Long Weekend on Anglesey – Sept / Oct 2006

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Looking Across the Inland Sea Towards Holyhead

The weather forecast was great with occasional showers and a light wind blowing onto the beaches we intended to fish as we arrived for our final sea fishing trip to Anglesey this year. We were staying at Ty Cristion again and after unloading the car and settling in I made a quick phone call to Gareth of fishing4u.co.uk and we set off for a secret mark well known to the local lads for big Bass.

Unfortunately it must have been so secret the Bass failed to find us but we did manage to catch a couple of Silver Eels each – not the target species but at least we caught, and we were treated to a magnificent sunset looking towards Holyhead.

Cymyran Bay - A Fine Surf

Saturday – today was the day to get serious. The wind was blowing onto Cymyran Bay beach, behind RAF Valley and we arrived to see a perfect surf.

We both cast out some lugworm baits about 60-80 meters into the waves and the wait began. And we waited and then waited some more. We changed baits constantly and tried a few Ammo frozen Sandeels but the only thing making the rods move was the wind and the surf.

It was one of those situations where you know there must be fish there but a surf beach is a huge area for any fish to find your bait amongst all the other tasty morsels washed out of the sand.

Cymyran - A Fine Place to Live

Today the Bass just weren’t playing. It did give me a good excuse to take a couple of photos of the house right on the edge of beach. What a fantastic place to live!

After about an hour of no action Wendy suggested we move a little nearer to the house and fish into the bay formed on the bend of the river between Holy Island and Anglesey.

Small Eyed Ray from Cymyran

I’d seen a report on one of the fishing forums of a large ray being caught here the previous weekend although I wasn’t sure exactly where on the beach so a quick change of tactic followed.

To say this proved to be a good move would be a huge understatement. We were only casting our frozen Sandeels about 60 meters into the calmer water when after about 1/2 an hour Wendy started reeling in.

She went quiet – a sign something was up! Then the rod arched over as she brought to shore her first ever ray. It was a male Small Eyed Ray and went to the scales at 5lb 8oz. She then proceeded to repeat the feat with two more at 5lb 2oz (female) and a huge female fish of 8lb 10oz.

I was starting to get rather alarmed by now. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for Wendy as all of our fishing is a team effort but now I wanted a fish, any fish.

And then it happened. The rod gave a little twitch, then another and then arced over as if it was never going to stop. I struck into the fish and knew instantly it was a big one.

And a Small Eyed Ray For Me

Rays don’t generally fight much but they are hard work to pull through a rolling surf. As soon as it sensed the shore it started to fight back but I wasn’t letting this go even if I had to jump into the sea after it.

Wendy helped me beach another beautiful female Small Eyed Ray which weighed in at an amazing 9lb 7oz.

We stayed for another half an hour but left as darkness fell. What a day!

The following day we intended to do a bit of rock fishing but the forecast was for rain so like madmen we went back to Cymyran.

The surf was a little higher and it rained almost constantly for 3 hours but this didn’t seem to deter the fish although it did test our waterproofs to (and past) the limit.

The tally for Sunday was; Me – 2 Smalled Eyed Rays (at 4lb 8oz and 6lb 10oz) and a couple of small flounder, Wendy – 1 Small Eyed Ray at 5lb 2oz and a small Plaice.

Another fantastic day – who says anglers are mad?

South Stack, Anglesey

Monday came far too quickly, it’s amazing just how quickly you can relax on Anglesey and we didn’t want to go home so we went up to South Stack.

We ended up staying there for a couple of hours; reading, watching the sea, having a stroll then having lunch.

A perfect way to end an amazing weekends sea fishing where Wendy caught her first ever Ray after 2 years of trying then proceeded to catch 3 more, and I caught my biggest ever (by a long way) shore caught fish. Anglesey – what an fantastic place.