Latest Fishing Reports: My Way
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04/2013 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Apr 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Early season 2013 and the weather has played a major part in the fishing all over the UK. From mid-March all the way through April, the water temperatures have remained unseasonably low in comparison to previous years. Together with a relentless barrage of strong winds, it really has been hard to get out and put any sort of run together.
Early April and we managed to sneak out to the deeps on one day, as a small example, either side of this particular we cancelled because of strong winds. With a good group of regulars, we sailed around the coast looking for herring or pollack to supplement our frozen baits for our spurdog and huss hunt. Sadly none of them wanted to help us out. Barring 2 good spurdogs out in the deeps, the day would have been a real hard one.
An extract from our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GOAngling) this days fishing reads as follows:-
Glorious sunshine and flat calm seas today, nice end to the Easter period … sadly the fish failed to read my email! A painfully slow start to the day, drifting around the coast to Trearddur Bay saw no fish for the first 90 mins. A move to anchor, then a further move finally saw a few doggies, with the odd codling and whiting break the surface of the water.
Additionally we had a fair number of bull huss, sadly they were the smallest huss I had ever seen, the largest was smaller than a standard dogfish! The deep was sadly hard work also.
Dave managed to hook a beauty of a spurdog towards the end of our time, following on from Ian Thomo who hooked into the only other spur of the session, everyone else catching just dogs. Fortunately for Ian, it was his first spur and a very a decent one at 14lb 6oz
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The fishing through early April was hard work; even the dogfish were showing signs of hibernation. Normally April is a month that really gets going, all manner of species moving in and some fantastic sport with spurdogs, huss and small pack tope arriving in the Holyhead Deep. Towards the 3rd week of April things started to pick up on the fish front, with quantity and more species moving in.
This was when we managed another couple days afloat, having cancelled numerous trips in between leaving both me and the anglers extremely frustrated. With a planned trip off to the Deeps restricted again by a strong NW breeze one mid-April day, our efforts centred on various marks within Holyhead Bay. The usual suspects of dogs, whiting, dabs, small huss, codling plus more showing up to grace our baits and help out some of the crew with their clubs on going 2013 species hunt.
The following day the wind swung around to the south, too strong again to allow us to get to the deeper marks offshore but it allowed us to drift a few inshore marks around the Breakwater and Rocky coast in search of early season pollack that move in to Holyhead Bay.
Thankfully the pollack had arrived, nothing too big, the best specimen probably going 4lb, but with a fair number in the 2 to 4lb bracket, a few buckets were filled with some nice chunky fillets going home with the anglers.
Light tackle and 25 to 35 foot of water, makes for some great fun with these hard fighting fish. Sadly, the over all wind patterns remain unsettled for us at the moment and whilst colleagues on the south coast have basked in some fantastic calm seas, and hot days, we have had to dodge winds for the odd day or two afloat.
On the plus side, things though are quickly improving, the waters are warming up, the crabs are starting to peel and fish are moving into the bay with each passing day.
We have limited spaces available for the remainder of May and into June, if you are interested in a particular date or species to fish for please email or call to discuss, thanks. -
06/04/2013 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
6 Apr 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Glorious sunshine and flat calm seas today, nice end to the Easter period … sadly the fish failed to read my email!
A painfully slow start to the day, drifting around the coast to Trearddur Bay saw no fish for the first 90 mins. A move to anchor, then a further move finally saw a few doggies, with the odd codling and whiting break the surface of the water. Additionally we had a fair number of bull huss, sadly they were the smallest huss I had ever seen, the largest was smaller than a standard dogfish!
The deep was sadly hard work also. Dave managed to hook this beauty of a spurdog towards the end of our time, following on from Ian Thomo who hooked into the only other spur of the session, eevryone else catching just dogs.Fortunately for Ian, it was his first spur and a very a decent one at 14lb 6oz -
03/2013 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Mar 2013 by Gethyn Owen
The weather this weekend made for a challenging time for the lads aboard My Way. Erratic fishing saw, dogs, dabs, whiting and codling come aboard My Way in single double and triple shots, only for the following hour to slow down, forcing another move to seek out fish.
Huss and small ray helped bulk up the species count along with a few additional mini specie and a solitary plaice; thankfully some pretty unprintable banter and great food help ease the hardship of the bitterly cold east wind that forced us all to cover up behind big coats and hats all day long.
On reflection, a great weekend with a good bunch of anglers …. Roll on the summer! -
05/03/2013 Fishing Report by Mark Dolben on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
5 Mar 2013 by Mark Dolben
I've just spent two days aboard my way targeting spurdogs in the Holyhead deeps.
Ok the first day it just wasn't happening for me and at one point I was nicknamed the doggie king lol,
That's not to say it was only dogs that came to the boat,the other lads enjoying some superb action landing some cracking Spurs and Huss most well in to double figers.
Then it was a move in shore for a spot of general fishing in the afternoon and the boat was kept busy with ray's, Huss,polock,cod,whiteing, oh and plenty more dogs for me! I think it was because I stuck it out all day with big fish baits hopeing for a better fish and it just wasnt my day and the dogs were to quick, but that's fishing!
On the second day it was touch and go if we would make it out to the deeps, the wind had picked up a fair bit from the flat calm Sunny day before but in the end it was decided it would be safe enough as the wind was not forecast to get any stronger to make the trip.
This time we steamed out to a different mark up to the north, and it was on the way out that I remembered something Gethyn had noticed and commented the day before the two biggest spurs came on identical rigs and bait.
So I nipped in to the wheel house and Gethyn sorted me out with some of the rigs wich he ties himself and some advice on how best to set the hook and bait to use the end result was my first ever and new personal best spurdog a cracking fish well into double figers and the biggest fish of the day, I was absolutely made up and will remember the day for a long time to come, a big thank you to Gethyn for his advice and lesson learnt (again) Always listen to the skipper he KNOWS WHAT HE'S ON ABOUT!!
After that it was more of the same and a harty dinner of sausage black pudding and baked bean sandwiches (ooh there good!)
We steamed back in for some more general fishing in the afternoon,where we enjoyed another good mixed bag of fish.
So i would just like to say that I can't recommend a trip on My way enough great fishing good food a good bit of banter with the crew and a skipper that knows what he's on about.
I had a great couple of days and can't Waite till next time.
tight lines Mark. -
26/02/2013 Fishing Report by Mark Dolben on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
26 Feb 2013 by Mark Dolben
Had another good day aboard my way with plenty of fish coming to the boat, we tried several different marks picking up fish as we went we had 5 different species in all, cod, polock ,whiteing, bull huss, and dogs keeping us busy all day nothing huge but it was just nice to be out fishing and in the sun!!
Ok the wind was a bit chilly but with the hot drinks and the sausage sandwichs coming from the wheel house we hardly noticed cheers gethyn!
Top skipper! top boat! can't Waite for the next trip -
02/2013 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Feb 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Fortunately for us, My Ways re-launch earlier this month appears to have coincided with a spell of reasonable weather that has allowed us to sail quite regular. Having only launched 11 days ago, we have sailed on 7 occasions, each day though with greatly varying results.
Over the weekend of 16th 17th the forecasted wind has shown light southerly winds decreasing, however each day the constant wind speed remained in the high teens, often gusting well over 20mph, undeterred and with shelter from the southerly direction we managed to sail and catch a good number of fish from a variety of species.
The fishing although, consistent for February from Anglesey, remains hard work at times and a number of moves around the bay are required in the day to keep the anglers catching throughout our time afloat. There are a fair number of coalies swimming around Holyhead, with an average size of 2lb. Not the biggest but great sport on light tackle and a welcome change from the ever present dogfish and small whiting, coalfish are not too common neither, so it was nice to see a few lads catch their first coalie with us.
Another first was Tom from Wrexham who managed a first ray by way of a small thornback on a patch of mud not far from Holyhead Breakwater. Fishing was similar to the previous weekend with dogs, whiting and dabs making up the bulk of most anglers hauls with the addition of a few other species such as huss, thornbacks, codling and coalfish making the odd appearance.
By 19th, the weather had settled to barely a ripple on the water and with small tides and light winds we had decided on an early sail and a journey out to Holyhead Deep in search of some early spurdog fishing. Normally we see the odd few this early, but tend to leave our spurdog adventures till the middle of March. However with some of our crew having never caught a spurdog before, our trip had these hard fighting small sharks as our main priority.
Thankfully, we managed to land a few, with the majority going into double figures, Bryn Jones and Ricky Thomas were both able to record their first ever spurdog and Harry Hudson, who’d not caught a spur for a decade or two, managed to snare a couple including the heaviest of the day at 14lb.
Fishing alongside and not directly into a wreck for the spurdog, Ricky also tried a big mackerel bait ledgered on the bottom and managed to tick off another target of his for 2013, a conger eel. It was just a small eel, but satisfying in being a first. Sadly though he did get snapped on later in the day by something a lot bigger!
So far an excellent start to 2013, hopefully good weather and great fishing will bless us all for 2013.
www.goangling.co.uk -
02/2013 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Feb 2013 by Gethyn Owen
Last week we re-launched My Way after her period of routine winter maintenance and some tender loving care. Thankfully everything went well and we over 09th 10th February managed our first weekend afloat of the new 2013 season.
With spring tides upon us and not the best weather conditions, we decided to remain inshore on both days and try for a few different species to get the year underway. The first day it was a slow start for a few hours, with only the odd dogfish and whiting making an appearance. A change of mark mid morning and the fish started to come aboard a bit more frequently.
A further change of marks in the afternoon aided us in achieving a respectable 9 species for cold day in early February; dogfish, dab, whiting, bull huss, coalie, codling, pouting, sea scorpions and a couple nice thornback rays.
The following couple days finished in a similar manner, with plenty of fish and species, but nothing going over the double figure threshold.
Never the less, fun was had and 2013 is underway … looking forward to another great year afloat.
www.goangling.co.uk -
12/2012 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Dec 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Extracts from our year review, please find the full report and photographs by copying and pasting the following link into your browswe http://www.goangling.co.uk/review-2012.htm
During the second week in March we had some pretty mixed fortunes with the weather in Holyhead; both sunshine and rain in equal amounts and the winds not quite knowing what they should be doing. Once again, the more settled weather early 2012 fell on spring tides with both days just under 33ft in height. Not a terrible thing, but owing to the big tidal strengths around our area of operation it restricts our movements to inshore work.
We were rewarded each day with a great early season mixed bag, including dogfish, bull huss, coalfish, whiting, codling, and a fair amount of thornbacks making it aboard My Way, all though smallish average size between 3 and 6lb but still first rays for the majority of captors. Surprise catch in the shallow waters was a nice 16lb conger eel.
Further excitement was heard on the deck one trip when some plump coalfish came aboard; a few of the anglers then stopped everything … for sushi. One of the lads had brought along a top quality sushi making kit, rice vegetables, dips, etc. – we simply had to provide the fish. I then watched as in a very professional manner aboard a slightly rocking boat he eagerly prepared a sushi meal.
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With the tides dropping for the following day, we decided that a trip off to Holyhead Deep was called for and then try for the hounds later in the afternoon. Our day started drifting for small wrasse, pollack, codling and coalie for an hour. As the tide dropped we made our way off to a mark offshore, which would see us anchored in around 180ft of water, with the drop off laying the baits around 220ft.
Roy was first into a fish, a nice spurdog just short of double figures; we won’t mention how the skipper knocked it off with the net though J. For the next 3 hours, all 7 anglers were treated to a big fish bonanza and from 200ft of water, they certainly felt it afterwards. Every 5 minutes there was call of net as double figure spurdog were accompanied by double figure bull huss!
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June saw My Way sail with great regularity. I wouldn’t say that the weather has been the best, far from it to be honest. But we managed to work around most of what the wind gods had being throwing at us taking each day as it comes.
This scenario helped out by some great crews, for example where our intended marks have been off to Holyhead Deep and the wind has blown, we have simply loaded up with a selection of rigs and baits including quality fresh peeler crab and enjoyed a species hunt inshore along with some great small shark action inshore.
Fortunately we have seen some very good double figure smoothhounds aboard My Way once again in 2012; sadly only 2 have topped the magical 20lb mark this year.
But with many anglers reaching personal bests averaging 15lb and a few with 18 and 19lb fish it has again been a successful period for us.
please find the full report and photographs by copying and pasting the following link into your browswe http://www.goangling.co.uk/review-2012.htm -
11/2012 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Nov 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Never let the weather spoil a fun day afloat - 24th November 2012
For a change, I’ll start this brief report by whinging about the weather ....
What a week this has been for the UK, wind and rain of biblical proportions, anymore and I think Anglesey would be in danger of floating away! Anyway, Thurs / Fri of this week and everything appeared to be settling down for this weekend. Light winds and the odd drop of rain, hopes were high for a nice spot of fishing this weekend, with possible time in the deeps but mainly a few congers whetting all appetites.
Quick check on the weather last night and winds still forecast to be light … let’s go fishing! This morning though, the weather god had other plans. Light winds to start and then north easterlies coming up from mid-day, we weren’t due in until 6pm, but by 3 it was 20 mph and by 6pm the winds were forecast to gust 30mph!
After a brief chat we decided to just go for half a day inshore and get back to base around 2.30pm before the main winds started to increase with the flooding tide. So as we set sail, rigs were prepped for the onslaught of whiting, dogfish and dabs.
After the first half hour of fishing all anglers having caught well, with a few decent whiting being retained for a feed we decided to add a little spice to the remaining time and have an impromptu ‘Fun Match’ with the Magnificent prize of a My Way beanie … well it was a cold easterly breeze!
The fishing was steady for the next hour, with a good few Whiting and Dab coming aboard with surprisingly few Dogfish. Mark the Manc was taking a commanding lead from the others with double and triple shots of fish falling to his tactics. After an hour we lifted anchor with visions of spending a small amount of time on the drift for pollack and herring, sadly though to no avail. After a few drifts with only 1 solitary Ballan Wrasse for Warren we decide to anchor up again, this time a little further out on the edge of the famed Holyhead Mussel beds.
Fishing was now back on, as all the anglers started to pull aboard Whiting, Dogfish and Dab with the occasional poor cod and also nice tub gurnard. Things were starting to look a little grim for Mark the Manc as work colleague Mike, local rod Mark D and Scouse Andrew started to pick up double and triple shots of whiting as he brought in single fish. Sam and Dan on the other hand decided it wasn’t to be their day on the numbers and changed over to big hooks in the hope a rouge conger or maybe a huss would enjoy a half whiting offering, sadly not today.
I started the engine up to signal the end of the match and despite a triple shot of plump whiting in what could only be describe as ‘Fergie Time’ for Mark the Manc, Mark D from Menai Bridge came out the triumphant winner by 2 fish. We made it back and tied up as Port Control showed 19knots of NE wind.
Fingers crossed 2013 will be full of calm winds and calms seas for us all. -
11/2012 Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen on My Way (Holyhead, Isle of Anglesey)
Nov 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Wind and rain has continued to play havoc with our days afloat. This week in particular much of the country and Anglesey in particular has been hammered with winds in excess of 50mph.
Fortunately on the days we have managed to sail the fishing has been fairly consistent with a good number of fish and a variety of species available for the anglers.
One trip in particular saw a family group hop aboard My Way for a day of catching, nothing in particular, the emphasis was on having a bit of fun and hauling a good number of fish aboard My Way along the way. Fortunately everyone the fish had read the email I sent out and we were rewarded with plenty, with dogfish and whiting making the bulk but huss, dabs, gurnards and thornback ray amongst others adding to the fish count; many of the whiting well over 1lb in weight and going home for supper.
Herring, pollack and coalies have been around on a few trips now and all within a good take able size. Although I guess following this week’s seriously high winds, we may struggle to locate them for a few days or so.
We had another fun match last weekend; sadly a couple anglers had to withdraw the day before leaving only 5 fishing for the days honours. With big tides and a forecast that had a severe gale 9 moving in later that day our fishing was restricted to a few marks within Holyhead Bay.
Our first anchor produced only a handful of fish for the guys, a few dogs and the odd whiting, thus a move to some slightly deeper water was on the cards further into the bay. Here we started to hook into more dogs, whiting and a few dabs. As the tide slackened off Chris changed tactics to slightly smaller hooks and searched for a few species and was rewarded with a few poor cod and also a nice late goldsinney wrasse to add to his tally.
Chris and Harry were both edging into the lead slowly matching each other fish for fish. Chris was on the stern picking up single fish with a quick drop and retrieve, whereas Harry pegged at position 8 near the bow of the boat, took the approach of waiting to load the hooks up and retrieving less frequent however double shots and the odd triple.
From Telford we had Ray, Keith and Jim all having a small wager amongst each other as to who would take the honours and bragging rights for the journey back home. Keith following a slow start that saw him struggle to catch in the first couple hours, changed tactics in midway through the morning and was soon to be rewarded with regular double shots of whiting.
With rock goby, huss and tub gurnard adding to his fish list Chris was edging away from the pack slightly and came out the eventual winner for the day with just under 70 fish, beating Harry, into second place by a few fish.
Keith carried on his new found fishing fortune and took the Telford crown from Ray and Jim who vowed revenge on a return trip!