A couple of breezy days species hunting in North Wales 28/06/2014

With a slightly iffy forecast we headed over to Wales hoping to catch Bull Huss,Black Bream and any other obliging species new to us.

Upon arrival the wind was light but we had to set the tents up in the rain on a wet boggy field not a great start but the sea was looking great for the time being once basecamp was finished we launched and paddled out to a patch of rock trolling lures on the way picking up some micro Pollack but nothing else also dropped my collapsible pots en route

After anchoring up we lowered the baits down in anticipation but as the bite less hours ticked by and a few close passes by yachts over our anchors with very deep keels we up anchored and moved inshore to troll for Bass and lift the pots disappointed as I was really hoping to bag my first Bull Huss

 

Mark managed a small schoolie on the troll in and we both managed more very small Pollack

Marks first Kayak Bass

Upon lifting the pots we had a small Lobster and an edible crab in one

And in the other a decent sized Bull Huss! and a small Goldsinny Wrasse

 

 

 

Not quite how I wanted to catch a Bull Huss but will try again next trip over

 

 

The next morning I was up and about for 5am so got some scenic photos down the coast a bit

 

 

 

 

Then onto launching day 2

Into a flat calm Harbour packed with good sized Mullet, we headed out and dropped the pots again before anchoring up this time we found a few feeding fish

 

Mackerel,Tub Gurnard,Lesser Spotted Dogfish and Black Bream so at least I managed two new species on rod and line

 

 

 

Still no Huss though hauled the pots in and yep managed another Bull Huss this time a baby

On the paddle back in we came across a free diver hunting for spider crabs and was amazed to see him shout me over by name as we approached it was my mate Chris Alers who had decided on an impromptu trip over later on he joined us in his kayak to do some more diving whilst we paddled about using his Kayak as a surface marker as he swam about

 

 

Also the water was full of the biggest Jellyfish I have ever seen great to see

Not the best fishing but a great place to paddle and will be back over to hopefully get a Bull Huss

 

Out at first light 08/06/2014

Got a bit of a flyer from work this morning so threw some stuff together and a quick message to Mark that I would pick him up at 03:30 was all it took to get us afloat with the bonus of an awesome sunrise over the kelp filled rocky coast perfect as the wind was forecast to get strong offshore by 10am






We set the folding crab pots on the paddle out and set off trolling skimming the kelp with the plugs had a few half hearted takes and Mark was trashed by something big in the kelp but soon we were into a few small Pollack each on the plugs and managed a cod on a Pirk over the deeper water not a breath of wind allowed us to get a good distance offshore but the fishing was quite slow so headed in to troll the shallow kelp ledges which threw out a few more small Pollack nothing exciting but a great morning to be afloat




We hauled the pots on the way back in to find the usual small Coalfish inside along with a few Red Kelp Codling too




Andy