Latest Fishing Reports: My Way 2
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05/03/2013
Fishing Report by Mark Dolben
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
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
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
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
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
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
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! -
10/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Oct 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Following our last report we had a week of fairly unsettled weather in Holyhead cancelling a few trips and throwing the following weekends Fun Match amongst other trips into Jeopardy.
One trip that we did manage was a short 4hr trip into Holyhead bay, the emphasis more on catching fish than targeting any particular species. Our skipper for the day was young Jensen, who guided My way perfectly to the mussel beds where we spent a good couple hours catching dogfish, whiting dabs and small huss in great number, with rigs coming back to the boat with single double and treble shots of fish. My Way fun competitions have been running for a good number of years, primarily autumn & winter trips with the odd match during the summer months, they are nothing special other than a good general days fishing.
As you search for a variety of species and numbers of fish we record what you catch. These fish are awarded points against a pre-determined list, catch the most in fish points and you win! Prizes are also available for 2nd and 3rd places. Common fish such as dogfish and whiting awarded 1 point, wrasse and pollack 2 points and the likes of tope and huss the maximum 3points.
We started our match on 20th October trying for a few wrasse and pollack on the drift; sadly we were only rewarded with a couple small fish. The breeze together with tide was pushing us just the little too fast for a successful drift and we lost a more traces than fish we actually caught. So we decided to drop the anchor in Church Bay and set about catching some fish and putting a few points on the scoreboard for the anglers.
It wasn’t long before we had the first fish on the boat … a dogfish. A few more followed but before talks of kennels could be justified Tojo broke ranks with a nice coalfish followed by a small codling for Colin Gibson, both fish around the 1½ lb mark. In our fun matches there are no size limits. We have anglers of all abilities taking part and it is their ability to catch fish that gets rewarded, once baited and lowered to the bottom you cannot always tell what size of fish will be attracted to your bait, especially inshore during the latter months of a year.
In typical My Way fashion a good lunch was enjoyed during a lull in the fishing and sausage, bacon and baked bean butty's were wolfed down by a hungry crew.
After lunch the tide was starting to slacken off and we moved My Way to some slightly deeper water in Holyhead Bay. Fishing on the mussel beds can be as varied as anywhere in the bay, however with the immense tidal strength we are restricted to slack water anchors. On first drop the anglers were soon into a healthy mixed bag of dogfish, whiting and dabs, plenty of 1 point fish coming aboard in single double and triple shots.
As the water slackened further the first call of net was heard, as, mixed in with the small stuff the guys proceed to catch 28 big huss in the 2 hours fishing we had at this spot.
This very rare creamy white bull huss was caught by Tojo during the fun match ... more photos
Our final move of the day was for a last hour on the mud just outside the harbour. Numbers of rays tend to move back into the bay this time of year, so they'd make a welcome addition to the score sheets. Only 2 rays obliged, falling to both the anglers named Colin :).
The winning angler was Colin Gibson, his first time with us, who had caught a mixed bag including, dogfish, whiting, pollack, codling, poor cord and huss. 2nd place fell to Chris Nedon with Tojo in 3rd and completely delirious with the capture of his gorgeous looking bull huss.
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Despite the neap tides perfect for getting off to Holyhead Deep, the weather once again kept us inshore for the next couple days. Fishing though remained constant with plenty of variety coming aboard My Way with the bull huss tipping the scales on most occasions just past the magical 10lb mark.
On Tues 23rd Oct there was a break in the weather and we all geared up for some time in Holyhead Deep. We had plenty of baits at the ready ranging from mackerel, whiting and squid - all to be prepped on rigs hoping to avoid the dogfish and huss, concentrating solely on the big spurdogs.
Thankfully we weren't disappointed, with an average size of around 8lb, the lads on board also caught a number of of excellent spurdogs at 16lb in weight. Helping cement some great new personal best weights for the sharks. We were also bit off a couple times by some monster spurs, despite using heavy mono ... maybe next time!
If you are interested in a particular date or species to fish for please email or call to discuss the details 2013 Availability recently updated! -
10/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Oct 2012 by Gethyn Owen
September 2012 – has gone and good riddance – from a full month of bookings we sailed on a mere 7 occasions so bad was the wind. Additional to my last September report we did manage a couple days afloat in the middle of the month. With choppy seas to contend with we stayed inshore and managed to lift out a fair number of species with the biggest specimens coming from the many bull huss in Holyhead Bay.
During the first weekend of October the weather started to settle down, fortunately we were going to get a good few days afloat. Over the weekend we remained inshore and were rewarded with a good variety for species including more huss than I’ve seen in a long time on the mussel beds, with anglers pulling in at least 5 or 6 each.
On the drift we managed to locate some great inshore sport with pollock averaging 3lb for all the anglers with codling and poor cod mixed in. This was all great fun until our friend Colin the seal turned up and proceeded to remove the fish from the hooks without asking permission first, leaving just heads and gills attached to the traces.
Moving into the week, I was joined aboard My Way by some good friends from down south, Lloyd, Mike and Rob, all of whom make the 300 mile journey to fish aboard My Way a couple times of year. This month, the deep waters to the west of Anglesey were our chosen marks and we had been watching the weather change with immense regularity.
Owing to an increasing forecast the Monday was spent in the northern half of the deeps our reward was a good number of bull huss. Spurdogs was though what everyone wanted and they remained painfully absent for our valiant 4hour effort. We returned to Church Bay for the latter half of the day and just in time as a NE 20 blew through the bay.
Thankfully the weather forecast was to settle and with a sea predicted to flatten off nicely we decided the following day was to be spent in the southern part of Holyhead Deep, mid-October can be a great time of year for big bull huss, spurdog and the last of the big tope.
We were joined on the Tuesday by My Way regular Annie, who was going to show the boys exactly how to catch a few spurdog and after a couple hours playing with pollack and Colin the seal we made our way off to our chosen mark. On anchoring the tide was running hard, but this undeterred everyone fished through the tide retrieving bull huss and the occasional dogfish through the 130ft of water.
As the tide slackened we had a few irregular bites, a few thrashes of the head and the fish was lost, so tactics were changed slightly to encourage more bites from our intended target - the spurdog. It wasn’t long before Annie was into something big, pulling back and taking line from her reel and it was at this moment she reminded me that she was yet to catch a spurdog, despite numerous trips out! Today she wasn’t to be disappointed, managing to land 5 in total with a pb set at a very respectable 14lb!
Ann also went on to land a double figure spurdog and double figure bull huss on the same rig, from 130ft of water, great angling. The biggest of the day and another PB fell to the hook of Rob Field and topped the scales at an ounce of 17lb, again another superb spurdog.
The following day was again weather perfect for a venture to the southern half of Holyhead Deep. With a small group of My Way regulars from the Wirral, our day started once more trying to retrieve pollack underneath the nose of Colin the seal …. He won. Huss obliged and spurdogs obliged and yet again, it was another day of fun, fish and very dodgy jokes aboard My Way. The best spur so far for 2012 fell to Graham Ellis, until this point a spurdog virgin. At 19lb 12oz it was a mere 1oz under the current WFSA record, also caught and released aboard My Way a few years ago. -
09/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Sep 2012 by Gethyn Owen
We ended August with another good run of smoothhound. In Holyhead we tend to get a late run towards then end of Aug early September however most of these hounds tend to be on the small side with the largest around 8lb in comparison to the smoothies in the high teens and occasional 20lb+ sharks from early season in Holyhead Bay. Never the less, anglers can have great sport on light tackle as Carl Burns proved by landing 4 hounds during one blustery trip aboard My Way.
Sadly, it’s been a windy start to September once again this year, with the vast majority of trips being cancelled We have the tail end of the latest hurricane to blow over the Atlantic to thank for the relentless barrage.
The month started with members of the Skegness Angling Club making the trek across the UK, to fish aboard My Way with 5 members also booking spaces aboard Spindrift. We spent the majority of the morning at anchor in both Church Bay and the Mussel beds slightly to the west. My crew, made up of anglers and novices to boat fishing were rewarded with plenty of fish, single double and treble shots. Where as the majority of the catches consisted of doggies, whiting, dab, codling gurnards and the odd huss, given the weather and the novices not having caught so consistently before the day was good.
By lunch time the wind had increased dramatically and with a 30mph due south blowing, we headed for the shelter of Holyhead Mountain and dropped anchor within Porth Namarch where again the catches over high water consisted of dogs, whiting and the odd huss. Un deterred the guys an gals soldiered on whilst tucking into sausages, bacon and eggs!
Once we had lost some water and tidal strength I upped and anchor and we went on the drift around the Chair Rock and North Stack rock ledges, here we caught an abundance of wrasse – ballans, cuckoos and corkwings together with the odd pollack.
The weather for a few years now has left anglers with challenging situations on many occasions, but if you’re prepared to take the rough with the smooth, test yourself and accept some days don’t quite go to plan a great fun can be had. The few trips that we have been able to get out has seen similar fishing with the bull huss being the only double figure capture. Some of the whiting have gone a good size for Holyhead in the summer, these usually arrive mid August and see many anglers taking a good bag of 1 ½ lb whiting home for supper.
Possibly the best capture for My Way so far in September has been our third new species ever. The Leopard Spotted Goby is the smallest specie that we’ve landed so far, but one that created great excitement for myself and captor Ari Jones. My initial call was a Leopard, but then struggled with the possibility of it being a common goby. I texted a couple friends and uploaded a photo to our Facebook page, where some species hunting friends confirmed the capture to be a Leopard Spotted Goby, happy days indeed.
Hopefully the weather will start to settle down soon as this latest weather front moves on. Happy fishing where ever you go :)
We now have the Tide Files required to accurately plan our trips for next year. If you are interested in a particular date or species to fish for please email or call to discuss the details 2013 Availability recently updated!
