North Wales Here I go again.

[Andy 1965]

I didn’t post a report over Christmas, as the fishing wasn’t up to much. The first session after rays, with the outside chance of a conger or huss produced nothing but whiting, while the second session, our annual biggest fish takes all match, only produced 5 small straps and a solitary doggie between 8 anglers. It was so poor in fact, that I finished off 2022 with only my second bait fishing blank of the year . Despite the poor finish though, I headed out last Wednesday night with high expectations for my first session of 2023.

With strong winds forecast, the venue was chosen more for the shelter it afforded rather than the fish I might catch, but I have caught the odd thornback there in the past, so they would be my main target species. As well as clean ground at range, shorter casts will find some pretty gnarly stuff and though I’ve never caught an eel bigger than about 2lb there myself, I have been reliably informed that as well as decent huss, it can also throw up some pretty big conger, including at least one which beat the magical 20lb barrier, so it would also be worth putting out a snake bait, just on the off chance .

I arrived to find the wind was a little more Westerly than forecast, and despite the promise of a dry evening, it actually started raining just as I began to tackle up but I’ve fished in worse, so I just cracked on regardless.

First out was a 3hook flapper, baited with a mixture of lug, sandeel and squid, which as well as the rays, would also take whiting, which I could then use for bait. The second rod was armed with a heavy duty pulley rig and a single 8/0, which was baited with a moderately sized mackerel and squid cocktail.

The baits hadn’t been in the water for long before the rod tips started bouncing, and after a 15 minute soak I opted to reel in the small baits first. A decent weight on the line signified that the blank was beaten on the very first cast, and though it wasn’t a ray, I was happy with a double header of a doggie and a whiting, aka fresh bait .


Once the flapper was re-baited and cast out again, I turned my attention to the big bait and once more I could feel a weight on the line. Just like on the other rod, it wasn’t what I was after, but I was still happy with a half decent whiting of 33cm .


The first whiting was then filleted and baited on the pulley rig, which was lobbed out 20 meters or so, before I sat back to wait once more.

The next couple of hours were busy on the smaller baits, with another couple of dogs and a steady stream of medium sized whiting, but sadly the big baits remained completely untouched . As well as the fillet, I also tried a small whole whiting, plus large squid, mackerel and herring baits, but I didn’t get a single touch.

Eventually I decided I was wasting my time chasing the big stuff, so I scaled down to half squid baits fished at distance, hoping to improve my chances of a ray, but it wasn’t to be and all I caught was a couple more greedy whiting .


And a kung-Fu lobster .


I fished on for another couple of hours, but even the whiting were playing hard to get by now, so after 5 hours with no sign anything decent, I finally called it a night at midnight.

So 2023 was now up and running, and though it had been a relatively busy session, my main target species were sadly nowhere to be found. Onwards and upwards though and I’ll be out again next week, hopefully to catch something a little more exciting .

 

[Viaductbaggies]

That’s better beats looking at the same silver fish all the time

 

[flappy]

That’s better beats looking at the same silver fish all the time

But I like looking at pictures of sea bass.

 

[Wolf]

Nice one mate great catches and piccys well done write up made good reading

 

[richtic]

Well done Andy nice fishing

 

[Wobbler72]

Good effort Andy and great report as ever

 

[Andy 1965]

Cheers for the replies gents .

That’s better beats looking at the same silver fish all the time

There's a simple answer to that .

 

[Had1]

Good stuff as usual good luck in 23

 

[OCTOSPUD]

I didn’t post a report over Christmas, as the fishing wasn’t up to much. The first session after rays, with the outside chance of a conger or huss produced nothing but whiting, while the second session, our annual biggest fish takes all match, only produced 5 small straps and a solitary doggie between 8 anglers. It was so poor in fact, that I finished off 2022 with only my second bait fishing blank of the year . Despite the poor finish though, I headed out last Wednesday night with high expectations for my first session of 2023.

With strong winds forecast, the venue was chosen more for the shelter it afforded rather than the fish I might catch, but I have caught the odd thornback there in the past, so they would be my main target species. As well as clean ground at range, shorter casts will find some pretty gnarly stuff and though I’ve never caught an eel bigger than about 2lb there myself, I have been reliably informed that as well as decent huss, it can also throw up some pretty big conger, including at least one which beat the magical 20lb barrier, so it would also be worth putting out a snake bait, just on the off chance .

I arrived to find the wind was a little more Westerly than forecast, and despite the promise of a dry evening, it actually started raining just as I began to tackle up but I’ve fished in worse, so I just cracked on regardless.

First out was a 3hook flapper, baited with a mixture of lug, sandeel and squid, which as well as the rays, would also take whiting, which I could then use for bait. The second rod was armed with a heavy duty pulley rig and a single 8/0, which was baited with a moderately sized mackerel and squid cocktail.

The baits hadn’t been in the water for long before the rod tips started bouncing, and after a 15 minute soak I opted to reel in the small baits first. A decent weight on the line signified that the blank was beaten on the very first cast, and though it wasn’t a ray, I was happy with a double header of a doggie and a whiting, aka fresh bait .
View attachment 38089

Once the flapper was re-baited and cast out again, I turned my attention to the big bait and once more I could feel a weight on the line. Just like on the other rod, it wasn’t what I was after, but I was still happy with a half decent whiting of 33cm .
View attachment 38090

The first whiting was then filleted and baited on the pulley rig, which was lobbed out 20 meters or so, before I sat back to wait once more.

The next couple of hours were busy on the smaller baits, with another couple of dogs and a steady stream of medium sized whiting, but sadly the big baits remained completely untouched . As well as the fillet, I also tried a small whole whiting, plus large squid, mackerel and herring baits, but I didn’t get a single touch.

Eventually I decided I was wasting my time chasing the big stuff, so I scaled down to half squid baits fished at distance, hoping to improve my chances of a ray, but it wasn’t to be and all I caught was a couple more greedy whiting .
View attachment 38091

And a kung-Fu lobster .
View attachment 38092

I fished on for another couple of hours, but even the whiting were playing hard to get by now, so after 5 hours with no sign anything decent, I finally called it a night at midnight.

So 2023 was now up and running, and though it had been a relatively busy session, my main target species were sadly nowhere to be found. Onwards and upwards though and I’ll be out again next week, hopefully to catch something a little more exciting .

Loving the whiting

 

[OCTOSPUD]

I’ve just landed at the end of the lleyn so hopefully I’ll have a report soon.

 

[Kevin3110]

Nice! that lobster looks a bit miffed mind