Last light Bass

This is probably not really worthy of a blog but then again its only the second time I have targeted Bass this year, with a decent spring coinciding with sundown it'd be mental not to.

It was proper hard going though, as although I could see Bass topping the water is full of loose green weed at every depth, making lure presentation proper hard.

Anyway I managed to sneak one out and christened my 9'6 HTO Shore Game, only a small fish but it has been so long since I have targeted Bass I was glad just not to blank!

This little fella took a Jackfin Salty Dog;

Llyn Eiddew Mawr

A week ago I went to Llyn Eiddew Mawr in the Rhinog foothills, its a lake I have fished before and isn't as much of a trek as Llyn Hywel, though the fishing wasn't quite on par either.

There was quite a strong South Westerly blowing and the fish I did find were deep down until sundown.

Its a beautiful place though and really the fish were a bit of a bonus, I just enjoyed being out.

I had ten to fifteen fish, all small but pretty and the lure that worked the best was again the DUO Spearhead Ryuki 50S.

Tight Lines

Sunday Sport and Banter.

My friend Jon popped into work on Saturday and asked if I fancied a fish seeing as the weather was looking good, as were the sea conditions, obviously I said "yes!"

We had pretty much decided to head up the peninsula and fish the deeps with light game gear, the tides are small just now and low water would be around 13:00. I figured with the tides being small, we would be able to fish with the ultra light set ups as the sea would be below the barnacle line and also below the majority of the nasty shelves, indeed it was a good call.

Starting out at 7:00 we made our first stop at the less extreme Pwllheli Beach, hoping for Bream I settled with a brace of decent sized Mackerel which provided some good sport.

This fish actually managed to snag me on one of the treble hooks when I was trying to unhook it, which left my finger bloody and sore for a bit!

We didn't stop too long at Pwllheli and headed up to Aberdaron for coffee and a pasty before heading to the deeps at Uwchmynydd.

I was using my Yamaga Blanks Blue Current 76ti, Daiwa Luvias 2506 spooled with YGK X8 Upgrade PE and YGK leader, at the business end I had a 7g HTO Shore Jig rigged with my own  size 10 assist.

I started catching pretty much right away and after a couple of small Pollock had a pretty decent fish.

Jon was also catching some Pollock and we were hitting into some decent Mackerel too.

I admittedly seemed to be getting the better fishing and must have just got myself into a productive little swim as the fish got a bit better!

A pretty decent Pollock coming in at five and a half pound, which put up quite a scrap on my light game setup! Jon did help me land it with his trusty Prox landing net.

A couple of casts later Jon was heading back over with his net as I had a real good scrapper on! A slightly smaller fish but much much brighter in the fight and as it took a good amount of line twice, I really did think I was losing this one, thankfully I kept my cool and played her in.

That fish was by far the best fight I have had all year and a real adrenaline rush!

The fishing slowed down some from there so we made a short move south along the headland for some Wrasse action.

The Wrasse weren't exactly firing and in fact I was still picking up more Pollock than I was Wrasse, mainly on the HTO Dagger.

Jon had a few small Ballan Wrasse and a cracker of a Corkwing, it is actually the first Corkwing I have seen landed at this mark.

The fishing did tail off quite a bit, so we headed back into Aberdaron for chips and drinks, over dinner I did wind Jon up about my pretty epic Pollock brace which met with threats of walking home!

After our fill and especially Jon's fill of me going on about my Pollock, we returned to Pwllheli with the hope of some more Mackerel and also some Bream.

It was pretty dire there too by now and I landed the only fish there in the form of a Gar, my first this year I think!

Well I finished the day tired, but pretty happy and I'm sure Jon will get a better reward next time!

It was a good day though with plenty of banter, fish and just good chat, a session to remember!

Tight lines.

Out and a Trout.

I have mainly been fishing the Artro Associations waters lately, but I have found them a bit lacking if I am honest, whether its just they are pressured waters or just low on fish is anyones guess, but they don't seem to fish that well.

With a couple of blanks under my belt I decided to head way off the beaten track as far as Anglers go and fish a lake I have been thinking about for some time; Llyn Hywel.

I have been to Llyn Hywel many times on my hiking forays, it's a beautiful place situated between the summits of Rhinog Fach and Llethr. At 1831 feet above sea level its a bit of a trek to get to and if you are planning on fishing it I'd recommend allowing one and a half hours for the ascent and the same for the descent.

Rhinog Fach's summit imposes over Llyn Hywel

It was quite amusing on the ascent to be stopped by two hikers asking if there were actually any fish in the lake, one of them even said "I've never seen any movement on the lake" while looking at me as if I was crazy. Funny thing was as soon as I hit my destination there were small Trout topping all over the place.

One thing is for sure though, I did not know if I would catch or how large the fish would be if I did!

I guess I was hoping that there may be a decent fish or two to contend with, however, I would be happy just not to blank.

I started fishing the shallower water where I first arrived and was pretty much straight into fish, certainly nothing of any size but properly wild and very charming looking fish, most favouring small Trout Spoons.

I stayed in that spot or a while just having some fun, though the fish were small they were my first Llyn Hywel trout and pretty looking at that, they certainly made me smile!

Moving around the lake and into the much deeper areas I had hoped to find some bigger fish but alas,! It wasn't to be. I was somewhat surprised though as I was catching scores of these little fellas, yet there must be something spawning all these juvenile fish? 

Ah well, I was fishing a beautiful location and catching tons of fish, might as well make the most of it right? I bloody did too!

I stayed maybe four hours before coming down and easily caught over 50 fish, I actually have 92 photo's so I would honestly say I probably caught close to that amount as, although some of the snaps are duplicates, I didn't photograph every fish. Even though they were small I couldn't stop taking pictures, they are just such pretty fish.

Small spoons and the Duo Spearhead Ryuki's did the majority of the damage, I tried some other stuff but these are definitely what the Trout were preferring on the day. 

Oh and the HTO Rock Rover was my rod of choice here, being a pack rod its is pretty perfect for hiking about, it fits just nicely in the side pocket of my day sack and is secured by the trekking pole strap. Not having a rod in my way is pretty ideal as it keeps my hands free for any scrambling I have to do. The rod is just sweet though and is a piece I now use often.

Well I think I have had my Trout fix for now, my next session will hopefully be a Saltwater session.

Until then, tight lines!