Anglesey July / August 2006 – Part 2, Sea Fishing

Small Bass for Wendy

After the long hot and wind free July we were looking forward to some lazy days fishing from the rocks on Anglesey. Alas the weather gods had a different plan for us and after lazing around in the sun on, of all things, Sunday (what else…) we woke on Monday to rain and a strong Westerly wind which dented our plans a little so we did a bit of walking instead.

After a while, I’m not sure which day we meandered over to our favorite spot of the year, a mark called ‘flagpole’ near Beaumaris where we found shelter as the wind was blowing over our heads.

The bait we took was frozen sandeel but no bites were forthcoming so i had a rummage around the rocks and found 2 crabs and, almost exactly the same as in may, Wendy managed to land her first proper Bass, only a small school fish but as you can see she was very, very pleased. I didn’t get a bite but this fish more than made up for it.

Ballan Wrasse

Our next attempt at a few fish was Ravens Point on the west side of Holy Island. Here the water is very deep and although the weather didn’t look to promising, with quite a swell on the sea I tried a bit of bottom fishing for rays or even dogfish while Wendy as per usual got the first fish, a sizable Ballan Wrasse on a small hard crab.

She then proceeded to catch a mackerel and it was looking little desperate for me so in desperation a got out the feathers and had a bash until I got one as well. At this point the rain came down and it started to become a bit precarious on the rocks so as the heavens opened we made a scramble up the rocks, back to the car.

It was beginning to look more and more like I wasn’t going to catch anything of quantity or quality as the holiday progressed and to make matters worse the wind picked up even though the rain stayed away.

In our quest to find calmer waters we ended up doing an afternoon / early evening session at Llanbadrig on the rocks to the north side of Anglesey. The scenery here is stunning and the church itself is well worth a visit as it tells the story of St. Patrick being wrecked on ‘Middle mouse’ and later founding the church.

It was a good job the views were good because the fishing itself was grim although I did manage to break my duck with a couple of dogfish.

Pollack for Wendy

As the sun dropped and it looked like packing up time Wendy had a last ‘chuck’ with a Storm rubber sandeel and even though I’d done exactly the same, in the same spot only half an hour earlier, managed to snag this lively little pollock.

You can see by the look on her face that she was a little bit chuffed. As the sun set we made our way back up to the church where we watched some other people fish on the rocks below for a while (thankfully they weren’t catching either so I didn’t feel to bad!) before heading back to the cottage.

A new day dawned, still a bit breezy but sunny so we planned another session to the flagpole as we’d managed to acquire a score of peeler crabs. Bass lookout – here we come!

The weather was perfect for this venue and again, what little wind there was was over our backs so it felt calm and hot. We tried everything but even though we were getting bites we just couldn’t hook into anything until I managed to hook this little fellow – finally – a Bass – although not the size we wanted so back he went.

Small Bass for me

We watched the boats drift by, also fishing for Bass I think and continued to miss bites all afternoon but the bigger fish just weren’t there and the only fish we saw was the small one in the photo to the left. I think the reason we kept missing the fish was due to the fact we were after the big ones with size 3/0 hooks and the only fish there were to small to get their mouths around the bait properly. Unlike our May visit where the mouth of the 2lb+ fish could have swallowed a tennis ball.

Throughout the holiday we also fished a mark called ‘Whitebeach’, park where it says Fedw Fawr an walk east (right on the map) over the field and down to an old quarry, where the swell made fishing almost impossible but once again Wendy caught a Mackerel and I blanked. We did see a couple of Porpoises chasing some fish though – only about 100 feet or so out so that more than made up for the lack of fish.

We even tried Llandona beach, fishing the high tide into darkness with freshly dug lugworms from Sandy beach (the best lug digging beach on the island) but after an hour of fighting with the weed on the line we gave up.

So overall the fishing wasn’t very good and we’ve put it down to a couple of things; the massive change in the weather for the beginning of August and our increased knowledge of the area. This may sound odd but where as when we first started fishing any fish would do, we now tend to target specific areas for specific species of fish and this method inevitably leads to either good days or bad days – unfortunately we had more of the bad than good but did we enjoy ourselves, you bet we did. Will we do it again – oh yes!

Sunday 30th April – Cable Bay & Beaumaris Bass

Cable Bay (Porth Trecastell)

After Saturdays exploration and chat with Gareth we mounted our expedition to Cable Bay with some heavy duty rock fishing gear and some lighter rods just in case we fancied a bit of float fishing. We arrived at the car park at about 10am and followed a path around to the left onto a rocky outcrop. The weather had closed in a bit over night and although it never rained, the sky stayed hazy throughout the session.

After numerous bait changes – squid, mackerel, sandeels neither Wendy or I had anything to show for our efforts and as the boats came in to moor up in the bay for some lunch we did the same.

Fishing Cable Bay

I’m not entirely sure we were in the right place as we’ve never fished here before and although the lack of bites was disheartening the main problem was the snags and the unending loss of end tackle no matter how far we cast or in which direction. The rigs we were using were ‘pulley rigs’ but the lack of fish meant that the main function of the rig – which is to get the lead up out of the snags – never happened.

Wendy did get this rather ‘natty’ picture of me though. We called it “last cast” and made our way back to the cottage for a quick brew before the main event of the day.

As the next trip out was to be the last of this visit to Anglesey we emptied the fridge of bait and took everything with us; crabs, lug worm, mackeral and squid.

Lleiniog

We headed south to ABC tackle to get some more sandeels where we spoke to Malcolm, the owner. We mentioned that we’d seen Gareth the previous day and Malcolm said he’d been in the wrong place and gave us directions to a mark a little closer to Beaumaris called the flagpole. We both took only our light rods and the minimum gear, it was still quite heavy by the time we’d walked from the car to the mark. We arrived about an hour before lo-water and set up the gear.

This was to be a challenge for both of us. I’d recently purchased “Hooked on Bass” by Alan Vaughan and Mike Ladle and it had made me re-think our approach to this magnificent fish. The tackle I was using consisted of a size 2/0 Varivas Big Mouth (from Veals Mail Order)hook tied onto about 3 foot of 20lb amnesia (it was a bit rocky and i didn’t want the line to scuff too much) the other end of which was tied to a small swivel. A zip slider was threaded onto the mainline followed by a bead to protect the knot then this mainline was tied to the other end of the swivel. To complete the setup a 2oz lead was attached to the slider and a big juicy peeler crab whipped onto the hook. This was then cast about 20 feet out among the boulders and the wait began…

Wendy tried a bit of float fishing with the ‘jif lemon floats’ we’d made about a month ago – fishing a crab just above the rocks no result was forthcoming and it was soon too dark to see it. We’d been holding the rods rather than putting them in the tripod so that we could feel every little knock but as darkness fell the rain came down and we needed to put them down for a bit of a break. Then…

A Nice Bass for Me

A small twitch of the rod tip, Wendy notices it at the same time – again and I strike! This fish is only about 20 feet out and is not happy at all. The rod arches over as I apply pressure. The fish fights back but the light rod takes the strain and a silver shape is brought to the beach! BASS! Wendy rushes forwards to help make sure it’s out of the sea as I put the rod back in the tripod shaking as the adrenaline leaves my body.

I gather my prize and as Wendy fetches the camera the hook falls out – you just can’t have too much luck!

We’d previously decided to take one home for the table so I dispatched it as quickly as possible (it weighed in at 2lb 8oz although it looked a lot bigger), re-baited and cast back out.Wendy had changed over to a normal 2 hook flapper, baited with crab and flicked into the rocks.

Then Wendy’s rod goes berserk. But the tell tale yellow eyes break the surface…A Dogfish.

Wendys' Dogfish

That was the only silver bar of the evening and the only fish for myself. Wendy had a whiting to go with the doggy but was not to get a Bass this night, but there’s always next time…

What suprised me was the ‘bite’ the Bass gave, it was very timid and I’m sure if I’d not been using a long hook length on the running ledger I’d not have got the fish. It mentions in the “Hooked on Bass” book that Bass are very sensitive feeders but after the hit and run type of bites at “Dinas Dinlle” if I’d not experienced it myself I’d never have believed it. As for Wendy not getting onto a Bass that night, maybe it was the end rig, maybe luck or maybe there just weren’t that many there that evening. We’re back on the island in another month so perhaps then it will be her turn…

Saturday 29th April – A ‘Reccie’ on Anglesey

Llandwyn Island

After Friday nights adventures we got up for a late (very late!) breakfast and on opening the curtains were greeted with another fantastic day. Blazing sunshine and hardly any wind at all.

We decided that we were well overdue for a bit of a walk so got together a rucksack of light fishing gear and another of sandwiches and drinks and headed to the South East corner of the island to Llanddwyn Island. We payed the £2 to park near the sand dunes at Newborough and headed along a track onto the island. As we suspected we’d completely missed the tides and the sea was going out by the time we got there so we had a wander around then sat in the lee of the lighthouse for some lunch.

It was great just to sit and do nothing except watch the Rock Pipits darting around, trying to find every last bug in the area.

Llandwyn Island Monument

After making the decision not to do any fishing we slowly meandered our way back, stopping every so often to watch the Wheatears dart from rock to rock, arguing angrily about territory.

Needless to say after carrying even the light tackle all the way from the car and back I was glad when we got to the car park which, is very well equipped with good toilets for all and an information point.

I don’t think we’ll be going to Llanddwyn to fish though – it was just too busy – we prefer ‘out of the way angling’ and anyone thinking to ave a ‘good time’ on the ‘Island of Lovers’ as Llanddwyn is known had best be prepared for some company!

Before coming to Anglesey we’d had an idea of a good looking spot to try some new tactics for Bass fishing so we headed through Beaumaris towards Penmon, the beach we were looking for needed to have a few large rocks at low water, plenty of cover for crabs but not enough to snag the tackle on every cast.

Lleiniog

Anyway, we found a likely spot and had a wander around only to bump into Gareth from fishing4u doing the exact thing we were planning on doing tomorrow so after a quick chat about the following days plans and a couple of suggestions for the midday high tide fishing session we headed back to the cottage for some dinner and to get things ready for tomorrows midday session at Porth Trecastell or “Cable Bay”.