Fishing in Pembrokeshire gin............

Just back from a week in Pembrokeshire, where the weather was great for a family holiday (not fantastic for bassing but you cant have it all...). The tides were small and as you can see in the pictures below, the water was very very clear, coupled with a lack of wind & water movement I knew I was up to a challenge.

Could almost be the Caribbean.

There`s water if you look closely - honest!

I have to admit that I struggled the first couple of days, but when I did manage to locate them I did reasonably well with up to 13 fish in a session (up to 55cm so no real monsters). The fish I was catching seemed to be good little fighters & I even had some trebles and split rings trashed by the fish.

The fish were a fighting this year.

Bright shiny lures did the trick.

One of 10 fish landed for 12 casts.

I managed to catch up with Ricky & Rhod while I was there (always fun), but to the end of the week the wind turned East & the fishing seemed to drop off.

Ricky on a rock.

Despite only having fished a few short sessions (trying to avoid that pesky sun) we had a fantastic family holiday to boot & fun was had by all.

Fantastic scenery.

Beautiful sunsets (thanks to Mitch for the pic).

Another Pembs bass.

I ended up just short of 30 fish (& took a Swiss bloke called Rico out, who managed to land 5 bass off the top on his first bass lure session ever - his face was priceless).

Anyway its good to be back catching bass (thanks for your patience to those who actually follow this blog).

Next weeks dilemma is going to be the choice of fishing Dorset or perhaps Pembrokeshire again - time for me to take a quick look at the weather & surf sites to try and make some sensible decision (which of course would be a first for me lol)......

Catch you all soon - tight lines.

Tough going but a few fish...........

Just back from a week in Pembrokeshire where the fishing turned out to be about as tough as the weather (which has been awful over here for the last two weeks).
We started out with some rough Southerly weather which turned the Havens waters into pea soup (of course the West marks were dead calm & pretty dead as far as the fishing was concerned).

Start of the week proved very difficult & although I caught a few schoolies, things were just not right (even the clearer water West was devoid of life & any real water movement).

Being a tad frustrated with the conditions it was a real boost when the wind swung West (if only for a day) & it looked like things were on the up as the fish started to get that little bit bigger although not easier to catch.....

Not long after taking a fish of 48cms I was standing on a rock talking to Ricky (I had finished a retreive a while ago & was just holding my rod in one hand), when suddenly the water below me exploded and the rod was nearly ripped from my hand. I looked down to see the rod arching to the water & a flash of orange - arrgghhh pesky wrasse has popped up I thought until I managed to turn the fish from the boulders it was trying to dive under - yeeeessssssss Bassssssssssss...........
After a short but mental fight I landed a cracking orange / copper coloured bass of 60cms (really the wildest take I have ever had - the lure just lying on the water at my feet & not even a turn of the handle lol).
I will never know for sure, but I suspect the fish had followed the previous cast, which was probably 30 seconds gone - madness!

The next and last days fishing I managed a couple off the top (schoolies again), it was great to see fish feeding on top again (its been a really wierd summer so far - way less fish than last year & most to diving lures wheras last year almost all came off top!)

Anyway - enough for now, Iwill also try to some pictures of my new custom rod from DFR - its a beaut!

Tight Lines..............

Off again in a week.......but where to go?

I will be off to the UK again in a week or so, but with it looking like the wind & swell will be up I still need to decide where to head for a couple of days fishing,
The Monday & Tuesday I was thinking of fishing show swells of 10+ feet over in Pembrokeshire (far from ideal with the wind shifting to possibly colour up the sheltered marks.........grumble)
It doesn't look much better in Dorset (again the in your face west winds) but with less swell predicted (6 foot swell is as bad as it should hopefully get),but conditions like this can be dangerous & very hard to fish.

Anyway I will be keeping an eye on the forecast & hopefully things will change for the better (the following week I should get a session or two in as well so all is not lost).

Thanks for reading!

A Few Days West.

Just arrived back from a few days family holiday in Pembrokeshire, (with a spot of fishing of course), as usual conditions were not that good, but a few fish were caught and a great time was had & that is what counts so all in all it was a great week.

First trip out I met up with Simon & Jeff Clapham who both fish the local area alot, as well as Rhod who is gradually getting infected with the bass plugging bug. Conditions seemed reasonable other than a grayish water (a colour I don't like at all for plugging), the four of us gave it several hours and managed to blank on a mark that had been producing fish in numbers the previous week.

Not too bad but no fish showed.

The following morning I tried the same mark with Rhod with the same result (although the water colour was better). Next day I tried a different mark for a couple of hours and the fish finally showed and I managed 5 fish to 47cm, which was a confidence boost after the previous two days (needless to say).

This schoolie took a Feed Shallow.

No great size but great fun!

Now knowing where the fish were to be found, I set out to the same mark the next day with Hywell, Simon & Jeff (who I had told about this mark before but they had never fished). We knew it would be a short session as you only get about 2 hours before the tide pushes you off the rocks. The fishing was good again - Hywell caught schoolie as I did (at 38cm) - Simon managed a 47cm and a 58cm fish (so we were quite happy).

A dirty car helped as mobile coverage was very patchy ;)

Simon & schoolie.

Plenty of laughs were had.

Jeff with a fine rock caught bass.

Hywell & Jeff outside the mystery machine!

Next day I met up with Steve "hound Dog" Payne & Mark (Tide Dale), and we decided to fish a reef mark but conditions were way too calm and clear and I was blessed with yet another blank!

Way too calm & clear (but pretty).

Early next morning I winkled a small fish out from the edge of a surf beach with a topper (thanks to the advice of a nine year old kid I had seen fishing the surf the previous evening lol).
Not to be beaten I headed to a low water mark the low tide to find the clearest water I have ever seen in Wales so I wasn't hopeful. A Z-Claw fished slowly over the kelp managed to draw the fish out, and I ended up catching 4 fish to 49cm!

Beautifully coloured rock caught bass.

The Z-Claw did the trick in gin clear water.

Following a family day out (with a quick evening session which produced a schoolie), I headed to the mark we had been blanking on to find Simon there kitting up for a skishing session (find out more about skishing at http://www.jerseybassguides.com/ )........ I must admit its the first time I have ever seen someone pouring anti-freeze down by the wedding tackle to get a wet-suit on (much to my amusement). I blanked from the rocks for an hour or so and left but Simon managed 4 fish!

A surprise meet!

Simon covering the outer reef.

Oi get out of my way diver boy!

Fish on (?)

Who's catching who?

True to form the last days weather was awful and the marks that had been clear were very dirty & 2 schoolies were all I managed (the only 2 casts that I didnt have a lure covered in weed!).

Also found a gill net while there (very professionally laid out on the point between Broad Haven and Settlands Bay - I was under the impression that both ends of a net must be clearly marked with name address and telephone number (this one wasn't), fortunately for the netter I didn't have a knife with me (or I would have cut his anchoring rope).

A well laid gill net.

This net must have been 100 yards+ !

To sum up, I had about 14 or 15 fish in 7 sessions (although some of the trips were quite short). Had a great time (well the fishing could have been better but it was a family holiday so I probably got the balance about right.

Looking ahead to next week I hope to fish the Gower coast with Jeff & maybe get a quick trip in to Dorset (time permitting), so keep an eye on this space.....

Thanks for reading and tight lines to all.

5 x 1(lb)

It was up early this morning (02.30!), as I had decided to travel west in the pursuit of a Welsh bass, the two hour drive was easy at that time so the anticipation was high by the time I arrived. The moment I got out of the car it started to pour (as it does) and by the time I was kitted up the rain was pretty much horizontal (luckily enough the wind was behind me but boy did I get wet).
Conditions were actually pretty good (perfect clarity & overcast), but the sea was a bit flat & could have done with a bit more fizz.
On with an Ima Sasuke (Sand Bora), and second cast was a schoolie of I guess about a pound - next cast another - and another (all small fish).
Changing lures to a Feed Shallow Mullet#11, I was hoping for something bigger but second cast with the FS gave another schoolie.
The next 3 hours were quiet other than the rain drumming on my back, and after a 5th and final schoolie I decided that it was time to start the long haul home.


Not big but a Bass!

Of course catching bass is always a buzz, but I had mixed feelings about the day (|I cant help feeling I should have caught more perhaps or tried something different while it was quiet).
I will be heading West on Friday for a week, and I hope to post again while I'm there if I can get some Internet access (looking forward to meeting a few of the guys while I'm down too!)

Thanks for reading..................