I joined Dan and Adam for their boats first outing of the year yesterday. The lads aboard Blue Moon joined us for the day to suss out some new marks for them and to blow the cobwebs off too.
After an easy launch for us all from a beach near Rhoscolyn, we headed over to Ty Croes to try for a ray or 2. The swells were a lot bigger than expected, and would have made fishing off the shore very dodgy but it was good practice for us to find our sea legs after the winter break.
It was fish from the off, but sadly they were nearly all Dogfish.
I found a small Thornie for the hunt,
..and the lads on Blue Moon had a couple too. Adam tried a shrimp rig and caught pin Whiting and mini Dabs but the Rays remained scarce and so we decided to move and try a reef a couple of miles off where we launched to see if we could tempt some different species.
Sadly, it was Dog city here too, even on the worm baits we had put down hoping for Pollack.
Dan and Adam both had small Poor Cod, before Dan who had noticed a little tap on his rod tried to reel in. The rig was stuck solid, or so we though until something gave and suddenly the snag was pulling back! It gave a decent fight on the way up and when it came to the side I was ready with the net to scoop up a nice Conger estimated at over 15lb.
After the photo it kindly spat the hook and was sent back over the side with minimal effort and slime.
The fishing wasn’t great and so we headed for a mark to try and pick up a Huss or 2, Dan and Ad were hoping for a decent one, but I just wanted one for the hunt.
Within minutes of dropping over, Dan had a small Huss, and it was soon followed by hoardes of Dogfish to all of us. Both Adam and I managed to find small Huss so I was happy but the fishing wasn’t great and once the tide started ripping through and the anchor tripped, it was time for our last move inshore to try for Wrasse, Pollack and minis.
Things were quiet inshore, with just a Dog for the lads on Blue Moon and a missed bite for Adam.
It was hard to believe it is still March with the weather and the fact we all returned to shore with sunburn, but it explained the poor fishing. The lads aboard Blue Moon seemed happy with their day out having caught a good few fish and enjoyed the scenery.
Roll on the 29th April now and the first match of our boat league.
Happy days!
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