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North Wales Talacre match report.

Andy 1965

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Following on from my victory in the previous club match at Dwygyfylchi, I had high hopes for the next outing at Talacre and with some interesting catches being reported there, we were all looking forward to it. Eager to get started, 8 very keen anglers arrived in good time and even after being clobbered for £5 parking per car :oops: we all set off on the long strength sapping walk to the mark through soft sand still in high spirits. Once at the water we split into two groups, those who couldn't be bothered walking any further and those who were obviously gluttons for punishment :LOL: and we made camp several hundred meters apart. After catching our breath again, we wasted no time in rigging up and then rather than waste time hanging around waiting, we all agreed to start fishing half an hour before the pre-planned time.

As we suspected, the weed was an absolute nightmare to begin with and within a few minutes of casting out our gear was pulled hard left, from where we had to pump in large bunches of weed festooned all over our gear back against the tide :eek:. Despite the weed, Glyn somehow managed to land a succession of dab double headers but the rest of us struggled, catching only the occasional single fish, mostly undersized. We carried on trying though and gradually the weed and the tide run began to ease. As the conditions get easier we all started to catch a few dabs too but Glyn was way ahead with a bag of 10 flatties, so the question now was when to switch tactics and start fishing for the big stuff.

Steve A was the first to make the switch and he was immediately rewarded with his first ever shore caught tope, only a pup and too small to weight in, but still a great catch (y). As if that wasn't enough, he then went on to catch another 2 tope on his next 2 casts o_O, the biggest an agonising 1.5cm under the minimum size :(.

By now we had all switched tactics and though the tope vanished as quickly as they arrived, for the next 90 minutes we all caught a steady stream of smoothhounds instead. Steve Carried on in the same manner as he did with the tope, catching pretty much a fish a cast but there were a lot of smaller fish about. Personally I had caught 5 dabs up to this point, but only 2 were in-size so I had some catching up to do. Of the 3 hounds I managed to tempt next, 2 were big enough to weigh in with the best at 1.35kg :giggle:.
Talacre hound 1.jpg

Talacre hound 2.jpg

Talacre hound 3.jpg

This put me ahead of Ady fishing to my left, but Steve and Glyn were for my money, still the ones to beat. The other group could of course be doing much better and beating them all but we wouldn't find out until we met back at the cars for the final reckoning.

By an hour or so after low water the tide started to pick up again, bringing with it more weed and the fish also went off the fed again, so we busied ourselves with packing up our gear ready for the long and painful return hike to the car park. With the sand having dried out quite a bit by now, the walk back in the late evening sunshine wasn't quite as strenuous as the walk out, but as soon as we were back at the cars we couldn't wait to put our gear down. Keen to find out how we had all got on, everything was soon packed away, then with our heart rates having returned to somewhere near normal :p, we added up the bag weights.

After a relatively slow start, Steve had shown that his orbs of precious metal still had it, and his bag of 2 dabs and 3 hounds for 3.71kg was enough for the match win (y). Second place went to a new club member Kenny, who happens to live near to Talacre, so his bag of 2 dabs, 2 hounds and a tope for 3.35kg showed that local knowledge is always a good thing :unsure:. After getting off to a flyer with the dabs, Glyn couldn't quite keep up with the pace and with just the one hound, he had to settle for third place with 2.54kg. Next in line was myself, and after a slow start my 2 hounds had helped me climb into fourth place with a bag weight of 2.32kg :giggle:.

The remainder of the field was made up by John in 5th place, with 3 dabs and a hound for 2.04kg, Ady in 6th with 1 dab and a hound for 1.78kg, Steve O in 7th place with 2 dabs and a hound for 1.16kg and Gwion in 8th place with 2 dabs for 0.38kg.

So mixed fortunes on the fishing front but as usual, everyone had enjoyed themselves in the summer sunshine and winning or not, the banter and some new species had made the long walk all worthwhile :cool:.
 
Following on from my victory in the previous club match at Dwygyfylchi, I had high hopes for the next outing at Talacre and with some interesting catches being reported there, we were all looking forward to it. Eager to get started, 8 very keen anglers arrived in good time and even after being clobbered for £5 parking per car :oops: we all set off on the long strength sapping walk to the mark through soft sand still in high spirits. Once at the water we split into two groups, those who couldn't be bothered walking any further and those who were obviously gluttons for punishment :LOL: and we made camp several hundred meters apart. After catching our breath again, we wasted no time in rigging up and then rather than waste time hanging around waiting, we all agreed to start fishing half an hour before the pre-planned time.

As we suspected, the weed was an absolute nightmare to begin with and within a few minutes of casting out our gear was pulled hard left, from where we had to pump in large bunches of weed festooned all over our gear back against the tide :eek:. Despite the weed, Glyn somehow managed to land a succession of dab double headers but the rest of us struggled, catching only the occasional single fish, mostly undersized. We carried on trying though and gradually the weed and the tide run began to ease. As the conditions get easier we all started to catch a few dabs too but Glyn was way ahead with a bag of 10 flatties, so the question now was when to switch tactics and start fishing for the big stuff.

Steve A was the first to make the switch and he was immediately rewarded with his first ever shore caught tope, only a pup and too small to weight in, but still a great catch (y). As if that wasn't enough, he then went on to catch another 2 tope on his next 2 casts o_O, the biggest an agonising 1.5cm under the minimum size :(.

By now we had all switched tactics and though the tope vanished as quickly as they arrived, for the next 90 minutes we all caught a steady stream of smoothhounds instead. Steve Carried on in the same manner as he did with the tope, catching pretty much a fish a cast but there were a lot of smaller fish about. Personally I had caught 5 dabs up to this point, but only 2 were in-size so I had some catching up to do. Of the 3 hounds I managed to tempt next, 2 were big enough to weigh in with the best at 1.35kg :giggle:.
View attachment 10483

View attachment 10484

View attachment 10485

This put me ahead of Ady fishing to my left, but Steve and Glyn were for my money, still the ones to beat. The other group could of course be doing much better and beating them all but we wouldn't find out until we met back at the cars for the final reckoning.

By an hour or so after low water the tide started to pick up again, bringing with it more weed and the fish also went off the fed again, so we busied ourselves with packing up our gear ready for the long and painful return hike to the car park. With the sand having dried out quite a bit by now, the walk back in the late evening sunshine wasn't quite as strenuous as the walk out, but as soon as we were back at the cars we couldn't wait to put our gear down. Keen to find out how we had all got on, everything was soon packed away, then with our heart rates having returned to somewhere near normal :p, we added up the bag weights.

After a relatively slow start, Steve had shown that his orbs of precious metal still had it, and his bag of 2 dabs and 3 hounds for 3.71kg was enough for the match win (y). Second place went to a new club member Kenny, who happens to live near to Talacre, so his bag of 2 dabs, 2 hounds and a tope for 3.35kg showed that local knowledge is always a good thing :unsure:. After getting off to a flyer with the dabs, Glyn couldn't quite keep up with the pace and with just the one hound, he had to settle for third place with 2.54kg. Next in line was myself, and after a slow start my 2 hounds had helped me climb into fourth place with a bag weight of 2.32kg :giggle:.

The remainder of the field was made up by John in 5th place, with 3 dabs and a hound for 2.04kg, Ady in 6th with 1 dab and a hound for 1.78kg, Steve O in 7th place with 2 dabs and a hound for 1.16kg and Gwion in 8th place with 2 dabs for 0.38kg.

So mixed fortunes on the fishing front but as usual, everyone had enjoyed themselves in the summer sunshine and winning or not, the banter and some new species had made the long walk all worthwhile :cool:.
the car park by the back pup 3£ not council now , on road one 5£
 
Good try Andy,with ref to car parking there the smaller one just off the road is the pubs and is £5,the larger one down the side road is still council owned but the pub owners try it on at bank holidays and hot weekends, tried it with me last bank holiday, she mumbled something about the council not paying the rent for five years when challenged ? she got £3 off me.
 
Thanks for the replies all and for the information about the parking.

We usually park in the main beach car park, but with a late finish to the match we were worried about the possibility of being locked in.

We ended up turning right past the chippy and parking in the car park behind the Lighthouse pub & diner.
 
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