weed persisted for the rest of the night and my route down the beach to follow the ebbing tide could clearly be seen by the trail of vegetation I left behind after picking it off my gear . Eventually, after more than 4 hours of fishing I had to accept the fact that I was wasting my time, so I called it a night a good 45 minutes earlier than I had planned.

So the moral of this story is to be careful what you wish for, as far from improving the fishing, the surf had just made it bloody hard work .

 

[Viaductbaggies]

Thank your lucky stars you don’t have a 300 mile round trip for the privilege

 

[Craig]

You gave it a good go, shame the fish didn't follow the plan, but beats sitting indoors.

 

[Andy 1965]

This isn't worth a post of it's own, but we fished the first club match of 2023 last night at Newry beach in Holyhead. After a recent match on the breakwater produced some bumper bags, we hoped for a good night's fishing, but truth be told it was a bit slow.

After a decent enough start, with 2 dogs in the first hour, my luck ran out and I didn't get another touch for the last 3 hours. I then had to sit back and watch as several of the other lads caught and passed me.

Gwion ran out the eventual winner, with 3 dogs and a whiting, while Steve O & Steve A had 3 dogs each to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. I was pushed down into 5th place by Glyn's 2 dogs, which just happened to weigh slightly more than mine. It could have been worse though, and I still finished ahead of John, Kenny, Marc and Ady. It's early days yet though and there will be many more twists and turns before the winner is decided.

 

[Had1]

This isn't worth a post of it's own, but we fished the first club match of 2023 last night at Newry beach in Holyhead. After a recent match on the breakwater produced some bumper bags, we hoped for a good night's fishing, but truth be told it was a bit slow.

After a decent enough start, with 2 dogs in the first hour, my luck ran out and I didn't get another touch for the last 3 hours. I then had to sit back and watch as several of the other lads caught and passed me.

Gwion ran out the eventual winner, with 3 dogs and a whiting, while Steve O & Steve A had 3 dogs each to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. I was pushed down into 5th place by Glyn's 2 dogs, which just happened to weigh slightly more than mine. It could have been worse though, and I still finished ahead of John, Kenny, Marc and Ady. It's early days yet though and there will be many more twists and turns before the winner is decided.

Sounds like a tight match, could of gone to anyone on the night good effort.

 

[richtic]

Great report, shame weed was so bad but good to get out and wet a line and a couple Whiting to save the blank, well done

 

[Wolf]

At least you didn't blank,I'm also good at catching weed monsters

 

[OCTOSPUD]

Despite catching my first bass of 2023 last week in flat calm conditions, I couldn’t help thinking what sport would have been like with a decent surf . Fast forward one week, and after a sustained South Westerly blow, the surf was up on the beaches all the way up the West coast of Anglesey .

Armed with a plentiful supply of live rag, backed up with frozen black lug, sandeel, mackerel and squid, I arrived at my chosen venue an hour before high water, where I was delighted to find a steady surf of maybe 2 to 3 foot high rolling ashore . Within 20 minutes I had 2 rods set up, both rigged with 3 hook flappers and baited with a variety of the offerings in my stash, and I was waiting excitedly for the action to start. Unfortunately, despite my high levels of confidence, the bass didn’t want to play ball, neither did any other species of fish for that matter .

Thinking that sport could potentially pick up at any moment, I fished on expectantly and after an hour or so I finally had some interest, when a pin whiting took a liking to half a sandeel, but it still wasn’t exactly the bite a chuck I had anticipated. Another 30 minutes later and a second whiting couldn’t resist a mackerel bait, but incredibly the worm baits, which made up the majority of my bait supply, remained completely untouched .

As if the lack of bites wasn’t enough, about 90 minutes after high water the sea was suddenly full of loose weed, and within 30 seconds of casting out I could see the rod tips gradually pulling hard over, as it built up on my rigs literally by the minute . Over the next hour I brought in some proper lumps of cabbage, including this particular beast which could quite possibly be a personal best weed monster .
View attachment 39477

Save for the odd period of clear water, the weed persisted for the rest of the night and my route down the beach to follow the ebbing tide could clearly be seen by the trail of vegetation I left behind after picking it off my gear . Eventually, after more than 4 hours of fishing I had to accept the fact that I was wasting my time, so I called it a night a good 45 minutes earlier than I had planned.

So the moral of this story is to be careful what you wish for, as far from improving the fishing, the surf had just made it bloody hard work .

Mackerel is the bait at the moment, tried worm on the lleyn, nothing, mate had mackerel, fish a chuck.