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  • 11/2011 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way 2 (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)

    Nov 2011 by Gethyn Owen

    Report on-board My Way 2

    The last couple weeks have seen a rest bite from the onslaught of gale force winds that have pounded not only north Wales but most of the British Isles for the past 2 months.
    September and October are normally reasonable months where the weather is concerned, however despite a well-balanced diary My Way was tied up on its berth on more occasions than I care to remember.

    On the odd occasion we did scramble out, the fishing was up and down, as the seas settled the fishing would pick up and offer the anglers plenty of variety along with numbers of fish, only to be knocked on the head once more as the next tail of a hurricane blew across the Atlantic.

    Entering November and despite still suffering from strong winds, we have sailed on a number of occasions. The fishing has been fairly consistent for Holyhead in late autumn and entering our cold winter period, catches have maily been made up of dogfish, whiting, codling and bull huss with other species such as pollack, coalies and dabs adding to the mix.

    November 13th saw the first of our autumn winter fun matches to go ahead, the previous 2 having been cancelled because of the weather.

    The day though did start with a hiccup as I received a phone call to inform me that a group of 3 individuals where running late and would be unable to reach us for the 8am sail, in fact they finally arrived just before 9am.

    So a couple cups of tea and a chat about world’s politics was required whilst we waited. Setting off at 9am, we had a party of 3 local lads from Bethesda, Dave and Tim form Cheshire and Barry and his fellow watchmakers from Wigan! The forecast for the day was a 17mph SE decreasing slightly, leaving the marina we had a good easterly breeze whipping up the sea. Our initial stop was changed and we travelled up towards Church Bay for some shelter and calmer waters.

    By the time we had arrived, the wind had increased by a good 10mph and considering it was offshore we still had white water all around us close in. Here we dropped anchor and the lads prepared baits ready for the off; mackerel, sandeel, squid, black lug and ragworm.

    All but Dave and Tim were relatively new to angling and were using rods and tackle off My Way – this was certainly well poised for a fun match.

    With the wind restricting our movements, the fishing itself was going to be centred on, dogs, whiting and huss. The majority of anglers fished basic 3 down scratch rigs and occasionally changing tactics to have hooks off the ground whilst looking for other species such as pollack and coalfish.

    This though proved difficult through the day with only the odd pollack and poor cod taking the baits.

    Dogfish kept everyone busy for the best part of the 6hrs at sea, some anglers taking double and the odd triple shot. Over a dozen huss averaging 8lb in weight graced the boat to add to the species tally and reward the captor with a good 3 points instead of the one gained for a dogfish.

    The fun matches are as titled fun and a great way to try hone your angling skills a little not just into catching a fish, but catching then in numbers and sometimes targeting different species, only this time, the wind dictated quantity and not variation!

    Each group had their own pitched battles going on against each other and soon enough comments and banter was passing as all on-board vowed to outdo the last to catch; with each captor making certain that not only his friend knew of his catch, but now the whole of the boat.

    The fishing could not be described in any form of imagination as world beating or even totally inspiring, but, it was consistent and along with the hot drinks, warm food and colourful banter throughout the day, the time soon passed by with jokes, dogfish and huss in full flow.

    Good fishing through the day saw Dave finish in first place from Tim, by only 2 points. Tim had been able to claw back a 5 point deficit in the last half hour as Dave struggled to hook into the what ever was nudging his baits. Sadly for Tim, 10 minutes from the end Dave lifted his rod and wound into 2 dogfish to steal the victory and £25 from the jaws of defeat!

    Please visit our website for details of our next fun match on 10th December, still spaces available.

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