Species Hunting

Report - Flamer IV

2011-05-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Benjoma cod

2010-12-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

Danglers Haven

2010-12-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

Whiting, Codling, Thornbacks, pout, poor cod

September Sharking

2010-12-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Report - more local fish

2010-08-29T03:03:00.001-07:00

Report - Gwendraeth

2010-08-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Dragonet

2010-08-20T15:34:00.002-07:00

Weever, Lesser

2010-08-20T15:34:00.001-07:00

Report - Sharking - Wildcat

2010-08-20T15:18:00.001-07:00

Date - 18/08/10

9 Blues to the boat to 132lb - another 4 or 5 fish dropped.

Report - CSSC Qualifier - Mumbles Pier

2010-08-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Date - 17/08/10

CSSC qualifier - Species caught - Black Bream, Tub Gurnard, Ballan Wrasse, Black Goby, Rock Goby, Dragonet

Managed to win the qualifier - so it's off to Bridlington in November!

Report - Seren Y Mor

2010-08-20T15:13:00.001-07:00

Date - 15/08/10

Species caught - Black Bream, Bass, Huss, LSD, Tub Gurnard.

Report - Teifi

2010-08-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Report - Skjervoy, Norway

2010-08-20T14:28:00.001-07:00

Report - Mevagissey

2010-07-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Date 10/07/10

A quick bash off the harbour wall with some sabiki's and ragworm.

Species caught - ballan & goldsinney wrasse, pout, & pollack.

Report - Teifi

2010-07-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Date - 06/07/10 & 07/07/10

2 nights on the Teifi, 3 sewin (2 fly & 1 rapala), and a couple of brownies.

6 sewin between 3 of us and a couple more lost!

Scad

2010-07-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

Report - Delosal

2010-07-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

Date - 30/06/10

Worms head - grey gurnards, codling, dogs
West Helwick - loads of lesser weevers, and dabs. Lost a huge fish that I had no control over - probably a big tope.
Hall Rock - mackerel & scad
DZ6 - tubs, dogs

Report - Seren Y Mor, Swansea

2010-07-01T10:58:00.001-07:00

Date - 27/06/10

A bream and tope day. plenty of bream, huss, dogs, and smoothound about, along with a few rogue codling. Mackerel proved to be thin on the ground, and only 2 tope - biggest of 33.5lb to myself.

Gurnards made up the mixture.

Report - Chew Valley Reservoir

2010-07-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Date - 10/06/10

The works comp - 5 rainbow to finish the day off. 4 in the 1st hour and a quarter

Report - Silver Spray

2010-07-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Date - May bank holiday

1 day on the bream, and a second midchannel after cod.

Pleanty of nice bream about to 3lb+ on day 1.

10 cod (9 doubles) up to 17lb on day 2.

Report - Danglers Seren Y Mor, Swansea

2010-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Date - 25/04/10

Species caught - Spurdog, Small Eyed Ray, LSD

Report - CSSC Qualifier - Anchorman

2010-04-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Date - 21/04/10

Species caught - Spurdog, Common Hound, LSD, SE Ray, Conger, Huss

Spurdog

2010-04-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Report - Jay Jay, Penarth

2010-01-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

Date - 17/01/10

1st outing of 2010, and a last minute trip with Mark's club who were short of a body.

Large amount of snowmelt caused flooding etc, and may have affected the fish. Tough day with only 4 fish to the boat all day. All codling, and under 1lb.

Managed 3 myself - on lug tipped with a small bit of squid.

Report - Teifi

2009-07-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Heavy water & 1 sewin about 1.5lb on a black flying 'c'.

Report - Sylen Lake

2009-07-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Report - CSSC boat final - Flamer - Weymouth

2009-07-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Species caught - pout, poor cod, mackerel, tompot blenny, red gurnard, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, lsd, whiting.

Report - Teifi

2009-07-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

A night trip to the Teifi, a few fish caught by the other lads, but only a tiny brown trout and a few plucks for me.

Report - CSSC Shore Qualifier - Fishguard Breakwater

2009-07-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Species caught - lsd, pout, poor cod, pollack, ballan wrasse, tompot blenny, rock goby.

Report - Celtic Wildcat, Aberystwyth

2009-07-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Species caught - greater weever, mackerel, tompot blenny, pout, bream, ballan wrasse, bull huss, lsd.

Report - Alderney '09

2009-06-06T04:52:00.001-07:00

Report - Sylen Lakes

2009-05-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Report - Sylen Lakes

2009-05-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

RCSL Wales Coarse Fishing Event '09

2009-05-25T11:37:00.001-07:00

Date - 21/05/09

My 1st attempt at coarse fishing!

With a day off work as a benefit - I decided to give coarse fishing a proper go for the first time. The venue was the match pool on Cefn Mably, and it was a qualifying match from work to see who would qualify for the National finals in August.

After quizzing a few of the experiences guy's, I was advised that sweetcorn fished on a feeder was teh method to use, and it wa sto be fished as close to the island as possible. I clipped my line so that I hit the same spot (about a foot off the island) everytime.

20 mins into the match - my rod arched over and my 1st ever coarse fish came to the net - a common carp of around a pound.

Report - Anchorman - CSSC Wales Qualifier

2009-05-14T13:31:00.001-07:00

14/05/09 - CSSC Qualifier - Anchorman III, Barry.

With a 7 am start, 10 CSSC Wales members boarded Anchorman, on what was another windless day, and headed West towards Nash Point, for a crack at the smoothound.

Minutes after the anchor was droppd - a pout was boated (the only one of the day!) and then the 1st dog of the day came over the gunnels (the 1st of 150+!).

Then I dropped 2 big fish in quick succession, that could only have been smoothound - they went off like steam trains! 3rd time luck and I managed to hold on to my 3rd smut - all 12lb of it, and a pb common.....

A starry soon followed the common, then I hooked into something different. I thought it may have been a full house of dogs, and some other peoples gear....but as it got closer to the surface - it woke up, and dived for the sea bed. It turned out to be a blonde ray of 19lb - another pb for me.

The tide eased and Dave thought it was time for a move to deeper water - where they had picked up some tope earlier in the week. Not long after dropping hook, I pulled in a strap on squid and crab cocktail. One of the lads boated an eel of 23lb which eventually took the pool for the heaviest fish. A fair few eels came to the boat at this mark.

As the tide increased the hounds came back on the feed, with a decent stamp of fish, along with the odd bull huss.........

Another move onto the side of a sandbank to target ray, proved to be frustrating with dogs attacking every bait. But Dave the skipper showed us how it was done, by catching a thornback and a spotted ray in quick succession. I managed to pull up a thornback and a double figure eel amongst the doggies, before another common smoothound totally ignored my crab bait and took a liking to squid on the top hook.

A final move to deeper water later on in the day proved to be fruitful for everyone on board, with even some of the less experienced anglers getting amongst the smuts. I added another 2 starry's to my tally, and then pulled in 2 bull huss on the same trace.

At 4.30 Dave called lines up, and an end to the competition. It has to be one of the best days fishing I've had for a long time.

We ended the day with 40+ smoothound, 20+ conger, 10+ bull huss, blonde, thornback, and spotted ray......and over 150 doggies.

I was lucky enough to win the qualifier, and will now travel with Mark and Simon to Weymouth for the finals in July.

Report - Poole Bream Comp '09

2009-05-14T13:30:00.001-07:00

10/05/09 - Poole Bream Competition

Fished on Silver Spray today, on a mark called dancing ledge. I think that a lot of the other boats in teh comp had the same idea. As did the Weymouth boats, after rumours that the bream were not showing to the West.

Fishing was a bit slow on the ledge, but after all we were after the bigger bream. The quality of fish though was excellent with the majority being over 2lb.

Andy Herman managed the largest on the boat - at around 3lb.

Report - Silver Spray (Wreck & Bream)

2009-05-14T13:28:00.001-07:00

The weather was again stunning for 2 days on Silver Spray, when Ellis & I travelled down South. The 1st day was a belter on the wrecks, with plenty of good quality fish about.

The second day was spent breaming to the East of Poole, where we managed to boat over 250 bream - I managed around 60 myself up to 2.5lb or so - along with wrasse, and pout.

Report - Seren Y Mor

2009-04-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

The second Danglers trip in 2 weeks, and again the weather was favourable. Throughout the day Dav & Kevin worked hard for us - and moved us a fair few times to try to get away from the plagues of dogfish!

After the 4th move - we were mid channel, and over deeper water. Ian managed to latch on to a nice blonde....

Then the spurdogs made a showing in decent numbers.....

Personally, I dropped my only decent fish of the trip, and was pestered by dogs all day.

Report - Celtic Wildcat, Banks trip

2009-04-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

My 1st Danglers trip of the year, and a glorious day for a bash at the turbot bank just outside Milford Haven.

After a steady stream of dogs, dabs, gurnard etc on the bank - we had a move over to rougher ground, and soon were into the huss.....

Report - Silver Spray

2009-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

5lb Plaice

3 turbot on 1st drift

16lb late afternoon Pollack

Report - SilverSpray - Poole Cod Comp

2009-01-01T01:24:00.001-08:00

Date - 30/12/08.

Andy decided that he was going to achor us over his 'big cod' mark, rather than steam over to the IoW grounds, and soon the hook was down and we were fishing. There was a bitterly cold Easterly wind straight in our faces on the flooding tide, which was not very pleasurable, but soon one of the lads from London thought he wa sinto the 1st cod of the day.

The result was not a cod, but a superbly conditioned bass.

We continued to fish, pulling in doggies and whiting, and then just before HW, I had a much better bite, which resulted in me boating an 8lb cod. Soon after Mark reeled in an cod of over 11lb, which went on to be the 2nd heaviest cod of the competition, and bagging £500 for the lads in the pool.

The £500 fish

After the tide turned the fishing went quiet, but I did manage to catch another cod of around 6lb. All fish caught on single squid on a pennel.

My brace.

Report - Benjoma

2008-12-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Date - 18/12/08

Jumped on Benjoma again today with a few lads from work. Conditions again were against us, with the wind blowing a steady force 6 westerly. Luckily Penarth is sheltered somewhat from the Westerlies, and the trip was on, and we locked out at 8am.

We steamed the short distance to our 1st mark, and our went the uptide rods loaded with lug, rag and squid cocktails. After 10 minutes or so, my rod tip bounced a couple of times, and the gripper released from it's position, I wound down into the fish, but it was not on!

With the tide flooding, the mark became too lumpy for a few of the guys on the trip - so we moved to a more sheltered mark. We managed a couple of whiting here, but soon became too choppy to stay there! A codling of around 3lb came up as the anchor was being pulled!

The next mark was again slow, with only a few whiting to show, until the novice downtiding on the stern pulled in a codling of around 2.5lb. This was followed by another quiet spell, so the skipper decide on one last move. Again as we were in the process of pulling the anchor - I pulled in a codling of around 1.5lb, which was returned to grow bigger.

The final mark was not that far off shore! We had moved there hoping that the codling in that area would not be feeding on the sprats. With only an hour or so of the trip to go - we had finally found the cod. Around 5 or so good cod bites were missed in no time, but we managed to pull in another 3 fish, with a 3lb'er to myself. On gutting it - it was stuffed full of tiny crab.

Report - Silver Spray - Needles

2008-12-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Date - 11/12/08

My 3rd and final day down South. the forecasters had for once got the weather right, and today was the ideal winter fishing day.

Again we steamed over to the Needles, only to be greeted by another 15 or so boats. We slung the hook over, and as it was Tuesday - it was bites right away! These were predominantly channels, (to 3.5 - 4lb), along with big pout, and dogs. The chap fishing in the middle of th estern then had a cracking bite and wound up a nice cod of 7lb or so, minutes later I had a cracking take on a single squid, I let off some line, tightened and felt the nodding of a cod.

Again, about 8lb or so. Another 3 cod followed, all around the same stamp. The big channels kept on coming throughout the ebb, and over the slack. All too soon we had used up the last of the bait (20+lb of squid!!!!!), so it was time to head back to Poole.

A lovely 3 days away, super company, a few beers, fantastic weather, and some good fishing to boot - doesn't really get any better.

Report - Silver Spray

2008-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Date - 10/12/08

A corporate group joined us today - 11 hire rods on a works xmas bash. With a later than usual start, we didn't have time to steam to the Needles, so Andy anchored us over his big cod mark.

Unfortunately the cod didn't play ball, but by 2pm every one of the party caught their 1st ever fish, consisting of whiting, dogs, pout, and a smoothie.

Report - Silver Spray - Needles

2008-12-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Date - 09/12/08

The first day of a 3 day planned session with Andy. We were met by a stiff Northerly breeze, but the Needles on the IOW would provide protection for us.

Within minutes of dropping the anchor - the rods were nodding, and pout, whiting, and dogs were soon on board. Then as the tide started to slacken off, I had a much better bite, and wound into a lovely 8lb cod.

We picked up another slightly smaller cod (same stamp though) before low water, then it went quiet. Once the tide started to flood, the fish came back on the feed, with jumbo whiting being the mainstay along with the ever present pout.

Another cod of around 6lb took a shine to a single squid, and that drew the day to a close nicely. No lunkers but plenty of action.

Report - Delosal, Burry Port

2008-12-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

Date - 06/12/08

I woke to a glorious windless day, a quick look at the tide table and a dash down Burry Port to hop on my Warrior 165.

Within minutes of anchoring up and dropping a flapper rig - the rod tips were bouncing. The result were some nice whiting up to 1lb 8oz.

Dozens more whiting and a few good dabs later - it was time to head for home.

Date - 07/12/08.

Another belting day, so I decided to use up some more of the manky bait from the freezer. I took with me only some old squid and frozen blacks that had been in and out of the freezer a few times.

Within mintutes of anchoring up, the rods started bouncing, and whiting were soon coming aboard, along with a suprise pout.....

The 1st ever pout on my boat - Having had the boat since Feb '05!!!

The whiting came thick and fast, and within 3 hours, I had boated over 100 whiting. most of which were released, but I did keep a few for the pot, along with a few dabs.

Final haul of 'keepers'.

A very successful couple of hours, using up some of the old bait from the freezer and replacing it with good quality fish.

Report - Benjoma

2008-12-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

Date - 04/12/08

An early rise to a wet and windy Kidwelly, it was bad enough for me to text Ian to see if the trip was still on. Trip on was the response, so off we set. We locked out at 8am from Penarth, and travelled the short distance to our 1st mark (after having to abort the initially planned 1st mark, due to sea conditions!!!!!).

Fishing was slow at the 1st mark, with only a few whiting to show for our efforts. After the tide began to ebb, the wind eased a little and allowed us to move a little further off shore. Not long into fishing at this mark, Jason wound into a nice little codling, which he released to grow bigger.

Ian was up next....

Then, while re-baiting one rod there was a bite on my other rod........

The result - a 3lb+ codling

Jason managed one more codling, and that was that. Weird that we had not encountered any eels or dogs!

All in all a decent day afloat - with suprisingly favaourable sea conditions, given the weather!

Thanks to Ian for organising (and for taking picture - that I've pinched!!).

Report - Ogmore Deeps

2008-12-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

Date 02/12/08

Story of the night - dogs, dogs, & dogs!

Report, Benjoma - Cod Trip

2008-11-22T04:55:00.000-08:00

Date - 20/11/08

Ian had organised a trip East for some of the Danglers, so we locked out at 8am from Penarth marina, and steamed the short distance to the fishing grounds.

First cast - Clive had a belting bit, and pulled in a plump codling. Things were looking good!

Soon we were all hitting into congers - and I managed a couple up to 15 - 20lb.

As the tide eased, and swung round for the ebb - the fishing slowed, with still only the single cod on the boat. A while into the ebb - and after boating a few conger. I had a small bite on my rod, and I reeled into what I suspected to be another eel. After starting off feeling like an eel, the fight changed and soon a cracking cod hit the surface and was scooped into the net.

The fish went 10lb 8oz, was in prime condition, and was a pb for me. My first 'proper' Bristol Channel cod!

We finished the day a bit slowly, but I did manage an eel of around 30lb+.

All too quickly we were heading back to the lock. A cracking trip had by all, despite the lack of numbers on the cod front. Fingers crossed for some decent weather and a few more cod in a fortnights time. Not asking for much!!!

Report, Swansea West Pier

2008-11-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Date - 19/11/08.

Fished the works regional shore fishing competition down Swansea West today, with the prizes for the longest fish of the day. Right from the off - whiting were coming in thick and fast. Early doors the biggest went 28cm.

Next up the dogs came on the feed and I hd 2 in quick succession. One 58cm and the other 57cm. Once HW arrived, the dogs moved out and even the whiting slowed down.

I managed to pick up 2nd place with my 58cm doggie, just 2cm behind the winners doggie (Mark).

Report, Milford Haven

2008-11-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

Date - 12/11/08

Plenty of big whiting about, along with a few school bass, pout, dogs and dabs

Report, Burry Port

2008-11-17T15:25:00.001-08:00

Date - 11/11/08

Still loads of active crabs about. Serious rip coming through with the high(ish) tide!

Still some nicedabs and plenty of whiting about.

Report - Ogmore Deeps

2008-11-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

Date - 06/11/08

A morning down the deeps today with neap tides and no wind. Straight from the off I was into whiting to rag bait, and then the dogs turned up on sandeel baits! Practically fish a cast up to HW - then a lull. Most of the whiting were only pins though.

An hour or so after HW - the ratchet started clicing, indicating a fish had picked up the bait and was moving down tide. I struck into a heavy fish that could only be a decent ray, but unfortunately my line snapped mid fight - it had probably chaffed against Swansea pier on Monday! Never mind -next time.

Saw one eel of 10lb+ landed off the furthest ledge.

Report - Swansea West Pier

2008-11-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

Date - 03/11/08

Fished the West pier for a while around HW tonight, with Steve & Eifion. Between us we had about 50 pin whiting, to mackerel bait, but nothing else!

Report - Milford Docks

2008-11-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

Date -27/10/08

Last minute decision to fish tonight, and Steve and Eifion joined me for their 1st outing sea fishing.

We'd left it a bit late getting to Milford, and the tide had already turned when we started fishing. A cold Easterly wind was blowing over our shoulders and the fishing was slow.

Steve struck 1st with a 1/2 decent whiting to a small strip of mackerel.

Next up, Eifion got amongst the pout, landing 3 and a small whiting in no time. Steve then had a cracking bite and wound in a nice suprise spikey.

All too soon it wa stime to pack up and head home. A slow night, but the Jones' have been broken in!

Apologies for picture quality!

Report - Chesil Beach (Abbotsbury)

2008-10-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

Date - 17/10/08

A day off work, and a trip to Weymouth for the day. Arrived to find Abbotsbury already busy with anglers, so I walked over towards Dragons Teeth, and set up in one of the gaps. Spoke to a few anglers who said that it was quiet.

I fished 3 rods - 2 ledgering big black lug, squid and crab bait, on pennel rigs, hoping for a codling or something decent - and the other light rod just for fun.

Soon I was into some large mackerel caught on a sliver of mackerel under a float (set shallow!).

The mackerel slowed and gave the gars a chance to take the bait, and I managed to take 8 or so in a short space of time, with the biggest going 2lb (pb).

As it started getting dark - I switched the float for a flapper rig, and was soon pulling out, pout and poor cod. There must have been millions of them out there as they were stripping the big baits in no time!

No cod showed during the night - and I didn't see any come out at all along the beach. I did manage a single dogfish (lsd) and a small whiting amongst the pout & poor cod.

Reports seem to show that the fishing is slow along the whole bank! Perhaps will have another go in a couple of weeks!

Report - Ferryside

2008-10-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Date - 12/10/08

Decided to take the dog for a quick walk down Ferryside, and took the spinning rod and some frozen blacks with me. Arrived to find another dozen or so anglers there - all moaning about the lack of fish, and how the weed was a pain.

In an hours session, I managed 2 flounder. Not big ones, but as it was a dog walking hour, a decent result.

Will look at fishing there again soon for some decent flounder.

Report - Burry Port

2008-10-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

Date - 08/10/08

Fished Burry Port at low water tonight, hoping for a bass, but ended up feeding the hoards of crabs for 2 hours instead. Managed 5 whiting - mostly pin.

Roll on the cold weather to slow down these crabs!!

Report - Ogmore Deeps

2008-10-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Date - 05/10/08

Fished the deeps for a while tonight, hoping for a small eyed ray - but only managed 6 whiting up to a pound.

Therewas a lot of debris in the water - probably from the river after the rain!

Report, Teifi

2008-10-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

Date - 02/10/08

A day off work with Phil Rich and an assault at the salmon! A 7am start on Tanycoed, proved fruitless apart from a few brownies, and a small sewin (?)

8 inch brownie

small sewin (?)

A move to Cwmackwith resulted in nothing apart from a cracking brownie on a 9cm fire tiger rapala.

The rest of the day was spent on Maesycrugiau & Maesisaf with no joy - other than a few more small brownies.

All fish were released.

Report, Celtic Wildcat - Sharks

2008-09-28T14:28:00.001-07:00

Date - 28/09/08.

My 2nd Danglers shark trip of the year aboard Celtic Wildcat, and another 7am start from Neyland. We were greeted by a pea soup fog, and took us nearly 2 hours to navigate to St Annes head.

The fog finally lifed and we headed out to the Smalls lighthouse. Soon we had feathered enough mackerel for the dubby, and bait, along with a few pollack and launce.

Another hour of steaming and mashing, and we were on the shark grounds and baits were soon in the water. To kill the time before the 1st shark run, a few of us dropped baited feathers the long way down to the sea floor, with immediate results. A whiting of of over a pound, and numerous doggies were soon on board.

Then Ian's (Daihook) ratchet started clicking, signalling the first run of the day.

Ian into his 1st blue

Ian sensibly holding the blunt end of his 102lb blue

Ian's pregnant female of 102lb was soon followed by another pregnant fish for the other Ian (Phillips), which again weighed 102lb! We had another few runs during the day, but only managed to boat one other fish of around 50lb.

Wayne later showed everyone how to catch the garfish, boating 3 in a short space of time.

All too soon it was time to head home.

Species caught on boat - blue shark, mackerel, garfish, pollack, whiting, dogfish, launce.

Report, Delosal

2008-09-28T14:15:00.002-07:00

Date - 27/09/08.

Only a quick 2 hour trip to make the most of the weather. Mackerel were a bit thin on the ground, but managed enough for bait, which eventually tempted a 3lb 8oz bass.

Report, Teifi

2008-09-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

Date - 25/09/08.

A few brownies from Tanycoed (released), and a big blank from Mackwith after dark!

Report, Local Estuary Mark

2008-09-22T14:46:00.001-07:00

Date - 22/09/08.

Managed 9 fat flounder in 2 hours.

Report - Wild Frontier, Weymouth

2008-09-19T09:53:00.003-07:00

Date - 18/09/08.

RCSL Sea Boat Fishing Competition 2008 - Weymouth.

I had been drawn on Wild Frontier skippered by Clem Carter, for the above event - a species hunt competition. We set off at 8 am, and bagged up on mackerel for bait, then steamed off to a reef mark that Clem had planned to fish.

Within minutes of dropping the anchor, and starting fishing - pout and poor cod were hitting the surface. These were soon followed by bream to 3lb, and a goldsinny wrasse - which unfortunately did not score as was unclassified and was under 9 inches. Once I had reached my limit of 10 each of poor cod and pout, I changed over to larger hooks, and pulled in a cuckoo wrasse, and a pollack of around 4lb+. Still being plagued by pout and poor cod (which no longer counted) - dropped a few bream and a nice huss on the surface, and without boating these fish - they too didn't count.

As the tide eased Barry Davies (who was an honourary Welshman for today - making up the 3rd member of our team!), hooked a huge fish, that he could do nothing with. After 4 or 5 runs and a near 10 minute fight - the fish bit through his leader. He was completely gutted - and not having seen the fish, made it worse! Minutes later I landed a conger of around 15lb.

The tide turned and pushed the boat off the reef and onto a patch of sand, and I managed to latch on to a doggie. The fishing slowed, and we headed off to Clems 2nd mark - approx 50 yards off Portland - for an assault at the wrasse.

First drop - ballan wrasse. Second drop - ballan wrasse. Soon I had my 10 ballan wrasse limit, and another pollack, along with another goldsinny, some corkwing wrasse, and tompot blennies - all of which were unclassified and under 9 inches! A quick change of tactics and a spot of groundbaiting, resulted in a garfish on the 1st drop.

Another move put us over slightly deeper water, which resulted in a pb undulate ray for me - 15lb 15oz. I also managed to get my huss on this mark and another few doggies for good measure.

Undulate 15lb 15oz

All too quickly the 6 hour competition was over and we steamed back to Weymouth harbour.

Somehow - I ended up winning the overall competition with 289pts, and winning the shield for most qualifying fish with 47.

Report, Slapton Sands

2008-09-19T09:53:00.002-07:00

Date - 16/09/08

Fished Slapton for an hour or so, and managed only one mackerel on feathers. Nothing else caught along the beach!

Report, Berry Head, South Devon

2008-09-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

Date - 15/09/08

Fished Berry Head for 2 hours with only mackerel for bait. Had plenty of garfish on a float fished strip of mackerel.

Also managed a few wrasse fishing 'down the side'!

Nothing much else caught apart from mackerel.

Report, Various

2008-09-10T12:01:00.001-07:00

Date - 03/09/08

With a planned shark trip called off due to the relentless bad weather, Steve & I headed out for some brownie bashing. We ended the day with a fair few (all released) to various flies.

Typical size

Steve's in the picture somewhere. I can only see the fish!

Date - 26/09/08

Fished the Teifi after work, and managed 2 of the smallest sewin I've seen on a mepp. Also managed a few brownies, but no real size.

Salmon

2008-08-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Report, Teifi - LAA

2008-08-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Date - 26/08/08

A quick trip up the Teifi, and the river was running high, and coloured after the constant August rain. The second trot through a pool with a single lob worm, produced my 1st salmon of the season.

A fresh hen fish of just over 5lb.

She was quickly sent back on her way to continue her journey.

Report, Silver Spray

2008-08-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

Date - 23/08/08

A planned attempt at the Poole porgies, armed with enough dubby for a week. Unfortunately we failed to tempt one to our baits, but we did manage a few nice tope to over 20lb on the 'spare' rods.

Species caught - mackerel, pout, garfish, tope, scad.

2008-08-20T12:39:00.001-07:00

Shark, Blue

2008-08-20T12:34:00.001-07:00

Report, Celtic Wildcat - Shark

2008-08-16T02:58:00.001-07:00

Date - 15/08/08

The danglers trip on Celtic Wildcat, left Neyland at 7am sharp for a day's sharking. After filling up on mackerel for bait, and the dubby, we were soon fishing.

To cut a long story short, we managed 14 sharks to teh boat between the 8 of us on board. In that we had 4 porgies (116lb, 87lb, 83lb, & 67lb), and 10 blues (biggest 87lb), and alos dropped 8 or 9 fish. These fish were mainly lost as there was another fish ready for the boat, so had to be played slowly!

I'll let the pictures do the talking.......

I managed a lively blue of 50lb.

Celtic Wildcat Website - CLICK HERE

Report, Silver Spray - Alderney

2008-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Date - 09, 10 & 11/08/08

Day 1

A 6am start from Poole to try to miss the worst of the strong winds forecast, meant leaving the house at around 1am for the drive down from West Wales. We set sail promptly with a group of anglers from Northampton & District Sea Angling Club were aboard Silver Spray for 3 days in Alderney. With 3 hours of reasonable conditions behind us the last hour or so freshened up and got a bit snotty, but soon the guy's were tackled up and bringing mackerel aboard. With the strong south westerly winds (force 7), we were resticted to fishing grounds to the north of the island.

On the drift over rough ground, some nice reef pollack (to around 4lb) were coming aboard to jelly worms, hokki's and sandeel imitations. As soon as the tide eased, we stopped drifting and anchored up over a patch of mixed ground, and sent some baited hooks over the side. Within minutes, some decent black bream, large scad (horse mackerel), ballan wrasse, and more pollack fell for the bait. Amongst the smaller stuff, one of the lads managed a cracking 22lb blonde ray.

Day 2

With the wind increasing overnight, we were again restricted to fishing the same grounds as the previous day. The script was basically the same, with nice bream to around the 3lb mark coming out, with the addition of a few eels, up to 20lb +. With large swells, we called it a day at around 5pm and headed to Braye Harbour.

Day 3

We woke to a slight drop in wind speed, but still a stiff breeze and large groundswells from the previous days wind. Soon we were on our way to one of Andy's cod marks, surfing the large waves with the wind at our tails. Once at the cod grounds, they seemed to have dissappeared (or at least the guy's could not catch any!), so we decided to anchor up on one of the small wrecks in the vacinity.

Black bream made an immediate appearance taking feathers baited with mackerel strips, giving excellent accounts for themselves in 180ft of water. Amongst the bream were the obligatory pout, scad, mackerel, and 5 red sea bream. The 1st I'd ever seen. On the heavier gear, the guys caught tope to 20lb+, and conger, with Mick boating a monster.

Red Bream

With the beginning of the flood, we decided to have another crack at the cod, and we steamed over an area with a lot of marking, soon our shads (fished on portland rigs), were engulfed by cod. The biggest one went around 8lb.

All in all - the wether took it's toll again, but some of the fishing was excellent, with a superb stamp of fish. Roll on some settled weather!!!!!

Species caught on the boat during the 3 days -
mackerel, scad, blonde ray, conger, cod, bass, pouting, poor cod, red gurnard, red sea bream, black sea bream, ballan wrasse, tope, pollack.

Red Sea Bream

2008-08-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Picture from Andy's Blog

Report, Garnffrwd

2008-08-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Date - 05/08/08.

With the heavy rain writing off a trip up the Teifi, Steve Jones and I headed to Garnffrwd after work for a catch & release ticket. With the rain easing, our hopes were raised by seeing the wind drop and a few fish rising.

It started off slow, and after spotting a few caddis scuttling across the lake, I changed over to an imitation that would create a wake. It immediately worked with practically a follow or swirl at the fly, every cast. Eventually one stuck, and a rainbow of around 2lb was photographed and released.

The wind dropped and the lake went dead calm and devoid of fish! That was until around 9pm, when the fish finally came on the feed in huge numbers, but again were very selective. I managed one on a diawlbach, and that was that. Another frustrating night!

More rain today and an attroicious forecast for the forseable future - not looking good!

Report, Teifi

2008-08-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Date 29/07/08 & 31/07/08

Fished the Teifi on the 29th and managed a small sewin on a worm, before dark, then lost a schoolie 1st cast on the fly after dark, and another fish of 3.5lb (or so) on my 3rd cast. Strangely the river seemed to go dead after that, and the rain moved in.

Two days later, the river had risen following the rain the day before. A brace of small trout on worm were the only bit of action I had all evening. River was unsuitable for the fly.

Report, Teifi

2008-07-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Date - 27/07/08

Met up with Phil Rich on the Teifi for a spot of night fishing for the sewin (sea trout) tonight. It turned out to be one of the darkest nights for a while. Although near perfect conditions, we had little cloud cover, and soon it go cold.

As for the fishing, I managed 3 tiny brown trout/parr, and a few plucks off sewin on wet flies, before missing a few fish on the jambo.

Another blank for both of us on the sewin front!

Report - Delosal

2008-07-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Date - 26/07/08 & 27/06/08

With hardly a breath of wind, and glorious sunshine, we set off from Burry Port harbour mid morning, and headed towards Burry Holmes and the Worm. Our first task was to catch some mackerel for bait......at first they were a bit elusive, but eventually we located pockets of them, and soon had enough for bait (and a few for a BBQ that evening!).

A few joey mackerel were soon on their way to the bottom, and baited feathers soon followed. It wasn't long until the 1st 'doggie' of the day hit the surface, quickly followed by small grey gurnards.

A small starry smoothound also took a liking to a strip of mackerel, but all too quickly it was time to head for home.

The following day I travelled a bit closer to the Worm and was soon into mackerel and gurnards.

1st up was a Tub Gurnard

Followed by a few grey gurnard

And finally a red gurnard

Among the LSD's I did manage o pick out a small huss.

The only action I had on live joey was one bitten in 1/2 by a tope - no bass at all. Will have to look at getting live sandeels for the next trip! Nothing huge caught over the 2 sort sessions, but was nice just to get out in such glorious weather.

Report

2008-07-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Date - 23/07/08

Steve Jones and I fished a private lake this evening and managed to land a few nice wild brownies - averaging about 8 - 9 inches. Great sport on fly gear, and all fish returned apart from one awkwardly hooked fish, which was kept for tea.

Report, Teifi

2008-07-24T14:10:00.001-07:00

Date - 17/07/08
A trip up Pentrecwrt after work, nothing caught - nothing to report!

Report, Delosal

2008-07-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

Date - 13/07/08

Just a quick spin to get rid of some of the growth on the bottom of the boat.

Only a few mackerel caught in a short session.

Report, Gwendraeth Fach

2008-07-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Date - 10/07/08

After torrential rain yesterday, and the showers today - the Gwendraeth Fach was running high and coloured, but following reports of a few fish, I decided to give it a quick go.

First cast with a single worm, resulted in a brown trout of about 1/2 lb.

This fish was followed by another 6 or 7 brownies, and a brace of eels (the smallest I've ever seen!). A quick change of venue and after a dozen or so unproductive casts with a mepp, I put on a small fire tiger rapala and immediately hooked a sewin of around 2lb, which took practically under my feet! After a quick thrash - the fish came off! 2nd one in 3 days!

I fished the rapala through the pool for another 10 - 15 minutes without success.

The fish finally appear to have arrived.

Report - River Towy

2008-07-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

Date - 08/07/08.

With the river level dropping nicely after the weekends rain, I left work, and headed straight to the Towy. Stopped off for 1/2 hr on the pumphouse stretch, spun a black 'flying c' with no luck.

Back in the car, I headed to the top Halfway stretch, and spun (what seemed perfect water) for over an hour, with only one missed schoolie to show. It went for a rapala, and was on for a matter of seconds! I did trott worms through a few pools & runs, without a touch.

I heard that a few fish (all schoolies) had come out of the stretch today, and also saw a grilse of around 4 - 5lb come off the opposite bank to a flying c lure. Reports that there are plenty of fish in the Cothi to fire tiger rapala & worms.

Cross hands and Districs Angling Association website - click here

Report - Mexico

2008-07-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Date - 26/07/08

Whilst on holiday in Mexico, I took the time out to join an American guy I had met on one of our previous excursions for an afternoon afloat.

The 'marina'!

A similar boat.

We decided to split the 4 hour trip into two 2 hour slots. The first was to be spent trolling for barracuda, sailfish, tuna, mackerel etc. This spell proved to be unproductive with only 2 hits in this time.

We then tried 'bottom' fishing for a while, which resulted in a wide variety of fish, which unfortunately I do not know what they are.

Trigger fish

Various fish

Rainbow runner?

As with all fishing the trip was over far too quickly, but a very pleasant one (if lumpy at times!).

Report, Llyn Brenig

2008-06-20T05:13:00.001-07:00

Date - 19/06/08

The RCSL National flyfishing competition finally arrives, and the blustery wind stayed from the previous day, but at least the rain had stopped (until 5pm anyhow!).

The competitors scattered from the lodge at 10am, trying to locate the fish.

Ron & John Lewis steaming off

View back down the lake

Within half an hour of starting fishing - I had boated my 1st fish (a rainbow of around a pound and a half) to a damselfly, and spent quarter of an hour, beached, trying to get my engine to start!!

Finally got her running and moved back up for the same drift, but no other takes, so I moved to the mouth of Brenig Arm, where I immediately hit into fish....infact 2 on the same cast - it was deja-vu with Llys Y fran earlier in the season, but unlike then - I somehow managed to lose both fish - perhaps by being too greedy and trying to net the fish on the point fly, while the one on the top dropper, was on it's side on the surface! But with one flick of it's tail - it was gone.

2 casts later and my 2nd fish was in the boat - this time to a cormorant. I connected with a few more fish, but failed to land them, and it was gone 3pm when my 3rd and 4th fish came to the boat - again both on cormorants.

I finished the day with 4 fish, no-where near the prizes - but a respectable 7th in the 'best boat' competition (considering I was fishing alone). Well done to the Irish lads who both bagged up by 3pm, and who will hopefully be hosting next years event...........Lough Mask perhaps?

Species caught - Rainbow trout

Report, Dragonfly Fishery, Cerrigydrudion

2008-06-20T05:12:00.003-07:00

Date - 18/06/08

With the RCSL national flyshishing competition due for the next day, we travelled up North Wales with the full intention of fishing Brenig. However, when we arrived at the venue, strong winds and driving rain meant that it was practically unfishable.

Mark, Nic and myself took the decision of trying out a small stillwater not far from the venue, rather than having an unpleasant day afloat on Brenig.

Soon, Nic was into the first fish, and I followed with the second - a rainbow of about a pound an a half.

I had plenty more takes, but failed to connect with another fish, but Mark landed 2 more fish, to fishish our 2 hour session.

Species caught - Rainbow Trout.

Weever, Greater

2008-06-15T05:33:00.001-07:00

Report - Aberystwyth - Celtic Wildcat

2008-06-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

Date - 14/06/08.

My second 'Danglers' Aber trip of 2008, and the first on Celtic Wildcat. A glorious day with a flat calm sea greeted us, along with a dolphin and her calf partolling just outside the harbour wall.

A quick 10 minutes feathering for mackerel and we had enough mackerel, to be on our way to the 1st mark.

Once at anchor, the tope baits went over the side, and bream rigs soon followed. Within minutes, the 1st fish came over the side - a dab caught on feathers (genuinely hooked in the mouth!). Next up were the whiting, various gurnard, and loads of lesser weevers. With only one big bull huss and one bream, to the boat, news came through from Dave Taylor on Aldebaran, that there were a few tope on the mark he was anchored over. Nick up anchored us and steamed further West to the same grounds as Dave.

It was not long until the 1st few tope runs came, and after 2 fish released at the side, Mike hooked into a nice fish of around 27lb (from measurements).

Mikes 1st tope.

The fish was measured, tagged and released. Next up was Wayne......

Waynes tope

Tope release shot.

While waiting for the tope, we were kept busy by bream, pout, poor cod, small huss, and hoards of dogfish.

One of the many black bream

While 'breaming' I noticed a bite on my tope rod and landed a nice huss, just under the 10lb mark.

A 9lb 8oz huss

The soon after itt wa smy reels turn to start screaming with a tope run. After a cracking fight, a tope of around 25lb surfaced at the back of the boat, and was duly released. There was hectic action for the next 15 minutes or so, with many runs & fish boated.

Then, on the bream rod, a first for me - a greater weever, estimated at well over 1lb in weight. Surely not far off Waynes Welsh record!

My 1st ever greater weever

We finished the day off with a flurry of tope and a few more species........

A suprise tompot blenny

Mike ended the day with 4 tope under his belt, and a few more dropped fish.

All in all, probably one of the best days afloat in a long while!

Species caught - Tope, Bull Huss, Black Bream, Whiting, Pout, Poor Cod, Lesser Weever, Greater Weever, Red Gurnard, Tompot Blenny, Dogfish, Mackerel.

Other species caught on trip - Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Grey Gurnard, Dab.

Celtic Wildcat Website - here

Report, Gwendraeth Fach

2008-06-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Date - 12/06/08

Had a quick hour on the river, just after dark, for the sewin. Again, not a fish seen, apart from a tiny eel that took a liking to my worm!

Whole river seems to be dead, when there should be plenty of sewin in the system!?

Report - Lady Helen, Barry Dock

2008-06-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

Date - 10/06/08.

Fished the CSSC Wales qualifier today, on Lady Helen, out of Barry.

There was a stiff breeze coming up the channel but was not too bad once at anchor. Fishing started well with small eyed ray and conger hitting the surface within minutes of starting. A few more ray came out, including a few half decent thornbacks, but then the dogs turned up!

A steam over towards Aberthaw, saw us targeting the hounds, and with crab baits at the ready, it wasn't long until I was into my 1st common of 2008.

In the next couple of hours, I somehow managed to hook and drop 3 more smoothound, and missed a few more bites!

We finished off fishing a mark close to shore targetting the 'smaller' stuff - with Ian managing to catch a triple shot of codling, dogfish, and pout.

Ian and his triple shot - Codling

Dogfish & Pout

A superb day afloat, plenty of sizeable fish, and decent weather. I finished the day with 14 dogs, a smoothound and a conger, and finished 5th overall.

Species caught - Conger, Common Smoothound, Dogfish.

Other fish caught on the boat - Thormback, Small Eyed, & Spotted Ray, Starry Smoothound, Codling, Pout.

Pictures taken from Lady Helen Website - click here

Report, Pembrokeshore Rock Mark

2008-06-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Date - 08/06/08

With a works competition scheduled for Tuesday (out of Barry), I mheaded West to a rock mark in Pembrokeshire, not far from Marloes, in search of some fresh mackerel, and also the chance of getting amongst the wrasse.

Within 5 casts with feathers, I had managed to get a few mackerel on the rocks, so I changed tactics, and fished old bits of ragworm close in to the kelp, and soon I was photographing the 1st corkwing wrasse of '08.

Male Corkwing

Next couple of drops resulted in a small pollack, and some superbly coloured ballan wrasse.

Ballan

In amongst the ballans and small pollack, I landed the 1st rockcook wrasse of 2008.

Rockcook

The evening finished off with a few large corkwings (mostly female), and 15 minutes of feathering provided enough mackerel for bait ready for Tuesday, a few for tea, and a couple for the freezer. Mackerel were all a very good size.

Female Corkwing

Report, Delosal - Carmarthen Bay

2008-06-07T10:12:00.001-07:00

Date - 07/06/08.

My first fishing trip of the year, on my warrior 165 - Delosal. Fishing a short session off Burry Holmes (2hrs), first drop resulted in a micro dab.....

Quickly followed by hoardes of doggies, and plenty of small starry smoothhound, to both mackerel and squid baits....

I finished off the short session with a tiny tub gurnard to mackerel strip.

Report, Gwendraeth Fach

2008-06-06T02:34:00.000-07:00

Date - 05/06/08

First trip on the river in 2008, and an hour on the Gwendraeth hoping for teh 1st sewin of the year. With a perfect tide , and excellent conditions, it was strange not to see a fish, and have no bites (apart from tiny brownies!).

Perhaps another fortnight?!

Report, Alderney - May '08

2008-05-31T02:34:00.000-07:00

Day 1

The long awaited Alderney 'turbot challenge' trip on Silver Spray finally came round, and so did some severe weather, with gale force winds - typical! Our departure on Monday was delayed from 7am to 2.30pm because of the strong Easterly winds, and heavy rain, which also meant no wrecking on the outward trip. We did however stock up on some Mackerel on the other side of the Channel on the way over.

Picture of Braye Harbour.

Day 2

With a lull in the weather, we made our first trip out to the turbot banks, and soon Ellis was reeling in the first fish of the trip.......a doggie, which was quickly followed by many more! To get us away from the dogs, Andy repositioned Silver Spray for another drift and Chan boated the first flattie of the trip - a nice brill of around 4lb.

Andy Herman with the biggest flattie on Silver Spray - 9lb 14oz turbot

With the end of the days fishing looming, we moved up to the South Bank, and on the first drift, Ellis lost a big fish to live launce (probably a big bass). I managed to boat bass and pollack, but no flatties turned up.

Terry and his 2 brill - biggest 7lb 14oz

Day 3

We woke to a gentle wind, but heavy rain, and again made our way out to the banks, the first two drifts of the day resulted in two turbot to the boat, to fresh mackerel bait. We then had a quiet spell, where the wind dropped, and the sea was like glass, but within 20 minutes the wind had kicked up to a force 6, which conbined with the rain, made fishing difficult. The conditions became unfishable so we decided that we'd have one more drift with the weight out to slow us down. That final drift produced my 1st turbot of the trip, to a long thin strip of mackerel, and at only around 4lb or so - I released to grow bigger. We winched in the weight and steamed on in to Braye Harbour.

Day 4

Our final day on the banks, and the best. First 3 drifts produced 3 flatties, and we finished the day with 10. Ellis boated his 1st ever Brill, which turned out to be a specimen at 5lb 8oz.

A couple of drifts later, I managed my 1st turbot of the day to a strip of manky mackerel, as the fresh mackerel were proving elusive (to say the least!). Plenty of launce around the banks, but only the rogue mackerel or two, which caused a problem as the flats were showing a clear preference to fresh bait.

Turbot

Down came the rain again, but the wind didn't increase too much, and as the mackerel bait was coming to an end, I baited up with a strip of old garfish, and immediately had a bite, but had the bait stripped off the hook. Next drop, I bound another garfish strip on with bait elastic, and within minutes of starting the drift, I hooked and landed my 1st ever brill.

Brill - 4lb 13oz

In an attempt to hook one really big fish, we moved onto the South Banks, but failed to latch onto one. I did however manage to catch a bass on live launce, which completed my 'grand slam' of turbot, brill, and bass for the day. The fish was released.

Day 5

As forecasted, the weather was glorious. Hardly any wind, and not a cloud in sight - there couldn't be much more of a difference in weather between Monday and Friday. Our plan was to hit some of the wrecks on the way back to Poole, and after about an hour or so steaming we stopped off on our first wreck of the day. Andy had not fished this one before, so out tackle headed to the bottom not knowing what fish were underneath - if any.

After a few blank drifts, at the same time, Chan and I hit into fish. He brought up a 12lb 8oz pollack, and I winched up my 1st ling of 2008.

14lb 8oz ling

The 'experimental' wreck did not produce any more fish, so we steamed off another couple of miles to the next one. Again we arrived and drift fished the wreck. The wreck produced a mixture of ling, pollack, cod, pout, and coalfish, to various tactics.

Ellis with a pollack

Coalfish on Silver Spray

With the tide having justed turned, Andy decided that we would anchor over another wreck for an hour or so on the conger. With plenty of fresh pout to use, within 30 minutes of putting the flappers down, everyone on the boat had connected with an eel. The biggest went over 50lb.

40 - 50lb conger

The conger finished off an unique 'grand slam' of wreck fish for one day - cod, pollack, ling, conger, coalfish, pout.

'Team' photo on return leg

We were just pipped out by the other charter boat in the competition (biggest flattie), but we had the better fishing, after boating 20 or so flats during the time that we were there, and everyone on board catching at least 1 fish each.

Species caught - Mackerel, Launce, Cod, Pollack, Ling, Tub Gurnard, Turbot, Brill, Conger, Pout, Dogfish, Bass.

Report, Aldebaran, Aberystwyth - Tope/Bream

2008-05-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Date 18/05/08

My second 'Danglers' trip in 7 days, and a change of venue - Aberystwyth, after tope and bream.

With an early start, we boarded Aldebaran with a bitterly cold Easterly blowing. Within minutes of leaving the harbour, Dave the skipper put us over some mackerel, and we feathered up, just enough for the tope fishing. While feathering, up came herring, pollack, whiting, and a greater weaver.

With a few dozen mackerel in the boat, we steamed West, and after an hour or so we anchored up on the tope ground. Within minutes, up came the 1st of many doggies, followed by some cracking bull huss (well into double figures).

It was over 2 hours before we had the 1st tope run, and Del reeled in a lassoed tope of 23lb. We had a further 6 tope runs, but only a further 3 were landed.

Del's 23lb'er

Clive with the biggest tope of the day - 31lb.

After a few more hours on the mark, and numerous big huss, and nuisance doggies, we headed towards a bream mark Dave had lined up for us. A 30 minute steam East and the anchor was sent down. With only one or two small bites after 15 minutes, Dave decided a move was needed, and guided us about half a mile North (on the same reef), and down went the anchor for the second time.

Practically before the anchor had taken hold, I was reeling in a double shot of bream (1.5lb) and pout. Next drop, a double shot of bream, which more than justified Dave's move. There seemed to be plenty of bream on the mark, despite it being early in the season, but the problem was getting through the pout & poor cod!

A couple of hours non stop action, and a drift or two over the reef later, it was tim to head home. On the way in, Celtic Wildcat cruised past us on her way back in. We had been very lucky with the weather, as the wind had died down and the sun had come out to cap off another excellent danglers trip - with 16 species to boot!

Species Caught - Mackerel, Whiting, Pout, Poor Cod, Black Bream, LSD, Bull Huss, Scorpionfish

Other species caught on the boat - Tope, Greater Weever, Herring, Grey Gurnard, Red Gurnard, Codling, Pollack.

Next Dangler trip for me will be Aber again, but on Celtic Wildcat.

Report, Volsung, Milford Haven - Bank/General

2008-05-11T14:23:00.002-07:00

Date - 11/05/08

My 1st Danglers trip. The trip nearly didn't go ahead as the skipper had steamed over a net (just sub surface), the day before and had to be towed back to Dale, and had to send a diver down to assess the situation. Luckily though, there was no damage to Volsung and the trip was on!

Another stunning day and flat calm sea. We started off just off St Annes feathering for mackerel. In over 45 minutes of 9 of us feathering, I had caught the only one! We did however pick up a mixed bag of coalfish, pollack and wrasse to keep us busy.

But one down side was that I managed to snap my Grauvell Panama while snagged!

Next up, we anchored up on 'turbot bank', and soon the first dabs were coming aboard, 2 at a time, quickly followed by double shots of grey gurnard's and dogs. After a while I picked up my 1st plaice of the year on a tiny sliver of mackerel.

Soon it was time to up anchor and head over to a reef off Skokolm, and more feathering. Soon, pollack and coalies were on board, along with a couple of wrasse. The ground was very heavy, and the next diver to come along will have a field day picking up the rigs we lost!!

All too quickly the day was over and we headed back to Milford.

Species Caught - Coalfish, Pollack, Mackerel, Dab, Plaice, Grey Gurnard, Dogfish.

Volsung website

Danglers Website

Next Danglers trip - Aberystwyth

Report, Silver Spray - Bream

2008-05-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

Date - 10/05/08

Glorious weather and a day out with Andy on Silver Spray. First off we headed West and anchored up close in for a bream session. It was not long until I landed the first fish of the day, a lovely male bream of around 2lb. I managed another 20 or so bream and some ballan wrasse, before we up anchored and moved a little further out to try for something bigger!

A short session 'feathering' produced enough fresh bait for the rest of the day. 1st drop down with a side of mackerel on a 6/0 hook, and up comes and eel in the 30lb bracket. Next up there were the usual dogs, pout, poor cod etc, and then a nice thornie, and undulate were hooked within minutes.

Terry with his Undulate.

With the tide easing off, so did the action. It was time to up anchor and make our way home.

Species Caught - Black Bream, Ballan Wrasse, Conger Eel, Dogfish, Mackerel.

Caught by others on trip - Undulate Ray, Thornback Ray, Pollack, Poor Cod, Pouting.

Silver Spray website

Next trip on Silver Spray will be Alderney at the end of May.

Report, Garnffrwd

2008-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Date - 08/05/08

An evening session after work, that turned out to be very frustrating!

Saw only 2 fish rise between 17.30 - 20.30, but afterwards they went mad! There were fish everywhere, but proved to be very fussy on what they were eating! Managed to get 2 out on a buzzer fished just under and indicator, and also lost a brownie of arount 3lb.

Water was very coloured for some reason which may have affected the fishing.