Latest Fishing Reports: Privateer

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  • 04/06/2023 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    4 Jun 2023 by Jonathan Law

    A great weekend of Fishing from Friday to Sunday. Friday on the 8 hour Charter we managed to catch 6 species Bass, Mackerel, Dogfish, Whiting, Gurnard, Flatties.
    Saturday on the early 5 hour the Group targeted Tope and we fortunate to land one right at the end of the trip!
    The afternoon 8 hour on Saturday again produced a mixed bag of Thornback Rays, Mackerel, Gurnard, Flatties, Whiting and Dogfish.
    Sunday’s 10 hour Charter Trip turned out to be a successful day for the Thornback Rays with a total of 22 caught! Other species caught Mackerel, Gurnard, Whiting, Flatfish and Dogfish.

  • 29/05/2023 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    29 May 2023 by Jonathan Law

    Monday 29th May 2023
    8 hour chartered trip today which started off a little slow with the NE winds. However, after a cuppa and moved to a different location it wasn’t long before the Rays started to show ����.
    Some really nice fish landed and a mixed bag.
    We ended the day close inshore and were rewarded with some Tope which were taking freshly caught Mackerel as bait.

    Todays species: Mackerel, Whiting, Tub Gurnard, Thornback Ray, Dab, Dogfish and Tope.

    Boat still available midweek and some weekends are free also. Call Blythe on 07793362045������

  • 18/05/2019 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    18 May 2019 by Jonathan Law

    First trips out this spring at last, with previous trips booked being very unlucky with the weather.

    Big tides this weekend gone, but easily fishable on both days I don't think any one had to use a lead over 8oz which is very pleasant. We were slightly unlucky in that there was a bit of an algae bloom showing which cut down water visibility quite drastically and although not targeted on either trip, I had hoped we would pick up some of the Mackerel and Herring that are around by accident on the baited rigs but it didn't happen. Some of the other Rhyl boats that did try feather rigs caught a number of Mackerel but fair to say the last two days, numbers were down due to the water clarity.

    To the trips. First on Saturday was the 2nd of the Rhyl species match series ... the 1st was cancelled for weather so this was the first opportunity of the year for most of the lads to get into their match fishing groove. The first hour was slow for species but plenty of Whiting, Dabs and Dogfish plus a couple of Gurnards kept the scorer busy but it wasn't the fishing we were after so a quick move onto some more broken ground livened things up a bit and the species tally started to rise with quite a few Codling and Huss showing. The Huss varied in size from the small up to double figures, with a couple estimated around 13lb, on match gear a good scrap. The scores were close around the boat with one angler getting a few high scoring Codling, whilst directly opposite him on the boat, another angler maxing out on his whiting. The rules in these matches are only the first 10 of a species count towards your score .... lots of banter around the boat as said angler no matter what he tried, just could not avoid more and more pesky Whitings ... infuriated him but kept humour levels up around the rest of the crew ��

    As the tide eased it was time to try a bit of drifting. A little bit early for my drift marks but we gave it a try. Whilst it was not frenetic a few Ballan wrasse, Poor Cod, Codling, Pouting and Goldsinny were caught and nice to see that some of the Ballans were a good size and as one angler needed a photo with his card, for his yearly species hunt I grabbed a moment to give it a weigh .... 3lb 6oz which a nice fish up here but in future I must weigh a few more because last year we had plenty of larger ones ��
    With the large tides, the short window of opportunity was soon over, it was time to steam to our last mark with the main target being Smooth hound.

    The last couple of hours were used by the anglers to max out on their Dogfish and Dabs and shared amongst the anglers 15, 8 point Smoothies and a nice Thornback Ray. As the light faded we made our way back to the pontoon and to tot up the scores.

    Between the 7 anglers overall 13 species were taken with most of the competitors having 9. The scores were very close which keeps the league nicely competitive but coming out on top was John Traynor with 9 species and 265 points in 6 hours actual fishing. The lads all enjoyed the fun but I'm expecting the points and species to rise quite a lot for the next one as the summer species arrive in numbers and the water clears a little ����

    Sunday due the tide size and times was a 5 hour introduction trip for a family group of new anglers, most of whom had never caught a sea fish or any fish for that matter before. So with the water clarity and a bit of a northerly wind blowing I decided to stay close to port in more sheltered waters and set the crew up for bait fishing.

    All the anglers caught which was great to see. Mainly Dabs, Dogfish and Whiting but a nice Huss and lots of hard fighting Smooth hound. A nice gentle introduction with lots of pics of their first ' Sharks' �� .... Next time out I'm pretty sure they will want to progress to the 50lb Tope and full strings of Mackerel �� ..... expecting them to arrive in the next couple of weeks in numbers ����

    So all in all a nice start for me and I hope, think the anglers enjoyed it too. Thanks for reading and I hope your all getting a good bend in the rod very soon wherever you may fish ��
    Tope are nearly here and I'm getting excited �� .. Cheers

  • 09/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    Sep 2018 by Jonathan Law

    ��Advance notice��

    ��2019 Rhyl species challenge��

    Next year I shall be running a league of matches, out of Rhyl, on Privateer. There will be 7 dates, all Saturdays and tho the precise rules are to be finalised. Best 4 results will decide the overall winner ( you do not have to fish all 7).

    There will be Prizes and Trophy's for : Overall winner - Runner up - Most species - Most unusual species ... maybe more. There will also be a cash prize of : £200 Overall winner and £100 Runner up.

    There will be more details to follow but the cost will be £45 per entry, per comp. No bait restrictions. This comp is catch and release for points.

    Dates:

    Saturday 27th April - sail 07:15
    Saturday 18th May - sail 13:35
    Saturday 1st June - sail 12:45
    Saturday 29th June - sail 11:00
    Saturday 13th July - sail 11:00
    Saturday 24th August - sail 07:00
    saturday 7th September - sail 08:00

    Any questions ? Don't hesitate to ask ?

  • 01/09/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    1 Sep 2018 by Jonathan Law

    5 anglers fished our species match today, with the 5am start probably putting off a few travellers. As it turned out it was pleasantly warm and with the dazzling �� deck lights the guys were comfortable setting up as we steamed out to our first mark of the day. By the time the anchor was set we were all treated to the sun peeping over the horizon.

    To the action, the theme of the day was set with 5 different species in the first fifteen minutes, all the anglers contributing and by the time the tide eased the score sheet was beginning to look quite busy �� .... As slack water approached we pulled anchor and moved onto the drifting. Wrasse fishing being a big favourite of mine. The next hour turned out to be quite difficult ... for no apparent reason, except maybe the excellent water clarity over the marks but some nice Ballan wrasse to about 3lb were caught, 15 between the anglers but poor cod, Mackerel, Gurnard and Codling made up the bulk of the action ... thats fishing so another move was made back onto anchor. Plenty of variety and the boys kept the scorer busy, maxing out on on a fair few species and adding a few more.

    As time rolled on and after pasties and more tea, we moved to the final mark, picking up a couple more species including three small feisty Tope and some reasonable Smoothounds and decent Huss.

    As the 'whistle' blew for the end of the match, it was hard to tell who was victorious ... but giving the hard working anglers time to tidy their tackle I went thru the score sheet, before heading for port.

    With a max of ten of each species the five anglers, returned 280 scoring fish between them and 19 species :

    Tub Gurnard, Dabs, Dogfish, Bull huss, Ballan Wrasse, goldsinny Wrasse, lesser weaver, Thornback ray, Codling, pouting, Poor cod, Grey Gurnard, Plaice, Dragonet, Ling, Mackerel, Whiting, Smooth hound and Tope.

    The winner : Dewi Roberts who travelled across from Anglesey and scored 367 points and 14 species. Well done mate ���� in a fun but competitive day you did the business ������

    All in all an enjoyable day with plenty of fish and banter .... and it didn't even rain ��

  • 12/08/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    12 Aug 2018 by Jonathan Law

    Not had a report for a while but thats not because the fishing has dropped off, far from it although there is a lull in the Tope action and the larger ones have proved hard work to find. Small ones are plentiful and growing fast and I expect those that survive till next year will come back large and fighting fit. In fact it has been noticeable how healthy and well fed all the species are this year. Even the often, too prolific Whiting we caught offshore last week, were pot bellied with quite a few very good sized ones already. I've probably mentioned this before but the Rays in the next few years should reach some specimen sizes and the numerous Tub Gurnards should get back to the sizes Rhyl was famous for, before the wind farm work, which will I hope be very nice for all. I honestly couldn't number all the species we have had in the last couple of weeks but its certainly respectable and even the odd Herring has not left the area.

    This coming Month I am away for a week Conger fishing in Weymouth and I only have one date free so lets hope the weather remains kind. On the 1st day of September, i'm running a fun species match and I still have places .. if interested please message me �� .... i'm quite excited and I'm not even fishing lol .... the trip is 9- 10 hours to fit all the marks in and will cost £45 per angler. Its a 5am sail which is a slight bummer ... but it will be worth it.

    Lastly Subject to weather I plan to have an evening into night trip, trying to get a Sole on the boat. Friday 7th September. 7:30pm till 12:30am. Quite specialised but will be quite something if we could find a few.

    All the best and tight lines.

  • 27/07/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    27 Jul 2018 by Jonathan Law

    A late cancellation gave the opportunity to get my light rods out and try a few things myself this weekend. A quick call to a fishing buddy and a few packs of worm and we were away.

    We had already decided to fish for smaller species with the aim of getting a bit of variety. Getting re acquainted with the angling out of Rhyl this year, has been a revelation or at least a reminder of something I must have weirdly forgot ��

    We started off with the aim of targetting a few Wrasse and sure enough we found them in numbers which was a surprise but the quality was even more impressive with many fish around the 4lb mark, awesome sport on light gear and oh man they didn't half fight. We were very careful to play these fish slowly through the depths and we could honestly say that they all went back down, angry ��but in good health which is nice.

    As the tide picked up we set the anchor on some rough ground and the species count rose quite dramatically, with plenty of mini's, Tub and Grey Gurnards .... surprisingly no Reds ! More Wrasses and a nice surprise and new species on the boat, a Topknot about 25cm. We were having great fun by this time and Kev caught a nice little Ling. we tried for a little Conger but failed .... only half a dozen Dogfish later the tide had started ease so we went back on the drift picking up more Wrasse and bits .. so with an hour and a half before we could get back ashore we decided to have a change and head inshore to see if there was any smoothies , Dabs and Bass biting .... well we failed to catch 1 Dab inshore ... un surprising as, our rods never stopped with small Hounds and Bass smashing the baits. 3 Small Tope managed to jump on, as we used up our last full squids. Again all brilliant sport on light rods �� .... finally we ran out of bait and it was time to return to base, having taken our tally to nineteen species. these were . Ballan wrasse, Goldsinny wrasse, Pouting, Codling, whiting, Poor Cod, Tub Gurnard, Grey Gurnard, Ling, Dogfish, Topknot, Dab, Tompot Blenny, Mackerel, Scad, Dragonet, Tope, Smoouthound and Bass.

    When you consider the possibilities and species not on that tally it has to be said that few ports can match the variety of sport Rhyl has on offer. The prolific Ray and Huss, big Tope and not to mention the offshore wrecking. This has been an excellent boat move for Privateer and I have to scratch my head why I have taken my local port for granted in recent years. It is proving excellent to get re aquainted with the port I pretty much started my boat angling journey ��

    I have a date, Saturday 1st September allocated to fish a friendly species comp. the trip will be 10 hours 5am till 3pm and I will be aiming to fish the above marks and a couple more so if you would like to have a go, please message me for more info. The cost will be £45 per person, not including bait and there will be a small trophy for the winner and lots of good humoured banter ��

    Thanks for reading.

  • 13/07/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    13 Jul 2018 by Jonathan Law

    Friday 13th Species match .... well fished all ����, despite the uncomfortable wind against tide in the first half of the comp.

    Very apt that 13 species were caught between the six anglers. Not as many as expected but in the conditions, not bad. These were : Dab, Dogfish, Grey Gurnard, Tub Gurnard, Bullhuss, lesser Weaver, Mackerel, poor cod, Ballan wrasse, Goldsinny wrasse, whiting, Thornback ray and Smoothound.

    After a steady start by all, it seemed that competitor John Traynor was just easing ahead and by the half way point was I think feeling comfortable but in the next peg Kev Preston was not rolling over easily and made things much much tighter after a visit to the wrasse mark. Strangely the fishing slowed down on the flood, the ray mark produced fish but not in the numbers expected as did the last chance saloon, 30 minutes on the Smoothounds. I had a sneaky quick tot up of the scores and with those 30 minutes to go ... it was very much looking like Kev would take the trophy but these things are usually a lot closer than you think and John sneaked out a little smoothie which put him just ahead again and with the setting of the sun .. it was all over John Traynor won the boat with 256 fish points and 10 species, well done him �������� and well fished all, plus most importantly it was a lovely freindly comp good banter to keep every one on their toes �� .... I enjoyed the battle just marking it and looking forward to the next one already ����

    Friday 5th October - 9am till 5pm ( 6 hours fishing ) £40 per entry.

  • 07/07/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    7 Jul 2018 by Jonathan Law

    In the last week the weather has again been excellent, catches from the port have also been excellent. On the larger tides there have been plenty of good Tope about. The Ray fishing is very very good, all the fish are fat and large with most now into double figures and plentiful. On Privateer we have had a mixture of species and this week even with the small tides it gas been possible to get interest off the Tope so there are a lot about. Some huge mackerel being taken amongst the usual fish and Gurnards also being taken on feathers. Largest weighed fish this week on my only trip were Tope : 41-02 and Thornback Ray : 13-06 with Huss mostly un weighed to about 13lb.

    The weather gods are kind, please check out my availability chart as I have two individuals trips advertised there. Thanks

  • 23/06/2018 Fishing Report by Jonathan Law

    23 Jun 2018 by Jonathan Law

    The Tope fishing has really taken off in Liverpool bay. Some tide is required and fresh mackerel. Then its just a matter of getting the boat positioned on their patrol routes.
    Being part time, its good to take the opportunities when available and we sure did Saturday afternoon with 13 Tope taken in around 2 hours ! I lost count of the dropped runs, as the tide eased the fish got craftier but an excellent session with all the anglers getting in on the action.
    Under the circumstances I only got the opportunity to weigh one fish, which weighed 49lb and it wasn't the heaviest boated. So its safe to say we are getting some excellent fish ... long may it continue and don't they fight in the shallow water .... make sure you set your clutches right :))))))

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