Latest Fishing Reports: My Way 2
Back to Main Charter Page-
05/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
May 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Our last report ended with our thoughts turning to the influx of the quality smoothhound, normally associated with My Way during May the best part of June.
We didn’t have to wait too long, My Way was booked on Wednesday 09th May by Graham Hinchliffe from Chester, for some early season action and hoping to whet the appetites for more of his colleagues, eager to get afloat for their first boat fishing session ever.
With a typically poor forecast the lads enjoyed a good morning with plenty of variety coming to the baits dogs, whiting, plenty of dabs, with a few coalies, and pollack. On both marks, the fish kept biting for all the crew with some of the whiting making very good sizes for the time of year. On the mussel beds we also had a few spotted rays break the continuous bags of dogfish, whiting and codling.
To end the day, we had decided to spend the last couple hours trying for a few smoothhound. Gareth on Spindrift had landed the first of the season for Holyhead the previous Sunday, 06th May.
After an hour of inactivity, Graham was sat near the cabin enjoying a cup of tea and biscuit, on the stern his rod arched over and line started screaming from his Abu 7500 reel. Quickly on the rod, Graham lifted into the smoothie and for the next 25minutes battled against what looked to be a very good shark! When the smoothie broke surface, it certainly did look a good one, having taken nearly half an hour to land and with the fish swimming around other lines, we had quite a tangle to contend with.
The mass of line was quite fortunate to be honest, as when I reached over with the net; I slipped and dropped it in the water! Thankfully a couple lines snagged onto the neck of the net and I managed to retrieve it, albeit a little sheepishly.
Smoothhound safely in the net, and now aboard My Way, it looked big, we grabbed the weigh sling and our new calibrated scales, so far unused on anything double figures! Graham’s smoothhound topped the scales at 20lb 6oz, a beast of a fish and what a superb weight to start our 2012 adventures.
We landed another hound of 11 and dropped a couple others; hopefully this is the start to another excellent smoothhound season aboard My Way. -
05/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
May 2012 by Gethyn Owen
For a number of years now, April has always seen us bask in a mini heat wave, as a a few ridges of high pressures role over the country and reward anglers with settled seas and a good number of species and double figure fish, firmly wetting the appetite for the year ahead.
2012 however, has bucked this modern day trend well and truly, wind and rain has scuppered many days out for anglers throughout the United Kingdom, especially in our small corner of north Wales. With the harsh weather never quite going away, we appeared to be cancelling far more trips than we were actually managing to get afloat.
As reported a month ago, April was off to a flying start for us, with settled seas and a trip to the southern half of Holyhead deep rewarding the crew with huss & spurdog, the majority of both well into double figures. The weather turned foul the following morning, putting any thoughts we may have had of fishing the deeps on hold once more.
The fishing when we have been able to get out has been difficult to say the least. Inconsistent weather patterns have in a way been reflected in the fishing we have had. Inshore marks that have come up trumps one day with an early season haul consisting of dogfish, bull huss, spotted and thornback rays along with codling, coalfish, whiting tub gurnard etc. have the next day, struggled to offer even a dogfish.
Regardless on most occasions the anglers have all caught well, the struggle has really been locating the fish at times and putting a finger on any form of feeding pattern.
The weather cancelled one of our Easter children’s trips, but we did manage to get one day afloat, reduced prices, plenty of fish and certainly smiles and wonderful experiences for our young shipmates.
Mid April and the wind abated for a day and allowed a brief sortie into Holyhead Deep, sadly I’d forgotten to inform all the marine life. A hand full of huss, plenty of dogfish and a solitary spurdog for Tash, who stole the bragging rights from the male crew was all the reward for our efforts.
The rest of the month saw us venture out into the bay on a few more occasions, fishing large tides for a variety of inshore species inshore.
.
Hopefully the weather will start to sort itself out now as we prepare ourselves for a major highlight in the season aboard My Way - the influx of quality smoothhound. We have only a handful of spaces available for a normal day time sail, but do offer anglers the opportunity of fishing for these hard fighting small sharks during our popular evening trips. Sailing from 5.30 pm we return to port usually for 10pm. Please call or email if interested. -
04/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Apr 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Very hard 4 days afloat just gone. Northerly winds put paid to any form of travelling and getting the most from the influx of species as we normally do towards the end of April.
Never the less everyone got on with the task in hand. Nothing too big came to My Way, my own fault for purchasing and calibrating a new set of scales for 2012. Plenty of dogfish, whiting, small codling, huss and a few pollack on the drift. We also saw a few small rays – thornie and spotted as well as pout, poor cod, a few dabs and some coalies and a lonely tub gurnard.
Force 7 on the cards middle of this week and then it calms off, hopefully enough to allow us to spend a few days out in Holyhead Deep. -
04/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Apr 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Sailing daily during the last set of spring tides, we’ve had mixed fortunes afloat, with good and bad days trying our patience. Species wise some of the anglers have been rewarded with dogs, codling, whiting pollack, coalies and a few mini species along with slightly bigger catches in huss, rays and spurdog.
A really enjoyable day was had during one of our Easter fishing outings for Adults & Children. Here the price of a trip is reduced significantly, with the emphasis on getting the junior anglers afloat with parents and friends and enjoying some outdoor fun.
The second week of the Easter break and a difficult forecast was upon us with a westerly wind breezing across Holyhead Bay – never the less our young anglers set sail with a dogged determination to have fun and enjoy themselves during the 4 hours afloat. Our first mark proved hard with just a few dogfish, small huss and the odd codling gracing the deck of My Way.
After a quick move, sausage butties and Easter time crème eggs, we started to catch more. Enthusiasm was now at its highest point in the day as plenty of dogfish yet again, now 2 at a time, along with whiting, codling, dab and a solitary thornback ray came aboard to be met with beaming smiles.
A great 4hours afloat, one enjoyed by both children and adults alike. -
04/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Apr 2012 by Gethyn Owen
The last couple weeks of March along with the rest of the country, Anglesey basked in some wonderful weather; glorious sunshine, little wind and a few days afloat with mixed fortunes for our anglers.
This early in our season the fishing can be a little hit and miss when targeting specific species. However, setting with a selection of rigs and baits can help anglers to a healthy spring mixed bag. Setting sail on calm days in March or April are superb and when the anchor is dropped only the fish being caught and banter on deck breaks what can be an eerie silence. Summer time, you often have the roar of jet skis, water skiers and other boats disturbing the silence as you set sail, more so at weekends. But this time of year, similar as the year passes by to mid-week trips; it’s eerie to have only the engine of My Way breaking that silence for residents of the marina.
One memorable trip with the majority of the 10 rods aboard novice anglers we concentrated our fishing inshore around Holyhead Bay, the task ahead of us today was to catch fish and a number of different species. The medium tide ensured that we didn’t have to go too heavy on our leads and were able to use a selection of different scratch rigs to tempt a variety of species.
Coming to the boat in abundance was the ever present dogfish with some small whiting until Jodie broke ranks and showed the lads how to catch a thornback ray, her fish ray! At the bow of the boat sister Freya was happily catching double shots of fish, much to the annoyance once more of the guys, her fished included our first sea scorpion of the year.
Further excitement was heard on the deck when a few 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 sushi meal. The end product did surprise me a little as it looked, identical to what you see in magazines or online food websites. As many aboard My Way tucked into the coalfish, I agreed to give it ago.
I have tried other forms of sushi, and to be honest never quite liked the taste, but was determined to give this one a go. Well, despite the rave reviews from others on board I can report that for me, from now one food will always be cooked. Never, ever again!
This years Home International Boat Championship is to be hosted by the Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers; the event brings together some of the best anglers from the UK’s 4 homes nations in a hard fought battle, where pride and bragging rights go rightfully alongside the Gold Medals.
Running from Holyhead, the 2012 event will be fished aboard local charter boats My Way, Spindrift and Empress with Boy Evin as reserve vessel. The anglers will fish both at anchor and on the drift for a variety of species through the catch & release event. Points are then awarded relative to the ease of capture for any given specie. It was during an official practice day for the Welsh National Boat Angling Team that we had our first couple blondes’ rays in 2012.
The practice was for getting accustomed to tidal strengths and sea bed, it was not necessarily what John Traynor expected when he lifted his telescopic rod and played a respectable blonde ray of 13lb.
Our first trip out to deeper waters west of Anglesey saw My Way regulars from Wrexham rewarded with a good number of quality Spurdog. All that is except organiser Mike and crewman Harry who both took a barrage of abuse from anglers often onto their 2nd Spurdog before our intrepid duo had even hooked into a Dogfish .
Many spurs and huss made the bulk of the catch in the deeps, with dogfish adding to the numbers. With the Spurdog weighing an average of 12lb, it’s another great start to the season for our offshore exploits. As time goes by rewards of those willing to fish the deep water with heavy leads will also include huss in excess of 15lb and some hard fighting tope.
http://www.goangling.co.uk/Report_2012_Mar-Apr-1.htm -
03/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Mar 2012 by Gethyn Owen
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, so it was great on Friday evening to finally check the weather and be in a position to say yes to the voices on the end of the phone.
Once again, the more settled weather early season had fallen on spring tides, big springs as well, 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. A good day of mixed species for early March was still on the cards.
The weekend aboard My Way was filled by 2 local groups of anglers, keen to make the most of the settled spell. However fishing in the Bay on a big tide in March can be hard work at times. Saturday I had decided to try a small patch of rough ground that I’d not fished before for the first hour and see what happened. It wasn’t long before dropping anchor that the dogfish moved in on our baits, with single and double shots coming over the sides. Not too bad a start, at least fish were present
We also had the odd small codling and pouting before Clive grabbed hold of his fishing rod as it received a few thumping bites. Using only general scratch rigs with small hooks on it was now a battle of wills between Clive and whatever had taken his bait.
Slackening off the drag to take any unforeseen dive from the fish and also slowly lifting the rod up to retrieve on the downward motion Clive skilfully brought the fish to the surface of the sea.
Whilst the battle continued we discussed what Clive may have caught, bull huss or thornback were the main suspects, at which point it also needed to be clarified what the £5 a head pool money was for – largest fish, most fish, most species or … sexiest fish! Hmm!
When the surface was finally broken, Clive had played a cracking small Conger eel of 16lb. Great catch for inshore and a superb testimony to his angling skills ….. and My Way rigs!
We had a move later on in the day to more broken ground and were rewarded with more fish and a few species additions. Dogfish made up the bulk of the catches along with a good number of huss, the odd codling, whiting and poor cod.
The day though was enhanced considerably with some nice coalfish. Not monsters at a few lb in weight, but tasty fish that went home with a few of the lads.
Sunday we started the day on our new mark once again, with a bit more tide I hoped we’d maybe see a couple more eels or rays. Thankfully we were rewarded early on with 6 thornbacks making it aboard My Way, all of though them small between 3 and 6lb but still first rays for the majority of captors.
Sadly the largest thornback threw the hook just as it broke surface … it looked double figures as it swam away. I can assure you no one laughed!
Leaving this mark, we tried a favourite spot on the mussel beds over HW slack, however this proved a bad move, with only a few dogs coming to the boat over the next hour. Normally a very productive area, early spring can be a little hit and miss when fishing the more tidal areas. The rest of the day was similar to that of Saturday, with bull huss, coalfish, Whiting and small codling joining the fun along with a few other species.
A nice mixed bag of species and a good laugh for an early March weekend.
For more information and to check our availability for boat and individuals please visit our website at www.goangling.co.uk
-
02/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Feb 2012 by Gethyn Owen
Having cancelled 3 days afloat a week earlier because of the high winds a more settled forecast for the last weekend in February was greeted with a very thankful smile. The tides once again on the large size cancelled any thoughts of a venture to Holyhead Deep, so inshore Holyhead was the order for the 2 days.
Saturdays crew of regular My Way anglers were looking forward to the laughs as well as the fishing. Pete ‘chilli’ Chant and company were all eager to get afloat, catch a few fish and have a good giggle at each other through the day. The fishing was fairly consistent for a cold February day – dogfish, small huss and small codling similar to 2 weeks ago were making up the bulk of the catches.
Amongst them, we also found a few coalies around 2lb in weight and a few decent sized whiting.
Pete though decided to go one better than everyone aboard and landed a very nice inshore ling, the ling went un-weighed but was estimated at around 4 to 5lb. Pete also showed the other guys how to hook into a better bull huss than the small pups the rest appeared to be catching.
The Sunday forecast was giving a little more wind, as everyone called in on the Saturday evening I relayed our exploits from that days fishing and confirmed a good day afloat was on the cards for Sunday, albeit with a little more wind. Sadly, on arriving at the marina it was clear that we had a lot more blowing and within an hour of sailing our wind speeds had increased to around 20mph with gusts nearer 25!
Never the less everyone tried hard to catch, whatever a day afloat in February could throw at them, today though in complete contrast to the previous day was proving very hard, with even the dogfish playing very hard to get. Everyone soldiered on, however with only a few dogs and small codling recorded. Towards slack water I wanted to move a few miles out and try our luck for bigger huss, but as the wind increased and the boat started to move more into the weather we decided to make a move for calmer waters.
A few dogs and whiting graced the decks as we enjoyed a bowl of chilli and cuppa, but with strengthening winds, tangling rigs and morale now at low point, we decided to knock the day on the head a couple hours early, saving a few quid for a better day in the future. Beaten but not dejected, we rescheduled a few places for mid-March, fingers crossed the weather gods are going to settle down for us! -
02/2012
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Feb 2012 by Gethyn Owen
On 07th February My Way was re-launched following a 4week stint in the boat yard having some well-earned TLC following the rigours of the previous year afloat.
The next few days were spent completing a few odd jobs before getting the kit ready for our first trip of the 2012 season.
This trip was on Sunday 12th February, with a 30ft tide and 8 novices and 1 angler; it was going to be an interesting day afloat for early February. The big tides would keep us inshore, but a pleasant enough day was on the cards with a few different species.
Fortunately the day went without too much of a hitch for our newcomers, the inexperience not really showing through as each of the lads took to using the gear fairly quickly. Sadly though the fishing was fairly slow on all the marks that we tried through the day.. Ever present were the dogfish, many coming to the anglers in braces and on the odd occasions as triple shots, mixed in with a fair number of small huss.
A few coalies graced the decks and with weights of around 2lb, they were quickly despatched as thoughts turned to a fish n chip supper for the fortunate anglers.
A few very small codling also came aboard along with a couple dabs. Gareth P a regular aboard My Way and experienced pleasure and match angler managed to break the monotony of double shots of dogfish with a small ling of a few lb. We also managed to boat 1 small female thornback of around 6lb in weight.
For more information on trips please visist our website -
12/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Dec 2011 by Gethyn Owen
A look back through the last 12 months
To view this report with photographs please copy and paste this link into youir internet browser
http://www.goangling.co.uk/review-2011.htm
2011 kicked off with My Way being lifted out of the sea for some well earned TLC. We pull the boat out of the water each year for various jobs, along with a routine service My Way was this time due a good lick of paint. Stripping the red right back, the undercoat for the red was pink. Yes I did receive some very unwelcome comments and wolf whistles!
Our first few trips of 2011 saw is staying close inshore and fishing around our numerous marks in Holyhead Bay. Early season in Holyhead is never going to set the angling world alight with record breakers. If weather allows us to move offshore, we may be lucky enough to hook into congers, spurs and huss, but normally we tend to maximise the fishing time and fish in and around the bay. Here for certain the fishing is going to be consistent with plenty of fish and a fair good variety of species coming to those anglers braving the cold mornings winter breeze!
Reliable species include dogfish, dabs, whiting, codling and huss all of which are caught on the majority of marks we fish early season in our Bay. You can then add to the mix, pollack, coalies, thornbacks and blonde rays along with a fair amount of mini specie. It’s a good time of year to have a go at catching fish in numbers, regardless of specie and size a proper test for aspiring match anglers, where 3 fish a drop should be essential.
As the waters slowly stared to warm up in March and April our fishing adventures improved. Broken ground always throws up a variety of species for early season, but equally as important, a consistent supply of fish. We’re not renowned for our plaice fishing in this part of north Wales and sadly those we do get are rarely the dustbin lids you see in the magazines; but this one caught mid-March was good enough. Our first for 2011, but as captor Monty Burns pointed out that this was his first ever plaice whilst aboard My Way.
One day, where I had originally planned to drop anchor the mark was covered with lobster pot markers. Never one to opt for the ‘near enough’ option, we had a little look around the area for a spot of broken ground that …. looked fishy! Using the down-looking imaging on our new Lowrance HDS system, we were able to isolate a patch of ground that appeared to have fish holding capabilities; anchoring uptide, so that our baits could trot back nicely over the broken ground, the rewards where very quickly upon the boat with everyone catching plenty of fish and many double and triple shots from the off.
The sheer number of small huss coming aboard the boat today was astounding, brilliant broken kelp covered ground, ideal for small fry to shelter and small huss to feed on them! With winds scuppering offshore marks in February and early March our first deep water anchor for 2011 was not until 26th March.
April was a month of glorious weather, the sun was often up high and we seldom had any wind of note! Big fun in deep water was the regular plan; before then though we’d set sail to load My Way with some fresh bait and fodder for the dubby bag to help bring the bigger targets to us. We managed to hook into a fair number of small pollack and herring over various marks on our travels around to Trearddur Bay, the herring were to prove extremely useful for dubby. Their extremely oily bodies can prove a major attraction for many species around our shores. 3.5hrs was an average spell in the deeps, catching continuously huss, dogfish and some cracking spurdog. Many spurs are released outside of the boat with only a handful of cracking double figure specimens coming aboard for a quick photograph.
Now into mid-April the water temperature was rising and fish quantity and species were ever increasing. When launched the sea temp in Holyhead Bay was a mere 7’, it had now though increased to 9.5’ and this was being reflected in our catches, fishing continued as reported for both inshore and offshore marks. With weather finally on our side, April saw us spend a lot of time in Holyhead Deep where spurdog numbers were again delighting our anglers and the first small tope of 2011 were coming aboard.
Towards the end of April we had an additional bank holiday in the UK to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The F6 NE wind on the day was not going to dampen our spirits. Never one to pass on an excuse for a party we fished inshore and tucked into various items of food, similar to all the streets parties being enjoyed on dry land. Check out there photos here
Foul weather welcomed May and this weather was set to continue off and on for most of May. In fact it was the worst start to May that I can remember with gale force winds keeping My Way tied to her berth. When cancelling I think it is fair to say that all skippers take careful consideration of the day that may lie ahead. It is not simply a case of throwing the ropes away and rushing out for cover. Safety is no doubt paramount, but our enjoyment is the next most important thing on the agenda.
Sometimes the weather scuppers the odd plan, such as a trip to Holyhead Deep, yet a safe and enjoyable day catching a variety of fish is still possible elsewhere in the bay. Although when the wind is howling to the extreme and your boat is going to swing around on anchor, throwing gear or the anglers around as the next wave hits the beam of the boat – is it really worth it?
May is traditionally the time of year that My Way is involved with some of the best smoothhound fishing in north Wales. Our first run out for 2011 was mid-May with a crew of My Way regulars from Merseyside; this bunch of hardened anglers are smoothhound mad and boast many fish landed aboard My Way in the high teens and also a 20lb 2oz monster a couple years ago. Our first hound was on the hook within an hour of fishing and fell to Ian ‘Golden Peeler’ Tomo who went on to land a further 2 hounds and smash his PB once again. However the sweep fell to smoothhound novice Graham, who, as everyone watched Ian play the first hound, quietly went about his business of fighting a reasonably good hound. As Graham’s smoothhound broke the surface, it was a little more than reasonable and deserved a weigh! At 20lb 3oz, it was another monster, a whopper for a first hound and one hell of a start to our 2011 Smoothhound season!
For the next 5 weeks we spent the vast majority of our time fishing only for smoothies, resulting in amongst the many double figure hounds, 7 over 20lb. Check out our 20lb hound gallery on our website. We also set a new Holyhead boat record of 28 hounds landed in 1 session. This was when Boat Fishing Monthly Editor Dave Barham and BFM photographer Jim Midgley made their annual smoothhound pilgrimage to Holyhead. You can read Dave’s blog on the trip va the BFM website.
For the Spring Bank Holiday we ran our first Smoothhound Challenge competition The event was a great success with many hounds being caught, with the winner taming an 18lb specimen to win the first prize of a new Fladen Sensor Tip Rod and Multiplier reel. Next year we have managed to secure sponsorship from Fladen for the event that has now been increased to 2 days.
July the 4th was another day to remember! With it being a day that people in the USA celebrate the declaration of Independence from the UK, we decided to pay our own tribute and celebrate ... My Way style. Yes, this meant only one thing Fish & Food, so it was off we set in bright sunshine whilst waiting for our breakfast of big thick ¼lber burgers to cook. Fishing did interrupt our food at times as doggies, huss, gurnard, whiting, dabs etc came aboard My Way from the 30ft spring tide. It was soon lunch time and I had planned some great big US of A hot dogs. Pete Chant, originally from Holyhead and now living on the Wirral brought along a massive pan of chilli – chilli dogs it was. As everyone munched down for lunch we made our way around to Trearddur Bay where drifting for wrasse and pollack made the agenda once again. Then on the sail home we rounded USA day aboard My Way with jam donuts and caawwfeee! Superb, great fishing, great food and certainly a great laugh.
Moving further into July the weather tried its best once again to put the dampeners on our days afloat, un deterred we set sail regular and our anglers were rewarded once again with an excellent mixed bag of inshore fish ranging from the ever present lesser spotted dogfish to 18lb smoothies, a great array of pb’s and many angling firsts.
It’s always a pleasure to take anglers out on their first time fishing, when planning days like this I much prefer medium to big tides, thus keeping us inshore, the water flowing and allowing us to help the angler get the most from both drift and anchor fishing. Putting someone new onto a mixed bag of species has a great effect on them and certainly helps heightens their desire for more.
When the weather allowed, the deep waters off Holyhead didn’t disappoint, for little over 3 hours on most days all the rods aboard My Way bent double time and time again with wither huss tope or spurdog.
Whenever we venture to these grounds, it is simply a case of baiting up big. You avoid the smaller fish and concentrate simply on those double figure sharks that like to pull back. During July we helped film an episode of the welsh Language fishing show Sgota. We were tasked with finding a variety of both big and small species for present Julian Lewis Jones and My Way regular Sion Hughes to catch.
We managed to help the guys out with a variety of species including codling, pollack, wrasse, huss and tope. But the best catch of the day fell to Sion. The budding WRU star has sailed with us on many occasions; sadly for a couple years I have failed the young angler with his wish to catch a spurdog. Despite watching others catch, the spurs simply ignored Sion's baits. This day, with cameras rolling My Way finally came up trumps for Sion, with a superb spurdog of 19lb, a mere 13oz under the current welsh record
August was the final month in north Wales of any resemblance to good weather. Flicking through the diary it is though fair to say we managed to sail on the vast majority of days in August, sadly many of these days were with restrictions as to where we could search out our prey. With many days seeing us sail no further than Holyhead Bay itself.
Despite numerous tope from Holyhead Deep in the 25lb bracket and a few tope in the bay, our largest tope this year has just gone 40lb. In August occasionally anglers choose to sit out in the hope of a good inshore Holyhead tope, these are amongst the largest in north Wales, with the current Welsh record of 79lb caught and released aboard My Way 6 years ago. This though is a crew choice and cannot be forced upon the anglers, sitting out for a long period of inactivity in the hope is not for the majority.
The various reefs produced very well this year - wrasse, pollack and codling with the sizes of the latter reaching 6 or 7lbs on occasions, 2011 saw the best influx of codling in and around Holyhead for many years, sadly though the reliability not always as good as the anglers would hope for.
Reliable though is the wrasse, plenty of good specimens averaging 2 to 3lb, with the odd fish going up to 4lb. As August continues these will improve and offer fish touching the 5lb mark on calibrated scales.
.
September and everything started to fall apart, westerly winds over force 6 battered north Wales leading up to the Military InterService championships, held from Holyhead for the second year running. More high winds during the event meant we lost the 2 practice days. Day one was spent in 30ft of water inside the harbour catching dogs, whiting, huss etc, For the second day we managed to sneak out but still the fishing was hard work with high winds, choppy seas and very coloured water. As these photos show, the conditions were not ideal at all, this is within the inner harbour!.
Through Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec much of the UK and especially north Wales has suffered from the worst winds for a very long time. We have managed to grab the odd day afloat, but nothing you’d class as a run, in fact the best only a few days before the next set of West or gale force winds blew hard. Despite everything, it has been another good year aboard My Way; the fishing has been fantastic at times, poor on others … that’s fishing! I’m sure you have always seen My Way try hard to put you amongst the fish.
Our species list once again fell short of my target of 50, but 35 is still a great achievement for all the anglers who helped us along. So amongst our 2012 targets we‘ll still be aiming for 50species!
The My Way species list for 2010 totals 45: -
Main fish list - bass, black bream, bull huss, codling, coalfish, dogfish, dab, conger, flounder, grey gurnard, red gurnard, tub gurnard, herring, ling, mackerel, plaice, pollack, pouting, blonde ray, thornback ray, spotted ray, 3 bearded rockling, greater sandeel, scad, ss sea scorpion, common smoothhound, starry smoothhound, spurdog, tadpole fish, tope, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, whiting
Mini Specie - tompot blenny, dragonet, black goby, rock goby, shore rockling, ls sea scorpion, corkwing wrasse, goldsinny wrasse, rock cook wrasse, lesser weaver
Thank you to everyone who has supported us through 2011.
-
11/2011
Fishing Report by Gethyn Owen
Nov 2011 by Gethyn Owen
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.
