North Wales Checking in.

[Andy 1965]

Evening all, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on here, so I thought I’d check in and let you know what I’ve been up to since July.

As you will probably guess, it’s been mainly lure fishing , but after my best ever start to a season, it’s been more of a struggle over the last couple of months. It’s not all bad though, as while the blanks have been mounting more than I would have liked, I’ve also kept the numbers ticking over too. The vast majority of these fish were schoolies, but my last 2 fish measured 55cm, followed by my joint best fish of the year at 58cm, which was also christened my new toy, a Major Craft Tiderift 5G .



Apart from the lure fishing, I’ve also fished a couple of club matches, and while I haven’t managed to win any of these, I have caught some interesting fish including my first ever shore caught cuckoo wrasse, a male and female in the same session .




Finally, in between all this I managed to find time for another trip to Norway, this time to Bodo rather than the Lofoten Islands, and while the bigger fish were sadly hard to find, I still managed to catch 5 new PBs .

A 4lb 5oz ling


A 3lb 12oz haddock


A 2lb 9oz plaice


A 1lb 10oz mackerel


And my first ever velvet bellied lantern shark, only 11oz, but I’m reliably informed that it was a decent example of the species.


I also lost a half decent halibut, but I made up for it on the last day of the trip with a consolation flatty of around 6lb.


For the rest of the year it’s going to be more of the same and hopefully I’ll be able to improve on my biggest bass so far, before I get back to the search for Congerzilla .

 

[richtic]

Nice to see you back. hope you been ok Great report and pictures, well done Kev seemed to stop posting at similar time to you, hope hes ok aswell.

 

[Andy 1965]

Nice to see you back. hope you been ok Great report and pictures, well done Kev seemed to stop posting at similar time to you, hope hes ok aswell.

I've been good thanks Rich , I hope you have too.

I was only speaking to Kevin last week and he's fine. He's just had a lot on this year, and so he hasn't been fishing as much as he would have liked.

 

[Viaductbaggies]

Surely that haddock is heavier than 3lb 12oz ?

Also great to see the weights being used

 

[Wolf]

Great catches,piccys and write up.

 

[richtic]

I've been good thanks Rich , I hope you have too.

I was only speaking to Kevin last week and he's fine. He's just had a lot on this year, and so he hasn't been fishing as much as he would have liked.

Good to hear your both ok had a couple of nice holidays in Angelsey this year and enjoyed the fishing, nothing spectacular but had plenty of Pollock, Wrasse and around 10 small Bass all on the lures. Bait fished around Angelsey quite a few times in the dark but had never been much in the daylight and never been on holiday there until this year, what a lovely island, loved the place

 

[Timbc2]

Nice one Andy, some lovely fish there, looked a great trip

 

[Andy 1965]

Thanks for the replies all .

Norway was a great trip and though the monster fish didn't show, I still caught some other nice fish in among the PBs, these included
coalies to 5lb 4oz, the best of which came on a lure


pollack to 4lb
again on the lure rod, but on a tiny freelined slither of mackerel which was hit about a foot away from the rocks


The coolest fish for me though was this beast, an 8lb wolf fish caught by Ross our guide!

Good to hear your both ok had a couple of nice holidays in Angelsey this year and enjoyed the fishing, nothing spectacular but had plenty of Pollock, Wrasse and around 10 small Bass all on the lures. Bait fished around Angelsey quite a few times in the dark but had never been much in the daylight and never been on holiday there until this year, what a lovely island, loved the place

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your visit to Anglesey, and that you caught a few fish while you were there .

 

[Wolf]

Great catches & piccys.

 

[JLD]

Cheers Andy. I had missed your reports. Some nice fish there. The idea of a 5lb coalie on a lure rod sounds like fun.

 

[Andy 1965]

Thanks both .

Cheers Andy. I had missed your reports. Some nice fish there. The idea of a 5lb coalie on a lure rod sounds like fun.

A couple of us were spinning for small coalies to use as halibut bait at the time, when a shoal of bigger fish swam by on the tide, absolutely smashing baitfish on the surface. We both instinctively cast towards them and had a double hook up.

After a mad 5 minutes we landed them both, mine at just over 5lb and my mates at 9lb!