Menai Straits, North Wales / Anglesey - Oil Slick

After the announcement during last week of the oil slick spotted in the Menai Straits, between Anglesey and the North Wales mainland, many people were very concerned about the ecological ramifications of such an event.

The BBC had this to say last monday so it appears that the scale of the slick was not as great as it first appeared and according to the local coastguard and the environment agency the environmental impact on the area should be minimal.

Lets hope the slick disperses quickly, leaving this beautiful area untouched by the pollution of modern living!

Tags: anglesey, environment, menai straits, north wales, oil slick

On The road - Car Update

I picked up the car last night from Banks and Derbyshire and after all the relevant bits and pieces being replaced, including 2 of the wheels, it looks fantastic and drives better than it ever did.

I can whole heartedly recommend this local Preston company to anyone who needs their car bodywork repairing, their service was second to none.

All I now have to do is hassle the insurance company to get the other party to accept liability then I can claim back my expenses. It is great to get the car back though, it's OK to rent a car but it's nicer to drive your own.

Tags: car insurance, lancashire, liability, preston

A Bar-B-Q At Chipping, Preston

Well we haven't been out walking or fishing for a while as we've been busy trying to sort out the front garden.

I am pleased to say it's nearly finished except for putting in some new plants so it was great when my mother rang and asked if we wanted to go round for a BBQ on Saturday to celebrate father day and Wendy's birthday a day early while the weather was nice.

If you've read my earlier post, Watering the Garden, you'll know that Mum & Dad live near Chipping, which is at the southern end of the Trough of Bowland and a very beautiful area.

As the weather was so hot we went in Wendy's car, a lovely dark blue X reg. Mazda MX5 and arrived in plenty of time to help start the charcoal off. The food, as usual when Mum has anything to do with it, was fantastic and the garden and pond look magnificent - it was amazing just how much things had grown since the middle of May.

After a couple of goods friends had come and gone I tried to get a few photographs of the Bees going in an out of the foxgloves but they were just too fast so I settled for a few close-ups of the flowers.

We also spotted what we thought were newly emerging dragonflies but when Mum and I got into the pond it turned out that they were empty husks. Mum and Dad say they weren't there a couple of days ago so we can only assume that they crawled out of the water very early and were gone by the time we noticed them.

As it was nearly Wendy's birthday, and due to the fact that we were doing up the front garden, Mum had got her some new plants and while Mum and Wendy were getting some others (digging them out of the garden I think) Dad and I checked on his veggies which I'd looked after while they were away a month ago.

These chaps were busy trying to get at the new growth but thankfully they just couldn't reach. Everything had shot up and we'd even had some of the lettuce (3 types) with our burgers for lunch.

It was soon time to go - it's amazing how quickly half a day passes when you're so relaxed. So after another great day out at Mum and Dads we made our way home.

Tags: chipping, cows, foxglove, lancashire, preston

Anglesey Coastal Footpath - at Leisure

Anglesey Coastal Footpath - at Leisure

Just found this blog - brilliant - walking in one of our favourite areas. We've walked quiet a lot of the "Anglesey Coastal" path searching for fish and just getting away from the crowds so it's great to sea someone else out there enjoying it.

Tags: anglesey, walking

River Alt, Merseyside - BLAS Match, June 11th

An easy days fishing on a blazing hot day - fantastic.

After collecting some great bait - peeler crabs from Chris at Moreton Angling Centre ( on the Wirral) on Saturday morning Wendy was fired up to defend the estuary cup as she'd already won leg one earlier in the year at Fort Perch Rock. The River Alt is a beautiful place, especially when the weather is so good and seems almost like it's own little world sometimes.

The fishing was hard and not at all as good as expected - well at least for me, Millsy and Shacky but for Wendy it was another storming session.

Fish after fish came to her where as I could only manage one even though I was fishing no more than about 10 feet away, using the same bait and rigs and almost casting in the same spot.

Amongst the flounder the dreaded eels made a show with some of them being a very good size. Wendy had one which must have been a good 2.5 pounds and almost as thick as my wrist. The final results were Wendy 1st followed by Millsy, Shacky and myself bringing up the rear.

We also saw a couple of Shelducks with chicks swimming in the distance but unfortunately they were to far away for the camera to pick up.

As we were packing up a couple more people turned up who were new to sea fishing so we gave them a couple of pointers on fishing where we had just been and the last couple of crabs, everyone is a beginner at first and it doesn't take long to pass on a few tips to people new to angling.

Tags: eel, flounder, merseyside, river alt, sea fishing, shelduck

Car Repair Update

Nothing to report really. After talking to the insurance company it appears that the liability claim is going to take forever due to all the foreign agencies involved so against my better judgement I've rented a car from Enterprise (very helpful people) and I'll claim back the expenses once everything is sorted out.

Expenses! Blimey it's going to cost me a fortune, good job we can claim it back. Car for 2 weeks - approx £300. insurance for the rental car - approx £100, excess on repair - £100. So thats £500 for something that was absolutely someone else fault! Oh well - it's only money!

Anyway - enough ranting - the sun is high, we've nearly finished the front garden and there's only a couple more hours left of the work day. Only tomorrow left then weekend and fishing again on Sunday - great...

Tags: car insurance, liability

Plan F - Cymyran Bay, Anglesey

Plan F was Cymyran Bay, behind RAF Valley. The road to the beach is, to say the least, a little bumpy, but the end result is worth it. Cymyran Bay is almost unknown to most people and hence was almost deserted when we got there.

We made our way to the deep channel between Holy Island and Anglesey proper and cast in our large crabs baits. We know the Bass cruise this channel when the tide turns so we waited in anticipation. Unfortunately thats all we did, wait, wait and wait some more.

Eventually the incoming tide pushed us of our spot so we moved back a bit but by then the current was to strong and the weed was becoming a problem so all in all Sunday was not a very fishy day at all.

But who can complain with the scenery Anglesey presents at every turning. I'm sure this spot will throw us a fish or two eventually but that will have to wait until next time...

Tags: anglesey, bass, cymyran, sea fishing

Sun 28th May Wylfa Head, Anglesey

After a late night today we decided on something a little easier - rock fishing for Wrasse of Llanbadrig just past the church - unfortunately for us we'd forgotten that the church is still active and we couldn't find anywhere to park so plan B was to go a fish off Wylfa head, just round the corner from the Nuclear Power Station.

After parking up we wound our way to our chosen area only to find some other people had beaten us to it! We had a search around but couldn't find anywhere that was unoccupied so we found a comfy spot, got out our packed lunch and flasks and with books in hand enjoyed the scenery... not good fishing but extremely relaxing and the view, as always on Anglesey, was fantastic.

Our alternative for later was to go and fish the lo-water at Ravens point near Treaddur but we heard a few people saying they were going there so an alternative plan was hatched - I think we were on about plan F by now.

Tags: anglesey, llanbadrig, sea fishing, wrasse, wylfa

Anglesey, Newborough Beach

After a cuppa and picking up some different gear we quickly drove down to Newborough to catch the last hour of the flood and a couple of hours down again. As we arrived a couple of people were leaving which didn't look to good but on arrival we spotted a few people fishing into the surf but they seemed to be having a lot of problems with weed - here we go again I thought!

The venue changes dramatically during darkness and i was glad that we'd had an explore a month or so ago so we walking about a hundred yards or so to the right of the car park and launched our big crab baits into a gully about 80 yards out.

The fishing was slow with only small bites on our large hooks until at the height of the tide Wendy caught this fat little Flounder.

The sky was perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight and the lack of lighting anywhere meant that we could see every star, it was magnificent.

Anyway back to the fishing. The weed where we were didn't seem to materialise but I was still lacking any fish so on the last cast I plopped a cast in short, just to see if there were any smaller fish playing in the surf and hooked into this tiny school Bass. Finally!

Happy that we'd both caught fish we packed up and made our way back to the cottage - another late night but worth it for the views alone! We'll definitely fish hear again, a rising tide into darkness - fantastic.

Tags: anglesey, bass, flounder, newborough, sea fishing

Sat 27th May: Trwyn-y-Penryhn, Anglesey

Another fine day dawned and today we woke with the anticipation of a few good fish. We elected to fish a little bit more towards Penmon Point in a bay called Trwyn-y-Penryhn than we did last bank holiday, when i caught a lovely Bass, not through choice but because of the Beaumaris Craft Festival all sorts of small boats were out in force in the area we'd previously fished. We soon made the discovery that the channel was a lot further out than in the previous area the area was a lot more 'snaggy'.

We spent a fruitless couple of hours fishing into the rocks, over the rocks, around the rocks but nothing showed even the slightest interest in our baits - what could be going wrong we wondered? Same tactics as last time, almost the same terrain but nothing!

One strange thing did stand out though. Although we went with bait we always search the beach for more - you never can tell when you'll need it - and every crab we found was either angry and therefore not peeling or a dead peeler! Very strange.

I did spot these egg sacks hanging under a rock but I've no idea what they are so if anyone knows can they let us know.

We called into ABC for a word with Malcolm and to replace the tackle we lost and he let us know that they'd had the 'Red Tides' - I wish I'd mentioned to him the previous evening what we were intending - it would have saved a lot of hassle. The 'Red Tides' as they are called is the annual algal bloom which kills of the crabs and most bait fish around the island but most dramatically on the South and East coasts - no bait to eat and the fish stay out to sea so it wasn't us being useless - this time even the algae was against us.

Malcolm suggested that there was still time to fish Newborough beach high water so we blasted back to the cottage to get out normal beach fishing gear and a quick brew...

Tags: anglesey, bass, penmon, sea fishing

Friday 26th May - Cable Bay & Lleiniog, Anglesey

After arriving at the Cottage, Ty Cristion, at the top end of Anglesey, calming down after the journeys encounter with the truck and unloading the car we were determined not to let the accident dampen our mood so we did what we usually do and went fishing.

First stop was the other side of cable bay but the wind was a strong Westerly and we only ended up getting tiny bites and we couldn't connect with the fish. The area is beautiful though and well worth a visit.

We went back to the cottage for a bite to eat then headed down the island to fish the high water into darkness at Lleiniog. Again we just kept getting small bites and as we were after Bass I expect the hooks we were using were a little big to capture anything small. Unfortunately this is all we had - little bites and no fish.

We called in at ABC tackle and picked up a few more crabs to use tomorrow - it was midnight and the shop was still open! Not a good start but damn good to be out and we felt lucky to be in good health after the journey down.

Tags: anglesey, cable bay, sea fishing