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North Wales He's still got it!

Andy 1965

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Oct 18, 2020
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Location
North Wales
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Lure
After Thursdays successful lure fishing debut, you would have expected me to head back for more of the same last night but Steve A, aka Goldenb***s, who hadn’t been fishing since January 2nd got in touch to see if I fancied a session after the rays instead. With the whole lure season ahead of me, I didn’t need asking twice and it would be good to catch up with him after such a long break.

With rays being the target species, the choice of venue was easy and though it was quite busy, we managed to find a comfortable ledge to set up basecamp. Being mad keen we soon had the first baits in the water, and by around 45 minute before low water we sat back to enjoy the last of the early spring evening sunshine :cool:.

Having not fished with him for a while, I did wonder if Steve’s super powers were still as strong as they once were, but the answer soon became apparent as he started getting bites within seconds of his bait landing on the bottom. It wasn’t anything too exciting just yet but while my rods remained motionless, Steve beat the blank immediately with a whiting, nice fresh bait for later.

For the next 90 minutes, while I had a series of bites which I sadly failed to connect with :(, Steve caught a steady stream of dogfish, not what we were after but it was very encouraging given the daylight start, and the relative lack of water depth in front of us due to the 32ft tide.

Knowing Steve, it was only a matter of time before something better turned up and sure enough, the next bite looked like something a lot more substantial. The first sign of interest was when the evening peace was shattered by the sound of line being taken off Steve’s reel against the drag. We both then watched intently as the bite developed, until eventually Steve guessed the culprit had the bait down and he struck to set the hook. We could both tell straight away that this was no doggy and sure enough, after a minute or two a lovely huss surfaced at the base of the rocks. With the flat calm conditions I climbed down onto a lower ledge, from where I was able to grab the hook length and safely land his prize. It was only as I carried Steve’s catch up to him that I realized what a decent specimen it was, with a massively broad head it was an easy double but we were both surprised when the scales settled on a cracking 14lb 2oz! :oops:

Sadly she just wasn’t in the mood for a photo and just wouldn’t straighten out, also with her being heavily pregnant Steve didn’t want to put her under too much stress, so he was happy with just a picture of the beast on the ground, with a size 11 boot for scale.
Huss - Steve A April 1st 2021 - 14lb 2oz.jpg

Incredibly there wasn’t much time for Steve to rest on his laurels, and his next bait had hardly been in the water more than a few minutes when he had another bite. We wondered if it was another huss or a doggy, but we were pleasantly surprised when Steve landed a small eyed ray, a bit of a rare catch at this particular mark.
Small Eyed Ray - Steve A_April 1st 2021.jpg

As if this wasn’t enough, only a few minutes later Steve was at it again, this time with another huss, his second double of the night at 11lb 2oz! :oops:
Huss - Steve A April 1st 2021 - 11lb 2oz.jpg

The lay off obviously hadn’t affected Steve’s luck in any way, in fact it looked like he had spent the last 3 months polishing those precious orbs to a brilliant shine :ROFLMAO:.

After this hectic spell things went a little bit quiet, with only the occasional dog bite for Steve, but I did belatedly get off the mark myself. My first fish was only a whiting but I was massively relieved just the same and once the dam was finally broken, I started catching a regular stream of doggies. As it happened, this quiet spell was only temporary and Steve wasn’t finished just yet.

30 minutes later and he was off again with his second ray of the night, this time the spotted variety.
Spotted Ray - Steve A_April 1st 2021.jpg

Soon after this it was finally my turn for some action, when at long last something better found my bait. I knew immediately from the bite that it was a huss and sure enough a heavy weight on the line confirmed this. After a brief fight, a half decent example surfaced in front of us but my luck wasn’t to hold. Steve prepared to return the favour by landing my prize but no sooner had he grabbed the line, than the huss spat the bait :cry:. I was of course disappointed, but I’ve fished for them long enough now to know that it goes with the territory and where there is one huss, there are likely to be more, so I re-baited and cast out again.

Despite my bad luck, Steve really was on a flyer, and I was genuinely wondering what he would come up with next :unsure:, but sport dropped off again now, which just happened to coincide with a visit from a massive bull seal. For the next hour or so Steve and I both caught a steady stream of dogs, watched all the while by our newly acquired audience, but they obviously weren’t to his liking and we were able to land them completely unmolested. It remained to be seen what would happen if we caught something that was on his menu, but as it transpired we didn’t actually to find out.

After an hour of relative quiet, we were beginning to wonder if our sport was over for the evening, but we needn’t have worried as the fishing gods weren’t done with us yet. Suddenly, and completely without warning, the area came to life and all our rods showed bites at the same time! Steve was the first to reel in and he duly landed his third huss of the night, smaller than his first 2 but at 8lb 5oz it was still a very decent specimen (y).
Huss - Steve A April 1st 2021 - 8lb 5oz.jpg

While Steve was landing his catch solo I was reeling in a huss of my own and this time, without any last minute dramas I finally landed one (CHEER). The business of weighing it could wait for now and with my other rod bouncing around all over the place, she was placed in a rock pool to recover while I reeled the second fish in. This one was smaller than the first and was easily landed, giving me the chance to see what I had actually caught. The smaller huss wasn’t worth weighing so we guesstimated it at between 4 & 5lb but the first was worth a weigh. It didn’t come near to a double, but at 9lb 5oz it was still my biggest of the year so far and I was more than happy with it :giggle:.
Huss Double - April 1st 2021 - 9lb 2oz & 4-5lb.jpg

After this mad 20 minutes, things calmed down once again and it was also getting late, so we decided to give it another hour before calling it a night. The final hour passed quickly, with only the occasional dog to keep us occupied but it wasn’t over just yet. As we entered the last 10 minutes of the evening and started to tidy our gear away ready for the walk back to the cars, Steve spotted a last decent bite on one of my rods. I decided to finish packing up first before I reeled in the final fish of the night and when I did I wasn’t disappointed. It had taken long enough, but it was worth the wait and at long last I had my own double figure huss at 10lb 5oz :love:.
Huss - April 1st 2021 - 10lb 5oz.jpg

So thanks to a late flurry I had managed to draw level with Steve at 3 huss each, but he had definitely had the better of the night with 2 doubles, including a magnificent 14lber (y) and 2 bonus rays. It was a great night though and with a lure session planned with my boys tomorrow, it kept my weeks fishing ticking over nicely ;).
 
What a great session for you both, even if you didn't manage any rays yourself. Well done on the huss to you both too, they were of some good sizes, especially the 14lb, that's bloody huge from the shore!
Was this on the island by any chance?
 
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