Once again we took our 2 week summer break on Anglesey where we intended to do a bit of walking and sea fishing. The weather was exceptional and we managed to get out and about on every day we wanted too, some days though we were so relaxed even fishing seemed hard wrok – I know – even I was amazed but Anglesey does that to you, you turn up and all the worries in the world just vanish as the island casts a spell upon you.

We tried a few new locations this time round, some completely new to us, others where we’d been before but never fished.

The first was Sandy Beach where, if the conditions are right, either Bass can caught (if there’s a surf) or Smooth Hound (if it’s mirror calm). Both times we were there it was neither rough nor flat with only a slight breeze making very small waves. Neither of the target species was caught but we managed a few Dogfish which saved the blank on our first sea fishing venture of the holiday.

We tried another beach just South of Sandy Beach but again the conditions weren’t in our favour and only a solitary Dogfish was landed.

Our next session was at a well known venue near Anglesey Race Track, Ty Croes where, after having a chat at Valley baits we were prepared for the mark we knew being occupied (which it was) so we tried a new one a bit further South known as Three Points (I think). This mark was very shallow compared to the favourite Ray hotspot but I managed a few Mackerel from the fast tidal waters about 80 meters out while Wendy got a few Pollock on float fished Ragworm closer in. What made this particular trip special was a pod of Harbour Porpoise ‘fishing’ about 100 meters off the rocks – we sat for a while and watched the experts, the fact we hadn’t landed anything spectacular completely forgotten.

Afon Alaw Tidal Lagoon

A venue I’d found while looking around our maps was a tidal lagoon where Afon Alaw flows into the bay formed by Penrhos on one side and the Gorad rocks on the other. We saw plenty of Mullet cruising around but even after chatting to the local experts we still couldn’t catch any, either on float fished Ragworm or fly fishing a sand shrimp type lure. We tried all sorts but they just wouldn’t take any notice of what we were doing – they’re there though and next time we’ll be a bit more prepared.

Once again we tried an early evening stint from the Gorad rocks where we fished from a couple of hours after low water for two hours – any longer and we’d have been stuck on the rocks. We’ve always been told to bottom fish Ragworm here but the crab activity meant the baits were stripped before the fish could find them. The most exciting time was just sa the water started to flow, you could see the fish breaking the surface so while Wendy tried a few plugs I again tried the fly rod with a sandeel pattern. We both had a few follows but no hooks ups – it was good fun though and a great way to spned an evening.

A new venue for us was Porth Aels, West of Aberffraw, where the water was so clear you could easily see to the bottom of the gulleys we were fishing into. We caught a few Wrasse, Ballan and Corkwing as well as a very plump Blenny and spent a very pleasant afternoon baking in the sun watching the floats bob up and down in a mirror calm sea.

This is an area we intend to explore a bit more and it looks to have huge potential for both Wrasse, the bully boys of the rocks and Bass as they chase the bait fish into the shore.

Apparently the bay you walk past where there is ‘the church on the rock’, St. Cwyfan’s Church, is full of Mullet on calm evening so again – somewhere new to try in the future.

We had a few walks, nothing to strenuous and spotted a few likely haunts for Mullet or Bass but mainly we either fished, relaxed or fished and relaxed – perfect.

Inland Sea - perfect Mullet hunting area

Once again we stayed at Ty Cristion which was excellent and as we were fishing mostly on the North or West side of the island we got most of our baits from Valley Baits with a bit we collected on our way through to the cottage coming from Menai Angling – both excellent shops with good local knowledge.

So… did we have a good time?

You’re damn right we did, Anglesey never fails to deliver no matter what the weather does and this time we had truly amazing weather, caught a few fish and even got a bit of a tan.

Plans are already hatching for our next visit in a few months for our annual Small Eyed Ray hunt…

Long Spined Sea Scorpion from Llanbadrig, Anglesey

Not sure what we did on Monday but we got up early on Tuesday and headed up to Wylfa to have a go at the mini Bass and Mullet that hang around the warm water outflow from the power station. I’m not sure what time some people get out of bed but I thought we were quiet early and yet when we arrived all the rocks suitable for fishing from had people on them – as you know we’re not the social type of fisher-people so we moved clockwise round the island a few miles and ended up on a very comfortable mark at Llanbadrig.

A small Pollack on the float

I was first into a fish for a change although it wasn’t a monster by any stretch of the imagination, a small Pollack (or Colin as I seem to remember Sainsbury’s are wanting to call them for some reason – sheesh…) taken on a Ragworm fished under a float.

We’d fished here before and knew the bottom was a tackle graveyard so although there may be some monsters lurking around in the depths we elected to play it safe and have a bit of light tackle fun with the spinning rods and some floats.

I managed to catch the angriest, spikiest fish in the sea – a long spined sea scorpion, which is not venomous although it looks lethal, just a bit prickly while fishing straight down the rocks below my feet, again on a small Ragworm and for once I was ahead in the fishing stakes.

And then it all went Wendy’s way as she produced Wrasse after Wrasse with a few Pollack thrown in for good measure.

I also had a go at spinning and lure fishing, hoping to snare a bigger fish as the tide started to race past our protected little cove but after loosing a few soft plastic lures and a few leads decided that our choice to float fish was definitely the best thing to do.

A Wrasse for Wendy

I did finally get to use the landing net, which we’d bought years ago specifically for rock fishing as it has a long telescopic handle. Was it for a denizen of the deeps?

Was is heck, Wendy had got snagged on a rock and broken off and as one of her trademark pink floats made a bid for freedom I sprang into action – more like casually climbed down and netted it but the result was the same, one saved float although I’m not sure about her choice of colours…

We spent a very pleasant afternoon where catching small fish reminded me of when we first started sea angling, when every fish was fantastic and new.

I’m glad to have re-discovered that feeling, sometimes I think I get a bit blinkered in the search for bigger and better quarry and forget the sheer enjoyment of fishing and watching the world go by.

A couple of Spider Crabs

We had been looking forward to going sea fishing in South Devon since we booked the cottage this time last year. Alas – things we not to go as we’d hoped.

We managed to find the local tackle shop which I’d found on the internet and initially they seemed very helpful, with all sorts of information on where to fish but in our eagerness to catch we were blinded by our own enthusiasm.

The first place we tried was Beesands, a very steep slopping beach, we didn’t know what state of tide to fish it or really what bait to use so we took everything… and caught 2 spider crabs in 4 hours!

We tried all sorts of places but most of the rock marks we were pointed towards needed climbing gear or a helicopter to reach the water.

One of the nicest places we fished was Prawl point but after being told the water was deep we were a gain disappointed to find casting out only landed your bait in very shallow water.

A Wrasse for Wendy, Start Point

Wendy did manage to catch a couple of small Wrasse but again, I had nothing.

Another problem we encountered was the lack of bait in the area. The quality of the frozen bait was not up to the standard we are used to and with the weather being so bad there were no Sandeels available.

It became apparent after fishing at another very beautiful area in the Kinsbridge Estuary called Mill Bay but not getting any fish that the information we were getting was also not of the standard we were used to in Anglesey – we were not getting any details on tides to fish, conditions or tactics and we were getting a bit frustrated by this point.

Eventually after nearly two weeks of no fish and watching a few people trying for Mackeral off the beach at Torcross, where we had a very good sea food diner, I resorted to trying for Mackeral. Finally I caught some fish!!!

Finally - two Mackeral

You could actually see the Mackeral about 10 feet from the edge of the sea so it wasn’t skillful fishing by any means but I was desperate to catch.

We tried a few other areas but eventually just decided to enjoy the rest of our break without doing any more fishing.

So what went wrong?

I think we are so used to getting valuable local advice from the tackle shops in Anglesey, North Wales and the North of England that we assumed we’d get the same standard of information from the ones in Devon. We were wrong and a valuable lesson was learned.

So – what now! Well next year we’re hoping to go to South West Ireland but we’re staying at a place that specifically caters for the needs of the sea angler, with local guides, a boat, bait and tackle and as much information as you could ever need – I hope.

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!

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.