Unfinished business

After losing that big fish on Thursday I wanted to get back uo to Uwchmynydd and see if I could get another.

I stripped off the old line and respooled with some 30lb Asari braid and attached a 30lb YGK leader and selected some jigs from my stash. I mainy used some HTO Shore Jigs, Hart Glazers and some expensive slow jigs from Blue Blue and Zetz/Anglers Republic.

Would you honestly believe that the HTO Shore jig did more damage than jigs costing three times the price? Its bloody true you know!

The average size of fish was actually a lot smaller than my previous session, however it as a nice day and I photographed the largest fish of the session only, which were caught quite early on.

I'd say I still had unfinished business with some lunkers here so I will be back at some point!

I may do on my next day off although I may do something different as the drive is reasonably long and variety always helps keep me alive.

One thing I did notice yesterday seeing as it is half term, is the amount of floating litter being carried on the current from the North beaches like Whistling sands, also a lot of anglers litter including beer packaging on the rocks.

Now if you are a visiting angler reading this post, I ask you please; If you are going to pay your hard earned to come to a truly beautiful place like Wales, please take your shit home with you.

This area is home to some truly stunning wildlife with a delicate ecosystem at play, do not ruin the very thing you came to enjoy by discarding plastics all over the joint!

If you are local and discarding your rubbish in such a way, then bloody shame on you! Cymru am Byth, think about the Cymru you want to leave your grandchildren!

Tight lines

Mission(s) Accomplished

On Sunday I took my friend Kev out as he wanted to catch his first ever Wrasse and it was the hardest days rockfishing I have had this year! We went to Porth Ysgaden and lost a fish each, Porthor and blanked there too despite a few bites and finally Anelog where Kev got his first Wrasse! He got two actually but he dropped the first and largest in the water before I could get a picture, I got one of the second all the same.

I was very unsatisfied with the session to be frank, the fish were all tiny and I was still gagging for some better Wrasse, so I had hopes for today. I had been watching the forecast and it became clear that Uchmynydd was finally going to be near perfect, wicked!

A fairly light south westerly and a 0.7 foot swell, pretty much spot on for the more dangerous outer reaches.

I had originally intended on using my Rockfish Revolution 7'10" and was going to fish close in, however, I am running really low on 10g cone weights so I decided to take my 9' Hart Boushido 15-60g rod too.

I used the Hart rod most of all in the end, setting up a Carolina rig with a 30g drilled oval weight and some weapons of choice.

High tide Slack and the Wrasse were playing ball!

Bait Breath Key Stick 

OSP Dolive Stick - Bluegill

Dolive stick in a red colour

Dolive Stick - Bluegill

Fishing that deep is awesome and I love it, it takes a bit of effort to wind these buggers up from down there and its one of those places where anything can happen.

After a while the Wrasse switched off and I started catching some small Pollock and Coalies, I  therefore decided to stick a 40g HTO shore jig on in the hope of a decent fish. 

The fish were mainly small so I didn't take pictures aside from my best Coal fish, there actually were more Coalies than Pollock which is highly unusual, but I did say anything can happen.

Then the most annoying thing happened yet, it was awesome at the same time. I cast out my jig and free-spooled to the deck, jigging fairly slowly back towards me when I got slammed, my rod hooped over and the fight was on! I knew very well i had a decent fish on as it didn't want to move.

A tug of war ensued and I started to win the battle, getting the fish higher in the water and away from the snags, then just as I thought to myself "please dont let the hook pull" the fish made another go for it and snapped my braid!

I was just left in disbelief, I really had started to win this tug of war then got beat in the last minute.

I tied on another leader and my last jig but was only getting small fish again, my thoughts started to darken and I felt somewhat depressed. I have never caught a double figure sea fish and felt that this was definitely a double.

Anyway with bad juju coming over me I decided to have a word with myself and then moved, there will be other days and another go!

I moved to a sheltered cove and decided to fish lighter with my Rockfish Revolution 7'10 and targeted the small Wrasse, the tide was much lower now so that is really what becomes available. I certainly felt better, as I do love catching Wrasse.

HTO Midi Stick - Margherita 

Well after a few feisty little ones I decided to finish my session and head back home. My thoughts were a bit more positive and I should be happy anyhow, I set out to catch some better Wrasse and that is what I accomplished, the rest was just bonus. I will be back to that spot again though, as soon as conditions allow!

Thanks for reading and tight lines.

A couple of tough sessions

I've had a brutal couple of sessions lately, Ideally I would like to find some larger fish so I have been using more HRF gear as opposed to light game lately but it hasn't gone quite as expected!

The other day I managed to get stranded on a rock in a seriously rookie tide mishap and had to eventually wade my way off, the water was bloody glacial! On the same day I slipped down a rock face and got covered by a freak wave, again, glacial!

Today was less in the way of accidents, the fishing was just strangely and brutally hard and filled with fish I would rather fight on lrf gear. 

Still there are positives hey, the weather has been peachy and my brown skin ain't all bruises. The coast has looked absolutely stunning even if it didn't yield as expected and there is always another day, thats just fishing!

Here's a few pics;

Competition cleaned up!

So I was out again yesterday and decided to explore a stretch of coast west of Porth Ysgaden, big tides and settled conditions had me hopeful yet the fishing was pretty slow. I found a gully that screamed Wrasse yet not even a nibble! Ok so I moved over the rock ridge to the gully mouth and all became clear.

Yep, an Island with four seals on and two in the water! The two in the water looked like pups and decided to hound me as I moved elsewhere along the shore, nice to see in some ways yet a pain in others.

I did eventually catch some fish but it wasn't epic, well the fishing wasn't anyway, the coast and weather however was pretty damn good!

Early Wrassing.

Just a quick post to let you all know I'm still here! Still fishing when I can and still very much a rockfish junky!

I have mainly been fishing the North peninsula lately, the conditions aren't quite what I would like yet but they're getting there and I hope to see some bigger fish turning soon!

Here's a few photo's;

More to come soon, I promise!

Tight Lines.